UND Fan

Why don't you find someone/something else to whine about for a while!!! Your bitching about this topic is getter old!

FB averages about 20 graduates per year. It is interesting to note that a walk-on (at UND and nationally) is more likely to financially support their alma mater and their specific sport that scholarship players. Kind of a sad commentary!!

It has been and likely will continue to be a rough season. Having Rebraca sure would have helped. He has started all 17 games for Iowa and has played the 4th most minutes on the team. He is averaging only 6 ppg but they have 2-3 really good scorers so that isn't too much of a surprise. He averages 6+ rebounds (2nd on team). Still shooting very good from the field (58%) and still having problems from the line (52%).

Yes

Is Anderson hurt?

A few opinions on this topic: If NDSU's administration and athletic department along with their supporters are OK with playing in mid-level bowl games rather than national championships, they should move up. Of course, they would need to find a conference that would accept them in all sports. Due to geography, that may be difficult. I think NDSU can afford to move up. Team Makers already generates more $ than is needed to fully fund all athletic scholarships, not just FB. This is huge! Continued financial growth is very possible due to the effectiveness of Team Makers, some well-healed boosters (example - the guy who wrote a $15M check so their indoor facility could be upgraded a bit and fully built now rather in two phases) and importantly, the huge growth in the Fargo metro area. That means a significant growth of business in this market (both large and small) provides significant potential to raise much more $ on an annual basis! As far as the level of success SU can achieve, I believe they could (over time) approach the success level of Boise State - which is quite good! I don't think the university or their fans should assume they will be do any better than has Boise State. That said, there are many FBS schools that would love to be compared with BSU. Izzo isn't too far behind McFeely or Port in their efforts to create controversy/interest on many issues. As others have said, that is simply part of journalism these days. As the situation applies to UND: The vast majority of UND alumni and fans wish UND had moved up at the same time as NDSU and SDSU. There were two problems with our doing so back then - lack of institutional support/planning and $. Heck, we really can't afford to effectively compete in DI today - I don't know how we could even consider moving up to FBS with NDSU. I wish we could but it won't happen anytime soon. We simply don't have the resources to do so. Therefore, it would likely be embarrassing if we tried. The comment that, if NDSU moves up, both SD schools along with UND must do so as well. I don't know if SDSU has the interest or the ability to move up but I am quite sure USD does not have the ability. Regarding resources, I don't feel that the Champions Club produces nearly what they could/should on an annual basis. I could provide a couple personal examples but will not do so in this in a public form. I don't want anything I say to apply to any specific employees. I will leave it at that but I have very strong feelings on this topic. Another example, in the drawer next to me, I have a copy of the original architectural drawing for the HPC. It was given to me in a meeting with Josh Morton 11 years ago. The assumption was that it would be fully completed within 3-4 years. Contrary to what many on this board think, fundraising efforts have been a priority over the years but we are likely still a couple years away from its completion. Bottom line - our ability to raise significant $ has not been good. This fact makes a move to FBS even more of a pipe dream! Many have complained about Chaves' lack of effort in addressing certain things. I thought Chaves would be very good but the jury is still out for me. What I do know is that it is very tough for him to address some issues due to his budget constraints. In my reviewing the above, it comes across a little more negative than I had hoped but I will leave it as-is. These are my opinions along with some facts. I am not interested in debating any of this.

Is there some tie to ND?

????

I get the Herald online and have not seen an article about either of UND's last two losses. Am I correct?

I don't think there is any way he stays at UND. I am quite sure we have no interest!

I do not know but Howard had been THE stud of whatever team he played on for many years, he may have wanted to get back to that type of situation again. Offensively, he had talent but wasn't athletic enough to play defense at the D1 level. That is why the Montana schools were not interested in him!

Believe me - there have been many discussions between Bubba and Chaves. However, you are not going to hear or read about them unless an extension or termination is to take place.

257??

This one really hurts!!!

An interesting prospect. Must be a bright kid as he has offers from Dartmouth, Bucknell, Columbia, Penn, Valpo & St. Thomas. That may or may not be impressive but he also has PWO offers from UM, IL, Purdue & Wake Forest!

This is a great comparison - I fully agree. Even after we caught up to them in talent in the mid-80s, it took 2-3 years before we beat them. Once we finally did, the wins against them came much easier.

