Link: D1Baseball

1. Texas A&M (38-6)
2. Arkansas (37-7)
3. Tennessee (37-7)
4. Clemson (34-9)
5. East Carolina (35-8)
6. Oregon State (33-10)
7. Florida State (34-9)
8. Kentucky (33-9)
9. UC-Irvine (32-8)
10. Duke (30-14)
11. Virginia (33-12)
12. North Carolina (33-11)
13. Wake Forest (27-16)
14. Oklahoma State (30-14)
15. South Carolina (29-14)
16. Mississippi State (29-15)
17. Vanderbilt (31-13)
18. Louisiana-Lafayette (33-13)
19. Georgia (31-12)
20. North Carolina State (25-16)
21. Arizona (26-16)
22. Oklahoma (26-15)
23. Alabama (28-16)
24. Indiana State (31-9)
25. Utah (29-13)

Dropped Out
Coastal Carolina (#13), Oregon (#22)

==============================

Link: Perfect Game

1. Texas A&M (38-6)
2. Arkansas (37-7)
3. Tennessee (37-7)
4. Clemson (34-9)
5. East Carolina (35-8)
6. Florida State (34-9)
7. Oregon State (33-10)
8. Duke (30-14)
9. Virginia (33-12)
10. UC-Irvine (32-8)
11. Kentucky (33-9)
12. North Carolina (33-11)
13. Wake Forest (27-16)
14. Indiana State (31-9)
15. Alabama (28-16)
16. Vanderbilt (31-13)
17. UC-Santa Barbara (28-11)
18. Oklahoma State (30-14)
19. Georgia (31-12)
20. Louisiana-Lafayette (33-13)
21. South Carolina (29-14)
22. San Diego (30-12)
23. Mississippi State (29-15)
24. North Carolina-Wilmington (28-16)
25. North Carolina State (25-16)

Dropped Out
Coastal Carolina, Arizona, Oklahoma

Others Considered
Louisiana Tech, Nebraska, Troy, Connecticut

==============================

Link: Baseball America

1. Texas A&M (38-6)
2. Arkansas (37-7)
3. Tennessee (37-7)
4. Clemson (34-9)
5. Florida State (34-9)
6. East Carolina (36-7)
7. North Carolina (33-11)
8. Duke (30-14)
9. Kentucky (33-9)
10. Virginia (32-12)
11. Oregon State (33-10)
12. UC-Irvine (32-8)
13. North Carolina State (25-16)
14. Vanderbilt (31-13)
15. Wake Forest (27-16)
16. Oklahoma State (30-14)
17. Alabama (28-16)
18. South Carolina (29-14)
19. Oklahoma (26-16)
20. West Virginia (26-16)
21. Oregon (29-14)
22. Louisiana-Lafayette (33-13)
23. Mississippi State (29-15)
24. Indiana State (31-9)
25. UC-Santa Barbara (28-11)


==============================

Link: USA Today Coaches Poll

1. Texas A&M (29) (38-6)
2. Arkansas (1) (37-7)
3. Tennessee (1) (37-7)
4. Clemson (34-9)
5. East Carolina (35-8)
6. Florida State (34-9)
7. Oregon State (33-10)
8. Kentucky (33-9)
9. Duke (30-14)
10t. Virginia (33-12)
10t. UC-Irvine (32-8)
12. North Carolina (33-11)
13. Vanderbilt (31-13)
14. South Carolina (29-14)
15. Wake Forest (27-16)
16. Oklahoma State (30-14)
17. Alabama (28-16)
18. Georgia (31-12)
19. Louisiana-Lafayette (33-13)
20. North Carolina State (25-16)
21. Mississippi State (29-15)
22. Indiana State (31-9)
23. Oklahoma (26-16)
24. Arizona (26-16)
25. Dallas Baptist (31-11)

Dropped Out
Coastal Carolina (#15), Oregon (#24)

Others Receiving Votes
Oregon, UC-Santa Barbara, Utah, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Troy, Louisiana Tech, Coastal Carolina, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Lamar, Northeastern, North Carolina-Wilmington, College of Charleston, San Diego, Texas Tech, Kansas

