82SiouxGuy

The last I heard the tribal council had refused to address the issue at one of their meetings. They need to officially vote to approve the use of the nickname. The referendum was non-binding and was more of a recommendation to the tribal council. The only thing that the NC$$ and the courts (because of the settlement) will recognize is something official coming from the tribal council. At one time there was some thought that because of the earlier support (as long as UND didn't do anything wrong with the name and logo) the courts and the NC$$ might accept something in writing from the tribal chair. But even if that is an option, she has refused to make any kind of statement approving the logo so I don't think that is actually an option that will happen. That leaves something official by the tribal council and they aren't interested in doing anything.

The problem is that there is no certainty that the tribal council would change its mind even if Murphy is elected chairman. Murphy has not made a definitive statement of support as far as I know. If he did make such a statement and he wins convincingly, that could make a difference. The last vote of the tribal council was 8-4 against looking at the question. Some other members of the tribal council would need to change before a different result would come out of that body. My guess is that if most of the tribal council is reelected then it is a good chance that the deadline would remain because the chance of success would not be increased substantially. If there is large turnover on the tribal council then there is a better chance that the SBoHE would consider a 30-60 day extension with specific criteria. I still feel confident that a drop dead deadline for the issue has to be by the end of the year at the latest to still fit in a window for an application and approval process to get the remaining sports into the Summit League.

Why do the words "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while" come to mind?

This may be the the only way to get a positive change made on this issue in a short time period at Standing Rock. Any political action is going to take time whether it's putting together an election or changing the mind of the tribal council. Unfortunately, there isn't much time left to make it happen.

Why would people let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory?

Steve Johnson's coaching record. Other than 2003-2004 it looks pretty good. He might know what he's doing as far as handling players. Season Team Lge Type GP W L T OTL Pct Result 1995-96 Fargo-Moorhead Bears USHL Head 46 27 17 1 1 0.609 1996-97 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 54 40 13 0 1 0.750 1997-98 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 56 38 17 0 1 0.688 1998-99 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 56 29 20 0 7 0.580 1999-00 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 58 41 16 0 1 0.716 2000-01 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 56 43 7 0 6 0.821 2001-02 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 61 43 15 0 3 0.730 2002-03 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 60 37 14 0 9 0.692 2003-04 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 60 27 29 0 4 0.483 2004-05 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 60 37 17 0 6 0.667 2005-06 Lincoln Stars USHL Head 60 34 20 0 6 0.617

Let's see. - Playing for the former UND coach (I'm sure that UND hockey stories were never told at the rink). - Playing 75 miles from the University of North Dakota in front of a lot of hockey fans that also support UND. - Dealing with media that also cover UND hockey. - Watching UND hockey highlights on TV all year and/or reading the newspaper stories about UND hockey all year. - Possibly attending a game or more at the Ralph (along with 11,000+ fans) since it is only 75 miles away. Nope, I can't figure out why a player might think about what it would be like to play for UND without being recruited.

Directly from the website: The SBoHE runs all of the public institutions of higher education in the state of North Dakota. I would be very surprised if any decision on a board member would be based on how they feel about the sports nickname of any single school. They have to deal with hiring executives, how to set up budgets for the various campuses based on the allocations from the state and student fees, problems like binge drinking on campus, etc. The UND Fighting Sioux nickname is important to Fighting Sioux sports fans, less important to other sports fans and UND supporters, and not important to a sizable population of the state. The SBoHE should have left the decisions on the nickname to the University and just stepped in if there was an issue the U couldn't handle. But because they took on the decision making authority they are going to finish the process. The state isn't going to change out the entire board because of the Fighting Sioux nickname (I believe it was a unanimous decision to accept the court settlement and also to set the October 1 deadline).

Of course he's going to talk about this being an exciting time. What good does it do him to whine and complain about potentially having to change the name? It would make some people feel better for a little while, but it does nothing to make the situation better in the long run. All it would do is extend the time period when people are bitter and it would probably cause trouble for him with his bosses, the SBoHE. For example, instead of running the University let's say he was running a factory owned by a big corporation. The corporation makes some decision that isn't popular with employees, like cutting pay 10%, or everyone has to work every Saturday. He probably wouldn't like the decision any more than any other employee, but why would he publicly complain about it to the employees and to the press? What could he possibly gain by doing that? He would get into trouble with his bosses and it would cause even more trouble in his factory. His best bet would be to talk about the good things happening at the factory (instead of the bad) or try to say this is a good thing because cutting pay or adding hours is better than closing the factory and losing jobs. Kelley's job is going to be to move the University forward and make the best of the situation, whatever the final decision. He has to be positive about the situation. Moving to Division I and the potential of getting into a conference are big deals. Coming up with a new nickname and logo that can be used for years is an important decision. He isn't making the final decision on the nickname, that is being dictated by the SBoHE. So he is going to take that decision and make it work as best he can.