I said I didn't want to debate so I will respectfully disagree! One question: Am I correct that you feel our talent level is equal to either of the SU's?

I intentionally did not mention our competition a few miles south of us - no need to. It will be very difficult for us to again gain supremacy over their program. It would be great if that happened soon but I am afraid it will be a while - primarily because of their culture, their $ and the fact that they land 10-12 kids with great talent every year!

My take on this year's FB recruiting effort: Next week, we will sign 4-5 REALLY talented kids similar to what we have gotten in few years. To really compete for a title, we need 8-10 kids with great talent every year. Many of the rest of the signees will be contributors but not at the difference-maker level we need. It was a hard hit when RB Gilman took a recruiting trip to Bozeman and decided UM would be a pretty good place to play his college ball. We were very sure he was going to commit to us. I have followed our recruiting efforts for many years. We are certainly making improvements in the quality of the kids we are recruiting. However, I know that many of the offerees that we all wanted and were talked about often on this thread, had let us know some time ago that we were no longer among their considerations. This is evidenced by offers we have made in the last few weeks to some kids who had not been highly recruited. I know you can come back with Santiago and a few others who weren't highly recruited didn't turn out too bad. I agree but, as a percentage, not many of them are difference-makers. Without getting into strengths and weaknesses by position, a major need we have is speed - at all positions. Unfortunately, I don't think next week's recruiting class will improve that area to any great degree. Our mediocre results this fall season certainly didn't help recruiting. I am sure there were recruits watching some of our games on ESPN3 or their local TV stations (probably with their dad or FB buddies) with some of our efforts and decision-making creating discussions that were not favorable for UND. For the last 50 years and continuing today, our location creates a huge challenge for our coaching staff to convince kids from S MN, IA, NE, KS, etc. to play their college ball much farther away from their homes (and families/girlfriends, etc.). There are so many schools closer to home than Grand Forks and most kids have to drive by at least three of them to get to GF. Weather is a factor for kids living in much milder climates. These challenges might hurt us further with the new transfer rules (a terrible thing for college sports, in my opinion) making it easier for truly talented kids to move up a level or find a school closer to home. Our facilities do not dazzle many recruits. Phase I was certainly an improvement but we really need Phase II soon. I think there will be an announcement soon but we will be playing catchup as many MVFC schools are (or have in recent years) made significant improvements to their facilities. Many people across the country think SDSU has the best facilities in all of FCS. In proofing the above, it may come across as quite negative. It was not meant to be - only to point out some of our challenges from my perspective. I truly think we can reach the level of being in the top 3-4 in the league each year and making the playoffs most years but a few things need to happen. For us to truly consistently compete at a higher level, most of what we need revolves around money - for facilities, the coaching staff, improving the athletes' college experience, the gameday experience, etc. UND needs to find more $ for athletics and the Champion's Club needs to step up their contributions. If we truly care, people like us need to aggressively (based upon what each of us can do) and actively others to do the same! Feel free to comment but I have no interest in a debate!

I have been updating WIKI and the appropriate thread with UND M & W BB recruiting information since 2011. I will discontinue doing so at the end of the year. I hope someone will take over this task. Feel free to PM me is you have any questions.

New offer: C Alyssa Worth, 6'5", Altoona (Altoona), WI Has offers from IUPUI & Youngstown St Probability of landing her are probably not too good. Lots of schools (including big-time programs) are looking at her!

New offer: G Amiyah Derguson, 5'9", St. Stephens (Timberland), SC Has offer from Hampton

Impressive!!

I fully agree!

For the last 12 years, I have done my best to keep WIKI updated with current football recruiting information. I will discontinue doing so after next week's signing date. I am hoping that someone will take over this task. It is very time-consuming as I include all prospects invited to UND Jr. Days, our home football games and/or summer camps. Also included are any talented kids who had expressed interest in UND on social media and from info on various recruiting websites. Any ND and NW MN prospects who, in my opinion, are potential DI players are included. This amounted to 275 kids on this year's list and there are already 60+ prospects listed for next year's recruiting efforts. You certainly would not need to do that much work. You could just include prospects who receive offers from UND. Of these, you would want to include a section for those who committed to UND along with a separate category noting where the other offerees committed. It is also interesting to include what offers the UND offerees had received from other schools. One other recommendation, it does not work well if more than one person does the input of information. Things get screwed up when two people are entering info at the same time, etc. If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me.