April 21, 2026 • 52 mins
This week, Bill and Alex are joined by the always inspiring Val Sussex of the UND Champions Club to help build the excitement around this Saturday’s Champions Ball and other upcoming alumni and fan events (1:43). The guys then look back over the Frozen Four, football’s spring wrap-up scrimmage, and the drama on the final day of the regular season for men’s tennis (28:45). To close, it’s a sad B-Side this week (42:31), as Spurs and the Red Sox continue to discover new ways to avoid victory.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Bill Shaves Podcast, presented by Mid
Coast Sports for extensive coverage of U and D athletics
this spring. Mid Coast Sports and Mid Coast Sports Plush
should be your go to watch live U and the
softball all spring long. Plus catch the Fighting Hawks at
these some of the championships for softball, tennis, track and field,
and more. That's Mid Coast Sports. This is how we
do sports, and this is the Bill Shaves Podcast. Welcome
(00:25):
to another edition of the Bill Shaves Podcast. We're back
to a Monday bill, taping this on Monday, April the twentieth.
How are things in Bill Shaves's world?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Things are good, you know we are. We are recording
at twelve oh five, so just after noon and less
than an hour, we'll be throwing a pitch at Alburt Field.
So softball we'll be playing on a Monday because Mother Nature,
we know, is undefeated and she does not seem to
(00:57):
like weekends that much. So she seems to like week
days better than weekend. So we move that series. And
so fortunately we were able to get two in and
so we'll have the rubber match here in less than
an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And the Great Ones adjust, Bill, the great Ones adjust,
So just a little pivot as you listen to this.
Of course, that event will already have taken place, but
best of elector Jordan Stevens as the softball team as
they look to go two wins out of three against
the University of South Dakota, they'll be we'll talk a
little bit about that because mother Nature has changed some
things in the schedule. It's going to be a unique
next week and a half or so for the softballers
(01:30):
with a doubleheader against two different teams and lots of
different stuff going on, a lot of positive things, of
course to talk about with you. And the athletics, school
records in track and field and men's and women's tennis,
making this semi league championships and spring wrap up for football.
We'll get to all those things after we bring on
our special guests, and this, indeed is a special guest today,
a repeat guest on the Bill Shafes podcast. I believe
(01:52):
this is at least time number four. She's a face
and a voice that you know very well from a
lot of different areas. Former player, coach, color analysts for
und women's basketball, she has been the director of the
U and D Champions Club now for almost a decade
and has been in a foundation at UND since twenty thirteen.
She is Val Sussex and she joins us on the
(02:12):
program today. Val, thanks for being with.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Us, Alex, Bill, thank you guys for having me. Yes
fourth time. So I feel very honored and privileged to
be able to come and speak with you guys for
four times. And you're right, I've seen a lot and
I've done a lot, and I've worn a lot of
different hats, and I don't know if I have a favorite,
but I just love all aspects of you and D
Athletics and U and D sports, And I've gotten to
(02:35):
call a lot of fun basketball games with you, Alex
over the years, between the men and the women, we've
had some great calls and so those are times that
I cherish. So getting to be on the podcast, this
podcast with you is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, Val, you know, you know your job. There's a
rhythm to it, and there's a season to it, and
you're in like a certain part of the calendar, if
you will, and this is like a really exciting part
because it's a biennial situation that we're dealing with this week.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, we are rolling into game day, like the biggest
game day ever if you're val Sussex, because it is
everything to everyone and it means so much to me.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
We are rolling into our Champions Ball.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So, like Bill said, we do it every other year
and it's just so happens to be happening this Saturday.
So it's probably been a year and a half maybe
worth of work that goes into this short five hour,
six hour event on Saturday night, the doors open to
the Champions Ball at five, and we start with a
social and a silent auction presented by Bank Forward, and
(03:38):
then we roll into a program m seed by Darren
Looker and we'll hear from Bill and Andy Armacost and
then Mike Manassa will do part of the program as well.
There'll be a featured video at this event that will
feature Ben Strnden and Will Zellers.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What great guys.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
With an amazing U and D family, the feel of
home and the tradition of what it means to play
for you and D. We'll feature those two in a video,
and then we'll go into a live auction and then
we'll finish it up with a kind of an old
school dance we'll have Slammed Down back to take over
the dance floor for us. So it's going to be
an amazing Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's like three events in one in a sense, right,
Like I mean, you have kind of your dinner and
little bit a little bit of a called speeches or program,
but not a whole lot. But then you kind of
go into the auction portion, which is always fun, and
then you just kind of end the night on the
dance floor.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And it's exactly right the auction portion, the live auction.
Dennis Buluski and his team will be helping us auction
off some live items, and I get to be one
of those signature bid catchers, so I need to find
I find my kind of my group of people that
I think are going to bid, and I kind of
get close to them, and then when they place their
bid Alex, it's so fun.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You can just see me doing it. I get to
yell yep as loud as I.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Say in my hand, and I feel like I'm winning,
but it's not my but it's the best in the
whole world.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
And in the end, it's all for student athlete scholarships.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
So the live auction is probably is one of my
highlights of the whole event.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, I love that you get to live vicariously in
that manner through these people who you've gotten to know well,
of course in this role over the years. My recollection
of the Champions Ball and I've been to several Seven
years ago I got to host this event, and I
remember it was seven years because it was right after
the birth of my second daughter, and she just had
a birthday yesterday, So it just brings back those memories
of being on no sleep and like five days removed
(05:30):
from leaving the hospital and then getting to come and
be a part of this incredible event. But you talk
about the time that goes into setting the wheels in
motion to make this happen vow, there are always so
many great items too bid on. Obviously you're working on
getting people to make sure yes, we're gonna come and
commit and selling tickets and all those things, getting the
bands together cack us through those steps. That does really
(05:51):
start shortly after the previous Champion Ball finishes.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, as soon as the last ball is over, which
was April of twenty four, we're already collecting items for
April of twenty six, and so we have two hundred
silent auction items. A lot of those came from myself
and a few teammates digging through the Hisslop before it
came down and crawling through the Memorial Stadium. I can
remember being up in the his Hisslop, behind a locked
(06:18):
door underneath the stadium seats up top where people watched
basketball and volleyball for years.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I didn't even realize there was.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Storage in there, and so I remember when Jake Kish
from Operations and I believe my sister Lindsey, they were like, hey,
we've got the key for this.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I'm like, oh great, let's open it up.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We didn't know what we were going to find under there,
because the Hisslop has been around, had been around forever,
and we found some treasures under there, you know, old
giveaway items like a stadium seat cushion, the old school
seat cushion that you get to sit on from like
nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
So we'll have one of those on the auction.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Old jerseys and you can't even say they were women's
basketball or volleyball or field hockey because they all shared
jerseys back then. So it's an old female athletic jersey.
So we have a bunch of those. There's just a
lot of vintage, like traditional items that were either in
the Hisslap or the Memorial Stadium, like an old concessions
on from the stadium that we unplugged took off the wall,
(07:15):
and that's just.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Been waiting for us.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Over at the Alumni Foundation, there's a I have a
basement kind of a corner in the basement of the
Alumni Foundation where all my treasures.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Are and we keep an eye on them.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We've got some cameras down there and we just keep
everything elevated so in case there's water or any issues,
and it's it's the perfect home for all these auction
items until Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So val talk about the actual bidding process because that
has evolved and changed. So just because you're not at
the actual event, you could actually bid correct.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yes, that is probably one of the most important things.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We can only fit so many people in the room,
and the date can be a conflict for people. So
happy to announce that we do have eight hundred and
eighty so eighty eight tables of folks coming to join us,
which includes one hundred of our student athletes, which is
phenomenal and it's so awesome that those students get to
sit down with donors, be a part of the event.
They're not valuying cars, they're not carrying auction items. There
(08:12):
are guests, and we want to treat our student athletes
like we would treat our donors and our fans, because
someday we hope they will be the next great donors
that we have. But back to Bill's point, we have
moved our silent auction to a virtual auction, so.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Anyone anywhere can bid. You don't have to be in
the room.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Bidding actually opens up Tuesday, the twenty first at ten am,
So Champions Club members. Within your Champions Club playbook that
you get Tuesday at ten am, you're going to get
a link in there that says the Champions Ball Silent
Auction is now live. And the unique and cool thing
about that, Alex is when you bid on the women's
(08:49):
basketball practice experience with coach Hutter and his staff, So
you're bidden on an hour of practice for ten people.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So I'm going to been on that one for my
daughter and.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Her youth basketball team so they could come in and
learn from Hudder and work with him. You're going to
see that the bids come in and then if I
get outbid Alex. If you come and jump on and bid,
then I can outbid you. So you get a little
notification each time your BID's been out bid, So it
keeps it competitive. But it also allows people who aren't
in the room in this space that are also great
(09:17):
U and D fans that just have a conflict or
couldn't be there because the event sold out.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Gives everyone a chance to bid.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, that's brilliant, what a great idea. Again, Smart, you
can include those people who are not there to still
take a part in this and still come away with
some really awesome memorabilia or some awesome experiences. You mentioned
that experience of being a part of a women's basketball
practice with coach Hutter and crew. Good luck to Lolo
and the team. Hope hopefully that works out for you.
What are some of the other experiences that fans can
look forward to coming up to bid on this weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, we have that same package with coach Sather and
his staff.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And so if you've got a youth team or maybe
you want to put your family through some drills, that
would be a cool package to bid on with coach Sather.
The day and the life of a softball player at practice.
So you can go and you can help coach Joran
Stephen get his team ready for competition and a practice
and he'll maybe let you hit some balls and drills
or maybe you know, coach first base and a practice
(10:08):
around or something like that. So a practice with the
softball team as well as a game day experience with
you and d softball, those are two that I think
are awesome. We're going to do the same thing with
volleyball with coach Wain and his staff. You can be
a part of practice or you can be a part
of a game day kind of a day in the life.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Sort of deal.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
The fly with the teams are always an exciting one
to bid on. We look at the signature games that
football is attending this fall and next fall and we
create those into.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
A fly with the team sort of package.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And so everybody loves Nebraska, so you could fly with
the team with football to Nebraska this.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Year and Portland State.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
They're heading to Portland State too, and so we included
that one as a package. Those are two really cool
destinations that you'll people want to fly to be a
part of the team. Get that whole experience, and then
we have similar packages with the hockey when they charter.
Arizona State is an awesome destination to go to for
a road trip. I've been to a few of those
and there it's a heck of a lot of fun.
The weather's beautiful in Arizona in February, imagine that to
(11:06):
be highly spot after. And then we're going to fly
with the team to Colorado College too. I thought that
was a unique one new arena there or newer arena
that people maybe want to experience in that Colorado College area.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
So those fly with the teams are great.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The day in the LIFs with the practice, if you've
got a young young person that wants to do a
day in the life with the spirit squads, those are
three awesome ones too. With football cheer, with dance, and
with hockey cheer. There's three different day in the life
experiences there. And then there's a there's a Winnipeg SPA
package that's brand new this year. One of our great alums,
(11:40):
Jill Chilua, she connected us with a SPA owner up
in Winnipeg, and so we're going to do a SPA
day up in Winnipeg with some wine tasting and that's
cool and very unique, something we haven't ever had before.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So we're excited for those kind of experiences.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So a few things to kind of build on that valve.
