The Sicatoka
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Posts posted by The Sicatoka
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It has been over 7 days has it not?
??Yes it has, and thus, someone is wrong in their prediction. Let's find out who.
From USCHO:
North Dakota forward Brandon Bochenski, one of the nation's leading scorers the past two seasons and a Hobey Baker finalist last season, will likely sign with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL this week, according to former Fighting Sioux head coach Dean Blais.Dean Blais' prediction has not stood up to the test of time.
PCM was the messenger.
Why is the messenger being shot at?
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I'd speculate that CU or CSU would draw what they draw for a home game if they played UNC in Mile High. (Big limb to go out on there.) You wouldn't have as many students but you'd get the folks who can't get other CU or CSU "home" tickets.
The difference: UNC could count it as a home game and toward their per game average. (You can do that with one game per season.)
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Sac St. and Portland St., IMO, would have no problem making 15,000 if they were IA. Weber St. and Northern Arizona would have problems. Montana St. might be able to do it if they keep winning. Out of the four schools talked about for expansion, NDSU is the only school with any possibility of making it.
As far as any chance of making it, UNC would have a great shot at making the numbers if they could play Colorado or CSU in Mile High (as a pseudo-home game).
Still, Sac State and PSU would each need to do 2.5 times attendance of what they do today. That'd take some serious work (or a home game versus Cal or Stanford in Sac State's case, or Oregon or OSU in PSU's case).
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My attendance numbers were for the 2002-2003 academic year. That would be for the 2002 football season. Sorry.
Didn't Montana State have the home game with Montana in 2003? It'll be interesting to see how the numbers come out this year (meaning do they oscillate based on whether or not they host Montana).
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Here's a revelation for you folks:
Writers write the articles.
Editors write the headlines.
PCM didn't write "Bochenski to Bolt".
PCM wrote what U2Bad1 showed.
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Anyway, I believe one of the ways you can satisfy the 15000 rule is to be part of a conference that averages 15000 per home game overall. Getting to that average would make for a much more stable DI-A conference if they ever decide to go that route.
The "conference average" rule went away on 08/01/04 when the new 15000 average went into effect. The rule in place now does allow use of a "neutral" field for one game a year by a school and calling it a home game for attendance counting purposes (ala Wyoming playing Tennessee in Nashville and counting it as a home game for attendance).
20.9.6.3 Football-Attendance Requirements. [i-A]The institution annually shall average at least 15,000 in actual attendance for all home football games. (Revised: 4/25/02, effective 8/1/04)PS - In 2003, Montana averaged over 19000. Everyone else in the BSC was under 10000. BSC #2 in attendance Montana State averaged 48 more fans per home game than North Dakota. (Data from the NCAA stats site.) We're talking a 50% increase in attendence for almost the whole league to be DI-A.
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I grabbed the wrong city off the NCAA list I have. Apologies.
However, Moscow, Pocatello, I'm sure that radically changes the geographic center of the Big Sky and definitely moves Bozeman closer than 700 miles away.
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If the BSC is only looking at those remaining four, let's see how they fit into the BSC:
School - City, State Lat Lon
Montana - Missoula, MT 46.86 114.01
Montana State - Bozeman, MT 45.68 111.04
Weber State - Ogden, UT 41.23 111.97
Idaho State - Moscow, ID 46.73 117.00
E. Washington - Cheney. WA 47.49 117.59
Portand State - Portland, OR 45.52 122.68
N. Arizona - Flagstaff, AZ 35.19 111.65
Sacramento St. - Sacramento, CA 38.58 121.49
Big Sky Conference
Average 43.41 115.93
Max 47.49 122.68
Min 35.19 111.04
Possible expansion cities:
NDSU - Fargo, ND 46.88 96.79
SDSU - Brookings, SD 44.31 96.79
UNC - Greeley, CO 40.42 104.69
SUU - Cedar City, UT 37.79 113.07
I only see one that is within the existing footprint (max-mins): Cedar City, UT (SUU). I see one that is fairly close to being in the footprint (and it offers a United Airlines hub airport a short drive away plus a major western media market, namely Denver, nearby): Greeley, CO (UNC).
