iramurphy

It is pretty clear the lack of intelligence and lack of courage by Espegard as SBoHE president and his support for Shirvani will continue to handicap higher education in North Dakota. It is no surprise that Shirvani's hand picked legal counsel did not address the most serious allegations against Shirvani, his bullying, arrogant and dishonest manner in which he treats his subordinate staff and also how he deals with anyone who questions him. For his legal counsel to claim that all employees of the SBoHE should always be willing to report any vioaltions of policy or law with no fear of their jobs is contrary to what happened to the former legal counsel when he advised against the dinner meetings with an agenda mentioned on the invitations that Shrivani intended to discuss policy and his plans. As a member of my local school board for over 16 years we attend workshops at least twice yearly and among other subjects covered the open meeting laws are reviewed regulary. It is a clear violation of the law to hold a meeting with a quorum to discuss plans and policy. The board may do so by posting public notice of the meeting. The board's former legal counsel tried to advise Shirvani of that fact and backed up his legal opinion with one from the Attorney General's office. That is what the legal counsel is supposed to do and was shortly thereafter forced out. To claim lesser employees have nothing to fear is laughable. If Espegard will throw the former legal counsel (who was respected by his collegues, peers, and college administrators, a N. Dak. native, who had served the board for 20 years and also a Viet nam era vet) under the bus then I don't think anyone in that office is safe. Had Espegard supported the former legal counsel and heeded his advice, this would not be an issue. What hasn't been reported nor addressed are allegations that Shirvani called Representative Harken "a liar" and refused to answer questions she posed at a committee hearing last August. It is true though that Shirvani isn't the one breaking the law, it is the board under Espegard violating the open meeting law. It seems clear that the N. Dak. student assn, and the student board member are showing better judgement as they called for a no confidence vote and support this jerk stepping down. For legislators, Loyd Omdahl and Espegard to criticize those students is uncalled for. They are supporting a Chancellor who wsa removed from his job as Dean of the Denver School of Architecture at the U of Colorado for simialr problems with subordinate staff and faculty. He was given a 90% vote of no confidence at his last job. Espegard has other board members show a clear lack of judgement in hiring someone with so much baggage and a clear lack of courage by not dealing with his inapproriate manner and behavior. This problem will not go away until this guy climbs back in his Porche and heads back to California. The credibility of the SBoHE has been lacking since the Chapman fiasco and the Dickinson State scandal. Shirvani seems to have arranged the board to give him the authority to fire our college presidents on short notice. We will not attract and retain quality people if they have to work under the type of administative dictatorship this guy believes in. He has established a behavior pattern inconsistent with good leadership and one that places barriers to productive dialogue and discussion to solve the important issues of Higher Education. Lastly, I believe it was one of the Grafton HS administrators who complained that his plan for Higher Ed didn't involve our states k-12 leaders. That is an egregious error.

You are correct and I was too lazy to look up the title so I apologize. It was the financial aid director, Nathan Stratton. He wasn't going to put up with the abuse. Were I a journalist, I would tally up how many of the previous staff have resigned and ask them why. I would also wonder why Shirvani needs an Executive Asst and a Special Asst. I would also ask Shirvani directly about his relationship to his asst. and whether or not there is an investigation into that relationship or not. Lots of rumors around the state offices concerning him. Embarassing to see Espegard and the legislator from Tioga castigate our students for wanting the position of chancellor to be one of integrity and trust. The students need to keep pressing this. Also a jounalist should question the Fargo legislator who Shirvani reportedly called a "liar". He also refused to answer a legislators question during a committee hearing. He simply refused. The lack or oversite and leadership by the SBoHE and the mismangement of the Chapman, Dickinson State and Shirvani scandals could very well be the impetus Carlson uses to destroy the SBoHE as we know it. I would be curious to know what will it take for some to realize we made a mistake and get rid of this guy.

