nodak651

Facilities and better program support > Location. Location is a terrible excuse. If we had good facilities and we still couldn't recruit, ok, sure, location. Blaming location right now is lame, because the facilities and support that UND basketball has now is basically the bare minimum for a D1 basketball program. Football can out recruit other D1 schools and they have the same recruiting footprint - location isn't what's keeping the basketball program from being competitive. Pretty sure 4-5 guys FROM ND or SD have transferred out of the program over the past 2-3 years, but location...

You're ignoring the fact that "other people's money" isn't needed for a buyout that only costs 80k.

Sounds like they should be careful what they wish for.

If Fargo media got their wish, would WDAY lose their right to broadcast every conference game?

Jan. 17, 2023 St. Thomas receives record-setting $75 million gift to build new sports arena on campus Esten said the Anderson’s gift puts the school 60% toward its fund-raising goal of $131 million. If donations fall short, new UST President Rob Vischer said the university will finance the rest. The project cost includes demolition of three buildings on UST’s South Campus in St. Paul to make room for the arena – McCarthy Gym, an intramural facility; Cretin Residence Hall, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1989; and a service center. Esten said UST added basketball to the plan last July after abandoning efforts to build the arena in the Highland Bridge development in Highland Park. Men’s and women’s basketball play on campus at 1,800-capacity Schoenecker Arena, one of the Summit League’s smallest venues. Both teams need more seating to generate additional revenue and attract better non-conference opponents. “As we pivoted from Highland Bridge and looked at bringing hockey to campus, we looked real hard at whether it would work for basketball as well,” Esten said. “We just thought it made financial sense, and it was economical prudent to double down on that and make sure that those facilities are used in an efficient way.”

Jan 24, 2023 Top administrators aren't just showing up for Omaha sports, they're promoting them On Thursday night, Jan. 12, more than 200 former UNO football players gathered at a Maverick basketball game at Baxter Arena. The old Bulls hung out in the end zone, hugging teammates and friends they hadn’t seen in years. They drank. They told stories. They were introduced to the crowd at halftime. Then they went back and stayed until the end. On the next night, at the UNO hockey game, NU President Ted Carter hosted a tailgate party on the practice ice at Baxter for the bigger boosters and “key stakeholders” of UNO. Chancellor Joanne Li also attended, along with athletic director Adrian Dowell. The football reunion went so well that Dowell says they want to schedule more events with former football players. Trev Alberts set the table. But he couldn’t do this as athletic director. He couldn’t bring the football players and wrestlers — who all have check books — back into the fold. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such stability and teamwork at UNO. Maybe the Del Weber and Don Leahy days. But the stakes are higher now. A hockey arena must be filled. A Division I men’s basketball team must pull its weight. Standards for NCAA Division I membership keep evolving. UNO has to keep up. I don’t know what the ceiling is for UNO sports. With only 16 NCAA hockey bids, it’s hard for Mav hockey to make the tourney on a regular basis. Harder still for the basketball team in a one-bid league. But with this kind of administrative support and alums standing together, Dowell’s department has a chance to find that ceiling. Or create a new one.

AUGUST 20, 2022 Miami (OH) AD Sayler: End of NCHC, CCHA possible “I don’t know what the single-sport conference future is,” Sayler said. “With all the stuff going on at the NCAA level right now, there’s been tons and tons of dialogue about pushing decisions down to the conference level and the NCAA not sort of putting edicts out that everybody could get sued because of antitrust reasons. So if conferences are going to be making decisions and conferences are going to be managing compliance and academic eligibility and enforcing infractions and setting punishments, I don’t know that a single-sport conference is set up to handle that. In fact, I know that none are. So would the NCHC and the CCHA be able to exist as they do today? I know the schools in those leagues don’t have robust compliance departments to deal with these issues – they’re not even Division I athletic departments in some cases. So I don’t so much look at it as the choices of being NCHC or CCHA, I look at it as being: Is the future going to dictate that we need to be in an all-sport conference for hockey?” “So what I’d say for everyone to watch for is how does this all unfold without the NCAA structure system, and then once that has time to happen, then the next step is going to be: What does that do to hockey and these set-ups that they have?” Sayler said. “The Big Ten is already there. If you had three all-sport conferences sponsoring hockey away from the east coast I just think it strengthens the sport. So that would be my goal, I would like to strengthen college hockey and bring it more inline with other sports.” “Long term, I think the thing to really watch for is: Will the Summit League want to sponsor hockey – which is an all-sport Division I conference? Will the MAC consider sponsoring hockey, which is an all-sport conference that we can populate?” Sayler said. “Those are things in the future that if single-sport conferences don’t really have a place, those D-2 and D-3 schools would really benefit from being in an all-sport conference because of all these things that are coming down from the NCAA.” “Whenever the league throws out a doomsday scenario, it usually involves four schools being in the Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul: Miami, Western (Michigan), CC and Denver. Because then you have no local team participating, right?” Sayler said. “You don’t have any of the Minnesota schools, you don’t have North Dakota. Sometimes I do sit back and say, how does that make us feel, that we’re a member of this conference but yet a doomsday scenario is us being good? So there is some concern for that, and that tournament in St. Paul, plus the round of playoffs to get into that tournament are probably the most important revenue-drivers of the league. And Miami has the smallest rink in the league and we would probably sell as few tickets as any team in St. Paul, in the league. It does set up kind of funny that way when you start thinking about having more success and not driving more revenue for the league, and what is the league really focused on? And there has been constant chatter about Arizona State, and I just have no interest in crossing another time zone to play sports. So if the league is going to continue to push that direction, that is certainly something that would cause us to think differently about what’s going on.” “We’re going to keep Miami hockey in a strong position and keep growing it back to what it needs to be,” Sayler said. “That’s something I’m committed to. I enjoy hockey games and my son plays travel hockey so I’ve spent a lot of time at that rink and I want to see Miami get back to what it was, whether it’s in this league or any other league.”

