Quote from: GusD on October 22, 2025, 11:22:04 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on October 21, 2025, 07:30:23 PMFuture CCIW member CUW looks like they are in position to take the NACC and get a AQ for the playoffs.

They better enjoy it while they can. In the CCIW this year they're probably 5th, maybe 6th.

Yeah, their only (probable) loss in the regular season is a decisive loss to a Calvin team who is in their second year as a program and will certainly be in the bottom half of the MIAA.

With CUW's high-scoring win over Aurora the Falcons look like they will be the conference's playoff representative this year. They have been able to pull out come-from-behind and close fought victories against their closest competition.

Quote from: Gregulator316 on October 08, 2025, 06:48:30 AMLooks like Lakeland @ CUW is the big leverage game of the week. A Muskie win would would create some very intriguing chaos in the standings.

I didn't think that Lakeland would be a serious threat to CUW, but they held a 28-7 lead in the second half. The battle to represent the conference in the playoffs is wide open. (But that doesn't mean that the winner is actually that good.)

NACC football champion seems wide open this year as Aurora and Benedictine have a loss in conference already. It seems that almost every upcoming week has a "key game" which features Aurora, Benedictine, CUW, and St. Norbert going against one another (one of whom I think will eventually come out on top).

Quote from: Captain_Joe08 on September 20, 2025, 04:10:58 PMFull time or Football only? If they take Greenville that basically blows up the UMAC as a football league because the Panthers are a football affiliate. They are decent program elsewhere so it has upside for the NACC but they are a geographic outlier being near St. Louis.

Moving Eureka to full time could be a thing but still that would leave a 3 team non-con slate but they are still a outlier in geography. Not sure where their athletics success would fit in the NACC hierarchy.

Maybe trying to woo one of the Midwest teams to join could be a solution too.

Off topic for the first bit, but I just think that the UMAC is such a weird football conference anyhow with half the teams near St. Louis and the other half up in Minnesota. I get why they do it, but it seems crazy to me. Every team in that league takes at least two LONG road trips per year for football. (I suppose that there are other conferences in the nation where this happens as well, but it's funny that Greenville drives past a lot of DIII football schools on their way to, say, Minnesota-Morris.)

Anyhow, I have no idea what goes through ADs' and presidents' heads (and budgets) when it comes to the desirability of which schools are in which conference, but it would seem that Greenville is such a long haul for the NACC schools because you'd be talking about all sports, not just football.

As for the Midwest Conference, yes, it's pretty spread out also but I'm wondering if that conference's members are so homogeneous in some way (highly selective, high endowment, super historical, whatever) that it would be tough to pry one away in order to join the NACC. It seems that schools such as Lake Forest or Beloit would be better geographical fits for the NACC than Greenville, but I don't think that their ... (financial make-up? academic situation? I don't know the right word here) necessarily fits the NACC.

I do not know if having no bye week for football once the conference schedule begins is desirable either, but I do wonder if finding three non-conference opponents might not be somewhat difficult.

As to why CUW for the CCIW, great question!

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMFrom 2023 to 2024 they reported an increase in undergraduate enrollment from 1700 to 2400. 

I wonder about the jump in reported undergrad enrollment. It would seem that it has to be a difference in reporting of one type or another.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMIt's not unlike a state system, where the campuses are independent, but there's an overarching organizational structure that they're all a part of, as well.

That is a good analogy. The relationship between the colleges and the LC-MS is somewhat layered. There is a goodly amount of autonomy among the individual Concordias (The synodical governing body repeatedly stated that the extreme downsizing of Ann Arbor was made on the local level.) but there are some legal connections between the colleges and the LC-MS such as language regarding the colleges' property/the colleges following the synodical by-laws. (This, from what I understand, is the heart of the Concordia-Texas lawsuit.)

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMThe Ann Arbor campus (which is technically a satellite of CUW) keeps getting smaller and likely will go away at some point.

I anticipate that also. I'm, not sure that "satellite" is the term I'd use as CUAA was separate from CUW in some ways, but yes, CUW was calling the shots.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMIf the LCMS is like any other US denomination, it's likely hemorrhaging money and members - consolidating higher ed in one much larger, more stable campus is a good way to move forward in that situation. 

Yes, the synod is shrinking, but I think that four or five Concordias stay open in the foreseeable future.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMA bigger, more robust CUW fits pretty well in the CCIW and I think there's a lot of mutual benefit there.

You would think that this would be the case, but I'm not sure if CUW is going to grow a lot more. Actually, I can't see any Concordia getting a lot bigger as a result of there being less Concordias. I suppose that if all but two Concordias closed - say CUW and Nebraska stayed open - they would grow from their present enrollment somewhat, but geography and sports play a HUGE roll in the Concordias enrollment. When Ann Arbor dowsized, only a small percentage of the affected students went to other Concordias. It is my understanding that Concordia-Nebraska picked up more ex-Ann Arbor students than any other. (This is anecdotal, but the Ann Arbor students that I talked to were not excited in attending CUW at all. They felt betrayed.)

