My daughter plays basketball at Saint Mary's. President Roger Thompson has done an amazing job since being there!!! Good things will continue to happen for the GAELS!!!!
I'm all for St. Mary's bringing on Women's Flag Football. I'd even volunteer to coach it. Would be a total kick in the pants to share the joy and life lessons that the sport of football brings to all who participate. Baseball is a sport where NIL really doesn't matter, because it is a sport where you can do everything right...and still lose. It is just the very nature of the game itself, full of potholes and failure to deal with. It is a sport where when 24 guys come together and share the same heartbeat, magic can still happen. Pat Casey brought it to fruition in 2006 and 2007. Before that time, people thought it was darn near impossible to win a national title from the northwest or the northern tier of the country. That is why I implore all of Beaver Nation to GET OUT OF THIS POVERTY MINDSET (the belief that we can no longer compete in this era). Milwaukee, Cal Poly, Troy, St. Mary's, Coastal Carolina (last year and in their national championship year) have all shown us what can be done with limited resources. GET YOUR MIND RIGHT BEAVER NATION - focus on what happens between the lines, not what happens outside of it. Beaver Baseball was darn close to returning to Omaha this year (if Dax doesn't go down, Beavs could have pulled off another trip to Omaha). We were close (in a down year offensively, we will be back, better than ever into the near future).
Saint Mary’s indeed had a proud football tradition. And they played in what we today call FCS through 2004, when the school dropped football and reallocated resources (mostly to basketball).
I had the unfortunate task of overseeing the announcement, press conference, etc. Sad day for lots of people.
Flag football in the Olympics. At least it’s better than “breaking” as they called it. Only a matter of time until cornhole and 4-square make it into the games.
Would love to see St Mary’s get a football team. They could play in the Pac? with all the other schools that don’t have football programs like Gonzaga, Oregon St, Wazzu, i forgot the rest of the irrelevant list.
Fantastic interview. How can you not root for St. Marys + Roger Thompson? And this is coming from a freaking Zag! I love the leaning into aquatic sports, the desire to grow the basketball arena, + the baseball success. And I particularly like the womens flag football idea. GO get 'em, SMC.
Flag football is an NFL-driven Trojan horse to allow schools to cut more expensive women's sports while still remaining Title IX compliant. Hopefully, it fails to catch on.
"Thompson said he’s fearful that the power conferences will look at the upsets in the NCAA baseball tournament and propose changes to the format. He cited the relative certainty of the NCAA basketball tournament."
That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest: The Power 4 conferences are intent on keeping the smaller schools in their place.
St. Mary's has 2,800 students. Duke and Stanford aren't enormous, hovering around 10K undergrads. I think the SM A.D. is onto something. I know I won't watch an SEC-Big 10 final 4, football title, volleyball, anything. They're destroyed collegiate athletics and love it. They knew there were no salary caps, no commissioner, the NCAA was toothless and scared. I wish the other non SEC-Big 10 schools would just go there own way. Don't wait for them to leave -- they want to -- just leave first. The NCAA is about 0-50 in lawsuits, Michigan and Ohio State have won and they're so proud of themselves. The rest of us aren't impressed.
Very good points. Actually, though, Duke has about 6500 undergraduate students and Stanford about 7900. Both have many more graduate students than undergraduates, as is common with major research universities. (My alma mater, Johns Hopkins, has 6300 undergraduates and 23,800 graduate students.). The smallest undergraduate student body of a school in a Power 4 conference is 5500, at Wake Forest. Of the Group of 6 conferences, the smallest undergraduate enrollment is 2900 at the University of Tulsa. St. Mary’s may have the capability of contributing to the Pac12 as a basketball member, or in many other sports, but it is just too small to be a positive add on the football side.
Entities that break the law tend to lose in court. That’s been the NCAA’s problem. Every time they’ve been offered a chance to shape up, they’ve declined. The problem isn’t the lawsuits or the judges. The problem is that the NCAA keeps doing things the wrong way at every turn.
Hi Tim, the NCAA fares poorly in court because their rules were not written to withstand legal scrutiny. That's on the NCAA, not any particular school or conference. Non SEC or Big Ten schools, at least at the Power 4 level, aren't going anywhere on their own. They all want to be a part of what "Tier One" college football looks like once all the current media deals expire. After those seats are filled, plenty of schools, including some in the SEC and Big Ten, will be going their own way like it or not.
Do you even know who the NCAA is? It’s the members, the colleges, the OSU’s, U of O’s, Duke, Michigan, even smaller schools like Lewis and Clark, etc. If the NCAA changes it’s up to the member institutions to formulate those changes.
Can we please get rid of or block EsecPN? He’s doesn’t contribute anything to the conversation and he’s just annoying!
lol, sound like EsecPN has gotten your panties in a bunch. How about you not read his comments?
Hard to not read comments as you scroll down the comment section.
My daughter plays basketball at Saint Mary's. President Roger Thompson has done an amazing job since being there!!! Good things will continue to happen for the GAELS!!!!
