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as football programs end, Drum Corps will march on


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On 12/16/2019 at 8:10 PM, IllianaLancerContra said:

BITD all there was marked were the field outlines & the 50-yard line.

Everything old is new again

That would have been interesting. I doubt I could have done it well. Even with tubs strapped to my back, I still needed reference points. I guess it's the same as everything though: If you practice it enough, things just fall into place.

Just out of curiosity, when did it change over? My marching days were the late 80s and early 90s and I didn't move to DCA until 2005.

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1 hour ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

That would have been interesting. I doubt I could have done it well. Even with tubs strapped to my back, I still needed reference points. I guess it's the same as everything though: If you practice it enough, things just fall into place.

Just out of curiosity, when did it change over? My marching days were the late 80s and early 90s and I didn't move to DCA until 2005.

I marched 74-79 Sr corps and don’t think there had to be yard markers until after that. But more and more fields had the yard markers and did not want to redo the field for 50 only just for a corps show.

Doing a show with yard markers was eye opening after practicing on 50 only. Could really tell how off the symmetric drill really was

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On 12/16/2019 at 7:40 PM, Fran Haring said:

Wow... good for them. That's quite a jump!

U of St. Thomas was essentially "forced" out of the MN division III conference (MIAC). Too much of a competitive advantage (larger enrollment and athletic budget, as well as a football coach who didn't care about running up scores): https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2019/05/miac-cant-beat-em-so-it-throws-st-thomas-out/

The move to Div. I will be neat -- only other Div 1 school in the state is University of Minnesota -- but it's going to take a long time to pan out. Their total athletics budget is $5 million. Marquette's basketball budget is $12 million.

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On 12/16/2019 at 5:36 PM, tedrick said:

Interesting story from Minnesota this past week -

2 smaller colleges in Minnie are pulling the plug on their men's football programs -

https://www.twincities.com/2019/12/10/st-cloud-state-to-end-football-golf-programs-in-2020-due-to-legal-financial-issues/

Makes you wonder if drum corps and marching bands should start laying out their performance fields without yard markers - the grid iron could become irrelevant!

Some more background:

* UMN-Crookston is one of the smallest schools in the UMN system. It's in a remote part of the state and never had much of a football program to begin with. This move makes perfect sense.

* St. Cloud State (part of the Minnesota State system) is in a different situation: it's one of several Div II schools in the state that have Div I NCAA hockey programs (the others are MSU-Mankato, Bemidji State, and UMN-Duluth ... the latter of which has won the NCAA Hockey championship the past two years). Juggling non-revenue division II sports with Title IX obligations AND trying to maintain a competitive Div I hockey program can be difficult ... especially if you're SCSU's admin/athletic deparment -- who seem to shoot themselves in the foot quite a bit. The fact that they're dissolving their football team after opening a stadium in 2004 speaks volumes.

Between this, the perception of SCSU as a "party school," and the city of St. Cloud making national news for the wrong reasons (overt hostility to immigrant communities), the school is trending down.

* Meanwhile, the football team of MSU-Mankato (another MN State system school, similar enrollment size to SCSU) is playing in the NCAA Div II title game this weekend. They've managed to do this while also fostering a growing Div I men's hockey program (currently ranked #2 nationally as of this week).

It's a school that -- at one point -- was in a very similar position as St. Cloud State. But over the past 15 years, the combination of effective admin leadership, deep pocketed donors, effective AD leadership, good coaches, reinvestment into campus facilities, and growing enrollment have led to a better athletic landscape. (I'm not saying things have been perfect and that MSU is going DI/FCS anytime soon ... i.e. some of the athletic costs have been passed on via student fees.)

GETTING TO THE POINT - Because of this upward trend -- and the fact that the MSU Athletic Department actually saw net value in having a student marching band -- the "Maverick Marching Machine" was brought back after a long hiatus. The nearest drum corps -- the Govenaires -- has benefited from this environment.

TL;DR - Based on my experience in this state, collegiate football (for all its BS) helps the activity more than it hurts it.

Edited by ReturnOfTheSonOfSUAPYG
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1 hour ago, ReturnOfTheSonOfSUAPYG said:

U of St. Thomas was essentially "forced" out of the MN division III conference (MIAC). Too much of a competitive advantage (larger enrollment and athletic budget, as well as a football coach who didn't care about running up scores): https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2019/05/miac-cant-beat-em-so-it-throws-st-thomas-out/

The move to Div. I will be neat -- only other Div 1 school in the state is University of Minnesota -- but it's going to take a long time to pan out. Their total athletics budget is $5 million. Marquette's basketball budget is $12 million.

Do you know which level of Div. 1 they'll be in?  I'm guessing the second tier (FCS) with teams like North Dakota State, James Madison, etc.?

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10 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

Do you know which level of Div. 1 they'll be in?  I'm guessing the second tier (FCS) with teams like North Dakota State, James Madison, etc.?

Forgot about that level but still a total skip of Div II. 🤔

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3 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Forgot about that level but still a total skip of Div II. 🤔

I hear ya, Jim... a big move.

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1 hour ago, Fran Haring said:

Do you know which level of Div. 1 they'll be in?  I'm guessing the second tier (FCS) with teams like North Dakota State, James Madison, etc.?

Yes. They’ve been invited to join that league. North Dakota St, South Dakota State, etc. 

Edited by HockeyDad
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10 hours ago, HockeyDad said:

Yes. They’ve been invited to join that league. North Dakota St, South Dakota State, etc. 

Cool!!! Some tough teams in that league. ND State is amazing.

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