FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[sju56321]

Yea-he was a very good kicker-didn't he beat CST in '85? The year SJU went out west in the playoffs and got beat-but what an SJU v. CST game that was.

[AlmostEx]

Here is what I see as the best case scenario(s):

1)  The Head Coach goes home, takes a quiet Sunday to himself and realizes he has accomplished many great things, has made SJU a special place with a special football program, but also realizes that he can accomplish little more.  He goes to the office on Monday and submits his resignation.

2)  I the absence of #1, an altruistic alumni/donor, approaches the Administration and indicates a new direction is needed.  Said donor being, very, very sensitive to the situation suggests that a gift has been readied and will be made in JG's honor and will be announced publicly along with the announcement of a search committee for a new Head Football Coach.  The gift might be something like the John Gagliardi Endowed Chair in Ethics, Philosophy, Management or Leadership and focus on the application of Benedictine and Gagliardi values and principles in an increasingly stark and media driven society.

A transition is coming, it is simply a matter of time and the shape and color of things between here and there.  This is not a time for complacency; leaders need to lead, even when legends and pride are involved!

[SagatagSam]

I'll probably be crucified for saying this, but realistically the score was appropriate. How many times have the J's put up a similar number?

I'm with you.  Play solid defense and they won't score.  Anyone hear Jimmy speak in the pregame show about how the offense performed well vs. Augsburg?  Not today, huh?  -10 yards rushing in the first half?  The Auggies don't look as good now, eh?   

The Johnnies deserved every bit of those 63 points that were hung on 'em today. That was horrid.

And, I know there are some classless a**holes that hang out on the veranda above the Johnnie bench at O'Shaughnessy Stadium, but if that is the sole reason we lost, there are much bigger problems we've got to solve.

The fact there are a plethora of classless a**holes at UST should shock no one. I had not one, but three boxes of popcorn thrown at me as I walked out of Schoenecker Arena during the MIAC Championship basketball game in 2007.

While I hate this loss, I see the silver lining as this being a catalyst for lighting a fire under not just the players and coaches, but the entire institution in Collegeville.

To quote Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

[chewey]

SJU563b21, that's right.  I was a senior in H.S. that year and came way down from Minot, ND for that game and that was an awesome experience.  CST had a good team that year too, with Neal Guggemos and wasn't Gustafson on that team, too?  Mike Zumwinkle was a beast.  Being from little Winsted, one would have thought Guggemos would have chosen SJU but, alas, he chose the dark side.  Even a year later when they pounded SJU, I think they choked and someone else from the MIAC went to the post-season.

I don't think John G's going anywhere.  At least, I hope he's not.  Many kids have come up there simply because of John G and what he's done and the facilities -- probably one of the 10 best places to watch a football game in the country.  I fear the day that he leaves the program because there will be a huge gap to fill and SJU is going to have to prepare so that the FB program does not fall into permanent mediocrity.  We've had a couple of bad years and I hope the coaches do something more assertive in the recruiting realm.  Even with John G., times have changed and not every kid is going to want to go to SJU with that being the primary or even a major determining factor.  I think the UST/Bethel/ETC coaches are making real strides to convince kids to go there.  If a kid refuses or is doubtful, perhaps they're asking what it would take to get them there whereas at SJU they're probably saying "ok, if you don't want to play for us, that's your choice."  It seems to me that that's always been the philosophy and I can't say I disagree with it.  But, the times being what they are now, things in that regard must change. 

[onearmedscot]

As a former Scot, I like to see a team used to being on the strong side of complete dominance be handed a 63-7 score.  It sucks but goes to show you it can happen to anyone.

I think the Johnnies are in that sensitive area between letting a legend finish his career on his terms  or make a move and bring in the coach for the next era.

I stayed for all I could handle today, 28-0 2 mins into the second quarter.  Completely uninspired bunch but the talent on the field was so unbalanced it was unfair.

I left to watch the alma mater reclaim the paint bucket for the first time in 12 years.  Go Scots 17-0 over Hamline!

Tommies win the Stagg and start the search for a new coach...just my two cents.

oAs. 

[SagatagSam]

Tommies win the Stagg and start the search for a new coach...just my two cents.

This echoes what I, along with sjuRube and a number of others, have been saying for a while: Glenn Caruso is using UST to make the jump to a higher echelon of college football. He has no desire to remain in St. Paul.
Personally, I hope he does. The Johnnie-Tommie rivalry needs a villain, and now it has one.

