D3football Daily Dose

Football fans and/or those who have read everything there is to read about D3basketball:

Keith McMillan here. Thanks for stopping by the football site still. Some of you have long anticipated this year’s installment of our Year in Review. Thank you for patiently waiting. I can finally confirm that it is up and awaiting your perusal and/or feedback.

If you want to skip right to it, go ahead. If you’re interested in the process, read on:

I turned in the year-in-review to Pat earlier this week. It took him a couple days to format and edit for publication, not to mention fill in a few items I left unfinished when I gave it to him (Hey, there were 108 categories, can you blame me?)

Perhaps you’ve already seen it, and maybe even read through half of it. It is so long Pat broke it into three parts, but we’d like to think it’s longer because we cast our net wider this year and our coverage was more comprehensive.

The year-in-review itself took no less than 25 hours to compile (a normal ATN takes about 6-10), so that’s where the delay came in. Opening up 55 of last year’s categories to fans and readers helped us cover some things we would not have thought of ourselves (like the Marietta/Baldwin-Wallace game, for instance), but it meant that I was working an hour or two a day until about Jan. 10 (we usually take a break from the Stagg Bowl and start up on this project sometime after New Year’s) simply cutting and pasting from people’s e-mails — including those solicited from d3 staff members — into different category headers. Once I got to there, I started writing … and chopping, re-organizing, etc. Pat offered to help write categories a few times, and although Gordon, Pat and Pat Cummings included their input, and several fans contributed quite a bit, I was still hardheaded enough to think I could do it all myself. Perhaps I bit off more than I could chew, as I told Pat at least three times that I was finishing up, and it went on for days and possibly weeks after that.

The first year we reviewed, 2003, Pat wrote half and I wrote the other half, which may have been why it was up by Jan. 6. Last year I believe it posted Jan. 27, and this year my goal was the 15th, which we missed by a few days.

But for good reason. Even after chopping down fan submissions and other writers’ submissions, and getting rid of a few categories that didn’t fit this year or we didn’t have anything for, it apparently reached Pat at more than 14,000 words. We tried to break it up into parts and make it as readable as possible, as half that would have been a lengthy read.

A couple things you should know about the year-end, if you cared to read this far into this post:

1. Some e-mails and quotes were edited for clarity, grammar and length.

2. I’d love to have a research assistant or two next year, either all season or just for this project. I spent hours just charting how all 231 teams did in comparison to our preseason prediction, for example. We also spent some time researching where Justin Beaver’s season fit among the great D3 rushing seasons.

3. I wrote most of the capsules, or tried to source the quoted material where I didn’t. But there are some parts written or re-written by other D3 staff, for the record. (That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have liked to write it … just means that some capsules, like No. 88, were sent to Pat with an unfinished idea, and Pat did the wording … so if you e-mail me asking why I’m dissing this guy or that guy, forgive me if I know not of what you speak

4. The beauty of the internet is that mistakes can be fixed quickly and even the print edition is not final. As a habit, we don’t like to change things after publication, but if you do spot something, you have the choice of e-mailing one of us and having us fix it quietly or blowing us up on the board and pointing while you laugh. Choose wisely.

That pretty much covers it. I think I’ve said enough. Time to open up the floor to you all. I’ll be answering questions, I guess, and considering your comments here and on the blog for the next week or two, depending on interest.

Hope you enjoyed your insight into the process.

A couple of transactions passed across my screen in the past few days. Last night we learned that Coe running back Fred Jackson, a second team D3football.com All-America running back in 2002, has signed with the Buffalo Bills. Jackson follows in the footsteps of Carey Bender, who played for the Bills in the mid-1990s.

Bender also played in NFL Europe, and Jackson might have a chance to do the same. Jackson reportedly has been allocated to NFL Europe. The NFL Europe training camp begins in mid-February.

Jackson played in the United Indoor Football League this past season and was the league’s MVP.

Jermaine Taylor re-signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will be allocated to NFL Europe as well. Taylor, a two-time D3football.com All-American (third team in 2002, first team in 2003), was in the Bucs training camp last season.

(Minneapolis) Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman wrote this week that former Gustavus Adolphus wide receiver Ryan Hoag is working out in Florida with hopes of landing a spot in NFL Europe as a free agent.

Saturday night’s Hula Bowl and Sunday’s NFC title game are two places you can see Division III in action this weekend, and newspapers are all over it. Here’s a sampling of some of the coverage from local papers on the Hula Bowlers and D3football.com All-America running back Jamal Robertson, who should get some carries as the Carolina Panthers’ No. 2 back this weekend and has become the team’s top kick returner.

The Shelby Star in North Carolina writes about Robertson’s Division III beginnings and his long road to the NFC Championship Game.

And although Tom Sorensen’s Charlotte Observer column doesn’t mention Division III (hello, Tom, you missed a great angle), it’s still a good read.

The Honolulu Advertiser writes about Division III players in this year’s Hula Bowl, focusing on local boy Derek Turbin, the Occidental safety who got a lucky break, as well as Linfield quarterback Brett Elliott.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin writes about the Division III presence, focusing on North Central linebacker Lenny Radtke.

The Allentown Morning Call talks to Moravian head coach Scot Dapp, who is an assistant coach at the Hula Bowl this weekend.

Hula Bowl: Airs Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2
NFC Championship Game: Airs Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on Fox

Division III football dodged a bullet on redshirts this afternoon at the annual NCAA Convention in Indianapolis. A more restrictive redshirt proposal came three votes from passing.

