Bison To Make Appearance in Bismarck

JB SportsCorner was the first to talk with the green and gold Athletics Director, Gene Taylor.  We covered the fact that the Bison will have a new place to roam in Bismarck/Mandan, ESPN 710.  We were also able to ask what his expectations were for the “thundering herd,” and why the switch to ESPN 710.

Taylor stated of the switch to ESPN 710, “our expectations for the station is a greater coverage area for our fan base. Much of the feedback from our fan base, in the Western part of the state, is lack of coverage for our programs and the difficulty of being able to get our games. We feel these new stations, based on their coverage and how well known they are on the dial, will answer this issue and get our games covered in the entire state and beyond.”

Taylor said that they are very proud of where their athletic program is headed.  “Our transition could not have gone better, with some outstanding accomplishments and victories over major programs in all of our sports. We look forward to all of our programs having the opportunity to compete for NCAA post season play beginning next year.”

We asked about Bison vs. Gopher football, and Taylor said that they never had an agreement with their Big 10 rivals to play every year.  “We just got lucky to play them back to back, but did not expect to play them but once every four or five years.  We are talking to them about this, but do not have anything worked out specifically.” 

Taylor said of the Great West conference that they are all quality programs that have had success.  “We will need to work very hard to be successful each week,” he added.

We asked why the switch from the Great Mountain West to the Gateway Conference, and the Bison Athletics Director said, “the main reason was it was an established conference with the opportunity for the conference champion to get an automatic qualification spot in the NCAA Championship, which the Great West did not have, as well as having the opportunity to get multiple teams in the tournament field every year. The Gateway has received as many as four teams in one year, with most years they get two or three. The Great West, at most, will only get one, and that one will not be an automatic qualifier for several years.”

Taylor stated that the area that the “green and gold” need to improve in is winning on the road, “adjust to that, and ultimately become successful on the road more times than we are not.”  The Bison are extremely satisfied with the level of competition.  “Our coaches are very aggressive in scheduling top notch competition.”