Hammersmith

Okay, that's just a silly argument. Number of conferences UND will be in after Big Sky: 5 (NCHC, Big Sky, swimming & diving, baseball, men's golf) Number of conferences UND would be in after Summit: 3 (NCHC, Summit, football) From a commonality perspective, the Summit is a much better fit than the Big Sky. Go ahead and use other arguments to support Big Sky over Summit, but not that one. Personally, I think UND would be better off in the Summit in the long-term, but you guys are now locked into the Big Sky so it's a moot point and not worth rehashing all the pros and cons.

I don't think so. I went back to the link to the Alerus Center calender and the press conference has disappeared. Nothing rescheduled yet.

The announcement of a major donation is possible, but the odds of a construction announcement is near zero. If the money was there, the university wouldn't be requesting a re-authorization of the project from the legislature since the current authorization is good for another 12 months. I doubt that a Sanford donation is coming because I'm nearly certain they would require UND to switch sports medicine providers to them and Altru would have made a fuss that would've gone public by now. I doubt Altru is ready to give a large chunk of money considering the expansion plans they've been forced to accelerate. I suppose a logo announcement is the most likely reason for Wednesday's press conference, but it's also true that Midco Sports is hiring personnel in GF and that implies additional coverage of UND athletics. There will eventually have to be some kind of announcement over exactly what that entails, and this would be a good time for it. That's what prompted my comment.

Ask again after Wed. (just a guess)

Since it's 30min to kickoff and no one has posted anything, I used your wiki page to create a list: Commits playing for ND TE Tucker Nordby DL Conrad Schwartkopf LB Jake Watson DB Devin Coyle Commit playing for MT DB Kodee Varner Prospective playing for ND DB Preston Tescher

Does UND have any recruits or potential recruits playing in today's Badlands Bowl? I don't know if it's televised, but the radio broadcast might be available at http://www.kdix.net/ . Game starts at 7pm CST. Video might be available at http://www.beksports.com/

Just so things remain clear, the bolded section is true in North Dakota right now and will remain true whether measure #1 passes or fails. All measure #1 does is allow ND legislators to be appointed to jobs when that job has received a pay raise no greater than the general rate of all state full time employees. Every once in awhile, a sitting legislator might be the best person for a state job. While there are a LOT of idiots in the legislature, there are also some good people with a great deal of experience. This law would keep those people in the applicant pool even if the job in question received a standard wage increase(like 1-3%). That being said, I'll probably be voting against it just because the sponsor of the bill is Al Carlson. My likely vote: No, No, No, Abstain(as long as it doesn't invalidate my ballot - yes otherwise)

That's an NFL rule, not NCAA.

BTW, NDSU has also scheduled Iowa for football in either 2014 or 2016. So that part of the statement is wrong in two out of the three cases.

A total of four coaches are allowed for women's basketball(including head). Non-coaching positions like director of basketball operations do not count toward that total.

For those that occasionally wander over to Bisonville, Chris posted under the name Notorius. Also our radio voice, Scotty Miller, was just diagnosed with melinoma. He's getting treatment right now and hopes to take back his Redhawks broadcasting duities by the end of the month. As petey said, not a great time in the Bison family right now.

Measure 1: Currently, legislators cannot be appointed to positions while also holding their seat. The measure doesn't change that. Also currently, a legislator cannot be appointed to a brand new position. That also isn't changed by the measure. Finally, the current law says a legislator cannot be appointed to a position whose pay has been increased during that legislative term. This is the part that the measure wants to change. Instead of saying that any increase at all makes legislators ineligible, the new wording allows for pay increases up to the general rate of increase for all state employees. In other words: Say an appointed job got a 2% cost of living increase as part of a general pay raise to that entire department. Under current law, a legislator couldn't be appointed to that job. Under the new law, they could. But say the job got a 5% raise while the general rate of increase was 3%. A legislator could not be appointed to that job under both the old and new versions of the law. I can see why the legislature wants this law modified. The original law created an unintential situation where standard pay increases made legislators ineligible for those jobs. The letter and spirit of the law doesn't match up as it currently reads. My biggest issue with it is that it's sponsored by Al Carlson. Hate that guy.

If you don't, I'm breaking out the unused torches and pitchforks that we stockpiled in case Bohl would've started Mohler last weekend. And crap. I was told most or all of the money had already been raised. A bare minimum of $16MM is "in the bank"(Sanford's $10MM + $6MM from the previous campaign), and someone in the know confirmed other major donors(though not on the $10MM scale). It's looking like today is Sanford's day, and the smaller donations will be quietly announced later(probably on the gobison website). Hopefully we're well over $20MM, and even over $25MM. That would still give us a chance to start on Phase A this spring.

Do you really think(or know) the amount slated for athletics is higher than $40 million? I just can't think of any realistic projects that could consume more money. The IPF will take something like $30 million, correct? I guess a full reno of Hyslop could be on the horizon; that would be at least $20 million. But I think we would have heard about that as part of the facility master plan. I'm pretty sure an outdoor track is on the wish list, but that's not more than a million or two. Same for the soccer, baseball and softball fields. I can't see UND spending more than a couple million on all three combined(and that would include some city/park money). Unless there is going to be a separate category for athletic scholarship endowments, I just can't see the athletic portion of the campaign going beyond $40 million. If some of you know different, can you enlighten a poor fool with a couple hints? Oh well, after you finish your $300 million campaign, we'll have to do a $500 million one. Then you'll do a $750 million, then we'll do a $1 billion. Then both schools will get sucked into a black hole of our own making. Que sera sera.

