The MIAC staff just returned from sunny San Diego, Calif., which was the site of the 2014 NCAA Convention. Each will share their thoughts from a great week of learning, networking and fun, starting today with MIAC Executive Director Dan McKane.
2014 NCAA Convention Recap
By Dan McKane
Dan McKane
Every year I look forward to attending the NCAA Convention.
I always take a lot away from the many meetings I get to attend and the
conversations I have with many great athletic administrators throughout the
association. This year was no exception, my convention experience lived up to
everything I was hoping for, including some fantastic San Diego weather.
One of the highlights from the trip was taking part in the
Division III Special Olympics event. Special Olympians from the San Diego area
were mixed in with Division III student-athletes and administrators, taking
part in soccer and bocce ball competition. Due to my soccer background, I
naturally gravitated to the soccer games and had a fantastic experience. The
games were competitive and fun. One of the best parts was watching our NCAA
National SAAC Rep (Domenic Fraboni from Concordia football) playing soccer.
Another highlight from the event was gathering four Gustavus graduates for a
photo with Gustavus President Jack Ohle (Chair of the NCAA Division III
Presidents Council).
The D-III Special Olympics clinic was featured in the NCAA Convention Newsletter. MIAC SAAC rep Domenic Fraboni is pictured chest-bumping a student-athlete, and he and Augsburg's Kelly Anderson Diercks are in the group shot.
The annual Division III Commissioners Association meeting
during convention is always valuable, as it is a time to discuss important
issues pertaining to conferences, but also take time to have conversations with
people around the division that play similar roles in conferences. I always
learn so many new best practices from my exchange with the 44 conference
commissioners. Another highlight for me is attending the NADIIIAA (division III
administrators) session each year. The topic this year was on campus
emergencies, covering horrifying stories of campus emergencies. The speakers
discussed some of the things they learned to help prepare their campuses for
future emergencies.
Every year during convention, Friday is dedicated to the
Division III Issues Forum and the MIAC administrator meeting. The Issues Forum
allows me to really hear from administrators around the division on several key
topics. This year the main topic was recruiting reform. We discussed many
concepts that could alter the way the division recruits. I am very interested
to see which concepts develop into proposals for next year’s convention. The
recruiting topic is one that I have spoken to most coaches groups throughout
the conference and have heard many passionate responses on a number of ideas.
Friday afternoon featured our MIAC administrator meeting, where we covered NCAA
legislation, several hot topics in the NCAA and MIAC. Former MIAC Executive
Director Carlyle Carter also stopped at the meeting to catch up with our many
long time administrators. We also congratulated Gerald Young (Carleton AD) on
his appointment to the NCAA Management Council and JoAnn Andregg (St. Thomas
Associate AD) on her upcoming retirement.
Gustavus President Jack Ohle presides over the NCAA Division III Business Session.
Saturday, the final day of convention, features the Division
III Business Meeting where we hear several key updates and vote on proposals.
There were nine proposals and one resolution. All items were approved, with the
exception of a proposal dealing with football helmets in the spring conditioning
period which was withdrawn on the convention floor. We celebrate the 40th
Anniversary of Division III this year. Division III has a lot of positive
things going for it, as we look to keep our student-athletes safe and provide
them not only great athletic experiences, but also keep them focused on their
academic pursuits.
Overall, I came away from the NCAA Convention more energized
than ever before. I wasn’t excited to enter back into freezing temperatures
after experiencing 80 degrees each day in San Diego, but I am ready for the
winter sports season and excited for our upcoming championships.
Hello MIAC friends. It's been an extremely busy fall, and unfortunately that means fewer MIAC Media Blog posts than I'd like. Hopefully you've all been tuning into the outstanding MIAC Weekly Podcast with Mike Gallagher in the meantime to get your MIAC Media fix and checking out all the content on our web site.
The blog returns today with a feature I've been sitting on for awhile. The 2013 MIAC football season - which is still going thanks to Bethel's postseason victories - was both successful and extremely fun. It's been well-documented that our teams went 16-2 against nonconference competition (18-2 if you add in Bethel's Playoff wins) this season. We had four teams ranked in the Top 25 for much of the year, and at one point had five teams all ranked in the top 30. In a conference known for its outstanding football, the 2013 may have been one of the best.
However, one of the biggest highlights of the season occurred not on the field - but on national TV. ESPN College GameDay - the network's big Saturday pregame show with a cult-like following - paid a visit just outside MIAC country with a trip to Fargo, N.D. When that was announced, Concordia Sports Information Director Jim Cella started brainstorming how he could possibly get the Cobbers - and their big rivalry game with St. Olaf which was on that Saturday's schedule - featured on a show that rarely - if ever - takes a break from its NCAA FBS coverage to mention Division III.
