FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[USTBench]

Duff,
Did you get to take the pallet home to build a dog house?

Bench is the one with the pallet dog.

Chained to a pallet on a reservation. Am still processing that one.

If you're ever in Devils Lake, North Dakota, just go south about 15 miles and it'll start to make sense.

Is that near Wahpeton? Didn't you get your law degree from some school near there, Bench?

Wahpeton is in the southeastern part of the state and home to the Giant sunflower seeds factory and Chahinkapa Zoo.

Devils Lake is in the middle of the state and has the best walleye fishing in the country.

UND, where I went to law school and grew up, is in the northeastern part of the state in Grand Forks and home to hockey and the Red Pepper.

[MiacMan]

Duff,
Did you get to take the pallet home to build a dog house?

Bench is the one with the pallet dog.

Chained to a pallet on a reservation. Am still processing that one.

If you're ever in Devils Lake, North Dakota, just go south about 15 miles and it'll start to make sense.

Is that near Wahpeton? Didn't you get your law degree from some school near there, Bench?

Wahpeton is in the southeastern part of the state and home to the Giant sunflower seeds factory and Chahinkapa Zoo.

Devils Lake is in the middle of the state and has the best walleye fishing in the country.

UND, where I went to law school and grew up, is in the northeastern part of the state in Grand Forks and home to hockey and the Red Pepper.

Oh, Thanks for clarifying. I thought you got it from that Science School in Wahpeton. 

[sowilson]

The league needs 4-5 nationally competitive if not ranked teams to get their mojo back. The MIAC also needs both Augsburg and Gustavus to step it up as well. Auggie historically has and still does get some great athletes they just don't have enough of them. Not sure of the fix, maybe expand their recruiting base? As for the Gusties it's hard to say. It seems they have everything going for them in terms of academics, facilities, even athletic tradition, they seem to be just letting the gap get bigger. Typically these decisions are philosophical and made at the board and Presidential level. All things considered Gustavus IMO, should be the Lutheran version of SJU.

I think GAC has a couple of very fixable problems. 1) Coaching - too many on staff who played at GAC.  That can be OK if the coaches have spent time elsewhere and developed alternate views.  They have done a couple of good things on offense to improve the running game which should have payoffs if they continue.  Defense needs work from up front.  Major problem - no pass rush against decent teams.  They have the personal on staff to address this problem, they choose not to utilize them - I guess they enjoy loosing or believe that a 6 second pass rush is good execution.  2) Recruiting - they seem to believe that they're going to get a bunch of athletic freaks.  Sorry but those are taken up in D1 and some in D2.  At D3 look for guys with high football IQ, well developed skills, and reasonable athletics.  If true athletic freaks end up in D3 it's usually for a reason, many of which aren't all that good.  Take another trip to Mexico and recruit some more. 3) Strength and Conditioning.  GAC needs a head S&C coach over all the sports, they are seriously lacking in S&C coaching even for a D3. 4) Facilities - worst weight room in the MIAC.  It's a death trap waiting to happen.  The worst aspects can be fixed for less than $20K but they want to wait until they can build new facilities.  The good news is that the school recently received $25M some of which is slated for facility upgrades so hope springs eternal, I just hope no one gets decapitated before they fix things.

[art76]

The MIAC is pretty well represented in the D3 All region teams: http://www.d3football.com/awards/all-region/2017/d3football-all-west-region-2017

[sjusection105]

Duff,
Did you get to take the pallet home to build a dog house?

Bench is the one with the pallet dog.

Like this?

[retagent]

I like that the Johnnies hav three returning players that are on the All Region teams.

[57Johnnie]

BTW what kind of dog is that you hunt with? Pretty cool looking, looks big too?

He's a Spinone Italiano.  He's 85 lbs at 16 months old.

He can still compete in Derby Stakes for 8 months. 

[USTBench]

MiacMan,

Don't be too quick to knock NDSCS. My uncle graduated from there and he's a major player at the DOT. One of the top highwaymen in the biz. Also, their football team sends guys to FBS Power 5 schools like crazy.

[MiacMan]

MiacMan,

Don't be too quick to knock NDSCS. My uncle graduated from there and he's a major player at the DOT. One of the top highwaymen in the biz. Also, their football team sends guys to FBS Power 5 schools like crazy.

Too funny, that's the only way I knew about NDSCS. They had a bit of a reputation of taking prop 48 rockstar football players from the Twin Cities and sending them on to major D1 conferences. The kids I knew of wouldn't have been able to spell DOT. On a side note, did you go to know or go to school with Brooks Bollinger?

[USTBench]

MiacMan,

Don't be too quick to knock NDSCS. My uncle graduated from there and he's a major player at the DOT. One of the top highwaymen in the biz. Also, their football team sends guys to FBS Power 5 schools like crazy.

Too funny, that's the only way I knew about NDSCS. They had a bit of a reputation of taking prop 48 rockstar football players from the Twin Cities and sending them on to major D1 conferences. The kids I knew of wouldn't have been able to spell DOT. On a side note, did you go to know or go to school with Brooks Bollinger?

Yes. We both went to Grand Forks Central. He was a senior when I was a sophomore. This was back when the mission at the GFAFB was the 319th Air Refueling Wing, so we had some kids from down south and were able to compete with the Bismarck and Fargo schools in football (Now it's pretty much drones, so most of the base kids at GFC have nerd dads, not big mechanic dads who work on KC-135s). Good times. I was just dressing for varsity at the time (not playing unless it was serious blowout territory), but Bollinger was also our scout team QB so I at least got to pretend to be lining up with the first team offense with Bollinger as my QB. 

