President Kennedy Message on Athletics

[farce poobah]

If Lowell Schweigert ever ran for an elected office, I would vote for him.

[Blackheart]

2 hours ago, farce poobah said:

If Lowell Schweigert ever ran for an elected office, I would vote for him.

Why?  Seriously.

[farce poobah]

6 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

Why?  Seriously.

Well, let's start with the fact that I have more respect for him than for most of our elected officials.     Thoughtful, pragmatic, reasonable, articulate, and (by all accounts) honest.     I'm open to contrary views, to be sure.   Of course, the question is moot for now. 

[Blackheart]

Just now, farce poobah said:

Well, let's start with the fact that I have more respect for him than for most of our elected officials.     Thoughtful, pragmatic, reasonable, articulate, and (by all accounts) honest.     I'm open to contrary views, to be sure, and the question is moot for now. 

So you're saying others in the room do not reflect those same qualities?  Hmmmm....

[farce poobah]

Just now, Blackheart said:

So you're saying others in the room do not reflect those same qualities?  Hmmmm....

Hmmmm.... I'd say its a matter of degree.

[Cratter]

So which sports got the most chairs to turn around? And who got the least?

[Blackheart]

Just watched the videos of the presentations by the coaches/athletes trying to save their sports.  This has to be one of the lowest point in UND athletics history.  There had to be a better way to do this.

[Oxbow6]

6 hours ago, Blackheart said:

Just watched the videos of the presentations by the coaches/athletes trying to save their sports.  This has to be one of the lowest point in UND athletics history.  There had to be a better way to do this.

This...^^^

Faison needs to be shown the door ASAP. This is HIS athletic department. Guy's a eunuch.

Kennedy needs to end this embarrassing scenario ASAP as well...he is at the top of the UND food chain and needs to start acting the part.

Kudos to all who, under ridiculously uncomfortable circumstances, gave impassioned pleas to keep playing/coaching the sport they love.

The state's flagship university took a direct hit after last night's fiasco.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

Cutting fringe, non-revenue sports to save money is stupid. News flash...they don't cost all that much to begin with, and the savings will be minimal. These are high-caliber student athletes who go about it the right way and who graduate and who play for school pride in front of maybe, tens of fans. If you support in any way the noble premise advanced for the existence of college sports, these programs are essential. They are like your children and to pick among them is impossible. There is no good way to do it, and the harm to morale and perception is immense.

If you're serious about re-shaping the department's finances, either cut a major sport (I suddenly have a newfound respect for Trev Alberts at UNO, although giving wrestling the axe still puzzles me) or look for more revenue somewhere else. Where is the fundraising? Where is the Champions Club?

If you're willing to cut a program, the inconvenient reality is that you never should have started it. You're simply making others (namely, current participants and coaches) pay for your mistake. The next public spectacle should be the University hosting a public reading of all the jubilant media conference transcripts, press releases, Presidential speeches, AD statements, etc. issued at the time each of these sports were adopted. I would love to have the current budget situation and threatened program cuts juxtaposed against all of the supposedly valid and moving and compelling stories about why UND started playing X in the first place. The vision, the promises, the potential! UND owes each program at least this much, if only as a token means for validation as the noose tightens.

Instead of minimizing embarrassment to the University, which now appears futile, I want to double down and expose how ridiculous this entire fiasco is.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

One more thought...

It has finally dawned on me that conference minimums and "core sports" are only partially related to competitive balance...their far more lofty purpose is to save campus administrators from themselves. If the Olympic sports and other non-revenue programs had been on the chopping block every time there was financial exigency at a member institution, there would be nothing left to cut.

[Tangolou]

11 hours ago, Cratter said:

If a company is going to layoff an employee or two to cut costs, they don't ask a few of them to make a live presentation in front of the company why they should keep them?

Doesnt "upper management" already know which employees/departments are the most/least valuable? And if they dont, they have a discussion amongst themselves...and if they have a question they don't know the answer to....they ask someone who'd know?

 

[Oxbow6]

If you are on the women's hockey team you might want to consider going around campus with a disguise on from here on out.........just sayin'!

[The Sicatoka]

Part of the issue is that this situation was left behind by at least one prior administration:

When the decision was made to go DI it was clear that a 21 sport department was not sustainable. At that time a former UND Athletics administrator (during the Kupchella tenure) told an assembly of 21 coaches to look around and that in five to ten years about five of them would be gone. Nobody wanted to do what needed to be done. 

Roll it forward ten years and, well, we're in the process of taking 21 down to 16. 

Ed Schafer, unlike Kupchella or Kelley, started the process. Now Kennedy is left to deal with the rest of it. 

[The Sicatoka]

Was last night glorious? No. But, the folks under the microscope got a chance to plead their case. Would I have preferred it to be less of a spectacle? Yes. But then the accusations of "back room, smoke filled room deals" would be flying about. So which dung display, feces fest, would you rather have splatting about right now: transparency or obfuscation. 

[UNDBIZ]

I'd just like to preface this by saying the committee should not have had the coaches/athletes present like this.  This was an ego stroking measure for Kenville, plain and simple.  I don't blame Kennedy for asking the IAC to look into athletics (IT'S THEIR PURPOSE).  He had been on the job for 2 months and shouldn't have been expected to already know the IAC was lead by an idiot.  I do think Kennedy should have shown some leadership by putting a stop to it before the coaches had to beg for their sports.

With that said, it's apparent the Herald was going to pitch a fit regardless of how the process went.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4134713-tom-miller-meeting-needs-matter#.V_21lF9oMYk.twitter

Quote

 

This committee, and of course ultimately Kennedy, shouldn't, and surely won't, make decisions based on emotion.

....... But the coaches and athletes' words, documents and figures presented in such a public, heart-wrenching manner should hold some meaningful weight in the final decision.