I am impressed the Senate had the guts to correct the mistake they made the day before. In case people are not aware, Shirvani was forced to resign as Dean of the Denver School of Architecture at U of Colorado before he became president of the U of California Stanislaus. The reasons included a large number of faculty who quit during his tenure due to his abusive manner. The school was placed on probation by their accrediting agency due to the unrest between faculty and administration. While President at UCS the faculty voted by over 90% no confidence citing his abusive style. I did not find details of his harassment lawsuit but it was settled out of court. I would not be surprised if that was also for harassing employees. The employee was given $10,000 a years severence and a positive evaluation when she left. Former employees at UCS were contacted by employees of the office of the chancellor shortly after he arrived here to get their take on him. They substantiated the claims of his abusive behvior and style. Shortly after arriving in Bismarck he began his similar style leading to multiple resignations of staff including the CFO and long time board attorney. His rift with the attorney, who former UND VP Beiswanger referred to as a dedicated and excellent legal advisor to higher ed over the years, began immediately after the attorney counsled Shirvani that holding unnannounced secret meetings of the board violated the state open meeting law. Shirvani lost his temper and insisted he had the authority to call such a meeting. When other employees confirmed the attorney was correct he got upset with them as well. When Shirvani went to Espegard to let him know he wanted other legal council, Espegard threw the attorney, who was a former NDSU and UND student under the bus. The problems of Shirvani and the very mediocore chancellors after Potts are the reult of poor selections and oversight by Espegard and other board members. I applaud the Senate for trying to get rid of this guy but I would fire him rather than buy him out. I applaud the college students of the state for their vote of no confidence as well. Shirvani needs to go and any legislator or board member who continues to support him despite overwhelming evidence this is a pattern of abusive behavior needs to consider if they have the judgement to serve the public.

Pretty stupid. Kids do stupid things and they will be suspended. If they have decent parent,s the parents would make sure the kids issue a public apology and write a letter of apology to the papers and to Fargo Davies. This isn't just the PC folks over reacting. The good thing was the other kids in the section made them take the crap off. Disappointed the RR coach had no comment. All he needed to say was something like: " the insensitive behavior of a couple of idiots are not representative of our student body" and it will be handled by school administrators. As a parent if that is my kid, I take his drivers license for a month, I make sure he apologizes and he would be grounded for a month. He would also have to apologize to the RR student body. I am curious as to how many of the parents try and make excuses for their kids. They are kids and it isn't the end of the world, but the parents need to send a strong message.

I believe it was Barry Alvarez. The Badgers have struggled recently after being one of the better teams and winning national titles not that long ago. The Gophers and Sioux have remained strong most years since the late 1970's. He was also looking for money through a TV deal. I blame him. I don't believe Penn State made much of a difference. The Sioux and Gophers are still able to do well financially. This is his way of trying to improve Wisconsin and it breaks up the premier hockey league in the country. Alvarez doesn't care about hockey. When he demanded extra salary to coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl that showed his true lack of character. If he were a class act he would have given one of the asst. coaches a chance to lead the team possibly improving their chances at another job. Arrogant self serving lard butt.

Monmouth University is an FCS school. One of my son in laws teammates with the Cowboys was Miles Austin who is a Monmouth grad. Its in New Jersey. Who is the DII school you refer to?

Neither school has "refused" to play us anymore. The Gopher officials said they wouldn't schedule us because of the Sioux name issue. Gopher officials stated they will play us again. (Maybe they hadn't consulted with you first). NDSU officials have not said they won't play UND again. We will play again. Regular season game may not be until after Taylor leaves, or until they have a down year or 2, but they haven't refused to play UND in FB again. They just haven't gotten the contract they want. I would have taken advantage of the transition years to try and close the gap for the all time series. They are about 20 games behind and they maybe could have made up a couple of those in the past few years. Otherwise, we will meet in the playoffs one of these years.

That would be as dumb as Taylor whining about the Big Sky. Big Sky schools want good competition. Dealing with Taylors arrogance can be a pain, but who cares? The contract should protect them if Taylor does it right and also if done right protect the Big Sky school. If they don't wish to deal fairly, then ignore them til the next guy or gal replaces him. They (and the SD schools) would still be good additions to the Big Sky and they may need the Big Sky in the future. They don't want that right now and the Big Sky doesn't care. I would still leave that door open. The Big Sky may be the vehicle to move up to FBS for UND and NDSU especially if the WAC wants to survive. That would mean an occasional big bowl game but no more National Championships. It would mean playing at the highest level which both schools need to be prepared to do. Probably not in the near future but can't rule it out.

