jdub27

Marshall/Miam/UNI/WMU Air Force/Army/Colgate/Columbia/Cornell/Dartmouth/Fordham/Harvard/Lafayette/Illinois State/UNI/NIU/Penn/USD/Yale Good way to end the week.

Bolton and Menk got the study contract. They have a pretty positive reputation in their field from everything I've seen. They have also been around for a long time, so I doubt it is "his son's company". Maybe he's employed there in some capacity but he isn't an owner.

This is accurate from my understanding. While it is what I consider a "soft" cost, it there is some sort of internal transaction between athletics and the University for that is accounted for.

I think that's how you get in trouble with mis-appropriation of funds.... From what has been reported, there were benchmarks that needed to be hit before the City started paying out money and none of those benchmarks had been hit yet.

No one is talking (publicly) and the City doesn't have any money invested yet. Work site has been cleared out for 2 weeks now. I think there are people living in the at least one of the buildings so curious what has been communicated to them considering rent is due on the 1st. Investors are likely going to start talking next week if their monthly payments don't show up.

I've heard it from a few places as well. Not sure it will end up working out but it is in the realm of possibilities.

Difference being the state sole purpose and basis of the REA's non-profit status is to "Support UND Athletics". Something tells me private equity is going to be looking for something a little bit different....

He's only cracks the top 3 worst offenders in Fargo by default...

He should try to get on with Forum Communications!

Yep, word for word exactly what I said!!

Great OC (jury obviously still out) doesn't automatically make a great HC. Countless examples of that being true, including a recent one at UND (with plenty other reasons that it was a giant mess). Or maybe he proves himself for a few years and there is a smooth transition. Who knows.

My interactions with him and watching him have been positive. He played with and is good friends with Pawlak, guessing a slightly different style of coaching though. Pawlak left really big shoes to fill though. Once you've seen him, not hard to pick him out of a crowd. Looks like he could still play tackle with no issues.

Why would a bus league start adding flights? Private schools lose way too much power as well to go along with that.

2 years left on his contract. Considering the facilities improvement he's help oversee along with non-performance related items (academics, community service, budget, etc), I don't see him getting let go a year early because of 2 programs. Would be an interesting question for Armacost on how on field vs off field things weigh into the decision.

Its like you already have your mind made up what your argument is regardless of what you are responding too..... I said based on what he has done compared to peers with the resources he previously had (subpar facilities, low assistant salary pool, nutrition, etc), it wasn't that hard of a decision to give him a few more years as those deficiencies are slowly disappearing. Especially at what is a below market rate. Would be curious who's on this list of what other staffs have done "far more with far less" over the last 3-5 years? Regardless of overall budget, UND's salary pool, particularly assistant coaches, still remains below average. CFO also stated that UND is finally at a level that is with its peers. Not that they've been there for 3, 5 or 10 years. Which is exactly what I previously stated. And he's right, the comparison doesn't mean a ton anyway with how different schools account for different expenses. You made it clear that it doesn't really matter what anyone says or does. You've made up your mind on what is what and it won't be changed even with your super secret behind closed door meetings. It doesn't mean your right (also doesn't mean you're wrong, but if you aren't, you sure don't have great bedside manner on it). But to have that amount of animosity as it relates to college athletics, particularly at UND's level, is kind of wild. I'm sure you're already looking at what is a tough schedule, with UND possibly coming out of the offseason with more losses than gains on their roster and just licking your chops at your chance to rip everyone to shreds so you can feel vindicated about some sort of grudge you apparently harbor.

If you thought they were going to publicly discuss contract negotiations or a specific coaches employment standing in an open public forum, that's probably on you for something that isn't going to happen. A whole lot of reasons, including legal ones, that wasn't going to happen. Now, would it have been fair to go a little more in-depth on expectations? Sure. But call it "talking-points" or whatever you want, most of the reasons that have been made public are a good part of the reasoning. Same dead-horse that's been beaten to death over and over. Basically, haven't been funding at the level we need to (head coach or assistant pool) with subpar facilities and have seen the program continue to improve (slower than most want it to, but it is still trending up). Funding has improved facilities continue to improve and are almost complete. They are giving him a chance, at a lower than market price, with a better hand to play with.

How could that be? They were completely empty for every game of the year is what I read?? Its amazing to watch people who complain about an athletic department not having/spending enough money turnaround and complain when the same athletic department tries to follow along with customer demands and increase pricing to raise more money. Turns out they only want them to raise and spend more money in ways that don't inconvenience them.

I'd argue that you have a pretty short memory.

The amount of people showing up 5-30 minutes before kickoff aren't tailgating. And they are trying to drive through/around barriers and all the people to get to their "spots". Tailgating lots should be closed to vehicles 1.5-2 hours (at minimum an hour) before game time to vehicles. If you have to show up late (which can happen), then you can use your pass to park for free in the regular lots. The amount of empty spots up until close to kickoff for nice weather games is both annoying and sad if you're trying to the promote tailgating atmosphere they are going for. It isn't necessarily the spots that don't have a setup (because as you pointed out, lots of people drive separately), it's the late arrival of way too many vehicles. They walk through the lots and have a pretty good handle on what's going on.

There was discussion on uniforms that weren't green or white if that helps at all...

First year was not what they expected. Pretty sure it was sold out for every game last year even if the seats were empty. While I would prefer the catwalk back, tough to argue when they are pulling that kind of extra revenue. And guessing the Alerus Center isn't pushing for any change there either as they use it for concerts.

Goal song was asked if it would changed, maybe to the school song. They did they do both. A short snip of Chelsea Dagger right into the school song. Best of both. Were open to other ideas for songs or goal horn. North bleachers were done as is because now they can retract them to the wall within minutes and open the practice court up instead of the previous temporary ones that took significant time to move. They can have double the room on short turnaround. Said they wish it could be closer but that tradeoff for more practice space is why they did it. North end was done to try to appeal to more casual/younger fan. Admitted still work to do, ideas didn't work as well as planned and are looking at changes to improve on last year.

Denver will go wherever let's them keep the sports they want and not require them to add ones they don't. It is why they are in the Summit and are very likely to stay in the Summit unless something significant changes.

Wait, I thought the issue was the HC is stuck in his ways and doesn't allow coordinators run things their way? Now the issue is the new guys were doing things somewhat differently?

Fair points but Hauck is an outlier for a couple different reasons given his personality and history. While it was different in 2022 than it is now, probably some merit on the transfer portal thing these days. How many student-athletes are honestly thinking they are going to be at a college for 4-5 years?