FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

I'm just disgusted.  Cowards.

[OzJohnnie]

How bad do we think the St. Thomas-St. Olaf game is going to be this year? Do you think Caruso is going to be blood drunk?

I bet the game is really tame. UST will be showing themselves to whomever their new conference partners will be. And they will want to show themselves as good sports who don't do petty revenge, particularly if they are moving up divisions. My guess is STO don't score but UST win by less than 60.

[Caz Bombers]

"St. Thomas wins too much, kicked out of MIAC" is now a verbatim headline on ESPN.com.

Things are going great for you, COL, you're doing a grape job.

[Gregory Sager]

St. Thomas won the Durenberger every year from 1980-1996. No one cared. No one cares now either. What changed? Football.

Somebody obviously cares now, because it's the reason that the MIAC presidents have cited.

Sometimes it's what's not in a document that's the most telling. In that FAQ that UST just released, there's not one single mention of UST's ongoing D3 membership or of the possibililty of moving to D1 or D2. UST's leadership isn't even entertaining that issue within a public mode. Instead, the FAQ is all about "changing conferences".

Sure. Except the conference could be the NSIC.

My thoughts as well. It could explain the somewhat cryptic language of that FAQ, especially given that a school can't get into D2 without an invitation to join a D2 conference, and UST is obviously wary of putting the cart before the horse as far as the NSIC is concerned.

['95 Blugold]

Would the ARC be a good fit for them? Don't know if they have any hockey programs. At least with the WIAC the men's would have the automatic qualifier if St. Thomas went that route.

On a side note observation, how much of this all sports related vs. football related vs. Coach Caruso related? 

As a UWEC alum and frequenter of many Tommie/Blugold matchups in recent years, I've a good number of 2pt conversions, trick plays, onside kicks, 4th down conversions with the game well out of hand. Some of these lower tier MIAC schools are getting blown out by the St. John's & Bethel's as well, but I don't see any push to get them out of the conference.

[WW]

B1G should be a poll option

[CobberHawkeye]

As a UWEC alum and frequenter of many Tommie/Blugold matchups in recent years, I've a good number of 2pt conversions, trick plays, onside kicks, 4th down conversions with the game well out of hand. Some of these lower tier MIAC schools are getting blown out by the St. John's & Bethel's as well, but I don't see any push to get them out of the conference.

...yet

[Inkblot]

Would the ARC be a good fit for them? Don't know if they have any hockey programs.

The ARC doesn't have any. All the Midwestern hockey programs not in the MIAC or WIAC (including UW-Superior) play in the NCHA, which currently has 12 members in MN, WI, IL, MI, and IN. In other sports, these schools compete in the ACAA (Finlandia), MIAA (Adrian, Trine), MWC (Lake Forest, Lawrence, St. Norbert), NACC (Aurora, Concordia WI, Marian, MSOE), and UMAC (Northland, St. Scholastica).

[Gregory Sager]

Would the ARC be a good fit for them? Don't know if they have any hockey programs. At least with the WIAC the men's would have the automatic qualifier if St. Thomas went that route.

The ARC doesn't sponsor hockey -- either men or women -- and none of the ARC schools sponsor teams in either one of those two sports.

My read is that hockey -- both genders -- will pose a considerable problem for UST to find a proper fit if it doesn't get an invite to join the WIAC.

[sfury]

St. Thomas won the Durenberger every year from 1980-1996. No one cared. No one cares now either. What changed? Football.

Somebody obviously cares now, because it's the reason that the MIAC presidents have cited.

Sometimes it's what's not in a document that's the most telling. In that FAQ that UST just released, there's not one single mention of UST's ongoing D3 membership or of the possibililty of moving to D1 or D2. UST's leadership isn't even entertaining that issue within a public mode. Instead, the FAQ is all about "changing conferences".

Sure. Except the conference could be the NSIC.

My thoughts as well. It could explain the somewhat cryptic language of that FAQ, especially given that a school can't get into D2 without an invitation to join a D2 conference, and UST is obviously wary of putting the cart before the horse as far as the NSIC is concerned.

That's what I'm saying. No one cares if the Tommies' efforts in track, baseball, hoops or hockey help them win the Durenberger. Not even the presidents. Or they would have cared 20 years ago. One thing has changed. The Tommies' success in football. That's what they care about.

And again there are folks with firsthand knowledge of the situation who say it is about dislike of Caruso.

[WashedUp]

I'm going to UST v. Olaf for sure. We need a MIAC PostPatterns tailgate. My Olaf heckling is gonna
be in rare form that Saturday.

