Should Jamestown be accepted into the NSIC?

[zimmy21]

Just browsed through Jamestown's '24 recruiting class.

I will say - I appreciate the effort to recruit local. Mistro seems to realize that teams made up entirely of kids from Cali, AZ, Texas, etc,. do not succeed.

However, there a fine line between that and leaning too far into the local talent of this area. 18 North Dakota signees to my count. I'll tell you right now, there are not 18 kids in the state that did not go D1 or end up at another NSIC school that have a chance to contribute at this level. Reminds of the Kotelnicki era at UMary. Some really, really bad teams full of bottom tier North Dakota high school talent.

At this rate, I just cannot imagine Jamestown's fate to be any different. The only difference is they won't be able to avoid a winless season with a gimme win against Crookston anymore.

They are Crookston for all intents and purposes (especially for North teams when divisions happen again)

[Stanger86]

Just browsed through Jamestown's '24 recruiting class.

I will say - I appreciate the effort to recruit local. Mistro seems to realize that teams made up entirely of kids from Cali, AZ, Texas, etc,. do not succeed.

However, there a fine line between that and leaning too far into the local talent of this area. 18 North Dakota signees to my count. I'll tell you right now, there are not 18 kids in the state that did not go D1 or end up at another NSIC school that have a chance to contribute at this level. Reminds of the Kotelnicki era at UMary. Some really, really bad teams full of bottom tier North Dakota high school talent.

At this rate, I just cannot imagine Jamestown's fate to be any different. The only difference is they won't be able to avoid a winless season with a gimme win against Crookston anymore.

Why is it assumed that all of the ND kids Jamestown signed are automatically worse than the ND kids signed by Moorhead, Minot, Mary, etc.? It looks like Moorhead signed 11 ND kids themselves, why not call Laqua the next Kotelnicki?!

[UMary1]

Why is it assumed that all of the ND kids Jamestown signed are automatically worse than the ND kids signed by Moorhead, Minot, Mary, etc.? It looks like Moorhead signed 11 ND kids themselves, why not call Laqua the next Kotelnicki?!

I cannot speak on who Jamestown signed, UMary signed a small high school class this year and implied they are going to hit the transfer portal and go after JUCO kids as we speak. All I know is Kotelnicki's teams had some of the worst talent in terms of size, athleticism and talent. On his way out he said the AD banned him from taking JUCOs which is odd because Mary's Power NAIA's teams who went to the Semi's were built on the backs of JUCO players. Its a tough spot to recruit in, as mentioned several times top talent goes to UND, NDSU and surrounding FCS teams. There is not a lot left over to compete with. Swing too far the other way and go after all TX, FL and AZ kids usually does not work out. Its a tough balance and coaches who can pull from surrounding states usually make a difference, so many variables though.

[oldyellaHer69]

Jimmies making changes: https://www.jimmiepride.com/sports/fball/coaches/index

[Stanger86]

Jimmies making changes: https://www.jimmiepride.com/sports/fball/coaches/index

University of Jamestown head football coach Brian Mistro announced several changes to the coaching staff for the 2024 season.
Eric Becker has been named wide receivers coach. Most recently, Becker was the wide receivers coach/offensive graduate assistant at Central Washington University.
Jake Lehman takes over as the defensive backs coach. Lehman was the defensive backs coach for New Mexico Highlands University.
Jason Challeen will add offensive line coaching duties to his current roles of associate head coach and offensive coordinator.
Matt Chauvin will move from graduate assistant to quarterbacks coach.

[MrMustang]

i disagree with that part, they were pretty bad to start. UIU eventually carved out a niche for themselves in men’s basketball, but it took awhile. And women’s basketball has been a heap for years.

2006-13

Brian Dolan

67-129

i also don’t recall them ever really being terribly competitive in volleyball, but I’ll take your word for it.

And…they left because it wasn’t the fit they thought it might be.

Dolan didn't have a great record. I honestly thought his record was a little better than that . I was really thinking about Brooks and the last decade which have been good. I guess I blocked that early part out!

[vikingfaithful]

Looking over UJ roster there are a lot of ND and SD kids on the current roster, these guys are probably under-sized or not athletic enough for D2, but love to play football. These young men will have to hang up there cleats or catch on somewhere else. With less NAIA schools guys are losing opportunities to play while going to college. Too bad.

