What it is: Celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2010, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) was founded in 1920. All of the MIAC's current members are private institutions, with just one not having a religious affiliation of any kind. Additionally, the MIAC has nine schools that currently play football.
St. John's has the richest tradition among current MIAC members, as the Johnnies have won or shared 31 league titles since 1932, with the most recent crown coming in 2009. SJU also is the home of the winningest active coach in college football history in John Gagliardi (pronounced Guh-LAHR-dee). Through the end of the 2009 season, Gagliardi has 471 career wins, needing 29 more victories to reach the 500-win total. 2010 will mark the 58th season at St. John's, as well as 62nd overall, for Gagliardi. He started his collegiate coaching career at Carroll (Mont.), going 24-6-1 overall in his four seasons there (1949-1952).
SJU also holds four national championships all-time, winning two NAIA crowns in 1963 and 1965, followed by two NCAA Division III titles in 1976 and 2003. The Johnnies also enter their 100th season as the winningest program of all-time at the D-III level, going 565-225-24 (.709) over the previous 99 campaigns.
Website: http://www.miac-online.org/
Predicted order of finish (2009 overall record in parentheses, projected champion in BOLD type)
1. St. John's (10-1): With preseason Top 10 national rankings in several polls, expect the Johnnies to make yet another postseason run in 2010. Gagliardi begins that season with a career record of 447-120-10 (.783) at SJU.
2. St. Thomas (11-2): With five different players named to a preseason All-America squad, the Tommies just must give the Johnnies a run for their money in the MIAC this season. That's especially the case after reaching the NCAA quarterfinals last season.
3. Bethel (Minn.)--(7-3): All three of the Royals losses in 2009 came by nine points or less.
4. St. Olaf (5-5): The Oles last MIAC title came in 1979.
5. Augsburg (4-6): The Auggies play their first four games of 2010 at home.
6. Concordia (Moorhead)--(5-5): The Cobbers face a brutal start to their 2010 season, playing three of their first four games on the road, including two games against D-III playoff teams St. John's and St. Thomas in consecutive weeks.
7. Gustavus Adolphus (4-6): The Golden Gusties have the second most MIAC titles all-time behind SJU with 22, but haven't won a championship since 1987.
8. Hamline (4-6): The Pipers hope to move forward after finishing 2-6 in the MIAC in 2009.
9. Carleton (3-7): The Knights hope to climb their way out of the MIAC basement after going 1-7 in league action last year.
5 years ago
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