FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[faunch]

As sort of a counterpoint to BDB, Johnnie Football Spring Standup

It is a fundraiser, but $250 is kind of steep.

Isn't it kind of ironic that Austin Murphy is the guest at a $250 a seat SJU fundraiser. If I recall from his book  he was tired of what had become of big time sports and drawn to SJU because of the simple way the Johnnies did things. It's crazy how things have changed in the last 20 or so years...If teams are doing nation wide recruiting and using NIL and the portal they won't be successful in D3.

[BDB]

You guys kill me sometimes.

It's a fundraiser. It's for raising FUND$. As followers of the team you should want it to sell out at $250 per and get $1000 per if they could.

This isn't a cost to watch the team play. It's an event to bond alumni and lubricate the high rollers that have and will continue to write some big checks of support. There is a need to occasionally have an event that is catered to that group.

So, complain about the costs of tickets and the video streams, that's all valid personal opinion I guess. But be happy this kind of event happens also to support your favorite football team.

[DuffMan]

Yeah, I guess I am not complaining so much, BDB, as stating that it's a bit rich for my blood. Or should I say it's currently too far down on the $$$ priority list, for the time being.

[MadRedFan]

 In related news, NIL in DIII. Wonder if SJU is among the schools this guy's talking about?

https://www.footballscoop.com/2026/03/26/division-iii-programs-are-wading-into-the-nil-waters-with-commitments-as-big-as-250k-to-300k

[repete]

Faculty layoffs, an undisclosed number, coming at CSS. No word in how it will filter to athletics.

[faunch]

As sort of a counterpoint to BDB, Johnnie Football Spring Standup

It is a fundraiser, but $250 is kind of steep.

Isn't it kind of ironic that Austin Murphy is the guest at a $250 a seat SJU fundraiser. If I recall from his book  he was tired of what had become of big time sports and drawn to SJU because of the simple way the Johnnies did things. It's crazy how things have changed in the last 20 or so years...If teams are doing nation wide recruiting and using NIL and the portal they won't be successful in D3.

As sort of a counterpoint to BDB, Johnnie Football Spring Standup

It is a fundraiser, but $250 is kind of steep.

Isn't it kind of ironic that Austin Murphy is the guest at a $250 a seat SJU fundraiser. If I recall from his book  he was tired of what had become of big time sports and drawn to SJU because of the simple way the Johnnies did things. It's crazy how things have changed in the last 20 or so years...If teams are doing nation wide recruiting and using NIL and the portal they won't be successful in D3.

I'd like someone to point out where exactly I was complaining in this post? I was merely attempting to point out how D3 athletics, specifically football, has changed in the last 20-25 years. Austin Murphy came to SJU because of how John did things. There weren't fly in recruiting visits and SJU alums weren't hosting $250 a plate dinners to woo D1 transfers to Collegeville with the promise of cash in their pocket (I don't know for certain that SJU players have pocketed NLI $).
I didn't know John Gagliardi personally, I probably had two, maybe three conversations with him over my years at SJU. From what I've heard and been told about him it's a good bet that he would not have been a fan of the current landscape of D3 football.
I think a fair number of us that follow D3 sports do so because it was one of the last ve

As sort of a counterpoint to BDB, Johnnie Football Spring Standup

It is a fundraiser, but $250 is kind of steep.

Isn't it kind of ironic that Austin Murphy is the guest at a $250 a seat SJU fundraiser. If I recall from his book  he was tired of what had become of big time sports and drawn to SJU because of the simple way the Johnnies did things. It's crazy how things have changed in the last 20 or so years...If teams are doing nation wide recruiting and using NIL and the portal they won't be successful in D3.

I'd like someone to point out where exactly I was complaining in this post?
So I guess making an observation is akin to airing grievances (Yes I know that Festivus is in December)? Maybe this December one of those grievances won't be another Johnnie playoff loss.

I was merely attempting to point out how D3 athletics, specifically football, has changed in the last 20-25 years. Austin Murphy came to SJU and wrote a book because of how John and the Johnnies did things. There weren't any whistles and he was "Winning with nos. It's was about he purity and simplicity of D3 football.
There weren't recruits flying into visit and SJU alums weren't hosting $250 a plate dinners to woo D1 transfers to Collegeville with the promise of cash in their pocket (I don't know for certain that SJU players have pocketed NLI $ but I'm guessing there has been and will be).
I didn't know John Gagliardi personally, I probably had two, maybe three conversations with him over my years at SJU. From what I've heard and been told about him it's a good bet that he would not have been a fan of the current landscape of D3 football.

