FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[SpartanHouse]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

[blue_jays]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

If we're speaking about Wheaton and NCC in this statement, it's pretty clear why they aren't playing this spring. Both these teams are trying to win a national title in the fall, they've made that their priority, and the spring games simply don't contribute to that. If anything, they detract especially if a star player gets hurt. If you take an anonymous poll of the teams, I bet the Wheaton and NCC players would overwhelmingly agree with putting all their eggs into the fall basket instead.

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

[Gregory Sager]

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I can only speak to the situation at my own school, but spring sport student-athletes at North Park are not getting "hosed" this season. The NPU athletic department has made no bones about the fact that spring sports have priority. The Vikings baseball and softball teams have their usual full 40-game schedules, and all of their home games will be fully staffed by trainers and game staff (including broadcast production personnel such as yours truly), and fully resourced, same as always. Their practice time will not be curtailed, either, although practice scheduling may get a little creative. And their locker room space is not shared.

Much, if not most, of the outdoor fall sports at NPU are going to be played on a scrimmage basis. My understanding is that the NPU football team is only playing one game that counts (which involves the full-scale production with dozens of personnel and a hundred moving parts that every D3 football game entails), with the rest being scrimmages. The NPU men's soccer team is playing all scrimmages. I'm not sure yet what NPU women's soccer has decided to do in that regard, or what the indoor sport (women's volleyball) is doing. But any broadcast coverage NPU offers for the fall sports this spring will be minimal.

It would not surprise me if this is the case for most, if not all, of the other CCIW schools. Keep in mind that much of what is involved in hosting a full-scale game for a fall sport (especially football) means including outside personnel, especially in terms of press-box staff and game officials. And those people are going to be hard to come by out of season. That's all the more reason to stick to scrimmages for fall sports this spring.

I'm not saying that there isn't a lot of juggling and a lot of extra time and effort being asked of people, especially athletic department, sports information, and training staffs. There certainly is. But that doesn't necessarily mean that spring sport student-athletes are going to get shortchanged.

[blue_jays]

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I can only speak to the situation at my own school, but spring sport student-athletes at North Park are not getting "hosed" this season. The NPU athletic department has made no bones about the fact that spring sports have priority. The Vikings baseball and softball teams have their usual full 40-game schedules, and all of their home games will be fully staffed by trainers and game staff (including broadcast production personnel such as yours truly), and fully resourced, same as always. Their practice time will not be curtailed, either, although practice scheduling may get a little creative. And their locker room space is not shared.

Much, if not most, of the outdoor fall sports at NPU are going to be played on a scrimmage basis. My understanding is that the NPU football team is only playing one game that counts (which involves the full-scale production with dozens of personnel and a hundred moving parts that every D3 football game entails), with the rest being scrimmages. The NPU men's soccer team is playing all scrimmages. I'm not sure yet what NPU women's soccer has decided to do in that regard, or what the indoor sport (women's volleyball) is doing. But any broadcast coverage NPU offers for the fall sports this spring will be minimal.

It would not surprise me if this is the case for most, if not all, of the other CCIW schools. Keep in mind that much of what is involved in hosting a full-scale game for a fall sport (especially football) means including outside personnel, especially in terms of press-box staff and game officials. And those people are going to be hard to come by out of season. That's all the more reason to stick to scrimmages for fall sports this spring.

I'm not saying that there isn't a lot of juggling and a lot of extra time and effort being asked of people, especially athletic department, sports information, and training staffs. There certainly is. But that doesn't necessarily mean that spring sport student-athletes are going to get shortchanged.

If the schools are all taking this approach where the fall sports really are treated as scrimmages more than "official" competition, that's all good by me.

[Gregory Sager]

It's not a universal thing throughout the league. There will be some games that count played in at least some CCIW fall sports this spring. My understanding is that it's being decided on a case-by-case basis among the schools in question, although there's been lobbying amongst the coaches to make each of the games for specific sports all conform league-wide one way or the other as either all official games or all scrimmages. But a high percentage, if not most, of CCIW fall sports contests this spring will be scrimmages.

[SpartanHouse]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

If we're speaking about Wheaton and NCC in this statement, it's pretty clear why they aren't playing this spring. Both these teams are trying to win a national title in the fall, they've made that their priority, and the spring games simply don't contribute to that. If anything, they detract especially if a star player gets hurt. If you take an anonymous poll of the teams, I bet the Wheaton and NCC players would overwhelmingly agree with putting all their eggs into the fall basket instead.

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I don't under stand this thought. NAIA, D2 and D1 (heck even HS ball in the south) all have padded and full go practice in the spring. Players are all
At risk of getting hurt then.

The kids can play (5) games in the spring - let em play.

We're Focused on winning a title in the fall - how does that even apply here? How does having passed practices and play 5 games in April not make you better come August? Your kids haven't played a game
In 15 months already.

