As March 6 Looms ...

[SiouxVolley]

The women's swimming squad shows signs of life.  Though they finished 5th out 8 in the WAC, but the top spot is within view based on the pts scored.  We had a freshman swimmer of the year too, in Katie Breault.  Swimming isn't a bottom feeder like tennis, which is almost designed to be non-competitive with the money inputted.

[UNDvince97-01]

1 hour ago, jdub27 said:

The men's side took the brunt of everything last time and there isn't much left to cut there anymore. Can't wait to hear the teeth gnashing about it when it doesn't shake out that way this time around, completely ignoring that little tidbit.

Let's also not forget that prior to the cutting of Baseball and Mens Golf recently, the last sport to be cut at UND before that was a mens sport IIRC - wrestling in 1998.  Cant remember another sport being cut since then.

So then the last 3 sports cut have been on the mens side of the equation.  

And since 1998 when wrestling was cut, WIH has since been added.

[jdub27]

17 minutes ago, UNDvince97-01 said:

Let's also not forget that prior to the cutting of Baseball and Mens Golf recently, the last sport to be cut at UND before that was a mens sport IIRC - wrestling in 1998.  Cant remember another sport being cut since then.

So then the last 3 sports cut have been on the mens side of the equation.  

And since 1998 when wrestling was cut, WIH has since been added.

To expand on that:
Women's golf was added in 1995, women's tennis in 1997 and women's soccer in 1999.

There was an expansion in football scholarships when the D-1 move was done.
Men's tennis was added in 2013 after being cut in 1990, though with very minimal support.

[SWSiouxMN]

The problem I have is that I don't see how they can come out of this with all 20 sports.  You can't keep "crying wolf" on this

I don't see how you can find that much $$$ just in trimming budgets unrelated to the conference move.

Speaking of:  Is Douple really going to hold UND to the Summit penalty of cutting sports? Or will he not? Or will he kinda "hint" to UND, if you cut x you will pay, but if you cut y you won't.

 

[UNDBIZ]

3 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said:

The problem I have is that I don't see how they can come out of this with all 20 sports.  You can't keep "crying wolf" on this

I don't see how you can find that much $$$ just in trimming budgets unrelated to the conference move.

Speaking of:  Is Douple really going to hold UND to the Summit penalty of cutting sports? Or will he not? Or will he kinda "hint" to UND, if you cut x you will pay, but if you cut y you won't.

Are we technically members of the conference right now? 

[The Sicatoka]

So ... 

1990: cut men's tennis
1995: add women's golf
1997: add women's tennis
1998: cut men's wresting
1999: add women's soccer
2002: add women's hockey
2012: add men's FB scholarships (DI transition, had to have been some "balancing" with this)
2013: add men's tennis (required by Big Sky Conference)
2016: cut men's baseball
2016: cut men's golf ... and then didn't

Feel free to add/edit as needed. 

[SWSiouxMN]

2 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

Are we technically members of the conference right now? 

Right now? No

But when has logic ever apply to conference moves

[Siouxphan27]

Haven't seen much reason to have a lot of faith in Kennedy being willing to make any real decisions regarding sports offerings.  Therefore, I'll guess all he does is drop M S&D, while adding recreational activity W S&M. 

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

2 hours ago, Siouxphan27 said:

Haven't seen much reason to have a lot of faith in Kennedy being willing to make any real decisions regarding sports offerings.  Therefore, I'll guess all he does is drop M S&D, while adding recreational activity W S&M. 

The Title IX plaintiffs will be tied up in court. Quite literally.

[DB Cooper]

M/W Golf (Men after next year) 

W Softball

Trim Budget in MW S&D, MW Tennis, WHockey, and WSoccer

 

 

[Rebel_Sioux]

Personally, I love that we support 20 sports and I doubt they will actually cut another one.

However, if we are being honest, very few people care about tennis, softball, golf or soccer. I would imagine swimming and diving would be safe. It may save the athletics department some money, but it wouldn't save the school that much since they'd still have to maintain the pool for the students.
 

