star2city

With this: DI Task Force My predictions need to change: Seems like the 16th is more likely the date the Task Force report will be forwarded to Kupchella. With that, it seems likely that there will be Big Sky meeting prior to Kupchella making a "decision." By delaying any decision till after the Big Sky meetings, the NCC will still have some semblance of stability if UND stays DII.

It was just a prediction based on hunches, past and future events, and circumstantial evidence. I don't have Kupchella's office bugged or anything.

Would there ever be a chance that Buning would hire an older head coach and pair him with an heir apparent associate coach, like Craig Smith? The program could be set for years.

Why is there more concern about a UND DI move from among NDSU and SDSU fans than among UND fans?

A UND announcement is tentatively scheduled for May 16th. The committee supposedly sent Kupchella their report last week. I would suspect that the Herald will have more coverage preceding and after that date. My predictions remain: Kupchella (very reluctantly ) will announce a DI move on the 16th (possibly contingent on obtaining conference affiliation). One week later, on May 23rd, the Big Sky will announce an interest in expansion. By late summer, possibly fall, the Big Sky will announce the addition of UND, NDSU, and SDSU.

Thanks bin, but if your wish came true, all us Sioux fans would really be in trouble. I don't have a problem whatsover with aff (or whoever) posting here. But his posting history shows an unusual concern with SDSU two years ago, and now he/she wants to present himself as a concerned Sioux fan or at a minimum, an unbiased poster.

WDAY is reporting that Craig Smith will be applying.

From this story, [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=125786

My ideal candidate would be in his late 40's or early 50's that is willing to stay around and build a program based on basketball fundamentals. Not to say that can't happen with someone younger, but the enticement of a bigger DI program is awfully tempting (for positive and negative reasons).

2. Wait and see. It's O.K. to be a Doubting Thomas. 3. On what basis can you say GF businesses are maxed out in their support of UND? Been to Manhattan (KS), or Lawrence, or Ames, or Fayetteville (AR) or even more appropriately Bozeman, Missoula, Laramie, or Moscow? Businesses in those cities are probably maxed out. 5. You don't seem to understand. There was hope that GF would be a championship hosting city an a regular basis in DII. Hosting NCAA championships or even regionals as a way of gaining visitors is not viewed as a reasonable hope anymore (except in the case of hockey, if the nickname is resolved). 6. Name change - there is no intention, yet, to change the nickname or renovate the REA. With the transition, there is no playoffs, so hosting or uniforms are not an issue. A DI transition is the perfect time to deal with the nickname issue (court appeals, etc.).

Reasons UND didn't move at the same time as NDSU/SDSU 1. DI rules have changed since NDSU/SDSU moved up. UC-Davis' appealed the 13 year rule for getting into the Big Dance and the rule was changed to five years if in an autobid conference (but remains 13 years without a conference). That was a huge rule change and is often forgotten. 2. No conference was available and with the 13 year rule, there wouldn't have been a chance of getting in a conference for at least 10 years - NDSU/SDSU blindly took the plunge with this issue. 3. Their DI move occurred whan Grand Forks was still in a flood recovery mode - a major new tax for local resident for a dike assessment was upcoming. The local businesses were in no mood for supporting UND to move up. GF has a new confidence now that it understandably didn't have four years ago. 4. The REA was just coming on line and there was too much uncertainty in determining how much the REA would contribute to UND athletics. Would a sold-out REA continue for hockey or would average attendance would drop back down to 6000? In other words, there was too much uncertainty regarding ticket revenue. 5. UND was scheduled to host the 2005 DII men's basketball championships and held out hope that it would be a future host of the DII football and women't basketball championships. Local civic organizations saw DII as an way to attract visitors. The 2005 basketball tournament did not meet expectations (no local teams didn't help) and it has become all too clear that DII would not support a DII championship game at the Alerus. 6. The whole nickname issue makes the next few years an ideal time to move up. IMO, those are pretty compelling arguments for why UND needed to act independently of NDSU/SDSU and in UND's best interest. Unfortunately, too many NDSU/SDSU fans seem to think that UND should act in the best interest of NDSU/SDSU. Funny, most of your posts are SDSU related or SDSU defensive, 89rabbit has initials of "aff", and 89rabbit seems active on every board but this one. Sorry for the mistake, apparently jumped to a conclusion based on too few coincidences.

Aff (a.k.a. 89rabbit): Your SDSU Jacks have like 42 scholarships for DIAA football, when the limit is 63. Does that mean that since SDSU can't give out its full compliment of scholarships, that it is worthless as a D-I school? That seems to be your argument. If 100 DI athletic directors were polled about which former NCC school or UND is most prepared to go DI, the resounding answer would be UND, not only because of nearly 1/4 of a billion $'s worth of facilities but because it annually averages nearly 400,000 paying fans a year since the Ralph and the Alerus were built. Those type of facts put UND head and shoulders above any other former NCC school. If UND has an achilles heal (at present), it is its lack of an athletic endowment. But guess what, SDSU doesn't have an endowment worth speaking of and neither does NDSU. If UND is so incapable of making a move to DI, why are you and so many Bison fans so infatuated with a UND DI prospect? (a) concerned that athletes will go to UND rather than SDSU? (b) in denial that a DII school can obtain DI conference membership?

