NDSUstudent
10-19-2007, 04:11 AM
http://media.startribune.com/smedia/2007/10/18/20/781-1NDSU1019.doublewide.prod_affiliate.2.jpg
Warning to Gophers: Here come the Bison
By Rachel Blount, Star Tribune
The discussion of the farm bill would have to wait. So would the talk about the new home proposed for the North Dakota State University president. Tuesday morning, the most pressing concern for talk-show host Ed Schultz was how to keep the football coach in Fargo.
"You ought to be getting $1 million a year," Schultz said to NDSU coach Craig Bohl, who was making his first of three radio appearances that day. "I'm trying to get you a raise."I'm just trying to keep my job," Bohl said with a laugh. When he tried to leave the KFGO-AM studio, though, the group of well-wishers that surrounded him showed just how secure his position is. With a 6-0 record, a No. 1 national ranking in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) and a date against the Gophers on Saturday, Bohl and his Bison have led the university's rush into a new era.
The team's turnaround has set the standard for a university-wide transformation, which includes a move from NCAA Division II athletics to Division I and a dramatic increase in research expenditures and doctoral programs. Before Bohl's arrival, the Bison finished 2-8 in 2002. They enter Saturday's game at the Metrodome with a 10-game winning streak, the longest current string in major-college football, and the support of a state that had been largely skeptical of the vision laid out by Bohl and the school's administration.
"When the football team came through with some big wins early on, a lot of the critics got very quiet," said NDSU President Joe Chapman, who led the charge for change. "This has opened us up to national media. It's given our alumni an enormous source of pride. We are a totally different institution now, and athletics are a part of that."
About 20,000 Bison fans are expected to swarm the Dome to see whether their team can avenge last year's 10-9 defeat, NDSU's only loss in the past two seasons. As many as 6,000 could show up for a pre-game party in Minneapolis. Bars and restaurants throughout Fargo planned to open early for the 11 a.m. kickoff, and local media reported a run on satellite TV installations by homeowners eager to watch the game.........
http://www.startribune.com/gophers/story/1494456.html
Warning to Gophers: Here come the Bison
By Rachel Blount, Star Tribune
The discussion of the farm bill would have to wait. So would the talk about the new home proposed for the North Dakota State University president. Tuesday morning, the most pressing concern for talk-show host Ed Schultz was how to keep the football coach in Fargo.
"You ought to be getting $1 million a year," Schultz said to NDSU coach Craig Bohl, who was making his first of three radio appearances that day. "I'm trying to get you a raise."I'm just trying to keep my job," Bohl said with a laugh. When he tried to leave the KFGO-AM studio, though, the group of well-wishers that surrounded him showed just how secure his position is. With a 6-0 record, a No. 1 national ranking in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) and a date against the Gophers on Saturday, Bohl and his Bison have led the university's rush into a new era.
The team's turnaround has set the standard for a university-wide transformation, which includes a move from NCAA Division II athletics to Division I and a dramatic increase in research expenditures and doctoral programs. Before Bohl's arrival, the Bison finished 2-8 in 2002. They enter Saturday's game at the Metrodome with a 10-game winning streak, the longest current string in major-college football, and the support of a state that had been largely skeptical of the vision laid out by Bohl and the school's administration.
"When the football team came through with some big wins early on, a lot of the critics got very quiet," said NDSU President Joe Chapman, who led the charge for change. "This has opened us up to national media. It's given our alumni an enormous source of pride. We are a totally different institution now, and athletics are a part of that."
About 20,000 Bison fans are expected to swarm the Dome to see whether their team can avenge last year's 10-9 defeat, NDSU's only loss in the past two seasons. As many as 6,000 could show up for a pre-game party in Minneapolis. Bars and restaurants throughout Fargo planned to open early for the 11 a.m. kickoff, and local media reported a run on satellite TV installations by homeowners eager to watch the game.........
http://www.startribune.com/gophers/story/1494456.html