If I'm NCC, wouldn't it be better for your QB's to get some experience this spring to make you more prepared for the fall? If I'm the staff, won't you be able to see your QB options perform in the spring and help make your QB decision for the fall?

Just doesn't make sense to me 

[USee]

For Wheaton, they have a bunch of 5th year and regular seniors who want to win a title. They aren't going to pay 25k to play 5 meaningless games in the spring so they aren't even in school. That decreases the numbers significantly for the Thunder and increases the risk of injury to some key players who are in school. Spring games don't make sense for them.

[blue_jays]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

If we're speaking about Wheaton and NCC in this statement, it's pretty clear why they aren't playing this spring. Both these teams are trying to win a national title in the fall, they've made that their priority, and the spring games simply don't contribute to that. If anything, they detract especially if a star player gets hurt. If you take an anonymous poll of the teams, I bet the Wheaton and NCC players would overwhelmingly agree with putting all their eggs into the fall basket instead.

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I don't under stand this thought. NAIA, D2 and D1 (heck even HS ball in the south) all have padded and full go practice in the spring. Players are all
At risk of getting hurt then.

The kids can play (5) games in the spring - let em play.

We're Focused on winning a title in the fall - how does that even apply here? How does having passed practices and play 5 games in April not make you better come August? Your kids haven't played a game
In 15 months already.

If I'm NCC, wouldn't it be better for your QB's to get some experience this spring to make you more prepared for the fall? If I'm the staff, won't you be able to see your QB options perform in the spring and help make your QB decision for the fall?

Just doesn't make sense to me 

What doesn't make sense? We're not talking about other college divisions or high schools. We're talking about these 2 schools and their scenario. They can practice this spring to figure out what their personnel can do. You can control the speed and physicality of your practices to minimize risk of injury. You can't control those elements in a game against another school. If your starting QB gets their knee ripped to shreds in an April game that doesn't count for anything, how's everyone going to feel? It's a risk/reward analysis, and NCC and Wheaton have determined (rightfully) that playing April games will not benefit them enough to risk it.

More importantly, as USee said, a bunch of those players are not enrolled right now, so you're not getting an accurate look this spring at what your fall roster will be anyway. You already know what you're getting from these 4th/5th year guys. The coaches don't need to see what they can do in an April game, they already have 3-4 years worth of practice and game tape to go off.

[GoIrish7]

For Wheaton, they have a bunch of 5th year and regular seniors who want to win a title. They aren't going to pay 25k to play 5 meaningless games in the spring so they aren't even in school. That decreases the numbers significantly for the Thunder and increases the risk of injury to some key players who are in school. Spring games don't make sense for them.

Spot on here. I think most coaching staffs in the CCIW met extensively with parents on their sons futures via team zoom calls. Basically presenting a number of options.

Option 1 - Continue your course load as if COVID didn't happen. Participate in scrimmages and minimal games / continue progress towards your degree.

Option 2 - take a gap year, do not participate in spring season. Continue to train, participate in zoom position meetings and grab an internship or job. Return in fall to expense full 4 years of eligibility.

In Wheaton and NCC's cases so many guys opted for option 2 it left them in roster flux with limited numbers. The reality is if your cool spending a fulls year worth of tuition to play a few exhibition games  that's great, but many guys and their parents said no thanks to that. 

It's also given a handful of guys time to get ahead academically. I can see for the next few years everyone seeing a top senior, who classified as a junior on the football field walking away from football. At Elmhurst in 2011 we had a OL that had his degree in hand and still had a year to play.. his parents ponied up the money and gave their son his 4th year as he took courses to work on a minor in his field and return to the field in 2012 season. we also had a TE who was in this situation in 2013. He graduated, could come back for the 2013 season to play but opted to hang his cleats up due to finances and going out on a high note.

Don't think there is a right or wrong, whatever is best for the player and his family.

[hazzben]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

If we're speaking about Wheaton and NCC in this statement, it's pretty clear why they aren't playing this spring. Both these teams are trying to win a national title in the fall, they've made that their priority, and the spring games simply don't contribute to that. If anything, they detract especially if a star player gets hurt. If you take an anonymous poll of the teams, I bet the Wheaton and NCC players would overwhelmingly agree with putting all their eggs into the fall basket instead.

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I don't under stand this thought. NAIA, D2 and D1 (heck even HS ball in the south) all have padded and full go practice in the spring. Players are all
At risk of getting hurt then.

The kids can play (5) games in the spring - let em play.

We're Focused on winning a title in the fall - how does that even apply here? How does having passed practices and play 5 games in April not make you better come August? Your kids haven't played a game
In 15 months already.

If I'm NCC, wouldn't it be better for your QB's to get some experience this spring to make you more prepared for the fall? If I'm the staff, won't you be able to see your QB options perform in the spring and help make your QB decision for the fall?

