UND Fan

I remember reading this a few months ago but did not respond at that time. Coach Vahrenkamp has done an outstanding job for us. He arrived and began to turn the program around before our facilities improved to the current level. To be successful in T&F, you need many excellent athletes to score points in 20 different events. That doesn't happen overnight! So, your comments are quite naive. Additionally, we were able to hang on to GF athlete, Ehan Thomas, one of the best young throwers in the country. Here is part of a recent communication I received from Coach Vahrenkamp (I excluded portions of the letter). It appears the program will continue to improve. The link at below is from the coach to former T&F athletes and program supporters. It would be great if those interested could help the program with some $!!! Recruiting has been excellent this year. I won't bore you with the specifics, suffice to say this is the most talent class that we have ever had on the women's side. We picked up the state champion in shot put again on the men's side, also from Grand Forks. We lost one athlete to the portal last year, Jiri - he was our best 800m runner. Before he had found a home in the portal we had replaced him with a freshman with comparable time. Generally, the portal hasn't been an issue. I think Ethan has been sincere in his desire to stay here on the team while Elijah is the throws coach. His parents live five houses to the west of our house on our street. More than once I've had conversations with them that indicate they support keeping Ethan here with us. We are doing everything that we can do to make him feel appreciated. Excluded - probably confidential related to NIL for Thomas. Excluded - probably confidential due to increase in scholarship for Thomas. Things are going well with the progress toward hosting the indoor conference championship. We have a great set up. Lots of places for teams to eat, great hotel options, and a weekend where hockey is not in town. It should be a win for everyone. After the last championships we took some feedback from people and Elijah and I built a raised runway in order to improve the performances in the jumps. We have also hosted more meets which has given us some operational insight into what we can improve to make things the best that they can be. I hope the feed on midcosports+ will be great. I'm hoping we can get Alex Heinert from Hockey to help one other conference expert with commentary. We are still working on fundraising. As you know, engagement is always a process. I have worked the last few years to build some relationships with people through emails, phone calls, in person conversations etc. It will take every year that I am here to explain how much we can do together and still won't be enough. UND is a wonderful place, I enjoy encouraging everyone from our history to continue to support it. Thank you again for your continued support. Jim Vahrenkamp Head Coach Track and Field & Cross Country University of North Dakota 😄 701-202-9316 James.vahrenkamp@und.edu ******************** Link to personal message from Jim to former T&F athletes and boosters: Click for a message from head coach Jim Vahrenkamp!

Why don't you just go root for Dakota College at Bottineau.

There are hundreds of examples of this. This isn’t unique!

https://forum.siouxsports.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=14111&key=d684a386074075b1fbac7a9273b2be8a If the first doesn't open for you, this one should...

Here is the August version... August.pdf

Please see my post regarding UND Athletic fundraising in the FB thread.

