FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[miac952]

My recent off season prediction of wrestler Lance Benick transferring to Augsburg from ASU worked out so I am going to double down and predict that Ramler will be named the Assistant Head Coach/OC at Augsburg sometime soon. Replacing Privette.

Hmm. Interesting. That would be a good fit. Augsburg has the athletes for an offensive innovator like Ramler to do some amazing things. Would there be any behind the scenes "Head Coach in waiting" title handed to him? Is Haege close to retirement?

[miac952]

That's such an interesting picture -- Ramler at W&L.

One thing is for sure: He would want to change the offense.

Yes. Which wouldn't make me happy. But you don't dismiss a guy who played and coached under a legend, coached at a high academic school, and had success running his own program, quickly or easily. Those qualifications aren't just run of the mill resume fodder.

HE WON AT CARLETON. The resume can start and stop right there. King Saban could walk through the doors at Carleton and struggle for years. The administration forgot they even have a football team. Every couple years they watch the river flood over into their football stadium, leaving it in complete ruins, and say oh well. I have always thought Caruso's greatest success may have been flipping Mac to a .500 football team. Ramler elevated beyond that at Carleton, and then they sunk back after he left.

He was 1-2 plays away from taking a Carleton team to the NCAA tourney. UST beat them on a last second play, and the end of season SJU game came down to the wire. If either of those flip the other way, they are in the NCAA tournament with a legitimate chance to win a first round game.

[OldAuggie]

My recent off season prediction of wrestler Lance Benick transferring to Augsburg from ASU worked out so I am going to double down and predict that Ramler will be named the Assistant Head Coach/OC at Augsburg sometime soon. Replacing Privette.

Hmm. Interesting. That would be a good fit. Augsburg has the athletes for an offensive innovator like Ramler to do some amazing things. Would there be any behind the scenes "Head Coach in waiting" title handed to him? Is Haege close to retirement?

I don't think Haege is close to retirement, he is not slowing down yet anyway. Drew always had the Assistant Head Coach title as well as Offensive Coordinator title and I always assumed he would take over if Haege took a different coaching job.

[MiacMan]

Kurt is an outstanding coach. He has done a fantastic job wherever he's been. I got to spend some time with Kurt several years ago and I thought Carleton was the perfect fit for him. He can be a little quirky and is pretty intellectual as far as football coaches go. He is a super competitor and probably would be a great fit for like a Stanford or Cal (as an assistant first), or maybe the equivalent at the D3 level as a head coach. He needs to find a D3 school with high powered academics but strongly values the mainstream sports to the point that they are willing to fund them equally to the top tier teams in the country. I am not sure just who that might be? Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, one of NESCAC schools? 

[jknezek]

Kurt is an outstanding coach. He has done a fantastic job wherever he's been. I got to spend some time with Kurt several years ago and I thought Carleton was the perfect fit for him. He can be a little quirky and is pretty intellectual as far as football coaches go. He is a super competitor and probably would be a great fit for like a Stanford or Cal (as an assistant first), or maybe the equivalent at the D3 level as a head coach. He needs to find a D3 school with high powered academics but strongly values the mainstream sports to the point that they are willing to fund them equally to the top tier teams in the country. I am not sure just who that might be? Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, one of NESCAC schools?

I don't think it's funding that's the problem. Most of these schools have amazing facilities, W&L just completed a h&h with CMS, CMU is now picking up that CMS ball, and those kinds of series don't come cheap. Funding isn't the issue. It's getting the athletes in the door. The pool of kids that can play at the top tier of DIII, but not in the Patriot League or the Ivy League or get preferred walk on status at schools like Duke or Vanderbuilt, is small. Getting enough of those kids, regularly, to compete at the top tier of DIII is simply unlikely. I give JHU all kinds of credit for being in that top 25 of teams for over a decade. It's really been an impressive streak that no one else with those kinds of academic standards has matched lately. Certainly W&J had glory years, and Hobart made a couple runs, but year in and out JHU is a threat to win at least one game in the tournament.

[DuffMan]

Back to SJU for Kurt! 

[jamtod]

Back to SJU for Kurt! 

I guess the big time SJU boosters have had it with Fasching after losing 7 of 9 to UST.