General 11/16/2022 2:00:00 PM Summit League partners with College Sports Solutions, LLC Story LinksSIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Summit League announced today a partnership with College Sports Solutions (CSS) to conduct an operational review and help facilitate the creation of a strategic plan for the 10-member conference. “The future is bright for the Summit League and the partnership with CSS is going to help us create a plan that will enhance the experiences of our student-athletes and fans, while serving as a road map for our future,” said Commissioner Josh Fenton. “We look forward to working with respected intercollegiate athletics veterans Jeff Schemmel and Kevin Weiberg to build a dynamic strategic plan that will strengthen the League as a whole.” The CSS team is led by its founder and president, Jeff Schemmel. He has more than 30 years of intercollegiate athletics management experience at the highest levels, including a stint as the athletics director at San Diego State before he founded CSS. “Our team at College Sports Solutions looks forward to working with Commissioner Fenton, his conference office team, and the member institutions of the Summit League,” said Schemmel. “This is an important time for Division I athletics and its conferences. Having a substantive and meaningful strategic plan, with the ability to adjust to and capitalize on the continuing changes in college athletics, is critical. We look forward to helping the Summit League grow and prosper.” Joining Schemmel on this project is former Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, who brings extensive knowledge and experience in the conference operations space after also serving in various roles at the Big Ten and Pac-12 throughout his career. “Having experienced support is critical to the long-term success of the Summit League,” said Dr. Jeremy Haefner, Chancellor of the University of Denver and Chair of the Summit League’s Presidents Council. “I look forward to seeing the results of the partnership with College Sports Solutions, and all it will do to strengthen the programs of Summit League schools.” The Summit League’s Presidents Council approved the hiring of CSS, who is scheduled to have its comprehensive work completed by late May and present those findings at the League’s annual meetings. Along with CSS, the League will integrate all member institutions within the strategic planning process. About College Sports Solutions “College Sports Solutions (CSS) is a leading full-service and integrated provider of collegiate athletic consulting, strategies and solutions to universities, intercollegiate conferences, and collegiate organizations. Areas of service include comprehensive assessments and evaluations, including organization, staffing, operations, risk management, compliance, academics, fundraising, student-athlete welfare/experience, Title IX/equity, strategic branding/marketing, public relations, social media, crisis and media management, coach and administrator executive searches, championship event planning and execution, NCAA reclassification, and conference affiliation planning and execution. Its team of industry-leading professionals is unmatched in college athletics

This is a thread for general Summit league strategy and opeartional news. Josh Fenton has been with the Summit League for nearly a year now, and we are yet to see him make a move. It has been reported elsewhere that they are reviewing their TV/Multimedia strategy, but there are other potential developments up in the air, such as NIL, conference membership, sports sponsorship (Fenton has yet to shut down the concept of adding hockey or football). I'm creating this thread to keep track of interesting news tidbits and larger developments, because I think Fenton will make one or more big moves starting this spring.

I've done this in that past and become paranoid, thinking that I'm sitting there like a chump while they know I'm about to see us get blown out lol. My advice is to get a Roku. With the Roku, you can just click the button for account settings and there will an on off button for starting the game live or in progress. On off button for the scoreboard as well. If you don't have mental issues, getting help would probably work just fine

Completely agree. I may have my opinions, but I'm open minded. Herbst has put in the time and is deserving of an opportunity. If he can take advantage of that opportunity and show that he's a difference maker, great! If the decision has already been made and the plan is for UND to move on at the end of the season, the only real difference is that Herbst would be denied an opportunity (if Chaves waits), and it's not like he isn't qualified - he was Chaves finalist to this exact job.

