Benny Baker

Does the 48% of football ticket revenue that UND receives go exclusively towards funding the football team?

Yes, I agree that poor performance has led to the football team averaging less than 10k fans per game over the last ten or so years.

Nope. Never insinuated nor implied that at all. Just provided “details” about attendance figures over a longer time period, rather than just one season. Go UND football.

Yes. And thank you for acknowledging that over the past ten years, UND football hasn’t averaged 10k fans a game.

For the 7 seasons from 2009-2015, there were only 2 games that even had attendance reach 10,000. I'll let others decide what details are important . . . .

Although I'll get chastised for this, a key difference between Monte and Hak is that Monte won a national championship as both a player and a coach. Anyone who follows philly sports understands that the philly sports community recognized this from day 1.

Perfect summation. Thank you.

The University of North Dakota Athletics Department announced on Wednesday, following the discontinuance of its men’s baseball and golf programs in the prior fiscal year, that it will discontinue its varsity women’s hockey and men’s & women’s swimming & diving programs, effective at the end of the 2016-17 academic year as part of the University’s ongoing budget restructuring efforts. The continuance of the men’s golf program is contingent upon its successful fundraising efforts. In January 2017, UND President Mark Kennedy announced that the athletics department would need to further reduce its 2017-18 budget by over $1.3 million as its contribution to the university-wide cuts being dictated by the state’s revenue shortfall. Additionally, with UND’s move to the Summit League, additional money will be needed to comply with the Summit League’s minimum scholarship requirements. UND expects that the current changes will enable it to meet those additional scholarship expenses without having to make further cuts next year. UND’s athletics department expects to reinvest any additional savings back into its women’s and men’s teams, with a primary focus on gender equity, internal equity, and championship competitiveness. The decision announced today was reached based upon the University’s budget reduction instruction, conference sport sponsorship requirements for both the Big Sky Conference and Summit League, Title IX compliance, additional Summit League scholarship requirements, and the ability to reinvest in championship-level programs. The University worked with the Baker Donelson law firm as its outside legal counsel. “I have accepted the athletic director’s recommendation with the understanding that it provides for investing in championship teams in a balanced manner for both our women’s and men’s athletics programs,” said Kennedy. “This is a painful step to take for all parties involved, including me, but it is necessary given today’s budget realities. My heart goes out to all those who are disrupted by this change. We are proud of the way they have represented UND.” UND will honor all athletics scholarships for discontinued sports at their present equivalencies for returning student-athletes. Specific details have been provided to the student-athletes regarding their future aid. UND Athletics Director Brian Faison met with the affected coaches, staff and student-athletes on Wednesday afternoon to inform them of the decision. “This was a difficult decision. It’s a sad day when opportunities for student-athletes are reduced,” said Faison. “The University is going through campus-wide, state-mandated budget cuts. As a part of the University, we need to do what is in the long-term, best interests of the University, as well as the best interests of the athletics department.” FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why was the timing of the Athletics announcement pushed back from the original institutional deadline? This was a very involved and complicated process in which several questions needed to be properly addressed. The deadline for Athletics was extended in order to ensure due diligence. Were there other sports under consideration? Yes, multiple scenarios were explored during the process. Were any scenarios provided to the President that did not involve eliminating sports? No. How will this decision impact UND’s Title IX compliance? Providing gender-equitable participation opportunities weighed heavily in UND’s decision. Following last year’s elimination of baseball, as expected male student-athletes were under-represented within the UND Athletics Department in 2016-17. The current changes will re-balance the UND Athletics Department so that UND will continue to comply in 2017-18 with Title IX’s participation requirements. Additionally, the changes are balanced so that UND will continue to comply with Title IX’s scholarship provisions as UND implements the funding changes required for membership in the Summit League. Is there a possibility of bringing these sports back in the future? No, not in the foreseeable future. Will the affected sports be provided with a window to secure funding to save their respective programs? No. These cuts are effective immediately at the end of this academic year. Will the remaining contracts of the affected coaches be honored? Yes. What will happen to the Hyslop Sports Center Pool? The future use of the pool is under consideration. What becomes of the women’s hockey facilities at REA? The women’s hockey facilities, including locker room and coaches’ offices, will be retained by UND Athletics for utilization by other women’s sports. Will these cuts result in any financial sanctions from the conferences that sponsored these sports? UND is subject to an exit fee with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association but not with the Summit League or Western Athletic Conference. How will scholarships from the affected sports be reallocated? UND Athletics will continue to honor all athletics scholarships for discontinued sports at their present equivalencies for returning student-athletes. In time, scholarships will be reallocated to meet Summit League requirements. Who was involved in this process administratively? Athletics Director Brian Faison, Deputy Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator Daniella Irle, President Mark Kennedy, Vice President for Finance & Operations Alice Brekke, Associate Vice President for Finance Karla Stewart, and Director of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Title IX Coordinator Donna Smith were all involved in the decision-making process. Does today’s announcement impact UND’s men’s golf program? No. The men’s golf program must still meet its originally agreed-upon financial goals by June 2018, by which time the program’s endowment needs to be fully capitalized in order to permanently remain in operation.