Honestly the whole things makes me mad. Kupchella gave Kelley a school with a nickname crisis and buildings that were falling about. Kelley blew thousands of dollars on retiring the name (probably still cheaper than fighting the NCAA but I'd still rather have the name), and then even more money on replacing it. Meanwhile he spent millions of dollars on new buildings (Alumni Center, sports complex) while the rest of the schools infrastructure continued to fall apart. Then Schafer comes along and spends more money on a logo that could have been developed in-house for a fraction of the cost. He also makes several permanent decisions (such as cutting Baseball and some academic programs) rather than doing temporary cuts to give teams/programs the chance to raise funds to keep the programs afloat. All of this could have been avoided if the state government had enough foresight to provide more funding for infrastructure when they had more money from the oil boom.

Long story short, Kennedy inherited a mess from Shafer/Kelley. I wish him the best going forward.

 

 

[UND1983]

Weren't the Alumni Center and Indoor Facility privately financed?  

[Teeder11]

9 minutes ago, UND1983 said:

Weren't the Alumni Center and Indoor Facility privately financed?  

Yes

[jdub27]

So when people say that they think budgets will be cut, what exactly are you suggesting? Less scholarships? Cutting coaching salary/pool for assistants? I'm not saying there aren't ways to trim budgets a little bit but there are a lot of fixed costs that can't really be changed and the two previously mentioned things are the biggest line items for most sports. Travel and equipment are fairly static, you can't do much about them. I just don't see it working if Kennedy truly wants to compete at a high level. 

[UNDBIZ]

11 hours ago, Rebel_Sioux said:

Personally, I love that we support 20 sports and I doubt they will actually cut another one.

However, if we are being honest, very few people care about tennis, softball, golf or soccer. I would imagine swimming and diving would be safe. It may save the athletics department some money, but it wouldn't save the school that much since they'd still have to maintain the pool for the students.
 

Honestly the whole things makes me mad. Kupchella gave Kelley a school with a nickname crisis and buildings that were falling about. Kelley blew thousands of dollars on retiring the name (probably still cheaper than fighting the NCAA but I'd still rather have the name), and then even more money on replacing it. Meanwhile he spent millions of dollars on new buildings (Alumni Center, sports complex) while the rest of the schools infrastructure continued to fall apart. Then Schafer comes along and spends more money on a logo that could have been developed in-house for a fraction of the cost. He also makes several permanent decisions (such as cutting Baseball and some academic programs) rather than doing temporary cuts to give teams/programs the chance to raise funds to keep the programs afloat. All of this could have been avoided if the state government had enough foresight to provide more funding for infrastructure when they had more money from the oil boom.

Long story short, Kennedy inherited a mess from Shafer/Kelley. I wish him the best going forward.

Higher Ed saw huge funding increases during the oil boom.  How they prioritized the use of that funding is on the campus presidents, not the legislature.  Schafer did more long-term positive work for UND than the last 3 presidents combined.  Giving teams the chance to raise funds to keep programs afloat was the worst decision Schafer made.

[fightingsioux4life]

11 hours ago, Rebel_Sioux said:

Personally, I love that we support 20 sports and I doubt they will actually cut another one.

So you want to run this athletic department like a high school? Maintain all sports at all costs......wins and losses be d@mned.

Sorry, that is not how a Division I institution should work.

Cut us down to 16 sports (that means no more women's hockey) and strengthen our core programs.

Anything less is a joke.

[Oxbow6]

13 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

So you want to run this athletic department like a high school? Maintain all sports at all costs......wins and losses be d@mned.

Sorry, that is not how a Division I institution should work.

Cut us down to 16 sports (that means no more women's hockey) and strengthen our core programs.

Anything less is a joke.

The resolution to the budget issues is not complicated at all.  Problem is the powers that be will make it complicated.

[fightingsioux4life]

1 minute ago, Oxbow6 said:

The resolution to the budget issues is not complicated at all.  Problem is the powers that be will make it complicated.

I agree 100%, but it still drives me nuts.

[AJS]

9 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

So you want to run this athletic department like a high school? Maintain all sports at all costs......wins and losses be d@mned.