Very few people were calling for "Mussman's head". A few fans entertain themselves by reading these blogs and fewer take them too seriously. Just because one can start a blog about a coach doesn't mean there is an overwhelming pressure to make a coaching change.There is no pressure on Mussman right now. That won't come from a blog, it will come from Alumni, area business leaders who support UND, former players and from the UND administration. If you don't think the FB program at UND is solid, then you don't know what you are talking about. This has been a solid program for longer than you have been alive. There is a difference between claiming UND was a good team last year and stating correctly that UND has a solid FB program. We are fully funded and play in a great indoor facility. We are building a new indoor practice facility that will upgrade the weight room, the practice locker rooms, and the administrative areas. There will not be an FCS program in the nation that will be able to claim UND's facilities are substandard. We are just coming out of our transition period. We have had two very good recruiting years in a row and we are now winning recruiting battles against our peers. We had an OK first year. Most of us are not comparing ourselves to your program, nor should we. We worry about ourselves. We will compare with your program once we meet on the FB field. The thing you miss is that very few of us live and die based on what our college athletic teams do. What your team does doesn't say anything thing about you nor does it give you bragging rights. It means someone other than you earned those rights. For the rest of us it is entertainment.

One of your best posts. I believe MSU pulled out of the game for the $$$$. I don't think they are afraid to play other schools including NDSU. You tend to play up for the $$$ and the NDSU - MSU game would have been a great FCS game. I would be upset if I were the AC but Gene Taylor should be angry with himself for putting them in this position. Set up home and away so teams can't back out for less than $250,000. Gene knows what kind of $$$ the big schools will pay, so the buyouts need to be such that the $300,000-$400,000 are not such a big incentive. His disappointment with MSU is warranted. His anger should be with MSU. If he had any class he would have left the conference issue alone and taken some of the responsibility himself. They will find someone to fill. Gene may need pay a bit more cuz they are going to be very good again next year. We will have to see if he lets his brain kick in and override his ego.

Good coaches who need their jobs aren't going to give a kid the job because they were highly recruited. Over the years there are top recruits who are busts and never see the field. One would hope we wouldn't say dumb stuff like that. There has been good competition for this job and it will continue. If they bring in a better kid this fall from somewhere else, then that kid will be the number one QB. Whomever else is playing QB is going to have to be awfully good to beat out Mollberg. He has gotten bigger and stronger. He ran the veer in hs and can run the ball if they want him to. He has a great arm and that will be his strength. He is also a leader. No surprise he is the number one guy going into spring practice. He will have to work hard to keep the #1 spot because I have heard Bartels is also very good. I haven't heard anyone who is around the program or knows what they are talking about say anyone but Mollberg should be #1. Not sure where some of you guys come up with stuff so goofy like a kid getting the top spot cuz he comes from a hs closer than another guy. The only people who might, are those who spend the majority of their free time on a bar stool and even most of those guys are smarter than that.

Did we give the first offer or did we get the first committment or both?

Not a nice midwestern town??? Bismarck is a great town! Robust economy, great schools,Missouri River sandbars in the summer, great hunting and fishing nearby, Big lake up the road that i can't spell. Decent paying jobs especially higher paying blue collar jobs. U of Mary and Bismarck State in town, Civic Center brings in entertainment. People still have a good work ethic and crime is low. Winter is winter but if you don't like it move further south and you lose some of the advantages.

None of the UND FB coaches are in danger of losing their jobs right now. Mannausau. was't pushed out. He is an excellent recruiter. He has a new job that probably pays better and has more job stability and more time at home. This is an excellent recrutitng class. We are making strides. Should be better next year. Bubba's not coming back, Tibesar is not coming. We have some outstanding recruits in the last two classes and are now winning recruiting battles with other FCS schools.You guys who keep speculating on forced coaching changes from within are screwing a dead horse. The risk is that we could lose coaches to bigger programs. What our program needs most is bigger stronger faster kids. I think we are getting them. We need to keep improving every year and I think we are doing that. There will still be challenges but we are headed in the right direction. UND admin needs to step up and get the new facility built. The present plan is to start this spring with phase one. UND admin needs to address the salary issues, uniforms, schedules and the crowds. There doesn't seem to be the urgency I would expect but I don't get updated nor should I. Facility should be top priority for all UND building projects right now. It benefits students, increases research opportunities and will enhance the campus in addition for what it will do for athletics.