So you talked a little bit about prior to us
recording about the awesome fans that were in both Suit
Falls in Las Vegas, and it was awesome obviously making
to the Frozen four. But in a year where there's
the ball, there's other things going on as well. I
(12:16):
mean it is the time of year right now, right
renewals are occurring, golf tournaments, There's just a lot of
things in the hopper.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, the Champions Ball is kind of the big one
that has the definite date and the timeline.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
And if you back up from that, we had an
awesome regional.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And we didn't know for sure that we were going
to be in Soo Falls until it came across the
screen that said, hey, you're in two Falls. We got
a lot of fans, a lot of Champions Club members
and fans down to Sue Falls in a short order.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
We had two.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Really really fun pregame parties at the Den. So thank
you to Todd Layes and his crew at Buffalo wild
Wings with the Den who were able to host us,
and they did some special nil stuff down there, and
our fans really really showed up, and then we won
two games there and the next thing you know, we
are jet setting to Vegas and the Green really showed
out in full force. So planning those that pregame party
(13:04):
at Tom's watch bar was pretty awesome, and just all
the engagement with folks that you haven't seen in a
long time that made a special trip to be in
Vegas was really cool.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And then there's no rest for the weary.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So as soon as we got back from the Frozen
four on Tuesday of last week, the Champions Club renewal
and season ticket packages opened up, so people who are
current ticket holders from last season had the chance to
renew their membership and tickets starting Tuesday, and we asked
that all memberships and tickets are renewed by May fifteenth,
so we can take any tickets that don't happen to
get renewed and get them in the hands of people
(13:36):
looking because we have over two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
People on our hockey season ticket waitlist.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
That would like a seat in the building. So that's
been a fun project. To work, you know, work in
and with with the hockey playoffs, the champions ball, the
renewal kind of all happening at the same time, and
then once the ball's over, we get to breathe for
about thirty seconds and then we really get in golf mode.
River Golf Tournament sold out as it always is that
(14:02):
first Thursday in June, and then from there we travel
to Fargo, Bismarck, and Detroit Lakes and have some fun
Hawks Hour events along the way. That's one more bill
that I should touch on. That Hawk's Hour. Our next
one we do one in the fall and one in
the spring. This one in the spring is May twentieth,
which is a Thursday Wednesday from five to seven at
(14:22):
Sweet Shots awesome.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Venue for a Hawk's Hour.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So we treat it a lot like a fan lunched
in kind of where we bring in some coaches, they
speak and address the room, and then there's free food
which is donated by our sponsors, which is being Forward
and Sweet Shots. They come together to kind of co
sponsor this event. And then we'll have Dane Jackson, Eric Schmidt,
Paul Sather and Jim Barren Camp all four of them.
(14:48):
We'll do a program and our newest colleague, Trey Laramore
at the Alumni Foundation. He will be the MC, so
it might be your first time to hear Trey behind
the mic, which is awesome.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
We have a new team made, Alex.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I don't know if you've met Trey yet, we'll have
to get an introduction, but he is new and he's
really hit the ground running helping me with all things
Champions Club. And then he also as an element to
his job where he's a major gift officer and he's
trying to get those major gifts and help with nil
maybe it Priority needs campaigns, kind of a fifty to
fifty split, so we're letting him meet a whole bunch
(15:19):
of people and learn how Champions Club works, but then
also at the same time throwing kind of another full
time job at him, which is a fundraising and it's
worked really good so far.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
He's been a great addition to the team.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and Val helped me with that one because in
talking with Mike Manassa of course who everyone knows, you know,
we've done this previously in the past too, so we're
kind of going back to the future a little bit
with Trey.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, It worked really well the last time we did
it because it was Mike Manassa and he was a
fifty to fifty split. He ran the Champions Club and
was a major gift officer. And then that's when I
was hired to come over from Women's Hoops to be
the associate director of the Champions Club and really do
the day to day stuff while Mike was on a
higher level. And look at him now, Mike sits as
the VP of the Alumni Foundation and really leads a
(16:03):
fantastic fundraising team that we have. So it was a
great recipe for success with Mike, and I can feel
a lot of the same stuff happening now with Trey,
so it's been awesome to have him as.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
A new teammate.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, so many exciting things happening in your world, around
the world of you and d athletics. Two last things
for you ab out we mentioned earlier. You've been a
part of this role you've been in this world. Let's
say that since twenty thirteen, things have changed significantly around
the landscape of college athletics, very very much over the
last five years, but certainly over the course of your time,
(16:34):
as you have from your share how has your role
evolved and how has maybe this process of trying to
support college athletics at the University of North Dakota, how
has that evolved to meet the current requirements to maintain
success in the field of play.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, so much has changed, Alex. It's pretty crazy. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I came from a coaching background, so I coached with
coach Roebuck and coach Brewster for a couple of years.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Before I switched over.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
And at that time, you were just you were getting
for your commitments out of student athletes, and they were
coming and they were staying. And a scholarship at that
time was amazing. If you could offer someone a scholarship
cut and dried, well, then you have a scholarship. And
now you have cost of attendance. And then you've added
what we call an alston a word, and then from
there we've added nil gift. So many more buckets and
(17:22):
so many more options, and it's changed kind of twofold.
Like student athletes, potential student athletes, they're looking for more
like how can I get a full package? Donors are
looking Okay, here are the five different ways I can
give in athletics. Now it's not just to scholarships. Oh
and then we toss in facilities. All these beautiful facilities
we get to sit in. They don't come just out
(17:43):
of thin air. They come from the gracious donor support.
And so we just have so many more buckets, but
a lot more opportunities for donors to give to. If
you don't like NIL, don't give to NIL, that's okay.
You continue to give to your scholarships. If you think
scholarships have enough and you need to help support NIL,
that it's great too. We're just so donor centric. We
really sit with people, we get to know them personally,
(18:05):
and then we figure out what giving works for them
and help them make sure they're making the impact that
they want to make and leave the legacy they want
to leave. And it always falls into one of those buckets.
And so it works really well that we can still
continue to support student athletes scholarships also the program enhancements
they need, as well as facilities and now the newest
(18:25):
which is NIL.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
And it usually it just takes a little bit of education.
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I think we're educating people more on what NIL actually
is and why it's important and why our student athletes
are really looking for that, and once you get the
time to explain to people, then they understand and they're like, oh,
I guess that's what it is. I didn't know maybe
the intricacies of what NIL is. So a lot has changed,
but it's a lot of fun too.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I agree with all of that val in the bottom
line is all giving matters, and whether it's legacy giving,
whether it's something new or something we can't even think
about what's going to be next to some degree, but
all of it matters. It supports all of our programs
to give themselves the best chance possible to construct a
(19:12):
roster that you can be proud of.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
And it's one thing I typically always say is every
donor matters, and every dollar matters.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
That's why we have one hundred dollars level in the
Champions Club.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
We can get ten people to do one hundred bucks,
that's just like one doing a thousand, But there's ten
people that we get to pour into, that we get
to embrace, that we get to work with, and so
growing our Champions Club family is a big deal. We
want to get that thing up and over four thousand
people we want to get up and over that four
million dollar mark in just the Champions Club alone, so
we can continue to help put great student athletes on
(19:46):
the softball fields, the football fields, over on the rink,
inside the Betty all of our places over at Choice.
We want to get the best student athletes, and we
know Champions Club has kind of been the backbone of
that annual giving for athletics. We have to make sure
we're doing what we're doing so Bill can count on
those dollars every single year to continue to recruit the
kids that we're currently recruiting. I've seen some of these
(20:07):
recruits we're getting in you know, the football ones and
the transfer portal with Hock. You know, there's all this
stuff happening, and we're getting some really high level, really
good student first type kids at North Dakota, kids that
we can be proud of, kids that our kids can
look up to. And that's maybe my most favorite thing, Alex.
And you've met Baker and Lauren of course, and bringing
them to a game and letting them, no matter the sport,
(20:28):
get to know the current student athletes, get to look
up to them and have someone that they can want
to emulate and someone they want to be. Is probably
what makes this job the most fun for me. They
get to watch their role models and live out the
life that they one day hope to live.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
And I'm glad I get to be just a really
smart small part of that.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
That's awesome. Noal, I every time we have you on
and we said this is this is time number four
was close to the jacket. She's really moving up the ranks.
I always leave just feeling so encouraged and so positive
about just your vision and the vision of the university
and why you do this job, because it is not
just about, hey, we just need to go out and
make money. It's about let's build relationships and let's try
(21:05):
and put the right people in these positions for the
next generation to look forward to. You're awfully good at
your job, Val Sussex, well done, well done, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Alex SAIDs so kind. And that's probably why I love
what I do. I think I am the luckiest person
on campus. I think I have the best job on campus,
and I won't want to trade it with anyone.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
You get to touch and be a part of so
many sports and so.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Many great teams, and so many great moments and a
lot of it's behind the scenes, but meeting all the
people that I've met through you and the athletics, the
Champions Club, it's just it's hard to put words too.
I'm very lucky and I just love I love you
and d and anything I can do to help us succeed.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well, it certainly shows well, we are very blessed that
you are on our team. We appreciate your time on Really,
this is your super Bowl. It's the busiest week of
the year for Valan for the rest of the Champions
Ball crew. Best of luck this weekend the Lara Center
five o'clock doors open. It's going to be another phenomenal event.
And then obviously, yes, all the things you've got coming
up in the later spring into the summer. It's going
(22:04):
to be a great year to be a un D
Athletics supporter. Vell and Congratsigantale's success.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Thank you so much. Thank you guys for having me.
Have a great rest of the pod.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Thanks wel.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
What a life giving half hour we just got to
spend with val Sussex. Just again, the fact that she's
leading the charge with such a great team within the
Champions Club ahead of this huge event for UND Athletics
and all the things that follow. It's so affirming to
hear these are the people that are helping drive what's
happening at UND Athletics. Obviously that side is in very
(22:36):
good shape. And also to this is sort of the
point of this pod, to really hear how these things happen,
what's going on behind the scenes. It's so great to
have her back on to share that vision ahead of
this incredible event coming up on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I think that's right, Alex. I mean you and I
discussed this way back when when we really started this,
and it really was about bringing something to the table
that otherwise you really wouldn't know. I mean it's you're
not going to really put a press release together on that,
You're not going to do a lot of things. But
what I think is important. We have so many people
(23:09):
that are vested in UND athletics. You kind of in
some ways want to know how the sausage is made.
And that's kind of what this pod is. We talk
a little bit about the sports, but if you if you,
if you realize we don't go too deep into a
lot of things. I mean, our fans are so dialed
they they know what's happening in some way, shape or form.
They know what transpired as far as results, they know
(23:32):
the comings and goings of certain things. But we try
to do something a little different here and bring the
folks to you that I think you're like, oh okay.
That's the reason why X, Y or Z is done
no different than we did with Tim Keener a couple
of weeks ago, like, hey, what's it going to look
like when you get to Vegas? And so that's that's
(23:54):
the reason that if you're going to say what is
the mission of the pod, that's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That has been the case for one hundred and ninety
four episodes. Now we give press. We're getting close. We're
getting kind of close. We might not hit it this year, no,
but right around the corner, come the fall, we will see,
we will see. So well, yes, excellent to have Valan
if you are at all interested in being a part
of the champions Ball. Obviously she laid out physically, you
(24:21):
can be there from five to eleven at the Alera
Center with all those great things going on, the auctions,
the program, the dance itself. It's going to follow. If
you can't make it still an opportunity to get involved
by the Silent Auction online, and then all of those things,
the Hawk Hour coming up in one month's time on
the twentieth of May, all of those summer golfing events,
(24:42):
and then of course again and then the fall is
going to start up again. So still a ton of
opportunities to get plugged in season ticket holders and being
a part of the Champions Club. So for further information
on that, just re listen to what That'll just talked
about for the last half hour or see her published
works online. What is your role, by the way, in
the Champions Ball coming up this week and you get
you get to speak and kind of present a message.