I'm all for St. Mary's bringing on Women's Flag Football. I'd even volunteer to coach it. Would be a total kick in the pants to share the joy and life lessons that the sport of football brings to all who participate. Baseball is a sport where NIL really doesn't matter, because it is a sport where you can do everything right...and still lose. It is just the very nature of the game itself, full of potholes and failure to deal with. It is a sport where when 24 guys come together and share the same heartbeat, magic can still happen. Pat Casey brought it to fruition in 2006 and 2007. Before that time, people thought it was darn near impossible to win a national title from the northwest or the northern tier of the country. That is why I implore all of Beaver Nation to GET OUT OF THIS POVERTY MINDSET (the belief that we can no longer compete in this era). Milwaukee, Cal Poly, Troy, St. Mary's, Coastal Carolina (last year and in their national championship year) have all shown us what can be done with limited resources. GET YOUR MIND RIGHT BEAVER NATION - focus on what happens between the lines, not what happens outside of it. Beaver Baseball was darn close to returning to Omaha this year (if Dax doesn't go down, Beavs could have pulled off another trip to Omaha). We were close (in a down year offensively, we will be back, better than ever into the near future).
Saint Mary’s indeed had a proud football tradition. And they played in what we today call FCS through 2004, when the school dropped football and reallocated resources (mostly to basketball).
I had the unfortunate task of overseeing the announcement, press conference, etc. Sad day for lots of people.
My friend/ex-OSU quarterback Ian Shields coached there when it closed down. He also coached at Jacksonville when it shuttered its program.
Don't forget the Slip Madigan era just before WWII. The Gaels won the 1938 Cotton Bowl.
Absolutely! What I meant by proud tradition.
Flag football in the Olympics. At least it’s better than “breaking” as they called it. Only a matter of time until cornhole and 4-square make it into the games.
They should just go back to armored sprints and naked wrestling. The original games were wild.
I’d tune in!
I suspect ratings would be through the roof!
Hi JB, don't forget about pickleball.
Once pickleball is in we can all agree that the Olympics officially jumped the shark.
With all due respect to pickleball and the people who play it, including some of my friends, I would agree with you.
There was a time when St. Mary's had a real football program. It was a national powerhouse.
Surely, I am not the only fan who remembers Herman Wedemeyer and Slip Madigan.
Hi Louis, Slip Madigan has to be one of the all-time great gridiron names!
Google him. I'm not sure St. Mary's was the right place for him. He wasn't going to get anyone to forget Father Flanigan.
Squirmin’ Herman!
Would love to see St Mary’s get a football team. They could play in the Pac? with all the other schools that don’t have football programs like Gonzaga, Oregon St, Wazzu, i forgot the rest of the irrelevant list.
Are you always a complete asshole?
Not always. But never less than 75%.
Fantastic interview. How can you not root for St. Marys + Roger Thompson? And this is coming from a freaking Zag! I love the leaning into aquatic sports, the desire to grow the basketball arena, + the baseball success. And I particularly like the womens flag football idea. GO get 'em, SMC.
Flag football is an NFL-driven Trojan horse to allow schools to cut more expensive women's sports while still remaining Title IX compliant. Hopefully, it fails to catch on.
there seems no limit to how 'they' try to fool us, and control things
Joe, that is an interesting observation. I had not considered that.
Any coach or athlete in a non-rev sport at a school that is talking about flag football should be concerned.
Smart man. He is the true throw back to what college sports should be and could be once again
"Thompson said he’s fearful that the power conferences will look at the upsets in the NCAA baseball tournament and propose changes to the format. He cited the relative certainty of the NCAA basketball tournament."
That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest: The Power 4 conferences are intent on keeping the smaller schools in their place.
Read Blake Toppemeyer today and his column on Calipari.
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-palm-beach-post/20260602/281762750926391
There are high schools bigger than St. Mary’s College.
St. Mary's has 2,800 students. Duke and Stanford aren't enormous, hovering around 10K undergrads. I think the SM A.D. is onto something. I know I won't watch an SEC-Big 10 final 4, football title, volleyball, anything. They're destroyed collegiate athletics and love it. They knew there were no salary caps, no commissioner, the NCAA was toothless and scared. I wish the other non SEC-Big 10 schools would just go there own way. Don't wait for them to leave -- they want to -- just leave first. The NCAA is about 0-50 in lawsuits, Michigan and Ohio State have won and they're so proud of themselves. The rest of us aren't impressed.
Very good points. Actually, though, Duke has about 6500 undergraduate students and Stanford about 7900. Both have many more graduate students than undergraduates, as is common with major research universities. (My alma mater, Johns Hopkins, has 6300 undergraduates and 23,800 graduate students.). The smallest undergraduate student body of a school in a Power 4 conference is 5500, at Wake Forest. Of the Group of 6 conferences, the smallest undergraduate enrollment is 2900 at the University of Tulsa. St. Mary’s may have the capability of contributing to the Pac12 as a basketball member, or in many other sports, but it is just too small to be a positive add on the football side.
Entities that break the law tend to lose in court. That’s been the NCAA’s problem. Every time they’ve been offered a chance to shape up, they’ve declined. The problem isn’t the lawsuits or the judges. The problem is that the NCAA keeps doing things the wrong way at every turn.
Hi Tim, the NCAA fares poorly in court because their rules were not written to withstand legal scrutiny. That's on the NCAA, not any particular school or conference. Non SEC or Big Ten schools, at least at the Power 4 level, aren't going anywhere on their own. They all want to be a part of what "Tier One" college football looks like once all the current media deals expire. After those seats are filled, plenty of schools, including some in the SEC and Big Ten, will be going their own way like it or not.
Do you even know who the NCAA is? It’s the members, the colleges, the OSU’s, U of O’s, Duke, Michigan, even smaller schools like Lewis and Clark, etc. If the NCAA changes it’s up to the member institutions to formulate those changes.
Hi Todd, fair enough. But from where I sit that makes it all the more unreasonable to point the finger at any one specific conference or school.
My wife’s high school had 5000 students!