iramurphy

It isn't me and it isn't Graham Kracker. Remember I think I know, but I haven't talked to the guy lately and haven't talked to anyone in the Alumni office lately. Kuppy doesn't have me on speed dial (but then I don't think Graham Kracker did either and I heard from him). I am willing to take odds but I won't bet any of my kids. Rick had the best clue early when he mentioned Pelican. Think the lake south of Detroit Lakes not the bird.

He went to UND for a year, then to Concordia for a year, then back to UND for his degree. He should have graduated about 1964. He is a very bright guy and has been very generous to Concordia as well. If I am correct this gift will far exceed anything he has done for Concordia.

You should also be able to guess the donor.

The money will go to the College of Business which I have been told, will be named after this gentleman. This guy has also contributed generously to Concordia and the reported $30-40 million is well within his means If I am correct.

Lives on Pelican Lake in the summer. $14,000,000 "cabin". He also gave $250,000 to the Dru Sjodin scolarship.

Doc, It was Kenny Hyslop. I think it was around $7,000,000.

Was a Banker. At one time lived in Detroit Lakes. Owned an Airline.

My guess, $30-$40 million. College of Business is the likely recipient. There are some good hints later on this thread. Lets see if you can guess. Not Englestad and not Phil Jackson. One of the smarter Business minds. Attended UND mid 1960's. Sigma Chi pledge. There were 4 Sigma Chi's from that era now worth well over a combined Billion dollars. For those of you who don't think there is money for the D1 move, this should relieve some of your concerns. There are others who do have more of an interest in athletics talking about large donations as well. My second guess if that is wrong would be a very generous car dealer, but if I am wrong on my first guess that one is still coming.

Last time I talked to Pete Stewart was at the Final Four in New Orleans in 1993. Bright guy good resume. He would be a great candidate and along with Craig Smith should have been given every consideration. The priority needs to be to get the best candidate for the job. the person needs to be able to recruit, to coach and to be a member of the athletic department team. It is Buning's call but if this doesn't work he has left himself open to criticism. It is his first big hire and if he blows it he may not survive. Bringing in guys who have been recently let go or are a HS coach creates a poor public image of where the program is going. It may take time for anyone to recoup the losses if this backfires. Hopefully Buning knows what he is doing.

I agree with 92,96. This guy has done a remarkable job. The five year rule can be a guideline, but if the committee is not simply going to find the best candidate then they need to get a new committee. If that happens to be someone with 3 years experience rather than five who cares? Smith needs to be considered long and hard. If that is done and there are others who are found to be better candidates fine. If they don't look at him because of the 5 year experience deal, then I am starting to understand some of the problems we ahve at UND. Can they recruit? If they can't the 5 years means nothing. Can they communicate? If they can't, don't bother. Can they coach and have they shown the ability to succeed? Are they willing to remain a D2 coach if UND stays D2 and are they willing to bring the program to the D1 level if UND gets over their inferiority complex and makes the right move? I would hope Bunning didn't make the offer to Herbst then retract it. That would indicate a real lack of class. I had heard teh same story and I ahd also heard Buning had a guy from out east he wants to offer the job to but I would keep that in the rumor category. (you rumor police don't get bent out of shape).

I disagree. It would be great for those schools. They would have the conference they wanted all along. They will have a two or three year headstart on UND. Does anyone think the AD's and coaches give a rip who got where and who got there first? Bison Mav is correct. There would be some fans who would gloat, but last time I checked, the fans get to do things like discuss it on these blogs and websites and the Big Sky will make the call. This would be great for all three schools. It would also force our hand to go D1 now. Unless someone can get us into a D1A conference, this would be the ideal conference. We would have renewed rivalries with the Montana schools, and renewal of rivalries with our pals from the south! If we were to pass on this opportunity I am afraid we may not get another opportunity like this in the near future. Lets get on with this and get it done.

