Gustavus Taking Facilities to Next Level for DIII

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Tommyboy said:
It is about the only thing they can do to be relevant. The southern suburbs are booming, this may be good for them. St. Scholastica, no one had heard of unless you lived in Duluth, Macalester was on the cover of SI for most losses. Augsburg used to have a guy on their team with no legs and would enter the stadium on a skate board. SJU used NDSU methods of recruiting and would get all the local farm kids, when these families had 10 kids per family. Concordia will complete along with Bethel, in the past they would win 1 or 2 games per year. SJU has like 250 kids out.
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The man with no legs is Dave Stevens. He was a producer for ESPN and now he's work for the Disability network in their sports department. Here's his Wiki Page.
 


Unregistered User said:
Keep an eye out for Augsburg. Lamker is the real deal and a great coach.
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How Hamline became almost Mac terrible is a mystery to me, but I am sure there are some pretty good explanations. Sullivan made even Carleton competitive for 15 years, so anything is possible.

Admittedly I did overlook Augsburg. They have been able to be pretty competitive the last few years (pre- Lamker I assume) with a good passing game and some athletes on offense.

If some depth could be added and a better, more physical defense could be added, they could be a contender for #2. Maybe that already is happening, I'll start paying more attention to Augsburg.

No one is going to challenge SJU much, that I am pretty confident of, which will lead to more controversy eventually. I do look forward to seeing what happens in MIAC Football the next five years or so for sure.

Now that the UST Football schedule is out I look forward to seeing what happens with them. Will they look like a much more athletic of a team than the 2019 MIAC team? Can they hang with UNI in Cedar Rapids for a while? Other than San Diego are they in a position to steamroll many of the Pioneer League teams even with MIAC type talent?

We will see soon, but they probably will beat St. Francis (NAIA, never heard of them) and Michigan Tech (DII) and lose to No. Iowa leading into the Pioneer League. Northern Iowa has fallen a bit with the rise of NDSU and SDSU, but they are still very solid.

The only thing I know about the Pioneer League is that the University of San Diego (San Diego Catholic institution, not SDSU or Cal- SD, very similar to St. Thomas) dominates the League and plays BB in Gonzaga's conference, the WCC. (At Davidson, USD, Stetson and Drake, Home vs. Butler, Valpo, Marist, and Presbyterian. (Dayton OH and Morehead St- KY missed)

2024 Football Schedule - The University of St. Thomas

The official 2024 Football schedule for the
tommiesports.com tommiesports.com
 
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oak_street1981 said:
Now that the UST Football schedule is out I look forward to seeing what happens with them. Will they look like a much more athletic of a team than the 2019 MIAC team? Can they hang with UNI in Cedar Rapids for a while? Other than San Diego are they in a position to steamroll many of the Pioneer League teams even with MIAC type talent?

We will see soon, but they probably will beat St. Francis (NAIA, never heard of them) and Michigan Tech (DII) and lose to No. Iowa leading into the Pioneer League. Northern Iowa has fallen a bit with the rise of NDSU and SDSU, but they are still very solid.

The only thing I know about the Pioneer League is that the University of San Diego (San Diego Catholic institution, not SDSU or Cal- SD, very similar to St. Thomas) dominates the League and plays BB in Gonzaga's conference, the WCC. (At Davidson, USD, Stetson and Drake, Home vs. Butler, Valpo, Marist, and Presbyterian. (Dayton OH and Morehead St- KY missed)
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I'm going to take a wild guess that the reason USD is able to do that, is the same reason that the Dakota schools can do what they do -- the lack of opportunities to play at least somewhat "high level" college football, but lower than FBS, out west and in the north central.

There are plenty of 2*, solid "I-AA" type players in the Dakotas, MN, and Wisc. Those are the guys that win the Dakota titles. Guessing similarish type of scenario out west. Guys not good enough for PAC, Mountain West, but solid Big Sky level and maybe would rather stay home than go up to Montana or Washington, etc.

UST might be able to latch into that a bit, as well.
 


