FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[faunch]

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.

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.
[/quote]

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.

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.
[/quote]

Or how D3 was supposed to be. Honestly I'm getting tired of just about every level of sports. The other day I saw a video of like an 11 year old doing a commitment ceremony for AAU basketball.

[OzJohnnie]

There are something like 230 D3 schools. About 30 of them want to regularly be nationally competitive.  About seven or eight of those want to be championship competitive. Thats where the NIL money goes as well as the $250 a head fundraisers. There are plenty of schools who are there for guys who don't want to risk being displaced by a D1 transfer, only a few who are there to win.

From memory, I think there was a minor meltdown on this board when the Johnnies didn't go deep into the post-season this year with demands that something change so they do.  Well, make your choice: championship competitive or nostalgia lane.  Can't have both.

[maripp2002]

Well, make your choice: championship competitive or nostalgia lane.  Can't have both.

This is a legit question, not just being snarky, but SJU has only a single semi-final appearance (where they lost to UWW who was consequently boat-raced in the finals) and no finals appearances since that 2003 championship. Would it not be fair to say that decision is already made? A quarter century with a single semi-finals appearance would put SJU in the 30 or so that want to be nationally competitive and not the upper crust of "chasing championships". Keeping in mind I'm an outsider to the program and just peeking in every now and again on this board - SJU and the base could very well consider that they've just been incredibly close these last 23 years.

But since SJU last won a national championship, they've had the 3rd most national semi-final appearances...in the MIAC - behind Bethel and the now departed Tommies. Since SJU last played in a Stagg Bowl; Linfield, Cortland and UWRF have all won a natty, UMHB and NCC have won 3 each, and UWW and UMU have each won 6.

Admittedly, between actual Stagg bowl wins, given the limited sample size, SJU wins a D3 championship about every 27 years, so they're due around 2030, but does that count as being championship competitive?

FWIW, I'm serious about not being snarky. Wabash's glory day was a tough Stagg loss in 1977. I'd love for us to be back to being one of those 30 or so programs winning a playoff game or two each year. But I'm also pretty realistic about the fact that we're nowhere close to that upper tier at the moment.

[DuffMan]

Touché