That level of exposure is almost never achieved by schools or conferences our size, so it was fascinating to see it all unfold on Twitter and then on my TV on Saturday morning. Following it all, I caught up with Cella to find out all the details of how he pulled off such a Cobber coup. It's a fascinating tale of perseverance and the always-growing power of social media. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how "The Troll" and "Kernel Cobb" ended up on ESPN's flagship show.
MIAC MEDIA: Take me through the initial idea and the communications. When did you get the idea to reach out to GameDay, and did you expect them to respond?
Jim Cella
CELLA: "I just wanted to get something in the Fargo Forum that week [about the Concordia-St. Olaf game], because I knew it would be all about NDSU. We're playing St. Olaf for our conference opener, so I just wanted to get something in the paper. Eric [Peterson, Forum sports reporter] had talked about doing a feature on one of the players. I knew it would get buried, so I talked to him about The Troll. I had the background from the alumni, the guy who actually purchased it. I asked him, 'What about this? It's kinda off the wall and has never been done before.' He thought it was pretty cool, and then I could tell it was something I could run with. That's when it started to gain speed.
I knew people at the TV station up here had been in contact with the producers at GameDay. I asked if I could get the producer's email address. We're always on the ESPN list of mascots. I pitched the idea to their producer that WDAY had been in contact with. I pitched the mascot thing and The Troll trophy. She emailed me back, which I was even surprised to get. She said they'd talk it over with the production staff. That was Monday. I hadn't heard something Tuesday, so I deduced to throw it out at [Chris] Fowler and I Tweeted out the picture of The Troll. I didn't expect to hear anything but then 15 minutes later he Tweeted back at me and said, 'What the hell is that?' I first thought, 'Who is playing a joke on me? Chris Fowler doesn't Tweet me back.' So then I wrote him back and he said if we could verify it, they'd put it on the show.
The Troll on national TV.
I wrote the producer back, and told them Fowler as interested. She said they'd talk about it in a production meeting and get back to me. I hadn't heard back from them on Thursday so I decided to go back at Fowler with one last attempt. I tweeted out my Hail Mary pass to try and get The Troll on GameDay. I told him it's been verified and that was the day it was in the Forum. Front page. Huge story. I sent him the link to the story. I hashtagged it '#bestdougflutiepass.' I wanted to put in the football connection, and that's when he Tweeted me, 'Yep, bring it to Fargo.'
When he tweeted me back on Tuesday, it blew up around here. The media picked it up and ran with it. I had Bison fans tweeting me telling me not to bring it and [GameDay] was their spotlight.
Fowler direct messaged me and said he'd talk it over with the producer and I should direct message him back. So I wrote him Friday and got nothing back. So then I took a picture of a bunch of Cobber gear, and I Tweeted at him: 'Cobber swag for you and your crew if you get The Troll on GameDay.' He direct messaged me back and said, 'How early can you be there?' I ended up going at about 5:30 a.m."
MIAC MEDIA: What was it like when Chris Fowler started to respond, and the media started to take notice?
CELLA: "It was all the TV. Up here all the TV and their sports anchors are all on Twitter and they use it, which is great for me. They got a hold of it. One of the biggest ones, we have a radio show host Mike McFeely. He's got a huge fan following so he picked it up and asked Bison fans what they thought of the troll getting on Gameday? He was trying to stir things up and he got people going. He wrote to me then, and I wrote him back and he put that on his blog. Eric Peterson has a blog too and it was on there. They do a thing on the web site for things that don't appear in the paper. Any time there was any response or communication, [Peterson] would put it there on the site. On campus I was getting calls and people were wondering if we'd really get on GameDay. That was great, but it spiraled into this huge thing and I was trying to get my normal work done. It was all anyone wanted to talk about. It was great and it was a lot of fun.
For me, I just wanted to make The Troll a bigger deal. Up until three or four years ago no one really cared about it. It was just a funny little thing we hand out. We got rid of our trophy game with Moorhead State, and I love those rivalry trophy games in college football. so I wanted to pump this up and get it to take off."
MIAC MEDIA: You brought The Troll to the Game Day set and were there for the taping. What was that like?
CELLA: "I went there at 5:30 a.m. I got in touch with the production guys, and they brought the producer out. At that time, there were already fans there camped out. I had to go through these fans, and he takes me into this room. I go into this hallway and we empty into this room and there's Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Jesse Palmer. Folwer looks up and goes 'Hey, you're the guy with The Troll!' I take it out, they're all laughing about it. He asked if I minded if he made fun of it.
Even Niblet the Cobber got some GameDay love.
Fowler told me he wasn't going to show it until late, and asked if I was willing to hang out until then. Let me see, go to my regular job, or hang out with you guys? I think I'll stay here. He told me to hang out in this room, there was food, anything you want to drink, and I just got to hang out. So it's literally me and those guys in the room and they were just talking football. That was the best part of the day for me. They were giving each other a hard time and doing impressions. It was hilarious. I was constantly pinching myself.
