jdub27

Both UND and NDSU football almost exclusively practice on the kind of field (grass/turf) and either indoor or outdoor, as close to game conditions as much as they can during the week. As for hockey, if it doesn't matter, I'm confused why the men's team exclusively practices in the Olympic arena before heading to CC or St. Cloud. The UND men's team works with the NCHC to make sure they are out of town for state hockey when it's going to be held in Grand Forks. As for playing Saturday/Sunday, what is the answer for a potential game 3? I seem to remember the exact opposite reaction in 2011 about how ridiculous it was when the women's team played their playoff series at the Purpur. The REA was built to serve the student athletes of UND first and everything else second. Feel free to ask the GM or staff where the priorities are and where they received that directive from. The 10am complaint is pretty weak when you look at any of the other NDHS sports. Volleyball had consolation games starting at 10am, Class A has a consolation game that started at 9:30, Football had a game start at 9:10am. Early morning games aren't something new and they aren't limited to hockey. Sounds like a lot of pointless whining. You think having a 10am game (which almost all other NDHS sports do) is somehow jeopardizing the tournament being in Grand Forks. Wow. Please, pass your concerns on to Jody Hodgson, who is almost definitely the one who made the final call on this, and let us know what he says.

But it was coordinated, someone is just pissy they have to get up earlier. Don't hear this outage when football is played in the early morning at the fargodome.

End of next season (2016-2017).

I'd actually be surprised if there were any that made a profit, though with how accounting works in college athletics, who knows what that actual definition is. My only point is adding on the cost of the buyout of a coach to what is already a money pit at UND is a bad idea, two years would be even worse. Having to go into the last year of a contract with no extension would send a pretty clear message.

Because I really can't think that there is actually any women's hockey who would pay a buyout nor do I think throwing another 6 figures at the women's hockey team is a good idea regardless of how they are doing, I believe that as it sits right now, 2016-2017 is Idalski's final year under his most recent contract extension.

So are you insinuating that the culture has been dependent on an inanimate object all this time? Seems to me you're selling the program short by claiming "Sioux hockey" and its success was somehow attributed to a logo (which has been changed multiple times) or a nickname rather than the time and effort countless players and staff have put in over the last how many decades. While I get what you're trying to say about the idea of "Sioux hockey", you would have to also claim to believe that if UND had remained the Flickertails or picked some other nickname instead of Sioux (before being changed to Fighting Sioux), the program would have been less successful.

I'd tell you that you're wrong but you would know that if you looked at student-athletes that aren't men's hockey players. But that might prevent you from being able to play the victim card since you are being "shamed" so that's understandably inconvenient. Also, I'm not sure how most of the student-athletes could even be all about the Sioux name since I'm pretty sure there isn't a single one left on campus who wore the Sioux name/logo in competition.

I actually like Drick inbounding because of his height and he's a good passer. Short of that, he shouldn't be touching the ball in that situation. Probably safe to guess Geno was rattled from missing the previous free throws but if that is the case, pull yourself, don't give the ball to someone who's a bad free throw shooter. Wonder if UNC wasn't even planning on fouling until Drick got the ball. It becomes a no brainer for them at that point.

Probably a good thing because it is not an exaggeration to say the magazine is 50% ads. Obviously that's how they are able to offer free circulation and as of now, it seems to be working for them.

Ugh, that was terrible. Felt somewhat close at 14-7 halfway through the second until MSU scored to make it 21-7. Still wasn't too bad but then MSU scored 3 TD's in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the half to make it 42-7. Added another TD 5 minutes into the 3rd as the cherry on top. Playmakers and the Tavern were filling up well before the game was over.

With UND currently doing more and more production in house (and possibly more in the future?), hopefully they start adding these things back again because I believe the interest will be there.

Fair enough, my apologies for projecting the wrong opinion.

Do you feel better now?

I think we're on the same page, athletics is the proverbial "front-door" to the University, spend time and money on promoting it across the board (there should be a little extra of both with the nickname saga winding down). In no way am I saying that should fans be coming up with the main marketing ideas/themes/etc. My point is more related to feedback on what they are doing or could tweak/improve. Wasn't there quite a few people who e-mailed them a few years ago to bring back yard signs and they've continued to release them ever since? Again, small but simple example and much more effective than complaining on a message board (though we all know that an eye is kept on this board by multiple people within UND and athletics). As for the NDSU spring game, that's a combination of demand from winning and NBC willing to spend the resources on something they are maybe breaking even on. I do know that there were people contacting both NDSU and NBC wanting it shown. Was it ultimate decider of it getting done? Doubtful, but guessing it didn't hurt.