I think a fair number of us that follow D3 sports do so because it's one of the last vestiges of unadulterated college sports. Yes it's still "non-scholarship" but let's not fool ourselves...with NLI we seem to be trying to close the barn door after the cows are already out of the barn.
And it isn't just football.
A coworker's kid was offered about $50K and has "signed" to play D3 hockey for a team that had 6 wins this season.
Apparently a wealthy alum is big puck fan and is has the funds to try an build up the program.

[sjusection105]

CSS Men's Puck?

[faunch]

CSS Men's Puck?

Nope...not a MIAC school.
If I recall the dad I know was told that the alum is ponying up about $300K....that should be enough to build one really good line and get a goalie. Wonder how the other guy feel about playing with guys getting $50K each and the rest of you are getting bupkis.

[art76]

Hey gang, this month's podcast just dropped and AJ Parnell, the Bethel Alum QB and assistant coach, gets interviewed as the new head coach at Asuza Pacific.

Take a listen at: https://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/2026/03/29/atn-podcast-405-new-faces-new-places-in-d-iii/

[sjusection105]

CSS Men's Puck?

Nope...not a MIAC school.
If I recall the dad I know was told that the alum is ponying up about $300K....that should be enough to build one really good line and get a goalie. Wonder how the other guy feel about playing with guys getting $50K each and the rest of you are getting bupkis.

[BDB]

Wonder how the other guy feel about playing with guys getting $50K each and the rest of you are getting bupkis.

They probably feel like those guys worked their butts off to be that good and they are happy to have them on their team.

It's like looking at the student next to you getting a full scholarship because they worked hard in high school and another student is carrying a student loan but still got accepted.

Better opportunities, physical attributes, sure. But effort in all ways comes into play.

Some people just plain work harder than others and get compensated more.

[faunch]

Wonder how the other guy feel about playing with guys getting $50K each and the rest of you are getting bupkis.

They probably feel like those guys worked their butts off to be that good and they are happy to have them on their team.

It's like looking at the student next to you getting a full scholarship because they worked hard in high school and another student is carrying a student loan but still got accepted.

Better opportunities, physical attributes, sure. But effort in all ways comes into play.

Some people just plain work harder than others and get compensated more.

Or...I've been at this school working my ass off for 2-3 years and then they give a D1 transfer a wad of cash to come in.

[BDB]

Or...I've been at this school working my ass off for 2-3 years and then they give a D1 transfer a wad of cash to come in.

If that happened then apparently you weren't good enough at your position for them to pay someone to come in.

Time to transfer to a school in the Life Is Always Fair Conference. The LIAFC as it's known nationally.

www.liafc.com

(remember the date)

[maripp2002]

They probably feel like those guys worked their butts off to be that good and they are happy to have them on their team.

Here is my two cents. Call me crazy, but at the D3 level, I think of sports as an ancillary to the actual college/university and the education you get, it's definitely a part of the experience, but it shouldn't be the first thing you think of when you think of a school.

It might be blasphemous, but as both a Wabash College graduate and a UWSP alumnus, I would rather see my teams suck, and keep high character, hard-working dudes that are putting in the time and effort in both the classroom and the playing fields - than to get a bunch of D1 transfers that are essentially giving up at a higher level (minus grad transfers, but if you don't have a graduate program, those won't be the people you're getting anyway).

What says those d1 guys shouldn't be happy to be playing with all of the guys at the D1 level who are getting more NIL money, and seeing the playing field when they're not? After all they should probably be thinking "those guys worked their butts off to be that good and I'm happy to have them on the team". Why would you want those guys on your team, they basically said, "nah bro", on trying to put in the hard work and seeing if you get that playing time via injury, or improvement or whatever, and are now dropping divisions to find what wasn't there. That's one of my several nits to pick with modern college athletics - it just feels easier to give up for the wrong reasons.

Life isn't fair, and football only has 22 players on the field at a time, so there are always going to be dudes who don't see the field, but I'll take character over all else any day. Especially, as it relates to COLLEGE athletes, where what I hope would take first priority are the skills you'll take into the world after you're done. At a time when enrollments in D3 are going to take a hit first, losing guys to the transfer portal to replace them with D1 dudes who didn't give your school a sniff until they couldn't hack it, seems like a cop out and a great way to lose the kind of student athletes you'd want.

Run D1 programs like a business, I accept that. But for me, D3 programs net little to no money anyway, so running them like businesses is just a chance to make what was cool, worse.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Or...I've been at this school working my ass off for 2-3 years and then they give a D1 transfer a wad of cash to come in.
[/quote]

I think you're looking at it through the lens of how we would've understood it.  Money in college sports is more and more normalized, and I'm guessing athletes today wouldn't be all that shocked. Sure, we wish D3 would remain a bastion of purity, but there will certainly be cases where money leaks in stuff like this will happen.