iramurphy

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.

4.5 40 is fast enough. Depends on how quick he is. Great size and speed for a free safety. Would have been perfect if Hendrickson would have moved to free safety early in his career. Great athlete and I think he could have been outstanding. I don't know for sure but I understood he wanted to stay at QB. Had he moved I think he would have been much happier.

4.7 isn't real fast especially in small RB. Stats are good.

Really one of my concerns about a number of programs. When you get blown out or are blowing someone out, get the other guys in there. That is the only way you will see what they do under game conditions and some kids don't do as well in practice but are "gamers". Sparks ran well in his only chance against SDak. Mines. Should have been given some PT if he is working hard in practice.

Figured the post would come to this. Can't imagine College refs wasting their time discussing college teams with fans but I suppose some of them are that stupid. Officials are not supposed to make those remarks even if they are true. For some reason I doubt that the Mariucci "Doood" is a respected sports fan who an intelligent ref would want to sit and have a beer with. It is a no win situation for the ref. Too many of these guys are half in the bag and too unpredictable. I would take his bet if I could bet that hockey fans across the country will typically pick their rival as the "cheapest" team. Doesn't matter because it is irrelevant. This is one of the greatest college sports rivalries. Big city, big University, long storied hockey tradition for the school and for the state. Next door smaller school, state population less than metro area also with long storied hockey tradition. They go up against each other for the same recruits. Both schools have had cheap shot artists (not sure if I recall any worse than Burgraff) but the Gophers have had just as many. Both schools have obnoxious fans and both have great fans. Both schools have had coaches say or do dumb-ass stuff over the years. I hope this thread doesn't continue with the crap about whose team has a goon or who started whcih altercation. Who the hell cares? If we aren't competing on the ice, it is all irrelevant. I believe that Wisconsin's Alvarez is as responsible as anyone for the breakup of the WCHA. I believe he sees the Big 10 as a vehicle for more TV revenue and I believe he thinks it will hurt UND, Denver, Duluth and CC. If he can hurt those schools, then he thinks it will benefit the Badgers. I believe Lucia sees an opportunity to hurt UND's schedule by not scheduling UND. I don't believe there are Gopher players who don't want to continue the rivalry. That is what competitors want, to always measure up against the best. The Sioux and Gophers are two of the best. The games between these teams are typically sold out are are great for college hockey. The only reason I see for Lucia to stop the rivalry is to hurt UND. True hockey fans on both sides want to see the rivalry continue.

I think it is time we also get our Alumni Office to make this a top priority. Should have been included in the recent campoaign to raise $300,000,000. This is a facility we need to move forward and I don't believe I see the urgency and focus from Kelly, Faison and O'Keefe. The opportunities it repesents for Sports Medicine research, kinesiolgy, physiology and medicine are tremendous. Altru should be negotiating with Mayo if they are truly a Mayo partner to collaborate especially since the director of Sports Medicine, Dr. Michael Stuart, is a big hockey guy (3 kids-NHL). It would afford Mayo the hockey facilities with nearby medical facilities to expand what they do and put Mayo's name on soemthing new. They could also add concussion research to garner grant dollars. NHL might also be a willing partner. We are all hoping Dave Fennell will step up to the plate. The Sanford donation would have jump started it. The Altru donation is over years so can't do the same. Can't say for sure if the Sanford donation would have been structured differently. They wanted the Sports Med contract and I think would have made it happen to get their name on the building but I don't know that for a fact. With $300,000,000 there has to be at least $10,000,000 unrestricted funds to move this along. We can always continue fundraising inorder to replenish the Alumni fund. University folks tend to be too complacent and comfortable in the University settings. Lets get on this. UND also needs to be positioning us to move to the FBS level if Montana, Montana State go or if a great opportunity arises. Not saying we move, just saying we need to position ourselves to do so. If we don't move then we have additional resources for our athletic programs as they stand.

