fightingsioux4life

You just described the Kennedy Administration in one succinct sentence! Well done!

Major Junior hockey is a big scam. They use young hockey players to make lots of money and then discard them when they have outlived their usefulness. And you have the incidences of MJ teams screwing these kids out of the college education money they were promised. There probably are a lot of under-the-table payments that we never hear about. This is why College Hockey, Inc. was started, but they don't seem to do much beyond those commercials on NHL Network.

Right now, we are still using the old Division 2 funding model of Season Ticket sales, Champions Club memberships and 50/50 raffles. And that won't cut it in Division 1 athletics. We need to start thinking outside the box or we'll remain a bargain-basement/shoestring budget Division 1 school. In other words, a colder, more northern version of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

I think you'd have to have about 10-15 new programs to make a dent in the talent pool, which is getting bigger and better all the time.

Apples and oranges, both in amounts of money and overall impact.

Don't get me wrong, I am not defending KEM. I don't like her and think she is a spoiled little rich girl who wants everyone to bow down to her. She is also not an honest broker. I just wish Kennedy had risen above her pettiness and at least tried to be tactful in dealing with what is a sensitive topic (distribution of REA revenues). I dislike both of them for different reasons.

Popular? No. The right question to ask. Yes. This idea that every program should support itself or dissolve must die.

Tact means you know how to talk to people to achieve your overall goals and objectives. It does not mean you refuse to make tough decisions when necessary. People skills matter.

Okay, I gotcha now.

Hire the same firm that runs the Alerus Center. They are doing a great job with that; they would do a great job with REA. Also, both facilities could coordinate their schedules; thus avoiding them competing with each other for events.

Watch it live here: https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/4607258-live-mark-kennedy-decision-coming-soon-cu-regents-vote-after-2-pm-central

I say 5-4 party-line vote.

Location is not the issue (NDSU, SDSU and USD aren't scenic locations either). Resources are. Time to put up or shut up and get out of Division I.

This is sad commentary on the state of UND Athletics.

But if he doesn't have Division I experience and a Master's Degree, he isn't qualified to coach here (sarcasm). Oh wait, Tom Buning isn't here anymore? In that case, I hope he applies.

Can't argue with that.

But that might offend the hockey-only crowd, so we just can't do it (sarcasm). #REAContractSucks #YouGetWhatYouPayFor #SSDD

Since when is the MBB coach in charge of fundraising? Isn't that the job of the President, Athletic Director and Alumni Association?

Considering they have never done any of these things before, this is okay with me. Now for a program like ours, Denver, Duluth and so on, it would be a bit puzzling.

Good point.

@MafiaMan, so are you suggesting we start hanging Runner-Up banners and NCAA participation banners? Individual conference title banners are okay. We have one banner with all the years we made the Frozen Four and one banner for the years we won our conference tournament. That is as far as we should go, IMHO.

Amen.

This is a false choice. And we have to stop putting stock into it.

So Tom Clifford must have been really mediocre because he never went anywhere else? (sarcasm) And we need to stop talking ourselves down. If we keep talking about ourselves like we are a bottom-feeding, bargain-basement institution, that is what we will become. Kennedy knows his days here are numbered so he is looking for an escape hatch. And Colorado is giving it to him.

She IS right about one thing. Kennedy is NOT committed to the University of North Dakota. Never has been and never will be.