iramurphy

This kid is only a Sophmore and I think will have a very good year playing BB. I think he will have a great HS BB career. At 6'7"' with good feet and a big frame he might be a big time FB player. Chad Mustard comes to mind. Very good D2 BB player. Excellent FB player who played 4-5yrs in the NFL and could have played at the D1 level in FB. I would advise this kid not to quit FB. It creates more opportunities for this kid and may open up opportunities that BB doesn't. Not saying anything against the kid, he impressed me as a BB player. I just can't understand how these kids with that kind of upside aren't also playing FB. Could be a potential TE or DE. As a society we have done our kids a big disservice by encouraging one sport atheltes. Recent studies also show "one sport athletes" have a higher incidence of injuries. Partly due to overuse and not giving the kids a break. Anyway, I would like to see the kid back out for FB.

Mollberg scored 26 against EGF on Saturday, his first game of the season. (EGF has a young team that will give teams trouble if they can hit from the outside). EGF has a 6'7" Soph. who moves his feet pretty well. He isn't playing FB. The odds of him making it playing BB are a lot less than a kid with that size playing FB. He should continue BB but get in the weight room and play FB his last two years. Might be a sioux recruit for 2014. Someone should talk to him and I hope his BB coach encourages him to play FB.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Kid has been good all year and has great speed and is a great athlete. Played both ways. If I were recruiting him I would tell him what kind of a career Weston Dressler had at UND. He can retrurn punts and kicks and he is very quick. He isn't real tall but has a great verticle.

Students don't come anyway. Hopefully the community will turn out. It would be great to get at least 2000 or more. Timing might make that tough.

Wouldn't surprise me if Mollberg and LaBatt start recruiting Woods. They are all very good BB players and DL plays Bemidji. He had been thinking BB first, I was told that may be changing.

Good question and I will probably say more than you wanted to here.(what's new). Poor crowd never helps recruiting. The crowd there was good and there was a fair amount of noise. UND's play was a positive. The recruits saw a team that struggled in the second and third quarter, never quit, and came back and beat a quality opponent that arguably had more talent. The fact is we are getting better and makling the necessary strides to compete at the FCS level. If UND is recruiting the way I think they are, they need to be focusing on what UND offers academically first. (The AC leaves that out of the question too often. They will try get the kid to adjust to thier offereings rather than tell them they don't have what the kid wants. A great example was one recruit who was interested in Chemical Engineering and they told him getting a degree in any of the Engineering disciplines plus a double major in Chemistry was the same thing. They have told recruits their Athletic Training degree, which they no longer offer to undergrads, was basically the same as Physical Therapy. One would think kids smart enough to be an Engineer or Physical Therapist would know better but it doesn't always work that way.) UND has a great academic institution and reputation. UND's academic and athletic facilities are excellent and with the planned upgrade for athletic facilities will be superb. The move to the Big Sky, increased TV exposure, and the travel to Idaho, Utah, Washington, California, Colorado and Arizona are also a real plus. All schools talk about being a "family". At UND it is a reality. The former players keep track of each other, step up to help when necessary and network when it comes time to help someone get a job, into med school, into dental school etc. The post grad success of UND FB players is exceptional. Faison noticed that when he came to UND and wondered if we really understood what we have going for us. I don't get to speak with recruits much anymore but I can guarantee they will get a good education, develop great and lifelong relationships with their teammates and other UND students and Alumni, and if they are willing to think team first and bust their butts they will have success on the FB field. UND is not a place where we have parts of the locker room where some players or even other students can't go. We recognize the value of our teammates but also alumni, staff and the student body and fans that are an important part of being a Champion. IF we ever get to the point we are so arrogant we forget that, then we will be no better than the clods to the south of us. The UND experience is so much more than a FB game whether or not you win a championship and that is what makes going to UND special.

Not a crazy thought at all. I have wondered why he wasn't moved to QB last spring. He led the Minn. Outstate AllStar team to a win if I remember correctly and a number of the area HS coaches said he was the best kid on the field that day. Hendrickson is too good of an athlete to remain at QB and not play. I would move him to defense, or receiver. I haven't seen enough of Comes but he will need to make a commitment to stay and get better. Bradley will need to get better. Mollberg is 6'3" and 210 and will likely play at 220. He has a great arm and nice tough on his throws. He is physically ready to play. It would be best if he can redshir because it is tough for any true freshman to come in and be ready. If we can make the playoffs and contend for a conference title and he is our best guy OK but otherwise I like the idea of moving Townsend this spring. I haven't seen him play but I was told he was a great HS QB.

AC has a good chance of winning it all. They will need their QB to have a good playoff run though. Their defense is pretty good. They are beatable but you will need to stop the run and be able to run to beat them.

UND students who attended game were good and stayed and made noise. UND student body as a group is pathetic. Poor turnouts at FB, weak turnout at VB. Hockey turnout by students this year less than in the past. UND band does a great job for FB and hockey but the students really can make a great atmosphere. The students can give us a home field advantage at the Alerus. I wonder if they are all over at the Phi Delt house smoking dope? Faison will need to communicate with Student Govt. and the Greek organizations to see if he can get some support. (tell the Phi Delts to meet at your office though). Does the UND Student Body President do anything to help? How about the Greek Council? Might want to meet with them this winter to see if we can't get something started for BB this winter and get the momentum going for this fall. UND needs to be planning ahead for possible move to FBS down the road and we need the students to be able to do it.