Then Fowler comes over to me before he's going to get ready for the show. He says thanks. I brought a whole duffel bag of the Cobber gear and I show them the 'Fear the Ear' stuff and they thought it was a cool slogan. I said, 'You guys take as much as you can.' That's where Niblet was [the small plush version of mascot Kernel Cobb]. I gave them bobbleheads and then fowler found Niblet and he said, 'That's kinda cool.' So I said if he could get that on the show, that'd be awesome. He said he didn't think he could. I gave him a Concordia soccer scarf because I know he's a big soccer fan, and we spent like 10-15 minutes talking about soccer.
They have a pre-show with Jesse Palmer and Samantha Ponder, and the other guys left. Then later it's just me and Jesse Palmer and Samantha Ponder sitting in the room. The producer comes back, gives me a pass, and now I can go right up on the set and watch the show. I just walked around and there are times I'd be standing right behind the cameras. I'd be 10 feet away while they're talking about football on TV. I was laughing to myself, saying, "This is not happening."
Then, about 10 a.m., I was talking to some NDSU people I knew and I see them bringing The Troll up, and I rushed to get up there and I almost got hit in the head by the big camera that shoots the crowd. I got some pictures of it. I was just shaking my head that it was on TV. Then fowler pulls out the Cobber and asks Corso if he's picking the Cobbers. 'Yeah,' he said, 'I'm picking the Cobbers!'
Then they're taking a break. I give my phone to the makeup lady and ask her to take a picture when I go up there to get The Troll. The producer says they do not take pictures on the set during the show. Fowler sees it and says, 'Jim, come on up, let's take it.' So I go up there and they take the picture for me.
Jim Cella secures a rare on-set photo with Chris Fowler and the gang.
I take The Troll off the set and I gotta get back to campus. We have football and soccer that I have to get back for, and every step through the crowd someone wants to take a picture with The Troll. Then I get to the area where they have local media, and they start interviewing me. I finally got out of there and got to the Cobber game around 11:45."
MIAC MEDIA: What has the reaction been like since The Troll made its national TV appearance? Talk about the feedback you've received.
CELLA: "The football team and everyone around here was just jacked. To see them mentioned on GameDay was just surreal. The other surreal moment for me, it's family weekend and we have a big tailgate set up. Literally every place I went it was all people were talking about. I was just walking by laughing and thinking, 'If they only knew the whole process.' Just hearing the buzz about it was great. The team and the players, for them to see it all happen, it was great. The alumni and stuff we've gotten out of it has been incredible. [Cobber Head Football Coach] Terry [Horan] said the people who have contacted him about it have been great as well."
MIAC MEDIA: One of the coolest aspects of this, to me, is it really showcases the power of social media. Ten years ago, there would have been so many hoops to jump through and people to communicate with. Today, you can try to correspond directly with someone like Chris Fowler, and as you proved last week, get results. What has this done for your perception of using social media to promote Concordia athletics?
CELLA: "For me, having done it and being the first [Division III] school to do it helps to understand the power. It reconfirms the power to reach such a broad group of people in a way you can't through the normal media. I can get things out there, instantly. I can reach people in a way that a small college normally can't. A small college can get their message out, where we couldn't before.
And now, Fowler's actually following @CobberSID. He only follows like, 150 people, and I'm one of them. Now every time I put something out there, he'll see it. After the game, I Tweeted the final score and I Tweeted it at him. He wrote back that it was great to hear Concordia's keeping The Troll. I had fun with it on the set. Terry and our alums pushed that out to their followers. It's really incredible."
MIAC MEDIA: Any future plans to push the Cobbers into the national spotlight on social media?
Troll talk on ESPN's flagship college football show.
CELLA: "There are always plans. Last year, I got one - one of our guys did a basketball trick shot - but it got out there. I started it on Twitter and social media, too. I understand what I can do with it. I'll keep trying to push the envelope. Now that we've had the one success, hopefully the national people will be more accepting of us. They'll think, 'Hey, aren't you the guys who appeared on GameDay?' I've got my foot in the door. Going forward, it's gotta be something special, but I've got my foot in the door so we've got a chance.
The biggest thing that's come from this, the number of followers we have on Twitter has grown immensely. I've gotten more local media people - the strong media people - whether it be the magazines in Fargo-Moorhead, and also some national-level people. To me, you talk about things going forward, now that we're on their radar and these people are following us, maybe we won't get another story like this out there, but the recognition we'll get going forward is incredible. To me, that's huge - the followers we added and some of the people in the media. I'm constantly shaking my head, saying, 'All this because of a stupid Troll.'"