Just doesn't make sense to me 

Because 2-3 weeks of Spring practices and an intra-squad scrimmage is night and day different from 5 games. The latter would presumably involve 3 weeks of practice in prep for game 1, plus 4 weeks of practice for the subsequent games. Also there no comparing the level of intensity between a controlled Spring scrimmage against your own team, with refs that often have a quick whistle, and limited to no contact on certain players/positions, compared to 5 games against conference rivals.

Even a team with no post-season aspirations might be hesitant, from a pure wear and tear standpoint. From a players standpoint, do I want to risk injury in a meaningless spring season prior to my Jr or Sr fall season? (players get hurt in limited spring practice/scrimmage situations all the time as it is). Now think of NCC or Wheaton, where they have aspirations for a 13-15 game season in the fall. Yeah, adding 5 meaningless spring games is not a benefit, when they are thinking of wear and tear on the athlete's body come late Nov and early Dec.

[Titan Q]

Article on the Titans, as they prepare for the 4-game season.

https://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/illinois-wesleyan/watch-now-illinois-wesleyan-football-getting-ready-eager-for-four-game-spring-season/article_fb5c784b-918a-53db-a19e-31810422add9.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_Pantagraph

[matblake]

Not football related, but CCIW related.  Because the D3 wrestling championships were canceled, the National Wrestling Coaches Association put on a national championship type of event and a number of CCIW teams participated.  Congratulations to the placewinners from the CCIW schools (Concordia-Wisconsin and MSOE are associate CCIW members for wrestling)
125:Bradly Rosen NCC 3rd
133:Robbie Precin NCC 2nd
       Austin Vincent CUW 8th
141:Jimmy McAuliffe Elmhurst Champ
149:Peter McCusker Millikin 6th
157:Jack O'Donnell CUW 6th
      Cole Cervantes NCC 8th
165: Braden Birt Millikin Champ
        Rafael Roman NCC 6th
174: No placewinners
184: Brock Montford NCC 4th
        Helton Vandenbush MSOE 8th
197: Cody Baldridge NCC Champ
        Logan Hagerbaumer Millikin 3rd
285: Ben Bergen NCC 7th

[Next Man Up]

It is my Opinion that these decisions should be w the student athletes best interest in mind and w that said - the kids want to play. So why not play 5 games?

Kids would rather do that then not play at all.

If we're speaking about Wheaton and NCC in this statement, it's pretty clear why they aren't playing this spring. Both these teams are trying to win a national title in the fall, they've made that their priority, and the spring games simply don't contribute to that. If anything, they detract especially if a star player gets hurt. If you take an anonymous poll of the teams, I bet the Wheaton and NCC players would overwhelmingly agree with putting all their eggs into the fall basket instead.

Personally, I think playing all these fall sports in the spring is irresponsible. You're overtaxing all the support staff that are involved: the athletic trainers, the SIDs, the facilities managers, the people working the games. There will be no locker room space for anyone, same for practice space. So instead of spring sports getting a fair shot at having a real 2021 season after getting hosed in 2020, they just get hosed again by having fall sports chomp into the available resources. I get why the schools are doing it (keeping their athletes engaged and reduce any residual bitterness), but the reality is that it won't be adequately staffed or covered, because if everyone is in the same boat, there's no extra people you can draw help from.

I don't under stand this thought. NAIA, D2 and D1 (heck even HS ball in the south) all have padded and full go practice in the spring. Players are all
At risk of getting hurt then.

The kids can play (5) games in the spring - let em play.

We're Focused on winning a title in the fall - how does that even apply here? How does having passed practices and play 5 games in April not make you better come August? Your kids haven't played a game
In 15 months already.

If I'm NCC, wouldn't it be better for your QB's to get some experience this spring to make you more prepared for the fall? If I'm the staff, won't you be able to see your QB options perform in the spring and help make your QB decision for the fall

Just doesn't make sense to me 

But, who says the QB who starts the first game in the fall of '21 is even on the Cardinals roster yet or, for that matter, even enrolled at NCC at this time?
Currently, there is ONE QB listed on the roster, namely soph Jake Johnson who threw 33 passes in mop up duty in 2019. While, on paper, he may be the odds on favorite to start, I don't believe we can discount the fact that there is every possibility that we'll see a transfer show up over the summer, likely from a D1, who will emerge as the opening game starter in the fall. And, in this Coronavirus era, the possibility seems even more plausible. 🤔

[Pat Coleman]

In fact, I would be surprised if that is *not* the case. I don't think Jackson Erdmann's No. 2 at St. John's will start next fall and I don't think Broc Rutter's No. 2 at North Central will either.

[Gregory Sager]

Final from Elmhurst:

North Park 30
Elmhurst 21