iramurphy

That is his son.

A little advice from a parent. Get her a big hat and try and hide that big nose before you take her home to meet your parents.

You make some good points. Some are reasonable assumptions however and there hasn't ever been much about any of retiring the name that has been reasonable. I would like to know if anyone has seen a contract between UND and the Big Sky. I don't recall exactly what UND officials told the legislature but I understood them to claim our membership in the Big Sky could be in jeopardy. When Fullerton later stated to the press that was true then that creates enough evidence for me to think they were telling the truty with regards to the Big Sky. I don't believe we know what the agreements with regards to the Big Sky are. I would doubt they wold have included anything about the name but I don't know that either. I have no idea what occurred with Notre Dame. It does seem reasonable that Spirit Lake should succeed in court. I have always felt that the best way to defeat the NCAA and thier highhandedness and unfounded accusations agianst UND would be for them to take them to court for discriminating against them. The NCAA either allows ethnic groups to be used as team names or they don't. They can't separate their ruling based on whether or not one group is white and the other of color. I understand how you and others feel Faison and Kelly let us down, but I never felt that their job was the name issue. I believe Kelly was told when he was hired the name was done and either we met the criteria or we lose the name. I have no problem with anyone fighting the NCAA or even fighting the SBoHE or UND to keep the name but not through legislation. There is too much evidence UND wil be hurt by reinstating the name without approval from the NCAA. If Fullerton says our entry to the Big Sky would be in jeopardy then with all due respects that wieghs heavier than your opinion they would do nothing. The fact that U of Mn., Wisconsin, won't play us in hockey is not good for the program. They also along with Iowa and whomever else is into the PC stuff is not good for our other sports. We want to play the best teams in the resion and the country and year in and year out those teams are included. We also benefit from the regional and for WCHA rivalries. I am not saying we should support the Spirit Lake action against the NCAA, I am saying we should not handcuff UND athletics with legislation that limits our flexability. Whatever we do we should not sign a petition nor passing legislation regarding this issue. Right now I am convinced the we have too much to lose by forcing the name on UND. Those same rights we claim are not granted to the tribes are no important than the rights of UND to follow the path chosen by those with the authority to make those decisions.

Maybe the best comment on this subject yet!

No it is apparent that is a load of crap. Roebuck deserves better than an ignorant comment like that. Roebuck decided it was time to retire and those in the know posted that some time ago. He accomplished a lot as WBB coach but also Baseball coach getting a baseball team from NDak. to the NCAA playoffs. He was arguably the most successful coach in UND athletic history. 3 National titles, and 20 appearances in post season NCAA playoffs is outstanding. He also had numerous conference titles and this was accomplished at a time when the NCC was the best womens BB D2 conference in the country. A number of those teams would likely have been top 25 teams in D1 and so would some of the teams from the AC, augie, SDSU or even USD. I don't like the timing of the announcement because other rubes may think it was not his choice due to his comments about the AC. They should have waited a couple of weeks to announce it in order to distance this from the comments. The focus should be on his accomplishments, not his comment.

