As the proud father of Joe Mollberg I would like to take a few minutes to share some observations. Thank you to those of you who have posted positive comments about Joe over the years on this site, or have stopped at games to ask about Joe’s health and well-being.
First, I want to congratulate Coach Schweigart and the entire UND FIghting Hawks staff on a tremendous season and an undefeated Big Sky Conference Championship. Bubba has the team going in the right direction and the future looks bright for the Fighting Hawks. Joe has great respect for Bubba and his staff and is appreciative of the support offered him at UND from all coaches, including former head coach Chris Mussman.
It is easy on sites such as this to be critical of coaches and the decisions they make, but being a former coach myself, I am confident that almost all coaches have their priorities straight and really do care for their players at the deepest levels. To prove this to you, less than an hour after the championship clinching game against NAU was over Joe received a call of congratulations from former Coach Mussman. That is a class act on Coach Mussman’s part.
I would also like to commend one current coach in particular that impacted Joe in his time at UND. Joe told me repeatedly how much respect he has for tight end Coach Shawn Kostich and the enthusiasm Kostich brings to each and every practice and game. Coach Kostich took Joe under his wing when he made the voluntary transition to tight end and did a great job making Joe feel as if he were a valued part of that close-knit group that was referred to as the “Big-Cats.” UND is lucky to have Kostich on staff. Shawn is a young and upcoming coach who will go far in his career
Joe Mollberg is a good athlete, but he is even a better person. Coming out of high school Joe had other options of schools to attend and as a parent, looking in the rear-view mirror, it it is easy to second guess, but Joe has never once regretted his decision to attend UND. Joe never once questioned his choice, because he is fully committed that he made the right choice, for the right reasons. Joe has made great friends that will be part of his life forever, and though the road was difficult, Joe left UND as a champion of the Big Sky Conference. But perhaps the most important fact (that is rarely talked about with college football players) is that Joe has received a tremendous education at the University of North Dakota. What more could he possibly ask for?
Joe paraphrased his favorite role model Tim Tebow when he shared what Tebow said in an interview when asked about success and failure. Tebow said;
“The ultimate goal is not to succeed or fail, the ultimate goal is to give everything you have for something in your heart. If you get to live out your dream every day, then the result does not matter. To be able to look back 20-30 years from now and say.’I gave everything I could, that is pretty awesome.’”
That was the exact attitude that Joe brought to UND football every day over the last five years. How could a father not be proud of that attitude?
I learned a tremendous amount by watching Joe and how he faced the adversities thrown his way the last few years. Joe taught me more the last few years than I taught him. Joe wants to be a special education teacher, working with special needs kids, and a high school coach. As a former coach and current teacher I truly believe Joe will be tremendously successful at whatever he chooses to do. The University of North Dakota School of Education and the University of North Dakota football program have both helped prepare Joe for the challenges ahead of him l and I am grateful for that.
Many of you may not be aware of this, but in high school Joe was diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disease that can cause the the vertebrae in your spine to fuse together. This fusing makes the spine less flexible and can result in a hunched-forward posture. A.S. is a painful disease that there is no known cure for. I remember well taking Joe to Mayo in Rochester in high school and his doctor telling us, “If Joe makes it through a career as a college football player with A.S. they will probably be writing medical journals about him.” Though there is no medical confirmation of this, I am confident that the ruptured achilles Joe suffered in his sophomore season was the result of A.S.. There is medical evidence to support this claim. Again, we are proud of Joe for battling through this adversity.
After Joe’s ruptured achilles injury he had a number of choices he could have made. He could have quit the team and walked away. No one would have questioned this decision. He could have transferred to another school and tried to reclaim the quarterback position he loved playing. He could have returned to the team and been a negative influence on his teammates. Instead he chose a difficult and uphill path. He chose to support his school, support his coaches, and most importantly support his teammates.
We have a great many photos of Joe playing football at UND, but probably my favorite of all time is this one. This was one of his final games at UND. Joe had called me days before to proudly tell me to “be sure to get to the next game early” as he was going to be carrying the UND school flag out onto the field. Joe was as proud at that moment as any other in his time at the University of North Dakota.
Thank you for your support of Joe Mollberg, his teammates, and all student-athletes in their time at the University of North Dakota.
Go SiouxHawks!
Kent Mollberg
