Kicking St. Thomas out of the MIAC--the wrong decision

Yesterday the MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) announced in a statement that St. Thomas is being “involuntarily removed” from membership in the conference.  The MIAC web site shared a link to the statement.  It was only ninety-four words. The statement included a link to a one-page sheet of supplemental information. 

I wrote about the issue of kicking St. Thomas out of the MIAC in a blog on April 8^th.  In that blog I shared my own experience of losing to St. Thomas as a Carleton football player.  I acknowledged the excellence of the athletic program of St. Thomas and shared that it is important for athletes to believe they have a chance to win when they enter athletic competition.   I concluded by saying that if schools felt that St. Thomas had become too good in athletics that these schools should form their own conference.

I am against this decision by the MIAC Presidents because I believe that excellence should be rewarded and not punished.    

I'm surprised by the secrecy that surrounded this decision.  In the Star Tribune’s reporting on the story, it was acknowledged that the process among the Presidents of the MIAC to kick St. Thomas out of the conference was shrouded in secrecy.  It was even reported that a formal vote was not taken, but consensus among the Presidents existed. To be so secret about an important decision that impacts thousands of people’s lives is very unfortunate. Why not take a vote, make it public, share notes from the meetings, and then have a Press Conference?

As an alum of Carleton, I’d like Steven G. Poskanzer, President of Carleton, to write a detailed description of why he was in favor of this move.  Even better would be if the Presidents of the MIAC or representatives from the conference would hold a news conference about the decision.

The MIAC will be a diminished conference by kicking St. Thomas out of the conference.  The message to athletic directors and coaches from this decision is that it is okay to be good—but be careful about being great.  Because greatness has been punished.

Carleton has an outstanding academic reputation.  All of the metrics that measure academic excellence affirm this.  Carleton is a nation-wide school, but it also competes against other MIAC schools for students.  A significant number of students at Carleton come from Minnesota and choose not to attend other MIAC schools.  No one is mentioning that Carleton should leave the MIAC because of academic excellence.

Perhaps “good but not great” should be the new tagline for the MIAC.

It’s interesting that no one has ever suggested that schools should leave the conference because they endure extended seasons of losing.  Carleton has only won four games in the MIAC in the last five seasons.  I’ve heard no one say that Carleton should leave the MIAC.  (And I expect that the Tom Journell, the outstanding new football coach at Carleton will eventually lead the team to be a consistent finisher in the top half of the conference.) 

I guess in the MIAC it's okay to be bad, but it's not okay to be great.

I can’t help but think that jealousy towards the St. Thomas football program was the tipping point in the decision. 

St. Thomas never should defeat schools by the score of 97-0 as they did against St. Olaf in 2017.  I have witnessed some football games between Carleton and St. Thomas when St. Thomas ran a trick play when they were ahead by a large margin. These behaviors fueled the belief that St. Thomas enjoyed “rubbing it in” when they won.  Yesterday I talked to a local high school football coach about the decision about the MIAC.  He agreed that it was the arrogance of the St. Thomas football program that contributed to this decision.

The same criticism was made against John Gagliardi when he coached football at St. John’s. But Gagliardi retired; Glen Caruso, the coach of St. Thomas, will eventually retire or move on.  These trends don’t last.

I also remember that ten years ago Carleton almost won the MIAC in football.  Trends don’t last. 

Kicking St. Thomas out of the MIAC is the wrong decision.  Sharing only a ninety-four word statement along with a one-page sheet of information about the decision is also wrong.  The decision seems petty and done by a group of people who don’t want to be questioned by it.