Gustavus Taking Facilities to Next Level for DIII

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As far as the MIAC is concerned, in recent years the pecking order has generally been St Thomas and St. Johns fighting for the title, with Bethel consistently in the top half of the conference. Gustavus and Concordia have been in the mix in that 3-4-5-6 area. Some years Gusties are ahead of the Cobbers, some years the Cobbers are in front. But overall, I would say Bethel has generally been the #3 team in the league if you average things out over the last 10 years or so. If anyone follows "John Sharkman" on Twitter (in real life Tom Linnemann, former St. John's QB), he hates Bethel with a passion.

My Auggies have had a couple of OK years, especially when they had Ayrton Scott at QB. He was a really dynamic 2-way threat. But the last couple of years they have been back in the bottom tier of the league. Now Wrestling, that's a different story. Odds are that the D3 National Title most years will come down to Augsburg or Wartburg.
 

In the post St. Thomas MIAC Gustavus is in a great position St. Peter is only about 30 MN further away from the Twin Cities relative to St Olaf in drive time, and Mankato down the road is way more fun for 20 year old than Faribault.

The powerhouse high schools of the SW twin cities are all under an hour drive from St Peter. If Gustavus does not already have pipeline from the $$ of Wayzata, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Chaska, Shakopee, and Chanhassen, they will have it lined up soon. Mommy and Daddy can send the spoiled kid 45 minutes down 169 to Gustavus and everyone wins.

Gustavus is way more than that, but the geography and money favors Gustavus being a big player in the MIAC going forward.
 

oak_street1981 said:
and Mankato down the road is way more fun for 20 year old than Faribault.
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Are Gustavus kids really driving 13 miles each way just to go to bars in Mankato with a bunch of public school kids? ;)

I understand St Peter may not have many bars ... but that's also true of a lot of college towns. Kids just usually house party, in that situation.
 

oak_street1981 said:
In the post St. Thomas MIAC Gustavus is in a great position St. Peter is only about 30 MN further away from the Twin Cities relative to St Olaf in drive time, and Mankato down the road is way more fun for 20 year old than Faribault.

The powerhouse high schools of the SW twin cities are all under an hour drive from St Peter. If Gustavus does not already have pipeline from the $$ of Wayzata, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Chaska, Shakopee, and Chanhassen, they will have it lined up soon. Mommy and Daddy can send the spoiled kid 45 minutes down 169 to Gustavus and everyone wins.

Gustavus is way more than that, but the geography and money favors Gustavus being a big player in the MIAC going forward.
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What does Faribault have to do with anything?
 




Hypothetically, if fully financed, the debt service would be about $1500-$2000 per student per year; but it sounds like over half is already paid for with donations with more to come so it seems to make sense financially. Gustavus sits in a small town island unlike many of their competitors. They need to invest more in student-friendly stuff. Regardless, the indoor football-sized practice field shoots them to the top of D3 facilities nationally.
 





oak_street1981 said:
In the post St. Thomas MIAC Gustavus is in a great position St. Peter is only about 30 MN further away from the Twin Cities relative to St Olaf in drive time, and Mankato down the road is way more fun for 20 year old than Faribault.

The powerhouse high schools of the SW twin cities are all under an hour drive from St Peter. If Gustavus does not already have pipeline from the $$ of Wayzata, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Chaska, Shakopee, and Chanhassen, they will have it lined up soon. Mommy and Daddy can send the spoiled kid 45 minutes down 169 to Gustavus and everyone wins.

Gustavus is way more than that, but the geography and money favors Gustavus being a big player in the MIAC going forward.
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I agree about them marketing to the West/ SW Metro student.

Used to take 1.5 hours to get to South Minneapolis from St. Peter. Now you can get to Blaine in 1.5 hours. Jordan now has the only stop light on 169 between Champlin and St. Peter. Gustavus is in a great spot to move to the top of the MIAC for the non-catholic student (if that's still a thing when picking schools). Town continues to grow as people love to live there.

There are enough bars for students in St. Peter, but most tend to house party. Gustavus has also pushed to have all students live on campus and I think you have to as Sophomores and Freshmen.

Town has grown to 4A in Football and 3A in basketball.
 

MplsGopher said:
Maybe when you actually contribute something to gopherhole, you can tell people what to do?
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There is a whole board dedicated to things that are not topic specific. Maybe you can stick you opinion over on that thread since it has nothing to do with Gopher football; just like this thread.
 

