UND Fan

I don't disagree with your last paragraph at all. My only point is that anyone is naive to believe that the staff didn't try to address these needs! If it is your opinion that we could have picked up someone in the portal that could have truly helped the team and we elected not to do so, I guess I need to respect your opinion!

You continue to say things like the highlighted comment above. How in the hell do you know they didn't "address" those issues? Any decent coaching staff knows what they need and will attempt to address those needs. Being successful in bringing in talent whenever/wherever it is needed can be a whole different story!!! Any college basketball coach in the country would agree!

I agree that this thread should get back to recruiting but…. let me know who you want to talk to at UND and I will set it up for you!!

How about the $60K+ that ss.com (LHB) has raised for the FB program??

I posted the below message a couple of months ago. Since then, I have heard from quite a few of you, some wondering if health problems might be prompting me to pull back on my ss.com, Wiki updates, Let's Help Bubba, etc. activity. I appreciate the concern and am pleased to say that health is not the issue. As stated, I am tired of the constant arguments and smart-ass posts on ss.com. But a bigger reason is my concern about UND's athletic fundraising, especially the Champion's Club. The upcoming facility improvements will help recruiting and player retention but, until we have the money to truly compete with our competition, we will not be able to consistently challenge for championships in non-hockey sports. I am going to contact Armacast, Zink, Chaves, etc. with examples of my concerns. Other ss.com members have indicated that they weren't contacted to continue CC membership and others have indicated that they had expressed interest in CC or other athletic fundraising efforts but did not hear back from UND. If any of you can provide me (either on this thread or by PM) with specific examples, it would be appreciated. Please don't exaggerate your example. I will not use any names in my discussions with the UND brass. I live far from ND and have one generic question about CC membership efforts. There are obviously many businesses (inside and outside of GF) who are CC members, many at higher levels. That is great but are we actively encouraging the owners and upper management of these businesses to be CC members? I get the impression that many of these individuals feel that their companies' involvement means that they do not need to individually become CC members. These folks are likely quite well-off and/or are well-paid. I am not implying that these folks don't care about UND's athletics needs. I just don't think they understand how much the need is and, if enlightened, many would become CC members, some at higher levels. Heck, I guess another question is: do we know if anyone from UND is actively knocking on doors soliciting CC memberships. The bottom line is that CC does not come close to providing enough $ to cover all UND's scholarship costs on an annual basis. And UND seems satisfied/proud to raise about the same amount of $ every year even though tuition increases every year let alone helping with the ever-increasing costs of running a DI program. One other item - I have been asked about future Let's Help Bubba campaigns. My involvement in LHB efforts (and other personal contributions) will be dependent on the result of my discussions with UND management.

Just landed a 6’4” All-American MB from Indian Hills CC.

It is a little concerning that Amar hasn't received more attention/offers. With that size and his rebounding stats, you would think he would be receiving a lot of attention!

I guess it may have come across that way - it certainly wasn't my intention!

You may have seen that I wrote a bit of an epistle over on the FB thread. I will not do so here but many of the issues I stated about UND fundraising, the recruiting challenges and dumb banter between members goes for BB as well. I have done the Wiki for M & W BB and VB for the last few years. Hopefully, someone will take over these duties. I made the comment over there that you can "go to the bank" with what iramurphy has to say. That goes for BB as well. You can also be assured that SD UND knows what he is talking about.

You may have seen that I wrote a bit of an epistle over on the FB thread. I will not do so here but many of the issues I stated about UND fundraising, the recruiting challenges and dumb banter between members goes for BB as well. I have done the Wiki for M & W BB and VB for the last few years. Hopefully, someone will take over these duties. I made the comment over there that you can "go to the bank" with what iramurphy has to say. That goes for BB as well. You can also be assured that SD UND knows what he is talking about.