Chewey you give no evidence that Faison, Kelly and Shaft lied to the legislature. Some folks on this blog have made accusations and changed rumors to "fact" about a number of things. In fact most of what Kelly and UND and SBoHE warned the legislature about has come to pass.So much of what I read here, and the other hundred blogs about this subject, seems to be unsubstantiated rhetoric. They stated they were told by Fullerton our admission to the Big Sky would be in jeopardy and Fullerton has stated the same to the media not too long ago. The "conspiracy theorists" claim that Kelly forced Fullerton and before that Douple to make this up to help them retire the name. If they are that weak they shouldn't be league commissioners. I certainly am not saying I fully trust Kelly or Faison, but Kelly and Faison didn't lose us the name. I did, Frank did, you did, Clifford did, Strinden did, and all of the rest of us who didn't do enough over the past 50 years to keep us from landing in this mess. To blame guys who showed up after the NCAA nailed us and the agreement was done isn't fair to those folks nor is it smart. We are where we are and we all should accept responsibility for where we are and quit blaming others. Those of us who have donated money in the past to try and keep the name should have organized and done so many years a go. We have no excuses. We may not like it, but we need to move forward and keep the Univeristy positioned as best we can for success. Believe it or not, that may be without the name. The tribes have no one to blame but themselves and we who wanted to keep the name have no one to blame but ourselves. This is not about human rights for our Native brethren. AIM and other activist Native groups are one of the reasons the NCAA got involved in the first place. The tribes and the vast majority of Natives who support the name had well over 40 years to petition the NCAA or solidify there support of the name. We all could have done more and that incluces Tom Clifford and Ralph Englestad. That doesn't mean I oppose their sainthood, but we are a lot more to blame than Kelly and Faison. Chewy, you think the Big Sky needs us more than we need them??? are you serious? They have prospered without us for years and we are going to struggle without a conference. Explain your line of thinking please. You don't think they have an eye on NDSU, SDSU and USD? You don't think those schools couldn't be courted successfully by the Big Sky? Anyone who thinks that couldn't happen hasn't watched the Big 10, WCHA, Pac !0, SEC, aCC etc. the past two years. We need the Big Sky unless you think there is a FBS league who would take us and we would have the funds to make the move. Fetch, you keep insinuating that those who disagree with you are cowards. Have you ever had to do anything that requires you risk everything you have and believe in for a cause? Can't you state you opinions without continued stupid inferences like that. You lose any credibility you may have. It doesn't take courage to name call from behind the anonimity of a blog. You can remain a man of your convictions without the continued insults. I can respect the passion for the name but one of the reasons we have failed is that we keep losing focus and start blaming someone for our own failings as a group of fans, as a University and the Fighting Sioux community both Native and non Native . We need to live to fight another day and the task is daunting. The solution may very well be a future strategy that no one is even discussing right now. If anyone thinks having our state government pass legislation about this name is a good idea then you have't paid attention to how screwed up things can get when the government is involved. Legislation will only limit our options just like the agreement with the NCAA limited our options. There is nothing wrong with holding off on selecting a name but legislation prohibiting UND from doing so decreases our flexibilit?. We who wanted the name didn't do enough to keep the name over the last 50 years. I haven't seen anything other than the movement by the tribes against the NCAA that will fix our many years of inactivity. I am as much to blame as anyone else but Faison and Kelly are not. They weren't here and probably weren't aware of the scope of the issue. Blame them for the things they are responsible for not for our failures.

I know he wanted to go to UND and play FB but I do not know if he has decided to walk on at UND. I haven't heard anything else lately other than one of the coaches said recruiting is going very well.

About 6' 2 1/2" 200 lbs. Started for Wadena, Mn. for 2 years, then family moved to Jamestown for his senior year. Great kid, will work very hard, good student. Younger brother was Soph and is also a very good athlete. Nice walk on. Might be able to put on 30 lbs and play linebacker or FB. Will be work in progress.

Frank isn't exactly eloquent but he is passionate about how he feels. He does mix fact with fiction. I hope he wasn't insinuating that Tom Clifford would support this latest petition. I doubt that he would. He would likely support the Native Americans taking the NCAA to court. Frank has no factual basis to contradict what the Big Sky Commissioner said about UND's Big Sky affiliation being in jeopardy if we continue to remain sanctioned by the NCAA for the name. He forgets to comment on not being able to play the Gophers or Badgers in hockey anymore and now that might harm recruiting. He rambles on quite a bit and at times it is tough to hang in and listen but he is correct about the majority of Native Americans that have voted or been polled showing support for the name. That has always been the case. He doesn't explain where he has been the last 20 years when we could all see this coming including his warning from Tom Clifford, and not having been leading the charge to get support from the two reservations. To blame UND officials who weren't here when this came down is irrelevant. All of what Frank wants to happen can still occur without the stupid petition. Legislation will cause problems for UND and UND athletics just like last time and just like this goofy 3 year cooling off period. Frank needed to have a taped interview with the Big Sky Commissioner to prove what he claims is true. He also needs to have a discussion with Faison and Hakstol about the loss of the Gophers and Badgers on our future schedules. Too many threats to our future to buy into his rhetoric but give him credit for his passion.

