FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hazzben]

Gotcha. I don't see Bethel having any interest in not being in the MIAC and especially D3.

Also, to the point above, I don't think anyone is directing any of this at the players. The craziness happened because of administration powers that be. That's where I reserve my annoyance.

[AO]

We end the day with some thoughts from Scott Van Pelt.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1131789610751803393?s=19

[OzJohnnie]

We end the day with some thoughts from Scott Van Pelt.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1131789610751803393?s=19

I think that segment is disgraceful and this COL bullsh*t is enough to justify kicking the UST out. Sour grapes, immature nastiness. I for one am now glad the Tommies are gone.  This national campaign to dismiss and embarrass the MIAC is a sad reflection on UST and the values that institution has. I’m glad they are out.

Kick me off the boards. I don’t give a damn. I’ll be gone a while anyways as this embarrassment campaign has worn my patience thin. Your woe is me crocodile tears are a childish bore.  Have fun feeling sorry for yourselves. Poor guys.

[jamtod]

We end the day with some thoughts from Scott Van Pelt.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1131789610751803393?s=19

I think that segment is disgraceful and this COL bullsh*t is enough to justify kicking the UST out. Sour grapes, immature nastiness. I for one am now glad the Tommies are gone.  This national campaign to dismiss and embarrass the MIAC is a sad reflection on UST and the values that institution has. I'm glad they are out.

Kick me off the boards. I don't give a damn. I'll be gone a while anyways as this embarrassment campaign has worn my patience thin. Your woe is me crocodile tears are a childish bore.  Have fun feeling sorry for yourselves. Poor guys.

[MUC57]

hazzben

Please check your PM. Thanks.   

[SaintsFAN]

It looks like the last Johnnie/Tommie game will be at Collegeville if it is in the autumn of 2020.  They'll need to put in double-sized bleachers that surround the entire field on the visitors side and the whole scoreboard end.  Probably the grass hill could remain.

There will be well over 20k for that game, I bet.

I told Pat and some of the Johnnies fans that I plan to see this rivalry game, looks like I have to do it soon. 

[nkwest]

We end the day with some thoughts from Scott Van Pelt.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1131789610751803393?s=19

I think that segment is disgraceful and this COL bullsh*t is enough to justify kicking the UST out. Sour grapes, immature nastiness. I for one am now glad the Tommies are gone.  This national campaign to dismiss and embarrass the MIAC is a sad reflection on UST and the values that institution has. I'm glad they are out.

Kick me off the boards. I don't give a damn. I'll be gone a while anyways as this embarrassment campaign has worn my patience thin. Your woe is me crocodile tears are a childish bore.  Have fun feeling sorry for yourselves. Poor guys.

So wait a minute. How the national media chooses to cover this issue, which UST has absolutely zero control over, is somehow justification for kicking them out in the first place? I hope you thoroughly stretched before performing those mental gymnastics. I suppose you were still pretty well warmed up from your flip-flopping on the issue after the leaked Augsburg email, even though it didn't provide any new information that hadn't been previously discussed here.

When you were asking what to drink to quench your lemon-lime craving the answer was a 20 ounce bottle of Sprite, not Spite.

The MIAC and its remaining member institutions have absolutely blown the PR on this. By making this move under the cloak of darkness, issuing gag orders, and providing no source for additional comment following the press release, they invite the Sports Ball Talking Heads to fill column space and air time with their own opinions & narratives.

The statements from UST on this subject have been nothing but classy by any objective definition. I'm talking about the ones they've actually released, mind you, not the conversations you have with UST officials in your head. Those statements are the limit of UST's influence. They cannot and should not be responsible for running damage control for an entire conference that just kicked them out. If the MIAC and its remaining member institutions are embarrassed by the national media coverage, perhaps that's simply a sad reflection on themselves and the action they just took/supported.

[miac952]

We end the day with some thoughts from Scott Van Pelt.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1131789610751803393?s=19

I think that segment is disgraceful and this COL bullsh*t is enough to justify kicking the UST out. Sour grapes, immature nastiness. I for one am now glad the Tommies are gone.  This national campaign to dismiss and embarrass the MIAC is a sad reflection on UST and the values that institution has. I'm glad they are out.

Kick me off the boards. I don't give a damn. I'll be gone a while anyways as this embarrassment campaign has worn my patience thin. Your woe is me crocodile tears are a childish bore.  Have fun feeling sorry for yourselves. Poor guys.

UST has one heck of a PR machine if they are calling SVP and SportsCenter and telling them to cover a certain story in a certain way. Do you realize how asinine that sounds? Your contempt should be directed towards the ringleaders. They created this catastrophe. Johnnies like Linneman, Wesley, Boyle, and Bostrom have a pretty level representation of where to direct the anger.

