Gophers coach Don Lucia used his weekly radio show on Monday to defend himself from critics complaining that North Dakota won't be on the U's schedule the next three seasons.
"We have a rule at the University of Minnesota -- not put in by me -- but by the regents that we can not play a team with an Indian nickname," Lucia said. "And for years, this controversy with North Dakota and the nickname has been going on. And it has been fought in the courts and everything else.
"And it did not get settled until this summer. Well -- if you want to put the blame on me for not waiting to find out whether it was going to get settled or not, then so be it. I can accept that fact.
"I wasn't going to wait. When the conferences all broke up a couple of years ago. And we were heading into all these new conferences, it was kind of a frenzy and free-for-all for scheduling nonconference games. And when we had the opportunity to schedule some good opponents -- I could have waited, but I chose not to wait. But I wanted to ensure we had a good schedule for our fans and our team."
(Hold on there, coach. Virg Foss, a columnist for the Grand Forks Herald, the paper in the town UND plays in, points out in a recent column that the Wisconsin Badgers have the similar scheduling restriction. Yet UND and the Badgers will play each other the next four years.)
Back to The Don:
"And then once the controversy with the nickname ended, then we would be in a position to put North Dakota back on our schedule and that is exactly what is going to happen. Right now we have our three more years with Notre Dame after this and four with Boston College. It is pretty much done that when Notre Dame drops off our schedule, North Dakota will come back on our schedule."
"They should be on the schedule on a pretty regular basis. Should it be every year? I don't know. We are starting to get so far out that it might be somebody else's decision, not mine. But I do believe we need to play them and our first available opportunity to play them -- when our schedule is clear -- they will be back on our schedule. A year here and a year up there. We will go back and fourth, rather than one and one."