Carleton was playing in the Midwestern conference before entering the MIAC in the 80's. Their coach Sullivan, graduated from SJU, he did not play but was a coaches assistant. The Bethel coach played at SJU. Grant from EP played at SJU as a 6" TE, he coached at SJU for two years while his younger brother played there as a 6" TE, he was the slowest kid on the team, his brother would throw the ball to him 10 times per game. He moved on to coach at EP. Carleton has never beat SJU. STU reminds me of Carleton moving up, they have DIII upperclassman who will get their asses kicked most likely. They will benefit from the lack of recruiting in Minnesota, it appears they are competing with DII teams for recruits at this time. It will be a good opportunity for local kids who are more serious about football then DIII.
 

oak_street1981 said:
The only thing I know about the Pioneer League is that the University of San Diego (San Diego Catholic institution, not SDSU or Cal- SD, very similar to St. Thomas) dominates the League and plays BB in Gonzaga's conference, the WCC. (At Davidson, USD, Stetson and Drake, Home vs. Butler, Valpo, Marist, and Presbyterian. (Dayton OH and Morehead St- KY missed)
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I kinda like their name ... that's how much I know about them.
 

Bledsoe's kid has transferred to San Diego to play QB this year from one of the Washington programs.
 

Tommyboy said:
Carleton was playing in the Midwestern conference before entering the MIAC in the 80's. Their coach Sullivan, graduated from SJU, he did not play but was a coaches assistant. The Bethel coach played at SJU. Grant from EP played at SJU as a 6" TE, he coached at SJU for two years while his younger brother played there as a 6" TE, he was the slowest kid on the team, his brother would throw the ball to him 10 times per game. He moved on to coach at EP. Carleton has never beat SJU. STU reminds me of Carleton moving up, they have DIII upperclassman who will get their asses kicked most likely. They will benefit from the lack of recruiting in Minnesota, it appears they are competing with DII teams for recruits at this time. It will be a good opportunity for local kids who are more serious about football then DIII.
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Steve Johnson from Bethel did not play at SJU. Glad to see you don't have unreasonable expectations for your son to be leading the Tommies to a bunch of wins in their first year.
 



I do not have any kids, but I thought the Bethel coach was an old Johnny. Kowalkowski was recruited by San Diego as well.
 

I had friends that transferred to the University of San Diego, the campus, situated on a hill, is pretty and the overall environment is close to unbeatable as many of the students live off campus to the northwest at Mission/ Pacific Beach. Old Town is not too far away either.
 

oak_street1981 said:
I had friends that transferred to the University of San Diego, the campus, situated on a hill, is pretty and the overall environment is close to unbeatable as many of the students live off campus to the northwest at Mission/ Pacific Beach. Old Town is not too far away either.
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Jim Harbough coached their before taking the Stanford job, Bledsoes kid recently transferred in. They have a strong program, Harbough sends his rejects to the school.
 

Unregistered User said:
Keep an eye out for Augsburg. Lamker is the real deal and a great coach.
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For reals? That is the most “woke” school around. They got rid of their academic honor roll because it made students who didnt make it feel left out. I wont be the least bit surprized when they drop competitive sports altogether.
 



TrapperDoo said:
For reals? That is the most “woke” school around. They got rid of their academic honor roll because it made students who didnt make it feel left out. I wont be the least bit surprized when they drop competitive sports altogether.
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Gonna have to disagree with you there about them dropping sports. But Augsburg’s niche certainly isn’t recruiting outer ring suburbs…I agree
 

Tommyboy said:
Jim Harbough coached their before taking the Stanford job, Bledsoes kid recently transferred in. They have a strong program, Harbough sends his rejects to the school.
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Tommyboy said:
Jim Harbough coached their before taking the Stanford job, Bledsoes kid recently transferred in. They have a strong program, Harbough sends his rejects to the school.
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TrapperDoo said:
For reals? That is the most “woke” school around. They got rid of their academic honor roll because it made students who didnt make it feel left out. I wont be the least bit surprized when they drop competitive sports altogether.
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You have no idea what you are talking about. If you have ever heard of or met the AD at Augsburg you would get it. The wrestling program at Augsburg is at a very high level and if Lamker can bring football up to that level, and I think he can, they will be winning a lot of games and playoff games too.
 

