Interesting story about JUCO football team by Iron Range: Mesabi Range College

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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A long and interesting profile in the Star Tribune about Mesabi Range College's football program. Well worth the read:

Most of the 44 young men from faraway places in Mesabi Norsemen jerseys had never heard of the Iron Range before they signed up to chase the elusive dream of playing big-time college football.

http://www.startribune.com/mesabi/334160481/

Go Gophers!!
 

Too bad these Mn community colleges couldn't focus on further developing MN kids playing the sport instead of having all out state kids
 

Maroon92 said:
Too bad these Mn community colleges couldn't focus on further developing MN kids playing the sport instead of having all out state kids
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Not much they can do if the MN kids don't want to go there.

Thanks for posting Bleed, that was interesting.
 

Definitely interesting. I thought I read a similar article a couple years ago about one of the CC's. There aren't enough Minnesota kids to field these teams, as the majority of skilled players go to one of the MANY D2 and D3 schools in MN and Wisc. The only kids who even consider CC are those with academic issues, and we're talking only a tiny, tiny percentage. But the teams are a clear money maker for the schools, so they then turn to out of state recruits. It basically all comes down to tuition. Most of these kids get Pell Grants and/or Fed Loans. 44 kids x $3000 (roughly) = $132k. So it must cost less than that to run the program.

But man, the comments after the article reminded me why I stopped reading Strib comments a long time ago. Wowzers.
 

We in Minnesota have some many colleges for kids to go on and play college sports. It can be a challenge to recruit local kids to play there. We did a count once but I cant remember the exact numbered colleges but it was like between 20-30 in Minnesota alone.. Florida had like 5-8 total ,

Other parts of the country don't have juco or D2

Wis D 1 ...and D3... No D 2...No Juco

So there are some many kids that come to Minnesota that just want to play ball. So easy to recruit out state kids. U run into some very talent kids. And a great way to get to a four year school it you take care of business.
 


Maroon92 said:
Too bad these Mn community colleges couldn't focus on further developing MN kids playing the sport instead of having all out state kids
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I'm sure the programs would have no problem with doing that but there is not enough Minnesota kids that want to play at the next level to go around for all the colleges in Minnesota.
 

MGGopher said:
Definitely interesting. I thought I read a similar article a couple years ago about one of the CC's. There aren't enough Minnesota kids to field these teams, as the majority of skilled players go to one of the MANY D2 and D3 schools in MN and Wisc. The only kids who even consider CC are those with academic issues, and we're talking only a tiny, tiny percentage. But the teams are a clear money maker for the schools, so they then turn to out of state recruits. It basically all comes down to tuition. Most of these kids get Pell Grants and/or Fed Loans. 44 kids x $3000 (roughly) = $132k. So it must cost less than that to run the program.

But man, the comments after the article reminded me why I stopped reading Strib comments a long time ago. Wowzers.
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Having played and coached in this conference this is pretty much right. There is so much competition for the MN kids between D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO and JUCO is the only one that really can't offer the kids money. So unless a kid needs to improve their grades or really just wants to stay close to home or has a great relationship with coaches it is hard to get them to go JUCO. We had a roster of 65 and 25 were MN or ND kids and that was a pretty solid year for us as far as local recruiting. Pretty much every program in the state tries to recruit the Twin Cities but only a few JUCO schools are really successful getting players from there. Most of the time for JUCOs the amount of Minnesota players depends primarily on the local football talent and the local talent in some of these JUCOs areas is much better than others.
 


dpodoll68 said:
Florida has multiple times that many colleges.
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Maybe he meant just d3? I couldnt find any d3 in florida on wikipedia, unless that page omitted d3 for some reason. Plenty of d2 schools in florida and also many naia.
 



"But the teams are a clear money maker for the schools"


I would guess no juco sports pay for themselves especially football as equipment, travel insurance and coaches etc add up. Tuition does not get allocated back to the sports teams
 

Maroon92 said:
"But the teams are a clear money maker for the schools"


I would guess no juco sports pay for themselves especially football as equipment, travel insurance and coaches etc add up. Tuition does not get allocated back to the sports teams
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Dude, they're making money...why else would they field teams? It makes no sense. Here's my guesses (and they're purely that -- I have no inside knowledge):

1) Coaching: Head coach probably paid slightly more than a varsity high school coach. So let's say $10-15k? Assistant makes a pittance. $3-5k? Even if I'm WAY off on that (which I doubt), I'm guessing the extremely high side on coaching salaries would be $50k total.

2) Travel: Bus only...and sack lunches. These are are mostly day trips. No flights, and probably VERY rarely an overnight. So let's say 5-6 away games per year, $1000 per game (which I'm betting is high). $6k on the high side.

3) Equipment: I bet they're on a 3-5 year replacement schedule for helmets, so let's say they stock 100 helmets and replace 25 of those per year at a cost of $100 each. So $2.5k. Let's just guess ditto on shoulder pads. Jerseys and pants cost less. Other pads are negligible. So on the high side I'll estimate $8k/year.

4) I have no clue on insurance. I'll admit that. $5k-$10k seems high, but let's just go with that.

Add it all up, and you're WELL below $100k. I say again, my guess is these programs are money makers. Not big ones, but when you're talking about a community college with enrollments likely at or below 1000 kids, a football team of 44 kids that generates revenue is a big deal. Not to mention basketball, volleyball, etc. These schools have tiny budgets -- smaller than many high schools -- so while you're right that tuition doesn't directly go back to sports, it's allocated to a general operating fund which is then tapped to pay for sports expenses. It works the same way at high schools. HS sports don't "make" money either...especially at schools who such and don't draw fans. The school simply funds these from general operating pools.
 

Attended Mesabi in 1981 and 1982.

At that time, the team was very competetive and made up ALMOST exclusively of local (commuting) students, with a few from southern Minnesota, and very few from furthur than that. ALMOST no racial diversity. A very high percentage played their two years, with a small number continuing to play after that at the DII or DIII level. Almost all would receive their two year associate degree.

The populations and school enrollments on the Iron Range are well down from what they were, and due to that fact, the overall quality of the HS athletic teams as well. Very hard to put together a competitive team without recruiting outside areas. And I dare say that overall, the locals would make it very difficult these current players to assimilate into the community. I give these current players credit for taking their shot.
 

This same story seems to get written every few years since about 2000. The article was fine but nothing new that hasn't already been done before.
 



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