|
Post by Kapitan on May 24, 2019 12:20:42 GMT
I have a specific story to share, but it doesn't really warrant a thread or fit into any of the existing ones. So I thought this could just be a catch-all college sports thread (likely to be pretty quiet til fall, I assume). But for now, my story of the day.
Minnesota has a collegiate conference for Division III schools called the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) comprising generally small, private, somewhat prestigious schools. The MIAC is probably best known for being the conference in which legendary coach John Gagliardi (who passed past year at age 91) notched the most wins in college football history with a 489-138-11 record and 27 conference titles in his 50+ years coaching. He was also an innovator, prohibiting tackling in practice, not using a whistle or blocking sleds, and minimizing practice length to 90 minutes.
But this isn't about him. This is about what the MIAC may now be best known for, which is secretly (until the story began leaking a couple weeks ago) conspiring to kick out its largest and most recently successful school, St. Thomas. St. Thomas has been a football powerhouse, winning two national titles and MIAC titles since 2010, including a 97-0 win over conference rival St. Olaf a couple years ago. St. Thomas also dominated other sports and, at 6,000+ students, dwarfs other conference schools which typically range from 1,500 to 3,000 students.
It became official this week: the conference voted that St. Thomas would be "involuntarily removed" from the MIAC. And it's pretty big news, not just around here but with national outlets like ESPN picking up the story.
The big question around here now is, will St. Thomas join some other DIII conference? (The best fit is ironically the WIAC, with the W standing for ... well, you can guess what. That ought to give cheese-heads something to rant about.) Or can/should they move up to DII?
Some people--including myself--think that if they are going to undergo the work and cost of going DII, they may as well try to go all the way to DI. It would be a 12-year process, but St. Thomas is an urban campus (primarily in St. Paul with a smaller campus in Minneapolis), and wealthy institution with successful alumni and donors. They could do it. And it would be a very interesting situation, as Minnesota only has ONE Division I school! (For comparison, South Dakota will have three as soon as DII Augustana finishes its transition; Wisconsin and Iowa, I believe, each have five.)
They would definitely be a credible mid-major basketball program in short order, as Minnesota has been splitting its non-elite but D1 talent between the four D1 Dakota schools and other regional mid-majors. If St. Thomas could get the pick of the litter among non-elite talent, the guys who aren't Big Ten caliber, they could really have something. Their football tradition is pretty spectacular and they could presumably be a decent 1AA team in the Missouri Valley, maybe.
Anyway, it's quite a drama up here, a founding conference member getting kicked out for being too good.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on May 30, 2019 19:54:42 GMT
It’s official: the Gophers lost their best basketball player, 6-8 point forward Amir Coffey to the NBA Draft, where he is considered at best a second rounder but may well go undrafted.
|
|
|
Post by The Cincinnati Kid on May 31, 2019 1:59:02 GMT
Jarron Cumberland announced he is coming back to UC for his senior year. UC fans are pretty elated as without him we'd be lucky to make the tournament, but now we're back to being a top 20-ish team this year. Not to shabby considering we have a new head coach!
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2019 12:26:32 GMT
I envy you! With Coffey, I think it would have been safe to bet we'd be a top 20 team, too. Without, we have a lot of question marks.
Including him, the Gophers lost their two best players: Jordan Murphy is a 6-6ish double-double machine at power forward, a throwback who never did really develop as a shooter or face-up player, but a guy who despite his lack of height could rebound and score inside with the best of them; Amir Coffey is a smooth, skilled, versatile 6-8 wing who played primarily at the point this season, initiating offense, sometimes hitting from 3, and at his best driving and creating. Dating back to high school, Coffey was unselfish to a fault, and the truth is his attitude was sometimes questionable on the court, too, but especially late this year he was playing at an All-America level.
Without him, we have a lot of questions. The top two returnees are local kids, sophomores Gabe Kalscheur at SG (the team's best shooter and perimeter defender) and Daniel Oturu at C, a very athletic and talented big man with NBA potential. But after that we'll be plugging in a lot of newcomers. Marcus Carr will start at PG after sitting out last year following a strong freshman season at Pitt. Payton Willis is considered a great shooter, but also sat out last year after transferring from Vanderbilt. Tre Williams is a highly regarded--but not elite level--freshman wing. Jarvis Omersa is another local sophomore, a freakish athlete at PF but not particularly skilled yet. Eric Curry is a really talented 6-9 junior F/C, but he missed huge parts of the past two years with injuries. And we're bringing in a 6-9 German freshman who is reportedly a versatile, face-up wing who would have been a Top 75 recruit had he been American ... but who knows?