The AC is the best team on the planet bar none. The Gopher teams that the AC beat should have been in the Rose Bowl and would have been if it wasn't for the fact that they might have struggled to be .500 in the EDC or WDA those years. The AC beat a poor Colorado State team this year. On a given day they could play with most FBS teams and beat some. Not sure they are a top 20 team but who cares, it doesn't matter. I predict they will play K State a lot tougher than people think next fall and will not get blown out. They have almost everyone back. Their Oline and defense are strengths. I hope that makes all the AC people feel better. Season's over we didn't do as well as I had hoped. We have a good start to the recruiting season. When I read these dull posts from some of these guys then I miss Graham Cracker. He seemed more entertaining than the AC folks and might even have been a bit brighter.

I think we can if things go right and we improve defensively. We were close to beating Cal Poly, Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona. We played San Diego state tough. Turn those into wins and we might have made the playoffs. Close doesn't count and our goal is to win conference and National Championships. We need to learn to close out games and if we aren't better defensively we won't be there next year. I think if our Oline develops and gives Mollberg (assuming he is the QB) time and we improve our running game we will be tough Offensively. I can't imagine we can be worse defensively but we must make big strides on defense if we are going to be a playoff team. Our d backs will improve if we can improve our pass rush. Mollberg is capable of getting this team to the playoffs and I hear Bartels is also an excellent QB so I don't want to assume anything.Our Oline needs to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage in order to make the run game go. If we get that we will be hard to stop. At this level you can't take a week off. The AC was the best team at this level and they had an off week and got beat by Indiana State. It takes every player, every play, every practice and every game. No exceptions. The kids need to learn they can win and to do that they need to know their teamate is going to get their job done. They are good enough to beat a better opponent on any given play. When they learn that, then it takes heart and grit to make sure that "every given play" is the next play, then the next and so on. I am optomistic we will be better. That won't necessarily get us into the playoffs. I think if the chips fall right we could.

Mollberg is up to 225 lbs and worked out in weight room during break. In answer to questions posted previously he can run. He is a good athlete (leading scorer in DL bb and was an excellent basball player). ran the veer in HS. Labatt is up to 225 lbs and had a 4.0 GPA in Engineering first semester. With addition of the kid from Illinois UND has receivers that could play for most any school in the country. This spring I think one of the challenges for the coachingg staff will be to evaluate which of those guys at WR needs to move to a different position to see the field. May be opportunity a safety or if big enough, develop as outside LB or TE. Jackson may be big enough but is great WR so I wouldn't move him. Great start to recruiting. They need to have at least 4 QB's.Bartels and Mollberg are both excellent and l believe coaching staff and team have confidence either can come in a play as freshmen. The will push each other to get better. Oline should be as good and maybe better. Tough to lose the seniors in the line, but we need to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage to move the ball on the ground. Defense should be better but we need to improve our tackling fundamentals and our secondary. Secondary will get better if we improve our pass rush and our penetration to disrupt oppostion run game. Our dbacks need to be able to read run vs pass faster to improve run support and they need to be able to cover receivers without giving a 15 yd cushion on the outside. Need to see improvement each year and I believe we will. Need to improve speed on defense and get stronger across the board. I believe we are getting there. Not as fast as we would like, but we need to build this program so we can sustain success and also position this program to move up a level if opportunity arises. Don't believe we are ready for that quite yet, but if we aren't looking ahead we won't be ready.

PJ and other back ups should have been getting time already. When you get blown out by Montana State or EWU that is a great opportunity to get these other guys some PT. Who care if you lose by 40 or 60? Doesn't matter, you still got spanked. This tends to happen at the college level more than HS and is worse in the NFL. If one team is either blowing out the other or on the receiving end of a blow out get the subs some valuable PT. I am not insinuating the UNC game will be a blowout by the way. We need to play better to win. Defense needs to be more than a speed bump and offensively we need to be more consistent.