Star2city has a good point. Increased fees need a vote by the students. Not a given in these days of tuition hikes, but certainly can get done. Sicatoka points out the keys once the decision is made. Certainly cost is formost. I think the group I listened to last night convinced me there are a combo of things that can take care of the extra cost. $2-3 million per year. Remeber the shared hockey revenue and 2 D1 fb games are worth $600,000 to 800,000 if we schedule a couple of money FB games like the D1AA teams do. That doesn't take into consideration money games in WBB or MBB. Regardless, this group of supporters is willing to do their share which is substantial. Rob Bollinger who has been such an asset to UND athletics for years and the key person in starting and driving the Fighting Sioux club has had discussions with key people at USD and St. Cloud State and he believes it would be their intent to move up to D1AA if UND does. UNO likely to follow and that would create conference opportunites. That obviously is not a given but it should be clear that the other NCC schools that want to play at a high level of competion are concerned about the D2 future. Whether or not that happens, UND, SDSU and NDSU are pretty attractive additions to any D1AA FB or D1A midlevel conferences looking to expand. During expansion time, the powers that be are not going to poll those who are hurt because NDSU moved without us or those mad because UND didn't make the move at the same time. They will make decisions based on which shools will improve their conferences. This group has had informal meetings for many years and in fact long before our neighbors to the south made the move. The group has been very deliberate and patient but it is time to make the move (maybe past time) in order to maintain the quality of athletics UND students and fans deserve. There has also been talk of making the move to D1A for FB but I think it will need to go D1AA first. Tom Bunning won't make this move without the finanacial commitment in place and I think that will happen. We need to convince Kupchella that this is the move UND needs to make as part of his plan to improve the programs and facilites at UND. Chapman always thought it would improve their opportunities for grant dollars and I don't know if we could determine how that has affected them for awhile yet, but it certainly is not going to hurt.

I had the opportunity to listen to Tom Bunning explain what needs to happen to make the D1 move. Not counting the REA numbers, our annual athletic budget is around $10,000,000. The Ralph numbers put that up to about $16,000,000 but for planning purposes he left that out. That places UND at about the median budget for NCAA D1AA schools. We need about $2-3 million more per year, or a gift of about $8,000,000 to make this go. Funding sources could include an increase in student fees. He thought about $100 per year. (the AC student fees will go up this year to help pay for the D1AA move). Funding sources would include a 10% increase in Fighting Sioux club memberships. Certainly feasible. Also creation of a national Fighting Sioux club for non-ticket holders. Tuition waivers for in-state athletes. Would be a good PR move and would help with funding. There would be a transition year, then the four year waiting period. The transition year would still be D2 and then the same crap shoot our pals from the AC and SDSU are experiencing. Lastly, the Alumni. There are those out there who are capable of funding UND's endowment to pay for athletic scholarships. Additional funding can be obtained once we are throught he transition period and have at least 57 FB scholarships by playing the real D1 schools. The revenues similar to the $300,000 the AC and SDSU are guaranteed from the Gophers. Two games a year could bring in $500,000. Add the missed hockey revenue sharing UND, CC, UMD etc. miss out on (about $325,000) this year and the money part of all of this is not a reach. The games against the AC also bring in additional $$. (assuming they will play us again). Someone mentioned why would we want to get kicked by the Gophers? We played them when I played. In 1973 they kicked us pretty good, but they had to play hard to do it. In 1974, UND was ahead well into the 4th quarter and the Gophers scored with 2 or 3 minutes left to win by less than a TD. (If you are a HS FB player wanting to play FB and UND offers you a half scholarship so you can play Winona, UMD, Makato, UNO and St. Cloud that is a good deal. The next weekend, the AC offers you a full ride and you play Montana, Montana State, Cal Davis and the Gophers guess where you are going? One of the reasons I and some of my teamates came to UND, was because we had the Gophers and UNLV on the schedule. Don't sell our minor sports short. We can be decent if we believe we can and we work at it. I am not kidding myself and frankly until recently I thought we should stay D2 because it would hurt VB, BB Swimming, etc. Just look at the AC's non FB sports. The trend that I am seeing and what worries me is the number of our HS grads no longer going to UND and the increase in kids going to the AC. About 10 years ago, 25 kids from our HS went to UND, 6 years ago 22 kids and four years ago 26 kids (>10%) of our graduating seniors went to UND. Last year there were 9 and this year there will be 6. We are only 40 miles from the AC. (you can smell it from here). The AC is marketing themselves as a better school and are doing a better job of marketing. We have kids who are going to go there for business of all things. Our business school is bigger and better. Our Engineering is as good. (read the other threads and see how many UND people are under the mistaken impression our Engineering isn't as good as theirs). We have Aviation, Education, Medicine Law, Nursing and Liberal Arts. When I was recruitied to UND, someone said go to a school where you will be with other professionals because you make some of your greatest friends and businesss contacts while going to college. That has turned out to be true. I went to the Frozen Four with my daughter and a UND alumnus who offered her the opportunity to take a 2 month credit class his banks offer similar to a paid internship. He offered to have her come to his business and go through their marketing Dept. These offers are due to the UND connection. The UND grads I drank beer with at Frenchie's and Judie's are MD's teachers, lawyers, CEO's, bankers, judges and business owners. The quality of graduates are much better than the average D1 school. And yes, alot of that has to do with the famous midwest work ethic. So why the heck would we want to take a step back with our athletics and entertainment?? We need people to convince the student body and especially Kupchella to get on board. We can raise the money. The survey Kepchella sent out wasn't sent to letterwinners and questions seemed to be a bit skewed to favor remaining D2. Therefore, if we are to get back to the level of our peers, (Montana, Montana State, Norhern Iowa, Northern Colorado etc. we need to convince Kupchella to make the move. It certainly won't hurt hockey and if anything can bolster the prestige of our athletic teams overall.