MIAC MEDIA: Well, a stupid Troll, and the ever-growing power of social media. Well done, Mr. Cella. It was certainly a thrill to see a MIAC mention on a show with the relevance and reach of ESPN GameDay, and great to learn the details and dedication it took to pull it off.
A year ago, the MIAC switched to a new format for the
season previews. Instead of schools submitting write-ups, the conference's
sports information directors agreed on a template so each school could equally
share the same interesting information about their team heading into the
season.
As I compiled the previews for this fall, I particularly
enjoyed the "Did you Know?" section for many of the sports and
schools. Many of the facts provided were interesting and amusing, and are
worthy of highlight in the MIAC Media Blog.
Since football gets a lot of love on the MIAC site and in
this space, I thought it would be great to spread the love around to other
sports by sharing my favorite "Did you Know?" facts from our other
fall sports. There were a lot of great athletically-related facts submitted by
the schools, but the ones that caught my eye helped me get to know the
student-athletes or coaches a little better, or provided information that I
could never get from the standings or statistics.
Without further adieu...
The MIAC Media
Blog's favorite fall "Did You Know?" facts
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
• Concordia senior Ryan Sederquist is also
an accomplished musician and is a Music Education major. He has played the
trumpet in the Concordia jazz band and is also a board member and newsletter
editor for the Bad Medicine Lake Association.
• Gustavus assistant coach
Brenden Huber won the men's 10k race at the Ninth Annual Fargo Marathon this
past May. Huber turned in a winning time of 33:41. Also at the 2013
Fargo Marathon, 2005 Gustavus graduate, Nicole
Porath, won the women's marathon with a time of 2:50.49.
• Macalester Head Coach Matt Haugen is a
former MIAC champion. He won the race as an Ole in 1977.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
• Bethel’s top runner for the past two
seasons, Mollie Gillberg, will not be with the Royals in 2013 as she is
studying with Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Belfast, Ireland from
October through February. Gillberg will look to return to the Royals lineup in
2014.
• Concordia junior Becca Asheim grew up
singing and performing music with her family.
• Macalester sophomore Sarah Jonathon
(Guilford, Conn.) is the great-great granddaughter of former U.S. President
(1909-13) and Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft.
MEN'S GOLF
• Concordia junior Sam Christian had three
uncles and his grandfather all play on the United States Olympic hockey team.
His uncle Dave played on the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” team.
• Macalester Head Coach Tomas Adalsteinsson
is a former golfer for Iceland's national team and in 2000 placed 25th at the European
team championship. In 2001 he was Icelandic Junior champion and Icelandic
Junior Tour champion.
WOMEN'S GOLF
• Cobber freshman Allison Burns is a second
degree black belt.
• Gustavus first-year Mallory Drenttel
(Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) is the third Drenttel to play for head coach Scott
Moe in the last six years. Mallory follows in the footsteps of sisters
Taylor `12 and current captain Jordan `15 in joining the Gustie women's golf
team in St. Peter.
• Saint Benedict Head Coach Daryl Schomer
was runner-up at the 2012 State Amateur Tournament, while winning the Mixed
Amateur Team Championship.
MEN'S SOCCER
• At one point in the 2013 season Bethel
University’s men’s soccer team will travel 1,157 miles for four games within a
seven-day time period. The Royals travel to Saint John’s, Wartburg, Concordia,
and Saint Mary’s in the middle of October.
• Concordia freshman Ben Deetz was born in
Harrisburg, Pa. but was raised in Harrisburg, S.D.
• St. Olaf's David Rosenthal played for the
Team USA men's open soccer team in the 2013 Maccabiah Games, an event that
featured over 9,000 athletes from 77 countries in 38 sporting events, known as
the "Jewish Olympics." The US team won the gold medal.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
• Carleton has 13 states represented on
their roster—Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin—as
well as a player from Canada.
• The Gustavus women's soccer team will
host its second annual "Kicking For The Cause" match on Saturday,
September 28th against Saint Benedict. The match will serve as a
fundraising event for Yuwa, a nationally-based non-profit organization reaching
out to girls in rural India, specifically Jharkland. Through team sports, Yuwa
provides a platform for young women to gain confidence and make a change in
their world.
• Macalester coach Michele Cornish helped
lead George Mason (Va.) to the 1985 Division I national crown and was head
coach at Division I North Carolina-Asheville from 1994 to 2010.
VOLLEYBALL
• Augsburg head coach Jane Becker will be
inducted into the University of St. Thomas Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony
on Sept. 19. A 2004 St. Thomas alumnae, Becker (nee Gibbs) was a two-time
All-America and four-time All-MIAC honoree as a setter for the Tommies, as part
of teams that won MIAC titles in 2002 and 2003. She was named MIAC Volleyball
Player of the Year in 2003.
