UND-FB-FAN
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Posts posted by UND-FB-FAN
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Article that hits all the key points:
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Football and men's basketball need to get to relevance, or at least one of the two programs. All successful college DI athletic programs are relevant nationally only when football and/or basketball are successful, not hockey. UND hockey is a great fiscal engine, as mentioned above, and is the recognized focus of the university largely due to tradition and facilities, but football and basketball are much more appropriate when focusing on improving the support and fan following.
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The hockey program doesn't need to be torn down, but rather the athletic department can not become complacent just because the hockey program is covered and structured the way they want it to be. A lot, and I mean a lot, of work needs to be done with football and basketball at UND; UND's athletic department needs to be willing to actually try and put football and basketball at the same level as hockey in order for such a buildup to occur.If hockey wasn't performing and selling 11,000 tickets per home game one would have to question the emphasis on hockey. But it is, and it's the fiscal engine right now.
I think it was Coach Wooden that said, "You can't build something up by tearing something else down."
How about we worry about building up and not 'blaming' other programs inside the house.
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100% correct.I'm sorry but 2,000 fans at a hockey game in St. Cloud isn't impressive at all when compared to 17,000 fans at a football game in Texas. The two sports are incomparable. There are a lot of alumni and, more importantly, prospective students that would have a great deal more interest in watching high quality football or basketball as opposed to high quality hockey. There is a reason the NHL is solidly fourth among the four major sports and realistically more like 5th or 6th in terms of TV ratings and market share behind the PGA and NASCAR. Heck, on most nights in a lot of markets in this country you're more likely to find an MLS or Premier League soccer game on your television as opposed to an NHL game. College hockey doesn't even register. It's a non-event.
This should be the opening lesson of athletic directing 101. UND should try and raise football and basketball to the hockey program's level rather than just simply proclaim themselves as a college hockey university; that's a dead-end street for the ENTIRE athletic program.
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Thank goodness.We have issues with Faison if everyone wants to state the obvious. I know he isn't the guy to lead UND. With Bubba and the alumni base we will strive for success in football regardless of the administration. I like how things are progressing and if we do pull this thing together we'll have to get the checkbook out and keep the coaching staff together. So sucking has it challenges, but success brings about it's own set of challenges and we need leadership. We can't F up the AD hire again. Faison will be done in a couple years.
From my personal opinion, as a UND alumnus and Champions Club member, and also from other UND athletic supporters I've spoke with, Faison has rubbed a lot of potential donors the wrong way. Couple that with his dormant, lazy attitude towards expanding football and basketball and you have an abysmal UND athletic department.
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You make a few good points about NDSU, but I beg to differ about your main point here. UND is more focused on Hockey and that is just the way it is. When you say the Alumni are disenfranchised, I think you haven't been to a game at the x cel or a road hockey game in St. Cloud, Duluth, Omaha, or Denver. Just as a point, my wife and I were at the SCSU UND hockey game in St. Cloud, and I would be willing to say that there were about 2000 UND fans at this game. The place seats maybe 5-6 thousand. How is this loosing interest from alumi? This Hockey team is what most people in the country associate with UND. Just like NDSU has its football team.
And I suppose you think collegiate hockey is the greatest followed sport in the country?
That of course is incorrect. UND and it's hockey following is already maxed out and has no more expansion left in it. If UND athletics is to truly expand into DI and compete with NDSU for support, football and basketball - the actual most popular collegiate sports in America - must be expanded at UND. Faison and Kelley need to step up or step down.
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Spot on. Hockey is a dead-end street that only certain fans will ever get into. I'm a UND alumnus and yet I only partially care to watch hockey. Football and basketball are the backbone of collegiate athletics in America and it would certainly best benefit UND if they recognized that. NDSU has recognized it and as you said, it has boomed their athletic department during their DI days.The NDAC fans on this thread, while mainly behaving like jackasses, are bringing up some hard truths. UND's athletic department and I'd argue the administration of our university is dysfunctional. The ag school has had the success they've had because they've made football a priority at their university and their willing to commit whatever resources necessary to make it successful. They have a football budget that's in the top 3 for FCS. Their coaching salaries are also in the top 3. UND fans on this site were patting ourselves on the back for getting to 4th in the Big Sky after making Schweigert give us a discount on his salary since it was his dream job. It's insane to think we can be successful at this level for any extended period of time when our administration has this mindset.