This issue comes down to the fact that you are either a UND fan or you are a "fanatic" of the name and logo. Pretty clear those who wish the name and logo at any cost are not UND fans anymore. There is too much evidence that forcing the name on UND will cause too much harm to UND and UND athletics including hockey. Anyone who thinks UND hockey will survive as the premier college hockey program in the country in this new league and be the only league member that won't get games with Minn or Wisconsin (and any other schools who buy into the PC crap) then you are either stupid, drunk or living in a dream world. A couple of my favorite posters are possibly all three. Forget the harm it would do to FB, BB or other sports. It will destroy UND hockey as we know it. Over the years there are more schools who are refusing to play us because of the name issue, not fewer. That in and by itself is enough to send this petition to a place where it can only be found by a gastroenterologist with a colonoscope!

Alot depends on where the kid lives and where they are coming from. It also depends on whether or not the kid is playing a winter sport. Some kids come in on Friday evening and some kids come in on Saturdays. I would say most have their parents or a parent but not always. The kids would be assigned a player host and it might be someone they know or it may be based on their position or proposed college academic major. Coaches are usually assigned a geographic region to recruit and they continue to work with the kids and parents but often the position coach will also get time with them. Coaches and the coaches wives spend time with the parents and depending on the kid and the parents they may do things together as a family or the kids often will go with other recruits and player hosts after dinner. I don't know where they go for dinner anymore. Kids often will be housed in the dorm with other recruits or may stay at the hotel with their parents. During the visit they try and get an appointment with someone in their proposed filed of study and a tour of the campus and athletic facilities for the kids and parents. Tours would likely include the bookstore, the Ralph and Betty, the Alerus, the FB offices and weight room, dorms, student union library etc. When I worked for UND we coordinated the tours with Enrollment services and made sure the kids met with professors who were athltic fans if we could. They usually take them to BB or hockey games if one is scheduled. ( UND students aren't helping much. They don't support BB and they don't impress parents by yelling F the gophers at the hockey games but most parents and recruits understand the college atmosphere and the scholarship, academic and FB programs usually will outweigh those factors for those who don't care for that).

At hockey game last night and witnessed what is sad about the entire issue. In line to use rest room and one guy started by claiming he was going to kick the !@#$ out of the first Gopher fan he saw. (wasn't going to happen because I would not have allowed him to do that and secondly because when one went by and the other guy pointed out a Gopher fan, he just kept shooting off his big mouth but did nothing). Then he said would kick the !@#$ out of the refs. Embarassing to know we have Sioux fans with no class and no brains. He and the other guy then started spouting crap about Kelly, Faison and how the whole problem with the Sioux name was caused by the democrats. I told them signing the pertition would hurt UND hockey, UND and the University. I told them hockey would lose their chance to schedule games against the gophers, and badgers and whatever other PC teams won't play us if we remain on the NCAA sanction list. The only answer the short fat guy had was "you are just a FB guy". The other idiot claimed UND FB lost $1.8 million last year. I asked where he came up with crap like that and he said he had "an inside source". I told him I bet $100 he was wrong and he wanted to make it $200. I tried to tell him we could easily find a UND official to verify the answer but he disappeared. He reminds me of the people like Graham Cracker and Windy Boy who would say anything regardless of the truth to try and get people to drop the name only he claims to be a UND fan. He walked out spouting that none of this would have happened if Ralph were still alive. Ralph like many of us wanted the name to stay but the future of UND hockey is much more important than the name and he would have known that. He also would have known that UND athletics and UND are more important than the name itself. You don't get to be a billionaire without knowing when to cut your losses and move on. Whether we can figure out a way to reinstate the name or not the answer is not to restrict UND by some stupid law. The answer is to let the legal action by Spirit Lake to run its course. It doesn't take long to lose our edge and its tough to get it back. UND hockey is positioned for success but if we start playing weaker schedules and we no longer play the gophers and badgers we will likely lose recruits. Those are factors kids and their families look at when they choose a school. Refusing to sign this idiot petition does no harm to the chance we might be able to get the name back in the future. What it will do is possibly put UND in a position of weaker hockey schedules, recruiting barriers and definite problems for all of the other UND sports. We need to keep our heads out of our colons and stay the course but do so in an intelligent manner. Emotions out of control gets people killed in wartime. That is a good lesson to remember as we move forward. We can't afford to win the name war and lose the battle of keeping UND hockey the premier program in the country and UND and UND athletics a premier educational institution. It is time to move past the middle school mentality of who to blame and make sure we are positioned to make the right moves if and when their is a real opportunity to reinstate the name permanently or if not position our entire athletic dept. for success.