Sorry, that is not how a Division I institution should work.

Cut us down to 16 sports (that means no more women's hockey) and strengthen our core programs.

Anything less is a joke.

This.

Get ready for an opinion that will get ripped, but I guarantee the vast majority of people that are UND fans would agree with. There are only 3 sports that truly matter to UND fans, those are Men's Hockey, Men's Basketball and Football, I don't buy it, but you can add Women's Basketball and Volleyball to the list if you want to get 5. Outside of that, it doesn't matter how any of the other teams do, because people don't care.

Those 5 are the core, fill in whatever you need to get to 16 based on what's needed by the Summit / what's the cheapest. If Tennis is cheaper than Swimming & Diving, cut Swimming & Diving and keep Tennis.

[fightingsioux4life]

16 minutes ago, AJS said:

This.

Get ready for an opinion that will get ripped, but I guarantee the vast majority of people that are UND fans would agree with. There are only 3 sports that truly matter to UND fans, those are Men's Hockey, Men's Basketball and Football, I don't buy it, but you can add Women's Basketball and Volleyball to the list if you want to get 5. Outside of that, it doesn't matter how any of the other teams do, because people don't care.

Those 5 are the core, fill in whatever you need to get to 16 based on what's needed by the Summit / what's the cheapest. If Tennis is cheaper than Swimming & Diving, cut Swimming & Diving and keep Tennis.

I think WBB and VB should be included in the "core" sports. Five core sports and eleven other sports to meet NCAA and Summit League requirements.

[AJS]

8 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

I think WBB and VB should be included in the "core" sports. Five core sports and eleven other sports to meet NCAA and Summit League requirements.

Expenses, Expenses, Expenses should be how Kennedy makes cuts for everything not in the 5 "core sports".

It doesn't matter how the other sports are performing, because nobody really cares. If S&D won the WAC, or finished 8th, it's all the same in the minds of the vast majority. That goes for every other sport not in the core 5. The cheaper sports stay, the more expensive sports get cut.

 

[fightingsioux4life]

1 minute ago, AJS said:

Expenses, Expenses, Expenses should be how Kennedy makes cuts for everything not in the 5 "core sports".

It doesn't matter how the other sports are performing, because nobody really cares. If S&D won the WAC, or finished 8th, it's all the same in the minds of the vast majority. That goes for every other sport not in the core 5. The cheaper sports stay, the more expensive sports get cut.

I can agree with that, provided we are meeting all NCAA and Summit League requirements for number of sports sponsored.

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

Can't wait for the financial news from our U.

The academic side is going to be terrible.

[dlsiouxfan]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this but has it occurred to North Dakotans that they could avoid this boom/ bust cycle if they'd pay higher state income tax rate than 2.9%? At what point does the state government just admit that there is a base level of services that North Dakotans desire (universities that function, highways without potholes, etc.) and then come up with a plan to raise that revenue that isn't entirely dependent on the price of a volatile commodity?

[jdub27]

27 minutes ago, dlsiouxfan said:

I know I'm going to get flamed for this but has it occurred to North Dakotans that they could avoid this boom/ bust cycle if they'd pay higher state income tax rate than 2.9%? At what point does the state government just admit that there is a base level of services that North Dakotans desire (universities that function, highways without potholes, etc.) and then come up with a plan to raise that revenue that isn't entirely dependent on the price of a volatile commodity?

I think if you look at how much the government spending has grown in the last 6-8 years, it seems like there should be plenty to cut out and still be above levels the state was previously at. When "one-time spending" happens, a chunk of seems to just work its way into the next baseline. I don't think anyone is advocating for cutting highway infrastructure or dysfunctional universities. There is plenty of fat to go around, reevaluating priorities and making some cuts isn't a bad thing.

For example - Higher ed had appropriations of $472 million in 2007-2009. The proposed level for 2017-2019 is $650 million. That's an increase of 38%  and doesn't take into account increase in tuition revenue from $553 million to $768 million. During that same time frame, FTE's went from 35,585 to 38,089.