I believe between $400,00 to $500,000 per year we are in the Frozen Four. I know this isn't the D1 thread but add a FB game against a D1 school for the $300,000 to $400,000 guarantee and we are leaving a lot of money on the table. UND gets some expense $$ from the NCAA but we lose money to go because we aren't D1 in anything else. With regards to womens hockey, is the group who pushed so hard to get womens hockey still involved and are they making $$ donations every year?

He isn't even a good fit for a large Winnebago! (sorry, maybe you meant as a coach)

There are a lot of people looking for tickets. Can you post the link to any of the Gopher forums? Thanks.

Maybe Sioux MD will write the Doctor's excuses at $5 per excuse and be able to fund a trip to the Frozen Four!

Thanks for the update. I agree with you about Manke. If you are going to the Frozen Four let me know where you are staying and I will introduce myself and buy you a beer. We could exchange stories about a certain rotund, liberal democrat, former RRHS teacher that we both know. (he is skipping the frozen four to go to the state Democratic Convention). His priorities are a bit screwed up. I bet Graham Kracker would go for him and take notes.

Is Manke still the starting QB going into spring ball?

Winona State won the D2 title. Where did they get those kids and how did UND and the NCC or even NDSU miss on those kids.

No matter what you do, get rid of Herbst.

Rob is a class guy. This is a big loss for UND.

I agree with the poster who says Oshie is one of the best freshmen he has ever seen. He is smart, great with the puck, has great vision, great balance moves well without the puck, great anticipation and is one of the toughest rookies I have ever seen without being cheap. He is deserving of ROY. I predict he will adapt well and faster to the NHL because of his toughness and balance. You have to be a bit goofy not to realize that Kessel is one hell of a hockey player. He is smart, scores well and passes well. He will continue to be a great player in the league until he goes to the NHL. I agree with the poster who is miffed that some on this forum can't see that. It makes some of us look either stupid or petty. Sioux fans, as a whole, are neither. I would still take Oshie because of his heart. He is one of those kids you can go to war with. He is the most impressive freshman I seen since the Sioux teams in the late 1970's and early 1980's with Joyce, Hrkac, Sykes, Murray, Patrick, Maxwell et all or the Goober teams of Broten, Buttsie and friends.

Depending on the degree those heal up pretty well. Unless it is a grade three he should be ready for the tennis season. We had two kids play hockey this season with separated shoulders. We put a donut pad over the AC joint and they sucked it up and played. They are both healing well now but one was a grade one and the other a grade two. His could be worse but it shouldn't affect his career.