Matt

Call me when Saul wins something with his own recruits. edit: f***ing troll.

I would have thought that, given where Jones' salary ranked relative to other BSC coaches going into the season, he would have earned a raise to push that ranking a bit higher after this succussful season. It seems the department just doesn't have the money to give out, so Faison extends years rather than dollars. Problem is, we've seen that the number of years in the contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on. The coach can leave at any time, and the school can fire and claim they are doing it for cause & force the fired coach to sue. The coach doesn't honor the years any more than the school does. The up front dollars mean way more than tacking on years at the end of the contract.

I'm not sure I've seen them (twin cities media/MN Pols/UofM Reps) turn on one of their own like this before. (T Denny Sanford U of M '58) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Denny_Sanford

Well that didn't take long. Once T Denny's name started getting dragged through the mud it all stopped. This was also a good lesson for those in Fargo that think of themselves as more a part of Minnesota...the feeling most definitely isn't mutual. http://www.twincities.com/ci_22996861/sanford-health-backs-out-fairview-merger-talks

I've heard Sanford's goal is to be the next Mayo or Cleveland Clinic, but is Sanford coming off more like Walmart? In the hearings regarding the proposed merger with Fairview (and by extension the U of M medical center), Sanford was referred to just that. From the article-The crowd applauded when he (David Finewachs, a former Minnesota Hospital Association lawyer) said any merger that would give Sanford Health control of the U of M Medical Center and Fairview would be like “selling the public library to Wal-Mart.” As a Sanford patient, I don't see it this way but I'm starting to wonder if they've overreached with this one. http://www.startribune.com/local/201869801.html

No, no. This was post 1990 when Rocky had to rely on his own recruits to win. Not simply winning with Earle's guys like he did in 88 & 90. Check the record from '91-'96 and you'll see the fruits of his "blessings". The standing O was a nice warm and fuzzy though.

Oh, yes..deserving of the the ND spirit. I'm sure that means a lot in an Illinois living room. Reminiscent of the recruiting speech Rocky gave us on the visit to the ac back in the day. We should just feel so special that we deserved the attention of the mighty ndsu...such a privilege to be there. Didn't really work out well for 'ol Rock in the end.

That's a straw man argument. We know for a fact this wasn't just some team building event. You don't announce the delay of spring ball because you want the team to shovel. Even so, I don't personally have an aversion to shoveling or doing any other manual labor for team building. My problem is the contrast that every viewer saw when they watched that (and that is the highest rated news program in the region). The ac is starting spring ball on their practice field with snow removed to the endzone and sidelines. UND delaying the start of spring ball while the players themselves are shoveling and hauling snow away. Put any "in my day we walked to school both ways barefoot in the snow" spin on it you want to, but that scene is not something you'd prefer to include in your recruiting presentation.

You are absolutely right. Their arms will not detach from shoveling or sandbagging-in the event of a natural disaster. I'd suggest there is some middle ground between treating players like gods on earth & delaying practice while they remove their own snow.

Pulled this off b'ville. Someone want to make another argument that the snow melted off considering the snow in the stands, endzone, and sidelines? pretty obvious there is a lot of snow there which has been somehow moved off the field of play into the endzones & sidelines.

...therefore, if there is snow present it is the players' responsibility for snow removal? I don't know how much snow was or wasn't on Dacotah Field, but I do know the practice fields at Nemzek in Moorhead were snow covered until the physical plant personnel removed an area for the football team to practice. "Here's the choice you have to make son. Both coaches will tell you how important you are to the program, and how much they want you but really take a look at how you are treated. Here you will be given every opportunity to win another national championship. There you will be delaying spring ball while you shovel snow off of your field because the football program isn't important enough for the maintenance staff to handle it...and I can assure you that the hockey team that plays in the best facility in the world will not be doing their own building and grounds maintenance." I came up with that off the top of my head. Think of what other coaches will say.

Maybe I'm overreacting to this, but any thoughts on why the hell the players are doing their own snow removal from Memorial? Do they do roof repair on the Betty as well, or is facilities maintenance unique to the football squad? It was absolutely embarrassing to watch the ac football team practicing on a clear field, to be followed by the story of the UND football team delaying the start of spring ball while video footage showed the team removing snow. AC players may talented at collecting signatures, but I would bet a paycheck they were not shoveling snow. Even MSUMs physical plant personnel removed snow from their practice field last week to ensure the dragon football team could practice.

When you've won what, 45 straight games?...seems it doesn't much matter where they play.

Sports Network Big Sky Spring guide-a mention for Hardin, and the spring practice dates. Respect has to be earned people. http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/writers/infcshuddle/archive/haley_03_11_2013.htm

I'm proud of how far the program has come, and the outcome in Minneapolis won't change that (if it seems like I'm writing off this game-I am). The real work for this program starts next year IMHO.

Look, I'm as disgusted as anyone that STA rolls through class A, but H'town gave up a 4-2 lead in the 3rd period. There were plenty of chances for them to win that game. That said, if that STA player doesn't hold/interfere with the Hermantown player, the H'town guy clears the zone and they go to OT. It was particularly bad when a soft holding call was called on H'town to put STA on the power play in the first place. Then the H'town player gets absolutely mugged, and if he doesn't keep his balance like he did, and flops like the STA kid did to draw the earlier penalty, it is H'town on the PP in OT. Not like it matters, but I see STA going the way of Holy Angels anyway.

STA isn't just a good AA level team. They are great. There's been many match-ups between top AA and A teams over the years that weren't the trainwrecks we've had the misfortune of witnessing at this year's tourney. This is an EGF team that lost 4-3 at Moorhead (granted, one of the worst teams Moorhead has sent to state in recent years) in mid-January. Bottom line, normally the difference between a A tournament team and a AA tournament team isn't normally 11-0. STA should be embarrassed they've hung around in A this long.

I'd be interested to know how often a league bylaw has been changed in the history of the conference.

School district personnel have a responsibility to assign punishment in this instance just as they would if those kids uttered expletives to a teacher in the school. You've stated here already that you hate what this stands for, so clearly you think it is serious. This is far beyond a "wait till your father gets home" offense. Red River High School, and "students wearing KKK garb" have been associated in news stories nationwide. I'm not even getting into a debate as to the newsworthiness (if that's a word) of the story. That fact is self evident not only by the number of news organizations running the story, but even more so by the interest level of the average citizen in the story. People are taking the time to discuss this because they are interested. That's news. As for the first ammendment? There is well established case law on school's ability to curb 1st ammendment protections. And even so, the problem here is the propriety of what they were expressing in that time and place, not some act of defiance in their (the students) legal ability to express it. Had those kids worn that garb at a lawfully organized clan march downtown, you wouldn't see the school acting in this manner.

I don't read so many posts anymore which hold up sdsu as the program to emulate.

I have to know...what exactly are the social strata in Grand Forks, ND pop 52,631, and what does that get you?

Unless you care to identify yourself as Gene Taylor himself, I'll simply go by the good things members of the athletic department have had to say about scheduling UND, and take Gene's comments on the public record regarding football scheduling at face value. Take heart though, your opinion on this comes in a very close second.

Again, except for the small, as yet ignored fact that GT schedules UND already. Which, quite obviously shows that while GT has a reason for not moving ahead with a football contract, UND being an unreliable business partner isn't it. Some fans have difficulty separating their own perception of something even when facts are contradictory.

When was the last time the home schedule was this ugly for the ac? With Illinois State graduating Brown, after the UNI game the playoffs are the only thing to get excited about. That puts a heckuvalot of pressure for home field.

By "fast track" do you mean move out of D2 fast track, or indoor practice facility fast track?