==============================

Link: NCBWA

1. Texas A&M (38-6)
2. Arkansas (37-7)
3. Tennessee (37-7)
4. Clemson (34-9)
5. East Carolina (35-8)
6. Florida State (34-9)
7. Oregon State (33-10)
8. Kentucky (33-9)
9. North Carolina (33-11)
10. Virginia (33-12)
11. UC-Irvine (32-8)
12. Duke (30-14)
13. Vanderbilt (31-13)
14. South Carolina (29-14)
15. Wake Forest (27-15)
16. Oklahoma State (30-14)
17. Georgia (31-12)
18. Mississippi State (29-15)
19. Alabama (28-16)
20. Indiana State (31-9)
21. Louisiana-Lafayette (33-13)
22. North Carolina State (25-16)
23. Arizona (26-16)
24. Oklahoma (26-16)
25. UC-Santa Barbara (28-11)

Dropped Out
Coastal Carolina (#13), Oregon (#18)

Others Receiving Votes (listed alphabetically)
Bethune-Cookman, Campbell, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Creighton, Dallas Baptist, Florida, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Jackson State, Kansas, Kansas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina-Wilmington, Northeastern, Oregon, Purdue, St. John's, Samford, San Diego, South Carolina-Upstate, Southern Mississippi, Texas, Texas Tech, Troy, UC-San Diego, Utah, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Western Kentucky

==============================

Link: NCAA RPI

1. Texas A&M
2. Arkansas
3. Kentucky
4. Clemson
5. Tennessee
6. Florida State
7. North Carolina
8. East Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Indiana State
11. South Carolina
12. Oregon State
13. Dallas Baptist
14. Alabama
15. Virginia
16. Wake Forest
17. UC-Santa Barbara
18. Oklahoma
19. Duke
20. North Carolina State
21. Oklahoma State
22. Florida
23. Vanderbilt
24. Coastal Carolina
25. Nebraska
------------------------------
39. Maryland
56. Rutgers
62. Purdue
65. Ohio State
66. Illinois
71. Indiana
94. Michigan
98. Iowa
104. Michigan State
122. Minnesota
127. Northwestern
162. Penn State

I didn't list "Selling Insurance" because way too many folks on here would choose that and I think he still has a career in FB. If you've seen the video of him coaching outside zone, you can tell he can coach.

BF Outside Zone

I wonder why. 🤔

One more to the portal. Could get interesting before the portal closes tomorrow

Login to view embedded media

Seems like we always approach this from our perspective, but what about the ghosts' perspective?

I know there are a few geeks here that get into this stuff, and I’m sure a Carl Spackler gif will show up. Not to sound like a Chicken Little/fatalist type, but…we’re kinda fũcked.

It hasn’t gotten cold enough, long enough, this winter to kill off ticks. Little reason to believe that this won’t be another year of billbugs, chinch bugs, cutworms, etc.

Our soil is dry as hell. Maybe that will change. But I doubt it, we’ve had 4 dry growing seasons in a row. I don’t think this is a cycle, this is a trend.

We’re weeks ahead of where we were last year in terms of growing degree days, which determines when plants bloom, insects hatch, weeds germinate, etc. If the 10-15 day forecasts hold, a pre-emergent application done on Easter might be too late. Oh, and last year was ahead of “normal” too. It would take three weeks of 40-45 degree days to get us back where we should be.

Rant over.

So I'm getting some excessive growth around my rocks. Should I dump a bunch of salt on it or is there another solution?

Mitsubishi?

Or other manufacturer (also quoting on a Daiken model)

Is it worth the price-markup to get an American Standard-branded Mitsu unit? Or in general will a plain Mitsubishi unit cost less (AS rebrands Mitsu units, and fairly certain they are the same models that Mitsubishi distributes)


Also: is it possible to use piping that was hooked up to an older 12k BTU unit for a 15k BTU (upgraded) Mitsubishi or Daiken unit? No idea if they use different refrigerants that are able to accommodate smaller (originally installed) piping for the smaller unit. (one installer claimed an A-S unit could use those existing pipes; not sure what size they are)

Original unit was a Fujitsu 12k BTU model; something a little bit bigger or with better low-temp capability is needed.