President Kelley has absolutely no say in whether the nickname and logo stay or go. He came into the situation when the decisions had already been made, the court case was already settled and the State Board of Higher Education (his bosses) were setting up a timeline. They tell him whether the nickname is going to change or not, the most he could do is give them a recommendation. His job is to make the best of the situation and try to move the University forward no matter what the final decision is. Any backlash should be directed at the ones that deserve it, the SBoHE and the NC$$.

It's a town in North Dakota about 210 miles west of Grand Forks. Not sure why they picked it.

There is no historical significance. It's brand new and my guess is it was first used just because of the alliteration. Roll the Raiders sounds good. Rolling another school with a nickname that doesn't start with R doesn't fit quite as well. But who knows. Maybe it will catch on, especially if UND finds a way to win.

Yeah, it's too bad that you have such a harsh climate to deal with down there, unlike the perfect climate we have in North Dakota.

I think that's true of whatever sport is important at that school. In smaller communities high school sports can help define the town. Football, basketball, hockey or any other sport becomes the big event in that town. Some schools are known as football schools, some basketball and etc. Grand Forks is a hockey town and both high schools reflect that. Several thousand have been known to show up for their games against each other. There are some other schools in the area where hockey is king. And there are other schools that concentrate on football or basketball.

I think you 2 are discussing slightly different topics. It looks like BigGame is discussing attendance at Houston area high school games specifically and saying that only a few of them draw big crowds. Raider Red seems to be talking more about smaller towns outside the big cities, such as the Lubbock area schools and football schools like Odessa and Midland.

Fixed your math.

It didn't work for me. Try this one instead. EDIT: Never mind. He fixed it before I got it out.

Don't worry, he's not a Sioux fan. He roots for another school in North Dakota. Kind of like Tech and A & M.

Nothing has been announced yet. Brad mentioned it in his blog earlier this week and said he would ask if they were planning an open scrimmage because he didn't know.

I think that there are a few programs like that on campus. Those are usually Federally funded programs.

Native Americans pay the same basic rates for school as everyone else. There is not a general discounted rate for Native Americans. I don't have specific information, but I know that there are quite a few scholarship programs for Native Americans that help them pay for school. They may also qualify at a higher rate for financial aid because of income, especially the ones coming from the reservations, but that is just a guess. So my answer (still just a guess) would be that an average NA would pay the same for school at UND as anyone else, but there are probably a larger per capita number of NA students receiving financial aid in the way of scholarships and grants.

Whether they are a freshman academically or not is not really important. They would most likely be a first year player in the WCHA. A sophomore academically could be considered the same as a redshirt freshman without doing the paperwork. A freshman that accelerates his high school career may come in at 17 years old. A freshman that plays Juniors several years might be 21 or 22 years old. All of them are first year players in the WCHA and will have to make major adjustments to catch up with the speed of the play. They probably wanted to wait until the school year started so that they could have all students available to try out. That could result in a brand new freshman or someone that has been on campus for several years. But the school standing of the player isn't the issue that is being discussed. It is the experience level. The 3rd goalie will most likely be a first year player or a "freshman". And to be honest, my point is still the same with or without the 3rd goalie. UND has more freshman this year than average and more than anyone else in the WCHA. All other WCHA teams have about the average number of freshman this year or fewer.

To maintan a 25 man roster you would need to average 6 freshman each year and then bring in an extra every 4th year. But with players leaving early or getting into trouble either at school or away from school most schools need to average at least 7 freshman a year, and maybe 8. So this would be an average year for freshman at best. UND does stick out with 10 (including the 3rd goalie).

Not necessarily the wrong forum, but already started about 11 hours earlier here in this forum.

The SBOHE decided that UND would start the name change process on October 1 unless a long term (30 year) agreement can be reached with both Spirit Lake and Standing Rock. So there is a small window of time that people are working within to try to save the name. If they are making good progress there is a chance that they could extend that deadline a little bit.