FB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

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HOPEful

#9915
Quote from: jknezek on January 17, 2023, 12:42:50 PM
That Albion release dug deep to find something nice to say about his Sewanee tenure...

"While at Sewanee, Rundle tied the school record for Southern Athletic Association wins in a season and helped develop six COSIDA Academic All-District players..."

More specifically, tied the school record of four. And for reference, the MIAA had 29 players on the COSIDA Academic All-District team this season. Kalamazoo (8), Albion (7), Hope (6), and Alma (6) all had as many this past season as Rundle did in his six seasons at the University of the South.

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that COSIDA has changed the process and the result is much more on the All District team this season.
Let's go Dutchmen!

2015-2016 1-&-Done Tournament Fantasy League Co-Champion

jknezek

Quote from: HOPEful on January 17, 2023, 01:23:33 PM
Quote from: jknezek on January 17, 2023, 12:42:50 PM
That Albion release dug deep to find something nice to say about his Sewanee tenure...

"While at Sewanee, Rundle tied the school record for Southern Athletic Association wins in a season and helped develop six COSIDA Academic All-District players..."

More specifically, tied the school record of four. And for reference, the MIAA had 29 players on the COSIDA Academic All-District team this season. Kalamazoo (8), Albion (7), Hope (6), and Alma (6) all had as many this past season as Rundle did in his six seasons at the University of the South.

Yeah. I mean, Sewanee has been a dead end long before Coach Rundle got there, and there was some suspicion he was on his way out soon anyway, one way or the other. So this was... quite a fortuitous opening.

I wish him well. Maybe getting out of Sewanee will shine a different light.

HOPEful

Quote from: jknezek on January 17, 2023, 01:35:47 PM
Yeah. I mean, Sewanee has been a dead end long before Coach Rundle got there, and there was some suspicion he was on his way out soon anyway, one way or the other. So this was... quite a fortuitous opening.

I wish him well. Maybe getting out of Sewanee will shine a different light.

For sure. It's difficult to wax poetic about a coach who went 11-50 over six seasons. My comments were more in the creative way the article painted the proverbial turd. A lack of success at Sewanee in no way, shape, or form means a lack of success at Albion, and like you, I wish him some success. Some, not in Holland or when Hope travels to Sprankle-Sprandel, but otherwise...
Let's go Dutchmen!

2015-2016 1-&-Done Tournament Fantasy League Co-Champion

jknezek

Quote from: HOPEful on January 17, 2023, 03:40:03 PM
Quote from: jknezek on January 17, 2023, 01:35:47 PM
Yeah. I mean, Sewanee has been a dead end long before Coach Rundle got there, and there was some suspicion he was on his way out soon anyway, one way or the other. So this was... quite a fortuitous opening.

I wish him well. Maybe getting out of Sewanee will shine a different light.

For sure. It's difficult to wax poetic about a coach who went 11-50 over six seasons. My comments were more in the creative way the article painted the proverbial turd. A lack of success at Sewanee in no way, shape, or form means a lack of success at Albion, and like you, I wish him some success. Some, not in Holland or when Hope travels to Sprankle-Sprandel, but otherwise...

If you read the Sewanee release it is just as creative.

https://sewaneetigers.com/news/2023/1/17/staff-changes-announced-for-the-university-of-the-south-football-program.aspx


KnightSlappy

Calvin held a press conference for local media and community supporters today to introduce coach Figg. It sounds like the plan is to hopefully recruit 40-50 players for next fall to have a season of practices and internal scrimmages. Then recruit another class of 40-50 to play a regular schedule in the fall of 2024 (with freshmen and sophomores).

That's going to be a tall task, and I'm sure the 2024 season will be a rough one.

Pat Coleman

It might be a rough one, but that's a pretty traditional ramp-up for a D-III football program.
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Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

oldknight

#9921
Quote from: sac on December 08, 2022, 10:30:50 AM
Two of Calvin's traditional feeder schools, Holland Christian and Unity Christian have done quite well since adding football.