It's a travesty that the state of North Dakota will not continue to subsidize the development of European olympic hockey players! -- Brad E Schlossman

Yes, we all know this thread is a joke. People in the business/professional world land jobs through connections and networking all the time, whether its through a father-in-law or by other connections. For example, Hak wouldn't be coaching in Philadelphia had he not coached Ron Hextall's son at UND.

This is a thread implying that Hakstol won't be coaching in Philadelphia. So, in fairness to John, a post about Hakstol not coaching in Philadelphia really isn't that far off topic.

Thank you for being the voice of reason.

The DVD is basically every episode of TTD strung together but edited down to an hour. With that understanding, I will let each individual decide if that is worth $25 plus shipping.

Saw that. Strange. They might as well call it refundable earnest money instead of an application fee if they are going to just return it anyway. I'm also happy this was not a "yes" vote. The NCHC is not broken; there is no need to fix it with new teams.

Dear Mankato and ASU, Thanks for the free $40k that your state's taxpayers gave to us! Love, NCHC

Doesn't UND lease the Ralph, just like the Alerus? Regardless, if UND needs to make the Ralph available for women's sports wouldn't UND need to open the Alerus to other women's sports for the same reason?

There seems to be a wide range of opinions on here from our Title IX experts. Are there any NCAA compliance officers that can clarify UND's standing on this issue? Just me speculating, but I'd think that dropping men's baseball and men's golf puts UND in a better position vis-a-vis Title IX than UND was at this time last year.

In response, I would like to say, "no way could a university's administration be this incompetent by making uninformed decisions." But then again, we are taking about the folks at Twamley in this instance. So I guess it does not surprise me if this is true.

Wow, I didn't realize women's hockey incurred that much in expenses! If UND stays in Big Sky, axing women's hockey seems to make a whole lot of sense from a saving's standpoint.

Holy. Does women's hockey really lose over $1.4 million per season?!?!

Wow. If I had a nickle for every time someone said that a new university was adding D-1 hockey, I might just have enough money to save both UND baseball and golf. But, alas, college hockey is still around the 60 teams it was 15 years ago. Don't expect that number to change much, if at all.

No to Mankato for the same reason that it was no to Mankato in July 2011.

B1G trying to convince NCHC to add ASU (if arena situation is ever resolved) and stay at 9 teams. On conference weekends, the odd B1G and NCHC teams would play. Brad Berry not in favor. He wants NCHC to add Mankato.

Crab cakes and football . . . that's what Maryland does!

I know they're coming off of a down year, but over the past 5 seasons, Minnesota has 5 conference championships, 2 frozen four appearances including a runner-up finish just two seasons ago. Outside of maybe a half dozen schools, every other team in college hockey would happily accept those results.