(25:03):
What about that event gets you excited? Though?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, you know a couple things. I would say this.
I've seen a lot of these around the country, Alex.
I do like the once every two years. I just
think if anyone has run a major event and it's
an annual event, there needs to be some decompression and
(25:26):
you need to take a deep breath. And I think
when it's an annual event, it's really hard to do
that because you're already feeling like when you're inside of
a year, it's happening. Well, at least in this case,
you know, are are all of the folks that work
with this. It's our alumni foundation folks, it's our athletics folks.
So there's a number of people involved with this. But
(25:48):
at least you get a half a second to take
a deep breath and then you say, okay, then you
can debrief, want what, well, what should we you know,
look at moving forward? But I just love the fact
that at the Alera Center there's two events that actually
really sells out. So Feast of Nations is an annual
(26:08):
event which is just awesome cultural foods, all those types
of things. It's a wonderful event. They usually have close
to a thousand people and you heard Val say we
have eighty well because you need a section of that
ballroom for all the option items. So really we would
have been in that same mode. So I think people
(26:29):
really care about it. They want to come, they want
to gather, they want to celebrate, and I think people
really put it on their calendar and circle it, so
you know, we'll go there and you know, visit with
a lot of folks. But the last thing I'd say,
and the one thing she mentioned it's really unique to
have a hundred of your student athletes there and if
(26:50):
you really think about it, you go ooh, you know,
you're bringing some student athletes into a social environment. You know,
how is this going to work out? Well? I want
to try to raise the bar always with our student athletes.
I trust them implicitly. They know why they're there. They're
no different than me. Being there is to make sure
(27:10):
that people that we can say thank you and then
we can actually have the ability to make connections because
that's the education outside the classroom, outside the fields of competition.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That is one of the best parts of this. And
you're at a table and you have got maybe two
or three student athletes, sometimes from the same sport, sometimes
it's split up a little bit, but it's so neat
to hear their stories here why they came to und
hear what their experience has been like. And oftentimes for
a donor who's sitting there, you're almost getting that affirmation
of Hey, the time and money that I've invested into
(27:44):
these kids, this is what it's about. Like you're putting
a face and a soul to that giving and that's
a really important thing.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, it becomes more real. You know, you're really just saying, oh, okay, hey,
it's just not the person that is, you know, made
an unbelievable play on third and nine, or you know, no, actually,
here's how I got here, and here's what I'm thinking
when I depart, And those are kind of the cool
(28:16):
conversations that you have. So yeah, excited about it. I'm actually,
you know, it's funny, like when I get there, I'm
just as excited to see the table as anybody else,
you know. I mean, you know, our staff in Valves
and her staff, they do a great job, they really
really do. And our coaches, our programs do a wonderful
(28:36):
job supporting this. So it should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, an excellent, excellent event to be a part of
for sure. Every other year, so especial one coming up
this Saturday night from five to eleven at the Alearis Center.
You mentioned a moment ago about how people just enjoy
getting together, right like minded people that like to be
in the same room and to celebrate and to really revel.
We got a chance to see that at the Frozen four,
and I know the end result wasn't what North Dakota
(28:59):
was hoping for but Val mentioned it so cool to
see people from all over the country and all over
the world come together in Vegas to support this team,
just that it was an incredible event, certainly from a
fan perspective. How did it go on your ends in
terms of hosting this event in conjunction with Las Vegas
events in the NCAA. What was that side of things
(29:20):
like at the twenty twenty six Frozen four at te Mobile.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, you know, I thought that Eric Martinsen led our
crew tremendously at und You know, We've been fortunate to
be able to host a number of regionals and this
one was in some ways a bigger regional if you will,
but still four teams in. But it was interesting as
(29:43):
it played itself out Vegas. As much as they've done
a million events, and they've done major, major events. If
you haven't done one of an event before, you do
need some expertise from the actual, uh in this case,
the collegiate world, and that's what we were able to
(30:05):
provide to to Vegas, and I think, as far as
I can tell, Alex, it was a big, big hit.
You know, obviously the four teams there, uh, you know,
spoke for themselves and uh and and I thought that,
you know, the games were again it's hockey at its best.
They're game seven, game seven games, and uh, you know,
(30:29):
you can outshoot someone two to one and lose. You
can not get many shots early on, let's say, half
the game and still find a way, or you can
be down to nothing and then finally, you know, get
one and still have a shot at the end. And
so there's just a lot of ways to go about it.
I know our team was incredibly disappointed, you know, feeling
(30:54):
as if, you know, they let folks down, but they
they didn't let folks down. They played amazing, and you know,
you got to credit your opposition. At times, I thought,
I thought Wis contemplated just a marvelous game, certainly for
half the game. And then I thought we kind of
got our footing a bit, and uh, you know, just
(31:15):
just one did one needed to go in, one didn't
go in, and if one went in, Alex, I'll tell
you I be careful, be careful at that point in time.
And you know, unfortunately it didn't happen. And you know
we uh, you know, it was exciting to be there,
but uh, you know, already we're building toward next year.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, it is incredible how quick that transition happens from
gunning for a championship and then just a couple of
days later, now it's like, all right, let's move on
to the turn of the page. And what's so cool
about this team again? They finished one went off of thirty.
They have this great run to the fours and fourg
and their first trip there in a decade, first year
head coach, all these different things going on, and there
(31:58):
still is that sense of like we wanted we could.
We really felt like we had the team to do
it all. And now we're going to try and put
a new scene together that can do the same thing
with a lot of the same players, but also some
new pieces. They're going to be added over the course
and already have been added over the course of the
last two weeks. And some of the players who are
huge parts of this team have already made their NHL debuts,
with Jake Levanavic and Abram Weeb playing in the show
(32:20):
at the end of the regular season, and a bunch
of guys like Ben Strnden and Dylan James and Ellis
Rickwood already having success in the AHL Rickwood almost had
a hat trick the other night, Dylan almost had a
hat trick like two nights ago. They've hit the ground
running in their pro careers, when just yesterday they're playing
in the frozen four for this North Dakota program. Life
(32:40):
comes at you fast in college hockey and in college
athletics in general.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, someone has said this, Alex. It's slow, slow, slow,
till it's really fast, and it feels like the season
continues on, it continues on, but then once it comes
to the conclusion, Wow, it's in warp speed. And so yeah,
I would have thought, you know, I'm thinking through so
(33:06):
with the house settlement, our roster numbers twenty six in hockey.
Every sport has a number, and you know, I kind
of thought, let's just use twenty four as a number.
I know it's twenty six, but I kind of thought
maybe two thirds, you know, so like sixteen and eight
or eighteen and eight would be the proper kind of thought.
(33:27):
Think through as far as how a roster is built,
I don't know. Each year's its own now. It could
be half and half, it could be fifty to fifty.
And I think we're going to be close to fifty
to fifty again for a variety of reasons. I mean again,
if you go back and just say why are some
students transferring, There's a myriad of reasons, but one is
(33:48):
sometimes what they perceive as opportunity to be able to
do what they want to do on the ice. And
so you know, here we are and we're better shape
certainly than where we were this time last year as
far as just roster numbers, and I think if you
can read Brad Schlossman and the Grand Forks Herald, he's
(34:09):
detailed it pretty well as far as kind of where
we are and where we were. So yeah, excited already
for next year. I think some of the guys that
got to the Frozen four that's going to be back
on our roster. You know, I think they've got a
little bit of a sour taste in their mouth. They shouldn't.
They shouldn't. They played, They had a heck of a season,
but you know they were a bit disappointed on how
(34:30):
things transpired.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
You said it, well, if you want the details, Brad's
got this covered, go subscribe to the Grand Forks Herald.
Like just you will be smarter and be a better
fan and sort of understand the process because he lays
it out so well. But yes, obviously the off season
a busy time now for over two hundred kids in
the portal for college hockey alone at the D one level,
it's busy right now, but it will not be too
(34:52):
long and been playing games again. It'll be October before
we know it, Bill Buckle drop. We'll get ready to
go for the next season as und tries to defend
the Penrose Cup and maybe take one more step further
in the NCAA tournament. So that's hockey now into a
very busy off season. We should mention football is very
much in their off season, but not really because there's
no off season again. They just finished up their spring
wrap up. The offense beat the defense in a very
(35:15):
entertaining game thirty to twenty eight, a little scrimmage in
front of a packed house over at the Pollard Center.
Obviously great to see that. You'd love to see competition
at this time of year. Their season is really not
that far away either, is it.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
No, it's not. And they all go through that twelve
month calendar alex where you just go from one thing
to the next. And so now you know the little
mini time right now, is hey finish up the semester, well,
finish up the academic year. Well, we're almost to the
end at this point. We're only probably two weeks out really.
(35:50):
Then you know, obviously we've got graduation here on campus,
and then you get into summer summer workouts. You know
a lot of our guys will be around and they
will they'll work out, and then then you're straight into
the training training camp for the fall and it'll come
quick and it always does.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It'll be a fun football season. I think you see
some of the guys coming back, a lot of the
staff coming back from last year's team that had a
lot of success. Obviously Danny Foyn coming back as the
offensive coordinator. There's just an excitement again. I think that
just because continue to build around this team, and that's
continued with some of the recruits. And Nobau mentioned some
of the names that have popped up on Sawn Miller's
(36:29):
Twitter feed in the last couple of days, Like you
can sell that people are buying in so what this
coaching staff, what this program is aiming for, and that's
got to be really exciting for a fan base that
I think really enjoyed what they saw in the field
last year.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I think that's right. And but obviously we know we
play in the most difficult conference in the country in
there is and there is that, and so I think
it's a very physical game, if anyone didn't know, And
so you know, you have to have a little bit
of luck, and you know. The one thing we do
know though, if we're playing well and we have good results,
(37:04):
that will bode well for any team that's in the valley.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
August twenty seventh, opening kick against Long Island's at home Sharks.
Here we go, Sharks come into town, first of two
home games to kick off the season. It will be
a fun year on the good iron again. A little
taste of that this weekend. So fun to see the
guys out there competing. We have a lot of spring sports,
obviously that are very much in full go. We could
talk about it. We could go into depth about a
lot of these things. I do want to ask you
(37:29):
about softball. Who had the uniqueness of it? We mentioned
at the top, whether playing a role forcing some rescheduling.
We mentioned the USD Series shifting back a day Omaha
was supposed to come A couple of weeks ago that
series got wiped out. They'll now come mid at the
end of this week to play two games. That Friday game,
(37:49):
North Dakota will play the MAVs at three o'clock. They'll
finish that day with North Dakota State at six o'clock.
A little it's like a split squad, but it's not.
It's like a little spring training action. But it's very
much in the teeth of the semi league conference season,
and these are important games. Again, like we said, you
just have to adjust and make it work when the windows.
