Should Jamestown be accepted into the NSIC?

[CollegeFBGuy]

Uff..... Chicago..... We were driving through once, doing 80-85 and getting passed like we were standing still.

last year, on my way down to USF, I was going with traffic before I realized we were doing 92 on the southbound freeway😱

Funny thing was, my wife was telling her mom about Life360 and was showing her the app (she stayed home to watch our daughter’s VB), when my MIL asked “why does it show him in a race car?” 😱🤣🤷🏻♂️

[zimmy21]

i haven’t followed NSiC VB, so I was surprised to see Mankato down so low…FB and both BB seem to be near the top, quite often, so I assumed VB would be similar.

Other than a few spotty runs here and there, MSU Volleyball has not taken off. Which is crazy because there are so many powerhouse programs within easy driving distance to recruit these girls.

[CollegeFBGuy]

Other than a few spotty runs here and there, MSU Volleyball has not taken off. Which is crazy because there are so many powerhouse programs within easy driving distance to recruit these girls.

Yes, that is strange. Eventually the right coach will get things rolling

[Stanger86]

Other than a few spotty runs here and there, MSU Volleyball has not taken off. Which is crazy because there are so many powerhouse programs within easy driving distance to recruit these girls.

How does the money they have to work with compare to other programs? No doubt hockey and basketball probably get most of their women's scholarship dollars....

[Purple Mav Man]

Men's Soccer has 3 home games.

Appears volleyball now has a non-con tournament added. But still the only 3 matches outside of NSIC schedule.

https://jimmiepride.com/sports/wvball/schedule

[SW_Mustang]

Hot take: MSU has a very good DII volleyball team - probably in the top 25%-30% nationally. They're just below average when compared to the rest of the conference.

I don't know much about MSU VB - but what I do know is if you want to be serious, you need to be involved at a grass roots level. If you're only chasing talent when they are upperclassmen in HS - you already lost the recruiting war. They also need to sell it to fans. MSU draws miserable box office numbers. It's bad.

When we snagged Taylor Reiss out of Brookings - she already had deep connections with the coaching staff. She'd worked with Culhane extensively in the past. SMSU didn't need to sell her on the program - and the coaches weren't even involved in getting her home. It was one of the other players.

Point is - that's what it takes in NSIC VB. It's a different animal.

[SW_Mustang]

How does the money they have to work with compare to other programs? No doubt hockey and basketball probably get most of their women's scholarship dollars....

Maybe it's trivial in comparison but they are also a national threat in soccer and softball annually.

I also think part of the problem is - MSU is just in a awkward location. In terms of NSIC talent, CSP owns the Twin Cities, SMSU owns SWMN, SCSU and UMD control North MN, AU and NSU fight over SoDak, and WSC and UNK rule the State of Volleyball.

That kind of leaves Mankato on an island to fight with a very good Winona program for South Central talent with the MIAC and Summit League scooping people up around them too. Can't be an easy position to be in - as ironic as it sounds.

[Stanger86]

Hot take: MSU has a very good DII volleyball team - probably in the top 25%-30% nationally. They're just below average when compared to the rest of the conference.

Point is - that's what it takes in NSIC VB. It's a different animal.

And I think that's why I'm less critical about Jamestown moving to Division II. The sports that get the most limelight in the NSIC are football, volleyball, and men's basketball.

Football: Jamestown is bad right now, absolutely. But I also believe optics will look worse just by nature of playing in an above-average (at worst) Division II conference.
Volleyball: I do agree with those who think middle-of-the-pack in the NSIC might be the best possible outcome this fall. But as you said, that probably says more about the NSIC's strength than about any weakness from UJ.
Men's Basketball: A pretty similar scenario as volleyball. Being average in the NSIC would be no small feat to scoff at in Year 1.

Understandably so, most of the narrative here revolves around football. And knowing the history of past programs like UMC and UMM, I think people don't expect much different from UJ. But it's important to contextualize that football struggles shouldn't mean that an institution does not belong in Division II. And being bad in Year 1 does not mean a program will be just as bad 20 years from now.