[MiacMan]

Kurt is an outstanding coach. He has done a fantastic job wherever he's been. I got to spend some time with Kurt several years ago and I thought Carleton was the perfect fit for him. He can be a little quirky and is pretty intellectual as far as football coaches go. He is a super competitor and probably would be a great fit for like a Stanford or Cal (as an assistant first), or maybe the equivalent at the D3 level as a head coach. He needs to find a D3 school with high powered academics but strongly values the mainstream sports to the point that they are willing to fund them equally to the top tier teams in the country. I am not sure just who that might be? Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, one of NESCAC schools?

I don't think it's funding that's the problem. Most of these schools have amazing facilities, W&L just completed a h&h with CMS, CMU is now picking up that CMS ball, and those kinds of series don't come cheap. Funding isn't the issue. It's getting the athletes in the door. The pool of kids that can play at the top tier of DIII, but not in the Patriot League or the Ivy League or get preferred walk on status at schools like Duke or Vanderbuilt, is small. Getting enough of those kids, regularly, to compete at the top tier of DIII is simply unlikely. I give JHU all kinds of credit for being in that top 25 of teams for over a decade. It's really been an impressive streak that no one else with those kinds of academic standards has matched lately. Certainly W&J had glory years, and Hobart made a couple runs, but year in and out JHU is a threat to win at least one game in the tournament.

Totally agree, great points. It is getting the athletes in the door and then keeping them through graduation. This is where I believe the "funding" comes in. They need to have a bigger recruiting budget (fly in recruits for on campus visits) and be able to compete financially with aid to land the top tier kids. It is a very fine line to walk. Anyway, a school like this, IMO, would be a good fit for Kurt. (outside of SJ2 of course)

[jknezek]

Kurt is an outstanding coach. He has done a fantastic job wherever he's been. I got to spend some time with Kurt several years ago and I thought Carleton was the perfect fit for him. He can be a little quirky and is pretty intellectual as far as football coaches go. He is a super competitor and probably would be a great fit for like a Stanford or Cal (as an assistant first), or maybe the equivalent at the D3 level as a head coach. He needs to find a D3 school with high powered academics but strongly values the mainstream sports to the point that they are willing to fund them equally to the top tier teams in the country. I am not sure just who that might be? Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon, one of NESCAC schools?

I don't think it's funding that's the problem. Most of these schools have amazing facilities, W&L just completed a h&h with CMS, CMU is now picking up that CMS ball, and those kinds of series don't come cheap. Funding isn't the issue. It's getting the athletes in the door. The pool of kids that can play at the top tier of DIII, but not in the Patriot League or the Ivy League or get preferred walk on status at schools like Duke or Vanderbuilt, is small. Getting enough of those kids, regularly, to compete at the top tier of DIII is simply unlikely. I give JHU all kinds of credit for being in that top 25 of teams for over a decade. It's really been an impressive streak that no one else with those kinds of academic standards has matched lately. Certainly W&J had glory years, and Hobart made a couple runs, but year in and out JHU is a threat to win at least one game in the tournament.

Totally agree, great points. It is getting the athletes in the door and then keeping them through graduation. This is where I believe the "funding" comes in. They need to have a bigger recruiting budget (fly in recruits for on campus visits) and be able to compete financially with aid to land the top tier kids. It is a very fine line to walk. Anyway, a school like this, IMO, would be a good fit for Kurt. (outside of SJ2 of course)

Financial aid at most of the top tier schools is extremely generous. W&L's "real cost of attendance" was below 20K per year. Most liberal arts schools real costs were 5-10K higher. At some point it is simply not worth doing. You have to increase the financial aid for everyone, after all, in DIII if you are trying to increase it for athletes. Recruiting is probably a fair point, as is the number of full and part time coaches, though those are also very competitive at most of the higher academic schools. But I'm just not sure those schools consider it much of a boon to the school to spend the money. What is the upside of a National Football Championship when your acceptance rate is below 25% of applicants and your applicant pool is in the top tier of pools in the country academically?

It's an interesting thought, and again it shows why I'm so amazed by JHU, but I just don't see the upside, as much as I'd like to see my guys make a post season run.

[OzJohnnie]

Back to SJU for Kurt! 

Should we start an off-season betting pool?  I’ve got a little Hawthorn gear I can give away again. Couple scarfs and stuff.

What should the question be?  Where does Kurt go?  Or maybe on which day it’s announced he’s returned to where he belongs?