I hear what you are saying ( actually, I read it) but Mannausau is a good recruiter. All of these coaches are feeling the pressure I am sure. Might also be time for team leaders to step up. Missed tackles and missed assignments are simply that. There isn't a LB we have who isn't capable of making the tackle if he gets there. The 3-4 defense is predicated on the D-line keeping the blockers off of the LB so they are able to make the plays. I confess I haven't watched any film but I have wondered what the heck our dbacks are doing giving 12 yd cushions.. I think Muss probably focuses more on the offense but they all see the need for defensive improvement. Not time to give up on these guys but the clock is ticking. I think we are better overall than last year. We need to speed up the improvement process. We haven't resorted to taking some of the kids with drug and criminal problems and we haven't taken the kids who can't make it academically and allowed them to skate by. We have lost some good kids other schools would have covered for in the past and I don't think we need to do that. One of the most important things we can do is get the new facility done so we wow the recruits. It certainly is a difference maker for hockey.

How about patience? Having said that there is no excuse to get kicked by any FCS school and no excuse to give up over 40 points per game. Kids need to look to themselves and start stepping up their level of play. Not sure why we couldn't score against Montana State even though I get the part that they are better than we are right now. Our receivers right now could play for many FBS teams. Our QB's are very good and we will get a good idea of how recruiting has progressed with Mollberg next year if he wins the starting job. Our linebackers need to be bigger and faster but it won't do any good if that just means you get to the ball carrier and miss tackles. We need RB's with the size of Sutton and speed and quickness of Miller. O-line needs to keep imporving and we need quicker feet with similar size. Not sure how we can have line that big that can't run block. D-line hasn't kept blockers off our LB's very well and secondary needs to get a lot stronger and smarter. Not time to crap on our coaching staff yet. We will know after this years group of redshirts are eligible if we are making the necessary strides We aren't there but we are closer. . We need to make sure we dont' lose anyone for academics or stupid decisions. More than anything every year coaching staffs across the country need to assess whether or not they are recruiting the right kids. The Wisconsin RB who was coming as a preferred walk-on is an example. Seems he would be here had we offered at least 1/2 Scholarship. If we had he would have had to sit out to go to Wisconsin. (NDSU missed that one too). The Brainerd kid who starts in O-line as RFR for the AC, played for former UND player Chet Stevenson and he was offered preferred walk on here and there. Obviously both schools underestimated him. We need to speed up our facility upgrades. That will make a big difference for recruiting. Faison needs to continue to upgrade the non-conf schedule. I am anxious to see if he can get either the Gophers or Tar Heels. We aren't there yet and everyone can see that. The kids we have need to be more disciplined and can't miss tackles or pick up dumb penalties or turn the ball over. We aren't good enough. Eliminate the things like that and we have two more wins. There is more a sense of urgency but for now don't forget this is our first year eligible. If we improve steadily we will be there soon. Biggest key of course is we need better players to compete at this level. We are getting there at some positions but we need to pick it up a bit.