• Concordia senior Angie Waller is very
proficient at walking on her hands. She can walk on her hands for a very long
time.
• Hamline first year head coach Becky Egan
has some familiar faces to work with. Assistant coach Karlee Lursen and soph
transfer Micki Green played for her at Eastview High School.
• Head Coach Annie Doman played Division I
competition as a collegian. Doman was a standout setter at Austin Peay
State (Tenn.) and finished with just under 5,000 assists.
Last week's MIAC Friday Feature took an in-depth look at Saint John's University football as it enters the post-John Gagliardi era. As a
former journalist, I really enjoyed this assignment because it let me get back
to my reporter roots. I spent a day at Saint John's this summer speaking to
players, coaches and Athletic Director Tom Stock. I attended the Johnnies'
practice that day, and collected photos and videos as well.
The feature had a lot of substance, thanks to all the
great stuff I got from everyone I spoke with at SJU. It's a pretty detailed report
about the dawning of a new era at SJU. Amazingly, I had a lot of material that
I didn't use so the blog was a perfect spot to share some unused items of
particular interest.
Because of the nature of the story, one aspect I didn't
delve into was the much-publicized coaching search to hire Gagliardi's replacement.
New Head Coach Gary Fasching and new Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator Kurt Ramler were two of the finalists along with Saint John's alum Mike
Grant, who has a built a prep dynasty at Eden Prairie High School, in addition
to his famous football lineage as the son of legendary Minnesota Vikings former
coach Bud Grant.
Mike Grant decided to stay at EPHS, and Gary Fasching and
Kurt Ramler (center) took over the Johnnie football program.
Grant had a lot of supporters throughout his interview
process, and when he withdrew from consideration, there were a lot of different
things written and said as to why. During my interview with Stock, he gave me
some great information regarding the search process and specifically, how
things played out with Grant. I was fascinated by some of the details and
grateful for Stock 's transparency. I hadn't seen some of this information in
other reports, and I immediately knew that many MIAC football and Johnnie fans
would share my interest in the AD's assessment of the process.
"It's one of those things with an open search,"
Stock said, "a lot of people were happy with an open search, some were
unhappy. Many were very happy with Gary because he's recruited our
student-athletes here the last 18 years and they're really happy with him. But
I think when your football team is 5-5 and the bar is where it is at Saint
John's in football, others have felt like it was time to go outside the
organization and have a change.
"It came down - and it's no secret - Mike Grant was
a finalist; Gary was a finalist. Finally, Mike Grant withdrew his name and it
had nothing to do with Saint John's not honoring his wishes. His demands were
very reasonable. He just loves where he's at and what he's built. He's built a
wonderful program at Eden Prairie and I think in his career he's looking to
spend more time at the cabin, more time with his father, more time with his
family. He's looking to unwind rather than wind it up, which is what it would
have been. Here he'd have to recruit and start rebuilding our program. By
hiring somebody on the inside I think we've really made great strides and made
them in a hurry under Gary."
With Grant out of the process, things worked out quite
well for Saint John's. Fasching got the head job, and Ramler was also brought
into the mix as the Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator. Fasching also
gave me some great material on the start of his tenure and how crucial it is at
Saint John's to connect with the very large, incredibly passionate community of
alums, fans and former players.
"I think any time there's a change there are going
to be people that have a favorite candidate or stuff like that," Fasching
said. "But really once the decision was made, the alumni have been very,
very supportive. I couldn't have asked for more. They've reached out to me in a
lot of different ways and I couldn't be more grateful for our alumni here. I
think it's what makes us unique in all of college football is that we do have a
passionate alumni here; it's evidenced by the crowds that we get. They're
connected, they're engaged to what's going on here. It's been really good. I've
been really pleased with the outpouring I've gotten from the alumni."
Another interesting nugget I didn't work into the feature
was regarding Saint John's foreign trip to Canada, which no doubt helped the
team acclimate to the coaching change. It also led to the Johnnies hosting a
spring football game, which was a thrill for the tradition-rich program, and
likely an important step in moving on after bidding adieu to college football's
all-time wins leader.
"It was one of the things - when I got hired - we
talked about it right away," Fasching said of the trip to Canada. "And
then with Kurt coming on and implementing his stuff on offense, I brought it up
to the staff. I said, 'What do you guys think about making an international
trip to Canada?' We were all in favor of it. It made a huge difference - having
those 10 extra practices. We didn't use all 10; I think we used eight of them.
Having those practices really helped our kids out a lot. Just from a
terminology standpoint and knowing where to line up and things like that. It
was very beneficial, it was one of the better things we've done so far."
Finally, the reverence everyone in Collegeville holds for
Gagliardi is still palpable. It certainly isn't surprising after six decades of
excellence, but it certainly was made clear in each of my interviews.
