jdub27

For someone who doesn't have a clue on who is actually making what calls and decisions in regards to philosophy/personnel/play calling/etc before even factoring in player execution as part of the equation, you seem to assign a lot of blame. We get it, you aren't satisfied. Not sure if anything short of what has happened 75 miles south would get you there. You think things could have been done differently, which is easy to do when you have the benefit of hindsight and no proof on how your decision would have played out, good or bad. Even when you are presented with facts that show your observations aren't exactly accurate, you're dismissive of it and continue on with your own narrative. Everyone on this board wants the same thing, for UND to succeed. It is on the staff to evaluate and learn. The fans are allowed to be happy. Trying to enjoy being 3-2 after the opening stretch of games UND just went through isn't a crime, even if there is room for improvement, which I don't think I've seen anyone deny. But continuously spending time ripping on the staff and/or players and ignoring that maybe the teams UND plays aren't half bad seems like a lot of wasted energy. The team and coaches aren't perfect. Mistakes will be made. But there will also be a lot of things that will go right. It's OK to let some of the mistakes go, hope they learn from it and enjoy the things that have went right, especially when the game ends in UND's favor.

It was posted a few hours after the game was over:

Did you even read it or just not understand what it was saying? It rated them strictly on looks from the outside. Nothing more, nothing less.

I feel like there is a different yet somewhat comparable situation where people can't be asked to do something that inconveniences themselves for the betterment of the athletic department but can't quite put my finger on it. Do they really support UND it just their own personal feelings?

You're projecting. You are the one who is continously predicting all this movement. The Summit is more stable now than it has been in a long time with a core of the Dakota schools, Omaha and St. Thomas. Denver isn't going anywhere unless they adjust their sports offerings, which they don't want to do. UMKC and ORU already left and came back and the Roo's aren't intriguing to anyone else.

Two of the three teams you mentioned already have left the league and came back because their other options were worse than the Summit. And you continue to insist that teams that are hundreds of miles further away than those three want into the Summit so.....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Disagree. If needed, the NCAA would grant a waiver just like they did when Omaha was transitioning. There would be a plan to get back in compliance, that's all they care about. Why would the Summit sponsor a sport no existing members have and have no reason to start? I mean they aren't going to sponsor FBS football in the current landscape either but you supposedly where done talking about that when your self-imposed deadline of July 1 passed but we all knew that wasn't happening either.

Ralph's stated goal when building the arena was that the students were to get the best seats in the arena, which is why they were put at center ice. Not sure that can of worms will be opened.

Boltman got moved to WR for a reason, and it wasn't because an abundance of talent in the QB room. His athleticism makes him perfect to come in and run the "Brockstar" formation because the defense has to respect that he was a QB and can throw the ball but he doesn't have the accuracy to play QB regularly. Freund is making the call on who's starting. He was a QB, he's in practice every day watching, he knows what he needs from the QB position to win. They went with Kett because that's who they thought gave them the best chance to win after 2 weeks of prepping for EWU. A bit surprised they didn't throw Schuster in at some point during the second half at EWU but he will get another shot, possibly even this week, just not sure if he's quite where he needs to be quite yet despite his 2nd half showing against SHSU, which was incredibly impressive. Exactly

It's much more likely the WAC adds football, but at an FCS level. I could see some schools moving to the WAC for football in that scenario. However it remains incredibly unlikely that the WAC resurrects as an FBS G5 conference. There isn't the support or financial backing from enough schools in the west to make it viable.

You don't have a clue what explanations I've been give or what my reactions to them have been, but thanks for the call out anyway. I'll clue you in: In no shape or form has it been 100% acceptance/agreement, which is why I have offered opinions and suggestions that I think can help to make things better, even if it is small things. Does it make a difference? Maybe, maybe not, but at least I can say I'm putting effort in instead of just complaining about it. And as with everything in life, there are some things that either take time or will be very hard to change, whether you want to accept it or not. But actually hearing about those things straight from those who's job it is to make things work and what steps they are trying to make it happen makes a big difference one perceives things. So again, while you continue to pontificate on here that you "refuse to accept" how things are and how they need to change, you actually mean it so much that you won't take the time to contact the AD yourself with comments or suggestions with a simple e-mail. What conviction...

I'm hoping you finally took the time to contact him yourself since your silence was defeaning the other day when you skipped answering my question.

Total athletic "revenues"

This doesn't count all school/state funds (which is a separate shell game), only direct, allocated student fees, shown as a percentage of total athletic "revenues": UND - 12.6% NDSU - 5.3% SDSU - 10.4% USD - 15.3% NDSU has been pushing for a few years to increase their student fees and keep getting shot down by the student government. The last time was due to incredibly poor planning by the athletic department during their presentation, assuming they were going to get a rubber stamp. It ended with the students actually giving up some seats and reducing fees slightly, which made sense for both parties, students had few seats, which they weren't using all of most game anyway and the athletic department got more seats to sell and the money they were looking for in the first place. The athletic department can now also sell unused student tickets the few days before game day.