[miac952]

And, in fairness to the Oles, Gusties and Cobbers in particular, the current and former athlete reactions have been in complete disconnect with their schools administration; lambasting their Presidents on Twitter.

Carleton football players not so much, but my expectation wasn't high with them. When you arrive and campus and realize your team is an afterthought to quidditch you walk around with a chip on your shoulder.

[jamtod]

And, in fairness to the Oles, Gusties and Cobbers in particular, the current and former athlete reactions have been in complete disconnect with their schools administration; lambasting their Presidents on Twitter.

Carleton football players not so much, but my expectation wasn't high with them. When you arrive and campus and realize your team is an afterthought to quidditch you walk around with a chip on your shoulder.

I've seen the same from the Oles and Cobbers. Some of the Gusties were a little more on the fence, but I think they are just mad that Sharkman forgot they existed.

And I haven't seen anything from Carleton current or former football players. Can we be certain they really even exist?

[jamtod]

Ryan Scott asked the ARC basketball board what they would think about UST joining that conference.

If UST is winning 50%+ of the total conference championships now in the MIAC, is there any reason to believe that wouldn't be even higher in the ARC? I'm not saying it's a bad conference. And Wartburg would be a worthy opponent in many sports (thinking especially of football and women's basketball... I don't know much beyond that), but those schools are even smaller (and many of them more shaky in terms of financials and enrollment). I have a hard time believing that could be any sort of long-term fit.

[BDB]

Kick me off the boards. I don't give a damn.

Sorry Oz, no can do.

This is the "Hotel Minnesota. You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave."

Unless you are UST. Then you get #tomtossed for being too big and perceived to be too good at sports.

[TheChucker]

Conferences realign for competitive and financial reasons all...the...time. What usually happens is the schools with the biggest issue exit the conference. Then the like-minded schools pool together and invite other schools to join a new conference or another existing conference. If that scenario would have happened here, no-one outside of Minnesota would be paying any attention. But the Presidents' choice to save the MIAC and boot UST instead of realigning resulted in this firestorm. I wonder if there's any regret for making that choice.

If this bad press keeps up, I wouldn't be surprised to see "behind the scenes" type information getting leaked intended to damage certain parties. Seems like that's the next logical step in this sort of thing.

[jamtod]

Conferences realign for competitive and financial reasons all...the...time. What usually happens is the schools with the biggest issue exit the conference. Then the like-minded schools pool together and invite other schools to join a new conference or another existing conference. If that scenario would have happened here, no-one outside of Minnesota would be paying any attention. But the Presidents' choice to save the MIAC and boot UST instead of realigning resulted in this firestorm. I wonder if there's any regret for making that choice.

If this bad press keeps up, I wouldn't be surprised to see "behind the scenes" type information getting leaked intended to damage certain parties. Seems like that's the next logical step in this sort of thing.

Realistically, do we think it is it just Olaf, Carleton, and Mac that were the 3 schools with the "biggest issues" and the others had to go along to avoid 3 schools leaving and blowing things up?

So if those 3 took their ball and went home, what options would be on the table?

[doolittledog]

Ryan Scott asked the ARC basketball board what they would think about UST joining that conference.

If UST is winning 50%+ of the total conference championships now in the MIAC, is there any reason to believe that wouldn't be even higher in the ARC? I'm not saying it's a bad conference. And Wartburg would be a worthy opponent in many sports (thinking especially of football and women's basketball... I don't know much beyond that), but those schools are even smaller (and many of them more shaky in terms of financials and enrollment). I have a hard time believing that could be any sort of long-term fit.

I think eventually what we have here is the WIAC actually needs St Thomas.  It is difficult for WIAC schools to schedule 3 non-con games in football.  Scheduling 2 non-con games makes things much easier.  St Thomas would bring an additional hockey school to the conference. St Thomas would add to the WIAC profile. 

As for the ARC.  St Thomas at this point would dominate football.  But the bottom of the ARC is often competitive with the top part of the ARC.  Maybe St Thomas would cause everyone to up their game.  Maybe St Thomas would no longer have 97-0 scores on their resume.  The ARC is dominant in wrestling, has a recent national champion in men's basketball, has a recent semi final appearance in women's basketball, will often have 3 ranked teams in softball, is strong in men's and women's T&F.  Yes, St Thomas would be at or near the top in all sports, but I don't know if they would leave everyone in their dust. 

All that said, St Thomas doesn't look like a fit in the ARC.  They do look like a fit in the WIAC.  St Thomas would also fit in nicely in the NSIC in D2.