Any HVAC guys with mini-split experience here?

Was a pretty heavy lean left in 2020: https://ajpp.brandeis.edu/documents/2020/nationalprofileofthejewishelectoratein2020.pdf

It's clear the left sides with Hamas and Palestine. I wonder how many Jews will vote Republican or Independent in 2024.

I find it odd such a talented, educated, hard-working group of people have historically voted for the party that endorses laziness and waste.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has released a diet plan for about 24,000 Iowa kids next summer. It’s the no-EBT-cards-for-you diet. It’s for their own good.



No, I don’t think Reynolds is trying to starve kids. But it was a lousy decision to turn down $29 million in federal summer food assistance for kids in low-income households. Each eligible child would have received an EBT card worth $40 monthly. The state would pay a $2.2 million share of administrative costs.


But the governor argued such assistance isn’t “sustainable.” But only if Congress votes to scrap it. She also complained the EBT cards` would do “nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”





Reynolds wants to enhance existing anti-hunger programs. But she offered no details. But the governor is certain poor people will just blow federal summer food assistance on junk food.


It’s true, recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, buy plenty of soda and other sweetened drinks. A USDA report released in 2017 on the buying habits of SNAP and non-SNAP shoppers found soda was the No. 1 item purchased by low-income households. It accounted for 5 percent of purchases. Overall, they spent 9.3% of benefits on sweetened drinks.


But non-SNAP consumers spent 7.1% on sugary drinks. SNAP households bought slightly more junk food than non-recipients, but their buying patterns were very similar. Obesity is not only a problem for the poor.


Should federal dollars be spent on unhealthy drinks? A strong case can be made to cut off the soda stream. But instead of blaming low-income families, maybe the governor could place blame where it belongs, with beverage corporations that have lobbied hard against such restrictions while marketing sugar water as “sports drinks” enhancing athletic performance.


Also, tens of millions of bushels of Iowa corn go into high fructose corn syrup, which sweetens some of these beverages. I doubt the governor will bring that up.


A survey of studies by the Food Resource and Action Center found evidence that food insecurity actually leads to obesity. People with low-incomes and a lack of transportation often are left to buy food at convenience stores or other nearby sources that offer few healthy choices. Denying them additional help is not going to reduce obesity. It could make the problem worse.

​

Sign up for Pints & Politics

Sign up for a periodic, lighthearted look at Iowa political news from The Gazette's opinion desk.​

And Reynolds’ obesity argument would be more compelling if Iowa wasn’t once again joining a parade of red states turning down federal aid. Her sudden concern sounds more like an excuse to check another box on her conservative to-do list.


There’s also the fact that Reynolds signed legislation last year creating a new bureaucracy of eligibility checks and asset tests that make it harder for Iowans to receive and keep SNAP assistance and Medicaid health coverage.


Turning down federal food help fits a pattern. The governor has turned down tens of millions of dollars in federal help addressing COVID testing in schools during the pandemic, climate change preparedness, affordable housing and child care. So her food aid refusal seems to be more about slapping the president than helping Iowans.


Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, offered a bill last session to expand free school lunches, which are subject to nutrition rules. He had 20 Republican co-sponsors, giving the bill enough support for passage. Republican leaders didn’t bring it up for a vote.


So the tough love keeps on coming. The governor loves making life tougher for low-income families.


(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com

Two episodes down. I’m in!

I don’t know if this is good or sad.
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Notre Dame has played in a few of these games, unsurprisingly.

Northwestern and Nebraska played in one a few years ago (the only game Northwestern won in 2022).

Would you ever want to see Iowa play in one of these Ireland kick-off games? Would you make a trip to go see Iowa in Ireland?

He looks like pancake batter. That is all.

A look across the conference here:

Where would you have them in your greatest bands list?

A couple reports coming out that BF has taken an offensive analyst position at Maryland. Iowa plays the Terps on the road on November 23 next season.

