Momster

I can honestly say, how many 16-18 YO young men know that much about what they are eating tomorrow much less how they'll dig through the deep inner motivations and truthfulness of people they barely know when their future is in flux? This isn't an easy time. They along with their families have typically never been through this process--you wouldn't believe the emails, texts, IM's, hundreds of mailers, promises made, insinuations that get put out there if you are a recruit. Everyone has an opinion including these kids own coaches, families, friends, girlfriends and you throw in school and academics and proximity to home or not, $ and shake it all in a baggy with some hormones and you just never know what comes out the other side.

What I will say having just gotten home after being up there all weekend starting Friday through today is every hotel was filled with hockey people, every restaurant, every conversation this weekend had hockey, every gas station attendant talked hockey and even the cute old guy sitting next to us at the Performance Center talked hockey which is totally cool. It is part of the town identity and one the school and town can build off of and if you are committed to the area and plan on going to the school it is a huge point of pride that brings a tremendous amount to the local economy and a big part of why the sports facilities are so amazing. LOVED the time up there and what a great town.

so use the great minds already at the school and make it a marketing and sports marketing internship opp. Think outside the box.

SFI?

How many Juniors are they expecting this weekend?

Point taken--but also if you look at the last several years--most would describe it as several years of so - so seasons--but on the upswing. Which is also why I was saying for some facing the choice--they might like being part of a program on the upswing and that might be more important to be a building block to that success vs being a part of a program who was there already. It is all about what appeals to the person and their motivations.

I don't think I was intending to say anything touching on insecurity -- I was much more interested in the thought processes around if there was a student athlete who is looking at a college for football and how would they look at this? It is a real thing good or bad which is why I asked for the pros/cons. Say, a start athlete who plays football has a choice between a college that is known for hockey but has a football team with a so-so history and a college who is known for football but has other sports like hockey which aren't as celebrated or perhaps doesn't have the winning history. Which one would they choose and why? (and I realize lots of other factors are involved in this). I saw it as an awesome thing to be able to play football for a team on the upswing that already had existing successful programs vs already being there (IE: I have something to prove and am part of rebuilding) vs a school who already was there and had to defend the target. Just a thought process...nothing more.

Funny enough, the crowd was chanting Fighting Sioux Forever and Let's go Sioux! I think that poor marketing team has a challenge on their hands ha-ha! I hope they all partied safe. I also think they need to hire Josh D (Fergie's actor husband) as a marketing spokes person guy. He seems to be a HUGE UND fan. The Vid almost makes me want to be 25 years younger and in college again (nope-not really).

I think many of the kids who were at my house over the weekend have said they were on the fence about UND until the play offs started in Hockey and the new facilities investment that all of the kids have access to (and I am guessing came in part because of hockey notoriety). Momentum and marketing are a big deal--I hope the school is majorly capitalizing on it. The idea of playing football for a school on the upswing and having access to a town celebrating hockey and supporting the school in the off season was WAY appealing to many of the football players we know considering UND and hopefully being considered by UND. I think Bubba's interview was GREAT! Thanks for posting UND-FB-Fan. What an exciting thing to have happen for the community. I hope they go all out this weekend and celebrate for a long time.

My son is super excited about Junior Day. Recently, he found out several of his friends have decided to go to school there (not participating in sports guys) in part because of just choosing the school for academics -- but one of the tipping points for his buddies is because of how well the hockey team does and the buzz and fun that comes with it. What is the atmosphere like this week in town? Several of his friends are going to some kind of orientation thing going on next weekend at the same time Junior Day for football so having some familiar faces on campus is really nice to think about. Hopefully the town is in full on celebrate mode on the hockey front and the Football Junior Day kids will see a community all in about one of their student athlete programs. So my question is more about pros-cons of being a traditional hockey school--does it help or hurt football recruiting? I know the facilities all of the kids have access to have to be better for having such a great hockey team traditionally from year to year....I would think that is an asset. One of his buds though who does play football was of the other view--why would anyone want to play football at a school known for hockey? What are the pros/cons of how hockey affects recruiting for other sports?

Seriously happy for them. They would be the select few I referenced. Most consider the whole experience overwhelming. I just read retention rates for Freshman are less than 41 Percent and declining. They are dead last for the 50 largest public schools. I just truly think for quite a few MN families, UND offers what many kids are looking for and parents appreciate when kids have looked at the U and decided it wasn't for them.

