Portal Movement in the NSIC

[SW_Mustang]

Wow; from a D2 program in the NSIC to a middle of the pack or lower end NAIA. That one will have you scratching your head as you try to figure out the transfer portal.
only upgrade is that you are in Billings, larger city—— but facilities, level of competition are downgrades, at least from this point of view.

He had offers from better programs - would have been a decent NSIC WR had he stayed.

A headscratcher for sure - but I genuinely hope he finds what he's looking for out there.

[FB Player Coach & Fan]

Minot might be a town with some amenities, but the location is not great. It's far more seculded than Marshall, Mankato, and Wayne (IMO). Airplanes don't really mean much in the NSIC.

Here I am going to very strongly disagree. Maybe you took airplanes to mean travel as a team. Not at all—it’s having an airport to get recruits from California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Colorado and Las Vegas easily and quickly—-so that the recruit feels that it is easy to get from home to that remote location. Much easier for recruits and families, who want to attend games, to fly into Minot and be 3 minutes from the stadium. Instead of picking the recruit up at the airport and driving down some remote 2 lane highway for 90 minutes—-where the highlight maybe the 2 Casey’s in Pipestone—-while the recruit wonders what backwoods location are they headed for.. Airplanes mean a great deal in the recruiting process, in getting recruits and their families comfortable with being long distances from home. And help in the signing of some of these out of area kids.

[SW_Mustang]

Here I am going to very strongly disagree. Maybe you took airplanes to mean travel as a team. Not at all—it’s having an airport to get recruits from California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Colorado and Las Vegas easily and quickly—-so that the recruit feels that it is easy to get from home to that remote location. Much easier for recruits and families, who want to attend games, to fly into Minot and be 3 minutes from the stadium. Instead of picking the recruit up at the airport and driving down some remote 2 lane highway for 90 minutes—-where the highlight maybe the 2 Casey’s in Pipestone—-while the recruit wonders what backwoods location are they headed for.. Airplanes mean a great deal in the recruiting process, in getting recruits and their families comfortable with being long distances from home. And help in the signing of some of these out of area kids.

That is what I meant - and you are right, airports to bus in recruits is a huge advantage vs driving them 90+ miles.

I still think their geographic location is going to prevent them from being competitive long term. I've only been there once, but it was ultra secluded and I'm sure it gets insanely cold. Not what most recruits are looking for.

[vikingfaithful]

Minot may be in an isolated area, but they are a regional shopping center for north central ND. The oil patch brings much consumer money into the city. As far as facilities go their football, basketball and baseball facilities are top 3 in the league, as a trio Augustana is better, but not by much.

[vikingfaithful]

True freshman QB Lincoln Kienholz of Pierre SD is playing for the Ohio State Luckeyes in the Sugar bowl and is performing like his age. The refs will try to hand the game to OSU.

[SW_Mustang]

Minot may be in an isolated area, but they are a regional shopping center for north central ND. The oil patch brings much consumer money into the city. As far as facilities go their football, basketball and baseball facilities are top 3 in the league, as a trio Augustana is better, but not by much.

I'm thinking in terms of what a 17-18 y/o recruit would value - and being a regional shopping center for NC ND is not high on the list. Someone once told me Marshall is a good place for college football players because it has a good preschool.

Mankato would have roughly everything Minot would (sans facilities) but is much further south and is a lot more centrally located. Probably a better down town and larger student population (2-3x) which is of much greater value (IMO)

You are right about facilities though, especially their basketball arena. Often overlooked in best arena discussions but it ranks near the top for me. Football in the top half of the NSIC easily.

[Brandon]

[/B][/U]



Here I am going to very strongly disagree. Maybe you took airplanes to mean travel as a team. Not at all—it’s having an airport to get recruits from California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Colorado and Las Vegas easily and quickly—-so that the recruit feels that it is easy to get from home to that remote location. Much easier for recruits and families, who want to attend games, to fly into Minot and be 3 minutes from the stadium. Instead of picking the recruit up at the airport and driving down some remote 2 lane highway for 90 minutes—-where the highlight maybe the 2 Casey’s in Pipestone—-while the recruit wonders what backwoods location are they headed for.. Airplanes mean a great deal in the recruiting process, in getting recruits and their families comfortable with being long distances from home. And help in the signing of some of these out of area kids.

Flights could make a difference getting some guys from California or Arizona. They won't make much of a difference recruiting the local kids that are the backbone of the program.

[FB Player Coach & Fan]

Flights could make a difference getting some guys from California or Arizona. They won't make much of a difference recruiting the local kids that are the backbone of the program.

In states like North Dakota & South Dakota there are not enough top quality athletes after NDSU, UND, SDSU & USD take the vast majority of top recruits. D2 programs try to take as much local talent but the recruiting pool is very shallow—so you are forced ( if you want to compete) to go to where the recruiting pool is deepest and has easy accessible airline service to your community. If you are not concerned with being competitive, then you recruit all local ( like some boosters may want).
I don’t think in these 2 states that local kids are the backbone—they maybe the marquee players— but they are not going to be enough of them to fill out a 100 man roster.
I do not know this but Minnesota with so many D2 programs and UM May face the same situation. Top end successful D2 in the states can do fine recruiting top in state talent, but I suspect the recruiting cupboard starts to get a little thin for some in the state as you move down the ladder of success.

[NSU4LIFE]

This broad brush we paint of what recruits want is ridiculous...if this were the case most of the NSIC wouldn't have any successful teams nationally outside of a few. Almost every NSIC school has something that they are nationally competitive with outside of Crookston. Not everyone cares about shopping centers (especially in the dying age of them). Most college kids are in class, at practice, at a job, playing video games, studying or at a house party/bar. It's not like you have a full time job to take trips and spend a bunch of money on activities and fun stuff. That doesn't mean certain areas aren't attractive to different people. Concordia is in the Twin Cities but they aren't winning the all-sports award. USF and Augie are both in Sioux Falls, they are not equally attractive to recruits obviously or they'd be in step across the board.

Just like we all have different opinions and desires, so do these kids. Not everyone wants the same things, which is why when recruiting you can't recruit talent alone and it is such a difficult job.

[Brandon]

In states like North Dakota & South Dakota there are not enough top quality athletes after NDSU, UND, SDSU & USD take the vast majority of top recruits. D2 programs try to take as much local talent but the recruiting pool is very shallow—so you are forced ( if you want to compete) to go to where the recruiting pool is deepest and has easy accessible airline service to your community. If you are not concerned with being competitive, then you recruit all local ( like some boosters may want).
I don’t think in these 2 states that local kids are the backbone—they maybe the marquee players— but they are not going to be enough of them to fill out a 100 man roster.
I do not know this but Minnesota with so many D2 programs and UM May face the same situation. Top end successful D2 in the states can do fine recruiting top in state talent, but I suspect the recruiting cupboard starts to get a little thin for some in the state as you move down the ladder of success.

I am familiar with ND and SD. I'm also familiar with D2. I do know that northern teams that try to build a winning roster with players from warm weather locations fail around 100% of the time. It's not a way to win.

Augustana's Roster:
31 - South Dakota
17 - Minnesota
13 - Wisconsin
12- Nebraska
12- Iowa
6 - Arizona
5 - Illinois
5 - Texas
4 - Colorado
3 - California
3 - Nevada
2 - Washington
1- Maryland
1- Indiana
1- Missouri

The core of Augustana is local.

Bemidji State's Roster:

51 - Minnesota
21 - Wisconsin
13 - Illinois
10 - Iowa
2 - North Dakota
2 - Arizona
2 - Washington
1 - Nebraska

The core of Bemidji is local.

Minnesota State's Roster:

32 - Minnesota
15 - Iowa
15 - Illinois
15 - Wisconsin
4 - California
4 - South Dakota
4 - Nebraska
2 - Georgia
2 - Texas
1 - Indiana
1 - Missouri
1 - Oklahoma
1 - Florida
1 - Idaho
1 - Mississippi
1 - Kentucky

The core of MSU's roster is local.

These are the three best teams in the NSIC.

I think you have it absolutely inverted. The marquee players may come from outside the region, but the core of the team has to come from the region.

The flight considerations may help land a good quarterback from California, but it doesn't help form core of a winning program.

I will take a look at the last sentence in your post in a different reply.

[Brandon]

Concordia is in the Twin Cities but they aren't winning the all-sports award. USF and Augie are both in Sioux Falls, they are not equally attractive to recruits obviously or they'd be in step across the board.

Just like we all have different opinions and desires, so do these kids. Not everyone wants the same things, which is why when recruiting you can't recruit talent alone and it is such a difficult job.

Agreed. If location were the only factor, Hawaii would be national champion every year.

[Brandon]

Top end successful D2 in the states can do fine recruiting top in state talent, but I suspect the recruiting cupboard starts to get a little thin for some in the state as you move down the ladder of success.

Last 10 D2 Champions

2023 - Harding (Arkansas 44, Texas 34, Alabama 11)
2022 - Ferris State (Michigan 104, Florida 19)
2021 - Ferris State (Michan 108, Florida 24)
2019 - West Florida (Florida 103)
2018 - Valdosta State (Florida 56, Georgia 48)
2017 - Texas A&M-Commerce (Texas 127, California 10)
2016 - Northwest Missouri (Missouri 51, Iowa 30, Nebraska 12, Florida 12)
2015 - Northwest Missouri (Missouri 51, Iowa 26, Nebraska 12, Florida 11)
2014 - CSU-Pueblo (Colorado 81, Arizona 14)
2013 - Northwest Missouri (Missouri 59, Iowa 26, Nebraska 18, Kansas 12)

[SW_Mustang]

Obviously, location isn't the only factor - and nobody claimed it was. Discounting it entirely though is... pretty silly. Hilarious even.

Sioux Falls, Mankato, Duluth - and location is a non-factor? CSP is clearly an outlier - perfectly normal in any data set.

[Brandon]

Obviously, location isn't the only factor - and nobody claimed it was. Discounting it entirely though is... pretty silly. Hilarious even.

Sioux Falls, Mankato, Duluth - and location is a non-factor? CSP is clearly an outlier - perfectly normal in any data set.

Who said it was not a factor?

[SW_Mustang]

Who said it was not a factor?

I probably misunderstood the intent of your Hawaii comment - but it did feel like that (and NSU's post) were making the assumption that others believed location was the only factor, and was a retort to it.

Apologies if it was a misunderstanding.