bisonguy

Why did the ChannelCats fold? Was it lack of a decent facility or lack of interest? I would think if there was enough interest, the fans would have shown up, even to an inferior field. The FM Redhawks average over 4,100 for attendance.

From today's The Forum-NDSU Lobbies NCAA

I ran across this while searching for something else, and thought some Sioux hockey fans that collect stuff might be interested (it's postmarked 1951): It's located here-LINK located about one sixth of the way down the page.

star2city, So, IF UND moves up, they should do so at the convenience of a conference? If UND doesn't have a DI plan, isn't financially capable, or whatever other reason not ready for DI, but a conference spot is open, they should move up? Would any conference want a team in that position? Your references are to weaker conferences that compare to the Mid-Con. An ideal conference spot is not always going to be available for a school moving up. As far as the sly NDSU DI doomsday blather, there are still a lot of scenarios that can play out. There's even been talk of the worst case scenario. Some of the Gateway fans think that the addition of NDSU,SDSU, and UNC would add much needed stability if added to the Mid-Con. Add the fact that the Mid-Con. would then have 12 teams, could split into two divisions, and the conference would no longer be spread all over. And what if you're not at the right place (geographically speaking ) at the right time? You have to play with the cards you're dealt, and try to get a better hand in the future. Remember, Pres. Chapman said the move to DI was for the future of NDSU, not the next two or three years.

The regional format of DII leads towards a few major ranking overinflations. This will cause schedule slip-ups, especially with a team from a region not well known. Angelo State was ranked #24 or #25 when they came to the Fargodome. Moorhead State was more of a "We're DII and you're DII, and we're less than 10 miles apart" game. I think the last Moorhead/NDSU game was worse than any of the UND non-conf. games. 28-0 before the Bison offense set foot on the field

Jim, On the logo subject, I interpreted it as Notre Dame had it in 1887. I have no clue when UND began using the logo, but a picture of the 1899 UND team has no trace of it on their uniforms on the UND website. Anyhow, back to the topic. I thought the Central Washington series for UND was alright. One lopsided victory for each team, and a single score victory for one game. Another problem might be guarantees. If UND isn't ponying up enough dough, the good teams won't show. If the $1,500 payout to Crookston is true, and UND thinks other teams might accept something like that, they won't have any non-conf games at home. I believe NDSU paid $50,000 plus expenses as the default contract for non-conf. games in the 90's. Better teams would receive more.

Notre Dame founded 1842 University of North Dakota founded 1883, 6 years before North Dakota was a state. QUOTE SOURCE Notre Dame Source Looks like UND may have set a precedent for themselves on stealing logos. That, and Notre Dame was using the logo when UND was only 4 years from being a prairie.

GDM, Has Lennon tried any IAA's to fill out an eleventh opponent?

An explanation behind St. Cloud's schedule-LINK ( Bonus Link on the LINK page- Find out who the new celebrity for UND boosters is) I doubt NCC scheduling will be any prettier next year NDSU's D-I move affects St. Cloud By Jeff Kolpack jkolpack@forumcomm.com The Forum - 04/09/2003 North Dakota State

I believe the NCAA would have to change their bylaws that state a school may play at a higher level in a "minor" sport. That, and the fact there would be many athletes held to a different higher standard(DI eligibility vs. DII), spell that the NCAA will do nothing .

A UNC fan from SD said that there is no ice sheet in Vermillion. He supposedly played hockey in SD, and said Yankton might be getting an ice sheet in the future. He said that hockey isn't popular in the Vermillion area, and couldn't see USD having a team for 10 years. Here's another thread about USD hockey -LINK

Sicatoka, When Stauss is playing, NDSU will probably have more of a straight up drop back passing scheme ala St. Louis Rams. Warner isn't mobile, but he has a Superbowl ring

[announcertalk] Tune in for tomorrow's exciting episode of The Bison Files! [/announcertalk]

Jim Tressel was next on the list. I wonder if Gene Taylor contacted him? . He only would have given up about $1,000,000 a year in salary and a few million more in endorsements. If Taylor really wanted Lennon, he would have contacted him. Lennon had already shown that he wants to coach at the DIAA level. In all reality, this thread should have been titled "Gene Taylor respects Dale Lennon's coaching ability".

Time will tell. It's hard to say how casual fans may react to the above teams, but there's a good possibility that it might be favorable. Some of my NDSU classmates couldn't handle going to NDSU BB games, because they said it was at a lower level than they were used to. Most of these guys were from Montana, when their team wasn't that great. Mediocre DI has a greater chance of seeing someone like Beasley(or two or three) that makes the game fun to watch.

Does basketball attendance correlate to hockey attendance in any way? It was stated that BB attendance was at a high in '92 or '93, how was hockey attendance then? If hockey attendance or interest is down, does BB rise to offset it?

That was already tried.

One dilema about USD adding hockey: There is no ice sheet in Vermillion. The closest one is in Sioux City, with one possibly being made in Yankton, SD. I would assume the start-up costs would be fairly expensive for USD to even add a practice facility. If they started up without a practice facility, I doubt the players would enjoy an hour of windshield time to and from practice(that would be from Yankton, Sioux City would be double that).

star2city, I have a feeling that the NDSU/SDSU saga will play out as follows: 1) orphan football conference is founded with other sport conference affiliations to help round out the schedules 2) After probationary period, Big Sky may reconsider NDSU/SDSU membership 3) If Big Sky membership fails, new members will be invited into the new conference for other sports, making it a multi sport conference. A new multisport conference might be made, as another scenario, but this would increase the playoff ineligibility and autobid period. 4) The new conference wil not accept any new probationary members. If they are out of the probationary period, they may receive an invitation.

If UND wants to move up, it certainly would make it easier. I think the reference to the Mid-Cont. is more of a conference affiliation, than a conference membership. The schools not in the Mid-Cont. would be able to schedule a lot of games with the Mid-Cont. teams. Sort of a non-conf. priority scheduling system.

The MoValley is a non-football conference. Most of their members with football teams compete in The Gateway Conference. The MoValley is trying to become a upper level conference, especially in basketball. I was trying to point out that they are looking more for established DI members that would help to improve their status. Notre Dame and North Dakota were used only for reference (that and they both have the same logo for football ).

The synopsis I have received on the Mid-Con is that if your BB team sucks, you're in. Valpo essentially runs the conference, and doesn't want anybody to take their autobid. The voting members are Valpo, Valpo, Valpo, Oral Roberts, and lastly, Valpo. I would rather see NDSU be an indy than end up in the Mid-Con. The Gateway Conference is football only-btw.

Fox News showed a map of this proposed conference, as opposed to the Big Sky. Although the farthest travel distance was about the same (ND to CA), the schools were not as spread out as they would be in the Big Sky.

star2city, After extensive DI conference reasearch and input from intelligent DI fans, the MoValley conference would be a UND pipedream. The Horizon might be a possiblity. The MoValley is trying to get rid of the "mid-major" label, and become one of the Big Boy conferences. They're trying to attract the Notre Dame's, not the North Dakota's.

Sicatoka, Nice idea twist. Do you think that it might be a handicap to have other established hockey teams in the area, though? Look at the support for the Ice Sharks in the FM area, where there is supposedly such a grand desire and support for a hockey team.