UND fans discuss the Fighting Hawks
UND asked me to pass on to you that you can submit questions for Coach Mussman to:
Please include your name and hometown, and Coach Mussman might answer your question live on Sioux Sports Extra! You can watch on WDAZ if you’re in the right area, or online by clicking on the link.
While a student at UND, I never gave much thought to the fact that football games were played on Saturday afternoons. I went to some games, and if I had other things to do I listened on the radio. When I lived in Madison, WI, I often cheerfully began tailgating at Oakcrest Tavern at 9am in anticipation of an 11am game. I’ve always seen a typical college football game as being played around noon.
On the flip side, fans on the SiouxSports forum have long noticed the attendance drops on big hunting weekends, observed that Saturday afternoon games are inaccessible to those who work on Saturdays, and complained that attending an early afternoon game consumes an entire day for families who have to travel to reach the game.
Sioux fans often use NDSU as a yardstick for a successful I-AA/FCS football transition. The Bison, who managed to increase attendance from an average of 11567 five years ago to 18141 last year, scheduled the following game times for this season: 7pm (1), 6pm (3), 3pm (1), 1pm (1). SDSU, which has similarly bumped attendance from 5547 to 11218 over their transition, scheduled the following home times for this season: 6pm (3), 2pm (2), 1pm (1).
Those attendance increases are largely on the back of transition excitement and success on the field, but the results are in on UND’s first Thursday night game as a I-AA/FCS team — attendance was an impressive 11434. (box score) That’s the largest opening home crowd ever for the Alerus, and the 10th largest crowd in the building’s eight year history.
Local print media are blogging about it (they like day games for lead-time reasons), and fans are having substantial discussions (in which they note that the crowd was not only large, but particularly loud and engaged).
A big crowd not only helps with revenue but actually helps the home team on the field — just ask any of UND’s past playoff opponents who had the misfortune of being sent to the Alerus in the post-season. In fact, in last Thursday’s game, Texas A&M-Kingsville had eight false starts.
UND has one more evening home game this season — Southern Utah on Nov. 8. Given UND’s usually precipitous November attendance drops, many will be watching to see how attendance fares for that first home game vs. a I-AA/FCS opponent. UND football has a new coach, a new athletic director, a new division, and new opponents on future schedules. UND is taking bold moves and fan excitement is high. I, for one, wouldn’t be surprised to see more night games in the future.
Though summer is always a slow time for college athletics, it’s been a busy time for the University of North Dakota as it undergoes numerous transitions. For those who haven’t been paying attention to UND athletics, like me, here’s a handy pocket guide to what’s been happening!
UND joins new D-I all-sports conference — Great West Conference
Scheduling is usually one of the most difficult parts of a transition to D-I, as the in-transition school doesn’t count as a D-I game for opponents. Securing a conference affiliation, before beginning its first day of D-I competition, is a tremendous achievement for UND and will be a boon to scheduling.
The Great West Conference’s core membership includes North Dakota, South Dakota, and four additional institutions that were not part of the Great West Football Conference. The remaining members of the former Great West Football Conference will remain football-only members of the new Great West Conference.
All sports members:
Great West Football only members:
However, fans shouldn’t confuse this with being accepted to an established conference. As a new conference, the Great West won’t have autobids to the big tournaments, so stability could be low as its members continue to evaluate and seek options that include autobids.
Football moves
UND football took a blow when Chappell was declared ineligible (forum discussion) and Stroup was dismissed from the team (forum discussion).
Hockey news
UND had the best hockey attendance in the nation, Chorney signed with the Oilers, and the official 2008-09 schedule was released.
Changes in leadership
The question came up in the Denver game thread whether UND could still get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament if Minnesota won tonight, giving UND a shot at CC.
Since the question is probably of general interest, I’ll repeat my answer here:
Looking at the CC vs. UND comparison only, 2 CC losses + 1 UND win (including 1 over CC) should flip TUC to UND and possibly RPI, plus give UND one more H2H point. If UND doesn’t take RPI, that would leave the comparison at 3-3 with CC owning RPI and UND H2H (I’m not sure which the committee would use as a tie-breaker); if UND takes RPI, UND wins the comparison 4-2 and stands a really good shot at a #1 seed.
RPI should be within .001 or so in that situation, so some of the other games could nudge it around enough to matter.
Of course, other things could move a little, with the comparison so tight, but a Minnesota win over CC and subsequent UND win over CC seems to be UND’s best chance to maximize its PWR now.
The WCHA had its annual pre-Final Five press conference this morning. Here’s a summary (not to be confused with a transcript, which it’s not) of what Dave Hakstol had to say.
Congratulations to Scott and Colorado College for their championship.
I also wanted to mention Jamie Russell and his team at Michigan Tech. It was a tough series for us to come out of, so we take our hats off to the Michigan Tech Huskies.
Our senior class is happy to be able to return to the Final Five one more time and take a shot at the Broadmoor Cup.
Q: Can you talk about the Oshie-Duncan line and how they’re playing?
A: They’re both playing good, solid two-way hockey. Our depth is the most important part of our team, but those two guys are impact players and are playing well.
Q: How has your veteran defense been going for you?
A: We knew coming into the year that to be successful our D corps had to be a source of stability for us. Even though its a veteran crew, we have some new partners this year, so its taken some time to develop chemistry and grow together. They’re moving the puck out of the zone and adding some offense.
Q: You’ve lost once in the last few months, is there a difference in the way you’ve played?
A: Within the WCHA you have to play well and have some breaks go your way to win games. But you do have to work for those breaks. In the early year we were working hard in some areas, but weren’t mature enough to close out some of the tight games. It’s a subtle difference. Our work ethic is no different and our mentality is no different. We’re doing some little things better and have had some bounces go our way in the second half.
Q: Is the final line change (the home ice advantage) much of an advantage?
A: We work hard to gain the home ice advantage and that last line change. It depends on your opponent how much of an advantage it is. It’s always nice to have the ability to match things up if you want to do that, but it’s not the case in 100% of games.
Q: A couple years ago we talked about Bina being an emotional force, not being able to play. Now he’s back and playing as a senior.
A: He’s still an emotional force for us. He doesn’t say much, but he’s one of the most popular guys in the locker room and one of the most competitive guys. It’s a great story for the young man to see him back and for his family. He’s one of the driving forces on our hockey team, and the injury is only part of it. He’s certainly a leader for us.
Q: Goals have been hard to come by in the conference. Are we going to see a goaltending duel throughout the tournament?
A: Playoff hockey is hard to predict. If you predict a defensive struggle, you’ll see a 6-5 shootout. All the teams in the Final Five have outstanding goaltending and take a lot of pride in their defensive play. To get through the first round of the playoffs, you have to be playing good defense. Goals have been tough to come by, we’ve been scoring 3 goals per game and that’s near the upper end of the league.
Q: Duncan, Hobey last year, maybe this year wasn’t quite at that level.
A: Ryan has really lived up to everything the Hobey Baker Memorial Award is all about. His numbers have lived up, his consistency is as good as last year.
There have been a lot of criticisms of the settlement of N.D.’s Sioux nickname lawsuit against the NCAA (from questions about what UND got for $1m to theories about a football cabal conspiring to pressure UND to sacrifice the nickname for a chance to play Big Ten teams). The bottom-line, as many noted at the time, was that UND was suing the NCAA on procedural grounds — UND was asserting that the NCAA executive committee didn’t have the authority to issue the nickname rule — so all the NCAA needed to do to render the lawsuit moot was pass the same rule using proper procedures.
What the State of N.D. knew when it settled, and a lot of fans speculated, is that the NCAA was about to change their rules to formally grant the executive committee such authority.
From Increased Authority (Grand Forks Herald)
“In my estimation, we were going to win the lawsuit,” Stenehjem said, “but this amendment would have mooted that. We would have won the lawsuit in December 2007, and this was enacted January 12, 2008. So, it would have been a short-lived victory.”
Fan predictions that the NCAA membership wouldn’t grant its executive committee such authority, due to fear of their own oxes being next to be gored, proved unfortunately wildly wrong.
Stenehjem said he’d been told the amendment vote passed with about 99.6 percent of people voting in support.
UND faculty NCAA representative Sue Jeno attended the Nashville conference and said she was one of only a handful of representatives to vote against the amendment.
A 2007 NCAA student-athlete handbook lists the number of the association’s member institutions at slightly more than 1,000 spread between the three divisions. If the percentage vote quoted to Stenehjem is correct, that would mean Jeno was one of only about five members to vote against the amendment.
Continuing the lawsuit, given this, would have been throwing good money after bad. Given the inevitable outcome, it’s hard to argue that N.D. should have done anything other than precisely what it did. They put an immediate halt to the rising court expenses and won the valuable settlement concessions of being removed from the hostile and abusive list and being granted additional time, not subject to sanctions, to resolve the issue.
As The Sicatoka said in the “Negotiated Settlement” thread:
The AG, Mr. Stenehjem, did what he could with (what little) he had and based on this he deserves some credit:
At least he got us (temporarily) off the list and some time to look for middle ground.
As UND prepares to release the football schedule for it’s first year of D-I FCS (I-AA) football, fans have deduced that the schedule will probably look something like this:
Aug. 28 Texas A&M-Kingsville
Sept. 6 St. Cloud St.
Sept. 13 UW-La Crosse
Sept. 18 @ Idaho St.
Sept. 27 @ Southeastern Louisiana
Oct. 4 OPEN
Oct. 11 OPEN
Oct. 18 Western Washington
Oct. 25 @ UC Davis
Nov. 1 @ Southern Illinois
Nov. 8 Southern Utah
Nov. 15 OPEN
Nov. 22 @ South Dakota
Note — this is not the official schedule, but a fan compilation of known and rumored games
The first year of the transition is the toughest to schedule, because UND is considered a “non-counter” for teams with aspirations of making the I-AA playoffs. The inevitable comparisons with first-year schedules for other recently transitioned schools have arisen, and bincitysioux came through again with a breakdown of 1st year D-I schedules for current and former Great West members.
SDSU HOME GAMES: three DII’s, one transitional (GWFC game)
SDSU ROAD GAMES: two transitional, 5 established DI’sUC DAVIS HOME GAMES: four DII’s, one transitional (future GWFC team), one established DI (future GWFC team)
UC DAVIS ROAD GAMES: one DII (future GWFC team), three established DI’sNDSU HOME GAMES: one non-scholarship, one NAIA, one DII, three established DI’s (2 GWFC games)
NDSU ROAD GAMES: three transitionals (GWFC games), two established DI’sUSD HOME GAMES: three NAIA, one DII, one transitional (GWFC game)
USD ROAD GAMES: five established DI’s (2 GWFC games)N. COLORADO HOME GAMES: five DII’s
N. COLORADO ROAD GAMES: one DII, one transitional (GWFC team) four established DI’sUND HOME GAMES: one non-scholarship, three DII’s, one established DI (GWFC game)
UND ROAD GAMES: one transitional (GWFC game), 4 established DI’s (1 GWFC game)
While every football fan should have been hoping for a better schedule, this is on par with what other transitional teams were able to put together.
While comments here are always welcome, you might as well just head over to the UND 2008 Schedule thread and check on the latest.
As UND looks toward its transition to D-I, it is also evaluating candidates for the Athletic Director who will lead athletics through that transition.
The selection committee has whittled down the numerous applicants to a few leading candidates, though information on those candidates has been somewhat hard to come by from the University itself. Thanks particularly to the efforts of Sioux fans in the 221-post forum thread, UND’s Next Athletics Director, supplemented with an afternoon of web searches, here’s a look at the remaining UND athletic director candidates.
Have anything to say about the candidates, or know something we don’t? Stop by the forum and chat.
Senior Associate Athletics Director, University of Wyoming (NCAA D-I/BCS, Mountain West Conference)
M.E. Education/Administration of Athletics, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1984
B.S. Physical Education, Western Michigan, 1980 (letters in basketball and softball)
“Burke oversees all internal operations of the UW Athletics Department, as well as directly supervises game management for football and men’s and women’s basketball.”
“In addition to overseeing the sports programs, she is in charge of the day-to-day internal operations of the department, is directly involved in the marketing and promotion of Wyoming’s athletics programs and is responsible for the department’s compliance with Title IX objectives. Currently, her focus is on the completion of several major building projects.”
Associate Athletic Director, Operations, University of Missouri (NCAA D-I/BCS, Big Twelve Conference)
B.S. Business Administration, University of Missouri, 1989
“Hickman oversees all business activities for the Missouri Department of Athletics, including development and oversight of the department’s $44 million budget, purchasing, human resources and daily office operations, while additionally directing the operations of Mizzou Arena and the Hearnes Center. He also oversees the areas of facilities, game operations, food service and computing operations, while serving as the administrative liason to Mizzou’s nationally ranked baseball program and up-and-coming softball program. In his current capacity as department CFO, Tim also works very closely with development, Mizzou Sports Properties and outsourcing contracts.”
Associate Athletics Director/Development – University of Central Florida (Conference USA, NCAA D-I/BCS)
B.A. Communication, Boise State University, 1992
Led fundraising during the fundraising, building, and naming-rights sale of new football stadium.
“After serving as an assistant athletics director for external affairs and the executive director of the Golden Knights Club for four years, Leonard now has major gifts as his primary fundraising focus for UCF athletics. He also has management oversight of the GKC, premium seating and the University’s Annual Fund.”
“In his six years at Central Florida, Leonard has excelled at getting people to believe in potential. When the football team was struggling, it was tough to convince donors to invest in a program that didn’t appear to have the school’s full commitment. That mentality has been completely transformed, largely because of persistence.”
President, Global Entertainment Corp. Facility Management Company
B.A. Industrial/Organizational Psychology, St. Thomas Aquinas College
“While at UH, Sadler was responsible for the internal day-to-day operations of the department that covered multiple sports and related events. He also negotiated a new facility concession contract that generated an increase in revenue.”
“Sadler has been there and done it, helping to implement a $41 million capital campaign for ASU while also eliminating a $1 million budget shortfall.”
“…Arizona State University (ASU) over a period of 20 years, during which he directed intercollegiate operations, managing and staging more than 250 events each year for ASU, and serving as tournament director for several NCAA and Pacific-10 Conference championships. He served as a key member of the host committee in Arizona for Super Bowl XXX, and guided the development of a comprehensive operating manual for several sporting events.”
Assistant Vice President for Athletic Development, New Mexico State University (NCAA D-I/BCS, Western Athletic Conference)
University of Missouri, 1972
“Faison says the new position frees him up to focus on fundraising and one of his goals will be to elevate the Athletics Department’s revenues from its current $9.2 million to $18 million within the next 12 months.”
“Faison’s five years as head of the department have been highlighted by success in the classroom, on the playing field and in the development of athletic facilities.”
Stony Brook University, Executive Associate Director of Athletics
B.A. American Studies, Trinity College (men’s basketball player), 1989
M.S. Physical Education, Springfield College, 1995
“He is a talented administrator who understands that the primary function of intercollegiate athletics at Stony Brook is to advance the educational mission of the university.”
“Schlickmann has supervised the daily internal operations of 35 intercollegiate programs as a member of the senior management team that sets department policy at Yale. He was responsible for all varsity program operations for men’s soccer and men’s lacrosse while also overseeing facility operations and event management. He developed and managed department operating budgets which totaled nearly $2.5 million, and administered athlete initial eligibility, team travel, contest scheduling and the management of conference and postseason championships.
His football operations duties included the oversight of 150 gameday personnel in the 60,000-seat Yale Bowl which had an average attendance of over 23,000 for Yale home games. In addition, he served as the athletics department liaison to undergraduate admissions and financial aid while managing and formulating team budgets.”
“He is responsible for all varsity program operations for men’s basketball, football, baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s lacrosse, men’s tennis and men’s and women’s track and field while also overseeing facility operations and event management.
