FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

USTd thumps SJU one time and now their supporters are plotting a jump to DI (although not...for now.  Gotta say that to avoid the appearance of complete lunacy, no?).  And people say that last weekend's game affected Johnnie supporter sanity...

[johnnie_esq]

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.

Don't discount the value of recruiting trips to U of San Diego!  Actually, the Pioneer League makes a lot of sense.  The problem is that a nonscholarship football program at that level is an enormous cost drain-- think of flying 75 people plus equipment on 5 different road trips each year-- and that is not offset by any revenue changes.  Think they'd get 10,000 people to O'Shaughnessy if UST isn't playing SJU, but is instead playing Drake?  Unlikely.

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.

UST joining the NaCHo conference??? Unlikely unless they can find their own Terry Peguila, which still wouldn't be a good move for them.  While hockey would be a nice fit in Minnesota, I seriously doubt the entertainment dollars are there to substantially support another D-1 hockey program in the Twin Cities (which has to compete with the U of M and its tradition, the Wild, and even the Timberwolves for attention).  At the same time, D-1 hockey does not beget national attention (say UND to most people outside of the upper midwest and they will think you're talking about Notre Dame, not the boys named sue from Grand Forks). 

But I think they have a shot at basketball if they can take a NDSU approach to doing it.  If they can make the finances work in a small gym, they can always upgrade to playing in the Target Center if they get pretty good or popular-- which will get the revenue they so crave. 

[USTBench]

USTd thumps SJU one time and now their supporters are plotting a jump to DI (although not...for now.  Gotta say that to avoid the appearance of complete lunacy, no?).  And people say that last weekend's game affected Johnnie supporter sanity...

Not even remotely correlated. This has been something batted around for years, and now with the endowment, facilities and committment to investing in athletics, and just the overall aesthetics of the campus, it's going to be discussed more. The campus is not even close to the same place it was even 5 years ago.

I'm a pretty rational/level-headed/pragmatic guy, and honestly speaking, it would not surprise me.

Academically, it's none of the places ROR mentioned. Athletically, it looks nothing like a DIII school. It's getting more and more in the same vein as the schools Johnnie_esq mentioned. Good, but not blow-you-away academics, beautiful campus, with great facilities.

[USTBench]

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.

Don't discount the value of recruiting trips to U of San Diego!  Actually, the Pioneer League makes a lot of sense.  The problem is that a nonscholarship football program at that level is an enormous cost drain-- think of flying 75 people plus equipment on 5 different road trips each year-- and that is not offset by any revenue changes.  Think they'd get 10,000 people to O'Shaughnessy if UST isn't playing SJU, but is instead playing Drake?  Unlikely.

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.

UST joining the NaCHo conference??? Unlikely unless they can find their own Terry Peguila, which still wouldn't be a good move for them.  While hockey would be a nice fit in Minnesota, I seriously doubt the entertainment dollars are there to substantially support another D-1 hockey program in the Twin Cities (which has to compete with the U of M and its tradition, the Wild, and even the Timberwolves for attention).  At the same time, D-1 hockey does not beget national attention (say UND to most people outside of the upper midwest and they will think you're talking about Notre Dame, not the boys named sue from Grand Forks). 

But I think they have a shot at basketball if they can take a NDSU approach to doing it.  If they can make the finances work in a small gym, they can always upgrade to playing in the Target Center if they get pretty good or popular-- which will get the revenue they so crave.

Which is basically why I said it would HAVE to be hoops. Although (and this is a huge ALTHOUGH) if Denver and Colorado College can support D-1 hockey, and Notre Dame (and no Oz, I'm not comparing UST to Notre Dame) can join the NaCHO with their abysmal arena, then it would be possible for UST to support hockey. I'm just saying UST likes money, and this idea would hemorrhage money like no other. If RPI, RIT, Bently and American International have D-1 hockey, anything is possible.

I also think another D-1 hockey program in the area could be supported. Not at Mariucci levels, but people would be interested to see what UST could do against the Goofs and on their own. Don't understimate Minnesotans' love for hockey.

Additionally, I agree with you on the UND hockey thing. The people up here think it gives us a national stage, not realizing that no one outside of the UMW or small pockets of New England and Colorado even care.

Finally, NDSU rarely plays in the Fargodome. Terrible facility for hoops and really only used for games against ranked opponents or UND. The BSA is used 95% of the time and is getting a $10 million upgrade courtesy of your Target Center advertising Sanford Health hospital system.

QUALIFIER Everything said about a D-1 jump is purely hypothetical and not tethered to any sort of reality.

