The Current Situation

[dlsiouxfan]

Yeah, then we can start running this school like it should be, FOOTBALL and HOCKEY FIRST. Is anybody else as tired of academics as me? I mean seriously, how much can it cost to have classes. The first thing that needs to go are all of the teachers. I'm pretty sure they could get by on half of what they have right now. I mean, their not even doing anything half the time. What a bunch of lazy as$es. The money saved there could probably fund a move to D-I, so that UND is playing for the nickel again. And thats not even getting to all of that bullsh!t "research". I've got an idea, why don't all of those teachers research a beer at a hockey game. THERE'S something that actually matters.

Ok how about you back some of this crap your spewing up so we can debate you. What is it about sdsu and ndsu that you feel they have an advantage over UND regarding a D- I move. Is it better academic programs and more alumni and students? Nope guess not. How about higher academic prestige? Nope guess not either. Wealthier more active alumni? Another miss. Why don't you come on here and state one thing these two schools have on UND instead of pissing and moaning that we can't do it.

[Shawn-O]

Closed circuit to aff, a couple of questions:

1. Why do you give a $h1t if UND goes DI or not?

2. What's it like to always be the smartest guy in the room?

[DI IN FARGO]

Clever. Original post wasn't meant as smack. It was just a back-handed set up to smack UND fans.

What a joke, having a discussion about this and you don't agree so you call it smack. Poor argument on your part. One of your own fans and apparently one of many who believes something other then you and you don't like it so you call it smack.

[DI IN FARGO]

Ok how about you back some of this crap your spewing up so we can debate you. What is it about sdsu and ndsu that you feel they have an advantage over UND regarding a D- I move. Is it better academic programs and more alumni and students? Nope guess not. How about higher academic prestige? Nope guess not either. Wealthier more active alumni? Another miss. Why don't you come on here and state one thing these two schools have on UND instead of pissing and moaning that we can't do it.

So you have one Alumni who gave extremely generously to UND and you think UND has the corner on alumni contributions?

The number of students at NDSU and UND are now with in a few hundred if not less so your big claim about more students is diminishing and will eventually be gone. NDSU is growing at a faster pace with students and will soon surpass UND.

Academic prestige?? You have one publication that states an opinion and now all of a sudden UND is heads above any other university in North or South Dakota? Don't think so.

I am very much looking forward to the future as we will see what happens in Fargo and Brookings as compared to Grand Forks. This mentality in Grand Forks of superiority is hilarious.

[DI IN FARGO]

UND: Holding NDSU back from the Big Sky since 2005.

Your post should have read "UND:Going nowhwere without NDSU and SDSU but still trying to ride the coattails"

[aff]

Ok how about you back some of this crap your spewing up so we can debate you. What is it about sdsu and ndsu that you feel they have an advantage over UND regarding a D- I move. Is it better academic programs and more alumni and students? Nope guess not. How about higher academic prestige? Nope guess not either. Wealthier more active alumni? Another miss. Why don't you come on here and state one thing these two schools have on UND instead of pissing and moaning that we can't do it.

Well, for one, their three years through their transition. Another I guess, is both of them are going to be fully funded when they are out of the transition, while UND is running a deficit in D-II and using waivers for womens hockey. Another related point would be that they don't have hockey holding them down, taking a huge percentage of the available donor money for athletics. Another point would be they have presidents that actually wanted to go D-I as opposed to a president who is doing everything in his power to stop the school from going D-I.

I think I've said all of these points before, so don't accuse me of pissing and moaning if you're not willing to actually listen to what I have to say.

You guys can keep talking until your blue in the face about how the SU's have no advantage over you going D-I, but you never can quite figure out why it is that they're D-I, and you're still D-II. I assure, there are actual reasons and actual advantages those schools have over UND. That doesn't mean UND won't go D-I or can't go D-I, just thats its increasingly unlikely.

[aff]

Closed circuit to aff, a couple of questions:

1. Why do you give a $h1t if UND goes DI or not?

2. What's it like to always be the smartest guy in the room?

1. It's interesting. Let me explain it to you. Sometimes, people that are involved with, or that follow sports closely, because they enjoy seeing them, like to keep track of them. Last night I watched part of the mavs suns game. I did this because I enjoy sports. If there was news that the the suns were moving to a different city, I would care about that also, because its interesting to me. This whole situation with the dakotas is ten fold as interesting as that. This kind of local conference affiliation stuff happens once in a blue moon. I think you could pretty well argue that since the inception of college sports in the dakotas, there hasn't been a more dramatic or far reaching situation. Sure Creighton and UNI went D-I, but now we're talking simultaneously (or were) about the NCC collapsing, and schools that were just in D-II three years ago playing major schools in sports. If thats not interesting to you, then I don't think much to do with sports will be.

2. Its not hard to correct some of the near insane posts in here. The post about "UND will never, ever, have a problem with money". I mean come on, all of you know thats dead wrong, you just choose to ignore it. If it makes me smart, to know that schools have problems with money, then I guess I'm a genius. I guess it also makes me a genius to read the news and understand that UND won't be going to the big sky any time soon. Its pretty simple logic here, I mean, last week you have two conference commisioners tell UND they need to be D-I before they are going to get consideration. NDSU and SDSU haven't gotten much consideration for their conference affiliation earlier in their transition, just like northern colorado. Now their over half way done, and what happens? Conference affiliation starts to look more likely. Is it that big of a stretch to realize that UND is going to have to do the same thing? Does it make me that "smart" to see what right in front of everyones face? Come on, all of you can see the things I say too. You just want to ignore them, because the truth is too painful.

