mu fans continue to debate their departure ...

[Hypeman]

Truman used to be Ne Mo State. They were in the MIAA with Washburn ESU and Pitt. Never much in FB but did pretty well in BB.

Truman changed their mission to become a highly selective and reputable academic school. Seems to have worked out well for them.

[AJcat7755]

Northwest Missouri State has 6 DII national titles since 1998. That will help build up a fan base. They used to play their games against Pitt State in Arrowhead until 2013, so that helped gather more local interest. They have quite a cult following and they get a lot of local players that aren't ready for the the FBS levels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_Classic_at_Arrowhead

[Hypeman]

Northwest Missouri State has 6 DII national titles since 1998. That will help build up a fan base. They used to play their games against Pitt State in Arrowhead until 2013, so that helped gather more local interest. They have quite a cult following and they get a lot of local players that aren't ready for the the FBS levels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_Classic_at_Arrowhead

Cool. But I highly doubt many outside the local area pay much attention. Shoot, I live 200 miles away and didn’t know that. Truman State on the other hand, has a national academic reputation. I’m well aware of Truman.

[stlcatfan]

My wife is a Northeast Missouri State grad. She was not happy about the name change to Truman. During that time frame, I struck up a conversation with a guy at the gym wearing a Northeast t-shirt. I told him my wife was a graduate of that school and complained about the recent name change and how she thought it was a dumb idea. The guy responded by saying me he was on the committee that recommended the name change. Doh! Open mouth, insert foot.

He was actually cool about it. He knew it was not a popular decision at the time, but he said one of the reasons for the change was that their school name was only one syllable different than Northwest Missouri State. The way he said it, however, came across as a bit arrogant.

[Hypeman]

My wife is a Northeast Missouri State grad. She was not happy about the name change to Truman. During that time frame, I struck up a conversation with a guy at the gym wearing a Northeast t-shirt. I told him my wife was a graduate of that school and complained about the recent name change and how she thought it was a dumb idea. The guy responded by saying me he was on the committee that recommended the name change. Doh! Open mouth, insert foot.

He was actually cool about it. He knew it was not a popular decision at the time, but he said one of the reasons for the change was that their school name was only one syllable different than Northwest Missouri State. The way he said it, however, came across as a bit arrogant.

I believe it was a lot more than a name change as I assume that’s when Truman increased their entrance standards and went selective. A risky proposition. But it seems to have worked as most people think Truman is an elite “private” school. It’s actually become unique as a elite “public” school. They are alway ranked as one of the best schools in the Midwest due to low cost, high achieving incoming students, and good outputs.

[hilltopwildcat]

NWMSU is Northwest Mo State in Maryville. Perennial power in FB as noted by AJ above. Also referred to as SE Neb St or SW Ia St. At one time they had more players in NFL than K-State. They seemed to land a lot of marginal D1 players but did have some studs.

Their men's basketball program has become a power lately having won 8 of the last 9 MIAA titles, 2 0f the last 3 national titles and were ranked #1 heading into the tournament this year with a record of 31-1. In a pre-season scrimmage at Cameron Indoor, they ended up losing late by 6. They're lead by POY Trevor Hudgins, a sophomore from Manhattan.

[Hypeman]

Cool. But I still never heard of it until now, and I thought I was a pretty big sports fan, which is my point, who pays attention to D2 or D3 sports other than some local folks?

[AJcat7755]

Cool. But I still never heard of it until now, and I thought I was a pretty big sports fan, which is my point, who pays attention to D2 or D3 sports other than some local folks?

It seemed the whole point of mentioning NWMSU was to point out that Missouri's different areas have different local teams to cheer for the divide the state. The comment was:

"Of course, with the success of NWMSU, they have a really large following in the NW part."

No one is arguing that the rest of the nation knows about them, just the NW part of the state. Those around KC know of them because they played in Arrowhead, or played against some of the DII KS schools, like Pitt. I think we can all agree no one nationwide knows much about DII, and probably not many know of them outside of the area around NW Missouri.

I'm not sure many fans nationwide knew much about North Dakota State until they played KU and KSU, and if it wasn't for upsets, I'm not sure anyone would have even noticed much until CK was hired.

[tmcats]

you're seldom wrong, aj, but you missed on the bison. their program is more recognizable for excellence than any but ou and texas in the b12. and it's been that way for a long time.

[AJcat7755]

you're seldom wrong, aj, but you missed on the bison. their program is more recognizable for excellence than any but ou and texas in the b12. and it's been that way for a long time.

I was saying before they played KU or even KSU they may not have been a nationally known team. Keep in mind, they played KU in 2010. NDSU won their first FCS NC in 2011. They joined the FCS in 2003 and prior to that they had won 8 DII titles (kind of like NWMSU 6 DII titles) but their most recent was 1990. So prior to beating KU, they were very similar to NWMSU, except they had moved up to FCS.

Now when they played KSU, they had then won 2 FCS NCs, and had beaten KU, so they I was probably overstating their unknown too much there but they were just at the start of their FCS dynasty run. I think a lot of KSU fans, including myself, even wrote off their NCs a bit.

Now they have 8 FCS NC, a starting NFL QB, 2 coaches that have gone to the FBS ranks and are very well known. I was just saying before playing KU and maybe KSU, they were a bit more of a local flavor then a national brand.