Twenty-six current and former college student-athletes are suing the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation based on allegations the agency violated their constitutional rights by doing a warrantless search that led to sports betting charges.



The federal lawsuit filed Friday says DCI agents illegally used geofencing software to pinpoint online sports wagering by student-athletes and searched student-athletes’ phones without search warrants.


The athletes — mostly from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University — are seeking compensation for “humiliation, degradation, public ridicule, loss of personal reputation, and emotional distress” as well as punitive damages.




“Due to DCI’s actions and/or failures to legally investigate the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs were all indicted and some convicted, severely upending their lives, collegiate careers, and future opportunities,” said the 47-page lawsuit.


The plaintiffs are:

• Former or current UI student-athletes: Keaton Anthony, baseball; Abe Assad, wrestling; Aaron Blom, football; Harry Bracy, football; Nelson Brands, wrestling; Arland Bruce IV, football; Tony Cassioppi, wrestling; Gehrig Christensen, baseball; Jacob Henderson, baseball; Jack Johnson, football; Patrick Kennedy, wrestling; Cullan Schriever, wrestling; Cobe Siebrecht, wrestling; Noah Shannon, football; Benjamin Tallman, baseball; and Aaron Ulis, basketball.
• Former or current ISU student-athletes: Jirehl Brock, football; Howard Brown, football; Hunter Dekkers, football; DeShawn Hanika, football; Isaiah Lee, football; Jake Remsburg, football; Dodge Sauser, football; Eyioma Uwazurike, football; and Jeremiah Williams, basketball.
• Ellsworth Community College baseball player Jake English.

Most of these names have been reported in connection with a sports betting probe announced last spring. Some have faced criminal charges and NCAA penalties, while others have faced just NCAA penalties.

Geofencing software used in probe​

The DCI in October 2021 created a sports wagering team of five special agents and one special agent in charge to address the rapid growth in sports betting in Iowa after it was legalized in 2019. In fiscal 2023 — when the Iowa and Iowa State investigation happened — the team had 204 cases related to sports wagering or other forms of internet gambling.


The lawsuit alleges Special Agent Brian Sanger, who was part of the sports wagering team, reached out in 2021 to GeoComply Solutions Inc., a Vancouver-based vendor that provides geolocation services for enforcing sports betting rules.


Sanger wanted the “special sauce” used by GeoComply to collect data on sportsbooks and their users, the lawsuit states. The initial goal was to collect data as part of a joint operation with the State of Illinois investigating various fraud organizations.






GeoComply Senior Vice President Lindsay Slade “suggested to SA Sanger that GeoComply’s software could be used to assist in future investigations, telling SA Sanger, ‘Perhaps it’s best we discuss on the phone to determine how to move forward…’,” the lawsuit states.


After that call, Sanger wrote a report about why GeoComply should be licensed in Iowa, the suit states.


The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which held the GeoComply license, was “hesitant” to let the DCI use geolocation software for some law enforcement purposes, but gave agents login credentials in September 2022, the lawsuit states.


GeoComply trainers showed DCI agents how to use Pindrop map, which could be used to locate “hot spots” of sports betting, the suit states.


Agents used the feature around the UI and ISU campuses, locating sports betting account numbers, according to this lawsuit and previous court filings. Agents then subpoenaed sportsbooks to get the names of account holders and used that information to file criminal charges against many of the plaintiffs.

Attorney: More to learn, possibly more legal action​

Van Plumb, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit, said Friday they still want to learn more about GeoComply’s role in what they allege were illegal searches.


“We’re not considering filing a lawsuit against them as yet,” he said. “That may change as we get into the discovery. There’s a lot more to learn.”


Plumb said attorneys are “withholding judgment” on the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission until after they have a chance to depose former administrator Brian Ohorilko, who left the commission in December to take a job with Prairie Meadows Casino in Altoona.


The DCI in January defended its use of the GeoComply software to enforce laws against underage gambling and against coaches, players and trainers from betting on sports.