Good point. Sather reminds me of Stig. Can be a winners if placed in a good position, but don't really have what it takes to do more with less, if that makes sense. Given UND's funding and the place the program sits on the totem pole, both locally and nationally, I don't think Sather is the best fit for UND at this point. I dont necessarily think he's a bad coach either, and I prefer his philosophy, but I kinda think UND Basketball just needs more of a Deion or PJ Fleck type of personality to help shine a spotlight on the team locally, and to differentiate UND from other low major programs nationally. Another reason I'm ready to move on is because I think Herbst deserves the opportunity to show what he can do, and letting him finish out the season would allow him that. Additionally, if Sather is retained, what are his expectations for next year? Even if he improves to .500 in d1 games, that's still a mediocre season, especially for his 5th year. Is anything better than that truly realistic? Say he does go exactly .500, then what? Is that where our expectations are or should be? Just seems like we will be delaying the inevitable if we don't move on now. Truly hope I'm wrong.

This thread was created to do exactly that. It's literally a poll asking what people's opinion is. Also, the buyout is only 80k. If the AD thinks he has the wrong coach, he can easily cover that through the existing budget. If not, they could follow through with cutting men's golf as they were supposed to.

Just listened to college hockey news podcast and a guy from jlg architects was interviewed. He said there are two projects they have to keep under wraps, one in Virginia and the other in Maryland. He didn't specifically say they were college hockey projects, but its worth noting. Navy happens to be in Maryland, so hopefully they can get up and running after, reportedly, being really close prior to covid.

Was gonna preface my comment with something about that. Was he really that popular? Like if it was only Kansas, what do you think the game would have drawn?

What do you mean by actively working on it? Serious question. Could mean many different things to different people.

I really hope that's the case. Have you actually talked someone at UND or the REA that stated that specifically? Would be awesome if they could incorporate a legit B-dubs style UND sports bar somehow, potentially along with an additional entrance. Would make for the perfect pregame bar for all of the games at the REA, including hockey. Could also incorporate gambling, with UND athletics as the non profit beneficiary, without anyone getting upset. With something like 60+ home games at the REA complex, you would think it could stay pretty busy. If they install permanent seating, maybe it could be incorporated with the sports bar somehow, or at least accessible from the Betty. Place would be hopping before hockey games... one can dream.

2008-2019 We were in the Great West, The Big Sky, or an Independent playing a Big Sky schedule. I have no interest playing at Target Field now, after NDSU and SDSU will have already done it, but UND could have been leaders in this. Games vs SDSU, USD, UNI, and Illinois State would have made a ton of sense as true neutral site games. We missed the boat - simple as that. Now? St. Thomas at Allianz Field in St. Paul would make sense for many reasons. For example, we could have scheduled that for 2025 when FCS teams get to play an extra game. Instead, we scheduled a home and home with Portland State, which is nowhere near our recruiting territory, is expensive to travel to, plays off campus in a former 7k seat baseball stadium, has poor tv production quality, and they are also at risk of dropping their program entirely which could leave UND in a scheduling bind. UND has had a decade to find a creative way to engage potential UND Football fans in the Twin Cities, now in addition to NDSU, SDSU has beaten us in that regard as well.

After the women's hockey team was cut, I thought they would play select games there each season since the arena would be available. They seemed to do that up until the womens team was cut which is odd. The betty can get loud, but the REA would help to draw casual fans. Given that that the Kansas game drew so well, it would be cool to see the REA/UND pay to bring in a p5 or Big East team every once in a while, one that would draw. See the games the Sanford Center puts on in Sioux Falls, for example. Ideally UND would also have a better basketball product itself. Conversion costs are also a factor.

Haven't thought of that to be honest.

Asking again. Are there pictures of that game anywhere?

It'll be gone and they will regret it. Demolish the buildings north and south of the hyslop and you essentially have a shell. Besides, wouldn't the chester fritz have had the same issue when it was just redone?

This is probably for way down the road, but food for thought I guess. With college hockey teams like CC building new arenas and the Gophers and I believe New Hampshire reducing the size of their ice sheets from Olympic to NHL, at some point it may make sense for the REA to reduce the size the size of the practice sheet down to the NHL size, which would reduce the width by 15 ft. This would only make sense when SCSU moves to or near the NHL dimensions. With the basketball and volleyball locker rooms (I believe) butting up to the the practice ice sheet, those spaces could have the potential to be expanded by up to 15 fit, perhaps as the next project after the practice gym and new seating are completed. Thinking like 10-15 years from now, unless by some miracle they move back into the hyslop.

Wonder why they haven't done this already, financing it the same way the Betty was.