"I want to start by saying I want to thank John
Gagliardi to Saint John's University," Stock began our conversation.
"He leaves as the winningest coach in college football. He coached 64
years as a head coach, 60 of those right here at our great University. He won
75 percent of his games over that time span. he cannot be replaced. Thank you
John. Nobody's gonna come in here and win 75 percent of them for the next 60
years, and if we think that's going to happen, Gary's going to be something
like 115 or 120 years old. It's not going to happen. John's an aberration and
we're so grateful for him."
"I think No. 1 - people will come into a program
after they're named the head coach and they'll decide that they're going to
change everything and do it their way," said Fasching. "That's
certainly not something that we needed to do here. I think the situation I came
into was a lot different than other people. A lot of people come into a place
and it's probably because the coach got fired and the program's in shambles,
that certainly is not the case here."
Perhaps Johnnie senior Kevin Battis said it best. "[Gagliardi is] a
great, great figure and he's still definitely - you can feel him around here -
and that's great," said the All-MIAC lineman.
He's right ... Gagliardi's presence is still everywhere,
and after six decades of stability and success, moving forward is quite a task.
That task resulted in a fun story for me to report, and all these leftover tidbits
that didn't make the final cut, but couldn't stay on the cutting room floor.
Tweet of the Week
Wednesday was a fun Twitter day in the MIAC. With ESPN
College GameDay coming to nearby Fargo, N.D., to broadcast from the North
Dakota State campus, Concordia SID Jim Cella (@CobberSID) sent a tweet to host
Chris Fowler to let him know that the Cobbers and St. Olaf would play their
annual game for "The Troll" in the vicinity of the broadcast Saturday.
Fowler responded, and is interested in giving the unusual trophy some air time
on Saturday. We followed with a tweet this afternoon to Fowler to offer our
support, so I'll have my DVR set Saturday to see what transpires. The power of
social media just continues to amaze me, and kudos to Jim for his enterprising
nature to get Concordia and the MIAC a few seconds in the national spotlight!
Extra Points
-Congrats to Bethel's J.D. Mehlhorn on his selection tothe Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. J.D. is one of just 22 players selected for
the incredible honor in all of college football. It seems like it's become
pretty trendy to bash on college athletics, specifically college football, so
kudos to J.D. for reminding us about everything that's right with college
athletics.
-We've publicized the MIAC's 7-0 and 12-1 start to the
2013 football season, but it's really been an amazing fall thus far for all
MIAC team sports. In addition to football's 12-1 collective record, volleyball
entered MIAC play a combined 94-50, men's soccer started the conference slate
with a 32-19-8 combined record, and women's soccer started its MIAC season a
collective 26-22-8. Combined, the MIAC's four team sports are 164-92-16. MIAC
teams have won 64 percent of games against nonconference competitions. 33 of
the MIAC's 44 football, volleyball and soccer teams are .500 or better in
nonconference play. We couldn't be prouder of our teams' accomplishments on the
field thus far this fall. Thanks for representing our league in such
outstanding fashion.
-How 'bout the St. Thomas women's golf team? The Tommies
have three first-place finishes in three tournament appearances, and star Doyle
O'Brien (two) and Erin Dingmann (one) have claimed the conference's first three
Athlete-of-the-Week awards. Outstanding.
-Will any of our schools have a cooler special event than
Saint Mary's getting a visit from the Stanley Cup? Chicago Blackhawks President/CEO
John McDonough is an alum of SMU, and he brought the cup to his alma mater to
share its glory with the school and Winona. Read more and see photos here. Just
awesome. Congrats to John on his immense success, thanks for representing Saint
Mary's and the MIAC with such distinction, and thanks especially for giving one
of our campuses a day they'll never forget.
-If you have any questions for the blog or the MIACWeekly Podcast, email me! I'd love to make this more interactive. Chances are,
I might not be able to answer all questions, but I know people.
-MIAC play started yesterday for volleyball and soccer
and continues today with full slates for those sports. Football's MIAC season
starts Saturday. This is when it REALLY gets fun! If you're at a game this week
or this weekend, email me your pics, or send to the MIAC on Facebook and
Twitter. Let's see that school spirit! Good luck to all the athletes this week,
and we're excited to see the conference standings start to shake up.
So I was watching the Big Ten Network's football preview
series, which involves the network's football crew visiting each team's
preseason training camp for a day an discussing the team's prospects for the
upcoming season, interviews with players and coaches and highlights from that
day's practice.
The MIAC doesn't have our own network, but we do have
MIAC Media, so I got the idea to try and recreate the same concept, on a
smaller scale. Since it was a late-blooming idea, I wasn't able to get around
to visit all nine MIAC teams. However, I did cram in five campus visits into
one weekend and gathered a ton of video, and some initial impressions of the
teams I visited.
