FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DustySJU]

From the SC Times:

"It comes down to execution," defensive assistant Gary Fasching said. "We need to start executing better. It's really that simple. The coaches need to coach better. The players need to play to play better. We have a lot of talent. We just need to start doing things better."

And this is why Gary has 2 state championships and a national championship. Simple, direct, and true.

Whenever Coach Gagliardi decides to step aside, and I believe it's his decision to "retire" when he wants to, Gary Fasching is my choice to lead the program. 

Now let's go take on the day!

... and by the way, it will pleasure me to no end when we get back to kicking the crap out of UST, Bethel and the rest of the MIAC.

[USTBench]

Since Augsburg is the lone undefeated MIAC school outside of UST, I guess they've earned the right to have some mess talked to them.

So here's a new once every two decades segment that I call, "Let's Talk Mess to a New Auggie Tech Poster."

Hey OldAuggie,

Nice 8 point win over Hamline, I bet the seniors were really hyped about it in their Automotive Technologies II class the other day.

Nice comeback win at SJU. Though, I bet that kid dressed as a banana that was getting aggressive with your team would've been a better option in SJU's secondary.

Way to beat Carleton. You showed that you'll be hardworkers on one of their assembly lines one day.

Nice 3 point victory over Concordia(Wis), maybe next year you can schedule Trinity Bible College.

Your school looks like a U of M bowel movement.

[Chubbs]

Duff:
I too think this game will be closer, maybe another Collegeville Miracle? This time for the good guys. 

What you saw against Augsburg this year was no miracle, just a horrendous defensive choke job.

Pretty sure the last Collegeville Miracle in this series went to the Johnnies against Bethel back in '09.  The name Russell Gliadon should ring a bell.

I like Bethel to win, but I'd be surprised if it's by more than 10 or so.

[cobbernation]

From the SC Times:

"It comes down to execution," defensive assistant Gary Fasching said. "We need to start executing better. It's really that simple. The coaches need to coach better. The players need to play to play better. We have a lot of talent. We just need to start doing things better."

And this is why Gary has 2 state championships and a national championship. Simple, direct, and true.

Whenever Coach Gagliardi decides to step aside, and I believe it's his decision to "retire" when he wants to, Gary Fasching is my choice to lead the program. 
Now let's go take on the day!

... and by the way, it will pleasure me to no end when we get back to kicking the crap out of UST, Bethel and the rest of the MIAC.

What???  Jimmy G is my choice!!

[RussellT22]

From the SC Times:

“It comes down to execution,” defensive assistant Gary Fasching said. “We need to start executing better. It’s really that simple. The coaches need to coach better. The players need to play to play better. We have a lot of talent. We just need to start doing things better.”

And this is why Gary has 2 state championships and a national championship. Simple, direct, and true.

Whenever Coach Gagliardi decides to step aside, and I believe it's his decision to "retire" when he wants to, Gary Fasching is my choice to lead the program. 
Now let's go take on the day!

... and by the way, it will pleasure me to no end when we get back to kicking the crap out of UST, Bethel and the rest of the MIAC.

What???  Jimmy G is my choice!!

I know everyone likes to take their shots at Jim for various reasons, but make no mistake about it Jim Gagliardi is a very good football coach. I learned an incredible amount of football in the 5 years that I worked with him. He is more than qualified to be the next HC at SJU.

[DuffMan]

Russel, you might be able to defend Jim's knowledge of X's and O's, but there is more to being a successful head coach than that.  John's got charisma and the utmost respect from his players (among others)--Jimmy doesn't have those.

[RussellT22]

Russel, you might be able to defend Jim's knowledge of X's and O's, but there is more to being a successful head coach than that.  John's got charisma and the utmost respect from his players (among others)--Jimmy doesn't have those.

I am well aware of Jims strengths and weaknesses. And no he is not his father. No one is. John is a dynamic and special leader. There is a reason the man has nearly 500 wins. That doesn't mean Jim isn't qualified to be the next HC. I will support whomever is the next HC whether that be Jim, Gary, Brandon or someone else.

[stanbob]

From the SC Times:

"It comes down to execution," defensive assistant Gary Fasching said. "We need to start executing better. It's really that simple. The coaches need to coach better. The players need to play to play better. We have a lot of talent. We just need to start doing things better."

And as John McKay stated when asked about the execution of the Buc's when he was head coach "I'm in favor of it."

[USTBench]

Russel, you might be able to defend Jim's knowledge of X's and O's, but there is more to being a successful head coach than that.  John's got charisma and the utmost respect from his players (among others)--Jimmy doesn't have those.

