FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ron doney]

I think it's fair to say the UMU/UMHB winner will be favored over the winner of the other b-squad game happening on Saturday, so says most of the country.  What's it gonna take for that sentiment to change, at least to some degree?  UST shutout or a 5 TD game from Wara?  Anything, or are both squads playing for a long plane ride home next weekend?

[ron doney]

For those of you that don't twitter.  D3football.com just responded to Frank's commentary that the pool had been cut to 5-10 for interviews with the following:

@d3football: Hey @rajko1973 -- I hope that group did a better job picking 10 coach candidates than the people who picked Gagliardi finalists. #d3fb

IALTO!

[ron doney]

"Every offseason, Caruso said, he has received opportunities to move up the coaching ladder. He has turned them down because of the way family and football fit together at St. Thomas. Caruso emphasized that as much as he likes to win, his priority will always be his wife, Rachael, and children Anna, 8, Cade, 7, and Truman, 5 -- and at St. Thomas, he said, the two mesh in an environment that feels true to his ideals." Source: fish wrap factory west side.

Ill set the over under at 9 years, when Truman enters high school.

What y'all got?

[sjusection105]

Attention Bennie or anyone who has expertise in admissions & financial aid matters.

I stumbled across this page on the UST website regarding scholarships and found it odd that a student could transfer to UST and receive up to $15K per year simply by being a full time student and carrying a 2.0 GPA. So I looked at the scholarship/financial aid sections of various (not all) MIAC schools. Here is what I found.

Augsburg has a transfer scholarship,but requires a 3.0 GPA. I thought a 3.0 GPA is reasonable to receive a scholarship.

Bethel, as far as I could see offered need based as well a academic scholarship with GPA much higher than 2.0

Concordia,has Transfer Scholarships of up to $15,000 and only states that it is based on GPA, but does not indicate the minimum GPA

St. Olaf offers a Buntrock Scholarship up to $18,000 where a student's potential in considered instead of strictly driven by GPA & test scores.

SJU/CSB  offers a variety of need based & academic scholarships.

The things that stuck me as odd on the UST Transfer Scholarships were the range from $1,000 - $15,000 and the 2.0GPA. There was no report and I'm not sure if they track if award winners are in various lines of study. An example would be a business student would be more or less likely to get a Transfer Scholarship than a Pre-Law student. Also,not knowing if athletes had a greater percentage of these types of scholarships than the general population and closer to the top end of the award rather than the lower end of the award.

Just looking for some discussions because there seems to be a wide variety of scholarships and how they are awarded from school to school in the MIAC.

Redtooth,Johnnie Esq., OldSJU#67- et al,

Regarding recruiting and financial aid I had posted this in October and appears to be relevant now with the coaching search shifting into high gear. I'm sure the university does an ongoing comparison of their competitiveness in the marketplace but I though it was worth reintroducing into the conversation at this point. I appears that acquiring blocking sleds is not the only thing the new coach will need to be concerned about.

[oldsju67]

Attention Bennie or anyone who has expertise in admissions & financial aid matters.

I stumbled across this page on the UST website regarding scholarships and found it odd that a student could transfer to UST and receive up to $15K per year simply by being a full time student and carrying a 2.0 GPA. So I looked at the scholarship/financial aid sections of various (not all) MIAC schools. Here is what I found.

Augsburg has a transfer scholarship,but requires a 3.0 GPA. I thought a 3.0 GPA is reasonable to receive a scholarship.

Bethel, as far as I could see offered need based as well a academic scholarship with GPA much higher than 2.0

Concordia,has Transfer Scholarships of up to $15,000 and only states that it is based on GPA, but does not indicate the minimum GPA

St. Olaf offers a Buntrock Scholarship up to $18,000 where a student's potential in considered instead of strictly driven by GPA & test scores.

SJU/CSB  offers a variety of need based & academic scholarships.

The things that stuck me as odd on the UST Transfer Scholarships were the range from $1,000 - $15,000 and the 2.0GPA. There was no report and I'm not sure if they track if award winners are in various lines of study. An example would be a business student would be more or less likely to get a Transfer Scholarship than a Pre-Law student. Also,not knowing if athletes had a greater percentage of these types of scholarships than the general population and closer to the top end of the award rather than the lower end of the award.

