SiouxForDII

OK this is very interesting. Does Lang know the whole story as to why Brock was moved from coaching to Compliance? Does anyone know?

No real surprise about either situation - Brock being in over his head and/or only 14 applicants for the position. The 1st thing you have to look at with regards to the NCAA play-off team was who was responsible for recruiting the majority of those players? I think a lot of the credit for the quality of those players goes to Ange Morrison and it some respect to Neil Sedgwick for the 5th year players. Brock is/was very effective at playing the underdog/under appreciated angle with his teams but that approach only takes you so far and it's usually only a one shot deal. (Although he was able to use it quite effectively with his Bismarck HS teams in they're ongoing rivalry with EDC teams.) As for there only being 14 applicants? Ask yourself these questions - how long has the Sioux women's soccer program been in existence? How many head coaches has the program had during that time period? Combine those answers with the fact that the program is making the leap from DII to DI without the safety net of a conference and I think getting 14 applicants is a pretty good number

I think the reason why the NCC did away with the conference play-off is due to the fact that the first round of the NCAA play-offs are scheduled for the first weekend in November. That's ridiculous. That means in order to have a conference tournament on the last weekend of October you have to wrap up your regular season by the third weekend in October. I believe that's October 21/22 this year. That would make for a ridiculously short regular season if you did that.

Is anyone else concerned about how our women's soccer team is doing? 4-7-1 and no wins over quality opponents. I mean we're supposed to be beating MSU-Moorhead, Crookston and Bemidji State. SCSU too and that game was in OT! If there isn't a win versus Augie on Sunday I'd say there's a real cause for concern. If we're not careful the NCC play-offs could be slipping over the horizon pretty quickly.

Rumors on the Bison Bulletin Board (sorry for swearing here) say that Bina has applied for vacant VB position. Any truth to those rumors?

I'm going to wade in here cause I'm interested in the subject matter and the people involved. Obviously, Bina was asked to resign or risk being fired. That's been Dorn's M.O. for a number of years. Look at the departure of the first two soccer coaches and the former women's track coach. (I'd throw in the former softball coach but he resigned, rather than be fired, for propositioning a player after he'd had a little too much to drink.) I'm not sure whether one of the "philosophical differences" was what to do about the quality of the assistants (if your recruiting drops off it's the first place to look), the number of assistants, renovations to the BSA, upgrades to the ancient BBF or what but Lynn Dorn is a very opinionated person and it's not too hard to have philospohical differences with that woman. As for whether Sheila Parrish's parents would carry that much influence and weight? Oh ya, they would. And not because they're Sheila's parents but becuase they're calling Lynn. Lynn doesn't like to have her phone ring about any of the minor sports. A source told me that the Fargo Forum was going to do a follow-up on the situation but as of today there hasn't been anything. McFeely had something today (2/7/06) about the women's basketball team not living up to expectations and I thought that would have been a natural for a segue into talking about the VB situation. So, ya, the situation reeks but it's not like it's the first time that the Bison have dropped a big turd in public.

How did they play? What made it so different than in previous years? Under Sedgwick, and then Morrison, they played a pretty direct style. Often playing a 3-4-3. Were they at least trying to keep possession of the ball?

I'm sure they have mixed feelings about the double round robin format but it was probably getting pretty close to impossible to any more in-region games. Especially late in the year. One of the other conferences in the region, the one in Missouri, already plays a double round-robin so that eliminates some pretty good teams from being on your schedule late in the year. Doesn't the Northern Sun also do the same now too? I think they also may have found that the end-of-season Conference tournament may have been hurting NCC teams more than it was helping them. Seeing as how DII is based so much on regional play I would think that the double round robin would be a good thing. Sure beats playing DIII or NAIA schools.

Fantastic! Now if the Athletic Department can finally keep a coach around longer than 2 seasons they might be able to really take it somehwere. Five coaches in seven seasons is not good by any standard. Where are the UNO and Mankato games this season? Those matches will definitely be worth watching.

Yeah, I couldn't find anything either about the HC at USD (Jessica Maddox) leaving. I wonder what that's all about. Have there been many other coaches that have moved schools within the NCC in other sports?

I would agree with you on Brock - great choice. Someone with HC experience, a person with experience at the next level, someone with a history in ND as well as someone who has clearly demonstrated success. Let's hope he's interested and submits his resume. I also agree with you that the administration needs to demonstrate some commitment to the program. Granstrand was able to ride on the coat-tails of the recruiting classes from the first two coaches. If they were able to bring in quality players there's no reason why someone with the right level of motivation and level of commitment from the adminsitration can't return the program to the NCAA's.

Are you trying to tell me that a patch of grass next to a bookstore qualifies as a field? Come on Bronson is horrible. Have you been to some of the other facilities around the NCC or the region? Do you think it's on par with some of the other facilities at UND? In my opinion it's not even close.

Why are they looking? Again? Simply because they don't support the coaches that well. How long has the status of an actual field been up in the air? What's the support for an assistant? Heck even UNO has a full-time assistant! You're right it's downright embarassing that there have been 4 coaches in 6 years. And the program has gone to the NCAA's! First Sedgwick, then Morrison, followed by a bit of a sketchy guy and now Bennett. You would think it would raise a red flag somewhere, anywhere, on campus.

Good luck Tim! Let's hope it all works out well for the new coach. Especially with preseason starting in a week or two. Let's also hope that UND is able to get a soccer coach to stick around for longer than two seasons this time.