“Prior to using the tools provided, the Department of Public Safety conferred with legal counsel to ensure lawful access to and use of the technology,” the agency said. “Two county attorney offices also reviewed all relevant investigative information before making the ultimate decision to file charges.


“We believe the evidence was obtained in a constitutionally permissible manner,” the agency said in January. “Ultimately it is up to the courts to decide.”


The Story County Attorney’s Office in March dropped charges against ISU student-athletes, saying the use of geofencing software “exceeded” its permitted use.

Ryan Poles was settling into his seat for the flight back from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in February when he pulled out his iPad, eager to dive into some practice tape.


The plane hadn’t gotten up in the air and Poles, with coach Matt Eberflus seated across the aisle, was mesmerized by practice cut-ups of … the punter — Iowa punter Tory Taylor.


Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind. Slo-mo.


Taylor was consistently doing things with the football Poles had not seen before, not with regularity, anyway. Taylor was manipulating the flight of the ball, bending kicks from right to left as if he were throwing a boomerang. More impressively, he was getting the ball to sit up after it landed like a professional golfer using a wedge to place the ball exactly where desired on the green. That’s to say nothing of the booming right leg Taylor possessed.

So the Chicago Bears general manager, the guy with the first and ninth picks in the draft and a host of more legitimate roster needs, was drawn to Taylor’s unique talent.


“Watch this.”





“Look how he does this.”


“Unreal.”

Taylor looked as if he was performing trick shots, and you didn’t have to watch long to believe he could drop a punt in a bucket along the sideline from 45 yards without a lot of difficulty. It was easy to crack jokes about how often Taylor kicked at Iowa as the Hawkeyes offense struggled to keep him on the sideline, but what Taylor was doing with the football was different.


That’s how it is easy to explain why the Bears — with only four picks before trading a 2025 fourth-rounder to land an extra selection in Round 5 on Saturday — could use pick No. 122 on Taylor, the club’s highest-drafted punter since West Virginia’s Todd Sauerbrun was a second-round choice in 1995.





“One of the best punters I’ve ever seen just in terms of his placement,” Poles said Saturday after the Bears finished picking and were gearing up to pursue some undrafted free agents. “As well as his leg strength to be able to flip the field.”


In wrapping up the draft, Poles admitted he was amazed “everything fell into place.” Yes, that started with the selection of USC quarterback Caleb Williams and Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze on Thursday, and they’re going to be huge to the future of the organization. But don’t think for a second the master plan for the weekend didn’t also include Taylor, who was the consensus top punter in the class.


One national scout said he expected Taylor to be the first punter off the board in Round 4, which is what happened, and that he could easily be a third-round choice. Taylor was so good at Iowa, the scout said it wouldn’t stun him if some team actually chose him at the back of Round 2.


The Bears wound up getting Taylor midway through the fourth round, resisting the urge to move up to get him just as they did with Odunze, and will use him to replace Trenton Gill, who was drafted in the seventh round in 2022 and had a rough 2023 season.

Iowa punter Tory Taylor punts against Northwestern during the second half at Wrigley Field on Nov. 4, 2023. (Michael Reaves/Getty)
How does a team that needed an edge defender with traits — and the Bears landed that guy with the later trade to pick up Kansas’ Austin Booker in the fifth round — draft a punter first? You could have made a case for a interior offensive lineman, defensive tackle, safety, tight end … a lot of positions would have made sense.


Because the Bears view Taylor as much more than a player who can get them out of trouble. He has the kind of talent to put the opponent into trouble.


“We see a guy who can be a weapon for us,” Midwest scout Drew Raucina said. “To flip the field and help our defense with field position.”


That’s what Taylor was for the Hawkeyes. Another national scout joked that Taylor was the best player at Iowa last season. Cornerback Cooper DeJean was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles, but the point the scout was making was that Taylor was that good at his craft, averaging 48.2 yards per kick last fall. It’s not just his ability to drive the ball — there are a lot of kickers with big legs. At times, Taylor can control the ball as if it’s a drone. His ball can be difficult to catch and he has an uncanny ability to land punts with bounce and spin that make them easy to cover. Plus he’s accurate.