The truth is that the SU's, along with your president have pinned you between a rock and a hard place. For years you could say that you were better than NDSU because of hockey. But now thats looking like its all gone. You can't come up with the money for D-I, and you can't afford to be left behind by NDSU and look like second fiddle. What do you do? Its a tough spot to be in, and unfortunately for you its going to shape you're university for the next 50 years. You don't go D-I now, and wait 10 years, NDSU will already be looking at trading up conferences and leave you looking like second fiddle again, because of their time advantage. What happens if NDSU gets into the big dance? That media exposure will eclipse anything UND has ever seen in the state, and drive UND alums crazy. And you know what alums want? Instant gratification. They will want UND caught up immediately, but it won't be possible, so you'll have an even tougher climb into D-I than NDSU and SDSU have had.

Sorry that got long, but I hope this post clears up any questions you had about my feelings of the future. I think I have made them abundantly clear.

[Smoggy]

What a joke, having a discussion about this and you don't agree so you call it smack. Poor argument on your part. One of your own fans and apparently one of many who believes something other then you and you don't like it so you call it smack.

Sure looks like a backhanded slap to UND fans that have a differing opinion than you. What I also see in that post is you talking down to the person you're responding to. You set up a question that you knew the answer you wanted to hear. If someone disagreed with you, you probably would've ripped them. Someone agreed with you, so you ripped everyone anyways.

If you really don't care, then leave. So what some people trashed the Mid-Con. Big whoop, we play Augie. You have as well. You also don't know my opinion on the matter of conferences, because I haven't given it.

Oh, and you're not even in the Mid-Con yet.

[Shawn-O]

1. It's interesting. Let me explain it to you. Sometimes, people that are involved with, or that follow sports closely, because they enjoy seeing them, like to keep track of them. Last night I watched part of the mavs suns game. I did this because I enjoy sports. If there was news that the the suns were moving to a different city, I would care about that also, because its interesting to me. This whole situation with the dakotas is ten fold as interesting as that. This kind of local conference affiliation stuff happens once in a blue moon. I think you could pretty well argue that since the inception of college sports in the dakotas, there hasn't been a more dramatic or far reaching situation. Sure Creighton and UNI went D-I, but now we're talking simultaneously (or were) about the NCC collapsing, and schools that were just in D-II three years ago playing major schools in sports. If thats not interesting to you, then I don't think much to do with sports will be.

2. Its not hard to correct some of the near insane posts in here. The post about "UND will never, ever, have a problem with money". I mean come on, all of you know thats dead wrong, you just choose to ignore it. If it makes me smart, to know that schools have problems with money, then I guess I'm a genius. I guess it also makes me a genius to read the news and understand that UND won't be going to the big sky any time soon. Its pretty simple logic here, I mean, last week you have two conference commisioners tell UND they need to be D-I before they are going to get consideration. NDSU and SDSU haven't gotten much consideration for their conference affiliation earlier in their transition, just like northern colorado. Now their over half way done, and what happens? Conference affiliation starts to look more likely. Is it that big of a stretch to realize that UND is going to have to do the same thing? Does it make me that "smart" to see what right in front of everyones face? Come on, all of you can see the things I say too. You just want to ignore them, because the truth is too painful.

The truth is that the SU's, along with your president have pinned you between a rock and a hard place. For years you could say that you were better than NDSU because of hockey. But now thats looking like its all gone. You can't come up with the money for D-I, and you can't afford to be left behind by NDSU and look like second fiddle. What do you do? Its a tough spot to be in, and unfortunately for you its going to shape you're university for the next 50 years. You don't go D-I now, and wait 10 years, NDSU will already be looking at trading up conferences and leave you looking like second fiddle again, because of their time advantage. What happens if NDSU gets into the big dance? That media exposure will eclipse anything UND has ever seen in the state, and drive UND alums crazy. And you know what alums want? Instant gratification. They will want UND caught up immediately, but it won't be possible, so you'll have an even tougher climb into D-I than NDSU and SDSU have had.

Sorry that got long, but I hope this post clears up any questions you had about my feelings of the future. I think I have made them abundantly clear.

I forgot to thank you for the response. It's very interesting to me as well, perhaps the most interesting time in the history of UND athletics, and the most pivotal time. You're bang-on in terms of the big dance scenario. If that were to happen while UND was wallowing in D-II, it would be a PR disaster, and yes, the alumni would go ballistic, as they should. I won't, and can't, speak for the alumni base, but I'm not looking for instant gratification. I'm looking to preserve UND's position as the flagship institution of the state.

There's a lot of talk about deficits and impending disaster. Everyone says that college sports is a business. You know what? Institutions like UND and NDSU are businesses, athletics are only a means to an end. It's a competitive world. Corporations competing for customers, cities competing for corporate headquarters, and yes, universities competing for the best and the brightest young people that they can attract. They become the future donors and benefactors, and the flywheel keeps spinning from there.