How about patience? Having said that there is no excuse to get kicked by any FCS school and no excuse to give up over 40 points per game. Kids need to look to themselves and start stepping up their level of play. Not sure why we couldn't score against Montana State even though I get the part that they are better than we are right now. Our receivers right now could play for many FBS teams. Our QB's are very good and we will get a good idea of how recruiting has progressed with Mollberg next year if he wins the starting job. Our linebackers need to be bigger and faster but it won't do any good if that just means you get to the ball carrier and miss tackles. We need RB's with the size of Sutton and speed and quickness of Miller. O-line needs to keep imporving and we need quicker feet with similar size. Not sure how we can have line that big that can't run block. D-line hasn't kept blockers off our LB's very well and secondary needs to get a lot stronger and smarter. Not time to crap on our coaching staff yet. We will know after this years group of redshirts are eligible if we are making the necessary strides We aren't there but we are closer. . We need to make sure we dont' lose anyone for academics or stupid decisions. More than anything every year coaching staffs across the country need to assess whether or not they are recruiting the right kids. The Wisconsin RB who was coming as a preferred walk-on is an example. Seems he would be here had we offered at least 1/2 Scholarship. If we had he would have had to sit out to go to Wisconsin. (NDSU missed that one too). The Brainerd kid who starts in O-line as RFR for the AC, played for former UND player Chet Stevenson and he was offered preferred walk on here and there. Obviously both schools underestimated him. We need to speed up our facility upgrades. That will make a big difference for recruiting. Faison needs to continue to upgrade the non-conf schedule. I am anxious to see if he can get either the Gophers or Tar Heels. We aren't there yet and everyone can see that. The kids we have need to be more disciplined and can't miss tackles or pick up dumb penalties or turn the ball over. We aren't good enough. Eliminate the things like that and we have two more wins. There is more a sense of urgency but for now don't forget this is our first year eligible. If we improve steadily we will be there soon. Biggest key of course is we need better players to compete at this level. We are getting there at some positions but we need to pick it up a bit.

Take a look at the earlier post with the rankings for the last three teams we played. Made some plays on defense and we led Cal Poly in the 4th quarter. Hendrickson has a bad game and can't hit a fat pig in the ass with a hand full of gravel or we should win that one. East Wash was an embarassment. That is a score we might expect if we play a FBS top 20 school. No excuse. Hendrickson struggles and the defense never left the airport. Against N. Arizona our d-backs gave a bigger cushions than a hug from Dolly Parton. Not sure why Mackey wasn't replaced. We had to have a number of kids who could have given 15 yd cushions then jumped on the recievers back (if they could) as they went by. Might as well get them some game time. Linbackers didn't show up. Too many missed tackles and missed assignments. That is another game we should have won. I really don't care to compare with our little sister to the south. They are very good and very young. We need to take care of ourselves. Starts with fundamentals. Kids need to be assignment sharp, can miss tackles, Can't drop passes. We have maybe the most talented group of wide receivers we have ever had, but they don't run disciplined routes, they drop passes, tkae dumb-ass penalties and fumble. All of those things are correctable. I really haven't kept up enough paying attention to the details of our schemes and adjustments to think we have a coaching issue. As long as we miss as many takles as we do, missed assignments and play undisciplined FB it is hard to get to Offensive and defensive play calling. I know game preparation and discipline are a coaching responsibility but that is a responibility for team captains and most of all the players. Montana is another game we should win. Defense needs to get better each week. My concern is they haven't. As long as we have kids missing tackles and missing assignments, we will struggle to put games away. Fan support has been only lukewarm. Student support is much better this year but we need to build on that. They finally have done some things with the fraternities and sororities. I would try and expand that to the dorms. We need to improve the video coverage and remember people at games like to see themselves on the screen. With hunting season upon us, it will be interesting to see how that cuts into attendence. UND should be giving away tickets to area schools and giving group discounts to area businesses. There is room for 3,000 more fans at each game. UND band is excellent and has become a bigger part of the game, before, during and after. Also Faison should have been on the phone yesterday to see if we could fill the Gopher games with UNC. Tell Hanson to call his old AD and coach and get it set up. Would be great game on schedule and timing good with them on probation. If we can't get UNC get the Gopher games. Payouts for either schools should be good. Need to be aggressive. Saturday will be agreat day for FB.

I would like to know if there was ever any evidence Kristo's injuries were related to alcohol. I understood he was trying to walk to his girlfriend's apartment and tried a shortcut across Ray Richards Golf Course where his shoes came off in the deep snow and he lost them. Maybe not very smart, but not necessarily drunk. I wasn't there so I don't know for sure. I do know that I read that his frostbite was not a result of being drunk. Anyone know the facts? Always amazes me how the truth gets trampled on blogs. Maybe that was the case, but I was told otherwise.