Prelim schedule, likely 1-2 more updates (additions/subtractions) Non-Conf vs. Crown College (D3) @Gonzaga @Valparaiso @Milwaukee @Minnesota vs. North Central (D3) @FGCU @Georgia Southern - FGCU tournament @Campbell - FGCU tournament @Montana @Eastern Washington vs. Seattle vs. Northland College (D3) @Nebraska Conference @Denver vs. IPWF (Sunday) vs. Omaha (Wednesday) @ORU @SDSU @NDSU (Saturday) vs. Denver (Thursday) vs. WIU (Saturday) @IPFU vs. ORU (Thursday) vs. USD (Saturday) @WIU vs. SDSU (Wednesday) vs. NDSU (Saturday) @Omaha @USD Non-conference away games seem to be slightly higher profile this season Overall, home schedule is similar to last year. 5 non-conference homes games with two being D1 games. Woof. Seattle fell through, Campbell is a tournament game. My mistake on the second one, thought something seemed off about it. Some of the adjustments that were alluded to must have been to the Summit/Big Sky challenge as UND should hosting one and traveling to another. If UND hosts one like they are supposed to, that would have put them at 3 home D1 games. Assuming that will be made up in the next year or two. NDSU and USD home games on Saturdays this year, that will be good for attendance.

While I'd agree they are high, they are actually fairly low comparatively speaking in the landscape of sub-P5 schools. That being said, I wish that they would be even lower, though the students at the time did vote to help fund the athletics move.

You mean you emailed him with questions, concerns and comments and he responded with some answers??

You say alot of things, so not a surprise you've commented on them, but here's the reality: You've made two passing comments about High Point, one stating they had grown and are looking to invest in athletics and another commenting on how small their endowment was. Neither comment got a response, let alone someone giving you "flack" about anything related to High Point.

Quincy Vaughn Nothing ruled out at this point.

If a low to mid-level D1 team can come in and knock out two away games on one trip then it absolutely can make sense for certain teams. In return, they are either going to get two D1 home games in future years or getting paid two guarantees and with only one set of travel costs (outside of a bus and an extra night or two of hotel). Not saying its a no-brainer across the board, pointing out that it's the kind of out of the box thinking that could help both schools get the home games they struggle with.

So have you personally reached out to the AD to express your concerns and offer your views as a concerned fan who "refuse to accept" things as they are or not?

Don't know the answer. Surprised UND and NDSU haven't worked together to get a few teams up here and hope they can in the future. I agree that money games are better for exposure and experience, but at some point, you still need a handful of home games even if they are less desirable. Need some sort of games to entice season ticket holders and the hometown crowd, the players need to have game experience in their own gym and you can't be on the road constantly, they are still student-athletes at some point. Don't like the quality of what's coming in to the BESC but again, understand it to a point. I'll go ahead and call BS on that but I'm not sure what that has to do with you personally reaching out to the AD. I specifically asked if you have taken your own advice and e-mailed the AD with your concerns? So, have you or is the "refuse to accept" thing just something you say? Where have I ever said everything is "fine the way it is"? Hint: I haven't but I know that gets into the way of your martyr complex. What I have done is taken time and effort to talk to the people who can make a difference, give my opinion on things I think that can improve and offer any advice that might be helpful that I can think of. Really not that hard to do it in a respectful manner and get good feedback. HPC II is the top priority between the Athletic Department/Champions Club with help from the Alumni Association. Not a single person will dispute its importance. They are spending a ton of time and effort on trying to get it done.

No it isn't, it's about the reality of getting teams to get to Grand Forks. Again, they had to make some short term sacrifices this year that will end up improving the schedule in future years. Both the AD and Coach are on record what their expectations of future scheduling are and they are doing their best to get it done. Just curious if you've bothered contacting the AD to share your thoughts and feelings and actually have some dialogue on hot button issues that continue to bug you. Or are you just satisfied continuously proclaiming to no one in particular that you "refuse to accept it" yet refuse to actually take action yourself outside of anonymous posts. I have and have very much appreciated the openness of Chaves (and even Faison before that on certain items). I continue to come away impressed with the information that has been shared it definitely gives a little bit better understanding and perspective all while being very open to hearing outside ideas on where fans think they can do better.

Re-injured right before coming back. Will depend on how fast he heals. If its sooner than later, he'll play. If its going to be a few more weeks, they'll have some decisions to make.

My take was they took some hits on this year's schedule, however it will be made up for over the next couple years. So, don't expect much this year but the future is brighter.