FargoBison

It is clear the Summit wants UND and I even think it won't matter if the this thing drags on until 11/30 but it has to end there. No last minute lawsuits or extensions, otherwise I doubt anyone could blame the Summit for moving on.

In my mind the only change that could create Summit League issues would be a Big East split. That is something that could maybe trickle down into the Horizon and MVC if Midwest private schools decide to create their own league. The Big 10 will only have a major effect if they go crazy and move to 14 or 16. The Pac 10 will greatly shake things up out west, but if SUU leaves the league would probably be happy to see them go. That said, UND is in a bad situation, you are very isolated and need a travel partner. They are all in the Summit, so if you wanted to move into another conference you would probably need to get one to come along with you. Maybe something like that happens, maybe the WAC gets so raided that Montana schools enter the league along with the North Dakota schools. That may sound far fetched, but the potential is out there for a considerable amount of movement.

Whoa, I only agree that it will happen, the NCAA has bigger fish to fry than SDSU's turf.

As much as it pains me to say it, mpls is right. The Montana schools moved to it(MSU fans love it), SDSU is in a similar climate, plus they share their field with a high school. An issue that PSU and Norte Dame don't have. The FCS is not DII, they forced Chatty to put in field turf after field conditions were bad during a recent title game, if SDSU has a torn up field it will be a strike against them. Yes, most players prefer field turf, I doubt it is a dealbreaker but it just another thing that recruits look for. Once NDSU replaces the concrete turf in a few years it will be another issue SDSU will have to deal with.

I bet SDSU has field turf within the next decade...Especially if they want playoff games(they won't get one if their field is torn up) and recruits also like field turf.

I'm just saying stats say not much has changed, fans do want more and some places have done a better job at catering to those needs then others. Of course winning cures everything and that is certainly the case at Iowa. They packed them in when they were good, but who wants to go watch a lousy Big 10 basketball team?

I looked at the attendance stats(quickly) and from 1993 to 2009 the average tournament and regular season attendance are pretty much the same. There are some minor jumps and dips, but the 1993 averages are very close to the 2008 averages.

That money was the foundation's, it came from donors not taxpayers. That box was the foundation's for entertaining and there is no money unaccounted for. The man had problems, but he never took the taxpayers of the state for anything. If anyone should be mad, it should be people who gave money to the foundation...

The house- Yes, I'll blame them for that. It was their project, their mess. Spending- They both are at fault there, foundation gave him the keys to vault and Chapman was a bit reckless. Deficit- Chapman's problem, even if it really doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Hanson already has it corrected. Bad blood- Chapman's problem, there is no doubt the animosity he created in the past came back to haunt him.

I don't think anyone involved with the building of the house had a firm grip on reality, everyone got what they wanted, nobody was there to be the bad guy and say no.

Chapman had to quit, he couldn't lead effectively anymore. He took the fall for some his failures and a lot of problems that were created by the foundation. People act like the guy wanted some mansion for himself, in reality he never wanted the house built while he was president of the school.

http://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/registrar/en...10/report-g.pdf

For one those enrollment numbers are current, the tuition waiver numbers are from 2008-2009. In 2008-2009 NDSU had 1818 Grad Students, 321 were foreign. There was 704 total International students and of those 513 received foreign student waivers. That leaves 191 students without waivers...You can draw your own conclusions from there.

I am pretty sure you are wrong.....2008-2009(that is year these numbers refer to) NDSU had 704 International students(328 undergrad, 321 grad and 1 professional), 513 foreign students received waivers. I'm sure some of them paid their own way, maybe a few were Grad Assistants, but they were in the vast minority of the 1,240 students that were Grad Assistants.

The vast majority of Grad students are from the US, it isn't even close. 1,714 of the NDSU's 2,103 Grad Students are from the US. If you want to include professional students, the number grows even larger(only 3 of NDSU's 353 professional students are foreign). The bulk of that number is made up of ND and MN students(1,319).

The 10 million I was referring to was separate from the money that was given to foreign students. The Complete and Total Breakdown... SBHE Mandated.... National Guard-$167,294 Vets-157,354 Staff Waiver-1,051,936 Institutional Grad Asst-6,736,610 Foreign Student-2,855,848 WCHE-113,154 Sr. Citizen-1,206 Other/Cult. Diver. 1,349,100 Misc.-319,859 Inst. Waiver-310,859 Total-13,061,132 I only have concerns with one category...foreign students. I don't care what NDSU's numbers mean in regards to the rest of the state. The only other school I will look at is UND and I agree the difference between the two shouldn't be as large as it is. NDSU should be a bit larger since it has a higher enrollment, more on-campus students(2,400 more), and does more research. It appears to me that foreign students are significantly skewing the number(NDSU has about 500 foreign students receiving waivers and UND 50). I would like to see more clarification as to why that number is so high. That said, Dickinson State's numbers are also very similar to NDSU's in this category, which is crazy.

