UND-FB-FAN

Neither I nor anyone else for that matter requires your validation. Nice try, though. I want nothing to do with the "UND fans" you speak of. My years of association with UND validates my relationship with the University completely independent of your classless comments. Were you the one giving "the bird" on tv after UND lost? If the nickname change can ignite this sort of behavior, then, well, the "UND fans" you speak of need to take a hard, long look at themselves in the mirror.

No, but for future reference you can learn to read faster. Too bad all those "Sioux Forever" chants at Scheels Arena today couldn't prevent the choke job.

Bubba and staff are still grossly underpaid. Check out the going rate of similar area schools (e.g., NDSU, SDSU, USD, Montana, Montana State). UND has plenty of work to do with their football and basketball programs in terms of salary and subsequent competitiveness. I've been around enough DI college athletics in this country to know those are the ones that matter to the masses.

That's a stretch. A+ for the hyperbole, though.

Likely not in great numbers, but you're quite unaware of the various claims and protest threats, if you will, that have been put out there if you're doubting what I'm suggesting. FSF fans have, shall we say, a special mindset.

You think recruits love hearing boos when "Fighting Hawks" is mentioned over the loudspeakers or enjoy seeing empty seats because folks felt they would somehow be helping UND by boycotting UND athletics due to the new nickname? 16-, 17-, and 18-year old kids aren't complete robots; they will take into account both the passion and the ridiculousness of each prospective fan base. Recruits aren't invested in the past nickname like some think they somehow should be. Many current recruits were 12 years old when UND was last officially referred to as the Fighting Sioux. Recruits and current student-athletes want "fans" to unanimously buy in because the players and coaches certainly have; the only possible exception to this is the hockey program due to some residual poison.

Yes. I even went as far as to try and save someone's "blown mind" as an aside. You're welcome, @Ray77

One minute of my life I will never get back ... No room for error with "facts", although these days that is lost on some figures.

Save your mind; good ol' fashion tomfoolery at work.

Right, because the hypothetical choice he ended up making was quite telling of his academic ability ... ... but in all seriousness, that doesn't suggest academic proficiency. Fan base characteristics are repeated over and over again during recruiting; well known.

Wrong. https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_calendar/1963/march Nice try, though. I got a kick out of it. I'll help you out: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fact?s=t

In contrast ... Potential Scholarship Athlete X aka Recruit X: I have an offer from both UND and NDSU (let's say Wisconsin for hockey), but since most of UND's fan base is now hostile towards itself with the Fighting Hawks nickname, I think I'm definitely going to attend NDSU (Wisconsin) where everyone is uniformly prideful and not hostile towards mere nickname beliefs. Everything is considered and weighed when there are options in recruiting.

That is possible, but there certainly is no way to know for sure. It's all theoretical. Fact is UND won everything it has won in the past year while being known as the Fighting Hawks. Also a fact, not a belief: UND as just "North Dakota" did not win an NCAA hockey championship, did not make the DI NCAA men's basketball tournament and did not make the FCS football playoffs.

All great points, but obviously the competency and work ethic of coaches makes a significant difference in the competitive advantage of DI collegiate basketball. If there really was no argument there, then the average salary of DI men's basketball coaches wouldn't be over $1 million (http://work.chron.com/average-salary-college-basketball-coach-2102.html). That is, if coaches were just a nice ornament on the sideline relative to the "real difference makers" on the court, the current average investment in coaching salary wouldn't exist. Further complicating the issue is UND has overall underpaid its DI head coaches (even Brian Jones) which has implied UND does not value winning in men's basketball (thus Jones has coached for over a decade at UND with a losing record). I am not saying that any level of coach criticism is warranted, but a certain degree of criticism is more than fair, in my opinion. If UND could have afforded to pay a men's basketball coach over $200k a couple years ago (priorities were elsewhere), then Jones would have already been gone. Jones NOW deserves an extension with a raise, along with an assistant coaching salary pool increase.

Nice to know we have secured FBS games well into the future. I like having Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, on a future schedule.