UND does go all out in it's support for the hockey program. I'd argue this doesn't get us near the bang for the buck that the ag school gets from investing in football. Over the last 7-8 years NDSU has seen their university increase by leaps and bounds in notoriety while UND's has largely stagnated. This has happened despite the fact that the overall quality of education provided by NDSU continues to be poor at best. The fan base for Bison football is now state-wide. The fan base for UND hockey will never be so, as the sport is irrelevant across wide swaths of the population and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The popularity of college football increases every year while college hockey's, if anything, is in the decline.
UND is really at a crossroads with it's athletic department. They can continue on the path they've set and then wonder why on-campus enrollment continues to drop and large sections of the alumni base no longer feel any connection to the university or they can make the changes necessary to shift emphasis away from hockey to the traditional money sports of football and to a lesser extent, college basketball. Like it or not, athletics is the best marketing tool a university has and college football is the biggest draw in college athletics. it only makes sense that a university that focuses on college hockey, to the detriment of their other sports, isn't going to experience the growth that their counterparts will experience.
That being said I don't think the administration we have presently with Kelly and Faison is at all capable of even recognizing these issues. The two have proven themselves incompetent and will need to be replaced as soon as possible for this university to take the necessary steps forward.
Faison and UND's athletic department, along with Kelley, seem to do all they can to not make athletic expansion a top priority. It's no wonder NDSU is grabbing ahold of this state's fandom.
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UND's athletic department and it's leadership (Faison) are the major issues for not only UND football, but also UND basketball, and even to a degree, the increase in support for NDSU athletics.This is not the type of article I like to see on the GFHerald. It's not only Bubba that's got his work cut out for him but the whole Athletic Department as a whole needs to get to work selling UND athletics.
UND's athletic department lacks innovation and drive, but most importantly, it does very little to influence effective fundraising and alumni support. There's no reason phase II of the HPC should be on hold; that should be funded by now if Faison knew what he was doing and had made even half of the alumni relationships available to him excited in the direction of UND athletics.
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Man, the reading of this thread btwn UND and NDSU. Let's put it to rest; how many top level titles (D1A) has UND won vs number of top level titles won by NDSU? Reminder, I'm not counting lower tier level titles such as D2 and D1-AA/FCS. Believe UND is at 7 top level titles and NDSU is at how many? Is it even one or at zero despite the Bison having been at D1 top level now for all sports (save for one sport) for 5 years longer than UND.
Take this nonsense someplace else.
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Wrong.NDSU doesn't need to win in order for your fan base to make UND football appear to be irrelevant. They do it to themselves by calling FCS football a joke, JV, not truly important because it isn't FBS, and by atrocious attendance numbers.
Not trying to be an ass. Just calling it how I see it.
Many current bandwagon NDSU fans (as many as 2000 to 3000) are fair-weather fans that once supported UND football. The coupling of UND's football failures and NDSU's successes have ultimately led UND into a negative perception. From what I hear when asking around, the majority of people in Grand Forks presently just assume UND football is a joke. A lot of that is due to what NDSU is doing, and nothing else.
If you choose not to believe this, then that's unfortunate that you ignore reality. As a result, you're actually insulting a part of your very own fan-base.
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The more NDSU wins, the more people in Grand Forks, and even apart of UND, start to think UND football "sucks". That's the one thing NDSU winning does that bothers me: with NDSU success the general perception that UND football is irreverent only grows. The uphill climb for UND and Bubba continues...
Go UND!
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20-7 NDSU now in the 3rd quarter.
Going to require a real good effort from Illinois State to get back ahead.
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Good start for the Redbirds.
Something to watch for: how does Wentz bounce back from his fumble? If it gets to his head NDSU might be in trouble...
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Although I of course hope that Illinois State pulls out the game today, I think the "Frisco home-field advantage" for NDSU will be too much. The championship game is by no means neutral; the vast majority of FCS championship fans in Frisco represent NDSU. I honestly believe the only way NDSU gets knocked off in the foreseeable future is if they play a true road playoff game. Fortunately, that could happen as soon as next season...
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Of course you get consistency but you implied that the gear is supplied free. It costs money regardless of any deal.