I was one of the first ss.com members – joining almost 21 years ago. I won’t be on the site much going forward but will give some thoughts regarding UND football on a few topics first. I will try not to make this too long and I have no interest in debating my thoughts with anyone. Recruiting I have followed our recruiting efforts for many years and was the guy doing the Wiki updates for the last 10 years or so until turning the job over to Hardcore Hawk (who is doing a good job) last year. During that time frame, I followed thousands of potential recruits during the recruiting process. This included kids who attended our camps, prospects we offered or were offered by other conference schools, prospects listed in recruiting websites (247 Sports, etc.), kids whose dads played for us, etc. I have followed these prospects during the recruiting process via their social media as well as other teams’ fan websites. Our recruiting classes of the last 15 years or so have not been great. If you look at the limited number of: signees we get that other top teams wanted, players contributing as true freshmen, players making all-conference teams, UND players in the NFL (or even getting good looks), etc. We are getting lots of kids without any, or very few, FCS offers. These are good, hard-working kids with some talent but turn out to be average-to-very good FCS players. This needs to change - we need more high-end FSC level recruits before we can expect to be truly competitive year in and year out. There has been a lot of talk about UND’s location (geography and weather) with many saying that it doesn’t have any negative effect on recruiting. Those who think that location isn’t an issue are very much mistaken! Most kids want to play somewhere that their parents, grandparents and/or girlfriends can attend most games. Although it is improving, the number of talented prospects from ND and NW Minnesota is limited. When you are recruiting kids from Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, etc., there are so many other FCS schools much closer than we are – including all the Dakota teams. The two SUs are getting most of the kids they really want. It’s not just NDSU we have to worry about now, SDSU has been winning just as many battles as NDSU (geography is helping them with some kids). I would like to see us recruit the Winnipeg market (heck, all of Canada) harder. Facilities are improving but are not there yet. If you had ever seen the offices and locker room under Memorial, they were worse than you can imagine. It was surprising any talented kids chose UND back then. In a couple of years, we should have facilities equal to (maybe better) than the other Dakota schools. That will help a great deal but there is still the distance issue. I will talk about NDSU a little later but, as the Fargo/West Fargo metro area continues to prosper and grow, the number of talented FB players in this market will continue to grow. We need to get a decent share of those kids. If SU lands the lion’s share, it will be easier for their dominance over UND to continue. Bubba Bubba and I are pretty good friends but I truly don’t have a great handle on his ability to lead us to the point where we consistently challenge for conference and national championships. I certainly have disagreed with some of his decisions at critical times in important games over the last 2-3 years. However, based on our inability to land many top-notch prospects, Bubba might be doing a hell of a job! Athletic Department Funding Funding remains a major issue. At this point, we are unable to pay our coaches competitively nor are we able to provide many of the “bells & whistles” for players provided by other programs. The latter is one of the reasons I organized seven “Let’s Help Bubba” campaigns over the last few years. We raised $60,000+ for first class knee braces, Guardian helmet caps, computer equipment for breaking down film, quality cold-weather jackets for outside games, etc. I offered to run a LHB8 last fall. I was not pleased when it did not happen. It was not anyone in the FB program who dropped the ball. I will leave it at that! I won’t get into details but I have some real concerns about our athletic fund-raising efforts especially related to the Champions Club. It makes common sense that averaging attendance of 10,000+ will create more revenue and a better game day experience – this needs to happen soon. We all agree that winning and a positive fan experience at the Alerus will have a positive effect on attendance. Lastly, on the topic of money, many have stated that the Engelstads only care about hockey. I have wanted to post this for a few years but understood it was not to be made public. Just recently, it did become public - Kris Engelstad has written a check paying for all FB players' summer school tuition for many years. That is not a small check as most FB players are taking classes during the summer. NDSU I attended UND when the rivalry was much more intense than it is today. I dislike the Bison as much as (probably more than) any other ss.com member. That said, it is ludicrous to continuously put down their FB program as well as the rest of their athletic department. Now that their womens BB team as back to being good, SU is very competitive in every sport. That certainly can’t be said for UND. Their expectations are to be successful and nothing else is acceptable. They do what is necessary to remain successful! Team Makers fundraising efforts pay for 100% of all athletic scholarships at SU every year. The Champions Club funds less than one-half of UND scholarship needs. Just think about what UND Athletics could do with an extra $2+ million every year. SS.com The constant bantering back and forth is getting real old and is one of the reasons I won’t be visiting the site much going forward. Too often, neither party knows what they were talking about in these “infantile” discussions. My recommendation – if iramurphy posts a comment (FB or otherwise), you can be confident that it is factual. He has the most knowledge and experience of UND athletics (and athletics in general) of any active ss.com member. Lastly, if you aren’t supporting UND athletics financially as best as you can through Champions Club membership or one of the other funding programs, don’t bitch about our coaching salaries, our bidding for home playoff games, etc. Reviewing the above, it probably came across a bit too negative. I think the program continues to make progress. Hopefully, we will soon be able to seriously compete for league championships and first round playoff spots annually. The new facilities should help a great deal! You will see me posting once in a while but, guys – please grow up and stay away from the juvenile discussions. Some prospective recruits (and often their parents) check out a school’s fan websites. Anyone reading ours would not be impressed. I fully realize that a lot of this is common on fan websites but that doesn't mean we need to follow their lead!