They're good on everybody for coming together and finding a
(38:11):
solution in the midst of this crazy spring.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Well and just for fun, Alex, because the way the
schedule went at the beginning of the year. Yeah, we're
just gonna go on the road and play this little
team from the Twin Cities.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Let's go play the Gophers on Tuesday. Why not in
the midst of that. Yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
That sport obviously is used to just playing a volume
of games, and so so it's what they have done
growing up. It's really not a surprise. It's almost got
a little tournament field. Omaha's here. Now North Dakota States here. Yeah,
and you know, let's let it rip so all at
all brick though, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, that is the big positive again this weekend. Incredibly,
by the way, just two weeks left in the regular season,
I know we are really getting down. The Assemi League
championships are coming up in the Twin Cities. Saint Thomas
is hosting on the sixth through the ninth of so
important games as you keeps pushing proceeeding here down the stretch,
including that big one that's happening earlier today that you
will already know about against South Dakota. So that's softball
(39:10):
right now again. Twenty five wins on the season for
Jordan Stevens and company. Tennis's conference championship is happening this weekends.
The women in as the three seed. They'll play Omaha
on the twenty fourth in Tulsa. The men, what a
dramatic end to their regular season on the road to
Illinois State. We always talk about the doubles point. The
men lose the doubles points, but then go out and
(39:31):
get the job done in singles and find a way
to win four to three over the Red Bird. So
they secured their spot. Just some dramatic stuff on the
final day of the regular season, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
You know, it's interesting. It's an individual sport but such
a team sport, and so you know, but you're the
only one on the court. It singles, and so everyone's
watching you. It can be a little bit of pressure.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
A little bit. Yeah, but the Fellas rose up though
they get the two seed. They'll play Oral Roberts in
salsa also on the twenty fourth, so a couple of
fighting Hawks teams going at it. You can watch those
matches live on Mid Coast Sports Plus as well through
the Summit League Network coming up this Friday, and then
we'll see we'll go from there. But again, congrats to
Boat for making the tournament and being in a good
spot potentially to move on. I have some success down
(40:17):
in Oklahoma. Golf is busy as well. Outdoor track and
field is very much in full swing. Just the three
school records that went down this weekends out in California.
Luis Fanucci breaking the school record in the fifteen hundred
and the five thousand, Jaden Keeler lowering your old fifteen
hundred meter record. They just continue to roll and they'll
be coming a little closer to home. That's one of
(40:38):
the exciting things. There are some more local meets, including
one that North Dakota is hosting bill in the near future.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Absolutely, and so we're excited. So Jim, we're lucky enough
to have a new track be put in here and
so we're going to try to test it out a
little bit. So I'm kind of excited to see what transpires.
You know, again, I would say this, Alex, Infrastructurally, we
probably don't have exactly what it is you would want
(41:08):
at this point in time, but we're kind of working
on that and building it up, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
The Fighting Hawk Open will take place on the twenty
ninth of April, that's next Wednesday at Memorial And this,
as you said, new surface, this will be the first.
I can't imagine it's been a minute since you and
d has hosted an outdoor jacket field competition. So this
is kind of a cool historic thing to get to
come out and watch and enjoy and again see some
of the Summit League's best. They will have a couple
(41:35):
more local meets again coming up there in the Twin
Cities next week at Jamestown, at Vermilion in Morehead in Fargo,
and then Fargo will host Thesemily Outdoor Championships coming up
on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth of May. So their
season really beginning to pick up some steam. But a
number of athletes that we've seen get the job done
over and over again getting set to compete at home
(41:55):
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, I think that's important, right, Like so the ability
to actually host a little bit is this much about
keeping our team here in Grand Forks and being able,
you know, to do some things what they need to
do that's outside track and field. So so we're excited
about see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, see how it goes. I think it'll go okay,
fingers crossed. So that's to me is what's happening on
the field of play and you and the athletics bill.
Anything else to touch on before we flip?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I think we can flip. I mean think thanks to Val,
Val did a great job. Kind of there's just a
lot of moving parts right now, but it's always good
to get the experts on. But let's flip to a sad.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
B side, a little bit a little bit sad there.
Let's let's begin on the pitch because I got to
ask you the emotions, Bill, the sadness. On Saturday, Spurs
are playing against Brighton and you've taken the two to
one lead in the seventieth minute, Chabby Simons with a
(42:56):
lovely goal. Beautiful goal, very happy, very exultant, felt pretty good.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, though, you concede
and you draw and you get again. If you're not
a soccer person, a win is three points, a draw
is just the one, and you remain in the relegation zone.
And the team that you're directly competing against, west Ham
(43:18):
is playing today as we speak, Monday the twentieth. If
they win that match, they will be four points ahead
of you. So kind of a two game cushion.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Not great, Bill, It's not And I would say, what's
really not great in soccer? I would say if, for
those of you that are unfamiliar, in each half you
play forty five minutes, but you do have what's called
injury time, and so you probably don't want to concede
(43:48):
during that time. Well, not only did we concede at
the end of the match, we conceded at halftime. Two.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, those last few moments of the added time and
both halves did not play out in your favor. Unfortunately.
I heard a very interesting commentary on this this morning
that some people think perhaps it's better if they just
go down, That it might be for the best thing
(44:18):
for the club is just to be relegated, go to
the championship, let deserbe cook and just rip it all
up and like a phoenix, perhaps they can rise up
from the ashes of this this awful, awful to your season.
What do you think about that? That would be a
different way to look at it. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
So here's what I'm going to say is the Celtics,
who could have done something very similar this year, made
a concerned effort in choice to win games and it's
worked out okay for him. I don't think going down
is ever a good idea. I would say staying up
(45:00):
in the richest league in the world, aside from probably
the NFL, I would say it probably is best to
stay up and then rip it up there. If you're
going to rip it up, I prefer ripping it up
playing Man you Man City Liverpool in Arsenal, because you
know you go to the championship, there's no guarantee you
(45:23):
come back.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
This is true. I mean, this is true. It is
a bit like, yeah, you think you're just going to
make a quick stop and you'll bounce right back, and
it doesn't always work that way. Now, I would say
the closest in recent history to something like this happening
was Newcastle. Newcastle was relegated probably about twelve years ago now,
maybe even a little longer than that, and they did
(45:45):
make a quick bounce and that was a similar thing.
A massive club with this huge stadium, that's a Premier
League side, and they weren't maybe perhaps in the same
boat of Tottenham is challenging for European football as Newcastle are.
Now this is pre Saudi takeover, but that was still
a huge shock for them to go down and they
were able to come back and then a little reinvestment
(46:07):
and look at them now, they're, you know, playing in
the Champions League this past year.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Well. The valid I think the shocking part of this,
and the reason why it's so interesting is if you
look at valuations of clubs in the world, they're always
in the top ten because of you know, their incredible stadium.
There's a lot of pieces to that puzzle and for
them to go down. Here's what I don't know. If
(46:30):
you go down. This is my son talking now, who's
definitely has more expertise than I do. He said, Hey,
it's gonna be everybody super Bowl in the championship, So
there's no guarantee that you come flying back up at
that point. And so I don't know. I don't think financially.
I've listened to a couple of pods. I think financially
(46:50):
they could be okay for a year. A year I do,
so that's not the issue per se. But you're gonna
have to play forty six matches in really, as they
like to say, right Alex probably the toughest, probably the
toughest league in the world in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
It is tough physically because of that, the number of
games you're playing, but also the physical nature of the championship,
the style of football that's played there. It's a meat
grinder really and that obviously, yes, as you said, one year,
you get parachute payments to help you support your bloated
and financial mess that you're in because you're not getting
(47:31):
the massive money from the Premier League TV rights, But
they help you. Those three teams that go down get
a little extra money that the other championship clubs don't get.
But yes, after the first year, you don't get that anymore,
and all of a sudden you're on your own and
it's a scary place to be because you might not
come back. But do you think I'll say this then
we'll move to the Sox quick? Do you think they
(47:51):
will stay up? Right now? On April the twentieth seasons
only a couple weeks left? Will they find a way
to get the points needed to finish in the top seventeen?
Speaker 2 (48:02):
If west Ham are as we are recording now, If
west Ham stays within touching distance after today's match, I
think yes, if it goes to four points.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Today, No, you heard it your first wait, But I.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Will say this though Brighton was playing pretty well, so
there is some optimism that they actually played a little
bit better. How they lost that match at the end
was pretty discouraging and uh, you know how they bounce
back from that hard to say, although they do have
(48:41):
a few players that are now available to them that
have been not been available for a long period of time.
Benton Corp in Madison and so Madison I don't think
played over the weekend, but he's practicing anyway, so you
never know. But I'll tell you what, they're just not
in touching distance and they don't win matches. I mean,
if you don't threes, you got no chance.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
You're in a tough spot. Yeah, so you get to
play Wolves coming up, who are already relegated. I guess
depending on that result, they will officially be relegated the
result of the west Ham Crystal Palace match. But they're
going down. You'd love to get a win in that match,
as with Wolves, but yes, good luck with that. Hope
it works out. Red Sox meanwhile, not the best start
to the season. To put it mildly, they are winning today.
(49:26):
We started this pot it was tied with the Tigers
at three apiece. They scored a couple of runs in
the bottom of the seventh they lead six to three.
But this is a team that has had the worst
offense in the league and have committed the most errors
in the league. And that's not a great recipe for success. Bill.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Yeah, I thought, you know, they were going to kind
of bank on a little bit of defense with their pitching,
and when your ace is struggling too, that not a
great combination right now, So now the only thing they've
got going for him is baseball in general, it's kind
of gotten off. It feels like I feel like everybody's
off to a slow start. They've been off to a
(50:01):
really slow start. Kind of a tough watch.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Alex, Yeah, it's it's not been great. My son and
I got to watch a little bit of a game
a couple a couple of days ago, Hey, let's watch
the Red Sox, and it just wasn't fun. Like, he's
playing t ball this year for the first time, and
I was trying to get him hooked and just wasn't
super interested. But to your point, even though they've had
this awful start, nobody else in the division is running
(50:25):
away with things. Yankees are only four games above five hundred.
Like it's if you can just kind of hopefully this
is just a rough patch and they can get some
things figured out, but it could be it could be
a long summer perhaps.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
I know it's feeling like it's an extended rough patch.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Yeah, not great, not great. But the Jays are going
through the same thing we saw the Blue Jays almost
they were within what an ounce two outs away from
one in the World Series. And there they have the
exact same record right now as Boston. So yeah, we
shall see the dog days of aprils. It's just about over.
Hopefully the new month will provide a little more.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
As they like to say in Boston, you're ruining my summer.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
Well, we hope that this podcast did nothing to ruin
your Monday, the start of your week. Again. Great to
have Val sussexon. We hope you are getting ready for
a big champions Ball event coming up on Saturday, that
you can partake in that one way or another. Best
of luck build to you and the entire staff as
you get that event off the ground, and enjoy as
this spring continues to roll on.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Absolutely enjoyed it as always. Thanks to Val. And what
is this two ninety four in the books?
Speaker 1 (51:33):
One number one ninety four in the books. I'm so.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
If anybody's right now at the pod, thank you, thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
He is Bill Shaves. I am Alex Sander. Thanks to
Alex Socker Johnson and Paul Rawson on the back end.
Thank you for listening to this. Enjoy the rest of
the week, have a great time supporting you on the
athletics for being four.