[Matt Witwicki]

https://www.jimmiepride.com/sports/f...s/Brian_Mistro

I hadn't realized that Brian Mistro, the Jimmies HC....was a GA at Northern State back during the Dosch era, circa 2009. But that kinda makes sense, as Dosch came over around that time from Jamestown. Back then UJ was an NAIA playoff team..being among the top teams in the old DAC. I recall them coming down to play Sioux Falls in 2006 at Howard Wood. Geez, that was nearly 20 years ago. Getting old here folks..

The transition will be rocky for UJ..but I'm sure with being able to recruit as D2 now, they'll be able to get a little bigger athlete upfront..but it'll take time.

[MrMustang]

One of my law partners is a Jamestown graduate who played football in the 70s there. We were chatting last night about the signing class and he expressed skepticism on the physical size etc of the signing class -- and he follows SMSU too so he knows what NSIC football looks like.

Still as an alum, he thinks most alums are on baord and excited about the transition. Sayz Jamestown is a nice town, college has good facilities etc.

He agreed with me that one challenge for Jamestown is their best psort of volleyball is the NSIC's best sport. They might be very good in volleyball and finish 10th ~

[MrMustang]

only 20 more pages to go....

[Matt Witwicki]

Per my quick copy-and-paste into Excel....the Jimmies have 143 players on their roster this year. Talk about supplementing enrollment..wow. 73 of those guys are under 6 foot tall..and roughly half their lineman are about 6'0 or less. When looking at NSIC squads, I don't see that being the case. So that's something that does jump out a bit..but others had mentioned something along these lines. By comparision....a quick look at USF, they don't have a lineman that "short" at 6'0 or less. Just looked quickly at Northern, just to have a mix here..and they also don't have an OL player at that height..most in the 6'3/6'4 neighborhood.

I think on the facilities side, UJ will be average for their football field but above average with their gym. I think most are pretty confident in their facitlies overall..Todd Hoffner from Kato talked about me about them sometime after they stopped their on the way to Minot..and said he liked them.

[SW_Mustang]

only 20 more pages to go....

We'll get there.

I was surprised to learn that "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey called Jimmyville home for part of her childhood apparently. I also happen to know that she got interested in the WWE after rooming with Shayna Bazler - from Sioux Falls, who was a fan.

Jamestown was also home to Darin Erstad and Travis Hafner too.

[Stanger86]

We'll get there.

I was surprised to learn that "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey called Jimmyville home for part of her childhood apparently. I also happen to know that she got interested in the WWE after rooming with Shayna Bazler - from Sioux Falls, who was a fan.

Jamestown was also home to Darin Erstad and Travis Hafner too.

The turf practice field at Jamestown HS is named in his honor

[SW_Mustang]

The turf practice field at Jamestown HS is named in his honor

That's cool. I think if I'm correct Hafner played for a nearby school. Might have only been born there.

I liked Erstad despite what he did to my beloved 2002 Twins.

[Peacock]

It is always interesting to see how this goes.

Early on Upper iowa has some good success in baseball and women's golf. They were quite competitive in the NSIC

Volleyball was terrible to start b ut got good as time went on ironically in what might be the league's deepest and toughest sport.

They were always good in hoops. very compeitive and a force.

Never really made a leap in football especially long term

USF - great in football, mostly competitive in most sports. - I presume most would say being in Sioux Falls has helped this which is not the case for the other "new" programs.

Minot -- very good in some things, never in football

Mary - sort of up and down in many things and pretty good at football coming into the league, not as much except for here and there recently.

the biggest thing is the league is so good and deep. It is hard to make the leap.

Just a quick comment on UIU and NSIC, I think someone mentioned it wasn't the fit they thought it would be...I agree at the end, but when they joined the NSIC it was a much, much different league. It was just a couple years in and Mankato, Duluth, Augustana, St. Cloud came back into the conference which changed things drastically. Some of the schools are the size of UNI in terms of student population and very hard to compete with in terms of resources, etc...with that being said the original make-up when we joined was a very, very good fit for UIU. Most schools at that time weren't full scholarship, rosters were similar, etc...with the inclusion of the new schools and then Sioux Falls it upped everyone's game in terms of scholarships. In terms of football Shea had a very nice run for a few years, believe 6-5 three out of four years during one stretch and given the league that is a success. I know wrestling isn't as broad, but UIU has always had a very good wrestling team and won a couple NSIC championships early on and has always been in the top half and nationally ranked. If you look at overall success across most sports those 4 schools that came in/back after UIU joined has been the most consistent and dominating overall.