Not nervous, just tired of all the stupid, uninformed comments!

I hope you are writing checks every year to help address the primary issue - lack of $!!!

Where is this $ suppose to come from?

In explaining what happened when the Betty was built, I didn't say anything about the 3,100 capacity being an issue today (hopefully, it is an issue again someday soon). But it was a big issue back then... Year Attendance Rank in DII 2001-2 2,987 4th 2002-3 3,857 2nd 2003-4 3,423 3rd 2004-5* 2,550 11th * First year playing in The Betty. You can see why Rich Glas (and many others) were blindsided by the lack of planning and communication that took place when The Betty was built! A friend and I funded the weightroom! I could tell you more stories but you get the drift!!

The Ralph was built with little planning and forethought. They wanted to make sure it was complete prior to The Ralph hosting the World Junior hockey tourney in 2004 and they didn't want to spend any more than necessary. In fact, it was Coach Glas' understanding that that the capacity of the arena would be 4,000. It wasn't until the construction was well underway that he learned that it would hold only 3,100. You are correct that meeting rooms and a weight room were not included in the original plans.

Lack of respect from team, team coaches and other coaches around the league. If a had a dollar for every time Jones looked an opposing player or coach in the eye when shaking hands after a game, I would have very few dollars in my pocket. Jones would have been fired by Ed Schafer (and then Kennedy) if there had not been such a budget challenge during their time at UND.

I am quite sure they do not attend BB games.

For those of you who didn’t see Gunhus play, he often wasn’t the most talented player on the floor but he was one of the hardest working and smartest players in the league. Plus, he was a great guy!

There have been a lot of comments about the NCAA being overly greedy and I fully agree. However, they aren't going to make much $ on the FCS FB playoffs. The NCAA picks up the following expenses of the visiting team (a total of 130 in the travel party with a maximum of 64 players. 145 & 70 for the semis and finals): Transportation costs for 130 people. Interestingly, the NCAA forces schools to use a specific travel agency - probably a good idea. Hotel costs for all in the traveling party. They do want one hotel with at least 60 double-double rooms along with adequate meeting rooms, etc. Per diem of $150 per person. If the travel requires air travel and a night or two in a hotel, this adds up to a ton of $. You can see why they want to match up teams in fairly close proximity when they can. Below are couple of paragraphs from the FCS Championship Manual. See my comments in bold. ****** 2. Prospective host institutions must submit the following minimum financial guarantees, which shall be 75% of the estimated net receipts as submitted on the proposed budget: First round – $30,000 Second round – $40,000 Quarterfinals – $50,000 Semifinals – $60,000 3. If the minimum financial guarantees are met, the committee will award the playoff sites to the higher-seeded teams. This reads odd to me. For example: a third-round game and Team X is a higher seed than their opponent. If Team X bids $50,000 and their opponent's bid is $62,000 with both schools meeting the criteria in No. 4 below, Team X would win the bid as they met the "minimum financial guarantee". That isn't how it works but that is how it reads to me! 4. When determining host institutions for playoff games when both teams are unseeded, criteria shall apply as follows: (1) quality of facility (2) revenue potential plus estimated net receipts (3) attendance history and potential (4) team’s performance (i.e., conference place finish, head-to-head results and number of Division I opponents) (5) student-athlete well-being (e.g., travel and missed class time) No's. 1-3 are certainly important, but I am surprised that the team's performance is the 4th most important criteria!

Let's help Jerry Kaminiski and Ben Buxa win outstanding FB seniors at their respective positions. Right now, Kaminiski is 3rd among six QBs and Buxa is 4th our seven OLs. You can (and should) vote often for our guys! https://t.co/hB505HyKgk

This may be true but your statement above regarding the bid amounts, etc. was not fact!

Not true!

I sure hope I am wrong but it may be a long season for the ladies. Without having anyone over 6' in the lineup, it will be tough to compete against the many physical teams in the Summit!

Just lost in 5 sets. If anyone was there, your thoughts?