I apologize if you got that idea, but obviously such a deal is not "free", and I was not trying to imply that. It's an investments that in turn saves on apparel and uniform costs.
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Get ready to tune into the hour long special "Fargo to Frisco" on ABC in ten minutes!
Oh how I hope Illinois State comes ready to play tomorrow...
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Is the women's basketball team wearing Nike or Adidas?
UND women's basketball currently wears Adidas uniforms.
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That is not true.
You realize what the alternative is, right? Not having an apparel deal leads to a lot of "mismatched" pieces and personal expenditures for the student-athletes. Apparel deals allow for consistency, and in that, its essentially head to toe.
Here's an article detailing a similar deal that was struck between Adidas and the University of South Dakota:
http://www.goyotes.com/genrel/020212aab.html
The partnership with adidas will allow the Athletic Department to achieve brand consistency and provide other growth opportunities, while being affiliated with one of the most recognizable shoe and apparel companies in the world.
The added result of the partnership will be the ability to outfit all Coyote student-athletes in consistent uniform and color combinations, enhance the USD brand and an opportunity to "Spread the Red."
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Football jerseys were Nike I believe.
Football jerseys were Nike but the football staff apparel and player pregame wear was all Adidas. Obviously Bubba was already anticipating a change to Adidas.
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If this deal does not go department-wide, then the issue lies with not only Brian Jones but also AD Brian Faison. Faison needs to do his job, overrule Jones, and make sure the department gets a much needed, overdue apparel deal completed.
Men's basketball would be just fine with Adidas, especially since their jerseys, shoes, athletic wear, etc. would all be discounted and more accessible each and every season.
All big athletic departments endorse and ultimately agree on athletic apparel contracts because they straightforwardly benefit the department. By agreeing to wear only one manufacturer's gear, you then get all gear, from head to toe, supplied. That is huge in terms of program budget and student-athlete appeal.
Brian Jones needs to step back or Brian Faison needs to step up; one or the other. Get this Adidas deal done for every UND athletic team!!!
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I trust Bubba (and Hakstol) when it comes to uniform designs. They seem to favor the simple, clean, traditional lines.
Who I don't trust is Adidas and their "kinda hip, kinda now, kinda cool, kinda wow" designers; they have put out some affronts to uniformdom.
Adidas supplies Big Ten schools such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska and they have kept all of those uniforms clean, traditional, and looking good. I'd imagine Bubba will be able to get clean looking unforms similar to what the team wore in 2001.
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Considering Coach Schmidt just visited him in-house, it's looking good. He has a PWO offer from Oregon, a team in the 2015 FBS national championship game, meaning he would be one heck of a skill position addition to the 2015 recruiting class. Hope it all works out.From Iwarri Smith's twitter (posted 2 hrs ago)...
Also made a comment that he had not committed anywhere yet, but will soon...
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Of note. Mikey Daniels of South Dakota favorites a lot of Maurice's tweets in recruiting. I'm hoping we still have some room for him. I would guess he's waiting on something from Nebraska as he has a lot of Twitter action with them. But him and Olivera could be a good tandem in the future. Also getting the second best player out of South Dakota couldn't hurt recruiting any im guessing.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Michael-Daniel-148656
Army has offered and I think there is some interest by some other FBS programs. Obviously UND should pursue this kid if he fits the program - he would be a great addition talent-wise.
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I would guess Arrington since it said Stallions - which makes me think RB.
My thinking as well. Perhaps Ja'Won Arrington, who would be a welcome addition to Cedric Simmons and Olivera in the backfield.
http://m.uabsports.com/m/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jawon_arrington_860145.html
2014 FCS Playoffs
in Football
Posted
Hockey wasn't the "golden goose" at UND just 20 years ago. Perhaps the REA will keep hockey as the top sport form here on out, but it will always keep UND at a DII status in football and basketball moving forward. For St.Cloud and Duluth that doesn't matter because they are DII. For Omaha and Denver it doesn't matter because they don't have football. For Wisconsin and Minnesota it doesn't matter because they have the budget and big time enrollment. UND is in a unique situation, and yes, it's hockey program is maxed out in terms of following. Football and basketball are the big crowd producers; always have been and always will be. UND needs to explore ways to expand those sports.