Would it be wrong for Calvin fans to expect a similar trajectory?

I've never posted on the d3football board, and I'm not sure I've ever even visited it. But that's changing given Calvin's decision--at last--to add the sport. As sac correctly notes, both Holland Christian and Hudsonville Unity Christian have found some success since adding football 20 years ago. Holland Christian even produced an NFL quarterback (Kirk Cousins) who completed his high school career just four seasons after the school started football.

I'm personally familiar with the challenge in starting football--at least at the high school level--because my son was a starter on the first Unity Christian team in 2003. Unity had no feeder system in place to populate the program their first year, and my son--who had played Jenison Cub Football all through grade school--was the most experienced player on the inaugural team which finished 0-9. The first team had athletes, they just had almost no football experience whatsoever. Within four years, Unity had a winning record, and the program has twice been to the MHSAA state final game, winning the championship 15 years after starting the sport. Over the years, a number of Unity football players have played and contributed at places like Hope, Wheaton and Dordt.

I met Coach Figg and talked to him at some length prior to last week's press conference. I came away very impressed. He gets it. He has no Calvin or MIAA background, but has clearly done his homework on the school and the conference. He knows there are a fair number of good, West Michigan prep football players who are natural fits for recruiting to Calvin. And while West Michigan is the base from which he begins recruiting, given his football background outside Michigan, I have no doubt he will do a lot of mining of talent outside the school's home state, much like Wheaton does.

There will be a rough patch or two the first couple of years (Calvin's book store will soon be retiring the t-shirt emblazoned "Football, Undefeated Since 1876"), but I don't think it's going to take very long for the Knights to be competing for conference championships. It won't be easy, but I think it will be easier to find football success at Calvin which--unlike my son's high school team--will start its program with players who have significant football experience coming in.

HOPEful

Quote from: oldknight on January 23, 2023, 06:05:34 PM
I don't think it's going to take very long for the Knights to be competing for conference championships. It won't be easy, but I think it will be easier to find football success at Calvin which--unlike my son's high school team--will start its program with players who have significant football experience coming in.

Using West Michigan high school success stories as encouragement for NCAA Division 3 success feels problematic. That being said, I don't feel like your expectations are unreasonable, unlike some who seem to think Calvin will be the next Mary Hardin Baylor. I think competing with Albion, Hope, Alma, and Trine for MIAA championships within the decade feels like a reasonable and attainable aspiration.

At the collegiate level, I believe you need more than just "significant football experience". Kalamazoo's team is full of players with said experience. You can have a very bad team full of players that have been playing football their entire lives. Calvin will run into the same challenge for football that we've been discussing for years regarding basketball. Recruiting against Ferris State, GVSU, and all the public state schools able to give athletic scholarships is difficult. Even more so in that, in basketball, you have 5 starters and in football you have 22. With a dwindling student body, it has been a very difficult time just getting students to come to Calvin over the last 10 years. I struggle to think that a startup football program will have significantly greater success than an admissions team that's poured time and resources into figuring out how to get more students to choose Calvin.
Let's go Dutchmen!

2015-2016 1-&-Done Tournament Fantasy League Co-Champion

sac

Finlandia is probably not the best comparison given the schools are nowhere near the same but their D3 football startup has been brutal.

jknezek

Quote from: sac on January 26, 2023, 01:10:17 AM
Finlandia is probably not the best comparison given the schools are nowhere near the same but their D3 football startup has been brutal.

In almost any bell curve you can think of, Finlandia is an outlier. I suspect your comment about nowhere near the same is an understatement!

HOPEful

I think Calvin football will be successful. But to me, successful will be a competitive team by 2028. If they are playing in their own stadium and go 5-5 in the 2030 season, I will call that an extremely successful program launch. By the conversations I've had, it seems others would disagree and fully expect to be competing for conference championships and nationally relevant by then. 
Let's go Dutchmen!