In addition, he develops and manages a department operating budget of $12 million, administers team travel, contest scheduling and the management of conference and postseason championships. In 2004-05, Stony Brook balanced its operating budget for the first time in the last six years while chairing the search committee for Men’s Lacrosse and Men’s Basketball, the Director of Speed Strength and Conditioning and the Director of Student-Athlete Development.
Schlickmann is responsible for personnel matters including the coordination of national searches for coaches, staff and administrative positions, personnel employment contracts and employee performance appraisals.”
“At the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Schlickmann served as a sector coordinator where he coordinated various aspects of facility preparation and event planning for the men’s and women’s soccer venue. He also worked as the Deputy Commissioner of the Special Olympics World Games in the summer of 1995.”
In a first look at the PWR a couple weeks ago, I suggested that the superficial similarities to past seasons were deceptive and that this season was different. Since that claim, the Sioux have extended their unbeaten streak to 9, compelling me to hurry up and prove my point before it starts to look even sillier.
At first glance, this season did indeed seem to have one of the slow starts for which Hakstol is becoming famous:
| Record | |
| 12-31-2005 | 13-8-1 |
| 12-31-2006 | 10-10-1 |
| 12-31-2007 | 9-7-1 |
What, then, made me claim the Sioux weren’t following the same pattern? I was looking at the Pairwise rankings. In each of 2005 and 2006, the Sioux would have been #16 or below if the season had ended at some point in January. In 2007, the Sioux never dipped below 9th, a guaranteed NCAA tournament spot. Here are the charts:
Or in a more interactive format (hover over a datapoint to see the weekend’s results):
2007-08 PWR
2006-07 PWR
2005-06 PWR
Because I had looked at PWR first, I was a little surprised when I dug deeper and found the win-loss table for the first half of this season to be so similar to 2005 and 2006. The similarity in game results but wild difference in PWR seems to come down to who the Sioux played and lost to.
Though the Sioux failed to sweep any opponent in Fall ’07, they also escaped unswept. In contrast, the 2005 and 2006 campaigns featured sweeps of lesser opponents and getting swept by greater opponents. In 2007, the Sioux played tough opponents and managed to stay just above .500 against them, also allowing the Sioux to stay above .500 in TUC and most COP comparisons.
Every Sioux opponent in Fall 2007 is currently a TUC (in fact, every past or future opponent but Alaska-Anchorage and Bemidji State are TUCs, and AA is on the cusp at #26). So, to further try to compare the level of last Fall’s competition to that of ’08 to date, I used KRACH to predict game outcomes. The Sioux should have won 63.5% of their game in Fall 2007 but 73% of their games so far in 2008(*). Though it doesn’t diminish the stark contrast between a 9 game unbeaten streak and last Fall’s sequence of splits, the Sioux have certainly played easier opponents in the former.
FYI — for its remaining series, KRACH predicts a 69.9% winning percentage for the Sioux, though that average is really tugged by its outliers: 52% chance of defeating Denver vs. 88% vs. Bemidji St.
(*) I’m conveniently ignoring that the Sioux splitting against the Fall opponents raises those opponents’ KRACH while their defeating Spring opponents lowers those opponents’ KRACH
While Internet forums are sometimes (rightfully) thought of as untamed jungles into which only the thickest of skin dare tread, they also foster a strong community among distant strangers brought together by a common tie.
Over the past week, the SiouxSports.com community rallied behind a 14 year-old Sioux fan in the Twin Cities who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
In addition to visiting his Caring Bridge site to drop notes of well wishes, fans proposed chipping in to buy his family an over-the-air satellite dish so he could watch all the Sioux games for free while recovering.
Enough Sioux fans, none of whom knew each other or Nick, offered to chip in that the plan was surely becoming a reality. When a Sioux fan contacted a satellite dish installer who frequents the forum (and who has installed dishes for countless other forum denizens) to arrange the details, “PSB” was happy not only to perform the installation, but to donate the entire system himself.
There’s not much I can add to the story, other than to tell you to check it out yourself:
“14 y/o Sioux Fan diagnosed with leukemia, Nick Cherekos from Osseo, MN” thread
Nicholas Cherekos Caring Bridge guestbook