Lots of talent, not a lot of guarantees.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 13, 2019 17:21:59 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 13, 2019 21:25:43 GMT
To answer your question, yes, I hope the hammer will fall. These schools just thumb their noses at the rules and regulations and think they can get away with it. And, for many years they have. I think the NCAA throwing Pitino's ass out was a beginning and a sign of things to come. The NCAA has its work cut out for itself, but this shows that they mean business.
|
|
|
Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jun 14, 2019 1:56:40 GMT
Pitino wasn't kicked out, though. Louisville just fired him. Anyone could have hired him and a lot of UC fans wanted him to replace Cronin. Everyone passed him up because of the baggage he now carries. The bigger schools have shown time and again that cheating pays and I don't see the NCAA getting serious about it.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 14, 2019 4:20:46 GMT
Pitino wasn't kicked out, though. Louisville just fired him. Anyone could have hired him and a lot of UC fans wanted him to replace Cronin. Everyone passed him up because of the baggage he now carries. The bigger schools have shown time and again that cheating pays and I don't see the NCAA getting serious about it. After hardly ever joining in discussions on the board, you come on now?
Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected. The NCAA didn't suspend/ban Pitino. He was fired. But if Louisville didn't fire him, what do you think the NCAA would've done with all of the findings from the federal investigation?
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 14, 2019 13:17:52 GMT
Pitino wasn't kicked out, though. Louisville just fired him. Anyone could have hired him and a lot of UC fans wanted him to replace Cronin. Everyone passed him up because of the baggage he now carries. The bigger schools have shown time and again that cheating pays and I don't see the NCAA getting serious about it. After hardly ever joining in discussions on the board, you come on now?
Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected. The NCAA didn't suspend/ban Pitino. He was fired. But if Louisville didn't fire him, what do you think the NCAA would've done with all of the findings from the federal investigation?
Knowing the NCAA? Probably give Eastern Kentucky the death penalty or something. Their meting out of justice has hardly been fair over the years. But if anyone ever deserved a show-cause penalty or a full ban, it's Pitino. Well, him and a lengthy list of others. But Calipari is still actively coaching, Bruce Pearl is still actively coaching, Roy Williams is still actively coaching...
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 14, 2019 13:31:00 GMT
After hardly ever joining in discussions on the board, you come on now?
Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected. The NCAA didn't suspend/ban Pitino. He was fired. But if Louisville didn't fire him, what do you think the NCAA would've done with all of the findings from the federal investigation?
Knowing the NCAA? Probably give Eastern Kentucky the death penalty or something. Their meting out of justice has hardly been fair over the years. But if anyone ever deserved a show-cause penalty or a full ban, it's Pitino. Well, him and a lengthy list of others. But Calipari is still actively coaching, Bruce Pearl is still actively coaching, Roy Williams is still actively coaching... Again, The Cincinnati Kid was right, but isn't it possible that Louisville had an agreement with the NCAA to do the "dirty work" and fire Pitino so the NCAA didn't have to further embarrass the college by doing it? At least Louisville could save some face by giving Pitino his walking papers.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 14, 2019 13:33:25 GMT
I wouldn't bet on it. I'm sure Louisville did fire him (and the AD, as I recall) in the hopes of minimizing penalties, but I doubt it was through an agreement with the NCAA. Those sorts of pre-emptive, self-imposed penalties are not that uncommon (though firing a legendary coach as part of it is).
|
|
|
Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jun 14, 2019 23:45:30 GMT
Pitino wasn't kicked out, though. Louisville just fired him. Anyone could have hired him and a lot of UC fans wanted him to replace Cronin. Everyone passed him up because of the baggage he now carries. The bigger schools have shown time and again that cheating pays and I don't see the NCAA getting serious about it. After hardly ever joining in discussions on the board, you come on now? Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected. The NCAA didn't suspend/ban Pitino. He was fired. But if Louisville didn't fire him, what do you think the NCAA would've done with all of the findings from the federal investigation?
I've posted in most threads, so that's a weird comment to make. Like Kapitan said, they've wouldn't have done more than what they ended up doing. Nothing serious is going to happen unless the FBI's investigation starts putting important people in jail.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 15, 2019 22:59:40 GMT
I actually believe the only way to get (most of the) corruption out of the profitable college sports is remove the semi-pro nature of them from colleges entirely and have fully functioning minor leagues separate from the college/university system. That would make what we now know of as D1 more like what we have in D2 and D3, while the elite players who chose that route could actually make money at their craft without the charade of college.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 22, 2019 12:42:25 GMT
Today I am off to a high school coaches' association-sponsored day that brings together several dozen DI prospects for games, drills, and classes. It features most of the handful of elite prospects in the next few classes and dozens more interesting ones. Some, I've seen a lot; some, I've never heard of. (I believe the Gophers have offered 10 of the guys, ranging from class of '20 to '22.)
Eight hours shuffling between courts to watch high school kids play ball?
I'm in!
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2019 0:44:24 GMT
Today I am off to a high school coaches' association-sponsored day that brings together several dozen DI prospects for games, drills, and classes. It features most of the handful of elite prospects in the next few classes and dozens more interesting ones. Some, I've seen a lot; some, I've never heard of. (I believe the Gophers have offered 10 of the guys, ranging from class of '20 to '22.)
Eight hours shuffling between courts to watch high school kids play ball?
I'm in!
It was heaven.
|
|