AJS

At 3:30pm on Tuesday, March 25, I do absolutely believe what @RhettRingers and that Jackson is the frontrunner. Let's see in 24 hours. Although I'm mentally preparing for it, there's also not one logical reason why it would end up being Jackson. Not saying he'll do a bad job, but that would be an all-time failure from the AD. He would have always been a finalist, based on open records, but I would never have thought he would have been on paper a top 5 candidate. What a sad candidate pool that must have been.

The divided locker room was on Berry and the Senior class? How he handled the 27 situation? If you put it this way, I'm fairly optimistic. You get rid of Berry + the all-time worst Senior class. Bright days ahead for the program!

Which would mean he would have had to have a lot of success here. I know it's pretty foreign at UND, but I'm very pro coaches having so much success that they leave. If it's to MN then so be it.

At least we had some fun this morning. Fully setting myself up for it to be Dane. Schlossman set the table. How incredibly disappointing. Hope for the best I guess. To be fair, can't be worse than Berry, so we do have that going for us.

Let's dig into this. Do you agree that everything that Schlossman has put out has pointed to Dane? The most obvious reason would seem to be what you thought. Laying the tracks for the uproar. He would be doing the athletic department a favor. Everyone will hate this hire but look here. We also know how distraught he was with the Berry news and how he acted after women's hockey got cut. He can hold a grudge. Why would he do the AD a favor? What if it's not Dane? Which I don't think it will be. That type of article, or his write up on Jackson would be sort of bizarre. He's essentially endorsing his candidate.

Here was his write up. Nobody looked better than Jackson. UND has only hired one coach since 1957 who was not previously a UND assistant coach. That was Rube Bjorkman and it did not turn out well. Bjorkman is the only UND coach to finish with a losing record. If UND goes with an internal candidate, associate head coach Dane Jackson is likely the guy. He's been with the program for 19 seasons — and those 19 seasons have been pretty good. Jackson has been offered at least three assistant coaching jobs in the NHL and at least one head coaching job in the AHL, but he's remained in Grand Forks. Jackson, 54, has long seemed like the heir apparent to Berry. He will likely be the most popular choice among alums.

Gino was an incredibly unpopular hire, because he was the assistant coach to Bjorkman who was being replaced after a bad stretch. Turned out to be one of the best hires. One of two things. It'll either be Dane and Brad is doing the AD a solid or Schloss wants it to be Dane and is doing it in a not-so-subtle way.

If not, he seems to be not so subtilty showing who he wants to be the next coach. I hope it's my theory and not yours.

@SpudsSioux there's only one person who is confused. He got educated quickly though. Excited about this united front for what undoubtably is the clear cut #1 target. Make it happen Chavez!

Yes

All jokes aside. Hypothetically if private planes are used to fly around candidates for this position I would have always assumed it would be friends of the program. Never thought UND would foot the bill for that.

With a student pilot.

We want Raboin! Chavez is going to nail this! When this happens, nice little stick tap for Rydell for offering up the plane. Chavez treating this like a big-time hire. Very D1 move.

I mean…Rydell doing the University a favor?! Gotta be our guy! Tail numbaz don’t lie!

Interesting flight departing Joe Foss Fld in an hour! Chavez get his guy?! @gfhockey what do those tail numbaz tell us?

any activity today? anything out of Joe Foss?

This makes me feel *a bit* better. If it was close ties to the AD office, I would be much more nervous.

Hand up, I am officially nervous. I always expected Jax to be interested and for him to be listed as a finalist when the new coach is announced. I still cannot fathom him getting the job logically, but who else is being named? I just keep telling myself, you don't fire Berry with one year left, pay him $500K just to hire his Assistant who you could have just hired a year from now. Need some other rumors though for my sanity.

@jdub27 will absolutely hate this and will say it feels like cherry picking, but what happened in the NIL era / last few years has to be weighted more heavily. IMO, the state of the program in 2025 is far worse than it was in 2022. Things are changing quickly in the collegiate landscape. I'm listening to what @yzerman19 is saying about recruiting. It's a different conversation about Berry's overall legacy. For the current state of this program and the future, it's absolutely what have you done for me lately.

Something would have to give for Jax to be a viable candidate. The blame for the state of the program (the reason Berry was let go) would have to shift entirely to Berry’s shoulders. It would be Jax that would have to explain that to the fanbase. The Jordan Schmaltz video holds no water. The message could not be, Berry is this awesome guy / coach and so is Jax. You clearly cannot have more of the same. Illogical.

This is in response to @Speed_Kills post about Jax being the frontrunner. Which I do not doubt his information. I was shocked at first, but giving it a bit more thought, maybe I shouldn't have been. Even in this expedited process, I think what we'll see is a shift from emotional to logical. At the same point, looking at what is to be expected from certain segments. Current / former players from the Berry / Jackson era. I'm making two assumptions. The first being, of course they were recruited and play for those coaches. There's no doubt they will throw their support publicly towards Jackson. Or if not publicly, the rumor mill will favor Jackson for those with connections to the hockey circles. We all remember in the past few years, social media campaigns from current players wanting Freuchte / Roehl to get the open job. This goes beyond the players, this would also include current staff, they would also want to keep their jobs and the status quo. Side note, I would also think that if a player didn't feel that way, they clearly wouldn't feel comfortable enough to come out against their current coach. I also believe that if Jax was a lock to be the guy, they would have announced it by now. As far as him being the frontrunner, Monday morning / Monday afternoon. Vs who? Himself? Had anyone else applied? Do they know who Chaves and his small circle has on their wish list? Unless @Speed_Kills source is from the AD's office, I think we'll see a shift. The shift we should see is to the logical, which is anyone but Jax. The President / AD who fired Berry because of performance is not going to hire his Assistant. Let's not forget they paid 500K because they felt the direction needed to change.

I’m really leaning this way as well. Seems incredibly short sided if you think there’s a viable candidate and you don’t at least see if they get knocked off in the regionals. The way I see it, nobody is going to enter on Sunday that wasn’t going to already. If they are going to at least hear the new coach out, they would wait an extra couple days. I do think waiting until after the Frozen Four would be too long, so those 4 would be out. You start the interview process with the other candidates as scheduled.

Why would anyone step down then?

Firing Berry based on performance and then hiring his top assistant is completely nonsensical. We're officially at the Fruechte is the frontrunner portion of the process.

No reason to discuss Dane or anyone else currently on staff. You aren’t going to fire the head coach based on performance just to hire the assistant coach under him. No chance.