North vs. South

[HaksHomey]

I cant believe USD is going division 1, honestly, too small with disgusting facilities. When I look at the Dakota Dome I want to throw up. There is a night and day difference between the state schools in ND and in SD (mainly the size of school and size of towns). And I grew up in both states (so there is no bias). They have good football and basketball teams, but that town is small and Sioux Falls would rather support SDSU, and even USF, over USD. I wish them luck, but... well, good luck

[bincitysioux]

I cant believe USD is going division 1, honestly, too small with disgusting facilities. When I look at the Dakota Dome I want to throw up. There is a night and day difference between the state schools in ND and in SD (mainly the size of school and size of towns). And I grew up in both states (so there is no bias). They have good football and basketball teams, but that town is small and Sioux Falls would rather support SDSU, and even USF, over USD. I wish them luck, but... well, good luck

I liked the DakotaDome this weekend. It is a great football facillity, but I think they'd do well if they built a dedicated basketball/volleball arena. Nice campus, too. Don't know about the support trend. On Saturday, USD had 9,000 in their building while SDSU had 3,000. Brookings is a little closer to Sioux Falls, but USD has Sioux Falls, Sioux City, and Yankton to draw from.

[HaksHomey]

I liked the DakotaDome this weekend. It is a great football facillity, but I think they'd do well if they built a dedicated basketball/volleball arena. Nice campus, too. Don't know about the support trend. On Saturday, USD had 9,000 in their building while SDSU had 3,000. Brookings is a little closer to Sioux Falls, but USD has Sioux Falls, Sioux City, and Yankton to draw from.

I could be wrong, but I gotta imagine that had something to do with the SD high school championship game that was played afterwards featuring to big Sioux Falls schools. I lived in a suburb of Sioux Falls for 6 years, USF are the darlings, and after that SDSU got the coverage... but of course I could be wrong. The ND schools are bigger and seem better suited for Division I. Just an opinion, I am probably wrong. It probably be different if either USD/SDSU were in Sioux Falls, but then again there is nothing better than a college town (ie The Greater Grand)

[Yote 53]

8,000-9,000 is about the norm for a USD home game. The high school playoffs had little impact on the attendance. It was nice to see a lot of Sioux fans make the trip down.

We have other threads discussing the building of a new arena and the subsequent expansion of football seating so I won't get into that now. You can check out the threads on our home board. Just to say the plans are in motion and is on the radar to be built. We need to finish up three other academic buildings first. I'd say in about 5 years we'll have a new arena.

Our current facilities are similar to the ones UNIO started out with. We just don't plan on waiting twenty years to build a bball facility like they did.

Bincitysioux is right. USD pulls alot of coverage, students, and support out of Sioux City.

[Big10Sioux]

I cant believe USD is going division 1, honestly, too small with disgusting facilities. When I look at the Dakota Dome I want to throw up. There is a night and day difference between the state schools in ND and in SD (mainly the size of school and size of towns). And I grew up in both states (so there is no bias). They have good football and basketball teams, but that town is small and Sioux Falls would rather support SDSU, and even USF, over USD. I wish them luck, but... well, good luck

What's with the coyote bashing? Sounds like some sort of inferiority complex similar to a lot of bisson posts i read. UND is exception of facilities at the D2 and even 1 level due to a guy that gave a 100 million for a hockey arena (basketball et al.) and good community support in constructing the alerus recently. The facilities at USD are older but at one time the DDome was state of the art (even before the metrodome). I think it is sufficient and by the sounds there are additional plans / wishes down the road. Also Vermillion is near the Siouxs (city, falls) and not that far from Omaha. They have good things going for them. I think UND has more but i am biased.

[Big10Sioux]

Oh and... NCC!..NCC!..NCC!..NCC!..NCC!

I liked that (yote53 idea on d2 mb)

[HaksHomey]

What's with the coyote bashing? Sounds like some sort of inferiority complex similar to a lot of bisson posts i read. UND is exception of facilities at the D2 and even 1 level due to a guy that gave a 100 million for a hockey arena (basketball et al.) and good community support in constructing the alerus recently. The facilities at USD are older but at one time the DDome was state of the art (even before the metrodome). I think it is sufficient and by the sounds there are additional plans / wishes down the road. Also Vermillion is near the Siouxs (city, falls) and not that far from Omaha. They have good things going for them. I think UND has more but i am biased.

I am not bashing, I just have some questions. If Vermillion can make it happen, then good. USD's success will be benefitial to UND, as the two will remain competitors. I admit I am biased too, that why I question their facilities. I was never a fan of the DDome back in the day, and considering that my ass has been seated in a green leather seat for the last 4 years, my views may be a touch unfair

and to prove that I am not bashing here is a compliment: As far as the current D1 move will go, the fastest way to make a national impact is through Basketball (auto bid), and currently USD's Men's program has got UND beat there!

[mksioux]

I cant believe USD is going division 1, honestly, too small with disgusting facilities. When I look at the Dakota Dome I want to throw up. There is a night and day difference between the state schools in ND and in SD (mainly the size of school and size of towns). And I grew up in both states (so there is no bias). They have good football and basketball teams, but that town is small and Sioux Falls would rather support SDSU, and even USF, over USD. I wish them luck, but... well, good luck

As far as population and market potential, one could easily argue that USD is in a better position than UND, despite the small population of Vermillion. It is within an hour drive of Sioux Falls and Sioux City, neither of which has a NCAA Division I university. How about UND? Yes, Fargo is nearby, but Fargo has NDSU. What other city is within an hour from Grand Forks that has any population at all?