I read the kids twitter. There was nothing there that would justify some of the previous posts here. Might not be my style but I am sure more people than Fetch and Dave K don't like style. People have posted some stuff that really stretch the facts. I don't believe anyone really knows what happened. Sometimes kids misunderstand the schools interest in them or thier interst in us ( similar to the Woods kid in Bemidji). This kids Mom had a classy post and was complimentary of our coaches. Lets leave it at that. I understand recruiting is still going well for UND but don't have any other details.

This is the comment one would expect from someone whose only athletic experience was being on the JV dance line his second year of being a Soph in HS. FB experience was watching the guys with helmets walk through the gym when he should have been practcing high kicks. Kleinsasser started more games than these guys combined. Mays is doing a good job for the Broncos but he he just now playing as a starter and career is still getting started. Give him credit for hanging around. Same for Dahl. His injuries hurt his career but he started for the Rams for a couple of years. Don't know if he is hurt but didn't play much last time they were on TV. He was good special teams guy and backup for Giants til hurt and has been decent for Rams. Was great safety for AC and MAys was a beast at LB. Neither of them have anything to do with an assessment of Kleinsasser nor does he with them. Give them credit but that doesn't take away from JIm. He was one of the best HS athletes in the country. He set state records in the shot put and discus and ran the 200 meters. At 6' 3" and 275 he ran a 4.5 40. He was all-state in BB and played a year of BB at UND. He was recruited by Duke University because he was also an excellent student. Kleinsasser was best blocking TE in league while playing long and successful career. He was a beast and also played FullBack, HalfBack. Read what his teammates and opponents say about him. Was better than average NFL player. He was more versatile than the average NFL player, played longer and was the best at one of his responsibilites. In addition he was a class act.

In New York. Was planning to watch son-in-law play against Giants this weekend but partial paralysis of foot may end his season. If he doesn't play I have tickets for sale and then I plan to hang out with Lady Gaga to see what she thinks about the NCAA screwing over the Sioux. A little more crowded here than GF but still prefer GF. Haven't heard anything new out of UND other than they are excited about their recruiting this year. One nice thing is there are no AC fans here to have to listen to. Did see a UND sweatshirt.

You would normally have your scholarship for the whole year. This type of violation can cost your scholarship. Might depend on the "innocent until proven guilty" but pretty hard to explain illegal dope in your room.

Does Central Mich have a QB looking to transfer? Might be worth checking but I 'm not sure.

So that must mean you work with a fat guy (huge) who wears a Sioux Hockey jersey and listens to the games on the radio? Hakstol seems available for virtually every postgame interview. They are usually set up by the home team in an area where the media can ask questions. Both teams usually provide a couple of players and the head coach for the session. Same thing happens in FB or BB. Background is usally a banner with the hometeam logo and the advertising sponsor. Teams are expected to provide personnel for those interviews. To try and get up to the radio booth in addition to that may be the problem, but I don't believe it is accurate to claim he isn't available afer losses. Someone on this board can ask Hennesey if he has an issue but I doubt that he does. Tell that "huge UND fan" to put more cheese on those pizzas.

