FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[faunch]

There goes the near-lock that the MIAC had on pool C bids.

Doesn't this force sju and bethel to seek out more challenging non-conference schedules? I guess if UST hangs around D3 for a few years after the breakup that could help to fill a non-conference game and build the SOS.
Also how tough will it be for MIAC teams to schedule 3 non conference games...to me that's demonstrates the lack of vision of the presidents. And so what if MAC comes back to the league for football....just another loser to kick the crap out of!!

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/05/22/st-thomas-removed-miac-competitive-parity-division-iii

The last paragraph says it all "Why ever try at anything when being awesome can backfire on you in such an aggressive way?"

[Texas Ole]

President Anderson did not hire Meidt.  They overlapped for 2 years. 

One of the reasons Meidt had to put 70+ on some teams is due to a defense that could give up 65.  I am not going to put that defense on the players.  The defensive schemes were mess under McCarthy and Stern.  Anyone want to remind me of the 2005 game at SJU?  Yeah that was ugly.  The one I had forgotten was the blowout at Carleton was a 1 point game at the half.  The final touchdown was a defensive score on a poorly thrown ball to the flat that was picked off by a DB that rarely saw the field.  I'd argue several posters on this board right now could have scored on that play.  That was Meidt's second to last game.  Kurt Ramler was the coach at Carleton who I grew to greatly admire. 

If St. Olaf wants to look at how they got to where they are in football it probably starts with Meidt.  The defense under Meidt could be a mess.  I don't think Meidt left the team in great shape.  When OJ was hired I am never sure he was given the full authority to make changes especially when it came to the defense.  McCarthy and Stern were kept on the staff.  When OJ left Stern was promoted.  I had always heard great things about Stern especially as a recruiter, but based on past defensive issues I had my concerns.  My interactions with him were generally positive.  I just think as a coach though he showed plenty of shortcomings.  Basically Meidt leaves the team in a bad spot.  OJ gets handcuffed with what he can do for the team, but is able to field a winner.  Then you make an easy hire rather than the right hire.  No wonder the Oles struggled with football.

Edit:  I was not happy when OJ was hired.  I had heard rumors of other candidates that seemed more attractive.  Then I met OJ and realized we had something special.  St. Olaf was getting killed by Carleton in OJ's first year.  I ended up sitting next to a very prominent member of the St. Olaf community who commented about their disappointment with OJ and this game.  I suggested they meet him and hold judgement until then.  I knew the Oles were better off when he arrived on campus, and everyday he proved me correct.  He was a good coach and far better man.

[Ralph Turner]

There goes the near-lock that the MIAC had on pool C bids.

Doesn't this force sju and bethel to seek out more challenging non-conference schedules? I guess if UST hangs around D3 for a few years after the breakup that could help to fill a non-conference game and build the SOS.
Also how tough will it be for MIAC teams to schedule 3 non conference games...to me that's demonstrates the lack of vision of the presidents. And so what if MAC comes back to the league for football....just another loser to kick the crap out of!!

What if scheduling 3 non-conference football games is not a priority for the MIAC presidents?

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

There goes the near-lock that the MIAC had on pool C bids.

Doesn't this force sju and bethel to seek out more challenging non-conference schedules? I guess if UST hangs around D3 for a few years after the breakup that could help to fill a non-conference game and build the SOS.
Also how tough will it be for MIAC teams to schedule 3 non conference games...to me that's demonstrates the lack of vision of the presidents. And so what if MAC comes back to the league for football....just another loser to kick the crap out of!!

What if scheduling 3 non-conference football games is not a priority for the MIAC presidents?

What 3rd non-conference game?   Supposedly Mac will bring it football squad back to the MIAC once St Thomas is gone.  so you replace UST with MAC on your schedule and get an easy W.

[Pat Coleman]

There goes the near-lock that the MIAC had on pool C bids.

Doesn't this force sju and bethel to seek out more challenging non-conference schedules? I guess if UST hangs around D3 for a few years after the breakup that could help to fill a non-conference game and build the SOS.
Also how tough will it be for MIAC teams to schedule 3 non conference games...to me that's demonstrates the lack of vision of the presidents. And so what if MAC comes back to the league for football....just another loser to kick the crap out of!!

What if scheduling 3 non-conference football games is not a priority for the MIAC presidents?

What 3rd non-conference game?   Supposedly Mac will bring it football squad back to the MIAC once St Thomas is gone.  so you replace UST with MAC on your schedule and get an easy W.

And lower your SOS by a ton of points in the process.

[Gregory Sager]

But that's what we keep saying. There are people on this board with firsthand knowledge about this situation. Not secondhand, not hearsay, not 9 free articles left on the Star Tribune's website. People with real insider info about what the presidents said behind closed doors (it's about football; and 100 percent, no one should dismiss Andy's question about Tommies possibly being blackmailed into getting rid of Caruso in order to get a reprieve, which just makes the whole thing even more of a joke).