What is the last day to apply? What is the date that Kupchella announces? If the last day to apply is before the DI announcement, that would be a major mistake IMO.

If someone sends in a check for $50 K, conditional on playing Mesa, I'm sure Buning would reconsider.

Informed hockey fans recognize that one day, it may be in the hockey program's best interest for the entire department to be DI. (as in steps needed to position itself, in the eventuality of a Big Ten Hockey conference )

The legislatures allocate those funds, not the institutions. Look at it this way. With the REA budget of $6 Mill and a UND athletic budget of $10 million, a combined UND/REA needs to obtain revenue of $16 million to stay even. UND is already raising more than double the amount of any of the comparison schools from ticket sales/booster clubs/donations. That speaks volumes about the type of support UND already has and also raises the question of how much more can be loaded on the Sioux fans / alumni. School . Budget . .Fees/St Support UND/REA $16 mill - $3 mill = $13 million raised from community (ticket sales/booster clubs/donations/concessions etc) UNH $20 milll - $13.5 mill = $ 6.5 mil raised from community Maine $13.4 mil - $6.95 = $6.45 mill raised from community NDSU $ 8 mil - $ 3 mill = $ 5 mil raised from community SDSU $ 5.5 mil - $ 2.5 mil = $ 3 mil raised from community

The MidCon has the choice of a number of schools to add as a baseball affiliate. The pecking order would probably be something like this: Texas-Pan Am (weather) Dallas Baptist (weather, only DI in baseball) Northern Colorado (tradition, no competition from CU and CSU) NDSU (great facility) Utah Valley State SDSU IPFW UND By adding two Texas schools and Northern Colorado, the MidCon could almost be a southern conference for baseball, which would help all its baseball programs. Centenary Oral Roberts Texas-Pan Am Dallas Baptist Northern Colorado Oakland Southern Utah Western Illinois Valparaiso For UND, barring building a domed stadium or being a full member of the MidCon, there isn't much hope of it ever having DI conference affiliation for baseball (or softball, for that matter).

katohtr: By your comments, do you believe UND baseball is likely to be cut if we go DI? Is there a lot of financial support from baseball alums - any sugar daddies that would finance an on-campus field? What would be your personal response if UND were to cut baseball?

Anchorage Daily News: Kuper's selection leaves him a mile high

The manner in which AD's go about filling their head coaching slots has changed. Twenty years ago, an opening gets posted and interested candidates apply. Now, any candidate can still throw his name in, but the press will release his name signaling to his current employer he is ready to move on. Unless the AD has previously informally contacted him- a type of precreening, he really has no chance anyway and his resume just gets thrown in the circular file and the act of applying undermines his current position. If anything, I would say Smith's behavior reflects very positively on him.

The parallel breaks down when you consider that UND will likely be DI soon. Consider if Lennon had applied for a UND DIAA head coaching position from from an NAIA U of Mary vs a DII U of Mary. A jump from NAIA to DIAA may have been considered too much of a stretch, while from DII to DIAA wouldn't have been. When making a head coaching decision, an issue that has to be considered is what type of staff will be assembled. This certainly may not be fair, but a coach direct from the NAIA ranks may not be able to attract the staff for recruiting and scouting that an otherwise better-known coach could.

You mean like Holy Cross? Actually, although its not thought of in this way and its usually not organized, many fans already do that: using the Lord's name in vain mixed in with other profanities. Been to an art museum lately? Certain elements of society find smilar expressions perfectly acceptable "as art". Both types are obscene. Sitting Bull was a warrior and a leader, attributes Christ also has. Arguably, it should actually make you feel more accepted, because of the victory that is meant to be represented, even if it is used imperfectly by imperfect human beings.

Became a fan of Jeremy Bloom, draftee of the Philadelphia Eages, after this quote:

IMO, Craig Smith needs one additional position on his resume (as a DII head coach or a DI assistant) before he would be the odds-on-favorite for the UND position. The jump from NAIA to (likely) DI is just too much of one-time promotion. That said, I think the new UND coach is likely to be an established (i.e. winning) DII coach who'd relish an opportunity at the DI level.

You may be correct that UND would have to be a larger entrance fee, but that pales in comparision with what NDSU and SDSU had to incur with travel issues and no conferences. Hypothetically, UND wouldn't be even eligible for conference reimbursements until it is fully DI eligible (three years after NDSU/SDSU). BTW, DI conference fees are not normally paid upfront but are "paid" by not receiving conference profit sharing for several years. The Big Sky's entrance fee is probably around $250,000 (correct me if I'm wrong). The Big Sky's average disbursement is probably around $50 - 150 K / year depending on the years and # of NCAA wins, so it would take 2-4 years before any new school received $'s. SDSU didn't seem to have problems scheduling Montana and Georgia Southern, even with its pitiful ramp rate of football scholarships (36 to 39 to 43?), whereas NDSU was begging to schedule those teams. Seems the Big Sky teams would prefer a UND not a full strength.