I wouldn't buy this guy out I would fire him. Employees in many organizations are fired for harassing or ausive behavior. I believe one of this guys mistakes was his disrespect for state legislators from virtually the beginning of his employment. I don't think it would take much to gather former staff members who were either fired or resigned after being harassed by this guy. I know they were documenting his misdeeds. He had no regard for the open meeting laws and obviously felt with the state finances being healthy, he didn't have to worry about wasting tax payers funds, especially when it related to his personal comforts and conveniences. His abusive, bullying behavior is exactly what he got in trouble for in California. Espegard should be required to resign as well. The recent article in the Forum concerning the SOB and higher ed in N. Dak. really should focus on how Paulsen enabled Chapman, and how Espegard has enabled this clown. Paulsen was partly repsonsible for Chapman's inappropriate actions. Espegard is largely responsible for the misdeeds of this clown. The problems with Chapman, at Dickinson State and now with Shirvani only results in loss of trust in the SBOHE and it transfers to deterioration of public trust in higher ed across the state. N.Dak. can't get rid of Shirvani too soon and should not allow Espegard to enable him to do any further damage. One wonders of the competency of a SBOHE that would hire a clown from California, that a simple background check would have revealed his history of harassing and abusive behavior. It is exactly the behavior he is exhibiting now in N. Dak.

You make good points and I believe you are correct in that the board will be reluctant to fix this problem because it will make them look bad. I don't believe Espegard is corrupt. I agree he is in over his head and I don't believe he is a friend to UND. I believe Shrivani is unethical and I believe he will continue to abuse his power and be abusive until someone moves him along. The sooner the better. His ideas about combining higher ed are not all bad but certainly leave out some keys issues that need to be solved.

This neanderthal is worse than Chapman. This is what this new Chancellor is all about. He already demanded the offices in Bismarck be remodeled. He was accused of harrassment of employees in Ca. before he arrived here and harassed his staff in Bismarck after he arrived . Google his name and his problems he had in California will come up. He has a history of bullying his staff and if they don't submit to his bullying, he gets rid of them. Don't forget Chapman couldn't have caused the damage he did at NDSU without Paulsen's approval. Paulsen enabled Chapman to do what he did resulting in the resignation of 2 very good chancellors and 2 very medicore chancellors after Potts. Espegard is as bad if not worse. When the boards former attorney counseled Shirvani they couldn't hold private meetings with a quorum of the board because it is a violation of the law, Shirvani screamed at him that he had that authority. That resulted in the resignation of the board's attorney and Espegard didn't have the courage to stick up for the attorney who had been with the board for almost 20 years. Had Espegard fulfilled his responsibility to the state of N. Dak. and made sure the board was overseeing the operations in Dickinson they could have prevented that fiasco. Espegard has proven to be no friend of the University of North Dakota, and the bullying of Kelly over this office space should not be tolerated. The office of the Chancellor belongs in Bismarck where the legislature is. The last thing UND needs is a dishonest, unethical Chancellor looking over the shoulder of UND officials. The first thing we need is for Espegard to be removed from the board. I met Espegard almost 20 years ago. I knew he wasn't very bright. I now know him to lack courage and ethics as well. Shirvani is more dangerous than the recent mediocore chancellors, because it won't be imcompetence that we deal with it, will be misuse of the athority byShirvani who with the support of Espegard has no regard for the law and no regard for the people of the state of North Dakota. Shirvani looks upon us as the uneducated hicks and he is the all knowing East Coast educated PhD. here to set us straight. He will surround himself with his own "yes people" and he will surround himself with lavish offices, furnishings and he will travel well at the expense of the N. Dak. taxpayers. Hrd to understand why soemone from the Hearld, Forum, or Bismarck Tribune doesn't Google his name and research this guy starting with former staff in California. The harassment suit there was settled out of court. He also tried to bully students at his previous campus when they discovered inequities in his administration. Don't have to look to hard to get the real story on this guy.