UND has lost the DB from Harvey and the WR from Kansas to the AC. I don't believe I have ever said UND can't lose a kid to the AC. I may" think" they "shouldn't" lose a kid with an IQ above 90 to the AC, but I have never said we can't lose a kid. That happens every year and the AC loses kids to UND all of the time. UND got the TE from Harvey and I was told he was recruited by the AC as a preferred walk-on. UND got the Labatt kid from DL. Bohl and staff were looking at him but didn't make an offer. He also didn't wait for an offer, he commited early once UND made their offer. These are similar to Woods not getting an offer from UND, I don't believe either had an offer from the AC. Fans can make those calls any way they wish and say one school got the kid from the other. I have no idea what the AC offers kids. What difference does it make to you and I? We aren't doing the recruiting and at the end of the recruiting we will read the list released by the coaches. Simple as that. Merry Christmas and good luck in Texas.

Don't ask me why some kid says what he says.. Coaches don't tend to tell kids they will match any offer from another school. They tend to decide what their needs are then they have kids on a list rated top to bottom and they make an offer based on the team needs and their resources available. You might be surprised who talked to me,and no coahces don't tell me everything about their recruits, but I believe it is accurate to say UND was interested in the kid and were not planning on offering him a full ride so I don't believe they would tell him they would "match any offer". I didn't ask that particular question though. I do believe they would have offered him a partial. Schools also don't tend to make offers before they meet with the kid and or their family. They got the kid at receiver they had rated ahead of Woods and they have a number of receivers on the team they already like. I would also recommend you don't believe everything you read in the paper. Well meaning reporters don't often get the story quite right Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the AC got him for a partial rather than a full ride. So there you go.... the paper reports it one way and quotes a kid, then you find on a UND blog someone was told otherwise and you feel like someone pissed on your cornflakes. Go figure. Better yet go ring the bell for the Salvation Army for an hour and quit wasting time worrying about what goes on at a UND website!

I spoke with one of the players tonight and he said this is not a team wide issue. Other players are not happy with these guys.(no kidding) He said he is pretty sure none of these players were using steroids and he knows of no one on the team using steroids . He said one of the three kids has been a problem. I spoke with one of the Mankato kids. He said when Belotti was at Mankato he was a good guy and there were no problems and this was a surprise. He also said Geortz was a "meathead".

This is the biggest emabarrassment to UND FB in the 41 years I have been associated with UND. Steroids?? None of these guys were good enough to have used steroids. Felony charges? Those you on this board who are thinking of bringing up the AC history of anything similar don't. There is nothing that will lessen the embarrassment. I would like to take these losers and put them in a room with UND alumni FB players for 30 minutes. They should have all letters earned revoked. I would try and help them get into treatment and counseling if they need it, and graduate if they can, then bid them goodbye and don't come back. They have put a black mark on a program that has prided itself over the years in running a clean program with quality kids. Doesn't say much for the character of these guys who risk the reputation of the school and program because they are undisciplined jack asses. Nice thing to do to their families and the rest of the Fighting Sioux FB family and coaches. Felony counts for cripes sake. For anyone who thinks smoking dope is harmless, this proves otherwise. Attorneys may plead this down to a lesser count and for the kids sake I hope they can, but they need to know they have done damage to the program and school at a very difficult time while we are making our transistion to D1 and being forced by the NCAA to retire our name and logo.

I have never met the kid and I don't talk to UND recruits unless I have a previous relationship and even then don't get involved in recruiting. UND does not want Alumni nor boosters talking to their recruits and send us a list of the NCAA rules so we abide by them. If a kid asks us questions we can answer them, but the recruiting is done by UND coaches, not boosters. Doesn't mean no one else has an idea about whether or not UND offered the kid. I am sure I am mistaken and UND made the visit to hear the kid tell them he was going elsewhere. If they didn't offer that would seal the deal if he had wanted to go to the AC so UND gets an assist.

Ya, that was me sitting right next to you when you delivered the Pizza and sat down to use both hands so you could figure out the change. I would guess that is when you heard him tell the UND coaches he was going to the AC. Fact is UND didn't offer him.

He did not tell Mussman he was going to NDSU. UND did not offer. Kid is a great athlete and has potential. He was not the highest rated receiver on UND's list. They saw him as a kid worth a partial. NDSU probably had a bigger need at reciever and according to the kid they offered a full ride. Don't need to say anything bad about the kid. Watch his film and talk to his coach then decide if how he fits into your plans. He fits in nicely at the AC. Good luck to him.