Many of you know me. I was one of the first ss.com members, joining back in 2002. I have been less active in recent years as, in my opinion, the site has been used more for bitching than talking about UND sports. I also tracked and posted UND football, M&W basketball recruiting efforts for many years. More than 3,500 potential recruits were tracked over those years. I am pleased that the tracking of potential FB recruits has continued. After running seven successful Let's Help Bubba (meaning - let's help UND football) fundraising campaigns, I backed away due to my disappointment/disagreement with UND athletic fundraising efforts. Long story short, I feel better about that area now and will likely become more active again. I had earlier posted that my next fundraising effort would be for an All-American Wall in the new football locker room. It would include pictures and brief stories of our past All-Americans, MVPs, championship teams, etc. It would be professionally done in a first-class manner to impress potential recruits and their parents. We did one of these for Rich Glas many years ago and it proved to be a recruiting asset for his basketball programs back then. I had planned to launch the fundraising for the football Wall this summer. Due to the chaos in college athletic funding right now, we are going to put the Wall on hold for a while. With the 701, 1883 NIL Collective, Champion’s Club, the Cost of Attendance and the recent House Settlement affecting mid-level Division I programs in many (some unknown) ways, the focus for the near term needs to change. UND having adequate funds to attract and retain athletes is the priority right now. Therefore, I am recommending and encouraging individual fans to contribute to one of the UND’s 701 Award funds (scholastic or NIL). The 1883 Collective NIL will still be valuable for businesses who want to take advantage of having UND athletes represent their marketing efforts. However, for fans like you and me, we should be contributing to the 701 Fund. It provides UND with the most flexibility in this challenging time. As you may know, you have the opportunity to direct your NIL funds to specific sports or the athletic program in general. Contributions to the 701 are tax deductible, 1883 donations are not. Personally, I have a concern that some fans/businesses may cut back on their Champion’s Club donations in order to help with the NIL efforts. We can’t allow that to happen as the CC provides the funds for our scholarships. Losing scholarship dollars would have a negative effect. So, I am asking that we all donate a little (hopefully, a lot) extra to help UND Athletics. Setting up monthly contributions to the 701 or 1883 would be great. You can be assured that some of our rivals are making this same plea to their supporters. We cannot be left behind. Many or our competitors have been successful in convincing business owners to contribute on behalf of their business AND make individual contributions as well. Many of our supporters already do this but many don't! Convincing these owners and upper management to do so can make a huge difference in our efforts. Here is the link to the 701 Fund: 701 Award | UND Alumni Association & Foundation | University of North Dakota If you live in the area, I encourage you to attend next Tuesday's meeting at the Ralph sponsored by the GF/EGF Chamber. I expect all the specific ways to contribute will be fully explained. https://d15k2d11r6t6rl.cloudfront.net/pub/8ziy/5krpme5r/kjb/sf0/yz0/UND%20and%20Chamber%20logo.jpg Let's do all we can to assist UND Athletics! If you have any questions or concerns about my message, please PM me.

This should be informative - I hope as many locals as possible attend....   The Chamber would like to invite you to an informative and important community discussion regarding the NCAA’s NIL (name, image, and likeness) policy and its impact on the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics on the UND campus, as well as the impact these changes may have on our local business community. Representatives from UND, UND Athletics, 1883 Collective, UND Foundation, Ralph Engelstad Arena, and Alerus Center will be on hand to discuss this very important issue with representatives from our local business community, including a summary of the ways in which the business community can support our student-athletes and athletics programs. You have been selected to receive an invitation to this event due to the significant role that you play in our local business community. The invitation list for this event includes prominent community and business leaders such as yourself for this important meeting. Please join us on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the Main Lobby for hosted beer, wine, light apps, and conversation from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Parking: Free in the North parking lot at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No parking pass required. Entry Doors: Enter through the Northeast (NE) doors. Social: 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm NIL Conversation: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Attire: Casual or Business Casual. It is a meeting at a hockey rink after all! Please RSVP using this link through The Chamber if you can attend so that we can prepare appropriately from a food and beverage standpoint. Please feel free to call The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 if you have any questions about this event. We look forward to seeing you at the Ralph on August 19! Sincerely, Chamber NIL Task Force Matt Bonzer Derek Holt (co-chair) Keith Lund Matt Bredemeier Jonathan Holth Anna Rosburg Todd Forkel Tarek Howard Barry Wilfahrt Jody Hodgson (co-chair) Doug Iverson Derek Hoffert Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