Without even taking into consideration the huge difference in FargoU folks here vs. UND people on bisonville the last time I read the collective group think-only, the actual amusing thing is the NDSU trolls who spend time to sign up and post on a UND site trying to continuously claim that UND isn't relevant and not seeing the irony in what they are doing.

He was trying to be a prick about it. I'll just lay his argument out since it is obvious where he's going: All student have to pay the activity fees regardless, yet if students want to go to men's hockey games they have to pay even more. It is "unfair" to those who don't buy the tickets, since they are still contributing to fund athletics but not getting the perk of men's hockey games. It's a dumb argument but it is the one he's trying to make. There is a premium on men's hockey tickets, it is what it is and it has been that way since the new REA opened up. However, even excluding men's hockey, UND still offers more athletic events for students to attend free of charge compared to NDSU. Considering NDSU athletics was shot down hard on their attempt to raise student fees (0 for, 7 against, 2 abstaining, 1 absent), I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened with football tickets in Fargo.

Agree across the board. My point all along has been that I know the athletic/marketing department is continuously trying to improve and they know there has been deficiencies. If people have ideas, pass them on. They have been very receptive in the past to ideas from outside sources on what is working or what can be improved since those are the people they are trying to reach. I've done it in the past and will do so in the future. Somehow that equates to being content with the status quo yet complaining on a message board and not offering any input to the people who are responsible for making improvements is supposedly the correct way to go about getting change. It's not the job or responsibility of anyone here, but we all want UND to continue to succeed. Taking a little ownership in helping that out, when many are already doing so monetarily, is really easy to do and can go a long way. A great example is @UNDColorado asking if the spring game will be webcast, letting them know there is interest in people outside the region seeing it. All it took was a simple tweet.

Unfortunately it is going to take more than one game (or a couple games) to get the casual fan back. UND can market until they are green in the face, winning games and making the playoffs will be the biggest driver behind increasing attendance. That doesn't mean they have a free pass and shouldn't put forth any effort into doing what they can to help attract the casual fan, but the product on the field is the tool that will be the main driver.

What schools do people care about in the Summit/MVFC? NDSU and maybe the South Dakota schools? Both conferences have more than their share of what can be considered undesirables.

Second release, they did a small one with the original announcement (August, 2013). I believe it was one shirt and had a very limited run. Looks to be a lot of the same confusion though.

We'll have to disagree on that. The tribes have zero legal standing and only path to ownership of the marks is if UND voluntarily turned them over. Why would UND have a need for a defense to protect them in that situation? The concern isn't that they would have to turn them over to the tribes if they don't use them, it is that UND would lose ownership and the marketplace would become a free-for-all. UND needs to use the marks fore the sole reason of protecting its ownership of them. You keep saying happy family. I'd argue that there wasn't much happiness within UND (and many stakeholders) due to the countless money, time allocated and other resources spent on the situation, detracting from UND's ability to better itself.

Nowhere did I say it was your or anyone else's job to do the marketing for UND. I am simply stating that if people have specific ideas or are going to complain about something they don't like, it makes a lot more sense to do so and pass it on to the right people in hopes of changing something, especially when in the past, they have been very receptive to that input. I'm confused on your comment about being content though. That doesn't make sense that I would be content if I'm taking time to pass on ideas that I think could lead to improvements? That seems to be the exact opposite of being content with everything as is. I guess I disagree with the approach of complaining/venting on a message board because to me, that seems to be the approach that shows very little in terms of wanting to change the status quo. Since you brought it up, what is the approach that you agree with? Secondly, I too am just commenting on what I am seeing. I know that the athletic department is continuously trying to find ways to better promote the other sports, but I'm guessing that job is a lot easier and more effective when they get input from the people the marketing is supposed to be reaching.

Well other than being fairly obvious, Schafer specifically stated that in the article. "I don't see it as some kind of long process because usage isn't defined," Schafer said. "We can define it any way we want, we just have to make sure we have a reasonable chance at legal defense."

E-mail ideas to the marketing staff (Jason Namanny, Alex Kroke) if you have them. From experience, they are very receptive and continuously looking for input from the fans to see what they want and how they think they can make the experience better. Being proactive and providing input is much more helpful than holding your breath.

Or they do a release now and the shelves are clear of Dacotah Legacy Collection items before the new logo and merchandise is released. If they felt they needed to do another release soon, it makes sense to do it a handful of months before the new brand is released rather than the same time or right after.