What I keep seeing here is people touting secondhand information, along the lines of, "I know somebody who was in the room when Athletic Director X said this," or "I've been told by someone who talked to President Y that he said that." Yes, that's insider info, but it isn't firsthand insider info.

If someone here has had information on this subject related directly to him from a MIAC president or athletic director and then posted it here, then I don't remember seeing it. Perhaps I've overlooked it, so if someone wants to speak up and point that out, I'd appreciate it.

In addition, there are numerous posters here who are still very close with the players involved in this whole decision. There are also posters here from the origins of the board back in 1999 or whatever, much less the 2005 restart, who know the ins and outs and where the bodies are buried in the MIAC. So some of the tidbits you're talking about are going to cause some eyerolls, like being surprised by the Tommies' all-around dominance. Everyone associated with the MIAC is well aware.

I'm not following you. Who was surprised by the Tommies' all-around dominance? I don't remember suggesting that any MIAC fans were surprised by it.

So the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer naivete, last-honest-man-in-room bit is going to possibly cause some annoyance.

You're mischaracterizing me. I never insinuated that I was the last honest man in the room. I did say that human beings are prone to subjectivity because of their own biases -- but I also took pains to note that I wasn't pointing any fingers at anybody in that regard.

Also, to be honest, I think that my outsider status is what is grating on people to some degree ... which is why this will be my last post on this subject.

That said, everyone's welcome here on the MIAC board, and now that we'll be losing many of our Tommie brothers, we can use all the new blood we can get. So bone up on your beer knowledge and Aussie Rules football, since that's about all we'll have to talk about after 2021.

Beer! That's it! I've made beer posts here before. It was just a few weeks ago that I was discussing various Summit Brewery varieties with somebody on this board. So take that, DuffMan!

Aussie Rules? I have only the most basic understanding of the game. But it's certainly fun to watch.

[DuffMan]

Sir Gregory:
Redtooth has popped into the conversation numerous times and was AD at Concordia for some of these discussions.

(mic drop)

There are so many places to start when discussing the current state of affairs in the MIAC....I know way too much information on this situation....Let me start off by stating the origin of this matter was UST Football's dominance and a real demonization of Glenn Caruso as HC....The fact is, he has developed a nationally relevant, incredibly successful football program.  That coupled with Steve Fritz' wonderful vision as AD to excel as a total program....they invested and committed to building a Winning Department.  The bottom half of this league in the meantime has acted as though we are still in the 1970s, and then wondered why student athletes don't go to their schools.  Schools with billion dollar endowments that don't invest in athletics and then bitch when a competitor makes a different investment and commitment decision is the absolute definition of hypocrisy.

What the Presidents are now engaged in doing with the bylaws (modifying to create an Enrollment cap that would only impact one school) has been done under the cover of darkness amongst the like-minded schools....If successful, they will utilize the same strategy to eliminate any school that deviates from the clustering of mediocrity they so desire...SJU will be a next target, guaranteed!

Only good thing is most of what is being proposed is likely not supported legally and could be tied up in the courts.. Removing UST would not make the league stronger or better.

[Gregory Sager]

OK, I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out.

[MadRedFan]

I'd be curious to know if the offer was ever floated out that in Caruso goes St. Thomas and the MIAC stays intact.

I haven't read all of today's posts on this topic, but seeing this one -- I was at Fisher's Club in Avon tonight, as was a long time SJU assistant FB coach, and he commented that there was no official vote, UST saw the writing on the wall and "withdrew".  And clearly from his other comments, this coach was not in favor of what went down, and sounded like SJU was not.  Not that that's a newsflash.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

more national publicity for the Mediocre and Incapable of Athletic Competition gang:

https://www.barstoolsports.com/barstoolu/d3-football-team-kicked-out-of-conference-they-founded-for-being-too-damn-good

[umhb2001]

What an absolute joke today.

"Waaaaa, I can't win any games so I'm going to kick out the cool, popular kid who wins all the time!"

If we had done that, we never would be where we are today. Battling HSU, Trinity, Linfield, UWW, and Mount has made us who we are. In basketball and baseball, we haven't done much for years. Only in the past couple of years has our girl's team been really good. But that was because we met the challenge head on and looked for ways to get better.

The conference should be ashamed. I know I am, and I don't have a dog in the fight.

[art76]

Pat - the "Free Fallin" licks in the background of the podcast were hilarious because of the irony. Well played.

[jamtod]

Pat - the "Free Fallin" licks in the background of the podcast were hilarious because of the irony. Well played.

I'm still looking for somebody to do a rewrite of American Pie focused around the hook "The day the MIAC died."

I'll buy a Hamms beer at the UST-STO November 2nd tailgate for the most successful rendition.

[Captain_Joe08]

I found this on Wikipedia

"The most lopsided game in college football history occurred in a 1916 contest when Georgia Tech beat Cumberland 222–0."

This could be a box score for any of the schools that wanted UST out in the next few years. Part of me wants to see it now.

It really disgusts me that this actually went down. Apparently programs like St. Olaf couldn't of just joined the UMAC so they sacrificed one of their best programs that brought a heaping of national prominence to the league to level the playing field.