The MIAC COnference

[dantesinferno18]

I am looking at colleges to play tennis for i am in minnesota and my coach told me to look at Schools in the MIAC or WIAC conference. I am really interested in St. Thomas and Gustavis. Does anyone have any input or expieriences with these schools? Thanks for the help.

[Dream_On]

What is the general standard of play of these colleges?

[tennis08tarheels]

Originally Posted by dantesinferno18

I am looking at colleges to play tennis for i am in minnesota and my coach told me to look at Schools in the MIAC or WIAC conference. I am really interested in St. Thomas and Gustavis. Does anyone have any input or expieriences with these schools? Thanks for the help.

Gustavus Adolphus is a perennial top 10 team that lost everything last year and is just outside the top 30 right now. Terrible year for them but they are a national powerhouse and they will obviously be back, hopefully very soon. Eric Butorac was a national champion there. They have amazing facilities and from what I've heard, probably the best fan support in all of D3.

Carleton won the conference tournament and the NCAA bid this year, don't know a whole lot about their program. They would have been a lot better this year but their #1 transferred to Vassar to play with his brother. They lost to GAC 6-3 during the regular season but beat them 7-2 (I'm pretty sure) in the conference tourney when it counted.

[tennis08tarheels]

sorry, double post.

[duusoo]

There have been years when Gustavis had Big 10 schools on its schedule, and was about .500 against them. This was a powerhouse program. I recall some D1 recruits went there because they felt they would be at the top of the program there, and didn't make the team. D3, but most years could take everyone in the Horizon League for certain.

[bluetrain4]

The MIAC is composes of small, private schools located around Minnesota --from small college towns, to the suburbs, to medium sized cities, and also Minneapolis and St. Paul. All are good schools, some nationally renowned (Carleton, Macalester)

I would say the general level of play is "good". As someone else noted, Gustavus Adolphus is regularly a DIII Top 10 team, though they had a down year this year. Sometimes another MIAC team will garner a DIII top 20 ranking, but I've never seen another MIAC team contend for a DIII championship.

There should be opportunities across a variety of skill levels. Obviously, to make the team at Gustavus, you would have to be better than some of the lower tier MIAC teams. It's tough to say, because some of the programs are inconsistent, occassionally having excellent teams, and then regressing to being more medicore.

St. Thomas is one of the bigger MIAC schools, and its undergraduate campus is located in a beautiful part of St. Paul. So, you get the feeling of a self-cointained college, but you're right in the middle of the Twin Cities. St. Thomas has one of the better overall athletic programs in the MIAC, but its tennis has never really been that consistent.

Also, since this is the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, every school is going to be located where the winter is severe. Indoor tennis will be a dedicated part of the season. Thus, it's important to look at facilities. Some schools have much better facilities than others. Gustavus has its own indoor courts. Some schools use multipurpose athletic courts for practice and then play matches at an indoor club. Still others might only have access to an indoor club, thus hours of practice time are limited.

I didn't attend a MIAC school, but I grew up in Minnesota and had many, many high school classmates that attended. A really solid conference made up of quality schools. Again, decent tennis, but other than Gustavus, it's not a DIII powerhouse conference.

[SlapShot]

No opinion on MIAC sports, as I elected to not play college tennis (too much of a time commitment), but I attended (and graduated from) St. Thomas, and had friends that played tennis there.

The program is solid, but definitely not Gustavus. It seems as though Bethel has come on strong lately tennis-wise as well.

Compared to some of the other MIAC schools (Bethel, Hamline, etc), I think that the campus is nicer (IMO) and the business school is much better regarded.

[goldy0084]

"There have been years when Gustavis had Big 10 schools on its schedule, and was about .500 against them."

HAHAHHAH cmon man, please show me those results. Gustavus is a very, very good team and obviously one of the best D3, but in their best years, they would struggle to break the top 60+ in D1 rankings. The only chance they would have had in the Big Ten, would be about 5-7 years ago against the cellar dwellars of that conference. U Minnesota beat them 7-0 in about 2 hours, and this was when they were a powerhouse. The Big Ten has improved dramatically overall in the last three years as well. They would not make 1 point playing any BT team now.

HAVING SAID that, it is a great place to play and the facility is really nice, but the town sucks. Lots of good tennis players have played there and I heard you can practice all day long, as school is not that tough. Other MIAC schools are traditionally MUCH better academically, especially Carleton. If it were me personally, I would go to St Thomas. You are in the Twin Cities, decent enough D3 level, decent academics/grad programs/new law school in Mpls, and plenty of hot, rich girls there.

[dantesinferno18]

I am very interested in st. thomas the only thing is, is that its right in my back yard. I would be going to college a few blocks from my house and a little distance would be nice but overall it seems like a good fitting school for me. and its $42,000 a year but i got some pretty good grades and they do give money off easily so that helps.

[MNPlayer]

I just got back from Tennis & Life camp at Gustavus and they do have a great facility. 6 indoor hard courts and about 15 outdoor. The camp is great too, by the way.