 

[UND-1]

8 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Was last night glorious? No. But, the folks under the microscope got a chance to plead their case. Would I have preferred it to be less of a spectacle? Yes. But then the accusations of "back room, smoke filled room deals" would be flying about. So which dung display, feces fest, would you rather have splatting about right now: transparency or obfuscation. 

But, what transparency was it really?  They pleaded their case and then left.  Hell, swimming and diving could have had Michael Phelps come in and stump for their program.  What good would it have done if they still have a big budget, low revenue and aging facilities? 

My point is having them come in and plead their case was completely worthless.  Everybody in the AD already knows their team GPA, their success on the field, their revenue, their expenses, etc.  The decision is going to be made behind closed doors, anyway.

Their speeches were pointless....that is, if the decision is actually made on the merits of the program as it relates to UND's current situation.

[The Sicatoka]

2 minutes ago, UND-1 said:

But, what transparency was it really?  

We won't know until we find out the decisions. 

[Nodak78]

4 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

I'd just like to preface this by saying the committee should not have had the coaches/athletes present like this.  This was an ego stroking measure for Kenville, plain and simple.  I don't blame Kennedy for asking the IAC to look into athletics (IT'S THEIR PURPOSE).  He had been on the job for 2 months and shouldn't have been expected to already know the IAC was lead by an idiot.  I do think Kennedy should have shown some leadership by putting a stop to it before the coaches had to beg for their sports.

With that said, it's apparent the Herald was going to pitch a fit regardless of how the process went.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4134713-tom-miller-meeting-needs-matter#.V_21lF9oMYk.twitter

 

the herald likes to sell papers.  controversy is a plus.   look how they went after Kennedy just announcing it.  a hint at politics as well.

[homer]

2 minutes ago, Nodak78 said:

the herald likes to sell papers.  controversy is a plus.   look how they went after Kennedy just announcing it.  a hint at politics as well.

I respect Schlossman and Miller for being critical of UND and its leadership.  You will not find that at any other media outlet in any other ND city/university.  In other cities the media are fed the stories to write and question nothing.  

However, I disagree with Brad last night. He is tweeting about the meeting and how inappropriate it was.  Everyone in the meeting room knows the sport that should be cut and if that sport was cut Brad would be more critical about someone making that decision on facts me numbers alone. 

[UND-1]

12 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

We won't know until we find out the decisions. 

What will the final decision(s) tell us as it relates to the speeches from last night?  Stevens speech was great because his sport got saved but Tom Wynne's speech must have sucked because they got cut?  

Are we really going to be able to extrapolate who's was more powerful based on Kennedy's decision?  I don't get how anything meaningful can be pulled from last nights charade.  

[UNDBIZ]

10 minutes ago, homer said:

Everyone in the meeting room knows the sport that should be cut and if that sport was cut Brad would be more critical about someone making that decision on facts me numbers alone. 

[Nodak78]

I don't know this for a fact but I would guess WHockey is protected because of the REA and what it brings to the University.  If someone would step up and fund Swimming or Tennos or any other sport like REA those sports would be scared cows as well.  It is what it is.  Do we like this process no. Hell no but some sports need to be cut for the benefit of other sports to excel.  Anybody with deep pockets want to step forward and save the individual sports they hold dear.

[The Sicatoka]

31 minutes ago, Nodak78 said:

 Anybody with deep pockets want to step forward and save the individual sports they hold dear.

Yup. "Talk is cheap; it takes money to buy whiskey." 

[UNDBIZ]

On 8/30/2016 at 9:27 AM, UNDvince97-01 said:

The peak of potential for WH has come and gone with little financial effect on the program as a whole (Lamoureaux Twins).

The biggest indictment is that the REA doesn't even want womens hockey anymore as it will be an eternal black hole and they know it.

So is there anything to this?  Has REA suggested WIH move out?  Or just speculation?  Not attacking, actually interested.

[mksioux]

45 minutes ago, Nodak78 said:

I don't know this for a fact but I would guess WHockey is protected because of the REA and what it brings to the University.  If someone would step up and fund Swimming or Tennos or any other sport like REA those sports would be scared cows as well.  It is what it is.  Do we like this process no. Hell no but some sports need to be cut for the benefit of other sports to excel.  Anybody with deep pockets want to step forward and save the individual sports they hold dear.

How does REA protect womens hockey?  Does REA really fund womens hockey?  It gives them a place to play for basically nothing I suppose, but the program still hemorrhages money.

And is REA really going to bat for womens hockey behind the scenes?  I honestly have no idea, but I'm curious.  Some indicate that REA does not even want womens hockey anymore.  I don't think Ralph himself had any great affinity toward womens hockey considering at the time he announced his donation and built the arena, UND did not even have a varsity womens hockey team.  Anyone know REA's position, if any, on this?

Womens hockey does not have a rich history or much of a fan base. It didn't start until 2002 and I don't believe it was fully funded until 2007.  It's had moderate success since then, but nothing to write home about.  Why exactly is the program deserving of sacred cow status?  All I hear is that "Grand Forks is a hockey town" or "UND is a hockey school" so that's just the way it is.  Call me underwhelmed by that reasoning.  Certainly Grand Forks overwhelmingly supports the mens hockey program and UND certainly is a great mens hockey school.  But if Grand Forks was such a great overall hockey town and UND was such a great overall hockey school, attendance at womens hockey games would not be so abysmal.   Can someone explain to me why womens hockey is untouchable?  Maybe I'm missing something.  I know it's a moot point because Kennedy has already said womens hockey will not be cut, but I'm still curious as to exactly why when doing so seems to make the most sense.

Also, I think it has been well established that Title IX is not a real barrier.  UND could cut womens hockey and still be Title IX compliant by being only mildly creative.