The other two are 15 degrees of longitude east of the eastern-most point of the footprint. That works out to be about 700 miles east of the eastern-most point, and about 1000 miles to the BSC "geographic average" point.
Geography just doesn't bode well for a couple of those remaining four.
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Has another anonymous source spoken to the Grand Forks Herald?
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I would think the WAC would fit DU better than the WCC.....just from a geographic perspective.
Same could almost be said for Gonzaga (WCC vs WAC).
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DU ended up in the Sun Belt because there was really no other home for them at the time. Now, with NMSU and a couple others leaving the Sun Belt it's even less attractive.
From chatting with some folks more familiar with DU athletics, back when they went DI DU's preference would have been the WCC.
DU already has teams playing in other conferences while they're in the Sun Belt today (hockey, lacrosse, independent gymnastics, skiing, and others). So the BSC wouldn't support all their athletic programs: That's nothing new to DU.
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Add to this part of Fullerton's quote -
Unless Denver is looking at adding a I-AA football program, I doubt the Big Sky is contacting Denver.
I think you may need to re-read Fullerton's statement:
It doesn't say those they are evaluating have to play DI-AA football. It says they'll be looking at the schools that are going to be playing DI-AA, however, it does not say that will happen at the exclusion of others (those who don't play DI-AA football)."We are conducting an internal evaluation of every school that is available. ... And yes, that does include the Dakotas, yes that does include Northern Colorado, yes that does include Southern Utah - all the schools that are going to play I-AA," Fullerton said Monday, according to The Associated Press.The more important words are "... of every school that is available." The Sun Belt is coming apart. Who is available?
Gamble (Montana State, where NDSU's Chapman came from) is interested, but even he reiterates the past hurdle:
Afterward, Gamble said, "The door isn't completely closed." But he also admitted that the idea of additional travel into the Dakotas made some of the league's top brass leery, and the leaders told SDSU and NDSU to look elsewhere for conference affiliation in their ascent to Division I. -
Because the SF Argus-Leader story will disappear over the weekend, I'll post it here.
This is a quote of a SF Argus-Leader story. Credit them.
Door to Big Sky still open for JacksChris Solari
Argus Leader
published: 7/24/2004
School presidents to discuss expansion at Aug. 9 meeting
South Dakota State is back in the sights of the Big Sky Conference.
When the league held its preseason football meeting Monday in Flagstaff, Ariz., Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton said the Aug. 9 conference presidents' meeting will focus on expansion, specifically mentioning four schools including SDSU.
"We are conducting an internal evaluation of every school that is available. ... And yes, that does include the Dakotas, yes that does include Northern Colorado, yes that does include Southern Utah - all the schools that are going to play I-AA," Fullerton said Monday, according to The Associated Press.
Those words are a distinct reverse in course from what the the Big Sky's presidents said in February 2003, the last time they met to talk about expansion. SDSU and North Dakota State jointly approached the Big Sky about membership last year, at which time Montana State President Geoffrey Gamble arranged that meeting.
Afterward, Gamble said, "The door isn't completely closed." But he also admitted that the idea of additional travel into the Dakotas made some of the league's top brass leery, and the leaders told SDSU and NDSU to look elsewhere for conference affiliation in their ascent to Division I.
"From my perspective, the Dakota schools have always been in the packages I've been interested in," Gamble said Friday.
"Part of what I hoped is that my colleagues would get to the point where they wanted to discuss expansion, and that's the point we're at now."
The Aug. 9 meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. MDT in Salt Lake City. Dusty Clements, assistant commissioner for the Big Sky, said that it should last a few hours.
"It certainly would say that we're on their radar screen," SDSU athletic director Fred Oien said.
That radar didn't pick up SDSU last year for one major reason - geography. At that time, the Big Sky presidents felt the increased travel costs involved with adding the two Dakota schools made them unlikely targets for expansion. The presidents felt then that if expansion happened, it would be to the west.
