UND Fan

This is definitely a topic that should be discussed in a Bison chatroom, not here. This has nothing to do with UND athletics.

Thanks - I can understand and appreciate needing something positive today! Pics/drawings look good! Apparently they haven't decided on a name yet. I had understood that they weren't going to call it a Canad Inn - thinking that it wouldn't be appropriate for a hotel in the States. Anyone know anything about this?

I have to retract my above comment. I am very disappointed to confirm that this rumor is fact. Very unprofessional!!

You make a very good point. If I could "waive the wand", we would have the two SUs, UND, USD, UNO and maybe another school making up one division of an existing conference. I fully realize that it is extremely unlikely. However, it certainly would help contain costs, maintain current rivalries, assist with scheduling, etc.

After talking to various inside sources, I am quite sure that Randall was not offered the job.

As many of you may remember from earlier posts, I have been against UND's move to Division I. I felt the cost and Grand Fork's geography would prohibit us from being competitive in DI. Over the last few months, I have given a great deal of thought to this and talked to a lot of people around the country and in North Dakota and NW Minnesota (as well as many within UND's Athletic Department). I now am a strong advocate of the move. The following are excerpts from a letter recently written to Dr. Kupchella. My guess is that he will elect not to make the move - feeling that it isn't fair to the President following him to saddle him with the challenges of the move. While Kupchella may have already made his decision, I would recommend that those of you who are proponents of the move contact him via letter or e-mail in the next few days and give him your thoughts. My letter...... Dear Dr. Kupchella: Until recently, I was either

I am curious - what are some examples of Buning blaming Ralph for our problems?

I am sure this topic was discussed a great deal over the weekend. Part of the reason for the reunion was to reunite players and try to get a financial commitment to support the team. I think it would be in the form of an endowment where the alumni commit to "X" number of dollars a year for the next five years or so. The funds go into an endowment that would help fund the program for years to come. Various sports at UND are beginning to do this. A great idea - getting help from former players in any sport!

You are absolutely correct in your assessment - I appreciate your honesty and candor AND your lack of "smack"!

I agree that Smith certainly appears to be a great candidate for our open position but, if your info is correct, he must be fairly arrogant to take the stance that he isn't going to apply unless someone asks him to. While he is probably the best candidate from the upper midwest, there will be lots of good candidates. He is sending the message that he may be difficult to work with!

E-mail addresses? Let's hit them via the telephone and internet!

I don't think he meant a clearly inferior team but that UND should never lose to a Mayville or Minot - especially at home!

Very impressive attributes. Do you know what his ambitions are? Does he want to quickly move up the ladder to a DI job (I realize he might get that at UND) or does he want to remain in the Upper Midwest?

While I agree with the majority of your points, the location of Winona is much more appealing to a hugely greater pool of athletes than Grand Forks. With Wisconsin right across the river (with no DII colleges, the Twin Cities 100 miles to the north, Iowa just to the south, not far from IL, etc., this is a much different situation than Grand Forks. I would guess that within 150 - 200 miles of Winona, there are 10 to 15 times the number of DII quality athletes available as compared to the same distance from GF!

Interesting article in the Student today. Coach Lennon notes that Brady is the No. 1 tailback with Chappell looking very good in the backfield as well (interesting that the recent Herald article talked mostly about his making a contribution on special teams). Trenbeath and Caufield are looking good - glad to see that Trenbeath must be fully recovered from his very serious injury! He also mentioned that Bondy and Bauer were looking good on the offensive line.

The official closing date for the UNI job isn't until this Thursday. Unless something unforeseen happens, Rich will likely be down there for an announcement next week. With signing date having past, I suppose most colleges don't have much scholarship $ available. It will be interesting how many of the guys interested in attending UND will still be available when we finally have a coach named.

I fully agree that the women's program is a major drain on the Athletic Department's budget but the program will not be dropped. With our facility, all of our primary competition fielding women's teams, the prestige of our men's program, etc. - it will not be dropped! It will be interesting how the sport progresses in the years to come. Many of us remember when the crowds were very small for women's basketball (at all levels). It now makes money at many universities around the country and it certainly is well-followed at UND. Who knows, that may happen in hockey as well! Regarding UND's program, it appears to be a legitimate question whether we have the right coach to lead us to success. I am not knowledgeable enough to know. What I read is a little disconcerting! Again, the program will not go away!!!

Does anyone know if any of the 3-5 JC players who had committed have decided to sign elsewhere?

At first glance, this is very disappointing but I suppose it could work to our advantage in that a new coach may have the ability to bring in a couple of talented players with him. If all five of our open scholarships are not taken now, that would give him the flexibility to do so.

I am curious - what do you mean by "how he is going about it"?

You make some very good points. I know that Randall would do some things much differently and probably very effectively. I just think there should be a national search and we hire the best candidate. If that is Randall, great. If not, I would hope that we decided on a better candidate. I do think, however, that with people being down on the program, an outside applicant will likely be chosen. That being said, some of you on this board will remember when Gino Gasparini was hired as our hockey coach. A lot of big names had applied. Most fans were very disappointed when Gino was chosen over some big name, nationally-known coaches. They didn't like the fact that we promoted as assistant who was part of an unsuccessful program. Gino quickly proved that this was a good decision - Randall may do the same!

Any athlete who transfers from one school to another is "released" from their scholarship. Every athlete that goes from one DI to another has to sit out a year. The only exception may be when a school drops a sport. Then an athlete in that sport may be able to move to another without having to sit for a year.