mksioux

I don't like to hear that. It may end up not mattering, but I wonder whether it was a strategic mistake to accept the Big Sky invitation before USD was ready to accept. I don't like that USD is sitting out there by itself with an opportunity for the MVFC to come to its senses and make an offer.

The settlement agreement prohibits UND from assigning, releasing, or abandoning the Sioux nickname to anyone

As others have said, REA is under no obligation to get rid of any of the Sioux imagry because it was not a party to the settlement agreement. Moreover, under the settlement agreement, UND can continue to use REA without penalty for all regular season games and WCHA playoff games. The only restriction is that the NCAA will not award REA an NCAA regional (or any other NCAA sponsored championship event) unless REA complies with limited removal of Sioux imagry pursuant to the details in the settlement. The chances of REA hosting a regional are not that great anymore anyway because the NCAA is moving toward neutral sight facilities, so my guess is that REA is not going to be in any hurry to remove any imagry.

I don't read too much into Mussman's salary as being what UND is willing to pay for any head coach. I don't think it means anything in terms of who UND might be able to land as a replacement. I consider it as what Mussman is worth based upon his limited experience and successes. If UND made a coaching change and went with a more experienced coach, I expect that salary would be raised accordingly. Or if Mussman stays and starts having success, I would expect he would get a handsome raise.

I suppose if Faison has a real gem in mind that would take the job in spite of the conference uncertainty, then there is no need to wait until after the 2011 season. But if he would plan on doing a national search and open the process up to anyone, then I think waiting until resolution on conference affiliation might be the way to go. Of course, a lot depends on the rest of this season too. Will UND completely fall apart or will they be competitive?

No need to make a head coaching change until UND finds a football conference. You want to make sure the best possible pool of candidates apply for the position, and UND needs a conference home for that to happen. Hopefully UND secures a football conference invitation sometime in 2011. If UND does not dramatically improve in the 2011 season, I think a head coaching change at that point is necessary.

Game over. 31-21. One looking only at the score will not get the true sense of how terrible this game was for UND. This was truly pathetic.

I'm surprised they didn't rough the punter again. UND will have to settle for a block in the back on the return.

I wonder if Mussman will roll out the excuses after this beating like he did in Idaho?

Another UND punt. I have no idea how this is still a 10-point game. UND is getting thoroughly dominated.

Again, UND fails to stop SUU on 4th and long. UND defense simply cannot stop this team when it matters/

The crowd is decent because it's Homecoming. With this game getting out of hand and what will likely be a blowout loss at Cal Poly, I fear the Lamar game could compete for the worst Alerus Center attendance ever.

This team takes extremly stupid penalies at the worst possible times. Very undisciplined. Mussman constantly talks about it, but nothing ever seems to change. I missed the first quarter. Seeing what I've seen, I have no idea how UND scored an offensive touchdown or held SUU without points in the 1st quarter. It's getting clear that SUU is just a lot better than UND. How things have changed in the past three years. It is just very frustrating to watch UND football these days.

While no doubt that would be the most pathetic nickname in the history of mankind, when you get a bunch of egghead university types in a room, that is exactly the type of nickname I expect they will come up with. But there is no chance they announce a nickname at Homecoming 2010. They have a "process" and university administrators love a good "process" and getting all the "constituencies" around a table for an inclusive and collaberative experience. No way they shoot from the hip and immediately and unilaterally just pick a nickname.

Wow, I need some of what that guy is smoking. But I do agree UND needs to keep additional expansion in mind as a possibility and position itself to be part of something like that if it were to happen. But I just don't see any way that the vast majority of the mentioned schools will have the interest or ability to start DI hockey.

I don't think there's any question that is the CCHA's hope. But all the talk from people in the know is that the BTHC is an inevitability.

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but here is Brad's updated take on the BTHC: http://undhockey.areavoices.com/2010/09/21/more-on-the-big-ten/

I understand that McLeod has to be optimistic from a public relations standpoint, but this quote is absurd. You can have reasonable disagreements on how large the impact will be, but nobody who wants to be taken seriously should say that losing Minnesota and Wisconsin will not diminish the WCHA "at all."

BTHC pretty much inevitable according to Andy Baggot. http://host.madison.com/sports/college/hockey/article_a5593130-c1f7-11df-8160-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

You are thinking of Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey, Inc., which is an informational and marketing arm of college hockey. He has no say over conference allignment or anything substantive.

For being a bit, you really ought to be funnier than this.

What I do for football/hockey Saturdays is park in the Alerus Center parking lot for football, and then drive to a local establishment and eat dinner at place that has a shuttle bus to/from the hockey game.

They wouldn't have to fill their non-conference schedule with cupcakes. They would be able to hand pick their non-conference schedule with a mix of WCHA schools and the same amount of cupcakes that they've always scheduled. They'd be able to keep their SOS about the same as it is now.

You're placing too much emphasis on travel expenses. The WCHA being a primarily bus conference is a relatively recent thing. Through the 1981 season, with Michigan, Michigan State, and Notred Dame in the conference, the WCHA was primarily an air conference for UND, not a bus conference. A few more (commercial) air trips per year is chump change compared to the cost of staying in a league with a diminishing profile.

I agree. I don't think the overall number of travel games would increase for Minnesota. It might result in one or two more flight trips rather than bus trips, but I think Minnesota already flies everywhere except St. Cloud, Duluth, and Mankato, so that added expense would be minimal. Minnesota would still be able to dictate its non-conference schedule. They could schedule home-and-homes with the WCHA teams of their choosing, and still bring in home-only cupcakes. They would still basically do whatever they want.