Dammit; browser ate my message. Take two. Maybe we have different versions of a long way off(seriously, not sarcastically). I could easily see a bubble-enclosed field within 5 years of the BSA project, and a permanently enclosed field within 10. That's short- and mid-term to me. And it's not like we're talking about a massively expensive building here, just a metal shell with a little space for equipment storage. $3-5 million, perhaps? All of the expensive stuff will already be in the Fargodome and BSA. And my comments about a specialized building were more to do with track than football. I know we'll never be an Oregon, but T&F is one of our best sports, and I love that we take it seriously. T&F shouldn't have to share a building with every other team and their cousins when the T&F/CC seasons stretch almost the entire year.

OMG OMG OMG You mean the $300 million outdoor football stadium with the retractable roof and solid gold urinals? Or do you mean the $300 million campus-wide fundraising campaign that has about $30-40 million slated for athletics? (psst, I think it's this one) Where the heck do you get the psychological drama from? I meant to close the thread down in a housekeeping kind of way. You're the one who started this thing almost four years ago. I figured it was time to finally start closing it off now that it's finally over. BTW, isn't there a promise by you somewhere in this thread that UND would have its indoor practice facility long before NDSU got a renovated BSA? Just asking.

The tennis courts needed to be moved anyway. They are in horrible condition and isolated from the rest of the general student facilities. Maybe they can find a way to build four new courts close to the wellness center. Maybe as part of a recreational swimming addition at some point. As for the size and lack of a football field in the middle, I've got no problem with that. We can throw a bubble over Dacotah in the short-term(it will now be protected on three sides), and one field could be permanently enclosed at some point in the future when they tear down the north stands and flip the fields N/S. In the long-term, having specialized facilities will be better than one facility trying to do everything(a major complaint with today's BSA). And I'm pretty sure the track is going to be banked; we'll know for sure in a couple hours.

Now that it's official, we can bring up this thread one last time before closing it out. In about three hours, NDSU and Sanford will be announcing a $36 million donation from Sanford and several others. $31 million will go into the BSA, about $3 million will go into a indoor track facility just west of Dacotah Field, and about $2 million will go to paying off the Development Foundation loan that helped pay for the football office complex in the Fargodome. Details will come at 2:00, but construction will almost certainly begin this winter or spring.

I believe the classroom building is slated for the open spot just south of the pay lot(next to the engineering complex and kiddie-corner from the IACC). I think the lab building will either go next to Sheppard Arena or in its place(after it's torn down). The library is set to go just west of the IACC where the campus police station is(that whole corner). I also believe most of University Village will eventually be torn down and replaced with higher density apartment buildings like the new ones that just went up. There is also space near the new dorms(LLCs) to build two more if needed. Much of the next wave of construction will actually involve the re-use of spaces. There are a lot of buildings on campus that are really wastes of valuable real estate. Many of those are targeted for demo and rebuild as money becomes available. One last thing: It's in the long-term plan to add on to many of the current buildings to reduce the width of the thoroughfares. This is mainly to shield the paths from the wind, as well as maximizing usage of the space.

Just to be clear, lack of room is not the reason behind the downtown campus. Money drove it more than anything. With several vacant office buildings downtown, it was cheaper to buy and renovate than to build new on campus. Also, the first downtown building was the old Northern School Supply that was purchased and renovated by Doug Burgam at little to no cost to NDSU. It's hard to turn that down when the art department needed new digs for over 30 years. When you factor in the economic benefits of 3000 students living, working and eating downtown, it really was a no-brainer to expand the downtown campus rather than stretch out the main campus to the west. In the next decade(maybe faster depending on what Monday's announcement contains), several buildings will be added to the main campus including a large classroom building, a large lab building, and a new undergrad library. There are already spots selected for all three buildings. With that construction, NDSU will be able to go beyond the current 16,000 maximum capacity. Whether we do go beyond it is another question entirely.

Tulsa sweeps UND; 25-20, 25-22, 25-23.

Sioux sweep the Coyotes 25-23, 26-24, 25-15. Play Tulsa at 5:00.

I could be wrong, but I think the only way a coach can get part of their salary from the state is if they teach some classes. If a coach has zero classroom teaching duties, then 100% of their pay comes from outside sources(ticket sales, sponsorships, concessions, donations, etc.).

Good luck against Tulsa tomorrow; you're going to need it(I mean this in the best possible way). My god are they good. Their #7 is just amazing. Tonight, the Bison started playing about as well as they did in the third set with you. Tulsa took the first two sets. The Bison came out after the break and raised their level of play to as good as last year and won the 4th set. Then Tulsa took it up yet another notch to win the match. It was a fantastic match to watch even if we did come out on the losing side. I'm pretty sure Tulsa is the best team that has set foot in the BBF in at least the last several years. Maybe ever(I think the only time the Gophers came up they played in the BSA).

UND led just about the entire 1st set. The Bison had 21 or 22 when your gals hit 24. The Bison put about 4 unanswered to win the set. The second set was also very close with the Sioux leading for the first half. The Bison took the lead at that point, but UND kept it tight. The 3rd set felt like a runaway. It didn't feel nearly as close as the score indicates. The Bison tightened up their game and eliminated almost all mistakes, and UND started to fall apart. The Sioux seemed to make more mental errors in the 3rd set than the first two combined. I'm sure it wasn't quite that bad, but that was the mood. UND managed a rally at the end to close the score a little bit, but I never felt the match was in doubt. The Bison are the better team, but your gals are pretty close. I think we would win 8 out of 10, but most would go to four or five sets. The sweep really surprised me. Attendance was 1638 with about 10-15% UND fans. 4th largest crowd in Bison volleyball history.