“His best ball, when he is really relaxed and you just let him be an athlete, is around the 50-yard line,” said Hawkeyes special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, who was a linebacker on the Bears offseason roster in 2005. “There is no one like him. His drop punts that he’s putting inside the 10, inside the 5, unreal. When he just cuts loose and let’s it go, he can place it wherever he wants to put it.

Related Articles​

• Column: Dream of what Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze can do as rookies — but the story is the Chicago Bears full roster
• Caleb Williams is his ‘authentic self’ on and off the field. And the QB plans to use his confidence to lead the Chicago Bears to greatness.
• The next item on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive agenda: A new Bears stadium. Will his coalition embrace it?
• Chicago Bears sign undrafted free agents: Illinois DT Keith Randolph Jr. among new additions
• Who did the Chicago Bears select in the 2024 NFL draft? Meet the 5-player class.

“I know this: Tory Taylor could roll out of bed on two hours’ sleep and hit a drop punt 45 yards fair caught every day if he wanted to.”


Coverage rules in the pros make the punting game a little different, but Woods envisions a fast acclimation period for Taylor once the Bears figure out specifically what they want him to do.


“He has to be consistent with his spirals,” Woods said. “Which he’s improved in that dramatically. He will hit some balls that are ungodly long and ungodly high. But how does that translate to the NFL game? That’s going to be up to a coach. Once he gets the hang of NFL football, the guy is going to be awesome.”


That’s why the Bears can justify using a fourth-round pick on a 26-year-old punter — because there is a belief he will be one of the better at his craft over the next five-plus years, maybe longer, and the the team will go from being deficient in that area to elite.


It’s possible Taylor is going to keep improving too. The first time he saw a football game in person was when he was suited up with the Hawkeyes after coming over from Australia, where he learned the skill with ProKick, which has steadily placed Australians throughout NCAA football.


Chicago Bears Insider: Get the latest news, analysis and more on the Chicago Bears.



By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive emails from Chicago Tribune.
Taylor was working at a golf club and had a construction job when he entered the punting camp. He was considering pursuing a college degree in construction management.


“There are a lot of good Aussie guys over there and you never really know until you start trying,” Taylor said. “When I first walked out to practice I was like, ‘Oh, is this for me?’ There were guys smoking balls. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed it. I joined ProKick and it took me in a completely different direction. It’s certainly a lot more enjoyable than working.”


Taylor had Poles sold with a slew of kicks all in practice from the Senior Bowl. The video was that convincing.

Seven years after a Cedar Rapids-based contractor first started feuding with the University of Iowa over its work on the towering Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Iowa’s high court has weighed in and sided with the university on its appeal — reversing an order to pay Modern Piping another $12.8 million.



The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed and upheld a minor judgment awarding the contractor $21,784 for its costs and fees, but reversed and remanded the 2022 $12.8 million award — according to an opinion published Friday.


“We believe Modern Piping led the District Court astray when it convinced the court that its claim for wrongful injunction entitled it to recover restitution in the form of a broad-reaching unjust enrichment claim, and restitution should be measured as the disgorgement of the benefit provided to the University,” according to the opinion.




Essentially, Modern Piping argued the university should pay it the amount of money the hospital made while taking improper action against the contractor — and the Supreme Court said such an interpretation of the law requires specific circumstances and conditions that this case doesn’t meet.


“The District Court erred in allowing Modern Piping to pursue the restitutionary damages it sought as part of its wrongful injunction claim,” according to the Friday opinion, which opened with recognition of the 14-story Children’s Hospital as a “proud landmark in Iowa City known nationwide for the ‘Kinnick Wave’.”


“At the end of the first quarter of every home Iowa Hawkeye football game, the nearly 70,000 fans, players, coaches, referees, and opponents inside Kinnick Stadium turn to wave at the patients and families in the top floors of the Children’s Hospital,” according to the Iowa Supreme Court opinion that conceded, “Although its landmark status is now settled, construction of the Children’s Hospital did not go smoothly.”