FormerFatOL said:
Hypothetically, if fully financed, the debt service would be about $1500-$2000 per student per year; but it sounds like over half is already paid for with donations with more to come so it seems to make sense financially. Gustavus sits in a small town island unlike many of their competitors. They need to invest more in student-friendly stuff. Regardless, the indoor football-sized practice field shoots them to the top of D3 facilities nationally.
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You’re correct in your financing model but the industry standard at private D3s is to have greater than 50% of campaign dollars pledged before announcing a project. Most pledges will be in the 5 year time period with a few going 7-10 years. It certainly won’t be $2k/year per student.
 

You can do a Google search to see info on some of the massive (historic) donations that have gone GAC’s way in recent years. The athletic facility building boom is obvious but the academic facilities have also gone through upgrades and new construction in recent years. I agree with the point made above that GAC has long invested in student amenities to balance being in a smaller town. On the other hand the whole Catholic/Lutheran thing isn’t a big deal. Plenty of Catholic students and football players at GAC.
 



Perennial under achievers. Seems like a waste to me, tbh. Gustavus trying to be something that their not.

Pretty on-brand for them.
 

Schnauzer said:
You can do a Google search to see info on some of the massive (historic) donations that have gone GAC’s way in recent years. The athletic facility building boom is obvious but the academic facilities have also gone through upgrades and new construction in recent years. I agree with the point made above that GAC has long invested in student amenities to balance being in a smaller town. On the other hand the whole Catholic/Lutheran thing isn’t a big deal. Plenty of Catholic students and football players at GAC.
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GAC is to Carleton/St Olaf, as St Thomas is to Mac.

??

I'm sure it's not perfect, but is it even reasonable?
 

ethomasp31 said:
What does Faribault have to do with anything?
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If you drive down the hill from Gustavus and take right turn you are in the middle of Mankato in 12-15 minutes. If you drive 12-15 minutes from St. Olaf, you might get to Lonsdale ord Faribault, which I guess is better than Dundas, but I'd rather be close to Mankato as a college student. Mankato is close enough to St. Peter to make things somewhat attractive for shopping, eating, bars, ect.
 

oak_street1981 said:
but I'd rather be close to Mankato as a college student.
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My guess is very few GAC kids are partying at Mankato bars, on average. I could easily be wrong, but that's the gut feel without any actual info.

Unless GAC provides free sober buses there and back. Then I could see it.
 

MplsGopher said:
My guess is very few GAC kids are partying at Mankato bars, on average. I could easily be wrong, but that's the gut feel without any actual info.

Unless GAC provides free sober buses there and back. Then I could see it.
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My focus in the post was not solely on driving to Mankato and binge drinking, and I am sure there are parties in St. Peter for that, but group transportation and/or designated drivers might come into play at times.

For students that just want to get away from St. Peter for a while, the ride to Mankato is very fast (8-10 minutes if you hit the green light by 14 on the way in), and there is a lot more going on than there was years ago, outside of hitting the bar. At least it is an option that they really do not have in Northfield, thought by some to be a pretentious, stuffy, and very uptight town to start with.

Both St. Olaf and GAC were real options for me, and for different reasons I ruled both out, for better or worse. At the time I thought both schools had well above average campuses and nice facilities. St. Olaf had an especially impressive physical plant at the time, although their peers probably caught up quickly.
 
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oak_street1981 said:
My focus in the post was not solely on driving to Mankato and binge drinking, and I am sure there are parties in St. Peter for that, but group transportation and/or designated drivers might come into play at times.

For students that just want to get away from St. Peter for a while, the ride to Mankato is very fast (8-10 minutes if you hit the green light by 14 on the way in), and there is a lot more going on than there was years ago, outside of hitting the bar. At least it is an option that they really do not have in Northfield, thought by some to be a pretentious, stuffy, and very uptight town to start with.