I stopped by the first full-pads practice for Augsburg,
then headed up to catch a half-squad workout at Saint John's, as its massive
freshman class was attending orientation for first-year students. The following
day I hit the latter part of a Bethel practice in the morning, a St. Thomas
scrimmage against Rochester Technical
and Community College (RCTC) and a spirited late-afternoon practice at
Hamline.
All-in-all, it was a gorgeous three days to be outside
and I came away with football fever a week or two earlier than usual. I loved
the chance to visit our teams and talk with the coaches and players during
their preparation. Preseason training camp truly is a time of optimism. For the
moment, everyone is tied for first place at 0-0 (except 1-0 SJU), and excitement and
expectations are never higher.
Next year, I hope to make this more of a full-blown
preseason tour. My lofty aspiration at this time is to visit all nine teams and
file both a video and blog from each stop. (Whether or not that will actually
happen with our hefty preseason workload will remain to be seen.) However, here
is an abbreviated report from my trip around (half of) the conference, with 10
observations from my travels (in no particular order) mixed with some thoughts
and questions about the upcoming season. Thanks a ton to the coaches, SIDs and
student-athletes that allowed me to look into their preseason preparations, and
my apologies to those I missed this time around.
No. 1 - Crank it
up
NFL fans have undoubtedly heard about Seattle Head Coach
Pete Carroll's tendency to pump music - crank the volume to 11 - throughout
practice. It's been reported he does this to prepare his teams to perform in
deafening situations on the road later in the season, and to help the energy
and spirits run high. MIAC teams aren't reaching the Seahawks' decibel level,
but many employ the same tactic.
Augsburg rocked a good variety throughout its drills,
seven-on-seven work and full-squad scrimmage, highlighted by B.I.G.'s
"Hypnotize." The blaring, upbeat country music coming from Bethel's
sound system easily guided me to their practice like the pied piper. Speaking
of Pipers, Hamline's practice started with Robin Thicke's "Blurred
Lines" and some dance-fueled warm-up exercises.
No. 2 - Tommie
defense in midseason form
Though it was just a preseason scrimmage, the St. Thomas
defense looked to be in midseason form in their scrimmage against RCTC.
Second-ranked UST didn't lose much from last year's D-III runner-up squad, but
the most significant losses were on that side of the ball in Ayo Idowu (DL) and
Chinni Oji (CB). However, the Tommies were their usual fast, aggressive,
swarming selves in my look at them. Anytime RCTC tried to find some space -
screen passes, a flare to a back, tosses ... the Tommies were there in tandem to
shut it down, often behind the line of scrimmage.
On that day - at least the 90 minutes I saw - St. Thomas'
offense was solid but perhaps lacked a little explosiveness. A lot of that
could be vanilla preseason play calls and winds that affected the vertical
passing game, but the Tommies are loaded with returning talent on that side of
the ball and are expected to put up big numbers. But on this day, my biggest
takeaway was that the defense will survive graduation and continue to thrive.
No. 3 - Gary
Fasching is having fun
Saint John's has received a ton of attention for its
coaching change - the first in 60 years in Collegeville - so I was excited to
get a look at a Johnne practice. My number one takeaway was that new Head Coach
Gary Fasching, his assistants and his players are having a ton of fun.
Practice was upbeat and uptempo on the final two-a-day of
the season. From calisthenics through drills and eventually scrimmaging, there
was a lot of energy and a lot of smiles. I'm guessing the Johnnies had a fun
bus ride home after their season-opening win last night over UW-River Falls.
The Fasching era got off to an unforgettable start as his team scored 10 points
in the final minute for a 17-14 win. However, SJU will need to show continued
improvement for the good times to continue in Collegeville as they start
conference play with UST, and most of the conference's contenders over the
first half of the season.
No. 4 - The
message at Bethel
The Royals enter 2013 ranked as high as No. 6 and
optimism was high at their Saturday-morning workout. My biggest takeaways were
the talk of taking the offense to the air more than usual. Bethel has built its
reputation with a strong ground game over the years, but this year's team is
blessed with talented junior QB Erik Peterson and a strong class of
upperclassmen wideouts, so the Royals could take to the air more in 2013. The
defense - led by All-American LB Seth Mathis - should still be the heart of the
team, but it will be interesting to see if a more explosive offense changes up
tradition at Bethel.
However, the No. 1 thing I took away was the way Head
Coach Steve Johnson and his coaches navigate their players through the process
that is the season. Johnson assured his players in a post-practice talk that
everything they're doing and all the work they're putting in are for very
specific reasons, and the tough times on the practice field will build their
mettle and resolve for those tough Saturday afternoons that require players to
dig a littler deeper.