Responding to someone's questions who initiates the communication is OK whether by phone, in person or on a blog. As a Father you can ask whomever you wish. I watched your son's tape. Frankly I was impressed. He does run a little high but was putting his shoulder down and not as high his Sr. year. He has a quick cut and seems to be able to cut without losing speed or momentum. He catches the ball well and I was impressed with how well he moves his feet after contact and in traffic. He can play at some level. Highlight tape helps, but game film showing what he does without the ball, how he blocks etc. would need to be reviewed. If he is good academically, I would at least offer a PWO if game film confirms his highlight tape. You can't coach 4.5 speed and that is good at any college level.

I sent you a PC resgarding the NCAA rules and some thoughts about you and your son.

He was 225 lbs at Christmas. According the coaches if they would have pulled a redshirt off a LB last fall it would ahve been LaBat. One of his strengths is he is very smart. (4.o first semester). He will be in the rotation.

Did they fire the coach?

Why would that "be a joke"? They had an excellent team and a deep run into the playoffs. Some kids just want to play. Maybe it was a better fit for him. The kids with good parents and an IQ above 100 should be smart enough to make the decision based on which school is the best fit academicaly and for them personally. Maybe that is where their friends or girlfriend is going. Maybe their relatives went their. They really don't give a rats behind what we think and they shouldn't. Anyone think the experience for the AC guys winning the FCS championship game is less than the experience for Alabama or more than D2, D3 or NAIA. In the end it isn't. Its about the relationships and the shared experiences. More importantly it is about the education and the college experience. when you get into the real world no one cares if you played FB or danced the Muscular dystrophy dance marathon. Playing a college sport gets one in in some doors but won't keep you there.

Seems they don't want to play right now, easy to understand. Simple way to fix that, we need to keep getting better and get them in the playoffs. Then maybe be able to play them every year.

Different team if Dell had stayed. We are average in the nets right now. For those whose lives seem to revolve around Sioux Hockey or for that matter any sport, I can't argue with whatever goofy ideas you come up with cuz it won't matter what anyone else says. Last nights game is over. This team has the potential to continue to be one of the best in the country. Without an outstanding Goalie, we will have trouble sustaining a run at title #6. The lack of respect shown other programs whether it be the Gophers, Badgers, Michigan, Bemidji, BC or in this case St. Cloud, leads some to believe these games can't happen. Coaches can't always guarantee the kids will be ready to play. Its a flipping college hockey game. The coaches have better things to do than read these blogs because my opinion and yours is irrelevant. If people are going to turn in their season tickets when we struggle, then you need to switch to video hockey. Hakstol has taken this team to the frozen four in more than half his years coaching. If you can get a team there you can coach. Not being able to "win the big one" is more of a media myth than fact. Vikings haven't won a supper bowl. Bud Grant was still a great coach. Wade Phillips and Marv Levy didnt' win Super Bowls but they were good coaches. They got fired and the subsequesnt teams didn't do as well. If the Sioux hockey teams fail to make playoffs, fail to be ranked nationally and stop recruiting top recruits, then we have a problem. God help us if we start canning coaches cuz some fans can't accept that St. Cloud is a pretty good team and we can play good hockey and still lose on any given night. However we didn't do that last night Last nights game was in fact an embarrassment. Not to us cuz we didn't play. It was an embarrassment to the players and coaches. Nothing we can do about it and calling for the coaches head won't make it happen.

Winning is the best marketing tool but not the only one. Faison and our teams and staffs need to be cultivating and growing relationships with our students and the surrounding community. They do some things but I am not sure how aggressive we are in the off season. The FB team should have had a number of functions with the students in the dorms, fraternities and sororites. When the students and community get to know players and establish relationships they will also be more likely to come to games. There should be a committee of students, athletes and community leaders meeting regulary to brainstorm about ideas to improve the experience for students. Someone should be working on ideas to expand tailgaiting and improving the student experience. The new practice and sports medicine research facility also needs to be the top fund rasing priority right now for the UND alumni office. There are some great things UND could be doing with sports medicine research in conjunction with engineering, the med school, the grad school, sports psychology etc. Tie in some work with obesity in our nations children and there are grant dollars out there. UND has some great things going on and it isn't a big stretch to expand what we do on a big time scale.