UND Fan

It appears that Myron, although very appreciative of the scholarship offer, will return to Texas where his family is. He plans to go to NBA tryouts and continue playing basketball somewhere. It will be too bad if he doesn't get his education. He is a good player but will unlikely get set for life through basketball. He had really started to become a good student!

I know Terry quite well. His biggest problem at UND was that he wasn't "one of the guys". Terry is quite religious and doesn't drink. As you know, most ADs attempt to be out with the troops having a good time, etc. He followed Gino Gasparini and Carl Miller who were masters at "working the crowd". That combined with the firing of Gino which was unpopular but necessary and the logo issue with Engelstad caused him a great deal of problems. He did not handle these issues well from a PR perspective. He also combined various booster groups, including Sioux Boosters, into one entity - the Fighting Sioux Club. This was absolutely necessary and has proved to be very successful - but it was not popular! Terry is a great administrator. Under him, facilities improved, graduation rates and GPAs improved and we had a great deal of success. Believe me, despite some faults, UND is much better off due to Wanless' contributions. He took a Department that wasn't as strong administratively under Gino as it could have been. When he left, Roger Thomas' transition into the AD position was made much easier because of the good job Terry had done putting the Department together. I believe Roger would be the first one to admit this as his administrative background was limited. He will do a great job for you. You will have a clean, well-run operation and, hopefully, he will be able to raise enough money to be successful!

star2city - Thanks for the info. Keep it coming.....

Apparently!

wfduck - Your post confuses me a bit. You say that you are glad that Bauer committed to UND - that he will "contribute" to the scout team for the next few years! Either you are being facetious or you are not a Sioux fan - or both! Is the kid going to be any good from your honest perspective?

There is a board of five individuals who will make the decision. They have 48 hours to make the decision - after they have all the info they need (from their perspective). Bottom line - we should have an answer by the end of next week.

Just ignore him - he will go away! Don't even read his posts!

Just learned that Jacobson is enrolling at UND as we speak - not sure when it will be announced.

I agree. I know Rich is looking hard for another "force" underneath to compliment Rypkema next year. If successful, we could be very good again! Lots of offense!

A Forum article stated that Northern Iowa's Adam Jacobson was at the UND BB game last night in Grand Forks. He is transferring but wouldn't say where. His being in GF is a good sign - hopefully, we will hear that he has enrolled at UND for the second semester. Jacobson is a 6'6" freshman - lots of talent! He graduated from Shanley, first committed to NDSU but then went to UNI when McDermott and his cousin, Ben, moved down there from SU.

I again suggest that Sioux fans just ignore this drivel -- JBB will go away if we don't respond to his crap!

JBB continues to frustrate everyone with his posts. Although I think he makes some excellent points at times, he will then ruin his credibility by making some dumb statement and taking what others say out of context. RECOMMENDATION -- Let's all disregard anything JBB has to say. Exchanging barbs with him does not add anything positive to this website. If everyone would ignore him and not respond to his comments, he would quickly go away. JBB - As I said in my last post, you and I had a couple of mature debates, but your style just doesn't work here. Good luck! It is obvious that you truly are a die-hard Bison fan - I rspect that!

Anyone know if UND had football recruits in this weekend? It would have been a great atmosphere with CC in town for hockey.

JBB -- you and I have had a couple of civil conversations in the past. While you and many of us UND fans disagree on a lot of issues, I understand your position much of the time. In other words, I don't mind having you contribute to this website. What I don't understand is why you often take things certain people say out of context to make a point. Go back a couple of posts and read my comment about the 15 Bison fans/boosters that I talked to over the Holidays. I simply said that this is what I experienced, I did not say that, because of this experience, that the vast majority of SU fans were against it. I termed it "interesting" - I made no conclusions. Also, please read the next to the last sentence of my post! Then read the second to the last paragraph of your post. You will see why you frustrate a lot of people.