Speaker 4 (52:00):
In the CONSIDENTNUC. The asketals in deposit of US
Speaker 3 (52:06):
Are SCAT in deposit of Denos SCAT in deposits the
hospitals
You're listening to the Bill Shaves Podcast, presented by Mid
Coast Sports for extensive coverage of U and D athletics
this spring. Mid Coast Sports and Mid Coast Sports Plush
should be your go to watch live U and the
softball all spring long. Plus catch the Fighting Hawks at
these some of the championships for softball, tennis, track and field,
and more. That's Mid Coast Sports. This is how we
do sports, and this is the Bill Shaves Podcast. Welcome
(00:25):
to another edition of the Bill Shaves Podcast. We're back
to a Monday bill, taping this on Monday, April the twentieth.
How are things in Bill Shaves's world?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Things are good, you know we are. We are recording
at twelve oh five, so just after noon and less
than an hour, we'll be throwing a pitch at Alburt Field.
So softball we'll be playing on a Monday because Mother Nature,
we know, is undefeated and she does not seem to
(00:57):
like weekends that much. So she seems to like week
days better than weekend. So we move that series. And
so fortunately we were able to get two in and
so we'll have the rubber match here in less than
an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And the Great Ones adjust, Bill, the great Ones adjust,
So just a little pivot as you listen to this.
Of course, that event will already have taken place, but
best of elector Jordan Stevens as the softball team as
they look to go two wins out of three against
the University of South Dakota, they'll be we'll talk a
little bit about that because mother Nature has changed some
things in the schedule. It's going to be a unique
next week and a half or so for the softballers
(01:30):
with a doubleheader against two different teams and lots of
different stuff going on, a lot of positive things, of
course to talk about with you. And the athletics, school
records in track and field and men's and women's tennis,
making this semi league championships and spring wrap up for football.
We'll get to all those things after we bring on
our special guests, and this, indeed is a special guest today,
a repeat guest on the Bill Shafes podcast. I believe
(01:52):
this is at least time number four. She's a face
and a voice that you know very well from a
lot of different areas. Former player, coach, color analysts for
und women's basketball, she has been the director of the
U and D Champions Club now for almost a decade
and has been in a foundation at UND since twenty thirteen.
She is Val Sussex and she joins us on the
(02:12):
program today. Val, thanks for being with.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Us, Alex, Bill, thank you guys for having me. Yes
fourth time. So I feel very honored and privileged to
be able to come and speak with you guys for
four times. And you're right, I've seen a lot and
I've done a lot, and I've worn a lot of
different hats, and I don't know if I have a favorite,
but I just love all aspects of you and D
Athletics and U and D sports, And I've gotten to
(02:35):
call a lot of fun basketball games with you, Alex
over the years, between the men and the women, we've
had some great calls and so those are times that
I cherish. So getting to be on the podcast, this
podcast with you is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, Val, you know, you know your job. There's a
rhythm to it, and there's a season to it, and
you're in like a certain part of the calendar, if
you will, and this is like a really exciting part
because it's a biennial situation that we're dealing with this week.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, we are rolling into game day, like the biggest
game day ever if you're val Sussex, because it is
everything to everyone and it means so much to me.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
We are rolling into our Champions Ball.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So, like Bill said, we do it every other year
and it's just so happens to be happening this Saturday.
So it's probably been a year and a half maybe
worth of work that goes into this short five hour,
six hour event on Saturday night, the doors open to
the Champions Ball at five, and we start with a
social and a silent auction presented by Bank Forward, and
(03:38):
then we roll into a program m seed by Darren
Looker and we'll hear from Bill and Andy Armacost and
then Mike Manassa will do part of the program as well.
There'll be a featured video at this event that will
feature Ben Strnden and Will Zellers.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What great guys.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
With an amazing U and D family, the feel of
home and the tradition of what it means to play
for you and D. We'll feature those two in a video,
and then we'll go into a live auction and then
we'll finish it up with a kind of an old
school dance we'll have Slammed Down back to take over
the dance floor for us. So it's going to be
an amazing Saturday night.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's like three events in one in a sense, right,
Like I mean, you have kind of your dinner and
little bit a little bit of a called speeches or program,
but not a whole lot. But then you kind of
go into the auction portion, which is always fun, and
then you just kind of end the night on the
dance floor.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And it's exactly right the auction portion, the live auction.
Dennis Buluski and his team will be helping us auction
off some live items, and I get to be one
of those signature bid catchers, so I need to find
I find my kind of my group of people that
I think are going to bid, and I kind of
get close to them, and then when they place their
bid Alex, it's so fun.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You can just see me doing it. I get to
yell yep as loud as I.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Say in my hand, and I feel like I'm winning,
but it's not my but it's the best in the
whole world.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
And in the end, it's all for student athlete scholarships.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
So the live auction is probably is one of my
highlights of the whole event.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, I love that you get to live vicariously in
that manner through these people who you've gotten to know well,
of course in this role over the years. My recollection
of the Champions Ball and I've been to several Seven
years ago I got to host this event, and I
remember it was seven years because it was right after
the birth of my second daughter, and she just had
a birthday yesterday, So it just brings back those memories
of being on no sleep and like five days removed
(05:30):
from leaving the hospital and then getting to come and
be a part of this incredible event. But you talk
about the time that goes into setting the wheels in
motion to make this happen vow, there are always so
many great items too bid on. Obviously you're working on
getting people to make sure yes, we're gonna come and
commit and selling tickets and all those things, getting the
bands together cack us through those steps. That does really
(05:51):
start shortly after the previous Champion Ball finishes.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, as soon as the last ball is over, which
was April of twenty four, we're already collecting items for
April of twenty six, and so we have two hundred
silent auction items. A lot of those came from myself
and a few teammates digging through the Hisslop before it
came down and crawling through the Memorial Stadium. I can
remember being up in the his Hisslop, behind a locked
(06:18):
door underneath the stadium seats up top where people watched
basketball and volleyball for years.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I didn't even realize there was.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Storage in there, and so I remember when Jake Kish
from Operations and I believe my sister Lindsey, they were like, hey,
we've got the key for this.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I'm like, oh great, let's open it up.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We didn't know what we were going to find under there,
because the Hisslop has been around, had been around forever,
and we found some treasures under there, you know, old
giveaway items like a stadium seat cushion, the old school
seat cushion that you get to sit on from like
nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
So we'll have one of those on the auction.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Old jerseys and you can't even say they were women's
basketball or volleyball or field hockey because they all shared
jerseys back then. So it's an old female athletic jersey.
So we have a bunch of those. There's just a
lot of vintage, like traditional items that were either in
the Hisslap or the Memorial Stadium, like an old concessions
on from the stadium that we unplugged took off the wall,
(07:15):
and that's just.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Been waiting for us.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Over at the Alumni Foundation, there's a I have a
basement kind of a corner in the basement of the
Alumni Foundation where all my treasures.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Are and we keep an eye on them.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We've got some cameras down there and we just keep
everything elevated so in case there's water or any issues,
and it's it's the perfect home for all these auction
items until Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So val talk about the actual bidding process because that
has evolved and changed. So just because you're not at
the actual event, you could actually bid correct.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yes, that is probably one of the most important things.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We can only fit so many people in the room,
and the date can be a conflict for people. So
happy to announce that we do have eight hundred and
eighty so eighty eight tables of folks coming to join us,
which includes one hundred of our student athletes, which is
phenomenal and it's so awesome that those students get to
sit down with donors, be a part of the event.
They're not valuying cars, they're not carrying auction items. There
(08:12):
are guests, and we want to treat our student athletes
like we would treat our donors and our fans, because
someday we hope they will be the next great donors
that we have. But back to Bill's point, we have
moved our silent auction to a virtual auction, so.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Anyone anywhere can bid. You don't have to be in
the room.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Bidding actually opens up Tuesday, the twenty first at ten am,
So Champions Club members. Within your Champions Club playbook that
you get Tuesday at ten am, you're going to get
a link in there that says the Champions Ball Silent
Auction is now live. And the unique and cool thing
about that, Alex is when you bid on the women's
(08:49):
basketball practice experience with coach Hutter and his staff, So
you're bidden on an hour of practice for ten people.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So I'm going to been on that one for my
daughter and.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Her youth basketball team so they could come in and
learn from Hudder and work with him. You're going to
see that the bids come in and then if I
get outbid Alex. If you come and jump on and bid,
then I can outbid you. So you get a little
notification each time your BID's been out bid, So it
keeps it competitive. But it also allows people who aren't
in the room in this space that are also great
(09:17):
U and D fans that just have a conflict or
couldn't be there because the event sold out.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Gives everyone a chance to bid.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, that's brilliant, what a great idea. Again, Smart, you
can include those people who are not there to still
take a part in this and still come away with
some really awesome memorabilia or some awesome experiences. You mentioned
that experience of being a part of a women's basketball
practice with coach Hutter and crew. Good luck to Lolo
and the team. Hope hopefully that works out for you.
What are some of the other experiences that fans can
look forward to coming up to bid on this weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Yeah, we have that same package with coach Sather and
his staff.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And so if you've got a youth team or maybe
you want to put your family through some drills, that
would be a cool package to bid on with coach Sather.
The day and the life of a softball player at practice.
So you can go and you can help coach Joran
Stephen get his team ready for competition and a practice
and he'll maybe let you hit some balls and drills
or maybe you know, coach first base and a practice
(10:08):
around or something like that. So a practice with the
softball team as well as a game day experience with
you and d softball, those are two that I think
are awesome. We're going to do the same thing with
volleyball with coach Wain and his staff. You can be
a part of practice or you can be a part
of a game day kind of a day in the life.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Sort of deal.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
The fly with the teams are always an exciting one
to bid on. We look at the signature games that
football is attending this fall and next fall and we
create those into.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
A fly with the team sort of package.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And so everybody loves Nebraska, so you could fly with
the team with football to Nebraska this.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Year and Portland State.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
They're heading to Portland State too, and so we included
that one as a package. Those are two really cool
destinations that you'll people want to fly to be a
part of the team. Get that whole experience, and then
we have similar packages with the hockey when they charter.
Arizona State is an awesome destination to go to for
a road trip. I've been to a few of those
and there it's a heck of a lot of fun.
The weather's beautiful in Arizona in February, imagine that to
(11:06):
be highly spot after. And then we're going to fly
with the team to Colorado College too. I thought that
was a unique one new arena there or newer arena
that people maybe want to experience in that Colorado College area.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
So those fly with the teams are great.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The day in the LIFs with the practice, if you've
got a young young person that wants to do a
day in the life with the spirit squads, those are
three awesome ones too. With football cheer, with dance, and
with hockey cheer. There's three different day in the life
experiences there. And then there's a there's a Winnipeg SPA
package that's brand new this year. One of our great alums,
(11:40):
Jill Chilua, she connected us with a SPA owner up
in Winnipeg, and so we're going to do a SPA
day up in Winnipeg with some wine tasting and that's
cool and very unique, something we haven't ever had before.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So we're excited for those kind of experiences.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So a few things to kind of build on that valve.