This should be informative - I hope as many locals as possible attend....   The Chamber would like to invite you to an informative and important community discussion regarding the NCAA’s NIL (name, image, and likeness) policy and its impact on the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics on the UND campus, as well as the impact these changes may have on our local business community. Representatives from UND, UND Athletics, 1883 Collective, UND Foundation, Ralph Engelstad Arena, and Alerus Center will be on hand to discuss this very important issue with representatives from our local business community, including a summary of the ways in which the business community can support our student-athletes and athletics programs. You have been selected to receive an invitation to this event due to the significant role that you play in our local business community. The invitation list for this event includes prominent community and business leaders such as yourself for this important meeting. Please join us on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the Main Lobby for hosted beer, wine, light apps, and conversation from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Parking: Free in the North parking lot at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No parking pass required. Entry Doors: Enter through the Northeast (NE) doors. Social: 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm NIL Conversation: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Attire: Casual or Business Casual. It is a meeting at a hockey rink after all! Please RSVP using this link through The Chamber if you can attend so that we can prepare appropriately from a food and beverage standpoint. Please feel free to call The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 if you have any questions about this event. We look forward to seeing you at the Ralph on August 19! Sincerely, Chamber NIL Task Force Matt Bonzer Derek Holt (co-chair) Keith Lund Matt Bredemeier Jonathan Holth Anna Rosburg Todd Forkel Tarek Howard Barry Wilfahrt Jody Hodgson (co-chair) Doug Iverson Derek Hoffert Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

This should be informative - I hope as many locals as possible attend....   The Chamber would like to invite you to an informative and important community discussion regarding the NCAA’s NIL (name, image, and likeness) policy and its impact on the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics on the UND campus, as well as the impact these changes may have on our local business community. Representatives from UND, UND Athletics, 1883 Collective, UND Foundation, Ralph Engelstad Arena, and Alerus Center will be on hand to discuss this very important issue with representatives from our local business community, including a summary of the ways in which the business community can support our student-athletes and athletics programs. You have been selected to receive an invitation to this event due to the significant role that you play in our local business community. The invitation list for this event includes prominent community and business leaders such as yourself for this important meeting. Please join us on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the Main Lobby for hosted beer, wine, light apps, and conversation from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Parking: Free in the North parking lot at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No parking pass required. Entry Doors: Enter through the Northeast (NE) doors. Social: 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm NIL Conversation: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Attire: Casual or Business Casual. It is a meeting at a hockey rink after all! Please RSVP using this link through The Chamber if you can attend so that we can prepare appropriately from a food and beverage standpoint. Please feel free to call The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 if you have any questions about this event. We look forward to seeing you at the Ralph on August 19! Sincerely, Chamber NIL Task Force Matt Bonzer Derek Holt (co-chair) Keith Lund Matt Bredemeier Jonathan Holth Anna Rosburg Todd Forkel Tarek Howard Barry Wilfahrt Jody Hodgson (co-chair) Doug Iverson Derek Hoffert Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

This should be informative - I hope as many locals as possible attend....   The Chamber would like to invite you to an informative and important community discussion regarding the NCAA’s NIL (name, image, and likeness) policy and its impact on the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics on the UND campus, as well as the impact these changes may have on our local business community. Representatives from UND, UND Athletics, 1883 Collective, UND Foundation, Ralph Engelstad Arena, and Alerus Center will be on hand to discuss this very important issue with representatives from our local business community, including a summary of the ways in which the business community can support our student-athletes and athletics programs. You have been selected to receive an invitation to this event due to the significant role that you play in our local business community. The invitation list for this event includes prominent community and business leaders such as yourself for this important meeting. Please join us on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the Main Lobby for hosted beer, wine, light apps, and conversation from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Parking: Free in the North parking lot at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No parking pass required. Entry Doors: Enter through the Northeast (NE) doors. Social: 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm NIL Conversation: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Attire: Casual or Business Casual. It is a meeting at a hockey rink after all! Please RSVP using this link through The Chamber if you can attend so that we can prepare appropriately from a food and beverage standpoint. Please feel free to call The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 if you have any questions about this event. We look forward to seeing you at the Ralph on August 19! Sincerely, Chamber NIL Task Force Matt Bonzer Derek Holt (co-chair) Keith Lund Matt Bredemeier Jonathan Holth Anna Rosburg Todd Forkel Tarek Howard Barry Wilfahrt Jody Hodgson (co-chair) Doug Iverson Derek Hoffert Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

Do we know if Simon will be healthy this fall?

Instead of bitching, why don’t you simply send a note to Hutter along with your email address, asking him to add you to his distribution list!

July.pdf Attached, I hope, is Coach Hutter's monthly newsletter. If this doesn't work, I will try again to attach it.