[faunch]

As a former Scot, I like to see a team used to being on the strong side of complete dominance be handed a 63-7 score.  It sucks but goes to show you it can happen to anyone.

I think the Johnnies are in that sensitive area between letting a legend finish his career on his terms  or make a move and bring in the coach for the next era.

I stayed for all I could handle today, 28-0 2 mins into the second quarter.  Completely uninspired bunch but the talent on the field was so unbalanced it was unfair.

I left to watch the alma mater reclaim the paint bucket for the first time in 12 years.  Go Scots 17-0 over Hamline!

Tommies win the Stagg and start the search for a new coach...just my two cents.

oAs.

So Augsburg beats Hamline by 7 and now the Scots best the Pipers by 17.  MAC must wish they had SJU on the schedule this year...they might have a chance.

[SagatagSam]

So Augsburg beats Hamline by 7 and now the Scots best the Pipers by 17.  MAC must wish they had SJU on the schedule this year...they might have a chance.

It seems someone has duct-taped SJU up to the proverbial tree-o-shame and now everyone is lining up to take their shot.

[onearmedscot]

I like Glenn Caruso at Minnesota.  Third coaching job where he could stay in the same house.

Kill resigns for health reasons and Caruso is hired.  I think Caruso could turn the U of M around in 3 years.  He is a recruiting mastermind and knows X's and O's as well as anyone in the game.  (Just ask SJU)

oAs.

[faunch]

I like Glenn Caruso at Minnesota.  Third coaching job where he could stay in the same house.

Kill resigns for health reasons and Caruso is hired.  I think Caruso could turn the U of M around in 3 years.  He is a recruiting mastermind and knows X's and O's as well as anyone in the game.  (Just ask SJU)

oAs.

They also have one hell of a nice locker room at the U and that would be another similarity to U$T.

[onearmedscot]

Yellow bracelet is Greg Morse, former UST QB who quit the team when Dakota Tracy took his playing time.  Funny how a quitter returns to heckle the other teams.



oAs.

[SagatagSam]

Yellow bracelet is Greg Morse, former UST QB who quit the team when Dakota Tracy took his playing time.  Funny how a quitter returns to heckle the other teams.



oAs.

Way to act like you've been there before, Greg.

[cobbernation]

Faunch,

I understand that the veranda of Tommie fans just above the Johnnie bench isn't the best scenario, but SJU fans could have gotten there first to watch the game if they wanted to.  It sounds like a lot of Johnnie faithful are getting a taste of medicine that SJU has put on the MIAC for so many years.  It's interesting to see what happens when you are on the opposite end of a 63-7 score.  I encountered a similar situation in Linfield in 2004.  Fans directly behind the visitor bench yelling the entire game.  Is it fun?  Of course not because what is the point at yelling at student athletes?  If the score was SJU winning 63-7 and Johnnie fans were yelling at UST players would anyone notice then?

I personally don't care if teams are throwing if they are up 49-0 unless it's the offensive starters.  But if you get your 2nd team in there you want them to get experience with the playbook during game situations.  Good game to UST who looks to run the table this season in the MIAC, however I still think a good game to be played between bethel and UST later this season even though bethel lost to sto today.

[johnnie_esq]

Congrats to the Tom$.  After 13 years of watching them screw things up, it was their turn to laugh at us for once.  Hope they enjoy it, because we won't be down for long.

I couldn't make it today and am glad for that.  But after last week, I came away with the following impressions:

1.)  John isn't going anywhere alive.
2.)  Jimmy won't go anywhere while #1 still is effective.
3.)  We are big and fat on both OL and DL.  But we make up for it by being slow, too. Our good teams were small and quick; our current teams are big and slow.
4.)  We have 200 guys on the sideline and you can't tell me that none of them are MIAC-winning caliber.  If not, we really need to blow the thing up and start over.  But if so, then our coaching staff needs to reevaluate its own talent. 
5.)  I don't see this as a scheming or game prep problem-- I see it as execution.  I see a lot of little, fundamental mistakes we continue to make on both sides of the ball that the good teams never would make.  Things like D-Ends leaving their feet on a rush, or a safety in cover 4 at the end of a close game biting on a 10 yard out instead of playing the deeper pass.    We have become lazy, and our coaching staff has not concentrated on the little, simple things that made us good to begin with, instead relying on players who don't have the traditional work ethic to get things done in the St. John's way.

So my response?  Ugh.  Hope the athletic department made its profit while it had the chance, because its profitability is coming to an end...

[SagatagSam]

Good to have you back johnnie_esq.