So you talked a little bit about prior to us
recording about the awesome fans that were in both Suit
Falls in Las Vegas, and it was awesome obviously making
to the Frozen four. But in a year where there's
the ball, there's other things going on as well. I
(12:16):
mean it is the time of year right now, right
renewals are occurring, golf tournaments, There's just a lot of
things in the hopper.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, the Champions Ball is kind of the big one
that has the definite date and the timeline.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
And if you back up from that, we had an
awesome regional.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And we didn't know for sure that we were going
to be in Soo Falls until it came across the
screen that said, hey, you're in two Falls. We got
a lot of fans, a lot of Champions Club members
and fans down to Sue Falls in a short order.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
We had two.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Really really fun pregame parties at the Den. So thank
you to Todd Layes and his crew at Buffalo wild
Wings with the Den who were able to host us,
and they did some special nil stuff down there, and
our fans really really showed up, and then we won
two games there and the next thing you know, we
are jet setting to Vegas and the Green really showed
out in full force. So planning those that pregame party
(13:04):
at Tom's watch bar was pretty awesome, and just all
the engagement with folks that you haven't seen in a
long time that made a special trip to be in
Vegas was really cool.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And then there's no rest for the weary.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So as soon as we got back from the Frozen
four on Tuesday of last week, the Champions Club renewal
and season ticket packages opened up, so people who are
current ticket holders from last season had the chance to
renew their membership and tickets starting Tuesday, and we asked
that all memberships and tickets are renewed by May fifteenth,
so we can take any tickets that don't happen to
get renewed and get them in the hands of people
(13:36):
looking because we have over two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
People on our hockey season ticket waitlist.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
That would like a seat in the building. So that's
been a fun project. To work, you know, work in
and with with the hockey playoffs, the champions ball, the
renewal kind of all happening at the same time, and
then once the ball's over, we get to breathe for
about thirty seconds and then we really get in golf mode.
River Golf Tournament sold out as it always is that
(14:02):
first Thursday in June, and then from there we travel
to Fargo, Bismarck, and Detroit Lakes and have some fun
Hawks Hour events along the way. That's one more bill
that I should touch on. That Hawk's Hour. Our next
one we do one in the fall and one in
the spring. This one in the spring is May twentieth,
which is a Thursday Wednesday from five to seven at
(14:22):
Sweet Shots awesome.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Venue for a Hawk's Hour.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So we treat it a lot like a fan lunched
in kind of where we bring in some coaches, they
speak and address the room, and then there's free food
which is donated by our sponsors, which is being Forward
and Sweet Shots. They come together to kind of co
sponsor this event. And then we'll have Dane Jackson, Eric Schmidt,
Paul Sather and Jim Barren Camp all four of them.
(14:48):
We'll do a program and our newest colleague, Trey Laramore
at the Alumni Foundation. He will be the MC, so
it might be your first time to hear Trey behind
the mic, which is awesome.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
We have a new team made, Alex.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
I don't know if you've met Trey yet, we'll have
to get an introduction, but he is new and he's
really hit the ground running helping me with all things
Champions Club. And then he also as an element to
his job where he's a major gift officer and he's
trying to get those major gifts and help with nil
maybe it Priority needs campaigns, kind of a fifty to
fifty split, so we're letting him meet a whole bunch
(15:19):
of people and learn how Champions Club works, but then
also at the same time throwing kind of another full
time job at him, which is a fundraising and it's
worked really good so far.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
He's been a great addition to the team.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and Val helped me with that one because in
talking with Mike Manassa of course who everyone knows, you know,
we've done this previously in the past too, so we're
kind of going back to the future a little bit
with Trey.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, It worked really well the last time we did
it because it was Mike Manassa and he was a
fifty to fifty split. He ran the Champions Club and
was a major gift officer. And then that's when I
was hired to come over from Women's Hoops to be
the associate director of the Champions Club and really do
the day to day stuff while Mike was on a
higher level. And look at him now, Mike sits as
the VP of the Alumni Foundation and really leads a
(16:03):
fantastic fundraising team that we have. So it was a
great recipe for success with Mike, and I can feel
a lot of the same stuff happening now with Trey,
so it's been awesome to have him as.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
A new teammate.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, so many exciting things happening in your world, around
the world of you and d athletics. Two last things
for you ab out we mentioned earlier. You've been a
part of this role you've been in this world. Let's
say that since twenty thirteen, things have changed significantly around
the landscape of college athletics, very very much over the
last five years, but certainly over the course of your time,
(16:34):
as you have from your share how has your role
evolved and how has maybe this process of trying to
support college athletics at the University of North Dakota, how
has that evolved to meet the current requirements to maintain
success in the field of play.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Yeah, so much has changed, Alex. It's pretty crazy. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I came from a coaching background, so I coached with
coach Roebuck and coach Brewster for a couple of years.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Before I switched over.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
And at that time, you were just you were getting
for your commitments out of student athletes, and they were
coming and they were staying. And a scholarship at that
time was amazing. If you could offer someone a scholarship
cut and dried, well, then you have a scholarship. And
now you have cost of attendance. And then you've added
what we call an alston a word, and then from
there we've added nil gift. So many more buckets and
(17:22):
so many more options, and it's changed kind of twofold.
Like student athletes, potential student athletes, they're looking for more
like how can I get a full package? Donors are
looking Okay, here are the five different ways I can
give in athletics. Now it's not just to scholarships. Oh
and then we toss in facilities. All these beautiful facilities
we get to sit in. They don't come just out
(17:43):
of thin air. They come from the gracious donor support.
And so we just have so many more buckets, but
a lot more opportunities for donors to give to. If
you don't like NIL, don't give to NIL, that's okay.
You continue to give to your scholarships. If you think
scholarships have enough and you need to help support NIL,
that it's great too. We're just so donor centric. We
really sit with people, we get to know them personally,
(18:05):
and then we figure out what giving works for them
and help them make sure they're making the impact that
they want to make and leave the legacy they want
to leave. And it always falls into one of those buckets.
And so it works really well that we can still
continue to support student athletes scholarships also the program enhancements
they need, as well as facilities and now the newest
(18:25):
which is NIL.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
And it usually it just takes a little bit of education.
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I think we're educating people more on what NIL actually
is and why it's important and why our student athletes
are really looking for that, and once you get the
time to explain to people, then they understand and they're like, oh,
I guess that's what it is. I didn't know maybe
the intricacies of what NIL is. So a lot has changed,
but it's a lot of fun too.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I agree with all of that val in the bottom
line is all giving matters, and whether it's legacy giving,
whether it's something new or something we can't even think
about what's going to be next to some degree, but
all of it matters. It supports all of our programs
to give themselves the best chance possible to construct a
(19:12):
roster that you can be proud of.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
And it's one thing I typically always say is every
donor matters, and every dollar matters.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
That's why we have one hundred dollars level in the
Champions Club.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
We can get ten people to do one hundred bucks,
that's just like one doing a thousand, But there's ten
people that we get to pour into, that we get
to embrace, that we get to work with, and so
growing our Champions Club family is a big deal. We
want to get that thing up and over four thousand
people we want to get up and over that four
million dollar mark in just the Champions Club alone, so
we can continue to help put great student athletes on
(19:46):
the softball fields, the football fields, over on the rink,
inside the Betty all of our places over at Choice.
We want to get the best student athletes, and we
know Champions Club has kind of been the backbone of
that annual giving for athletics. We have to make sure
we're doing what we're doing so Bill can count on
those dollars every single year to continue to recruit the
kids that we're currently recruiting. I've seen some of these
(20:07):
recruits we're getting in you know, the football ones and
the transfer portal with Hock. You know, there's all this
stuff happening, and we're getting some really high level, really
good student first type kids at North Dakota, kids that
we can be proud of, kids that our kids can
look up to. And that's maybe my most favorite thing, Alex.
And you've met Baker and Lauren of course, and bringing
them to a game and letting them, no matter the sport,
(20:28):
get to know the current student athletes, get to look
up to them and have someone that they can want
to emulate and someone they want to be. Is probably
what makes this job the most fun for me. They
get to watch their role models and live out the
life that they one day hope to live.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
And I'm glad I get to be just a really
smart small part of that.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
That's awesome. Noal, I every time we have you on
and we said this is this is time number four
was close to the jacket. She's really moving up the ranks.
I always leave just feeling so encouraged and so positive
about just your vision and the vision of the university
and why you do this job, because it is not
just about, hey, we just need to go out and
make money. It's about let's build relationships and let's try
(21:05):
and put the right people in these positions for the
next generation to look forward to. You're awfully good at
your job, Val Sussex, well done, well done, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Alex SAIDs so kind. And that's probably why I love
what I do. I think I am the luckiest person
on campus. I think I have the best job on campus,
and I won't want to trade it with anyone.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
You get to touch and be a part of so
many sports and so.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Many great teams, and so many great moments and a
lot of it's behind the scenes, but meeting all the
people that I've met through you and the athletics, the
Champions Club, it's just it's hard to put words too.
I'm very lucky and I just love I love you
and d and anything I can do to help us succeed.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well, it certainly shows well, we are very blessed that
you are on our team. We appreciate your time on Really,
this is your super Bowl. It's the busiest week of
the year for Valan for the rest of the Champions
Ball crew. Best of luck this weekend the Lara Center
five o'clock doors open. It's going to be another phenomenal event.
And then obviously, yes, all the things you've got coming
up in the later spring into the summer. It's going
(22:04):
to be a great year to be a un D
Athletics supporter. Vell and Congratsigantale's success.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Thank you so much. Thank you guys for having me.
Have a great rest of the pod.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Thanks wel.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
What a life giving half hour we just got to
spend with val Sussex. Just again, the fact that she's
leading the charge with such a great team within the
Champions Club ahead of this huge event for UND Athletics
and all the things that follow. It's so affirming to
hear these are the people that are helping drive what's
happening at UND Athletics. Obviously that side is in very
(22:36):
good shape. And also to this is sort of the
point of this pod, to really hear how these things happen,
what's going on behind the scenes. It's so great to
have her back on to share that vision ahead of
this incredible event coming up on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I think that's right, Alex. I mean you and I
discussed this way back when when we really started this,
and it really was about bringing something to the table
that otherwise you really wouldn't know. I mean it's you're
not going to really put a press release together on that,
You're not going to do a lot of things. But
what I think is important. We have so many people
(23:09):
that are vested in UND athletics. You kind of in
some ways want to know how the sausage is made.
And that's kind of what this pod is. We talk
a little bit about the sports, but if you if you,
if you realize we don't go too deep into a
lot of things. I mean, our fans are so dialed
they they know what's happening in some way, shape or form.
They know what transpired as far as results, they know
(23:32):
the comings and goings of certain things. But we try
to do something a little different here and bring the
folks to you that I think you're like, oh okay.
That's the reason why X, Y or Z is done
no different than we did with Tim Keener a couple
of weeks ago, like, hey, what's it going to look
like when you get to Vegas? And so that's that's
(23:54):
the reason that if you're going to say what is
the mission of the pod, that's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
That has been the case for one hundred and ninety
four episodes. Now we give press. We're getting close. We're
getting kind of close. We might not hit it this year, no,
but right around the corner, come the fall, we will see,
we will see. So well, yes, excellent to have Valan
if you are at all interested in being a part
of the champions Ball. Obviously she laid out physically, you
(24:21):
can be there from five to eleven at the Alera
Center with all those great things going on, the auctions,
the program, the dance itself. It's going to follow. If
you can't make it still an opportunity to get involved
by the Silent Auction online, and then all of those things,
the Hawk Hour coming up in one month's time on
the twentieth of May, all of those summer golfing events,
(24:42):
and then of course again and then the fall is
going to start up again. So still a ton of
opportunities to get plugged in season ticket holders and being
a part of the Champions Club. So for further information
on that, just re listen to what That'll just talked
about for the last half hour or see her published
works online. What is your role, by the way, in
the Champions Ball coming up this week and you get
you get to speak and kind of present a message.