The bulk of NDSU's waivers are given to Grad Assistants. People who teach classes, do research, or preform some other kind of service(help out with sports marketing, student affairs, etc). I'm not sure how the waivers for foreign students breakdown, if they are doing nothing for their tuition it should stop, end of story. But the bulk of NDSU's waivers are not to people from out of country, $10,205,284 to be exact. With most of that, $6,735,326 going to Grad Assistants.

New DI membership standards, some could have an impact on the Summit(especially #8)... The Division I Leadership Council will put the finishing touches on its recommendations for Division I membership standards at its Thursday (Jan 14) meeting at the NCAA Convention in Atlanta. The DI moratorium lasts until August 2011, and the Leadership Council hopes to sponsor appropriate legislative changes from its recommendations in the 2010-11 legislative cycle. The Council

They could easily lose money, by leaving they assume a tremendous amount of risk. But as I thought you had no response to what I said and what I was talking about was only the tip of the ice berg if a split happened. If the decision to leave was easy it would have been made. Of course it isn't because the risks that are involved are very great. Plus, when you are already taking a big chunk of the money that the NCAA generates, what is the point in upsetting the status quo that is built around serving you?

I always laugh when people say the big schools will up and leave. They make a mint from both football and basketball, if you take the small schools out of the NCAA basketball tournament it becomes worthless, no more brackets, no more Cinderellas, no more ratings. Goodbye fat TV contract. Don't tell me that the Cinderellas don't matter, there would be no drama in watching Duke play some .500 Big 10 team in round 1 of the big school only tournament. Who fills the non-conference schedules of all the big schools? It is small schools. Providing a multitude of home games that the big schools make barrels of money on. You think the small schools are going to be jumping to give them all those homes games once the big schools pretty much destroy what to the small schools is college athletics. I doubt it. Nothing is going to change.

I want to say it is actual, usually the announced numbers seem very accurate(not like some of the football games).The excitement is down though, but that could have something to do with not winning games. I am really interested in seeing what the attendance will be for Oral Roberts on Saturday, that game has been a great draw in both the previous two seasons.

We are average 3k for DI non-conference games, that is consistent with last year. Nobody cares about the non-DI games, glad the Summit will be limiting them to just one per season in a few years. But yeah the BSA does suck.

NDSU lost to Kansas by 10 points and were within 6 points with 1:11 to go. Considering Kansas is one of the greatest basketball programs of all time, I will take that. To top it off, Kansas played well, their best players had great games. If ND/SD flagship universities need each other, they will all likely be in the same conference(except for football) within the next few years. In the mean time I am enjoying watching NDSU athletics at the highest level. NDSU men's basketball is a hundred times better in DI, we weren't doing much in DII but in DI we can pull top talent from MN, WI, and IA. If NDSU, SDSU, USD, and UND are all in the Summit women's basketball is going to be very good as well. Just think of how much fun the Summit tournament will be with our schools competing for a shot at the big dance. It will top any DII regional.

For me DII football became a joke when NDSU was sent to play at Delta State, that was confirmed after we went DI and I saw UND play at Michigan Tech. Our schools just completely outclass DII football, they belong on the same level as Montana, Delaware, Georgia Southern, Northern Iowa, etc. I think the opportunity definitely exists to win a national title on the FCS level for either one of our schools. As for basketball, DII ball is a joke. Nobody cares and on the men's side the better players will always want to go DI. Our latest recruiting class features the kind of talent we wouldn't even sniff in DII. Winning the Summit title and going to the big dance was a great experience, the NCAA tournament on the DI level is an amazing thing to be a part of. As for the women's side...while I don't think the DI label is as big a deal for women's recruits, our schools are funded better than many DI women's basketball programs and that includes some BCS schools. We are at the level where we belong. In fact that is what the DI move is all about, taking our schools to the level that they belong. Just look at NDSU softball, they won an NCAA regional, had multiple games on ESPNU, and finished ranked in the top 25. In DII if they made it to the regional maybe WDAY gives them a sports feature story and then they post the tourney scores on the 10 p.m. news. The NCC was cool and all, but it was holding our schools back. Be happy to move onto the Summit, I could really careless about the Minnesota schools, if the Summit adds UND to NDSU/SDSU/USD it took the best parts from the NCC as far as I am concerned. I'll gladly trade Oral Roberts for Mankato and Oakland for St. Cloud. Of course I might have a different perspective since NDSU is not a hockey school, we don't really have rivalries with them or a lot in common with them.

Because DII is a joke. Maybe that is a bit harsh, but DII athletics are pretty much an afterthought across the nation. The NCC needed to either move up or break up.