[NSU4LIFE]

Boy, I know I've become disconnected over the years but I didnt realize recruiting has regressed back to the 1970s when teams were made up of local talent....lol

If we are going back in time, I hope it will bring back the posters and the fun that we used to have.

[Stanger86]

Boy, I know I've become disconnected over the years but I didnt realize recruiting has regressed back to the 1970s when teams were made up of local talent....lol

If we are going back in time, I hope it will bring back the posters and the fun that we used to have.

No one has said it will solely be local talent, let's be real. But oftentimes, it does and should make up a solid chunk and probably the highest portion of a school's recruiting base.

Of the 127 players listed on the 2025 Northern State roster, 38 players (29.9%) are from South Dakota. That's how it should be.

I'm reminded of what the 2020 roster would have been at SMSU, with more players from California than Minnesota. That's how that recruiting class looked too. I still believe this is why the roster has fallen off as much as it has. A good chunk of that recruiting class never made it to graduation day, decimating what little depth the program had to that point. So now Scott has been playing catch-up ever since, trying to build back the program.

[NSU4LIFE]

No one has said it will solely be local talent, let's be real. But oftentimes, it does and should make up a solid chunk and probably the highest portion of a school's recruiting base.

Of the 127 players listed on the 2025 Northern State roster, 38 players (29.9%) are from South Dakota. That's how it should be.

I'm reminded of what the 2020 roster would have been at SMSU, with more players from California than Minnesota. That's how that recruiting class looked too. I still believe this is why the roster has fallen off as much as it has. A good chunk of that recruiting class never made it to graduation day, decimating what little depth the program had to that point. So now Scott has been playing catch-up ever since, trying to build back the program.

Of those 38, 16 freshman, 14 sophomores, and one with significant impact.

I was referring to these specific pockets of the country that each school supposedly has on lock. Recruiting is all over, tou get talent and try to try in some local if you can. Most of the time they are non-scholarship kids that never end up playing.

[SW_Mustang]

Boy, I know I've become disconnected over the years but I didnt realize recruiting has regressed back to the 1970s when teams were made up of local talent....lol

If we are going back in time, I hope it will bring back the posters and the fun that we used to have.

Holy! Disconnected is right lol - you're the first person I've ever heard say talent has regressed in the midwest haha. That's wild.

What reason would SMSU have to spend all that money recruiting beyond Marshall, Tyler, and Minneota?

[NSU4LIFE]

Holy! Disconnected is right lol - you're the first person I've ever heard say talent has regressed in the midwest haha. That's wild.

What reason would SMSU have to spend all that money recruiting beyond Marshall, Tyler, and Minneota?

The top teams of this league are mostly based on wide spread recruiting. Its not like it used to be of getting kids within an hour and building a squad.

The top talent on most of the squads in not from within a couple county area. At times, it can be be a few that fit that, but even the "player who wont be named" for SMSU in the past was closer to Bemidji, Crookston ans Moorhead. So this idea of having to have a lock on your area is ridiculous. To say Mankato is on an island as they draw from wherever they want, that....is wild.

This disconnection for me is priorities in life change and the fact that this board has lost all the information, fun and logical thinking, for the most part. I've talked to some former posters and they all feel the same.

[SW_Mustang]

No one has said it will solely be local talent, let's be real. But oftentimes, it does and should make up a solid chunk and probably the highest portion of a school's recruiting base.

The original comment on local talent was in regards to volleyball - football is a different beast.

Marshall has nine state titles - I don't think we're hurting for local talent, but I do appreciate Minneota for Taylor Reiss (and for SDSU for sending her to us). Maybe they aren't "local" enough lol

[laker]

To say Mankato is on an island as they draw from wherever they want, that....is wild.

Mankato did lose the Rapidan Dam store, but it has relocated in the city itself. Hated to see a landmark that was there when I was an undergrad, but that happens in river towns.