The MIAC's Jock-School Schedule

1-15-90

Perspective: The MIAC's Jock-School Schedule

It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports. All of our teams picked up at least one victory. But Cobber basketball players were again preparing to fall behind in their studies because of a ridiculous MIAC basketball schedule that is an educational travesty.

Cobber athletes are playing too many weekday games and missing too many classes because a majority of the league's athletic directors and basketball coaches apparently see a competitive advantage in this stupidity. And it's not just Concordia athletes who are getting hurt. All MIAC basketball players and student fans are missing too many study nights because of all the weeknight basketball games.

Some people in the MIAC must get a twisted sense of satisfaction in beating a team of visiting student-athletes that is distracted by thoughts of the classes they are missing. The MIAC's ADs and college presidents have for too long sanctioned a schedule which makes a mockery of our "education first" principles.

It was amusing to follow the proceedings at the recent NCAA convention as Division I schools tried to find some outer limits on the time commitments which are demanded of scholarship athletes. Throughout the proceedings the Division III schools sat in righteous judgement about how the "big time" schools had lost track of their priorities.

The truth is, "big time" basketball scheduling has nothing on the MIAC when it comes to giving only lip service to their educational mission.

The MIAC has a bizarre tradition which calls for a Monday-Wednesday-Saturday format in its 11-team 20-games-per-season basketball schedule. (The men then have a Thursday-Saturday four-team playoff.) That's bad enough for the vast majority of MIAC schools which sit in or within 75 miles of St. Paul. When they play each other on a weekday the athletes miss about a half-day of class and, along with fans, a study night.

But, for Concordia (170 miles from their nearest MIAC opponent and 240 miles from most) and St. Mary's-Winona (100 to 175 miles from the main cluster of MIAC schools, 350 miles from Concordia), a weekday road game means at least one full day of classes missed.

And the well-past-midnight arrivals home after these games don't exactly put sharp minds in our classrooms on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Try to remember back to that "Oh-my-God-I'll- never-catch-up" feeling you had when you skipped one class-session in a college-level calculus or Spanish course. Then multiply it by about ten. That will get you close to what the Cobber basketball players are experiencing, Here is a list of the full class days missed or to-be-missed by Cobber basketball players this season due to the MIAC's mindless schedule.

1. Wednesday, Dec. 9 at Gustavus, St. Peter

2. Monday, Jan. 8 at Hamline, St. Paul

3. Wednesday, Jan. 17 at St. Thomas, St. Paul

4. Monday, Jan. 22 at St. Mary's, Winona

5. Tuesday, Jan. 23 at some motel in Winona.

6. Wednesday, Jan. 24 at Carleton, North Field

7. Wednesday, Jan. 31 at Bethel, St. Paul

8. Wednesday, Feb. 7 at Augsburg, Minneapolis

In the five weeks between January 13th and February 12th the Cobbers have two Saturdays off and three Saturday home games. (Pretty clever of them to not let the Cobbers use their weekends for road games and travel time.)

Here's how an MIAC basketball schedule gets set. The athletic directors pick some poor unsuspecting colleague to draw up a schedule. The only instructions he/she is given are that; 1) The games have to be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. (We can't require our coaches to prepare for games on consecutive nights. That apparently would tax their talents too much), and, 2) To be "fair" to all teams, it is forbidden to take into account the travel time involved or the classes student-athletes must miss.

The person who agreed to take on this fun assignment then proceeds to set a schedule which minimizes the times that a team has to play two road games in a row.

(Are we, as coaches, too scared to prepare our teams for such a trauma?) This "rule" generally prevents Concordia from picking up two road games on one trip.

This season Concordia must make eight separate trips to play ten MIAC road games.

Once this "tentative" schedule is circulated it is up to Concordia and St. Mary's to go around begging their opponents to change dates so that our students can attend at least two-thirds of their Monday-Wednesday- Friday classes during the January-February block. Thus, the process used by the ADs puts the burden of correcting defects in their schedule on those coaches who are unfortunate enough to get a call from us saying "How about a change in dates?."

The coaches who get our calls are faced with a choice between retaining a scheduling advantage or looking out for the educational needs of an opponent. The response to our begging has been predictably pitiful because the whole process is flawed.

A few examples will give you some indication of how far we have to go to get some sanity into this thing.

Perfect example 1: "The Carleton Trip"

Last year the MIAC geniuses set a schedule that had the Cobs playing on the road in Winona on a Monday night (requiring a Sunday departure) and at Carleton two days later on Wednesday night. Concordia asked Carleton to move the Wednesday games to Tuesday so our students would "only" miss two days of school (assuming they can get up for classes after getting home from Carleton at 3:00 am on Wednesday morning). Carleton agreed.

Both the Cobs and Carleton played the night before.

