UND92,96

I believe the problem is that they still desperately want to believe they are an athletic peer, and in particular a football peer of Boise State. And not that many years ago, they were. But for it to happen again would likely require Boise State to crash down to earth, as opposed to Idaho improving to the extent that would be needed to get anywhere near Boise's current level. Dropping down to FCS would be seen as acceptance of the fact that Boise State has left them behind--a bitter pill to swallow, I'm sure.

From siouxfootballinsider:

Mike Boschee is the new head coach at Bemidji State: http://www.grandfork...group/homepage/ Also, Pete Stewart has resigned at Minot State: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/240551/group/homepage/

Williams is their only returning first team all conference player (the rest were seniors).

IMO, it's an apples to oranges comparison to compare what Muss and Jones make to what long-time coaches like Stieg, Glenn and Boots make. Muss will be making about $15k more than what Meierkort made last year. Had anybody other than Glenn taken the USD job, I suspect his salary would have been less than $115k. If Stieg left and SDSU promoted an assistant, would he make more than $115k? Doubtful. A far more valid comparison would be what UND pays Brewster compared to the new hire at USD. I'm guessing Brewster is making significantly more.

Vandrovec blog on salaries of the UND coaches as compared to the other Dakota dI schools: http://terryvandrovec.tumblr.com/

Not sure if anybody's been watching the Olympic trials for swimming, but former Grand Forks resident Rex Tullius advanced to the semi's today in the 200m backstroke, finishing with the fifth-best time overall. I went to law school with his dad at UND from 1993 to 1996.

I think the argument would be that ideally you'd like to have one home court, and that Hyslop seemed like something close to the ideal size for this particular market--large enough to hold 5000 or so, but not so large as to seem cavernous when things aren't going well attendance-wise. But if it couldn't realistically be renovated in a cost-effective manner, i.e. significantly less than entirely new construction, then it's probably a moot point, anyway.

I don't know whether tearing it down would be the answer, and did not mean to give that impression. I do hope that there is a long-term plan to utilize the property in a different way from how it's currently being used. I had hoped many years ago that the arena portion could be renovated and remain as the home of UND basketball, but was told it wasn't likely to ever happen due to asbestos. I can't recall from whom I got that info, though.

If I'm not mistaken, renovating Hyslop wouldn't be feasible due in large part to the cost of asbestos abatement. But you are correct in that a modernized Hyslop would have been very nice.

At least he can correctly claim that the Forum poll really was way off, after all.

New offer-- Chandler (Az) HS TE Patrick Baldenegro.

Why should the presidents need to get involved?

Looks like Haugen is indeed done: http://undathletics....-tech-transfer/ Given his position, lack of playing time this past year and the fact that he's already been on scholarship for four full years, this probably isn't much of a surprise

The only question now is: who is leaving to open up the scholarship for Nash? I have a pretty good idea, but am not going to speculate out of respect for whomever the player is.

He was a sophomore this past year.

If the Boot re-opens, it will apparently be under new ownership: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/236623/

Per a Tom Miller tweet, Jaron Nash of Texas Tech is transferring to UND. Nash is 6'8", but is quite thin, as he was listed at just 180 pounds this past season.

I found it somewhat interesting that according to the poll, a clear majority of voters in Grand Forks, Cass and Burleigh Counties are apparently planning to vote "yes", whereas a clear majority of Ward County voters are apparently planning to vote "no". I guess Soderstrom has managed to at least convince a lot of people in his home county, although I highly doubt it will be such a landslide "no" victory in Ward County in June.

Poll shows support for retiring Fighting Sioux name: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/236548/

There is apparently going to be an article in tomorrow's Forum regarding the results of a poll commissioned by Forum Communications of 500 likely voters on this particular issue. Today's article dealt with the poll results as they pertained to Measure 2. Should be quite interesting. http://www.thedickin...ticle/id/58042/

I just think hanging up on a Herald reporter and flat out refusing to talk simply breeds speculation as to what's going on, thereby creating PR which is at least as bad, if not worse than any alleged health department issues (which may or may not even be factual--at this point we don't know). If there are, in fact plans to re-open, it seems reasonable to simply say to the media: "repairs/renovations are being made, and we expect to re-open in X weeks." The way it was handled suggests they have something to hide, and/or they're permanently closed. EDIT: A more detailed Herald article has now been posted, confirming the health department issues due to a leaky roof: http://www.grandfork...icle/id/236146/

I hope it does re-open, but this Herald article makes it sound like nobody wanted to comment--why so secretive if it is just an issue with a leaky roof?: http://www.grandfork...icle/id/236146/

I must admit I wasn't a frequent visitor, but this is kind of sad given how long they had been in business.

Agreed--SCSU has shown they are quite willing to drop football.