Two years ago, Division III members voted to eliminate the practice of redshirting except for medical reasons. While previously granted redshirts would be honored, no new ones would be awarded. The legislation was part of a package of measures designed to provide more common ground among the 425-plus schools in Division III, some of which came relatively recently from the NAIA and brought with them values that werem’t practiced by the majority of schools.

That 2004 measure passed with more than 60% approval.

Today, however, a proposal was considered that would not honor redshirts granted at other levels of college athletics. Currently, if a student-athlete redshirted outside of Division III and then transferred to a Division III school, he or she would not lose that year of eligibility.

The Presidents Council supported this measure. The membership, thankfully, did not, defeating it 203-199 with four abstentions, according to a source on the convention floor. A swing of three ‘nay’ votes would have carried the proposal and made it effective this August.

In the Presidents Council’s position statement summary, it said, “the student-athlete becomes accountable for the decision to ‘redshirt’ prior to attending a Division III institution.”

That’s all well and good, but shows a distinct lack of knowledge of what athletics at other levels is about. If you’re at a scholarship level and the coach says you’re redshirting, that’s it, end of discussion. Why in the world would we want to punish a kid for seeing the light and coming to Division III, where the student-athlete can be serious about academics and treat sports as something other than a job?

It’s great that Division III is here to rescue kids from the cannon fodder that Division I athletics can be, but instead, this proposal would have pushed kids away from some of the finest institutions in America and towards schools at other levels inside and outside the NCAA.

The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference already uses this model and the Midwest Conference sponsored the legislation. If that’s what they want to do, that’s their choice. But don’t punish a teenager for what a D-I coach foists on them. That isn’t right.

Summarizing other news from the votes today, repealing the 2004 redshirt restrictions failed by a vote of 277-128-1. Schools can now play football one day earlier, the Thursday before Labor Day, but cannot add a day or a practice opportunity to their preseason training camp schedule.

A proposal to increase to 14 (based on enrollment) the number of sports a D-III school is required to offer failed 371-37-3. A proposal to increase it to 12 for schools with enrollment of greater than 1,000 passed, 233-170-5, effective Aug. 1, 2010.

The NCAA Tournament size was capped at 32 for football. Conferences that complete a self-study survey can remain eligible for an automatic bid starting Aug. 1, 2008, even if temporarily falling below seven schools sponsoring a sport. A later proposal said that those conferences which fall below four “core” institutions would not remain eligible to retain automatic bids.

Thanks to a Linfield fan for bringing this to our attention. Redlands head coach Mike Maynard and Rockford offensive coordinator Steve Helminiak are finalists at NAIA Southern Oregon, according to the Ashland Daily Tidings.

SOU’s athletic director is cited in the story, including this gem about Helminiak: “I think he’s potentially a great head coach. His attitude is a winning-type of attitude and he’s done very well at Rockwell (sic) College.”

Not sure whether he spoke incorrectly or was misquoted.

The decision will reportedly come within the next two weeks. Big blow for Redlands if they lose Maynard.

Two years ago, a package of reforms was passed in Division III, eliminating redshirting and shortening preseason practice schedules along with other measures. However, this month, some of those proposals are back on the table for reinstatement, and the voting population could be very different.

In 2004, school presidents and chancellors made up more of the voting body than ever before, but this year, it will probably be back to business as usual, with athletic directors making the votes on behalf of their institutions.

John Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall, told Inside Higher Ed, “2004 was a step forward. If we don’t see that same level of presidential involvement, those gains will be lost.”

The online publication looks deep into this topic.

Between the hiring of a new coach, a new athletic director coming in last August, and what looks like schedule upgrades coming, it looks like Macalester is trying to take steps forward again with football.

The hiring of Glenn Caruso last month appears to be a coup for the Scots. Caruso brings a very un-Macalesterlike resume to campus, with an undergraduate degree from Ithaca and a master’s from North Dakota State, two institutions which have little in common with the small liberal arts college that Macalester is. And not only did they get Caruso, they got another one of their finalists to sign on as an assistant.

Caruso told the St. Paul Pioneer Press late last month that the school is putting FieldTurf down for football. The school is constructing a gymnasium to replace the 1920s-era building currently in use.

And lastly, we found out today, Macalester is making another small step back into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, scheduling Gustavus Adolphus for 2006 and 2007.

Best of luck to Macalester. It’s a long road, but it’s better than pulling a Swarthmore.

Sigh.

The day I’ve been fearing for months has finally arrived. Independence Air has announced it is ceasing operations effective Thursday night, Jan. 5.

This might not mean much to most of you readers, but Independence’s hub was at Washington Dulles airport (IAD for you travel geeks) and quickly became a favorite of mine because it offered cheap flights to a good number of places where Division III schools are located. I took six flights on Indepdence in the past 15 months, and sent Keith McMillan places via Independence on a few other occasions.

We’ve enjoyed the convenience, the service and the price, which enabled us to be at games like Capital/Wittenberg and the Cortaca Jug last year and Wheaton/North Central, UW-Eau Claire/UW-Whitewater, Amherst/Trinity (Conn.) and UW-Whitewater/St. John’s this year (as well as three basketball games last season). But we also had to figure that such bargains couldn’t last. We’ll have to work harder for bargains in 2006.

Is it too late to start collecting Wendy’s cups?