I support the University of North Dakota and the University of North Dakota supports both the Fighting Hawks logo and nickname; therefore, via the transitive property, I too support the logo and nickname. I think both the logo and nickname are B grades at best due to lack of creativity; nevertheless, I do not believe blatant stubbornness and, especially, continuous commotion will help the University of North Dakota's athletic teams. In fact, I am starting to think many "Fighting Sioux vocalists" are far more invested in the former nickname and logo than the current and future state of UND. Individuals who care about the quality of the athletic teams - whether it be hockey, football, basketball, and/or volleyball - and not just the publicity of their own opinions are not coincidentally the ones who also support the new nickname and logo. Going head-to-head in competition against the University of North Dakota does not help the University of North Dakota. It is appalling to me how many people do not see that and would rather protest than attend games and cheer on the student-athletes. Instead, I feel it would be far more productive (and personally rewarding) to support the University of North Dakota and cheer against UND's opponents, not the very nickname/logo that now represents UND. Whether you like it or not, bickering on social media and during the cheers of hockey games will not somehow/someway miraculously convince UND to drop the Fighting Hawks nickname/logo and/or readopt Fighting Sioux. I continue to be quite amazed - in obviously an irritated sort of way - at how folks care about the logos on their shirts more than the student-athletes and coaches on the ice, field, and court. The student-athletes want to embrace the logo and move on to winning games behind tremendous fan support, not hear boos from the crowd when "Fighting Hawks" is mentioned and see empty seats belonging to overly-sensitive "fans".

Me too. Hopefully new leadership means better treatment of their primary tenant, UND football (not implying prior treatment was poor; just looking for continued improvement).

I quoted Freund's twitter post a few replies back so I saw that when he posted it. With that said, nothing within that post definitively says the turf will be updated for this season or next. If anything, it sounds like he is just hopeful for the "vision". Nevertheless, I don't think anything is certain in regards to the turf being around for "at least 7, 8, 9 years from now". It could be less than that or more than that depending on funding. I could easily see UND keeping the Big Sky Conference logo on the turf during the "independent" years of 2018 and 2019 because UND still will play a Big Sky Conference schedule. I hope UND updates everything on the turf sooner rather than later, but I've grown pessimistic with dealings of the Alerus folks. With that said, the helmet sign update timing pleasantly surprised me and I hope the negative feedback and flak from all the "Sioux fans" doesn't slow any potential progress towards turf updates. Quite displeasing how everyone in GF opposes Fighting Hawk logo updates quoting "budget issues" but we all know damn well they would be 100 percent in support of Sioux logo publicity independent of associated cost. Hypocrisy at its best.

I would expect they wait until the MVFC move and then get all new turf with updated logos (ND Hawk logo, Alerus logo, MVFC logo, mid-field ND Hawk logo [?], etc.). This would still provide plenty of time being the move isn't until 2020.

The assistant coaches certainly played a role in this season's success.

I agree. Add another big body down low and UND would be looking alright for next season.

With the experience UND has returning (and it's not average experience; it's NCAA tourney experience), I would expect UND to make another run at the BSC tourney championship. Nothing is guaranteed, but UND should have the talent and definitely the experience now. If UND made it to the NCAA in 2018, I'd feel fairly good about Geno and the team performing very well and possibly getting a first round win (due to experience and new found composure).

Mental part of shooting free throws is certainly relevant. I would expect UND's continued experience in big games, particularly the game against Arizona in the NCAA tourney, will help UND be more focused at the line in big games to come. The two poor free throw shooting games from 2016-17 that stand out to me were both big, high pressure games: vs NDSU (packed Betty) and vs Arizona (over 16,000 in NCAA tourney). With more experience in big games, the players will be more capable of delivering under pressure.

Then recruit better FT shooting players. All comes back to coaching/recruiting, buddy. With that said, UND won several games this season due to free throw shooting and Jones deserves credit for that as his players obviously improved.

Defense optional. Arizona is going to score over 100 at this pace ... ouch! I knew the two 7 footers would be a challenge but this is far worse than I expected. UND needs to be willing to box out and get rebounds or else the struggles will continue. The Brian Jones' quote they brought up during the broadcast was somewhat disturbing: "Our defense will be fine but I don't know if we can score." Also, free throw shooting needs to improve; can't leave points out on the floor.