I disagree, Smith has demonstrated an ability to put together a team that was good enough to get to the final 8 teams of the NAIA II national tournament. That, in and of itself, is a team as good as some of the lower to mid-level if not upper echelon NCAA DII teams in the country. The manner in which he did it, by using a combination of local HS and transfer products as well as transfers from other parts of the country, is the exact same way it can be done at UND. Success at different levels is relative. Imagine what Smith could do at UND with all of the best facilities and exceptional resources. I am not a Smith apologist, I simply know that what he has done at an NAIA program with limited resources compared to other NAIA programs is well respected and highly thought of. He is without question worthy of being contacted and pursued to be the next coach at UND. He is more qualified than any JUCO coach that might apply and definitely more qualified and carries himself in a more professional manner than some other potential candidates. Here is a guy who has local ties and would treat the UND job as a career move rather than a stepping stone.
If I am not mistaken, a pretty good football coach at UND took the exact same route and has not only been successful, he has put together a top notch DII football program that includes a NCAA National Championship. Let's see, he was an assistant at NCAA DII, went to NAIA University of Mary and was successful with many more resources than those that exist at Mayville, and then was named head coach at UND. Smith was an assistant at NDSU, (don't even bring the "enemy" argument up and demonstrate some ignorant bias) became the head coach at Mayville and rebuilt a downtrodden program in TWO years into a national power at that level. Do NOT igonre that parallel and think Smith somehow needs more seasoning. He has demonstrated success as a Head Coach at the four year level and is without question a candidate that deserves a chance to come on campus and put himself in position to pursue the job.
The only other "regional" candidate that truly deserves consideration would be Billeter at Augustana. He proved he could compete and win on a national level in Fargo, and with limited resources at Augustana, compared to UND anyway, has that program moving in a very positive direction.
Either guy would be a good hire. A national search will bring in some amazing candidates on paper, I just hope UND doesn't get too excited when big names are calling for references for some of these candidates. They simply need a quality guy and a FRESH start within that program. The players that are all "supporting" Herbst will be gone in a few years and the new coach will hopefully be there for the long term. Of course they would want him to be the coach, he recruited most of if not all of them and they have loyalty to him. The bottom line is you can blame Coach Glas for the down fall of the program, but you need players to win. You can't win with inferior talent, and the guy responsible for bringing the current level of talent in needs to be held accountable as well!