No. 5 - Augsburg's
ascent
Since I started in the MIAC office in 2010, Augsburg's
football team seems to take step forward
each year. That process appeared to accelerate last season with the emergence
of freshman QB Ayrton Scott, who played well beyond his years and racked up mind-boggling
offensive numbers. Now, with a lot of talent back around their star sophomore
under center, the Auggies are optimistic their rise can continue, and I heard
the world "Playoffs" more than once from players when discussing the
upcoming season.
A lot of that hinges on Scott's development, and how MIAC
defenses will prepare for his combination of speed, strength and savvy in year
two. However, he's got All-America TE Adam Carl back as his favorite target and
RB Jerise Washington to team with Scott on the ground. The defense is led by Hakeem
Bourne-McFarlane, and if it can progress alongside the offense, the Auggies
could join the conference title conversation with Bethel and St. Thomas.
No. 6 - Hands-on
at Hamline
The Pipers clearly have a lot of work ahead of them after
going 1-9 and 0-8 in the MIAC a season ago, and at their practice it was clear
first-year Head Coach and Hamline alum Chad Rogosheske is working to improve
the Pipers' fortunes by building from the ground up. I saw a lot of enthusiasm
and hands-on teaching from Rogosheske as his staff, with a focus on
fundamentals and doing the little things right.
I like that approach a lot. I saw some innovative drills
that really focused on the key fundamentals at each position. The players were
learning, working hard and having fun. For Hamline fans, that should be good
news as Rogosheske and his staff works on rebuilding.
No. 7 - Hitting
someone else
All the players and teams I visited last month have been
waiting for this weekend for a long time. It seemed each team was about to the
point in camp where they were ready to hit someone wearing a different colored
uniform. This weekend offers that first opportunity in real game action, so
this weekend I'll be watching for which teams enter the season sharp and
focused and can channel that aggressiveness into positive results on the field.
Sometimes, the desire to move from preseason camp to that first game is so
great, it can result in almost too much aggression, which can stray from fundamentals
and game plans.
No. 8 - Star watch
Which MIAC stars will continue to shine, and which stars
will become familiar names by the end of the season? Last year, there was a new
wave of QB talent with sophomores Matt O'Connell (UST) and Peterson (BU) and
freshman Ayrton Scott (AUG). All three of those are back, and looked impressive
in my visits to their camps.
But who are some of the players that aren't on the MIAC
radar yet that will emerge throughout the season? That' s always part of the
fun of a new season, and I'll be combing the box scores the first few weeks to
look for standout performances from the conference's new faces.
No. 9 - Coaching
carousel
In a conference that was recognized nationally for
coaching stability, led by John Gagliardi's 60 years at SJU and NCAA record 489
wins. However, a third of the MIAC will debut new head coaches this season,
with Carleton's Bob Pagel entering his first year as the full-time head coach
after having the interim tag a year ago. Which new head coach will have the
best debut and the biggest impact? I liked what I saw in camp from both Fasching
and Rogosheske, and St. Olaf's Craig Stern has been a big part of the Oles'
success as the assistant head coach, so it should be a comfortable transition
in Northfield.
It will be fun to learn the identity of those teams under
their new leadership. Will we see any drastic stylistic changes, as we did with
Hamline's last hire and John Pate running the option with the Pipers? Will any
of those teams take a significant step forward under its new coach? How will
the players respond to new leadership? It all adds to the intrigue of a new
seaosn.
No. 10 - Excited
about the rest
It was great to get a look at five of the MIAC's nine
teams, and I'm excited to get a look at the rest of the league as the season
kicks off. I'll have seen seven teams in person after today, as I'm heading to
Northfield to catch some of both Carleton's and St. Olaf's home openers. Some
of the things I'm looking forward to learning about the league's other teams
...
What will be the bigger transition at St. Olaf - the
coaching change with Stern taking over, or the change under center with the
graduation of star QB Dan Dobson? Speaking of QBs, is Concordia junior Griffin
Neal ready to take on more command of the offense with MIAC MVP Brett Baune no
longer there to ground things out for the Cobber offense? How will Carleton
progress in the second season under Head Coach Bob Pagel, and how will the
Knights rebuild their secondary after the graduation of talented defensive
backs Mike Elder and Paul Hoffer? And just how big a load can Jeffrey Dubose
carry at Gustavus? The star RB has been tremendous as an underclassmen, so how
will he write the final chapter of his collegiate career, and what kind of
success will follow for the Gusties?
Let's kick it off
The MIAC couldn't
have scripted a better start than Saint John's amazing comeback win over UW-River
Falls last night. I had planned to finish this blog then, but I was glued to
the web cast and couldn't break away to do any writing. Today, we'll see if he
MIAC's amazing stretch of nonconference success can continue (16-2 last season,
13-0 over the first two weeks in 2012) and we'll start to answer some of those
pressing questions about the league's teams and players.