Seemed fair. Both the men's and women's teams from Concordia won those Tuesday games.

This year the same schedule came down and the same request was made of Carleton. How about saving our kids a day of missed classes? The answer from Carleton was "No way!" Why should Carleton have to agree to play back-to-back games when nobody else in the league does? Look what their generosity got them last year.

Cobber athletes are going to have to sit around and study in some Southern-Minnesota motel room on a Tuesday and miss another day of classes because Carleton is exercising a right, given them by the athletic directors, to play us on a Wednesday. Concordia will play at Carleton on the fourth day of a 700-mile road trip after our athletes have missed their third straight day of classes. Brilliant.

Are we mad at Carleton? It's tempting. But they should have never been put in the position of having to rectify the mess caused by the ADs.

You don't have to look at the Cleveland State types or the UNLVs to find out what is wrong with college athletics in this country. Just talk to the MIAC's schedulers to see how easily educational priorities can get overlooked.

Perfect example 2: "Us lose 30 minutes a year?" This season Concordia moved the starting times for their home games back 30 minutes to 6:00 for the women and 8:00 for the men. The half-hour delay was implemented to allow more students time to eat supper and still get to at least part of the women's games.

But the men's basketball coaches from the visiting MIAC teams have squealed like stuck hogs because their teams will be getting back to the Twin-Cities 30 minutes later than normal from their one long MIAC road trip of the year.

You ADs and presidents ought to talk to your coaches and listen to them yelp about that 30 minutes of lost sleep.

Then start thinking what they would be like to deal with if you asked them to put their teams through the schedule you annually foist on Concordia.

Perfect example 3: "Let's play on church nite!" One of the many outrageous aspects of the current format is the MIAC's gall in scheduling games on "church night." (That's Wednesday for those of you in the MIAC who are out of touch with such things.) Any state-supported school that dared to set a whole season's worth of games on Wednesday nights would be shut down by church-going taxpayers who expect a little respect for an evening of religious activities.

Wednesday games are great for publicity because we are usually the only game in town. But this kind of scheduling also demonstrates that we have the social conscience of a mushroom.

Perfect example 4: "Reject all alternatives."

Not Sundays:

Most MIAC schools refuse to consider playing on Sunday, supposedly out of respect for the Sabbath, but, really, because they are afraid of back-to-back games. The MIAC already plays soccer, softball, and golf on Sundays so the Sabbath in the MIAC (Bethel excluded) isn't quite that Holy anymore.

No Back-to-Back Games:

The MIAC has repeatedly refused to entertain even the concept of a schedule which would require back-to-back games. The ADs and basketball coaches should be required to go play a regulation soccer game (with the hustle they demand from their players) and then try to explain why soccer athletes can play back-to-back but our basketball players can't.

(Here's a tip, guys, which you might not be aware of. NCAA post-season basketball play requires back-to-back games. Ask the three MIAC women's teams which advanced last year. We know women can handle it. So, with a little work, guys could too.)

Not Fridays:

While the MIAC, with its collection of church- founded-and-supported schools, is perfectly willing to set games on "church night" the league fights having games on Friday nights (not exactly a study-night) supposedly because it might conflict with high school games and hurt their crowds.

Get serious. This is just another excuse to not have to play back-to-back games.

Don't split the league into two divisions:

Playing twenty conference games is a joke. Breaking this over-sized league into two divisions and playing half the teams twice and the other half once, with a playoff at the end, could greatly reduce travel time and expenses. And increase interest. But that is opposed because people are scared that some MIAC rival might end up with a a more favorable schedule.

So, there you have it, the scheduling gospel according to the MIAC. No back-to-back games. No Sunday games. No Friday games. Tons of Wednesday games. Tons of Monday games. No way to play less than 20 conference games. No way to take into account relative travel problems. No way to schedule two road games on one trip. No way to have a scheduling principle which says that missed class time must be minimized.

Let's remember that MIAC men's basketball has had about as much success in post-season play in recent years as the NBA's L.A. Clippers. Unlike most other MIAC sports, the men's basketball schedule can not be defended as one which produces nationally-competitive league champions.

Given all the classy things the MIAC stands for and the generally intelligent way it conducts itself in other sports, the basketball schedule stands out as a monumental embarrassment. It's time to fix it.

Will it change? Two thoughts.

1) The old-timers here at Concordia tell me that this is a 70-year-old battle that will never be won.

2) Lady Cobber basketball coach Duane Siverson says that if his athletes have to miss this many classes next year to play in the MIAC he might will just play an independent schedule and withdraw from the conference.

We'll keep you posted.

P.S. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of Concordia or our Athletic Department. But, I have a hunch I ain't exactly standing out here by myself.

These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle pyle@cord.edu. These articles are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Jerry Pyle.

Return to Perspectives Index Cobber Sports Home Page Concordia Home Page