(25:03):
What about that event gets you excited? Though?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, you know a couple things. I would say this.
I've seen a lot of these around the country, Alex.
I do like the once every two years. I just
think if anyone has run a major event and it's
an annual event, there needs to be some decompression and
(25:26):
you need to take a deep breath. And I think
when it's an annual event, it's really hard to do
that because you're already feeling like when you're inside of
a year, it's happening. Well, at least in this case,
you know, are are all of the folks that work
with this. It's our alumni foundation folks, it's our athletics folks.
So there's a number of people involved with this. But
(25:48):
at least you get a half a second to take
a deep breath and then you say, okay, then you
can debrief, want what, well, what should we you know,
look at moving forward? But I just love the fact
that at the Alera Center there's two events that actually
really sells out. So Feast of Nations is an annual
(26:08):
event which is just awesome cultural foods, all those types
of things. It's a wonderful event. They usually have close
to a thousand people and you heard Val say we
have eighty well because you need a section of that
ballroom for all the option items. So really we would
have been in that same mode. So I think people
(26:29):
really care about it. They want to come, they want
to gather, they want to celebrate, and I think people
really put it on their calendar and circle it, so
you know, we'll go there and you know, visit with
a lot of folks. But the last thing I'd say,
and the one thing she mentioned it's really unique to
have a hundred of your student athletes there and if
(26:50):
you really think about it, you go ooh, you know,
you're bringing some student athletes into a social environment. You know,
how is this going to work out? Well? I want
to try to raise the bar always with our student athletes.
I trust them implicitly. They know why they're there. They're
no different than me. Being there is to make sure
(27:10):
that people that we can say thank you and then
we can actually have the ability to make connections because
that's the education outside the classroom, outside the fields of competition.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That is one of the best parts of this. And
you're at a table and you have got maybe two
or three student athletes, sometimes from the same sport, sometimes
it's split up a little bit, but it's so neat
to hear their stories here why they came to und
hear what their experience has been like. And oftentimes for
a donor who's sitting there, you're almost getting that affirmation
of Hey, the time and money that I've invested into
(27:44):
these kids, this is what it's about. Like you're putting
a face and a soul to that giving and that's
a really important thing.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, it becomes more real. You know, you're really just saying, oh, okay, hey,
it's just not the person that is, you know, made
an unbelievable play on third and nine, or you know, no, actually,
here's how I got here, and here's what I'm thinking
when I depart, And those are kind of the cool
(28:16):
conversations that you have. So yeah, excited about it. I'm actually,
you know, it's funny, like when I get there, I'm
just as excited to see the table as anybody else,
you know. I mean, you know, our staff in Valves
and her staff, they do a great job, they really
really do. And our coaches, our programs do a wonderful
(28:36):
job supporting this. So it should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, an excellent, excellent event to be a part of
for sure. Every other year, so especial one coming up
this Saturday night from five to eleven at the Alearis Center.
You mentioned a moment ago about how people just enjoy
getting together, right like minded people that like to be
in the same room and to celebrate and to really revel.
We got a chance to see that at the Frozen four,
and I know the end result wasn't what North Dakota
(28:59):
was hoping for but Val mentioned it so cool to
see people from all over the country and all over
the world come together in Vegas to support this team,
just that it was an incredible event, certainly from a
fan perspective. How did it go on your ends in
terms of hosting this event in conjunction with Las Vegas
events in the NCAA. What was that side of things
(29:20):
like at the twenty twenty six Frozen four at te Mobile.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, you know, I thought that Eric Martinsen led our
crew tremendously at und You know, We've been fortunate to
be able to host a number of regionals and this
one was in some ways a bigger regional if you will,
but still four teams in. But it was interesting as
(29:43):
it played itself out Vegas. As much as they've done
a million events, and they've done major, major events. If
you haven't done one of an event before, you do
need some expertise from the actual, uh in this case,
the collegiate world, and that's what we were able to
(30:05):
provide to to Vegas, and I think, as far as
I can tell, Alex, it was a big, big hit.
You know, obviously the four teams there, uh, you know,
spoke for themselves and uh and and I thought that,
you know, the games were again it's hockey at its best.
They're game seven, game seven games, and uh, you know,
(30:29):
you can outshoot someone two to one and lose. You
can not get many shots early on, let's say, half
the game and still find a way, or you can
be down to nothing and then finally, you know, get
one and still have a shot at the end. And
so there's just a lot of ways to go about it.
I know our team was incredibly disappointed, you know, feeling
(30:54):
as if, you know, they let folks down, but they
they didn't let folks down. They played amazing, and you know,
you got to credit your opposition. At times, I thought,
I thought Wis contemplated just a marvelous game, certainly for
half the game. And then I thought we kind of
got our footing a bit, and uh, you know, just
(31:15):
just one did one needed to go in, one didn't
go in, and if one went in, Alex, I'll tell
you I be careful, be careful at that point in time.
And you know, unfortunately it didn't happen. And you know
we uh, you know, it was exciting to be there,
but uh, you know, already we're building toward next year.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah, it is incredible how quick that transition happens from
gunning for a championship and then just a couple of
days later, now it's like, all right, let's move on
to the turn of the page. And what's so cool
about this team again? They finished one went off of thirty.
They have this great run to the fours and fourg
and their first trip there in a decade, first year
head coach, all these different things going on, and there
(31:58):
still is that sense of like we wanted we could.
We really felt like we had the team to do
it all. And now we're going to try and put
a new scene together that can do the same thing
with a lot of the same players, but also some
new pieces. They're going to be added over the course
and already have been added over the course of the
last two weeks. And some of the players who are
huge parts of this team have already made their NHL debuts,
with Jake Levanavic and Abram Weeb playing in the show
(32:20):
at the end of the regular season, and a bunch
of guys like Ben Strnden and Dylan James and Ellis
Rickwood already having success in the AHL Rickwood almost had
a hat trick the other night, Dylan almost had a
hat trick like two nights ago. They've hit the ground
running in their pro careers, when just yesterday they're playing
in the frozen four for this North Dakota program. Life
(32:40):
comes at you fast in college hockey and in college
athletics in general.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, someone has said this, Alex. It's slow, slow, slow,
till it's really fast, and it feels like the season
continues on, it continues on, but then once it comes
to the conclusion, Wow, it's in warp speed. And so yeah,
I would have thought, you know, I'm thinking through so
(33:06):
with the house settlement, our roster numbers twenty six in hockey.
Every sport has a number, and you know, I kind
of thought, let's just use twenty four as a number.
I know it's twenty six, but I kind of thought
maybe two thirds, you know, so like sixteen and eight
or eighteen and eight would be the proper kind of thought.
(33:27):
Think through as far as how a roster is built,
I don't know. Each year's its own now. It could
be half and half, it could be fifty to fifty.
And I think we're going to be close to fifty
to fifty again for a variety of reasons. I mean again,
if you go back and just say why are some
students transferring, There's a myriad of reasons, but one is
(33:48):
sometimes what they perceive as opportunity to be able to
do what they want to do on the ice. And
so you know, here we are and we're better shape
certainly than where we were this time last year as
far as just roster numbers, and I think if you
can read Brad Schlossman and the Grand Forks Herald, he's
(34:09):
detailed it pretty well as far as kind of where
we are and where we were. So yeah, excited already
for next year. I think some of the guys that
got to the Frozen four that's going to be back
on our roster. You know, I think they've got a
little bit of a sour taste in their mouth. They shouldn't.
They shouldn't. They played, They had a heck of a season,
but you know they were a bit disappointed on how
(34:30):
things transpired.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
You said it, well, if you want the details, Brad's
got this covered, go subscribe to the Grand Forks Herald.
Like just you will be smarter and be a better
fan and sort of understand the process because he lays
it out so well. But yes, obviously the off season
a busy time now for over two hundred kids in
the portal for college hockey alone at the D one level,
it's busy right now, but it will not be too
(34:52):
long and been playing games again. It'll be October before
we know it, Bill Buckle drop. We'll get ready to
go for the next season as und tries to defend
the Penrose Cup and maybe take one more step further
in the NCAA tournament. So that's hockey now into a
very busy off season. We should mention football is very
much in their off season, but not really because there's
no off season again. They just finished up their spring
wrap up. The offense beat the defense in a very
(35:15):
entertaining game thirty to twenty eight, a little scrimmage in
front of a packed house over at the Pollard Center.
Obviously great to see that. You'd love to see competition
at this time of year. Their season is really not
that far away either, is it.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
No, it's not. And they all go through that twelve
month calendar alex where you just go from one thing
to the next. And so now you know the little
mini time right now, is hey finish up the semester, well,
finish up the academic year. Well, we're almost to the
end at this point. We're only probably two weeks out really.
(35:50):
Then you know, obviously we've got graduation here on campus,
and then you get into summer summer workouts. You know
a lot of our guys will be around and they
will they'll work out, and then then you're straight into
the training training camp for the fall and it'll come
quick and it always does.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
It'll be a fun football season. I think you see
some of the guys coming back, a lot of the
staff coming back from last year's team that had a
lot of success. Obviously Danny Foyn coming back as the
offensive coordinator. There's just an excitement again. I think that
just because continue to build around this team, and that's
continued with some of the recruits. And Nobau mentioned some
of the names that have popped up on Sawn Miller's
(36:29):
Twitter feed in the last couple of days, Like you
can sell that people are buying in so what this
coaching staff, what this program is aiming for, and that's
got to be really exciting for a fan base that
I think really enjoyed what they saw in the field
last year.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I think that's right. And but obviously we know we
play in the most difficult conference in the country in
there is and there is that, and so I think
it's a very physical game, if anyone didn't know, And
so you know, you have to have a little bit
of luck, and you know. The one thing we do
know though, if we're playing well and we have good results,
(37:04):
that will bode well for any team that's in the valley.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
August twenty seventh, opening kick against Long Island's at home Sharks.
Here we go, Sharks come into town, first of two
home games to kick off the season. It will be
a fun year on the good iron again. A little
taste of that this weekend. So fun to see the
guys out there competing. We have a lot of spring sports,
obviously that are very much in full go. We could
talk about it. We could go into depth about a
lot of these things. I do want to ask you
(37:29):
about softball. Who had the uniqueness of it? We mentioned
at the top, whether playing a role forcing some rescheduling.
We mentioned the USD Series shifting back a day Omaha
was supposed to come A couple of weeks ago that
series got wiped out. They'll now come mid at the
end of this week to play two games. That Friday game,
(37:49):
North Dakota will play the MAVs at three o'clock. They'll
finish that day with North Dakota State at six o'clock.
A little it's like a split squad, but it's not.
It's like a little spring training action. But it's very
much in the teeth of the semi league conference season,
and these are important games. Again, like we said, you
just have to adjust and make it work when the windows.