[AO]

Here's how it works:
1: Make me supreme chancellor of the NCAA.  I will repeal proposal 65, and convince congress to repeal title IX, allowing any school to pick and choose which teams it wants to move to d1.
3. St. Thomas goes D-1 in Football and Men's Basketball.  The Missouri Valley is the most obvious choice, but after step 1 is completed, other options may abound.
4. Solicit donations or move some money from the opening doors campaign to fund the scholarships for the first couple years, and stadium renovations.
5. Remove the track from the stadium, move the field closer to the home-stand and construct permanent seating around the other 3 sides.  Capacity 15,000
6. Schedule 5 or 6 of the basketball games for the target center, but in most cases just raise the prices to meet the demand in the new gym.

[sfury]

Future headline:

ST. THOMAS MAKES LEAP TO D1
Caruso fired for coach with D1 experience

[Pat Coleman]

USTd thumps SJU one time and now their supporters are plotting a jump to DI (although not...for now.  Gotta say that to avoid the appearance of complete lunacy, no?).  And people say that last weekend's game affected Johnnie supporter sanity...

This has been talked about ... and debunked ... for a long time, OzJohnnie. It was Bethelfan who sparked this conversation with talk of Division II.

[OzJohnnie]

Everything said ... is ... not tethered to any sort of reality.

[USTBench]

Everything said ... is ... not tethered to any sort of reality.

Well that was a very FoxNews way to paraphrase me.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

USTd thumps SJU one time and now their supporters are plotting a jump to DI (although not...for now.  Gotta say that to avoid the appearance of complete lunacy, no?).  And people say that last weekend's game affected Johnnie supporter sanity...

This has been talked about ... and debunked ... for a long time, OzJohnnie. It was Bethelfan who sparked this conversation with talk of Division II.

UST leaivng D-III?
It. Aint. Happening.
at least not while Fritz is AD or Dease is President.

D-III supports exactly the balance and blned of athletics with academics and the full "collegiate life experience" that St. Thomas and the rest of the MIAC espouse. Philisophically, there is no better match for UST than D-III.

Even if the school's philosophy were to be altered dramatically enough, any move to a lowever divsion (be it D-II or I) would mean killing off several sports- track, swimming, hockey, golf all come to mind. You ask why hockey? NCAA mandates an on-campus arean with a specified number or seats (7500 I believe)...where on campus could this possibly be built?

Sid Hartman and others can talk about the possibility of UST leaving D-III as much as they want, but:  It. Aint. Happening.

[218Tommie]

From what I know of D1 rinks i've been to there is no mandate for seating requirement. Examples would be Bemidji State and their brand new Sanford center, along with half the schools in the Hockey East. Also speaking of hockey, not a huge fan of having a Big10 hockey conference. I think it could possibly weaken hockey, and you also get rid of a great conference (WCHA among others). But I pray that Lucia is not made the new commissioner of the conference. A little saying amongst my family and some other Raiders "The smartest dumb guy to ever come out of rapids."

[OzJohnnie]

Frank Rajkowski's update is out and SJU is going full-on development.  Krebsbach is starting at QB.  Now there is a surprise.

And, Bench, that FoxNews ad hominem of your was very MSNBC.   

[sjusection105]

Frank Rajkowski's update is out and SJU is going full-on development.  Krebsbach is starting at QB.  Now there is a surprise.

If Krebsbach can lead the team to victory- more power to him. If SJU drops a 3rd consecutive MIAC game, then I feel the remaining season is open auditions to everyone & start gaining game experience for next year. Wow, I never thought I'd say that about a SJU team 

[hazzben]

Frank Rajkowski's update is out and SJU is going full-on development.  Krebsbach is starting at QB.  Now there is a surprise.

If Krebsbach can lead the team to victory- more power to him. If SJU drops a 3rd consecutive MIAC game, then I feel the remaining season is open auditions to everyone & start gaining game experience for next year. Wow, I never thought I'd say that about a SJU team 

Was he in the running or discussion at all preseason for the QB job?

As for the open auditions. I agree with any position that's been underperforming. But I'm not comfortable with teams benching upperclassmen, especially seniors, because the season is in the tank and they want to start developing underclassmen for the future. If a kid is personally playing well enough and is a Sr, he's put in his time and should have every opportunity to play and finish out his career. Now, if the underclassman is just better, you've got a whole 'nother deal.

[sjusection105]

Was he in the running or discussion at all preseason for the QB job?

There were (1) Jr. & (3) Soph. in camp- with a shot at the position. He was 3/4 of the Soph., then earned the #3 spot on the travel roster with his play against Northwestern. This will be his first start.