I like Gustavus' new athletic facilities plan, how about you guys?
 


TrapperDoo said:
For reals? That is the most “woke” school around. They got rid of their academic honor roll because it made students who didnt make it feel left out. I wont be the least bit surprized when they drop competitive sports altogether.
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How does stuff like this come up when the discussion is about athletic facilities?
 


GopherDog1 said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. If you have ever heard of or met the AD at Augsburg you would get it. The wrestling program at Augsburg is at a very high level and if Lamker can bring football up to that level, and I think he can, they will be winning a lot of games and playoff games too.
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It is tough to turn a program around, there goal should be to heavily recruit the city kids.
 

State of Football said:
Harbaugh coaches at San Diego State. Different school.
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He coached in the Pioneer League for 3 years.​


YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffsCoaches#AP°
San Diego Toreros (Pioneer Football League) (2004–2006)
2004San Diego7–44–12nd
2005San Diego11–14–01st
2006San Diego11–17–01st
San Diego:29–615–1
Stanford Cardinal (Pacific-10 Conference) (2007–2010)
2007Stanford4–83–6T–7th
2008Stanford5–74–5T–6th
2009Stanford8–56–3T–2ndL Sun
2010Stanford12–18–12ndW Orange†44
Stanford:29–2121–15
Michigan Wolverines (Big Ten Conference) (2015–present)
2015Michigan10–36–23rd (East)W Citrus1112
2016Michigan10–37–23rd (East)L Orange†1010
2017Michigan8–55–44th (East)L Outback
2018Michigan10–38–1T–1st (East)[179]L Peach†1414
2019Michigan9–46–33rd (East)L Citrus1918
2020Michigan2–42–4T–5th (East)
2021Michigan
Michigan:49–2234–16
 

The first phase of this large project is complete (weight rooms, expanded work out facilities, new locker room) and the second phase (indoor practice facility, and various other upgrades) will start soon.

 

Schnauzer said:
The first phase of this large project is complete (weight rooms, expanded work out facilities, new locker room) and the second phase (indoor practice facility, and various other upgrades) will start soon.

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Looks great. I have not been to many of the MIAC campuses, Gustavus included. But it looks to me like this is going to be top notch. Any significance to the "Gusties Will Shine"? Kind of their version of RTB?
 

Crosby said:
Looks great. I have not been to many of the MIAC campuses, Gustavus included. But it looks to me like this is going to be top notch. Any significance to the "Gusties Will Shine"? Kind of their version of RTB?
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It is one of the most significant lines in the “Gustie Rouser” which has been the fight song forever.


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And more video on the new stuff. This video doesn’t include all the new stuff (locker rooms, etc.), the existing stuff, or the stuff in the next phase.

 

Schnauzer said:
And more video on the new stuff. This video doesn’t include all the new stuff (locker rooms, etc.), the existing stuff, or the stuff in the next phase.

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Hopefully tennis was treated well as they are typically the Gusties only great teams
 

Word said:
Hopefully tennis was treated well as they are typically the Gusties only great teams
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Tennis is always treated well but GAC has plenty of other good programs. The women’s side of the ledger often had the womens programs combined ranked second in the conference overall, behind only St. Thomas. So it isn’t a stretch to say GAC now has the top womens athletic program in the MIAC.

On the Mens side, the same measure has the overall athletic program typically in second or third in the conference (behind UST but usually in the neighborhood of SJU when considering all sports). So a very healthy athletic program overall, extending well beyond tennis.

The problem is the football team hasn’t won the conference since 1987 (although it is typically upper pack, especially in recent years) and the mens basketball team has dropped off after being quite dominant in the 90’s and 00’s.
 

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