FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BDB]

Well, it's DIII Week - Stay at Home Version.

A few years ago the NCAA celebrated DIII week by running a trivia contest on Twitter. I participated and actually won a prize on one of the questions:

"What are the 3 D's of Division III ?"

They sent me an official NCAA selfie stick as a prize. My teenage daughter saw it and I haven't seen it since. 

Edit: I see they have some trivia going on this week, doesn't  ???look like prizes awarded though.

BDB

What ARE the 3 D's of Division lll?.
(remember, I went to Mount Union.)
Thank you for your prompt and courteous response!     

Discover - Develop  - Dedicate

[OzJohnnie]

[SJUrube]

https://gojohnnies.com/news/2020/4/14/football-take-me-back-tuesday-the-game-for-john.aspx

Oct. 13, 2018
40-20

[SagatagSam]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

[sjusection105]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

It looks like there are two options:
A.) Stay D3 and maintain an independent schedule through all sports
B.) Take Augustana's spot in the NSIC of D2. Remaining a D2  school through the traditional 8-12 year period as many schools before them have done.
Neither option is what UST was looking for, but both should have crossed their minds when the request to move directly to D1 was made.

[OzJohnnie]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

It looks like there are two options:
A.) Stay D3 and maintain an independent schedule through all sports
B.) Take Augustana's spot in the NSIC of D2. Remaining a D2  school through the traditional 8-12 year period as many schools before them have done.
Neither option is what UST was looking for, but both should have crossed their minds when the request to move directly to D1 was made.

Rejoin the MIAC.

[BDB]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

It looks like there are two options:
A.) Stay D3 and maintain an independent schedule through all sports
B.) Take Augustana's spot in the NSIC of D2. Remaining a D2  school through the traditional 8-12 year period as many schools before them have done.
Neither option is what UST was looking for, but both should have crossed their minds when the request to move directly to D1 was made.

Rejoin the MIAC.

Join the WIAC. 

[hazzben]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

It looks like there are two options:
A.) Stay D3 and maintain an independent schedule through all sports
B.) Take Augustana's spot in the NSIC of D2. Remaining a D2  school through the traditional 8-12 year period as many schools before them have done.
Neither option is what UST was looking for, but both should have crossed their minds when the request to move directly to D1 was made.

Rejoin the MIAC.

I'd love to see this. But this would also require St. Olaf, et al to agree that they want UST back in.

I also think we are reading too much into a request at this point. It certainly doesn't help UST's chances of going D1, but it's also just something they are asking for. UST was going to need an exception to the rule to jump straight DI to begin with. They could still get an exception to the moratorium as well, given the weirdness of the situation and their having been kicked out.

Keep in mind, if they get prevented from jumping D1, we are all in for a whole new round of the media shedding tears for poor ole UST, done wrong by the cowardice of the competition averse MIAC (I'm well aware of the inaccuracies of this broad brush catchall).

[hazzben]

I'd also add that the way UST has left since it went public hasn't won them any good will. I know there are tensions over how the MIAC has been portrayed to the media, even from schools that didn't want to see UST get the boot. This makes coming back to the MIAC the least likely option. Not to mention the pure hubris swallowing it would require from UST ... aka "I guess we weren't big enough for D1 after all, can we please come back if we promise to play nice?"

[jamtod]

If this is a temporary moratorium, I suspect the most likely path is to put together an independent schedule for one year and keep working the D1 process. The concerns are driven by what should be short term concerns, so if UST had comfort that this would have been approved before, taking an 8-12 year path through D2 doesn't really make sense.

I certainly wouldn't mind jumping to the WIAC instead, as I had noted early on but I don't think that is happening.

[sjusection105]

I'd also add that the way UST has left since it went public hasn't won them any good will. I know there are tensions over how the MIAC has been portrayed to the media, even from schools that didn't want to see UST get the boot. This makes coming back to the MIAC the least likely option. Not to mention the pure hubris swallowing it would require from UST ... aka "I guess we weren't big enough for D1 after all, can we please come back if we promise to play nice?"

But then what would they  do with all those "Too Good For The MIAC" T-shirts? 