‘Enriching the university’​

Aggravated by delays, design changes, mismanagement, and defects discovered after the hospital opened in 2017, litigation and legal judgments contributed to the hospital’s ballooning price tag from an original $270.8 million to more than $400 million.





ADVERTISING


“This case involves one of the construction disputes — at least at the periphery — between the University of Iowa and Modern Piping, Inc., the mechanical contractor for the project,” according to the opinion. “Modern Piping wanted to arbitrate some delay disputes; the university did not.”


To that end, the university obtained a court order barring the American Arbitration Association from getting involved in certain disagreements — and Modern Piping fought back, winning its battle to arbitrate. The university appealed but lost.


And, through arbitrating their disputes, Modern Piping won a $16 million award — damages the university paid.


“But this appeal is not about arbitration,” according to the opinion, clarifying that instead it’s about whether an entity like Modern Piping — wrongfully blocked from taking action — can be compensated for damages it incurred as a result.


“After the university lost its appeal about the validity of the injunction, Modern Piping attempted to recover not only the fees and costs it incurred in dissolving the injunction, but also the restitution it claimed was necessary to avoid unjustly enriching the university for its actions.”


In 2022, a jury sided with Modern Piping — awarding it another $12.8 million of UI profits made during the first eight months of Children’s Hospital operations. But now two years later, the Supreme Court has found that “is not a proper remedy for a claim for wrongful injunction and cannot stand.”

Full payment​

Modern Piping’s discord with the university dates back more than a decade and extends beyond the Children’s Hospital — having signed on in 2013 as mechanical contractor for both the health care project and the university’s new 1,800-seat Hancher Auditorium, being rebuilt after the 2008 floods. The projects together cost more than half-a-billion dollars, and Modern Piping’s contracts combined for nearly $40 million of the expense.


The contractor made its first request for arbitration in 2015 — over a Hancher dispute — and the university pushed back until being forced by court order. In 2016, a year later, Modern Piping asked to add similar Children’s Hospital disputes to the pending Hancher arbitration — sparking opposition, again, from the university.


“The Children’s Hospital disputes totaled over $8 million and similarly related to claimed delays and schedule compression, congestion, and out-of-sequence construction,” according to the opinion.


The university refused to arbitrate the disputes together and sought an injunction to prevent it from happening — arguing that being forced to “would require it to direct resources from the completion of the time sensitive Children’s Hospital Project to arbitrate a matter not properly before the AAA.”


A judge that same day granted the temporary injunction until seven months later the District Court dissolved it, finding the AAA immune from the UI action.


In September 2017 — about a year after the university occupied its new Children’s Hospital and months after beginning to treat patients there — an arbitration panel heard testimony from 15 witnesses over nine days. And the panel found in favor of Modern Piping, awarding it $21.5 million — including $16.3 million tied to the Children’s Hospital project for rampant design changes and “significant labor inefficiencies outside of Modern Piping’s control.”


That total award included $930,000 in prejudgment interest, more than $416,000 in attorneys fees, and nearly $500,000 in costs and expenses — all confirmed by a District Court and affirmed upon appeal.


The university satisfied the full payment as of June 2019.

Counterclaim​

Although payment had been made and appeal had been denied in that original arbitration, Modern Piping went on to file a counterclaim “for damages pertaining to delay in arbitration based on a wrongful injunction.”


The disagreement went before a jury in October 2022 — with Modern Piping focusing over the course of the three-day trial almost exclusively on the university’s partial occupancy of the Children’s Hospital during the temporary injunction and the impact that had on the contractor.


Experts opined, during the trial, that “the injunctive order empowered the university to partially occupy the unfinished Children’s Hospital, and the early occupancy prevented Modern Piping from arbitrating the partial occupancy dispute like it normally would have done, causing lost contract damages to Modern Piping and benefiting the university.”


Reporting the university made $12.8 million during its early occupation of the Children’s Hospital, jurors sided with Modern Piping — a decision the high court now agrees was flawed, following its review upon appeal.

Front page says he's a target at WR out of MO St. See he is short and fast. Any FCS nerds got intel on him?