How nice! The truth will set you free. This is an interesting revelation; I think someone should be in trouble for this. We were basically told all along that the Summit wanted the Fighting Sioux name gone… I think someone needs to get to the bottom of this. Somebody is lying. I also think someone has got some explaining to do.
FARGO - UND asked an athletic conference it once considered joining to publicly come out against accepting the Fighting Sioux as a member until the controversial nickname and logo issue was resolved, according to Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple.
UND spokesman Peter Johnson said Monday and repeated Tuesday that university President Robert Kelley “categorically denies” UND officials ever made such a request to the Summit League.
“False. Not true at all,” Johnson said. “Neither the president or the athletic director or anybody else from UND ever talked to (the Summit League) from that angle. In no way, shape or form did we ask (Douple) to make that an issue.”
If Douple’s statement is true, it would be a 180-degree reversal of what has commonly been reported for more than two years: that Summit League officials insisted the nickname issue be resolved sooner than the NCAA-imposed deadline of Nov. 30, 2010, so UND could be considered for inclusion in their conference.
In trying to meet the hurried deadline for the Summit League, the state board of higher education last April moved up the deadline to retire the nickname, not exhausting the timeline earlier given to them.
Commissioner Douple did not want to go into further detail on the issue, but when asked why he agreed to UND’s request — that the Summit League would publicly forward this idea — he said, “In support of the (UND) president. He thought it would help them and the board move quicker.”
The Summit’s message did help the state board of higher education act more quickly.
UND and the Summit League first started having serious membership conversations in 2009 when the Summit said it would make a site visit to the University of South Dakota, but not UND. At the time, Douple was quoted as saying the Summit would not visit UND “until the logo issue is resolved one way or another.”
Here is another juicy nugget. Sioux fans were lead to believe that Douple wanted the Sioux logo gone.You can be assured that there are going to be some Sioux fans that are not happy with these revelations. As a Fighting Sioux fan and as an Alumni of the University of North Dakota 1996, 1999 this really upsets me.
“He didn’t care if the Sioux name stayed or left,” Smith said of Douple. “He made it pretty clear that until the NCAA said the matter was resolved, that UND would not be admitted.”
