U Of North Dakota Coaches To Tour State About Nickname Before State Vote

Grand Forks Herald, Tom Miller

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/238045/group/homepage/

UND athletic director Brian Faison and five of his head coaches will hit the road this morning to attend press conferences in Fargo, Bismarck and Minot in hopes of spreading the word about the consequences of retaining the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

The trip comes one week before a statewide vote on Measure 4, which would allow the university to retire the nickname and logo.

“This is an opportunity for us to have our coaches available to answer questions about Measure 4 and how it affects their programs,” Faison said. “The most important thing is these individuals are the ones who have to deal with the consequences on a day-to-day basis. This is a good opportunity to communicate about the facts.”

Faison will be joined by men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol, women’s hockey coach Brian Idalski, football coach Chris Mussman, women’s basketball coach Travis Brewster and track and field coach Kevin Gilbraith.

The AD and coaches will also be joined by Tim O’Keefe, executive vice president of the UND Alumni Association, and Deanna Carlson Zink, associate executive vice president of the UND Alumni Association.

Today, the group will be in Fargo at 9 a.m. and Bismarck at 2 p.m. They will be in Minot at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Faison stressed the intent of the trip is informative and not a campaign for a specific voting stance.

“It’s about communicating and not advocating one side or the other,” he said.

Faison also said he didn’t have any trouble finding coaches to join the effort.

“All of our coaches wanted to go, but we just can’t do that,” he said.