Both St. Olaf and GAC were real options for me, and for different reasons I ruled both out, for better or worse. At the time I thought both schools had well above average campuses and nice facilities. St. Olaf had an especially impressive physical plant at the time, although their peers probably caught up quickly.
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I love Northfield and Mankato both.
 

oak_street1981 said:
If you drive down the hill from Gustavus and take right turn you are in the middle of Mankato in 12-15 minutes. If you drive 12-15 minutes from St. Olaf, you might get to Lonsdale ord Faribault, which I guess is better than Dundas, but I'd rather be close to Mankato as a college student. Mankato is close enough to St. Peter to make things somewhat attractive for shopping, eating, bars, ect.
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You can drive the other direction from St. Olaf and you are just about in Lakeville, I can't imagine why anyone from St. Olaf, Carleton or Northfield would ever want to go to Faribault...

I'd also much rather go to the Twin Cities than Mankato. In 30 minutes I can get to 35 and 494 from the entrance at St. Olaf.

And I disagree, Dundas is much better than Faribault.
 

ethomasp31 said:
You can drive the other direction from St. Olaf and you are just about in Lakeville, I can't imagine why anyone from St. Olaf, Carleton or Northfield would ever want to go to Faribault...

I'd also much rather go to the Twin Cities than Mankato. In 30 minutes I can get to 35 and 494 from the entrance at St. Olaf.

And I disagree, Dundas is much better than Faribault.
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St Olaf and Carleton are the type of schools that attract students who want to go into Liberal Arts ...
 

ethomasp31 said:
You can drive the other direction from St. Olaf and you are just about in Lakeville, I can't imagine why anyone from St. Olaf, Carleton or Northfield would ever want to go to Faribault...

I'd also much rather go to the Twin Cities than Mankato. In 30 minutes I can get to 35 and 494 from the entrance at St. Olaf.

And I disagree, Dundas is much better than Faribault.
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I spent some time working in Northfield over the years. I got to know people that lived in all the surrounding towns and there are big differences for sure, some good and some not so good.

There is a lot to like about Northfield, and I did enjoy the golf course once again back in September.

On the negative side, there is no doubt that Northfield residents, and not just the academic crowd, tend to be bit too impressed with themselves relative to those from the other nearby towns. Many, regardless of their own accomplishments, seem to assume the glow of Carleton and St. Olaf transfers to each of them, even if most of them have zero real connection to either place..

For the record, I also like Dundas (at least the old L&M Bar- be careful on the drive west to I-35 post bar!) a lot more than I like Faribault. Faribault does have some desirable geography in terms of bodies of water, and the scenic hills east of downtown. That downtown could be great if they ever figured out how to be more like Red Wing or Stillwater, as there are a lot of quality old, big brick buildings down there. There was clearly a lot of money in Faribault 130 years ago, but maybe not so much today.

Also, there are not too many college age young people I know of that would be too fired up about traveling to Lakeville, Apple Valley or Burnsville for much of anything. (maybe to buy some drugs or hook up with a MILF or HS girl via Tinder)
 
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We did a micro-brewer run through Northfield a bit over a year ago (pre-COVID): Tanzenwald, Imminent, Chapel and Loon Liquors. Loved it. Also really liked Keepsake Cidery in Dundas.
 

New fly through of some (but not all) of what this complex will include. The football practice facility is shown near the end.

 

Never known them to be the Golden Gusties. New thing?
 

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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Gustavus is well positioned to move to the top of the MIAC going forward.

Bethel in Football has been sliding, and with the coach who built it all nearing retirement, they could be set for a further decline, but who knows as they have a niche recruiting angle that brings in some talent.

St. John's is a machine, resurgent, post Gags, , but #2 is up for grabs and Gustavus may be the rising power, and not just in football. Maybe Concordia can rise up again using a St. John's model (get a lot of DII level outstate talent mixed in with a few Twin Cities guys) but the rest are all in a weaker position than Gustavus.

As noted above, the rapidly growing SW suburbs with many powerhouse programs being very close to Gustavus can only help. I do not see the same level of commitment from St Olaf, which should also be a contender, but probably is not.
 

Keep an eye out for Augsburg. Lamker is the real deal and a great coach.
 

SJU is decorated in tradition, which resulted from having the winningest college football coach is the history of college football. He was way ahead of his time, and based his program on old school ethics. He achieved his tradition with respect for his players, look at the guys image from his previous players of 60 years. He did it with minimal tackling in practice, no swearing, and the coaches were called by their first name, not coach. I wonder how PJ Fleck would handle that for 60 years? The coach was also offered coaching positions with the Miami Dolphins and San Diego, he stayed in his domain.
 

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