FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Klopenhiemer]

Nice posts regarding the Johnnies season, I have been meaning to do the same for my IIAC team.  I do have one question. 

Isnt St. Johns recruiting model much different than most of the schools that it competes with.  I was under the impression that St. Johns relied more on kids coming to them vs. beating the bushes and pushing the program on them. 

[OzJohnnie]

Well, very convincing arguments, but I remain undecided on a position.  I concede that the reason is that I am too far away and certainly too remote from the program to feel secure in making a call (so why are you asking, you ask).  I don't remember the noise being this loud in last couple years so it appears to me as if this is a start of a wave and I'm inclined to watch a bit further before really committing.  If after next year we are again looking at scraping by on substandard execution and non-superstar talent, then I reckon esq will have me.  Until then, I wait.  To the burning frustration of those that have decided on non-waiting).

[tmerton]

Re the GAC selection, it may be that the insider really doesn't have much of an advantage, and perhaps just the opposite.  Being around 18 years, I assume Coach Brown made a lot friends but I suspect he also made a few enemies or at least rubbed a few people the wrong way.  The outside guy doesn't have the good relationships but he also doesn't have the baggage.  And when two people both seem qualified, sometime the lack of negative factors is the decider.  Oh well, just a theory.  But it does seem that in many cases the outside guy is the one selected (see UWW two years ago).  Besides, it's an election year and it's all about change.  Blame it on Obama.

[sjusection105]

Isnt St. Johns recruiting model much different than most of the schools that it competes with.  I was under the impression that St. Johns relied more on kids coming to them vs. beating the bushes and pushing the program on them. 

Klop. You are correct. As J. Esq. pointed out, some of those hotbeds are drying up as most of the kids are multi-sport athletes and some top prospects have gone on to  DI in other sports or in Decker's case FB at U of Minn.

Klop., is it true what I have heard, that you were in the running for the Illinois Senate seat? I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out 

GAC- It appears there may soon be a pipeline of talent from the Minneapolis City Conference to GAC perhaps the sucess and turn around that St. Olaf experienced with the Florida pipeline. Time will tell I guess.

[snoop dawg]

Just an observation from an outsider, based upon this years competitive nature of the MIAC, and some of the points made by esq.,  I would think that SJU would become more aggressive in their recruiting policies. 

[DutchFan2004]

I don't like Jimmy Johnson but his rant on TV about the Lions fits here.  A Sunday or two ago he said teams should be ware about changing coaches.  You know what you have.  If you change things it can get worse.  The Detroit Lions are proof.  From reading here the troubles may be more with the execution than the play calling.  One thing from Kirk Ferentz he said it does not matter if a team knows what play is coming if it is blocked correctly you can't stop it.  There is a lot of truth in that.  SJU has had a very good program.  I know this was a down year for them but things could have been worse.  

[Willy Wonka]

Re the GAC selection, it may be that the insider really doesn't have much of an advantage, and perhaps just the opposite.  Being around 18 years, I assume Coach Brown made a lot friends but I suspect he also made a few enemies or at least rubbed a few people the wrong way.  The outside guy doesn't have the good relationships but he also doesn't have the baggage.  And when two people both seem qualified, sometime the lack of negative factors is the decider.  Oh well, just a theory.  But it does seem that in many cases the outside guy is the one selected (see UWW two years ago).  Besides, it's an election year and it's all about change.  Blame it on Obama.

I think you are partly correct here. The new president is, according to my people, a guy who likes to make a splash. I wouldn't necessarily say these final candidates are making a big splash, but Brownie would have been just a tiny ripple in the big scheme of things.

I'm actually a little surprised that neither final candidate has head coaching experience at the collegiate level — is that a reflection of personal preference or a shallow application pool, I wonder?

A former roommate of mine did his student teaching under Haugen's direction. He swears by him, but his biggest compliment tonight was that he kept inner city youth in line and on track to succeed in life outside the playing field. While noble, I'm not sure exactly how that "skill" translates to a preppy private school that has very few minorities. Still, he's apparently a very personable guy.

Sidenote: Haugen coached Hoag in high school. There's got to be a decent chance Hoag will be walking the GAC sidelines again in the near future. At least whenever his professional playing days are over 

[OzJohnnie]

I'm gioong hum frm critnas drunks...  Is flash drving the cab? Icannt tel.

[DuffMan]

Sidenote: Haugen coached Hoag in high school. There's got to be a decent chance Hoag will be walking the GAC sidelines again in the near future. At least whenever his professional playing days are over 

I thought Hoag didn't play FB in high school?

[Johnnie Red]

So this past Monday I was introduced to a new staff member in court administration who was going to job shadow in my court that day. I asked the young lady what her educational background was and she said she graduated from St. Thomas. Needless to say, I had to give her the tour of my chambers, i.e. the Johnnie shrine. Her eyes were rolling.

That morning in court, I had a fellow on a criminal case who was a student at Bemidji State. When he was done in court, I told the Tommie that if the fellow was expelled from BSU, he could always finish his undergraduate degree at Tommieland. Her response: ha, ha.

[tmerton]

So this past Monday I was introduced to a new staff member in court administration who was going to job shadow in my court that day. I asked the young lady what her educational background was and she said she graduated from St. Thomas. Needless to say, I had to give her the tour of my chambers, i.e. the Johnnie shrine. Her eyes were rolling.

That morning in court, I had a fellow on a criminal case who was a student at Bemidji State. When he was done in court, I told the Tommie that if the fellow was expelled from BSU, he could always finish his undergraduate degree at Tommieland. Her response: ha, ha.

But you seem like such a nice guy on Saturdays.   Has ROR introduced his Tommie daughter to you?  She's on a trajectory headed for law school; she's gonna be good, too.

[snoop dawg]

We need more judges with a sense of humor.

[finsleft]

I'm gioong hum frm critnas drunks...  Is flash drving the cab? Icannt tel.

Oz, you been hanging out with John Daly?

[Johnnie Red]

Then this morning we had a retired judge working at the courthouse. He happens to be a Tommie grad. I introduced the young lady to him and started the conversation by mentioning that the judge had the misfortune of graduating from the same college as she did.

Tmerton, I don't believe I have met ROR's Tommie daughter yet. I suppose I should admit that my Badger son is a second year law student at St. Thomas and really likes the school. He was at the Johnnie-Tommie game this fall.

[finsleft]

This just in....(from LBean)

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II

US Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work-including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule-our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner
stated "The US only had two major victories-Japan and Germany . The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests-they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented
"France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1
ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines .