What does the RMAC need to change?

[HelluvaEnginerd]

With the Western loss (we won’t go into details about that) I just wanted to ask the board what needs to change to be more competitive nationally? I’ve been paying attention to the RMAC for over a decade and it always feels like just one school hood the flag (mines, Pueblo before that Kearney before that etc.)

Is it as simple as getting everyone up to the scholarship limits? I thought Western was a quality team that honestly looked like they had an easier bracket than what Mines.

Just curious to get everyone’s opinion, I will sit and wait

[CSM alum 1993]

With the Western loss (we won’t go into details about that) I just wanted to ask the board what needs to change to be more competitive nationally? I’ve been paying attention to the RMAC for over a decade and it always feels like just one school hood the flag (mines, Pueblo before that Kearney before that etc.)

Is it as simple as getting everyone up to the scholarship limits? I thought Western was a quality team that honestly looked like they had an easier bracket than what Mines.

Just curious to get everyone’s opinion, I will sit and wait

IMO - time and patience. CSM is the best example of a program that evolved from a laughing stock (speaking from experience, I was part of it 1988-91) to the current powerhouse it has become. Credit Bob Stitt who took over a weak program and season by season built it up. From that progressive success, better recruits, coaches, and alumni interest have established what the program has become.

There are several programs who may be that same "coach away" from step one of a long term reinvention of themselves. Others may just be an impact player away.

I believe that overall, the conference will benefit from the exposure of a dominant team like what CSM has become, a very good team like we have seen at WCU (Saturday's disappointment aside, they did go 2-0 over the LSC in the regular season) in recent seasons, and any team that shows it can be competitive outside the RMAC.

[Turbonium]

The RMAC has put 2 teams in the NC game, with one winning, in the last decade. No one would've taken you seriously a decade ago had you told them two separate teams from the conference would have that kind of success. Pueblo took what Chadron built and took it to the next level, the RMAC didn't just get put on the D2 map because of Mines. It has been there, the torch was just passed to Mines and they've done a great job representing the conference.

The conference raising the scholarship limit is what was needed, it allowed the programs who wanted to compete on a national level to do just that. It was only recently that the full 36 scholarships were allowed and I'm sure many RMAC schools are still well below that. Winning without being at the limit of 36 is possible as seen in 2014, but it's certainly a tougher ask.

The conference itself doesn't need to change anything at this point. Individual members do. Looking at you Mesa.

[HelluvaEnginerd]

The RMAC has put 2 teams in the NC game, with one winning, in the last decade. No one would've taken you seriously a decade ago had you told them two separate teams from the conference would have that kind of success. Pueblo took what Chadron built and took it to the next level, the RMAC didn't just get put on the D2 map because of Mines. It has been there, the torch was just passed to Mines and they've done a great job representing the conference.

The conference raising the scholarship limit is what was needed, it allowed the programs who wanted to compete on a national level to do just that. It was only recently that the full 36 scholarships were allowed and I'm sure many RMAC schools are still well below that. Winning without being at the limit of 36 is possible as seen in 2014, but it's certainly a tougher ask.

The conference itself doesn't need to change anything at this point. Individual members do. Looking at you Mesa.

Oh yeah I definitely don’t think it started with Mines. I know it was Pueblo, Chadron, Western before that and so on. It was more of a general question of how to get two teams consistently making noise in the playoffs.

Even when Pueblo had their run every once and awhile another school would be in the playoffs but they were not a threat

[Turbonium]

Oh yeah I definitely don’t think it started with Mines. I know it was Pueblo, Chadron, Western before that and so on. It was more of a general question of how to get two teams consistently making noise in the playoffs.

Even when Pueblo had their run every once and awhile another school would be in the playoffs but they were not a threat

Winning is hard. Western is early on in having any sort of success. A playoff loss, even in the first round, is something they should be proud of. Pueblo lost at home in 2011 in their first playoff game, and built from there until it culminated in 2014. They had to learn how to win in the playoffs, Mines did too, Western will get there. Scheduling tougher and tougher OOC games is huge too. That way you've seen the top teams from various conferences already.

The RMAC overall is improving, it just takes time but it seems to be headed in the right direction in my opinion.

[HelluvaEnginerd]

Winning is hard. Western is early on in having any sort of success. A playoff loss, even in the first round, is something they should be proud of. Pueblo lost at home in 2011 in their first playoff game, and built from there until it culminated in 2014. They had to learn how to win in the playoffs, Mines did too, Western will get there. Scheduling tougher and tougher OOC games is huge too. That way you've seen the top teams from various conferences already.

The RMAC overall is improving, it just takes time but it seems to be headed in the right direction in my opinion.

No doubt, I mean I’m just thinking back to 2016 when there could have been an argument that the RMAC could have had 3 teams. Not much seems to have changed. Maybe this is really just a comment, like you said, for Mesa to figure it out lol.

Also have the continued progression of the Dakota schools.

[twolfbenchwarmer]

I the conference is already doing it
1. upping the scholarship limit to the rest of D2 football
2. scheduling competitive OOC games against the better teams in D2

I get to talk with quite a few head coaches in the RMAC for a variety of sports, the thing that always seems to point to success regardless of the program/sport is low attrition rates. I think CO Mines has something like 25 redshirt seniors this year, which is a pretty insane number even with the COVID year. When underclassmen have team success early on it allows for a lot more buy-in and room for improvement leading to bigger successes in the future. On the 2011 and 2012 CSUP teams there were a lot of skilled young players with specific roles they could excel in without being overwhelmed who each became all conference/ All Americans on the 2014 team.

[Lobo]

I agree that the conference is fine the way it is. It’s not losing members like other conferences and has gotten much better in out-of-conference play since scholarship limits were increased.

The fact that Western lost in the first round is not a reflection of the conference’s overall strength. The Mountaineers simply ran into a team that won one more play in a close overtime game. Credit goes to the winner.

Mines is one of the nation’s best DII teams and at the top of the RMAC, but that won’t last forever. John Matocha is an exceptionally talented player who is largely responsible for the team’s success. Mines will not likely continue to play at its current level after he’s gone. He’s like Danny Woodhead is some ways. Chadron State was good until Woodhead graduated. Mines will continue to be good, but not Matocha good.

Another thing, the RMAC is geographically located in an area with a relatively small population base when compared with schools from other conferences. What’s more, Colorado has three FBS teams and one awful FCS team. All of them recruit Colorado. Colorado is not a hotbed for recruiting like the south, southwest, and parts of the Midwest. Colorado Mines recruits heavily in Texas. The Orediggers would not be in the hunt for a national championship if it recruited Colorado only, like it did in the past.

RMAC teams have begun recruiting players from places other than the Denver metro area. Not long ago that was the primary source of recruits. RMAC teams are looking in Arizona, California, Texas, Florida and elsewhere. The difficulty for coaches is holding on to kids who come from the big city and land in rural places like those found all over the conference

Former CSUP HC John Wristen focused most of his attention on Colorado and took pride is doing so. Unfortunately, he never found a QB in Colorado that performed like those from California and Texas. And truth be told, the year CSUP won the natty, most of the impact players were from Florida, California and Arizona.

The new CSUP coaching staff will recruit Colorado hard, but they’ll recruit Texas, Arizona and California just as hard. This past season the RMAC’s Offensive and Defensive freshmen of the year are both from CSUP, and both are from Texas. Bottom line, CSUP won a natty with players from places other than the Colorado Front Range. And to get back to that level, CSUP and other RMAC teams will have to recruit from places other than Colorado.

[Turbonium]

I agree that the conference is fine the way it is. It’s not losing members like other conferences and has gotten much better in out-of-conference play since scholarship limits were increased.

The fact that Western lost in the first round is not a reflection of the conference’s overall strength. The Mountaineers simply ran into a team that won one more play in a close overtime game. Credit goes to the winner.

Mines is one of the nation’s best DII teams and at the top of the RMAC, but that won’t last forever. John Matocha is an exceptionally talented player who is largely responsible for the team’s success. Mines will not likely continue to play at its current level after he’s gone. He’s like Danny Woodhead is some ways. Chadron State was good until Woodhead graduated. Mines will continue to be good, but not Matocha good.

Another thing, the RMAC is geographically located in an area with a relatively small population base when compared with schools from other conferences. What’s more, Colorado has three FBS teams and one awful FCS team. All of them recruit Colorado. Colorado is not a hotbed for recruiting like the south, southwest, and parts of the Midwest. Colorado Mines recruits heavily in Texas. The Orediggers would not be in the hunt for a national championship if it recruited Colorado only, like it did in the past.

RMAC teams have begun recruiting players from places other than the Denver metro area. Not long ago that was the primary source of recruits. RMAC teams are looking in Arizona, California, Texas, Florida and elsewhere. The difficulty for coaches is holding on to kids who come from the big city and land in rural places like those found all over the conference

Former CSUP HC John Wristen focused most of his attention on Colorado and took pride is doing so. Unfortunately, he never found a QB in Colorado that performed like those from California and Texas. And truth be told, the year CSUP won the natty, most of the impact players were from Florida, California and Arizona.

The new CSUP coaching staff will recruit Colorado hard, but they’ll recruit Texas, Arizona and California just as hard. This past season the RMAC’s Offensive and Defensive freshmen of the year are both from CSUP, and both are from Texas. Bottom line, CSUP won a natty with players from places other than the Colorado Front Range. And to get back to that level, CSUP and other RMAC teams will have to recruit from places other than Colorado.

You bring up a great point in QB recruiting. Pueblo has really only found success through transfers that have a year or two of eligibility. It's baffling with their success but they've really missed on basically every high school QB recruit that they've brought in. Perhaps the new staff will fix that. They lose very little to graduation outside of the QB position and could be ready to challenge for the RMAC next year if they can find a replacement for Fuller.

[d2 football fan]

I'm in agreement with most comments here, I'm merely going to supplement.

First, winning is hard. If it weren't all teams would be doing it, like, everywhere. They are not.

Second, winning is about priorities. Now, it's the first priority of every player and coach. But, it's not necessarily the first priority for every athletic department, particularly in football. When a team is winning, it's program can generate a net positive cash flow. But, generally, football is just expensive. Large rosters, large coaching staff, large recruiting needs, equipment - and all of this is before facilities are addressed. Not all programs have that kind of real support. And there's not anything necessarily wrong with that.

Third, there aren't many conference out there that legitimately have more than one team who is a real playoff threat. There are some blue bloods (GVSU, PSU, Valdosta, etc.) who are contenders most years. They have peers in their conferences who come and go, just like the RMAC (see CMU, Augustana, etc., this year).

Fourth, there are lots of conferences who just send a team to the PO's with no real chance of doing anything (see SR1).

Fifth, Western was good this year. They chose a bad game to have a bad offense. It happens, unfortunately.

Sixth, CSUP was a 2-OT loss away from making the PO's. That would have likely made it three for the RMAC.

I can go all day... lol, but the point is, the RMAC is so much better than it was even several years ago. The bottom is bad. The bottom has always been bad (funding, recruiting, coaching, etc.). The bottom will likely always be bad, even if the specific program(s) down there changes. But, that doesn't make the conference bad, especially not the top of the conference.

I have historically been hard on the RMAC programs, and the conference pre reaching the scholarships limit. They scheduled weak teams or thoroughly lost to good teams OOC. They were inconsistent in conference and year to year. They were all offense and no defense. In short, there were no programs really nationally relevant. That's not where the conference is now. Hopefully the top few teams stay there and a couple more join them.

For now, let's just cheer for the single representative who is still playing! :)

[Antonio Clark]

Mesa was ruined when they let Russ go and got swindled into thinking Tremaine would stay long term. Don’t know if they’ll ever regain the prestige we built for them.

[HelluvaEnginerd]

Mesa was ruined when they let Russ go and got swindled into thinking Tremaine would stay long term. Don’t know if they’ll ever regain the prestige we built for them.

Yeah it seemed clear Tremaine was short term with all the transfers he brought in. That team was good but that was not built for anything long term