[MiacMan]

JK,  excellent synopsis.  You know your stuff.  Must have been around it. I guess that's why most of these  schools don't compete at the national level in football.

[DuffMan]

Back to SJU for Kurt! 

I guess the big time SJU boosters have had it with Fasching after losing 7 of 9 to UST.

Who said head coach?

[raiderguy]

St. Thomas

Connor Souba, QB, Chaska HS: https://twitter.com/connor_soubs/status/953084944028504065
Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/profile/4058260/connor-souba
MN High School All Star Game Participant: http://www.swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/news/sports/roane-souba-help-south-all-stars-to-victory/article_06dd1332-49ae-5fe5-9d23-83b1693077bc.html

Jayzee Brown, QB, Minneapolis Southwest HS: https://twitter.com/Jay_Swish00/status/953071396518756352
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/7697131/jayzee-brown

Max Zimmerman, FB/LB, Brainerd HS: https://twitter.com/MaxTZimmerman/status/953062707124633600
Hudl: http://www.donat_e.hudl.com/profile/5646268/max-zimmerman/videos

Ben Bruhn, WR, Tartan HS: https://twitter.com/benbruhn17/status/948390500662472704
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/6132099/ben-bruhn

UST Commits From Cretin-Derham Hall:

Anthony Czech, 5-9, 170, SS/RB, Captain, Academic All-State

Charlie Phythian, 6-7, 260, OL/DL, Scholarship Offers From: N. Michigan and U of San Diego

Do you think it will really matters? Now you can beat someone 150-0 and still get your butt kicked in the playoffs!

[WRMUalum13]

St. Thomas

Connor Souba, QB, Chaska HS: https://twitter.com/connor_soubs/status/953084944028504065
Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/profile/4058260/connor-souba
MN High School All Star Game Participant: http://www.swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/news/sports/roane-souba-help-south-all-stars-to-victory/article_06dd1332-49ae-5fe5-9d23-83b1693077bc.html

Jayzee Brown, QB, Minneapolis Southwest HS: https://twitter.com/Jay_Swish00/status/953071396518756352
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/7697131/jayzee-brown

Max Zimmerman, FB/LB, Brainerd HS: https://twitter.com/MaxTZimmerman/status/953062707124633600
Hudl: http://www.donat_e.hudl.com/profile/5646268/max-zimmerman/videos

Ben Bruhn, WR, Tartan HS: https://twitter.com/benbruhn17/status/948390500662472704
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/6132099/ben-bruhn

UST Commits From Cretin-Derham Hall:

Anthony Czech, 5-9, 170, SS/RB, Captain, Academic All-State

Charlie Phythian, 6-7, 260, OL/DL, Scholarship Offers From: N. Michigan and U of San Diego

Do you think it will really matters? Now you can beat someone 150-0 and still get your butt kicked in the playoffs!

University of San Diego is a non-scholarship FCS school.

[MiacMan]

St. Thomas

Connor Souba, QB, Chaska HS: https://twitter.com/connor_soubs/status/953084944028504065
Hudl: https://www.hudl.com/profile/4058260/connor-souba
MN High School All Star Game Participant: http://www.swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/news/sports/roane-souba-help-south-all-stars-to-victory/article_06dd1332-49ae-5fe5-9d23-83b1693077bc.html

Jayzee Brown, QB, Minneapolis Southwest HS: https://twitter.com/Jay_Swish00/status/953071396518756352
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/7697131/jayzee-brown

Max Zimmerman, FB/LB, Brainerd HS: https://twitter.com/MaxTZimmerman/status/953062707124633600
Hudl: http://www.donat_e.hudl.com/profile/5646268/max-zimmerman/videos

Ben Bruhn, WR, Tartan HS: https://twitter.com/benbruhn17/status/948390500662472704
Hudl: http://www.hudl.com/profile/6132099/ben-bruhn

UST Commits From Cretin-Derham Hall:

Anthony Czech, 5-9, 170, SS/RB, Captain, Academic All-State

Charlie Phythian, 6-7, 260, OL/DL, Scholarship Offers From: N. Michigan and U of San Diego

Do you think it will really matters? Now you can beat someone 150-0 and still get your butt kicked in the playoffs!

University of San Diego is a non-scholarship FCS school.

Yeah, you're right. I should have  caught that. I know  the parents. I will find out the story. Maybe I have the school wrong. Stay tuned.