Travel distance is certainly a topic that Gamble and his comrades will again discuss heavily this time. He said that SDSU President Peggy Miller and her NDSU counterpart Joseph Chapman have been working to allay some of those concerns.
"My perception is that my colleagues are more interested in seriously looking into expansion now than they were eight or nine months ago," Gamble said.
SDSU and NDSU enter their first year at Division I and I-AA for football as independent schools. Neither will be eligible for postseason NCAA competition until the 2008-09 school year.
"We talk about what South Dakota State could bring to a conference and our willingness to make that conference better," Oien said. "We understand we would be in the young crowd in any conference. We have some maturing to do ourselves, but we'll be able to bring things that will be beneficial to a lot of conferences."
Gene Taylor, NDSU's athletic director, told the Fargo Forum that he was "literally taken aback by the strength" of Fullerton's comments on Monday.
Fullerton was on vacation Friday and could not be reached.
One of the many rumors surrounding the Big Sky was that the conference was targeting former member Idaho for expansion if the Vandals returned to I-AA from I-A. Idaho recently accepted membership into the Western Athletic Conference, a league which plays I-A football.
Another rumor is that the entire league could potentially leave the Division I-AA football ranks for the big-time of I-A. The Big Sky presidents will also likely touch on that in Salt Lake City, Clements said.
"I think that will be discussed because (the presidents) will all be in a room at the same time, and that doesn't happen that often," Clements said.
Gamble said he doesn't expect the Big Sky to ask any schools to join at that time, but he admits that if six of the league's eight presidents vote yes that they could extend a membership offer that day. That is the required number of votes to make such a decision.
"We'll see how the conversation goes, to see if we're about to do that," Gamble said.
The presidents of the Mid-Continent Conference, the other league mentioned as a potential home for SDSU, met earlier this month and said they would continue to look at expansion. Tony Hamilton, the Mid-Continent's media director, said no further meetings have been scheduled.
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Because no one watches Pat Sweeney. I suppose, just a hunch.
Come on people!
Sometimes you have to take the good (Sioux hockey information) with the bad (no comment).
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I was told that Pat Sweeney had the list of applicants for the job on the WDAZ sports last night.
How come no one has posted it here yet?
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WYOBISONMAN said, "It is incredible the amount of conference turmoil. Makes me wonder when it will find an equilibrium point." -- I agree.
Isn't the point of this conference shell-game trying to move up?
Would Gonzaga rather be in the WCC or the WAC?
Would DU rather be in the Sun Belt or the Big Sky or WCC*?
The flip side is:
Which schools fit into which conference's demographics and desires?
Who does the WAC want? Gonzaga? DU?
Who would the WCC want if they were looking?
* DU wanted into the WCC when it went DI a while back. The WCC didn't want them (geography) and DU was left to go with the Sun Belt.
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I heard PCM turned down both jobs. He doesn't want to be the assistant coach, or the anonymous source.
Let me guess: You heard it from .... an anonymous source.
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But the only discussion that really matters is the one between Ottawa and Brandon.
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The posturing being done by Bochenski with Ottawa seems very similar to what Vanek is doing with Buffalo.
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I am still trying to figure a good reason for all this.
- To get out of playing games in a building in need of repair?
- To get badly needed additional training space for all the athletes?
- To get the recruiting advantages of both a new building and The Ralph?
- To have television-ready facilities?
- To be able to sell adult beverages?
- To give people something to second-guess on an internet board?
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Crazy, out of the blue thought: Isn't Gonzaga in Spokane, WA?
Gonzaga would go from the far north outpost of the West Coast Conference (nearest conference foe: U of Portland in Portland, OR) to near the middle of the Big Sky. However, Gonzaga would lose all the California exposure that comes with WCC basketball.
If there's even a remote thought of taking a "no football" Denver, wouldn't that (a "no football" Gonzaga) make some sense too?
This speculating IS fun.
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