2015-2016 1-&-Done Tournament Fantasy League Co-Champion

formerd3db

For sure, Finlandia is a tough situation. However, I think the program will eventually be decent and stable.

I think Calvin's football program will be very competitive well before the time frame that has been mentioned i.e. much earlier than some have opined here. Regarding the enrollment objective, given that football is, indeed, a different "animal" compared to the other sports, Adrian was extremely successful in that pursuit several years ago when they decided to add men/women hockey (both NCAA and the ACHA teams), men/women lacrosse, and skating. All successful, with the hockey teams winning national championships, but having been very competitive in a short time. Many people criticized that move by their President, but it was the right move for that College. Their enrollment had fallen below 1,000 for the first time in many years; it is currently 1700-1800+ and could be much larger. However, it is my understanding they want to remain at the current number(s). Of course, it didn't hurt that a couple of alumni gave $2 million for the on-campus ice arena as I recall. Having that paid for was obviously a big factor.

We've had conversations about this many times in past years regarding the effect of the football scholarship schools (DII and NAIA) having an tough impact on the MIAA schools, which has, indeed, occurred. I do not see that changing. Yet, despite that, again, while I could be wrong, I believe that Calvin is going to do well much sooner than many of us may think. I also think it will help with their enrollment. It will be interesting to follow the program and see how all of this progresses. The new coach certainly is extremely enthusiastic and appears to fit well with and believes in the MIAA and Calvin philosophy. I am very much looking forward to the first Calvin/Hope football game.   
"When the Great Scorer comes To mark against your name, He'll write not 'won' or 'lost', But how you played the game." - Grantland Rice

Dutchfan

Although this isn't breaking news, I haven't seen it on here yet...

Hope College has landed Eli Vanderveen, 6'4" WR from Hudsonville.

Mr. Ypsi

Quote from: formerd3db on January 26, 2023, 04:18:30 PM
For sure, Finlandia is a tough situation. However, I think the program will eventually be decent and stable.

I think Calvin's football program will be very competitive well before the time frame that has been mentioned i.e. much earlier than some have opined here. Regarding the enrollment objective, given that football is, indeed, a different "animal" compared to the other sports, Adrian was extremely successful in that pursuit several years ago when they decided to add men/women hockey (both NCAA and the ACHA teams), men/women lacrosse, and skating. All successful, with the hockey teams winning national championships, but having been very competitive in a short time. Many people criticized that move by their President, but it was the right move for that College. Their enrollment had fallen below 1,000 for the first time in many years; it is currently 1700-1800+ and could be much larger. However, it is my understanding they want to remain at the current number(s). Of course, it didn't hurt that a couple of alumni gave $2 million for the on-campus ice arena as I recall. Having that paid for was obviously a big factor.

We've had conversations about this many times in past years regarding the effect of the football scholarship schools (DII and NAIA) having an tough impact on the MIAA schools, which has, indeed, occurred. I do not see that changing. Yet, despite that, again, while I could be wrong, I believe that Calvin is going to do well much sooner than many of us may think. I also think it will help with their enrollment. It will be interesting to follow the program and see how all of this progresses. The new coach certainly is extremely enthusiastic and appears to fit well with and believes in the MIAA and Calvin philosophy. I am very much looking forward to the first Calvin/Hope football game.

Alas, I disagree about Finlandia.  I fear that not only will the football program never be stable or successful, I fear that the college itself will go under within the next couple of decades.

I agree with the rest of your post.

HOPEful

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on January 27, 2023, 08:43:53 PM
Alas, I disagree about Finlandia.  I fear that not only will the football program never be stable or successful, I fear that the college itself will go under within the next couple of decades...

I would tend to lean this direction. It's hard enough running an athletic program in Houghton/Hancock. It's even harder when you're the #3 team in town (I know NMU is 90 miles away, but anyone considering Finlandia is more likely to consider Michigan Tech and NMU as well)
Let's go Dutchmen!

2015-2016 1-&-Done Tournament Fantasy League Co-Champion