They're good on everybody for coming together and finding a
(38:11):
solution in the midst of this crazy spring.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Well and just for fun, Alex, because the way the
schedule went at the beginning of the year. Yeah, we're
just gonna go on the road and play this little
team from the Twin Cities.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Let's go play the Gophers on Tuesday. Why not in
the midst of that. Yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
That sport obviously is used to just playing a volume
of games, and so so it's what they have done
growing up. It's really not a surprise. It's almost got
a little tournament field. Omaha's here. Now North Dakota States here. Yeah,
and you know, let's let it rip so all at
all brick though, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, that is the big positive again this weekend. Incredibly,
by the way, just two weeks left in the regular season,
I know we are really getting down. The Assemi League
championships are coming up in the Twin Cities. Saint Thomas
is hosting on the sixth through the ninth of so
important games as you keeps pushing proceeeding here down the stretch,
including that big one that's happening earlier today that you
will already know about against South Dakota. So that's softball
(39:10):
right now again. Twenty five wins on the season for
Jordan Stevens and company. Tennis's conference championship is happening this weekends.
The women in as the three seed. They'll play Omaha
on the twenty fourth in Tulsa. The men, what a
dramatic end to their regular season on the road to
Illinois State. We always talk about the doubles point. The
men lose the doubles points, but then go out and
(39:31):
get the job done in singles and find a way
to win four to three over the Red Bird. So
they secured their spot. Just some dramatic stuff on the
final day of the regular season, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
You know, it's interesting. It's an individual sport but such
a team sport, and so you know, but you're the
only one on the court. It singles, and so everyone's
watching you. It can be a little bit of pressure.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
A little bit. Yeah, but the Fellas rose up though
they get the two seed. They'll play Oral Roberts in
salsa also on the twenty fourth, so a couple of
fighting Hawks teams going at it. You can watch those
matches live on Mid Coast Sports Plus as well through
the Summit League Network coming up this Friday, and then
we'll see we'll go from there. But again, congrats to
Boat for making the tournament and being in a good
spot potentially to move on. I have some success down
(40:17):
in Oklahoma. Golf is busy as well. Outdoor track and
field is very much in full swing. Just the three
school records that went down this weekends out in California.
Luis Fanucci breaking the school record in the fifteen hundred
and the five thousand, Jaden Keeler lowering your old fifteen
hundred meter record. They just continue to roll and they'll
be coming a little closer to home. That's one of
(40:38):
the exciting things. There are some more local meets, including
one that North Dakota is hosting bill in the near future.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Absolutely, and so we're excited. So Jim, we're lucky enough
to have a new track be put in here and
so we're going to try to test it out a
little bit. So I'm kind of excited to see what transpires.
You know, again, I would say this, Alex, Infrastructurally, we
probably don't have exactly what it is you would want
(41:08):
at this point in time, but we're kind of working
on that and building it up, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
The Fighting Hawk Open will take place on the twenty
ninth of April, that's next Wednesday at Memorial And this,
as you said, new surface, this will be the first.
I can't imagine it's been a minute since you and
d has hosted an outdoor jacket field competition. So this
is kind of a cool historic thing to get to
come out and watch and enjoy and again see some
of the Summit League's best. They will have a couple
(41:35):
more local meets again coming up there in the Twin
Cities next week at Jamestown, at Vermilion in Morehead in Fargo,
and then Fargo will host Thesemily Outdoor Championships coming up
on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth of May. So their
season really beginning to pick up some steam. But a
number of athletes that we've seen get the job done
over and over again getting set to compete at home
(41:55):
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, I think that's important, right, Like so the ability
to actually host a little bit is this much about
keeping our team here in Grand Forks and being able,
you know, to do some things what they need to
do that's outside track and field. So so we're excited
about see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, see how it goes. I think it'll go okay,
fingers crossed. So that's to me is what's happening on
the field of play and you and the athletics bill.
Anything else to touch on before we flip?
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I think we can flip. I mean think thanks to Val,
Val did a great job. Kind of there's just a
lot of moving parts right now, but it's always good
to get the experts on. But let's flip to a sad.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
B side, a little bit a little bit sad there.
Let's let's begin on the pitch because I got to
ask you the emotions, Bill, the sadness. On Saturday, Spurs
are playing against Brighton and you've taken the two to
one lead in the seventieth minute, Chabby Simons with a
(42:56):
lovely goal. Beautiful goal, very happy, very exultant, felt pretty good.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, though, you concede
and you draw and you get again. If you're not
a soccer person, a win is three points, a draw
is just the one, and you remain in the relegation zone.
And the team that you're directly competing against, west Ham
(43:18):
is playing today as we speak, Monday the twentieth. If
they win that match, they will be four points ahead
of you. So kind of a two game cushion.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Not great, Bill, It's not And I would say, what's
really not great in soccer? I would say if, for
those of you that are unfamiliar, in each half you
play forty five minutes, but you do have what's called
injury time, and so you probably don't want to concede
(43:48):
during that time. Well, not only did we concede at
the end of the match, we conceded at halftime. Two.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, those last few moments of the added time and
both halves did not play out in your favor. Unfortunately.
I heard a very interesting commentary on this this morning
that some people think perhaps it's better if they just
go down, That it might be for the best thing
(44:18):
for the club is just to be relegated, go to
the championship, let deserbe cook and just rip it all
up and like a phoenix, perhaps they can rise up
from the ashes of this this awful, awful to your season.
What do you think about that? That would be a
different way to look at it. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (44:36):
So here's what I'm going to say is the Celtics,
who could have done something very similar this year, made
a concerned effort in choice to win games and it's
worked out okay for him. I don't think going down
is ever a good idea. I would say staying up
(45:00):
in the richest league in the world, aside from probably
the NFL, I would say it probably is best to
stay up and then rip it up there. If you're
going to rip it up, I prefer ripping it up
playing Man you Man City Liverpool in Arsenal, because you
know you go to the championship, there's no guarantee you
(45:23):
come back.
Speaker 1 (45:25):
This is true. I mean, this is true. It is
a bit like, yeah, you think you're just going to
make a quick stop and you'll bounce right back, and
it doesn't always work that way. Now, I would say
the closest in recent history to something like this happening
was Newcastle. Newcastle was relegated probably about twelve years ago now,
maybe even a little longer than that, and they did
(45:45):
make a quick bounce and that was a similar thing.
A massive club with this huge stadium, that's a Premier
League side, and they weren't maybe perhaps in the same
boat of Tottenham is challenging for European football as Newcastle are.
Now this is pre Saudi takeover, but that was still
a huge shock for them to go down and they
were able to come back and then a little reinvestment
(46:07):
and look at them now, they're, you know, playing in
the Champions League this past year.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Well. The valid I think the shocking part of this,
and the reason why it's so interesting is if you
look at valuations of clubs in the world, they're always
in the top ten because of you know, their incredible stadium.
There's a lot of pieces to that puzzle and for
them to go down. Here's what I don't know. If
(46:30):
you go down. This is my son talking now, who's
definitely has more expertise than I do. He said, Hey,
it's gonna be everybody super Bowl in the championship, So
there's no guarantee that you come flying back up at
that point. And so I don't know. I don't think financially.
I've listened to a couple of pods. I think financially
(46:50):
they could be okay for a year. A year I do,
so that's not the issue per se. But you're gonna
have to play forty six matches in really, as they
like to say, right Alex probably the toughest, probably the
toughest league in the world in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
It is tough physically because of that, the number of
games you're playing, but also the physical nature of the championship,
the style of football that's played there. It's a meat
grinder really and that obviously, yes, as you said, one year,
you get parachute payments to help you support your bloated
and financial mess that you're in because you're not getting
(47:31):
the massive money from the Premier League TV rights, But
they help you. Those three teams that go down get
a little extra money that the other championship clubs don't get.
But yes, after the first year, you don't get that anymore,
and all of a sudden you're on your own and
it's a scary place to be because you might not
come back. But do you think I'll say this then
we'll move to the Sox quick? Do you think they
(47:51):
will stay up? Right now? On April the twentieth seasons
only a couple weeks left? Will they find a way
to get the points needed to finish in the top seventeen?
Speaker 2 (48:02):
If west Ham are as we are recording now, If
west Ham stays within touching distance after today's match, I
think yes, if it goes to four points.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
Today, No, you heard it your first wait, But I.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Will say this though Brighton was playing pretty well, so
there is some optimism that they actually played a little
bit better. How they lost that match at the end
was pretty discouraging and uh, you know how they bounce
back from that hard to say, although they do have
(48:41):
a few players that are now available to them that
have been not been available for a long period of time.
Benton Corp in Madison and so Madison I don't think
played over the weekend, but he's practicing anyway, so you
never know. But I'll tell you what, they're just not
in touching distance and they don't win matches. I mean,
if you don't threes, you got no chance.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
You're in a tough spot. Yeah, so you get to
play Wolves coming up, who are already relegated. I guess
depending on that result, they will officially be relegated the
result of the west Ham Crystal Palace match. But they're
going down. You'd love to get a win in that match,
as with Wolves, but yes, good luck with that. Hope
it works out. Red Sox meanwhile, not the best start
to the season. To put it mildly, they are winning today.
(49:26):
We started this pot it was tied with the Tigers
at three apiece. They scored a couple of runs in
the bottom of the seventh they lead six to three.
But this is a team that has had the worst
offense in the league and have committed the most errors
in the league. And that's not a great recipe for success. Bill.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
Yeah, I thought, you know, they were going to kind
of bank on a little bit of defense with their pitching,
and when your ace is struggling too, that not a
great combination right now, So now the only thing they've
got going for him is baseball in general, it's kind
of gotten off. It feels like I feel like everybody's
off to a slow start. They've been off to a
(50:01):
really slow start. Kind of a tough watch.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Alex, Yeah, it's it's not been great. My son and
I got to watch a little bit of a game
a couple a couple of days ago, Hey, let's watch
the Red Sox, and it just wasn't fun. Like, he's
playing t ball this year for the first time, and
I was trying to get him hooked and just wasn't
super interested. But to your point, even though they've had
this awful start, nobody else in the division is running
(50:25):
away with things. Yankees are only four games above five hundred.
Like it's if you can just kind of hopefully this
is just a rough patch and they can get some
things figured out, but it could be it could be
a long summer perhaps.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
I know it's feeling like it's an extended rough patch.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Yeah, not great, not great. But the Jays are going
through the same thing we saw the Blue Jays almost
they were within what an ounce two outs away from
one in the World Series. And there they have the
exact same record right now as Boston. So yeah, we
shall see the dog days of aprils. It's just about over.
Hopefully the new month will provide a little more.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
As they like to say in Boston, you're ruining my summer.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
Well, we hope that this podcast did nothing to ruin
your Monday, the start of your week. Again. Great to
have Val sussexon. We hope you are getting ready for
a big champions Ball event coming up on Saturday, that
you can partake in that one way or another. Best
of luck build to you and the entire staff as
you get that event off the ground, and enjoy as
this spring continues to roll on.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Absolutely enjoyed it as always. Thanks to Val. And what
is this two ninety four in the books?
Speaker 1 (51:33):
One number one ninety four in the books. I'm so.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
If anybody's right now at the pod, thank you, thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
He is Bill Shaves. I am Alex Sander. Thanks to
Alex Socker Johnson and Paul Rawson on the back end.
Thank you for listening to this. Enjoy the rest of
the week, have a great time supporting you on the
athletics for being four.
Speaker 4 (52:00):
In the CONSIDENTNUC. The asketals in deposit of US
Speaker 3 (52:06):
Are SCAT in deposit of Denos SCAT in deposits the
hospitals
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com