Just looking for some discussions because there seems to be a wide variety of scholarships and how they are awarded from school to school in the MIAC.

Redtooth,Johnnie Esq., OldSJU#67- et al,

Regarding recruiting and financial aid I had posted this in October and appears to be relevant now with the coaching search shifting into high gear. I'm sure the university does an ongoing comparison of their competitiveness in the marketplace but I though it was worth reintroducing into the conversation at this point. I appears that acquiring blocking sleds is not the only thing the new coach will need to be concerned about.

...nope he might need a whistle too! 

There's a reason a $ is in U$T, and if it's a draw between the SJU and the Tommies, right now the Tommies will win that battle with money. Honestly Redtooth can speak to this better than I... So, SJU has to make it not a draw somehow or someway else in most cases.  In my humble opinion, it's energizing the underutilized former player base and interested alums.  To quote my other favorite catholic university fight song "Wake up the echo's cheering her name!".

[faunch]

Small thought on facilities: $20M builds the facilities, but doesn't necessarily support them. What type of operating budget does SJU have to dedicate $X dollars specifically toward football facilities. That's probably going to be the limiting factor in the facility discussion. The operating budget is generally tied to enrollment.  When thinking new facilities at SJU, I'd guess quality over quantity. Smaller means less heat/electric and less man power. This isn't a bad thing, could be an advantage to have higher quality even with less features.

So you're saying that the enrollment of a college does matter?   

[DuffMan]

Overheard at the luncheon, "Wouldn't it be great if the Tommies did win the National Championship, SJU announced their new coach right after the game?"  Talk about stealing someones thunder!

I can't imagine that would steal the thunder of bringing home the walnut and bronze! 

[oldsju67]

Overheard at the luncheon, "Wouldn't it be great if the Tommies did win the National Championship, SJU announced their new coach right after the game?"  Talk about stealing someones thunder!

I can't imagine that would steal the thunder of bringing home the walnut and bronze! 

It would as a news story....

[tommiegun]

Overheard at the luncheon, "Wouldn't it be great if the Tommies did win the National Championship, SJU announced their new coach right after the game?"  Talk about stealing someones thunder!

I can't imagine that would steal the thunder of bringing home the walnut and bronze! 

It would as a news story....

True, and it'd be super lowbrow.  Thought monks made beer? Not whine out of sour grapes.

[tommiegun]

GO TOMMIES!

Looks like a great day for playoff football!

[ron doney]

Small thought on facilities: $20M builds the facilities, but doesn't necessarily support them. What type of operating budget does SJU have to dedicate $X dollars specifically toward football facilities. That's probably going to be the limiting factor in the facility discussion. The operating budget is generally tied to enrollment.  When thinking new facilities at SJU, I'd guess quality over quantity. Smaller means less heat/electric and less man power. This isn't a bad thing, could be an advantage to have higher quality even with less features.

So you're saying that the enrollment of a college does matter?

Generally speaking.  Ultimately cash flow generated from the enrolled tuition is what matters.  So that brings in many additional factors including scholarships, discounts, bad debt, etc. 

I think those who read headlines on university fundraising/gifts miss out on an important point.  If somebody wants there name on the building, the majority of the donation goes towards the bricks and mortar.  It's great, but the University has to be careful that it can pay for the operating expense 5, 10, 20 years down the road.  The donor may set some monies aside, but they don't necessarily last 20 years.  Or maybe they put monies in the scholarship fund so that the university can shift payments into the scholarship fund over to the building operations. 

The simple idea is comparable to someone building me a million dollar home today.  My friends and neighbors would all think I'm rich, but couldn't afford to pay the bills - property taxes, heat, maintenance etc.  So maybe I'd start making my roommates pay more rent and increase my "enrollment" by renting out the basement.

I know just enough to be dangerous here.  I'm sure others with more experience can confirm/deny and shed more light on the subject.

[ron doney]

Attention Bennie or anyone who has expertise in admissions & financial aid matters.

I stumbled across this page on the UST website regarding scholarships and found it odd that a student could transfer to UST and receive up to $15K per year simply by being a full time student and carrying a 2.0 GPA. So I looked at the scholarship/financial aid sections of various (not all) MIAC schools. Here is what I found.

Augsburg has a transfer scholarship,but requires a 3.0 GPA. I thought a 3.0 GPA is reasonable to receive a scholarship.

