mksioux

Looks cheap.

When you all are talking about this Minnesota program that is so down and out - you are talking about the Minnesota Gophers that beat UND in the Frozen Four two years ago and made the NCAA tournament last year, correct? Just checking... Unless my math is off, UND is 4-2 in the NCAA tournament the past two years, while Minnesota is a shockingly horrible 3-2.

Dale Lennon left in Dec. 2007. Tom Buning was already gone by then. Kupchella had already announced his retirement and was almost gone. I had heard about grumblings between Dale and the administration, I get that. But everything was changing at the time he decided to leave and the people he butted heads with were gone or would soon be gone. I get the pay increase, not having to endure a transition, and not yet being in an auto-bid conference. But the timing seemed odd for a feud with the administration being the primary reason for leaving.

I'm sure Lennon had his reasons for leaving, and you can't fault a guy for doing what he thought was best for his career, but man, that was about as bad of timing as possible for the program. It really hurt UND football. Even though Kill had SIU running high at that moment, and Lennon got more money from SIU, I still saw the move as largely a parallel move. Yes, Lennon would have had the transition to endure, but I believed that UND could have been a top-level FCS program out of transition had Lennon stayed.

I caught that as well. That guy was clueless on multiple levels, and clearly didn't know that UND never played Bohl while NDSU was in the MVFC, and that Bohl has never beaten UND. He made it sound like NDSU was beating UND every year during the Bohl era. Pretty stunning ignorance from someone supposedly knowledgeable enough about FCS football to get a spot on ESPN's telecast.

i meant one that the selection committee actually follows.

I'm new to fcs playoff selection. Can someone please tell me why they don't use some sort of computer model, or at least have defined standards? To me, the way it's done seems like amateur hour.

I think it's pretty clear that UND will need 8 wins next year to make it. The schedule is easier next year than this year. If 7 wins was not enough this year, it probably won't be enough next year either.

UND must beat Idaho St and Weber St next year. Both are on the schedule and both are must wins. If UND wants to be taken seriously, they can't lose to teams like that anymore.

Sounds like FCS playoffs are just smoke filled rooms with no standards. I like hockey pairwise system way better.

This is the next battle line. I hope the administration leaves it up to each program how much they want to incorporate the nickname and logo into their uniforms, locker rooms, culture, etc. Since the football program never incorporated the Sioux nickname that much, I'm not expecting to see any Hawks on the uniforms. Bubba seems to be a traditionalist, so that's another reason I don't expect a major change. The hockey program, and REA, are the big wild cards. In the article he quoted, yes, one. I'm not a jock sniffer and don't follow the players on twitter. Hence the "care to elaborate" part.

Care to elaborate? One player said he didn't like it and he's "ignorant" and "out of touch with reality." Maybe I missed something.

yep, the committee had the Hawk option down to Green Hawks and Fighting Hawks before choosing the finalists. If the committee had advanced Green Hawks instead, I doubt Green Hawks would have won. If the committee had thrown Fighting on to Nodaks instead, that probably would be our nickname right now.

no confusion. They're just laughing at our new nickname.

On the bright side, at least our University can serve as a source of comic relief to counter all the bad things going on in the world right now. At least people can avert their attention for a moment and laugh at the University of North Dakota.

Not today my friend. Not today.

I've heard variations of this argument a lot. I think Mafia made a similar argument with regard to Kansas University Jayhawks. Or with the Tigers in the SEC. But the comparison doesn't stick. If UND was the first university, or even among the first, to adopt the Hawks nickname, I think it would be a much better choice. It's the fact that we're adopting it after dozens have already done it is what makes it such a particularly bad nickname.

I wish. We still have to get through the next news cycle of being a national laughingstock again. So that will be fun.

Sad day for UND.

I'd rather UND have a unique nickname based on exaggerated history that almost nobody will know about than a common nickname whose horribleness should be evident to all.

Abe, I know it's your personal mission to try and educate people on the history of Teddy Roosevelt in ND, and the lack of history of his Roughriders in North Dakota. That's fine, I have no problem with that. But a couple thoughts: First, it is possible that the University would not have to directly tie the Roughriders nickname and logo with Teddy Roosevelt. Yes, the nickname will always have strong connotations to Teddy, but the University does not have to explicitly use it that way. What would be your thoughts on the nickname if it was used by the University in its literal meaning? Second, I'd guess only a sliver of a fraction of North Dakotans know about the history, or lack thereof, of this whole issue. And virtually nobody outside of North Dakota has any clue about Teddy's ties to North Dakota and would have no idea it's exaggerated. I'd be much more willing to live with a small history fib with Roughriders as our nickname than get stuck with a nickname whose horribleness is obvious to most people both inside and outside of North Dakota.

This stupid acronym has been floating around for a while. In addition to liking a logo that can never be the logo, some people (students) are thinking of HAWKS as some sort of clever protest choice based on that acronym. I'm saying that's a downright stupid reason to support a nickname. Five years from now, heck ONE year from now, nobody will have a clue about that acronym, yet we'll still be stuck with a horrible nickname.

How About We Not Choose A Nickname Based On A Stupid Acronym Nobody Will Ever Use

I really hope you're right. But I have a feeling that Hawks will initially be forced upon the athletic department pretty hard. Ultimately the money will do the talking and whether Hawks merchandise sells will be the determining factor. Before this voting process began, I wouldn't have thought Hawks would sell to UND fans. But apparently the consultants know their stuff and know that a safe, unimaginative, generic, inoffensive nickname is what the people actually want.

I think some of us assume the hockey team will have the new logo prominently displayed on the front of their jersey. But just because UND prominently featured the Sioux logo does not mean it will feature the new logo on the jersey. I know for many, it will depend on the logo that is created. But for me personally, I'd rather the hockey team just stay the way they are now than have a Hawk logo plastered on the front of the jersey. And that doesn't mean it's some form of protest by the hockey team. Most college hockey teams DO NOT have their logo prominently displayed on their primary jerseys. In most cases, the logo is either not present, just on a shoulder patch, or limited to alternate jerseys. UND could easily stick with what they have and go with a classic jersey look like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and countless other schools. In the NCHC, I believe only CC and Duluth prominently display their logos on their primary jerseys on a regular basis. The football team will almost certainly not incorporate Hawks into their uniforms, as they barely incorporated the Sioux nickname into their uniforms. Except for a brief stint in the mid 80s with a shoulder patch, and a tiny Sioux logo on the collar in the 00s, I don't think the football team ever incorporated the nickname into their uniforms. The basketball team is also unlikely to incorporate the logo. The uniforms used to say SIOUX in block letters, so maybe they might say HAWKS someday, but I hope they just keep it the same as they have now.