The Bobcat Nation

Doug Fullerton had some interesting things to say that the Big Sky Football media day:

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004 ... txt?sessio n=6Ig7cEC48Y7f8AAxkuDvG3VBRe

Griz assume traditional perch
By JON KASPER of the Missoulian

Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton said he doesn't think the league "has ever been healthier," in his address to the media, coaches and players on Monday morning

Fullerton said the league presidents will meet Aug. 9 and expansion will once again be explored.

"It will be intense on the expansion issue," he said. "We've done a lot of internal investigating. We'll look at all schools west of Minneapolis."

North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Northern Colorado have all made the jump from Division II to I-AA and joined the newly formed Great West football Conference, along with Southern Utah, Cal Poly and UC Davis.

Fullerton said a 12-team Big Sky would be too large and there would be no advantage to holding a conference championship game prior to the playoffs.

Let's hope something actually gets decided instead of them just saying no we are going to wait. Eventually all of these teams that want in now are going to just tell the Sky to forget it and then we may find ourserlves with a problem when Sac St. decides to jump from the Sky.

I would welcome the Dakotas to the Sky and would really like to get some rivalry going again with both schools.

Bobcat fans,

I too would love to start a rivalry with Montana State (being a NDSU alum and supporter). It would be cool to have three land grant colleges (NDSU, SDSU, Montana State) all in the Big Sky.

I did this on the Bison Board at bisonville.com as a little comparison of the four possible Big Sky additonal schools that are "west of Minneapolis".

Southern Utah, located in Cedar City (169 miles to Las Vegas--closest airport). Would be close for Northern Arizona--just 287 miles from Flagstaff but has to improve their facilities and committment to athletics before the Big Sky would consider them.

Northern Colorado, located in Greeley (62 miles from Denver). Football stadium is new but is small--just 6,500 capacity. Basketball arena is very small and needs to be improved to be a real DI facility. The Bears also would like baseball to be one of their top sports--Big Sky does not offer baseball.

South Dakota State, located in Brookings (60 miles from Sioux Falls) Basketball arena is top notch and would be one of the top arenas in the Big Sky after the renovations are made this summer. Football needs to improve the quality of the stadium but has 16,000 capacity.

North Dakota State, located in Fargo (airport is two miles from the campus). Football is played in the 19,000 seat Fargodome and averages around 14,000 to 15,000 per home game. Basketball has a 30 year old arena that needs upgrades but it still holds 7,500 and for sure is better then Sac State and Portland State's facilities.

One thing also of note, if NDSU and SDSU are the Big Sky's two teams, they would make terrific travel partners. Fargo to Brookings is a 190 mile drive.

Rabbit and Bison,
I wouldn't hold your breath on being in the Big Sky. I think you would both be great additions, but Fullerton probably won't let it happen. IMHO

Fullerton for seems to be cool to NDSU and SDSU for some reason.....maybe he is still mourning the loss of Idaho to the WAC (he must wear Vandal underwear or something). I think that the Dakotas will be very open to a BSC invite until they find a conference home for sports other than football. Once NDSU and SDSU find a home for those other sports it gets very questionable as to whether or not they would accept the invite. Fullerton has a "window of opportunity" to get things moving to add a couple great schools to the Sky. I hope he doesn't pass it up. It would be good for the Dakotas and shore up long term stability for the BSC.

You can bet Fullerton will always study every eventuality so that his final decision will have the best chance to be the WRONG ONE!

Helcat72 wrote:You can bet Fullerton will always study every eventuality so that his final decision will have the best chance to be the WRONG ONE!

Well put, don't think I could have said it any better.

What is the story on Fullerton. The guy seems to be a fool.....what is his background and why does he seem to be so disliked by both the MSU and the Montana folks. Where does his support come from to stay on as the commish?

Doug is from Hamilton, Montana. Was former AD at Montana State. Mixed reviews. Maybe he goes out of his way not to show the Montana schools any favoritism. While at MSU he always seemed to be in motion, but not a whole bunch seemed to get done. He IS NOT a fan of So. Utah.
Can't say what he thinks about the Dakota schools. I'll tell you personally I 'm a big supporter of NDSU. In my opinion they belonged at 1AA from the beginning. Fine school, good facilities, great fan base, winning tradition. Almost everytime we played NDSU it was a war. I'd welcome them into the BSC with open arms. Don't know as much about SDSU. Good luck WYOBISON. Hope you're on our schedule soon and often.

Fullerton was the AD at Montana State for many years. And in my ever so humble opinion was a lousey AD at best. I feel the long dry spell we had in our football program can be attributed to Fullerton. He was a pal of the former Coach and refused to let him go, despite his losing record, his poor speaking ability, the disgruntled voices of the boosters, the empty stadium and the list goes on. When he went to work for the BSC I was rejoiced, little did I know that this guy was going to continiue to haunt me. It is time to once again make the BSC one of the stongest conferances in D1A. When we lost Idaho, Nevada Reno and Boise we lost some real power houses. Its time to retrench and add SDSU, NDSU and Northern Colorado, I am not sure about SU. Fullerton is like a bad rash that will not go away. Go Cats.

I am just glad all the MSU fans don't blame NDSU for sending Earle Solomonson your way.....he was not at all good for your program. He won at NDSU, but was Head Coach for only 2 years, so the wins were really with the previous coaches players.

Earle was the begining of our downfall, however Hysell was the nail through the heart. Both were Fullerton decisions.

I remember it was somewhat of a surprise when Fullerton got the job in Bozeman. A lot of people were just assuming it was Sonny Holland's.
I forgot Earle came to us from North Dakota State, but that doesn't change my opinion.
Cliff and Bob Petrino, Sr. (coach at Carrol) were the finalists for the Bobcat job. I was pretty close to the program back then and there were not many truly viable candidates for the job. MSU was taking on the specter of a coaching graveyard. While Cliff wasn't exaclty Mr. Warmth, he did get a certain stability in place, recruited some hardnosed athletes and gave us a few respectable seasons.
But that's yesterday's newspaper. I like where we're headed!
Go Cats!

raincat wrote: I'll tell you personally I 'm a big supporter of NDSU. In my opinion they belonged at 1AA from the beginning. Fine school, good facilities, great fan base, winning tradition. Almost everytime we played NDSU it was a war. I'd welcome them into the BSC with open arms. Don't know as much about SDSU.

raincat, you will get a chance to see us up close and personal when we come to Bozeman on Oct. 23rd. Here is a quick history for you until them.

In the Big 3 sports, Men' and Women's B-ball and Football

SDSU is South Dakota's largest and only D-I University. We have an enrollment of 10,561 (fall of 2003) and are located in Brookings, SD. Our Colors are Blue and Yellow and we play our games on campus at Frost Arena (Cap. 9000) and Coughlin-Alumni Stadium (Cap. 16,000).

The Men's team has won a NCAA D-II National Championship, a NCAA D-II Runner-Up and has made 24 NCAA D-II Tournaments (3rd most all time) including 8 of the last 10 years. This past season we spent much of the year ranked # 2 in the Nation. We beat the eventual D-II National Champions by 15 on a neutral court at the Disney Tip-Off Classic. We finished the season on a down note. Due to key injuries and an off night we lost in the second round of of the tournament.

Our Women's team has been to three straight Elite 8s and won the National Championship in '03. Both the Men and Women lead the Nation in NCAA D-II attendence last year. This was a first for the Women. The Men have done it before (1996, '97, '98, 2000, '02, and '04).

Last year our Football team finished 7-4. Our four losses were to:

2003 Final D-II Poll

# 2 North Dakota (by 1 Point)
# 8 Winona St. (by 6 Points)
#22 North Dakota State (who beat Montana)
#24 Nebraska - Omaha

We did however have some top 25 success in '03. SDSU shut out #4 NW Missouri State in our home opener 20-0. Overall, we have one NCAA D-II playoff appearence to our credit. As you can see we are more of a Basketball school.

Here is a picture of Frost Arena:




Frost Arena (Cap. 9000)

Notice that 89rabbit left off the score of the NDSU/SDSU game......now rabbit, what was it????

89Rabbit (my son may have had one of those): Thank you for the insight. It looks like you have a lot of good things in place. Knowing all this I won't feel as bad when we kick your bunny butts in October. Hope this isn't smack. Raincat doesn't do smack.

WYOBISONMAN wrote:Notice that 89rabbit left off the score of the NDSU/SDSU game......now rabbit, what was it????

I can't remember, but I do recall the score from '02, SDSU 25 - NDSU 20!

89jackrabbit, I notice the backboards are supported from the ceiling down, when there is a dunk (I assume they can dunk in South Dakota) does the basket shake for a while?

So does Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. I don't think it affects the play too much. Actually, I would bet the crowd noise at Cameron affects the baskets more than a dunk!

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:89jackrabbit, I notice the backboards are supported from the ceiling down, when there is a dunk (I assume they can dunk in South Dakota) does the basket shake for a while?

NO, but it dosen't matter because Frost is going through a renovation. Some new seating and we are getting new Hydra-Rib goals.

http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/Ticke ... /Index.cfm