[Big10Sioux]

Winnipeg

[HaksHomey]

Pembina

[mksioux]

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is two and half hours away and it's in a foreign country. I'm not saying UND shouldn't try to gain a following in Winnipeg, but it would obviously be more difficult than USD trying to gain support in Sioux Falls or Sioux City.

[siouxjoy]

Winnipeg is two and half hours away and it's in a foreign country. I'm not saying UND shouldn't try to gain a following in Winnipeg, but it would obviously be more difficult than USD trying to gain support in Sioux Falls or Sioux City.

Donovan Alexander is from Winnipeg. Add a few more athletes from the 'peg and...

[SiouxMD]

Tough schedule hurt Coyotes - www.argusleader.com

"The bad news on our schedule is that I believe if we'd have scheduled easier opponents, we'd be 8-3 right now and in the playoffs," USD coach Ed Meierkort said. "The good news is that it was the right step for us to take considering what we have to face next year. That's no consolation for the kids, I know. I thought it might benefit us to play teams like we played, and I was wrong."

Lennon > Meierkort

[UND92,96]

Tough schedule hurt Coyotes - www.argusleader.com

Lennon > Meierkort

Meierkort has a tendency to say some strange things. Anyway, who cares if they would have made the playoffs with an 8-3 record, since they'd have been on the road for sure, and they're simply not a good road team?

[Yote 53]

One thing you got to know about Ed if you've never met him, his talking gets ahead of his thinking sometimes. He will say things straight off the cuff. What it is is that he feels terrrible about the teams final record and he is trying to take responsibility for it. He told me that he thinks he let them down this year, that we had a good team but he bit off more than he could chew with the schedule. I couldn't tell if it was the McNeese game he was referring to or the WTAMU game, i suspect the McNeese game. He admitted in another article that he burned the team out the first half of the year. The offensive production, especially, dropped off a lot after the return from CWU. I think the team just got tired. He wanted to prepare the team for D1, but that is what transition is for and he felt that he just burnt their last shot at a NCC title and D2 playoff run.

Playing a cupcake schedule isn't what Ed is about, although an outsider can infer that if you read some of his quotes.

[UND92,96]

One thing you got to know about Ed if you've never met him, his talking gets ahead of his thinking sometimes. He will say things straight off the cuff. What it is is that he feels terrrible about the teams final record and he is trying to take responsibility for it. He told me that he thinks he let them down this year, that we had a good team but he bit off more than he could chew with the schedule. I couldn't tell if it was the McNeese game he was referring to or the WTAMU game, i suspect the McNeese game. He admitted in another article that he burned the team out the first half of the year. The offensive production, especially, dropped off a lot after the return from CWU. I think the team just got tired. He wanted to prepare the team for D1, but that is what transition is for and he felt that he just burnt their last shot at a NCC title and D2 playoff run.

Playing a cupcake schedule isn't what Ed is about, although an outsider can infer that if you read some of his quotes.

One thing Meierkort said that I found very odd was this (from the above-linked article):

The Coyotes surrendered 40 or more points to all three Division II ranked teams it played on the road. Even so, Meierkort wasn't blaming his defense.

"With the exception of the Central Washington game and the West Texas game, I thought they played well enough to win games..."

What about the UNO game?

Also, back in 2005 when USD was left out of the playoffs, Meierkort was on record as saying USD deserved to get in over UND due to the head to head results. Since he never mentioned UMD (8-3 record), the implication was that he thought they DID deserve to get in. The problem with that argument, of course, was that UND had beaten UMD and had one fewer loss. See the flaw in his logic? When three teams are in the running for two playoff spots, and all are 1-1 against the other two, you can't arbitrarily choose one of those teams and claim you deserve to get in over them due to head to head.

[Yote 53]

Politics dude, politics. He was just arguing the call as if he was on the sidelines. Here him talk off camera, but then you guys never get that chance.

Nothing could have saved us in the UNO game, I think he left that out because it was obvious. He also didn't bring up McNeese. Technically he's right. If the offense makes TDs instead of FGs we win @WTAMU and @ CWU. But the reality is the defense needs to get better. WHat's he supposed to do, crush the guys in the paper? How would that help?

[UND92,96]

Politics dude, politics. He was just arguing the call as if he was on the sidelines. Here him talk off camera, but then you guys never get that chance.

Nothing could have saved us in the UNO game, I think he left that out because it was obvious. He also didn't bring up McNeese. Technically he's right. If the offense makes TDs instead of FGs we win @WTAMU and @ CWU. But the reality is the defense needs to get better. WHat's he supposed to do, crush the guys in the paper? How would that help?

No, he shouldn't call them out, but he shouldn't say things that are blatantly false, either. Of course, I didn't see the McNeese game, but the USD defense was flat-out awful against UNO. Taking what Meierkort said at face value, he apparently disagrees.

Clearly the guy's a reasonably good coach in terms of wins and losses, but between the odd comments in the media, the bone-headed scheduling (too easy, then too hard), and the fact that he never seems to make effective adjustments to shore up the perennially bad pass defense, you have to wonder about him, too. His predecessor didn't exactly set the bar high, but one playoff appearance in four years isn't all that great, either.