I'm a believer in breaking up a coaching oligarchy if you want success. If you hire in-house, there's always politics at play, and to implement your ideas and policies on guys that were your equals or had too much reverence for your predecesssor can lead to toxic situations.

Not to mention, there is a resistance to change if the old guard is too used to doing things one way. And I can see this as being a real problem at SJU. The "culture of No" or whatever it's called may need some adaptation to get SJU back to where it was. And by adaptation I mean a weight program and an intensified offseason. I still think they have it right with the "less is more" approach to practice. (I always felt beat up on Sundays and I barely played. Imagine what Jake Barkley felt like after a week of high contact 2.5 hour practices and 30+ carries on Saturday.)

It's going to be a jagged pill to swallow, but Jimmy Gagliardi and the whole cast need to be cleaned out once John hangs it up. That's not to say another SJU guy wouldn't be a good fit (Kurt Ramler), but I kind of feel the same way about it that I imagine Florida St. feel about Bobby Bowden's kids or Penn St. about Jay Paterno.

That being said, I work with my old man. But I also have two rejection letters from his office after having to go through 3 interviews on 3 separate occassions. Talk about humbling. Not sure if Jimmy has ever had that experience. My point is, nepotism is always perceived, but a sense of entitlement can sure as hell be beaten out of you. Trust me, I know.

[DuffMan]

I am well aware of Jims strengths and weaknesses.

So am I.

That doesn't mean Jim isn't qualified to be the next HC.

Well, agree to disagree, then.  I believe there are a lot more folks in my camp, though. 

[OldAuggie]

Since Augsburg is the lone undefeated MIAC school outside of UST, I guess they've earned the right to have some mess talked to them.

So here's a new once every two decades segment that I call, "Let's Talk Mess to a New Auggie Tech Poster."

Hey OldAuggie,

Nice 8 point win over Hamline, I bet the seniors were really hyped about it in their Automotive Technologies II class the other day.

Nice comeback win at SJU. Though, I bet that kid dressed as a banana that was getting aggressive with your team would've been a better option in SJU's secondary.

Way to beat Carleton. You showed that you'll be hardworkers on one of their assembly lines one day.

Nice 3 point victory over Concordia(Wis), maybe next year you can schedule Trinity Bible College.

Your school looks like a U of M bowel movement.

Bench -
I am honored but first a true story-

Glen Caruso and Mark Dienhart went to Lake Minnetonka fishing one day this summer. After lunch at Blue Point they rented a boat and right away they were catching a mess of fish. Glen was excited so he removed from his pocket a comemorative UST knife and started to carve a notch in the side of the rental boat. Mark Dienhart said "Coach what are you doing???" Glen Caruso replied "Mark, I am marking the boat so we know where the fish are biting today so we can catch them again tomorow". With a tone of disgust Dienhart said "Really Coach??? How do you know we will be able to rent the same boat tomorow?"
OldAuggie




MIAC Football


Augsburg  3-0 4-0
St. Thomas  3-0 5-0
St. Olaf  2-1 4-1
Bethel  1-1 3-1
Carleton  1-2 1-3
Concordia  1-2 3-2
Saint John's  1-2 2-3
Gustavus  0-2 0-4
Hamline  0-2 0-4

Your Mom sends me the standings every Monday Morning. 

[DuffMan]

Any of you lawers focus on estate planning?  Send me a PM.

[johnnie_esq]

I just now had a moment to catch up on a few things.  Let me put in my $0.02 on some of the major topics that I missed:

• St. Thomas going D-II. Never going to happen.  There is absolutely zero benefit in D-II for them. That just adds cost without substantially increasing revenues, and also makes them compete against that jock school known as Concordia-St. Paul and the illustrious St. Cloud State instead of being mentioned in the same breathe as Carleton and St. John's.  For image and revenues, D-III is better-- unless UST wants to make a jump to D-I and become the Marquette/Creighton of Minnesota (national brand recognition!).  But that would take a serious amount of coin, and UST is not at a position to do that right now.  Do they want to get there? Yes for the national brand, but they hope to get it on the cheap right now.
• Losing D-II Schools to D-I.  I think the breakup of the NCC has helped the overall MIAC considerably, along with UMD finding its legs again in football.  Talent-wise, I think the MIAC is as balanced as it has been in 25 years right now, and that is largely due to the NCC not taking the top ends combined with the NSIC's lower scholarship limits; while at the same time, the strong MIAC alumni communities (and the success of SJU and Bethel, frankly) hedge off Minnesota kids from crossing the river to play at UWRF/UWEC/UW-S/UW-L.  That's good for parity in the conference, no question.
• SJU's problems in execution. I agree with Gary on this.  There are a lot of guys not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which, given SJU's track record, likely comes down to execution.  However, that is also a cop-out:  there are 200 guys on the sideline, and if you are telling me that your starters are the only ones who have a chance at executing correctly, then that is a coaching problem (either through recruiting or through practices).  So, while the execution excuse may carry a little justification, you have the numbers to remove said offender.  So pull them and put someone in who will execute! One could excuse UWEC, but if the coaches continue to follow the same progression and expect a different result, well, isn't that the definition of insanity?
• John's Successor. I agree with Bench on this-- there seems to be a very entrenched group-think that occurs when you stay in-house for too long, as patterns continue because "it's the way we've always done it."  Now, it isn't impossible for someone to break that habit, but it is not easy either-- especially if you have been in the same position for 20 years.  With that in mind, I am in favor of a Ramler-type replacement-- someone who is close enough to understand and honor the traditions of the program, but removed enough and cut-his-teeth elsewhere to break the group-think trap.

Over and out...

[USTBench]

I just now had a moment to catch up on a few things.  Let me put in my $0.02 on some of the major topics that I missed:

• St. Thomas going D-II. Never going to happen.  There is absolutely zero benefit in D-II for them. That just adds cost without substantially increasing revenues, and also makes them compete against that jock school known as Concordia-St. Paul and the illustrious St. Cloud State instead of being mentioned in the same breathe as Carleton and St. John's.  For image and revenues, D-III is better-- unless UST wants to make a jump to D-I and become the Marquette/Creighton of Minnesota (national brand recognition!).  But that would take a serious amount of coin, and UST is not at a position to do that right now.  Do they want to get there? Yes for the national brand, but they hope to get it on the cheap right now.

My tendency is to agree with you on what it would take to go D-I, and here is why I hate the idea right now:

For UST to keep football they would have to find an FCS conference that would serve them academically or drop the sport all together. The only conference that fits this description right now is the Pioneer League. Ostensibly, the quality of football at this level is comparable to the MIAC, as there are no scholarships and little recognition. Not to mention, instead of playing schools the UST community is familiar with, they would now be flying all over the country to schools like San Diego, Davidson, Dayton, Campbell, Butler, Drake and all the teams you recognize from the 1st round of the NCAA Men's Hoops Tournament.

The non-conference schedule would consist of two things: (1) getting killed by an FBS school; or (2) potentially getting embarrassed by a D-III school. (Ask Butler how that feels.)  Some may argue that the Missouri Valley Conference would be a good fit, and it would be, but ONLY for basketball. Evansville, Bradley, Drake and Creighton are all basketball-only members. And half of the football schools play their hoops in the Summit League, Horizon League or elsewhere. Essentially, the MVC is only made up of medium/larger sized state schools for football.

Finally, UST would need to make one sport their flagship and this would HAVE to be basketball. To transition to a D-1  hockey program would take an investment of well north of $50 million and an on-campus arena. Something UST can't afford (well, maybe), nor do they have a place to put such a facility (at least not without alienating themselves even further with their Summit Ave/Grand Ave neighbors). So, to go D-1 would be a death sentence for hockey. Unless some Ralph Engelstad-esque alum came along and ponied up the money to join either the WCHA or the new in 2013 NCHC.

Essentially, to even keep football UST would have to go with a Drake/Butler approach, and I would dread the alternative Marquette/Creighton no football approach. Hate the idea...for now.

[Retired Old Rat]

• St. Thomas going D-II. Never going to happen.  There is absolutely zero benefit in D-II for them. That just adds cost without substantially increasing revenues, and also makes them compete against that jock school known as Concordia-St. Paul and the illustrious St. Cloud State instead of being mentioned in the same breathe as Carleton and St. John's.  For image and revenues, D-III is better-- unless UST wants to make a jump to D-I and become the Marquette/Creighton of Minnesota (national brand recognition!).  But that would take a serious amount of coin, and UST is not at a position to do that right now.  Do they want to get there? Yes for the national brand, but they hope to get it on the cheap right now.

d3 schools with a national brand:  MIT, University of Chicago, Carnegie-Mellon, Johns Hopkins and Washington University.  It can be done, but St. Thomas would have to up their academic standards considerably.  Disclaimer:  that is not a slam.  Just the way it is.