Editorial comment -- It certainly appears to me that much of the bickering in this room is uncalled for. It is becoming quite tedious. A little controversy creates interesting dialogue but some of my fellow UND supporters aren't any better than the NDSU and SDSU participants. It would be great if we talked much more about sports, recruiting, etc. and get away from the immature stuff. Enough said about that, I have the following comments about REA and the DI controversy. Some of this is fact, some my observations -- I will differentiate the two: FACT - REA is adding an incrediable amount of money to UND's Athletic Department's bottom line. It is taking a great deal of pressure off the Department, which like others, has been having difficulty staying out of the red. These profits are funding the new, expensive women's hockey program and still leaving a large amount of money for other athletic needs. $ are also being put aside for future maintenance and improvement needs. OPINION - Although President Kupchella feels that UND should not even consider DI, many within the Athletic Department feel that we need to take a close look at it and see if it makes sense. Until an actual assessment is completed, even the supporters assume that is does not make financial sense to go DI. But, it may become a necessity if further scholarship cuts are made in football and the caliber of our competition would continue to decline. They know that contributions and gate receipts are going to drop if we have too many Mn-Morris' on our schedule. Additionally, they rightfully also have a real concern that the better North Dakota athletes will no longer be able to compete on DI teams. If you look at basketball, not many ND/NW MN boys go DI. The really good ones (Boschee, Jacobson, etc.) will continue to go to the Big Time. That leaves the Josh Johnson's, Adam Dobmeier's, Shawn Gabbert's, Ryan Walker's, etc. going to schools other than UND or SU. They aren't talented enough to play DI. This is even more apparent in the non-major sports. Would a good track athlete from Bismarck enjoy taking the time to fly all over the country to get his/her tail kicked by "real" DI athetes. These athletes enjoy the competition of the non-glamor sports -- I don't think they will go to a school where they can not legitimately compete! They will likely go DII. Opinion (with some fact mixed in) - UND is in the midst of making some major decisions regarding facilities. To compete in DI (especially in the boonies of northern North Dakota), you need excellent facilities including indoor practice fields. While the REA and Alerus are new and first class, UND needs a dramatic improvement as far as a basketball venue is concerned. For all practical purposes, we have no indoor track and no indoor practice facilities for the baseball, softball, football (on campus), soccer teams, etc. This, combined with the likelihood of Hyslop becoming a Wellness Center for students, has a lot of decisions on hold. I feel UND is correct in waiting until these important decisions are made before making a decision on DI. A major upgrade in facilities and fund raising for DI would not work well if both were happening at the same time. Waiting will also allow UND to see what shakes out in '04. There is always the possibility that DI will abandon the DIAA schools so they don't share in Bowl and NCAA basketball profits. This could open the door for a DIAA level for all sports. UND would jump into that in a "New York minute". While I agree that waiting makes sense, I firmly believe that UND should do a formal study of the feasiblilty and costs of DI NOW. This may prove that it makes absolutely no sense to make the move and, if this was published in the near future, it may cause SDSU to seriously consider staying DII (I don't think there is any turning back for NDSU). A study of this type would also show prospective athletes and supporters that UND isn't complacive when it comes to moving up -- just realistic. The downside in waiting -- As an avid UND fan and supporter, I also don't like the fact that SU may get a 2-3 year jump on us making the move up. It will be a difficult transition and I would hate the Bison get there before us (if we decide to make the move). Finally - as NDSU feels the move to DI is the best decision for them right now and because their President is considering doing something about the "Fighting Sioux" controversy, I strongly feel that UND should discontinue competing with NDSU in all sports after next season. With the added scholarship and much expanded recruiting base, it would be very difficult for us to be competitive anyway. I will in Florida but was in GF and Fargo over the holidays. While I know Bison fans are in a poor frame of mind after the poor FB season, it was interesting for me to talk to about 15 of their most loyal supporters. Interestingly, only two of the 15 supported the move to DI. I started this post by saying we should quit throwing jabs at each other about the decisions their schools are making (or not making) so I don't want this comment to start any of that. I simply found it interesting that so few of the random SU fans I talked to were supportive of the move!

PCM -- Regarding your post of 12:35 PM yesterday -- Well said!!

RD17 -- No one answered your question regarding the JUCO rules vs. NCAA regulations. Although the penalties would likely differ, the rules are exactly the same in that it applies to JUCOs as well. Therefore, his school in Texas also missed it. If you look at it without any bias (which a lot of people both pro-UND and anti-UND have trouble doing on this website), it is obvious that Allen didn't think he did anything wrong (although he certainly should have). If he had been trying to "hide" it, he certainly would not have chosen to attend a college 70 miles from Fargo when he could have gone to any DII school in the country! Had he gone anywhere else, it likely would have never been discovered!

Aaron Austin will play both sports with the Sioux next year. He is having a good year at FFCC. Lots of offense -- really needs to work on his defense. Manke is still listed as a QB as he isn't far hehind Groeschel. In fact, some think he may be better! Manke could easily move to a corner if it appears he won't see much game time at QB. There is another talented Manke brother at Detroit Lakes - a junior.

Good point, denbo!

It has been many years since UND played a true freshman football player. With some talented LBs being redshirted this year, I would guess that Richter will not play next year. There have been a few years (like this one) where playing 2-3 freshmen would have helped us but we are much better off giving these kids an extra year to grow, become familiar with the system, get used to college life, etc.

Thanks for the update. Hopefully, others will provide similar info as it becomes available.

Good news! It appears that Allen will be fine. He may play Saturday against Southwest State.

Pirate -- please enlighten me as to who Jarvis Thomas is.

There may be another option for UND basketball - it would be big news and make great sense! Decisions are to be made fairly soon!

JBB -- being that you and I have started a dialogue and have acknowledged that both of us tend to not give each other's school the respect they deserve -- I am compelled to ask how many NDSU FB players were names to the NCC All-Academic Team recently announced?