[faunch]

This could make things really interesting for our friends on the corner of Cretin and Summit:

"A letter from the commissioners of the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Mid-American Conference, Sun Belt and Conference USA to NCAA president Mark Emmert asked for temporary relief from financial aid requirements, along with average football attendance. The request was made on behalf of all 350 Division I schools. The commissioners also asked that a moratorium be placed on schools moving into Division I for the length of the waiver."


https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29037022/five-fbs-conferences-including-aac-c-usa-ask-ncaa-relax-division-requirements

First the UST to D1 vote gets moved back because of COVID-19, now some schools are looking for a moratorium on transitions to D1.

It looks like there are two options:
A.) Stay D3 and maintain an independent schedule through all sports
B.) Take Augustana's spot in the NSIC of D2. Remaining a D2  school through the traditional 8-12 year period as many schools before them have done.
Neither option is what UST was looking for, but both should have crossed their minds when the request to move directly to D1 was made.

Rejoin the MIAC.

Once social distancing is over maybe the MIAC big wigs should come together in the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill (and all that other stuff in their holy books) and share some humble pie?

[miac952]

If the moratorium were to gain some legs it would impact Augustana's move as well. D2 would not be a reasonable option for a lot of reasons. Independent D3 or back to the MIAC for another year or two would be the only reasonable options. The WIAC would have no interest in extending a helping hand to take a temporary member for 1-2 years that might take away postseason opportunities for existing members.

And I'm still a little lost on where UST conspired against them MIAC since the announcement Hazzben. The story fueled itself for a 1-2 Week time period. ESPN's SVP and others ran with it on the heels of Reusse, Scoggins, and pretty much every other local journalist lambasting St Olaf's Anderson, who got caught with his pants down. The only publicly negative comments from either side were parting shots from Macalaster's President as he rose off into retirement. I know behind the scenes that there were apologies extended for that at MIAC meetings. Did UST conspire with Reusse, Scoggins, ESPN, KFAN, etc. or did the story fuel itself in today's media environment? Guessing the latter. Plus coaches like Tauer and Caruso have continued to laud the competition and camaraderie for eh conference in the media and on their team social media over the past 12 months. 

[jknezek]

If this is a temporary moratorium, I suspect the most likely path is to put together an independent schedule for one year and keep working the D1 process. The concerns are driven by what should be short term concerns, so if UST had comfort that this would have been approved before, taking an 8-12 year path through D2 doesn't really make sense.

I certainly wouldn't mind jumping to the WIAC instead, as I had noted early on but I don't think that is happening.

I'm going with the first part of this. But I think this crisis, if it drags into football season. will kill UST's shot. They may not seem related, but it's just going to be something no one wants to deal with given everything else that's happening. When you are trying to figure out how to survive you aren't going to devote mental energy to something that seems so far out on the perimeter. While this is important to UST, it's not important to almost ANYONE else in D1 (though maybe of mild importance to one of the welcoming conferences). And it certainly not something most D1 schools want to encourage anyway...

[jamtod]

If this is a temporary moratorium, I suspect the most likely path is to put together an independent schedule for one year and keep working the D1 process. The concerns are driven by what should be short term concerns, so if UST had comfort that this would have been approved before, taking an 8-12 year path through D2 doesn't really make sense.

I certainly wouldn't mind jumping to the WIAC instead, as I had noted early on but I don't think that is happening.

I'm going with the first part of this. But I think this crisis, if it drags into football season. will kill UST's shot. They may not seem related, but it's just going to be something no one wants to deal with given everything else that's happening. When you are trying to figure out how to survive you aren't going to devote mental energy to something that seems so far out on the perimeter. While this is important to UST, it's not important to almost ANYONE else in D1 (though maybe of mild importance to one of the welcoming conferences). And it certainly not something most D1 schools want to encourage anyway...

Kill for the long term or delay?
I can certainly see that this COVID impacts the long term landscape of the NCAA and many schools, exacerbating something that has already been there, but I see these D1 proposals as more of a short-term fix. A year from now, if things are back to normal, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible.

And of course the WIAC possibility would have to be a long-term thing. I don't think there is anyway it's going to happen, absolutely not for a 2 year stopover en route to D1.