Circle the date on your calendars, November 2, 2019 at St. Olaf.

UST should just pillage the town of Northfield for a week or so. B2B weeks against Carleton & St Olaf. If there is a next of kin in the CoL it is definitely Carleton. Storm the town and knock over the eagle the statue they turn back and forth for their annual pillow fight "rivalry."

don't knock that rivalry game....heck over 1 ,000 people show up for it! they can almost fill Laird Stadium on that day. if they played it at Target Field, they'd draw.....1100?

We deserve this.  I'm so disappointed in the Carleton administration for going along with this cowardly act.

[CobberHawkeye]

Ok...so the underlying commentary is that if St. Thomas didn't go, the lower tier would have:

"St. Thomas expended tremendous effort to remain in the MIAC and stabilize the conference," St. Thomas president Julie H. Sullivan said in a statement. "However, the presidents came to a consensus that the conference itself would cease to exist in its current form if St. Thomas remained."

So I'm curious as to people's speculation as to how the MIAC scenario would have played out if the 9 votes weren't there and St. Thomas stayed:

-Who leaves?
-Where do those that leave go?
-Who stays?
-Who gets added, if any?

[AO]

"St. Thomas wins too much, kicked out of MIAC" is now a verbatim headline on ESPN.com.

Things are going great for you, COL, you're doing a grape job.

Nice little article from Myron Medcalf.  http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/26801838/st-thomas-wins-too-much-kicked-miac

I know this is terrible news but it's still fun to see twitter and the media world light up about something to do with D3.

[Gregory Sager]

St. Thomas won the Durenberger every year from 1980-1996. No one cared. No one cares now either. What changed? Football.

Somebody obviously cares now, because it's the reason that the MIAC presidents have cited.

Sometimes it's what's not in a document that's the most telling. In that FAQ that UST just released, there's not one single mention of UST's ongoing D3 membership or of the possibililty of moving to D1 or D2. UST's leadership isn't even entertaining that issue within a public mode. Instead, the FAQ is all about "changing conferences".

Sure. Except the conference could be the NSIC.

My thoughts as well. It could explain the somewhat cryptic language of that FAQ, especially given that a school can't get into D2 without an invitation to join a D2 conference, and UST is obviously wary of putting the cart before the horse as far as the NSIC is concerned.

That's what I'm saying. No one cares if the Tommies' efforts in track, baseball, hoops or hockey help them win the Durenberger. Not even the presidents. Or they would have cared 20 years ago. One thing has changed. The Tommies' success in football. That's what they care about.

And again there are folks with firsthand knowledge of the situation who say it is about dislike of Caruso.

... except that we've already heard from Augsburg's President Pribbenow that Tomtoss is the culmination of circumstances that've been simmering for many years -- and those circumstances have been addressed here on this board quite a bit over the past two months. And President Pribbenow's statement seems to have been reiterated in GAC President Bergman's statement today with her reference to "the last several years" of discussions over MIAC membership (i.e., what to do about the UST problem).

Is football the thin edge of the wedge here? Possibly ... in fact, perhaps even probably, given the outsized role the sport plays in athletics budgets and student-athlete enrollment figures at the D3 level. But, again, this isn't D1. The tail doesn't wag the dog here. As both presidents have cited, and are thus obviously well aware, over 7,000 MIAC student-athletes are involved in this -- and the vast majority of them don't play football.

All of you football guys keep pointing at UST's 97-0 thrashing of St. Olaf, based upon some anonymous source cited by the Strib, but that game was only two years ago.

[Gregory Sager]

"St. Thomas wins too much, kicked out of MIAC" is now a verbatim headline on ESPN.com.

Things are going great for you, COL, you're doing a grape job.

Nice little article from Myron Medcalf.  http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/26801838/st-thomas-wins-too-much-kicked-miac

I know this is terrible news but it's still fun to see twitter and the media world light up about something to do with D3.

One thing's for sure: The MIAC is a getting a serious black eye, PR-wise, for this action, both in the local and national press and on social media.

Aside from the two (very) brief statements I've mentioned by the presidents of Augsburg and GAC (the former of which appeared to be leaked to the press), the MIAC presidents have been extremely quiet. I think that their cloak of secrecy has only made their PR situation worse.

So ... do they hunker down and try to wait it out, going with the idea that weathering out the storm of bad press until it all blows over is the best strategy, or is somebody from the MIAC going to meet with the media and go over this, blow-by-blow, in order to tell the league's side of the story?