The head coach for about 40 years, Steve Wilkinson just retired and is now acting as assistant coach. There is a youtube series about him and Gustavus tennis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvM3Fz4s2NY

I don't know much about the other D3 schools in MN.

[SlapShot]

Originally Posted by dantesinferno18

I am very interested in st. thomas the only thing is, is that its right in my back yard. I would be going to college a few blocks from my house and a little distance would be nice but overall it seems like a good fitting school for me. and its $42,000 a year but i got some pretty good grades and they do give money off easily so that helps.

Geez...it's $42K a year now? Wowza.

When I went (less than 10 years ago), it was $25K. Yowza.

You could always live at home to save on room and board.

[Blk&Gld]

Don't laugh too hard goldy0084, during the '81 and '82 seasons (my time on the team) Gustavus was thought to be a potential top 20 team when compared to Div I schools. The team was split up into a gold and a black squad. The gold team played Div I schools (winning record for the season, including playing some of the big guns on a CA spring break tour) and the black team played Div. II & III teams (and a few Div I schools during spring break in the south). We even had some of the people from our intramural teams play a couple of Conference matches to even the odds a bit. The Gophers lost to Gustavus at St. Peter and then refused to play us anymore. the last time Gustavus won a Div III national championship was in '82. If I remember correctly, John Mattke (classs of '80) held a world ranking in the 70's after leaving Gustavus. If your analysis is about recent teams, you are probably correct.

Steve Wilkinson is one of the best college coaches in the country. He has stepped down due to a very serious illness, but he still manages to work with players as health permits. It would be wise for anyone looking to play tennis in the MIAC conference to take advantage of Steve's guidance.

[Blk&Gld]

...and I only paid $4,500/yr at GAC back then!!! Quite a bargain by today's costs.

[goldy0084]

yeah for sure great place if you want a good d3 school to play a lot of tennis, get a good education, and get nice coaching...and yes coach wilkinson is one of the most highly respected guys out there..agreed on all points 100 percent.

but, that tennis was 30 years ago man! im not saying the old school days of gac might not have been glorious, but you have to be realistic now. they would struggle to make a point off any big ten team now and maybe since the mid 90's. the 02' illinois team had delic, stolt, wilson, ram, calkins, and martin, with ryler deheart on the bench hahha. next year he was #1 in the country. that would have been a 30 minute match.

much respect for having a great d3 school, especially in southern, farmville minnesota..and i know all the accomplishments there....but its apples and mangoes now in terms of tennis level.

[goldy0084]

Here are the records from the 1981 and 1982 teams that you also claim were top 20 caliber. UMN beating them both 7-2 and 8-1. nice try damn i love the internet

1981 • 19-5/9-2 (1st)
3rd Place @ So. Illinois Tourney
L........Duke..................................... 4-5
W......Wake Forest.........................7-2
W......North Carolina State ............5-4
5th Place @ So. Carolina Classic
W......Southern Illinois....................7-2
W......Wisconsin.............................5-4
W......Iowa......................................8-1
W......UC-Irvine ..............................7-2
L........Pepperdine...........................3-6
W......Univ. of San Diego ...............5-4
L........San Diego State...................3-6
W......Indiana .................................9-0
W......Ohio State ............................6-3
L........Michigan...............................3-6
W......Michigan State .....................9-0
W......St. Olaf .................................7-2
W......Purdue..................................8-1
W......Illinois ...................................9-0
W......Carleton................................8-1
W......Eau Claire ............................9-0
W......Iowa......................................7-2
L........Northwestern........................4-5
W......St. Thomas...........................7-2
W......Gustavus Adolphus ..............7-2
W......Wisconsin.............................7-2
1982 • 19-8/10-1 (2nd)
4th @ MN College Showcase
W......Northwestern........................7-2
W......Wisconsin.............................7-2
L........Duke..................................... 4-5
W......Dartmouth ............................9-0
L........UC-Irvine ..............................4-5
L........Pepperdine...........................0-9
L........USC...................................... 0-9
L........Univ. of San Diego ...............1-5
W......Air Force...............................9-0
W......Indiana .................................8-1
W......Ohio State ............................6-3
L........Michigan...............................4-5
W......Michigan State .....................7-2
W......St. Olaf .................................9-0
W......Purdue..................................7-2
W......Illinois ...................................7-2
W......Southern Illinois....................5-4
W......Eau Claire ............................8-1
W......Carleton................................7-2
W......Iowa......................................9-0
W......Northwestern........................8-1
W......St. Thomas...........................8-1
W......Gustavus Adolphus ..............8-1
W......Wisconsin.............................7-2
W......UNLV....................................7-2
L........Long Beach State ................4-5
L........UC-Irvine ..............................0-6

[goldy0084]

and the lifetime record of UMN vs GAC with last match played....

UMN vs Gustavus Adolphus 20-0 UM 7, GA 0 (2003)