IrishSiouxFan

Very Nice! I've become an avid collector of all things related to Fighting Sioux hockey over the past 4 years and have amassed quite a collection myself. We have beyond a doubt the sharpest hockey jerseys on the planet, dare I say in the universe!

black and green would look nice though!

Does anybody know what the new football turf at the Alerus will look like?

I know what I'm about to say will be unpopular so please hear me out before you hit the "negative" comment button. Everybody is saying what a terrible cheater this guy is, and really all he did was turn a blind eye while his players sold equipment and received perks from alumni. Although those things are clearly against the rules it's not like he stole other teams play books or paid off officials. Sometimes I think that the NCAA creates the conditions that encourages players and coaches to break the rules in this fashion.

I agree, if given the opportunity we should sign him immediately!

Active and pathetic. I hear a Jack Rabbit and Coyote board calling your name.

That could work!

The Kibbie Dome is an embarrassment to FBS football, I wouldn't want to put UND in that boat. It's hard enough to get students to come to football games even when the tickets are free, taking away our individual seating and replacing it with a bench would be a terrible ideal. I like the REA, but the fact that it was built in a way that it could never be expanded was a major oversight in my opinion. We are lucky to have the REA and it has no equal, but it would be amazing to see it with 15,000 people in it. Also, higher prices for tickets is not a good thing, it makes it more difficult for people to take their families out to the games and spend quality time together. I get it, we haven't outgrown the Alerus yet, but we will soon and we need to have a plan for when that happens.

I think the fact that the Big Sky offered both UND and USD an invite is a testament to how desirable our two institutions are to prospective conferences. We have have something both NDSU and SDSU will never have the official name of the state. It's really too bad USD couldn't have joined us in the BSC, UND and USD would have been an awesome rivalry and we could have packaged ourselves up with UM and MSU for a future FBS upgrade.

I have witnessed on a regular basis UND athletes working out at the Wellness Center, granted that they are not official group work outs, but they do a majority of their strength training in that facility. I am definitely not complaining about the REA, my point was that it was built without the possibility of being able to accommodate more seating, they could easily sell 2,000-5,000 more tickets per game (depending on the game). The Alerus is a nice facility but my main complaint is the lack of vision on the part of the City to sink that much money into an arena that the University will one day out grow, if they would have built it with expansion in mind we would not be having this conversation and UND football would have a permanent home.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. The Alerus was probably just fine for Div.2 playoffs, but we're moving up to Div. 1 and I guarantee attendance will skyrocket to new records within the first season of the Big Sky. As far as the facilities are concerned they are virtually non-existant, I work out at the Wellness Center on campus everyday and notice that is where the majority of the football, basketball, and most other sports teams work out at at (hockey is the exception). The Wellness Center is very nice and has decent equipment but it's not going to help sign high end recruits. We are a very proud institution and have high expectations for the future, we need a strong strategic plan on where we are going, how long it will take to get there, and what the students, faculty, alumni, and fans can do to get there faster.

Unfortunately, UND doesn't have the facilities to attract a recruit like Forcier. Montana has excellent facilities including an impressive FBS quality stadium as well as a big fan base. If we had a practice facility and a new stadium we could easily out recruit most FCS programs. In my opinion, UND (and the city of Grand Forks) does a horrible job in constructing athletic arenas, they seem to construct buildings that will end up being to small (Alerus and REA).

I'm a PhD candidate at UND. I've had season tickets for hockey the past four years and never miss a game ( I even watch away games or listen to the radio broadcasts). Plus ,I followed the Sioux before I came to school here (the D.O.T. line era). I go to all the home football games and try to fit in as many basketball and women's hockey games as I can. When I go home twice a year I'm amazed at how many people in Nashville (especially at Predator games) are wearing Sioux gear (hats, jerseys, t-shirts) and watch the home games on cable. I'm very proud to be affiliated with UND have converted all of my family and friends into die hard Sioux fans ( I get loads of request for Sioux gear when I come home).

I would love it if they had an annual exhibition game at the Ralph against the Wild (or anybody really).

I grew up in Nashville and like most people from Tennessee the Predators were my first real exposure to the sport of hockey. I remember when they announced that the NHL was coming to Nashville and hocw people said it would never work, now it is impossible to imagine Nashville without the Preds.

My bad, I'm a huge Predators fan.

The Predators will never leave Nashville, NEVER!

I like Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota (Im aware of their logo policy), Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Michigan State. Also Kentucky and Arkansas might not be a bad draw as well.

The Alerus is a huge money pit, the city should have never built it the way they did. UND will outgrow it sooner than people realize once BSC play starts up and then it will be even worse. Does anybody know if the football stadium can be added onto?

I saw the majority of the ramblings about Tennessee and Auburn on forums about open invitation to the WAC and BSC 2011 Schedule. To be honest, for every comment like that there were easily 5 saying the opposite. I'm not saying that Montana isn't good or that they don't have nice facilities, I can't help but think that UND could surpass them in the next 5-10 years. But I have always enjoyed drinking the UND Kool-Aid.

Wyoming would be nice (so would Air Force), but I doubt their fans would want them to leave an already impressive MWC for one with the Dakota and Montana schools.. Denver as a basketball only wouldn't be a bad option either. What I like most about a league with UM, MSU, UND, NDSU, USD, SDSU, and Idaho is that the schools would also be "like" institutions with respectable academic ranking. I know that this is not likely to ever happen but if it did it could be beneficial to everyone involved.

I've been checking out the EGrizz message board over the past week and I see nothing that would indicate that Montana or Montana State fans are upset about UND joining the league, quite the opposite actually. However, I must say it is amusing how Montana fans think that they are the greatest team and could contend against teams like Auburn, Tennessee, and Ohio State. Although I applaud their loyalty and enthusiasm, they seem to think they should be playing in a BCS conference and not the Big Sky and that most of their conference is beneath them somehow. In my opinion schools like UM, MSU, UND, NDSU, USD, SDSU, Idaho and maybe a couple of others should highly consider forming an FBS conference to take the WAC's place once it folds (assuming each institution has the appropriate facilities). What do you think about this idea?

I wish him luck but I would have loved to see him come back

Surely at least one of the ten lawmakers has a law degree and could do the legal research and make a determination. The State Board of Higher Ed needs to hurry up and decide what actions it's going to take so something can be resolved with the NCAA this summer.

It's all over the place. I'm originally from Nashville and when I go home to visit I honestly see 10-20 random people wearing Sioux logo shirts and hats. I remember going to Vegas last summer and noticed 12 people (strangers) wearing Sioux apparel. I think it's mainly to do with our tv contract with College Sports coupled with interest from fans from NHL team with SIoux draft picks on their prospective roster, they tune in to see how they're developing. To be honest, I have never seen a Bison shirt or hat outside of the state of North Dakota.