Add in expensive parking miles away, classes no where near each other, huge class size, hard to get into most classes, wild tuition hikes, campus crime rates, the recent AD drama and and and....it is a great school for certain students looking for certain things but it could be an incredibly difficult school to manage at 18 and very expensive way to finish the degree. They also put out attractive tuition rates to out of state students to the detriment of in state tuition which is just odd. Just my two cents.

So kids look at what is close enough to family but far enough and ND, SD, IA, WI, NE all have very viable and enjoyable competitive options at schools who are smaller, in smaller towns with local support who are investing in their schools the right way. I think most people in MN look at ND and the general border areas as "home" still. The U of M just doesn't have the draw for MN families and students for many reasons.

I told mine sign up, bring as many football players as you know with you road trip style and have the time of your life--but not too much lol.

I don't believe you need an invite to go to the Elite Camp--anyone can go I believe and most of the O and D line guys were told to go to the O and D line camp vs Elita. It is the Junior Day that I believe you need to get invitations for but if you ask you get one. My guess is they want the RSVP plus they want to know you want to go and ask to go. Seems like a lot of the schools are doing that now. A number of kids from MN from Centennial, Hopkins, Waconia, Burnsville and Eagan are going to do visits, camps etc.

My kiddo is planning on attending.

How many kids usually come to the Junior Day invite? Anyone know what #'s they anticipate as far as attendance?

Here's the thing though....the distorted noise that was supposed to be celebration music made people want to leave vs sit in the seats. It was really really bad. Like painful very un-enjoyable I can't sit here any more bad. I don't know if it was where the seats were or if it was that distorted and loud everywhere.

LOL wow. Sorry. Edited for correction.

Add to that PR across all sports that drive football support. Drive Way MORE PR About even having an indoor stadium and new facilities. SD is trumpeting all over the place and I hardly hear about what UND is. Theme nights-kids free, senior discounts, troll the nursing homes and assisted living places, grade school readings, and get that young kid vibe going--it is a very big deal to get kids excited because it gets parents going. Grandparents are always looking for something to do with their gk's and having kids on the team willing to get out into the community is big. This sounds silly but make the recruiting exciting visible and highlights of the already signed players more visible. Run campaigns on the new name of the mascot and get that going. Even if you don't agree with the new name they should be running every campaign they can with that new name because guess what? It's official. Fan shots with the most creative display of the new mascot and name twitter campaigns, best baby photo with football fan gear contests...the cheesier the better. Get em going. Get green and white days going. Be bold and visible about what your goals are for the year and how to get there--for every touchdown donate the football team to a team cause and blast that out. Be the most community oriented sport on campus. PR: Support from the Sororities/Frats/various clubs PR: Date night that with "dinner and/or drinks at @@ whatever cheaper popular dinner place" might be with cross marketing from both to drive it Tail-gaiting activities--fun ones. Make it an event. What is the booster club like? I haven't looked into this at all. Is there football specific booster? How active is it? Award the local businesses with the most fan swag displayed by actually going to their business.

Junior Day invites went out for April 16th. Who is confirmed for attendance? Bueller? Bueller? Any interesting targets? QB's? What are they going to be recruiting for most next year?

The acoustics stink. I know they felt the louder the music the better the atmosphere and that is just not the case. I love the venue but when turn out is low in the stands loud music can't cover that up. I like Bubba is supporting the other sports with the football players all geared up and doing more in the community. Brings awareness to the guys on the team, the venue and drums up support. I like the Chelsea Dagger idea across all sports. Filling up the stands should be a high priority.

One of the items that really stood out for the boys we know that have visited schools so far is where there aren't pro teams are the towns and the school attendees are very fun and vocal when they support the college teams. We keep in touch with other parents and kids and what they always mention isn't the weight room or anything very specific about the football programs but what they do mention consistently is how were they received when they got there, what did the coaches know about them (high marks for UND on this one) and every business, every nursing home, home, tailgating fun, banners from the light posts, even local logo tats that were flashed with pride. At one camp, the boys we know went to lunch in town at one college people walked up to their table thanking the boys for their visit and chatted with them as the kids had their football camp t-shirts on. Not saying it is a "hard criteria" on anyone's list but it makes an impression that is welcoming and makes kids who might be nervous feel good. It sounds random but that makes an impression on a kid. The coaches at UND seem to recognize that community support goes a long way and want to foster that.

Love!