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMA bigger, more robust CUW fits pretty well in the CCIW and I think there's a lot of mutual benefit there.

I don't think that this happens without CUW downsizing Ann Arbor as they were supposedly a large financial drain on CUW-CUAA. I just wonder whether there isn't another college in Illinois or Wisconsin who isn't in better shape than CUW, but it takes two to tango.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on September 13, 2025, 01:48:15 PMI'm making a ton of assumptions in this analysis (I don't actually know what the Concordia system is doing), but I don't think they are far-fetched assumptions.

You're not the only one.



Scott, you are really on target with your findings and thank you for doing this work.

When does CUW begin in the CCIW?

Quote from: GU1999 on September 12, 2025, 05:57:30 PMI didn't intend middling to be as negative as it came off.  They certainly not dominate in anything I have watched in the three years.  Maybe I missed women's lacrosse or something. But having been watched the NACC for the past three years, as I have a kid at a NACC school, they just don't stand out.

No, it didn't come off as negative at all and I agree that they are going to struggle in the major sports. I am curious why CUW and not someone else.

Quote from: GU1999 on September 12, 2025, 01:36:02 PMAs someone who holds the CCIW in very high esteem, I wonder a bit how the CUW move fits.  I am sure that there has been ink spilled elsewhere that explains it, but my quick google searching didn't find it.  I guess location is good.  Campus has great lake views, but :
 
- middling sports programs in the NACC
- net assets are almost 90m less than the next closest CCIW school
- fairly small endowment

Just surprised.  Were any other schools considered?

About 10 years ago I floated something about "maybe CUW or Aurora will join the CCIW" which was roundly greeted with ambivalence at best. It was pointed out to me that part of the being in the CCIW is a level of financial "security" which these schools have attained. I stood corrected. Now the news that CUW will be joining the conference has me shaking my head for the very reasons you list above. Yes, they sponsor a lot of sports and have a nice campus, but do they really meet the high level of the CCIW? Maybe they do - they're awfully close to the vest on big decisions but I'm not sure. I'm sure that they think they do.

GU1999 - you mentioned "middling sports programs in the NACC". This is somewhat true. Their teams are generally finish in the top four or five in the standings in all sports in the NACC (top two or three in football) and might win a championship or two every year but they are really not dominant in any; I guess that is the definition of middling. I guess that they'd rather be a also-ran in the CCIW than a big fish in the small pond of the NACC. (I am sure that there are tangible benefits of being in a much more prestigious conference but someone is going to have to fill me in on them.)

Huge news regarding the NACC over on the CCIW board.

So CUW will be joining the CCIW, huh. I'd love to know the background and details of this from the CUW side but those folks are extremely tight-lipped about everything. I'm wondering if CUW's jettisoning of CUAA has anything - and I mean ANYTHING - to do with this.

Listen - the Concordia system is not all that healthy and have closed four colleges in the past five years. (Ann Arbor is all but closed.) I've always thought that CUW is among the two "healthiest" schools in the system but apparently Ann Arbor was a major drain financially. Now I'm not saying that CUW cut Ann Arbor just to get into the CCIW, but I'm not sure they could have been accepted into the conference with Ann Arbor still attached.

As a CUC (that would be CURF!) alum and fan I have mixed feelings about this. The reality is that CUW is in much better shape than CUC so realistically I can't be jealous that CUW will now be in a more prestigious conference (Okay there is a bit of envy!); I just hope CUC stays open in the medium-term. It is too bad that CUC and CUW will not be in the same conference any longer in that they will no longer be playing each other on a regular basis. After all they are sister schools. However, the missions of the Concordia are a lot different now than they used to be and I'm not sure they have all that much in common when you get down to the respective student bodies and athletic teams.

Having said all that, I hope they get crushed in the CCIW.😄

(I'm assuming that Brainard St. refers to North Park.) Quite the tease there, Greg! I'm going to guess, "North Park to Construct New Athletic Center Complex/Gymnasium".

New defensive coordinator for Concordia-Chicago (Charlie Drewek - formerly at St. Norbert) pays off immediately as CUC knocks off Minnesota-Morris 17-16.

Quote from: Gregulator316 on February 21, 2025, 12:36:07 PMI saw that Charlie Drewek moved from DC at St. Norbert to DC at Concordia chi. 
Interesting move going from the Best Defense in the conference to the worst. I'm curious to see how much the Cougars can improve in his first year running that D.

I am pleased to see this. CUC's defense literally has nowhere to go but up as they had the worst scoring defense in the country last year. I'm curious what lured him to River Forest.

CUC with two tight - one a miracle- wins last week keep them in the playoff hunt. I guess the close wins balance out the "argh" losses to Lakeland, Benedictine, and Dominican.