UND football may need a bigger arena

[star2city]

Hmm, hasn't the Big Sky Commissioner publicly spoken in favor of the BSC going DIA in football? Perhaps Mr. Fullerton envisions a "northern WAC". Trade Idaho for Northern Arizona or Sac St, adding a few large Canadian schools, and adding one school to cover the less populous Dakotas: that could make for a rather strong conference that certainly would have the potential sometime late next decade to be a IA.

[GF_siouxfan]

i cant reply without getting childish

[nodakvindy]

... unless they had a major "sugar daddy".

Unless said sugar daddy is dropping Gates/Buffett kind of money, UND still could not be a major football powerhouse at the DIA level. Look, Minnesota is a team with a pretty rich tradition and it isn't even a powerhouse anymore.

And if you are dropping that kind of coin, why not make a run at hiring Phil Jackson and simply put basketball on the map.

[The Sicatoka]

The major DI-As run about a $30 MM FB budget. That'd take an endowment of roughly $600 MM. Do I expect someone to plink down that kind of cha-ching? I ain't holdin' my breath. However, is it impossible? (See: "leather seats and granite floors hockey arena in Grand Forks, ND") Would I turn away someone with a big dream and the coin to back it?

In 1975 would anyone have dreamed of playing a championship season under a roof in 2001 at UND? In 1985? 1990? Big dreams don't all happen; however, some do. And they all have to start somewhere, as some crazy notion. To me this is a big dream, and today it sounds like a crazy notion, but that's OK because it's a big dream.

"From the coaching staff, to everyone at the arena, and the entire school, there is a dedication to strive to be better and that is contagious." -- Andrew Kozek, talking about the University of North Dakota.

I'm most happy to see someone is thinking of "where could we go in a best-case" scenarios. If you don't dream big looking ahead you never go anywhere.

[MafiaMan]

Upgrading the basketball program and trying to be a George Mason or Gonzaga is a much more realistic goal than thinking a run at the BCS is possible.

I don't know if I'd lump George Mason in with Gonzaga at this point. Odds are, much like Harold "The Show" Arceneaux, Cleveland State, Murray State, Bryce Drew, and many other one-hit wonders of NCAA basketball's March Madness, Gonzaga has staked its claim as a team to be reckoned with year in and year out. I'm not sure I'd put George Mason in that category based on a cinderella run to the Final Four.

However, GREAT point about upgrading the basketball program and that being more realistic than a run at D-1 football. I couldn't agree more.