[MiacMan]

MiacMan,

Don't be too quick to knock NDSCS. My uncle graduated from there and he's a major player at the DOT. One of the top highwaymen in the biz. Also, their football team sends guys to FBS Power 5 schools like crazy.

Too funny, that's the only way I knew about NDSCS. They had a bit of a reputation of taking prop 48 rockstar football players from the Twin Cities and sending them on to major D1 conferences. The kids I knew of wouldn't have been able to spell DOT. On a side note, did you go to know or go to school with Brooks Bollinger?

Yes. We both went to Grand Forks Central. He was a senior when I was a sophomore. This was back when the mission at the GFAFB was the 319th Air Refueling Wing, so we had some kids from down south and were able to compete with the Bismarck and Fargo schools in football (Now it's pretty much drones, so most of the base kids at GFC have nerd dads, not big mechanic dads who work on KC-135s). Good times. I was just dressing for varsity at the time (not playing unless it was serious blowout territory), but Bollinger was also our scout team QB so I at least got to pretend to be lining up with the first team offense with Bollinger as my QB. 

Cool, I thought you may have overlapped. I have gotten to know Brooks over the last two years because my son has played for him at CDH. I can't say enough great things about him. He really emphasizes making young men responsible citizens, employees, husbands and fathers and he walks his own talk. They had a great season but, I would have been happy if they hadn't won game with what my son got out of the program.

[OldAuggie]

BTW what kind of dog is that you hunt with? Pretty cool looking, looks big too?

He's a Spinone Italiano.  He's 85 lbs at 16 months old.

He can still compete in Derby Stakes for 8 months. 

....but DuffMan won't break him so he will never make it as a shooting dog, thus ending his career as a FT dog.   

[USTBench]

MiacMan,

Don't be too quick to knock NDSCS. My uncle graduated from there and he's a major player at the DOT. One of the top highwaymen in the biz. Also, their football team sends guys to FBS Power 5 schools like crazy.

Too funny, that's the only way I knew about NDSCS. They had a bit of a reputation of taking prop 48 rockstar football players from the Twin Cities and sending them on to major D1 conferences. The kids I knew of wouldn't have been able to spell DOT. On a side note, did you go to know or go to school with Brooks Bollinger?

Yes. We both went to Grand Forks Central. He was a senior when I was a sophomore. This was back when the mission at the GFAFB was the 319th Air Refueling Wing, so we had some kids from down south and were able to compete with the Bismarck and Fargo schools in football (Now it's pretty much drones, so most of the base kids at GFC have nerd dads, not big mechanic dads who work on KC-135s). Good times. I was just dressing for varsity at the time (not playing unless it was serious blowout territory), but Bollinger was also our scout team QB so I at least got to pretend to be lining up with the first team offense with Bollinger as my QB. 

Cool, I thought you may have overlapped. I have gotten to know Brooks over the last two years because my son has played for him at CDH. I can't say enough great things about him. He really emphasizes making young men responsible citizens, employees, husbands and fathers and he walks his own talk. They had a great season but, I would have been happy if they hadn't won game with what my son got out of the program.

It's a good football family. At the time, Rob Bollinger just transitioned from the OC at UND to fundraiser type and would work with us in the winter and summer. A lot of guys from my HS went on to play college ball with the way the program was set up at the time. UND, NDSU, Nebraska-Omaha, Bemidji State, etc.

If you read the "Monster Rally" article about Bollinger's friend Mark Hoverson, I also attended HS with him.

[OzJohnnie]

Sacrilege.

https://phys.org/news/2017-12-scientists-beer-fuel.html

Scientists turn beer into fuel

[MiacMan]

The league needs 4-5 nationally competitive if not ranked teams to get their mojo back. The MIAC also needs both Augsburg and Gustavus to step it up as well. Auggie historically has and still does get some great athletes they just don't have enough of them. Not sure of the fix, maybe expand their recruiting base? As for the Gusties it's hard to say. It seems they have everything going for them in terms of academics, facilities, even athletic tradition, they seem to be just letting the gap get bigger. Typically these decisions are philosophical and made at the board and Presidential level. All things considered Gustavus IMO, should be the Lutheran version of SJU.

I think GAC has a couple of very fixable problems. 1) Coaching - too many on staff who played at GAC.  That can be OK if the coaches have spent time elsewhere and developed alternate views.  They have done a couple of good things on offense to improve the running game which should have payoffs if they continue.  Defense needs work from up front.  Major problem - no pass rush against decent teams.  They have the personal on staff to address this problem, they choose not to utilize them - I guess they enjoy loosing or believe that a 6 second pass rush is good execution.  2) Recruiting - they seem to believe that they're going to get a bunch of athletic freaks.  Sorry but those are taken up in D1 and some in D2.  At D3 look for guys with high football IQ, well developed skills, and reasonable athletics.  If true athletic freaks end up in D3 it's usually for a reason, many of which aren't all that good.  Take another trip to Mexico and recruit some more. 3) Strength and Conditioning.  GAC needs a head S&C coach over all the sports, they are seriously lacking in S&C coaching even for a D3. 4) Facilities - worst weight room in the MIAC.  It's a death trap waiting to happen.  The worst aspects can be fixed for less than $20K but they want to wait until they can build new facilities.  The good news is that the school recently received $25M some of which is slated for facility upgrades so hope springs eternal, I just hope no one gets decapitated before they fix things.

Sowilson, Thanks for the update on GAC! I had no idea about their weight room, yikes! That certainly can be an issue especially if it's dangerous. Hopefully they get it together. A top tier competitive GAC program will certainly help bolster the MIAC on a national level.