Bethel, as far as I could see offered need based as well a academic scholarship with GPA much higher than 2.0

Concordia,has Transfer Scholarships of up to $15,000 and only states that it is based on GPA, but does not indicate the minimum GPA

St. Olaf offers a Buntrock Scholarship up to $18,000 where a student's potential in considered instead of strictly driven by GPA & test scores.

SJU/CSB  offers a variety of need based & academic scholarships.

The things that stuck me as odd on the UST Transfer Scholarships were the range from $1,000 - $15,000 and the 2.0GPA. There was no report and I'm not sure if they track if award winners are in various lines of study. An example would be a business student would be more or less likely to get a Transfer Scholarship than a Pre-Law student. Also,not knowing if athletes had a greater percentage of these types of scholarships than the general population and closer to the top end of the award rather than the lower end of the award.

Just looking for some discussions because there seems to be a wide variety of scholarships and how they are awarded from school to school in the MIAC.

Interesting.  After a quick glance as well I'd say we have to be clear on qualifications as they relate to receiving the award on one hand, and keeping the award on the other.  UST does not appear to list their qualifications for receiving the award, but rather those needed to keep the award.  The Augsburg qualifications on the other hand appear to be needed to receive the award.

I would imagine the qualifications needed to receive the award would be higher than those needed to keep the award.  This encourages students who do well at less challenging universities to transfer and have some breathing room in their first year to adjust to the course work. 

I think you are on to something here.  Would be a great project for an aspiring journalist major at a MIAC school.

[hazzben]

BTW- If I was AD (and had the appropriate decision making authority that most ADs have) I would have identified, at most, 5 prospective coaches to visit with immediately.  I would have asked John to join me on these visits and done these interviews on or off campus at the pleasure of the candidates.  On campus visits would be offered to only those coaches I was interested in hiring after our initial interview and on campus activities would be isolated to those that would be helpful in determining fit with students, athletic staff and appropriate administrators.  No punch and cookie socials for everyone!!  Those are stupid and offer no meaningful insight into anything relevant.  I would hire the best coach at the conclusion and offer the necessary financial support toward ensuring programmatic success.

My top three candidates would be:
Mike Grant- for all the obvious reasons.
Mike Van Diest- Carroll College (MT) HC.  6 National Titles (been to 8 title games)  Career record of 157-22.  It worked to poach from Carroll last time.
Vince Kehres- Mount Union DC.  Player or coach on 8 Nation Title teams.  Larry's son.  Been part of only 7 loses in his coaching career.

Having John come along on those visits may not be the best approach. It would seem to give an even stronger indication to the potential hire, "you are following a legend, he will be the elephant in the room for all you do, etc." Not gonna give a great HC prospect a sense that he'll get to do things his way.

Van Diest would be a killer hire. Carroll has had some excellent teams for a long time now. But what makes him want to leave what he's built at Carroll, where he's their version of Gags, to come to SJU, where he immediately starts out in the shadow of a program another guy built. It'd be a phenomenal hire, but I'm not sure how realistic it is.

As for Vince Kehres. I've heard murmuring that there's a reason he hasn't been hired by another school yet. Obviously has all the coaching pedigree you'd want, knows exactly what kind of player to recruit to win a Stagg, etc. But if memory serves, the UWRF people didn't seem to have great things to say about him during the interview process. Maybe I'm not remembering this correctly, but I thought I read something along those lines on the WIAC board a while back. My biggest concern with Vince would be, how sure are you he won't bolt for Mount as soon as Larry retires? But who knows how far out that will be...

Guess we'll see. It sure is fun to speculate though!

[hazzben]

Overheard at the luncheon, "Wouldn't it be great if the Tommies did win the National Championship, SJU announced their new coach right after the game?"  Talk about stealing someones thunder!

I can't imagine that would steal the thunder of bringing home the walnut and bronze! 

It would as a news story....

I'm with Duff, not nearly the news and lasting impact of winning the Stagg Bowl. And sorta dirty pool to time an announcement in such  a way. If that's the way the timing naturally falls, go ahead and announce it. But to contrive it to try to steal thunder ... 

[Pat Coleman]

If the transfer financial award or any other aid is given in greater proportion to athletes than non-athletes (within 4%)  then it will trigger action from the NCAA. They are definitely catching schools who have financial aid departments that are unaware.