Since 1922, Luther College in picturesque Northeast Iowa in Decorah has been part of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Now rebranded to the America Rivers Conference – ARC – in 2018).
This will be the last year in the ARC for the Norse as on June 3rd, 2025 Luther College announced that they are leaving the A-R-C and joining the Midwest Athletic Conference for the 2026-2027 season. \
The preseason coaches poll has Luther picked last in 9th this fall. Luther is working to build a football foundation before moving to the Midwest Conference (where they will join Iowa Schools Cornell College and Grinnell College next fall). It has been a tough last 6 seasons for the Norse as they have gone 5-55 (not counting the 2020 Covid season where they went 0-1 as that season was basically cancelled for DIII nationally).
Luther College posted a 1-9 (0-8 A-R-C) mark last season and will rely on a veteran lineup in 2025. Head coach Joe Troche returns nine starters on offense and 10 on defense, anchored by second-team all-conference kicker Sean Medcalfe. The Norse look to turn their experience into progress as they battle through the league slate.
“Our team and staff are excited for the upcoming season!” wrote Troche. “We have a great group of returners and are looking forward to seeing all their hard work/dedication payoff this fall.”
That 19 returning starters gives reason for optimism to build some momentum this fall before joining the Midwest Conference. In terms of DIII power rankings the ARC is considered one of the top DIII conferences and the Midwest Conference is a conference that the Norse can be more competitive quicker as the schools in that conference fit Luther College’s institutional approach more than the ARC.
Luther’s roster this fall has 69 players including 5 former Iowa High School players.
To thrive as a private D3 School like Luther College it is helpful to have a stable/competitive football program. Luther has roughly 1,350 students enrolled for 2025-26, and about 650 are men. The average Division 3 Football team has about 110players on their roster every fall.
When you compare Luther to some peer ARC Iowa schools – Wartburg, Central College, Coe and University of Dubuque they all have similar enrollment numbers (The approximate numbers are Central 1,100, Coe 1,250, Wartburg 1,450, and UD 1,750 students -UD has a graduate student program with about 300 students).
Those four schools have dominated the IIAC-ARC conference in football over the past 25+ years, and the health and growth of those football teams have undoubtedly helped with total enrollment.
How much it has helped it is very hard to exactly tell? When I looked at the enrollment acceptance rates of each school, it indicated that the football program strength does help the overall health of the school and in student recruitment.
The fall schedule is going to be tough with one of the best opportunities for a win coming when Millikin (0-10 in 2024) visits in week one. Week Two against a solid Martin Luther College is another opportunity. The best chances for wins in the ARC are Buena Vista (#8 preseason) and Loras (#7) with both those games coming on the road. With 69 players staying healthy is going to be crucial as that 100+ player roster depth that the top ARC teams the Norse does not have.
So, the SGI team when looking at it has set a floor of zero wins and a ceiling of 2 maybe 3 wins if everything breaks right and their health holds. I think this is pure build for the Midwest Conference future move year.
I’ll admit the move to the Midwest Conference news when I read it, gave me a mixed reaction. As an ARC fan who has seen many football games over the years, I was disappointed to have the great trip to Decorah fall off the travel itinerary.
Every two years, you had a chance to go to Decorah in the fall (maybe stop by two great breweries -Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock Breweries) see the Norwegian-American Museum (being a Norwegian American I recommend the visit), and see a beautiful Iowa city with great architecture.
Northeast Iowa in the Fall is a gem that Iowan’s know well, but to the rest of the country is a true hidden gem. On the other hand, I was very happy for Norse Athletics reading the news, and I commend them on the move.
Why I think the move to the Midwest Conference will be a plus
It gives Luther a chance to get competitive in football and align themselves with schools that are relatively close like they have in the ARC today.
The core members of the MWC are Beloit College, Cornell College, Grinnell College, Illinois College, Knox College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence University, Monmouth College and Ripon College. That conference will now have 3 schools in Iowa, 3 in Wisconsin, and 4 in Illinois.
In checking out travel distances the longest was to Illinois College in Jacksonville Illinois (suburb of Springfield) at 336 miles. The shortest will be to play Cornell College in Mt. Vernon Iowa at 121 miles (it is 145 to Grinnell College in Iowa). Today, when the Norse have to go on the road to Nebraska Wesleyan to play any sports in Lincoln Nebraska, it is 387 miles for comparison.
The Norse can get football competitive in the Midwest Conference faster. The A-R-C is one of the best D3 Football Conferences in the US. Wartburg has very recently come so very close to making it to the D3 championship game. Coe and Wartburg have both made the D3 playoffs the past two years, and Central has been right there losing both games last year against Coe and Wartburg in very close contests. The University of Dubuque has also been very strong for the past 15+ years.
The Norse football team have only won 5 games the past 6 years and have struggled to compete in the very rugged A-R-C. They have a lot going for them to compete in the Midwest Conference – Campus, Setting, and Facilities.
They have to look no further for what the move could mean than 121 miles south to Cornell College. The Rams left the IIAC in 2011, and their last year in the IIAC they were 0-10 and had been struggling for a decade to be competitive.
The Rams have become a very competitive team in the Midwest Conference and have had 7 winning seasons since the move including last year’s 6-4 record.
The opportunity for Luther College is similar in my opinion. I know Luther College has baseball, basketball, and many other sports that are very important that will also in my opinion benefit by being in the Midwest Conference. There are some long-time close conference rivals like Wartburg, Loras, and UD to name a few that they will miss (hopefully those schools will find some non-conference games to play).
I see a lot of potential upside for Luther in the Midwest conference long term.
Please note this was not intended to be a get better at football or else column. Luther is a great school, and being great at any D3 sport is not a “must have” it is more a “nice to have” that can be an accelerant to the overall college environment.
It’s not the be-all end-all scenario, academics, endowments, and so much more are the main drivers of private colleges’ health and well-being. I do believe it can be a bigger driver than most people might think. For example: In an alternative universe let’s image that maybe the late Mike Leach stayed for decade at the recently closed Iowa Wesleyan University in Mt. Pleasant and broke all sorts of offensive records and brought great notoriety to that school – would that school have grown and thrived more than it did?
I think this move to the Midwest Conference will be a great one long term for the Luther Norse, and we will be following their football and other sports closely on the journey.
As always, we appreciate the support and comments.
