report odu jmu to be added to sun belt next week

[DakotaOkie]

Add me to the list of people that think Larsen is a failure. I emailed him last week just to say I supported the move to FBS and encouraged them to be a little more open with the public about what effort (if any) they were doing. Considering I've made some decent donations to TM and a five year pledge to the IPF I thought I'd at least get some sort of reply. Nope, not a word. I also emailed Matt Lien and never heard back. Funny how fast I heard from Lien though when I made my $5,000 IPF pledge three years ago.

Gene Taylor always responded, even if you were just complaining about Snorty. I wasn't that concerned about moving up earlier, not sure the opportunity was there, but it sure looks like the chance is there now. If they don't give a fuck about the donors, I hate to think how callous the athletic dept is about an FBS conference contact.

You could very well be correct in your assertions. I would put another spin on it right now. Perhaps they are so busy with the FBS phone calls and conversations there is no time to respond to less essential mail. The more callous spin similar to your take is they are already thinking like FBS in an FCS body and don't have time for small to moderate donors. Add two or three zeros to the donation amount and phone calls come back much quicker.
Regardless, it would seem to more prudent to publicly state that FBS aspirations are on the radar if one hopes to get into a conference. Public media can help drive that sentient and make it a cause. That said, in North Dakota such comments in public will only make one a target for derision and harassment. Times are tough, Everything costs too much, We are thinking too big for our britches..., you know.

[Professorbum]

For everyone hating on ML, what options does he realistically have? A P5 invite is impossible. Going independent is a death sentence, no way we could pull that off. Of the G5, the AAC and Sunbelt just finished their expansions and we weren't even sniffed at. Geography absolutely does matter. The MAC and MWC are sitting stable at 12 members with no indication of anyone leaving. All we add is extra travel costs and diluted media share. If they did need to add there's a bunch of Big Sky and WAC teams they'd look at first. CUSA is a train wreck. They're down to 5 members and might not even exist soon. If they get around to offering us it's because EVERYBODY else declined. Jumping feet first into that dumpster fire would be the single worst decision in NDSU's history. If you could get the xDSUs, Montanas, Missouri St, and either UNI or Weber to jump as a group to become CUSA-North division you might have something, but good luck with that.

What if ML has talked with every FBS conference and they all said "No, stop calling us"? What if the SBoHE said only if UND goes too? What if they categorically said no? Bottom line is the FBS conferences don't owe us anything, they do what's best for them and adding a geographical outlier isn't part of that. Sucks, but again, what are our REALISTIC options?

Well, then he could tell us that. He could tell sports media. Let the world know that we believe we belong in FBS but we haven't been given the chance. But of course, this hasn't actually happened.

[taper]

Public complaining is the opposite of what he should do. Plus, if one conference is considering it, learning that all the others said no might scuttle any deal. At this level of negotiations knowing when to keep your mouth shut is important.

[EC8CH]

Public complaining is the opposite of what he should do. Plus, if one conference is considering it, learning that all the others said no might scuttle any deal. At this level of negotiations knowing when to keep your mouth shut is important.

Agreed. I don't want to hear anything directly from his mouth until it happens. Leaks on the other hand...

[El_Chapo]

Well, then he could tell us that. He could tell sports media. Let the world know that we believe we belong in FBS but we haven't been given the chance. But of course, this hasn't actually happened.

no shit. I'd say. "apparently NDSU football is TOO GOOD that these G5 conferences dont want us to dominate day 1.... maybe we need to build a stadium for a big 12 invite!"

[Bisonator98]

For everyone hating on ML, what options does he realistically have? A P5 invite is impossible. Going independent is a death sentence, no way we could pull that off. Of the G5, the AAC and Sunbelt just finished their expansions and we weren't even sniffed at. Geography absolutely does matter. The MAC and MWC are sitting stable at 12 members with no indication of anyone leaving. All we add is extra travel costs and diluted media share. If they did need to add there's a bunch of Big Sky and WAC teams they'd look at first. CUSA is a train wreck. They're down to 5 members and might not even exist soon. If they get around to offering us it's because EVERYBODY else declined. Jumping feet first into that dumpster fire would be the single worst decision in NDSU's history. If you could get the xDSUs, Montanas, Missouri St, and either UNI or Weber to jump as a group to become CUSA-North division you might have something, but good luck with that.

What if ML has talked with every FBS conference and they all said "No, stop calling us"? What if the SBoHE said only if UND goes too? What if they categorically said no? Bottom line is the FBS conferences don't owe us anything, they do what's best for them and adding a geographical outlier isn't part of that. Sucks, but again, what are our REALISTIC options?

Oh I don't know he could maybe be a little more like Gene Taylor and figure out a way to make it happen. The Great West Conference was a great idea at the time. He should be at least having conversations with SDSU and any other schools that might be interested in a move.

The SBOHE didn't say no to FCS and they won't now either and it's in no way dependant on UND. If they do that then there should be severe backlash.

[MankatoBison]

Add me to the list of people that think Larsen is a failure. I emailed him last week just to say I supported the move to FBS and encouraged them to be a little more open with the public about what effort (if any) they were doing. Considering I've made some decent donations to TM and a five year pledge to the IPF I thought I'd at least get some sort of reply. Nope, not a word. I also emailed Matt Lien and never heard back. Funny how fast I heard from Lien though when I made my $5,000 IPF pledge three years ago.

Gene Taylor always responded, even if you were just complaining about Snorty. I wasn't that concerned about moving up earlier, not sure the opportunity was there, but it sure looks like the chance is there now. If they don't give a fuck about the donors, I hate to think how callous the athletic dept is about an FBS conference contact.

I sent a similar email about a month ago (and am also a team Maker)- and never received as much as an auto-reply "thanks for your comment".

To put it in perspective, I emailed Gene Taylor as a 7th grader asking about the Fargodome and I had a response in an hour.

[MankatoBison]

You could very well be correct in your assertions. I would put another spin on it right now. Perhaps they are so busy with the FBS phone calls and conversations there is no time to respond to less essential mail. The more callous spin similar to your take is they are already thinking like FBS in an FCS body and don't have time for small to moderate donors. Add two or three zeros to the donation amount and phone calls come back much quicker.
Regardless, it would seem to more prudent to publicly state that FBS aspirations are on the radar if one hopes to get into a conference. Public media can help drive that sentient and make it a cause. That said, in North Dakota such comments in public will only make one a target for derision and harassment. Times are tough, Everything costs too much, We are thinking too big for our britches..., you know.

Name one program that made the jump without discussing it publicly first.

Name one.

Must be easy since you seem to believe its silly to publicly declare your aspirations or intentions, and if youre right, the venn diagram of teams who jumped and teams who never once indicated they would like to be FBS one day should be a circle, correct?

anyways, we'll wait for you to come up with that list of teams that jumped to FBS without indicating they were interested

[NDSU1980]

You could very well be correct in your assertions. I would put another spin on it right now. Perhaps they are so busy with the FBS phone calls and conversations there is no time to respond to less essential mail. The more callous spin similar to your take is they are already thinking like FBS in an FCS body and don't have time for small to moderate donors. Add two or three zeros to the donation amount and phone calls come back much quicker.
Regardless, it would seem to more prudent to publicly state that FBS aspirations are on the radar if one hopes to get into a conference. Public media can help drive that sentient and make it a cause. That said, in North Dakota such comments in public will only make one a target for derision and harassment. Times are tough, Everything costs too much, We are thinking too big for our britches..., you know.

I bet, with the exception of Denny Sanford, every major donor started out with small amounts. Granted, I'm never getting into the big league of donations, but how many other small donors that could and would provide more don't do anything because they weren't smoozed, even a little? I'm sure not in the mood to make a pledge towards Phase 2 at the moment.

[taper]

Oh I don't know he could maybe be a little more like Gene Taylor and figure out a way to make it happen. The Great West Conference was a great idea at the time. He should be at least having conversations with SDSU and any other schools that might be interested in a move.

The SBOHE didn't say no to FCS and they won't now either and it's in no way dependant on UND. If they do that then there should be severe backlash.

I don't think we can make a lot of comparisons with the FCS jump. The Great West was always just a band-aid for new teams to complete their transition and wait for a wave of realignment to find a real home. Plus, by rule you can't create a new FBS conference out of thin air like we did for the Great West so that's not even an option. As for the state not interfering, the general view at the time was that NDSU was going to be a horrific failure at FCS and would be forced to come crawling back. I don't think that would have upset too many people in power. I was a student at the time and the backlash from the announcement was pretty intense. A lot of people either weren't around yet for that or forgot it after our amazing success proved them wrong. This time won't have that. I'm not saying the board is blocking a jump, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. And if you think UND doesn't influence state politics to the detriment of NDSU you're incredibly naive.