You presume a lot if you call beating the AC an "upset". North Dakota should be favored every time we play just because "we are North Dakota and they are the AC". Feel bad for them but that's the way it is. Everyone has it figured out except Gene Taylor. They would have had a reasonable chance to "upset" us the past few years during our transition. Recruiting is going well and we made great strides this year. Playing field is rapidly leveling now with transition over and Big Sky in our future.

There were but I am not sure how many. Perham guys were there. Great came for recruits. Crowd that was there was loud and a fun game to watch. You almost gotta think Coach Murphy dropped "a bit o' the luck o' the Irish" on Fighting Sioux FB yesterday.

Some of you folks are a bit goofy. If you want to smoke dope, go ahead but if you get caught suffer the consequences and don't whine. Recent estimates are that about 4% of adults smoke dope and about 1% "abuse it. Of those, about 1/300 are addicted. There are documented benefits of "medical marijuana" such as increasing appetite, decreasing pain, and supressing nausea in cancer patients. The Harvard Medical Letter, which you can review online, does not agree with the people claiming Marijuana is harmless. Almost all medical experts who don't live in "fruit and nut land" (California) agree there are medcations available to the medical profession that can already accomplish the benefits listed and do indeed have risks especially with heavy use. In my almost 30 years of practice I ahve been able to relieve pain and nausea without rpescribing marijuana. The only patients I have come across who were prescribed it and using it seemed to be using for non-medical reasons. I am well aware there are many patients who have greatly benefitted but the push for legalization doesn't seem to be coming from the medical profession. Marijuan is not harmless. It can adversely affect short term and long term memory. It can lead to phsychological crisis on patients with psychosis and in heavy users, it can cause deprssion and anxiety. Marijuana smoke can also adversely affect the lungs. WEB MD, The Harvard Medical Letter, or the Mayo Clinic Web site are only a few of the resources one might go to before the folks on this blog who are misinformed. The adverse affects of alchohol are numerous and I believe child abuse and spouse abuse is much higher in people abusing alcohol than booze. People smoking dope and drinking both have a higher incidence of motor vehicle accidents. I could go on but I hope you get the picture. Although there is no solid evidence marijuana is physically addicting there is ample evidence to support it is psychologically addicting. Have fun but don't forget to go to work and don't wonder why you are getting so damn fat! (the munchies).

Brian Labatt, one of the two Detroit Lakes commits, was named to the Academic All State team. I think this kid will be fun to see develop and it will be interesting to see where they end up playing him. I believe he will be one of the gems of this recruiting class. He has great potential.

Cratter, we always have been and always will be "THE UNIVERSITY" of North Dakota.

I can't imagine anyone with a life so empty they would want to go and "talk" to you. Considering you are no longer Lakota (Lako Tanolonger), what the hell are you other than a troll? I seriously doubt you are Native. I would guess you are still suffering from your yesterday's loss hangover. If you are Native you are an embarassment to your culture. You show no evidence of intelligence, courage or class.

Head coach doesn't have total control over the program he has the resposibility for the overall program. Same head coach getting criticized landed the area's top QB this year and we are getting a number of other good early commits. Pretty difficult to judge someone's recruiting ability during transition but having said that we have who we have and we have not had good play from the QB position. Dale Lennon was an excellent coach but his biggest mistake as a UND coach was not playing Reed Manke as a Soph. He played Belmore who was a great kid, good athlete and had some decent games. He watched these guys everyday in practice and struggled with the decision. It isn't always as easy as it seems. That goes for other levels including the pros. Look at all of the sure things QB's who went bust (DeMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf are two of the biggest). The Sioux have been OK this season. Should have won the Cal Poly game and are capable of beating Cal Davis and SDak. We need to see improvement year to year and I would say two years from now will be the key year, If we lay an egg next year or regress then that changes things. Coaches don't tend to return to their former schools so I think this question is moot.

Thanks for the video, I hadn't seen it. Mariucci was a pall bearer along with other former coaches and Murph's pal Vince Liddy from Grand Forks. Before my son-in-law signed with the Cowboys the Lions had him in for a workout and Murph called Steve and asked him to take a close look at him. There were a lot of similar stories about how Murph knew and kept track of his former players but also knew their kids names and what they were doing. He frequently did things like that for his former players or coaches or the families. Murph also treated the people around his programs like he did his All-Americans. Mike Wirtz, former Sioux student manager was at the funeral and Murph loved him and kept in contact with him just like he did with his star players. That would have made Murph just as happy as having Mariucci there.

Great sendoff for Murph yesterday. His family put together a very nice tribute. Church was packed. Lots of great Murphy stories. The Cal State players appreciated Murph as much as we did. Many of them gave him credit for getting them out of poor neighborhoods and helping them become successful. Former UND head coaches, Jerry Olson, Roger Thomas and Dale Lennon all were there. Asst. coaches Del Wight, Larry Manfull, Rob Bollinger, Tom Tatum, Danny Martinson, Corey Colehauer, John Miklesh were all there. Miklesh, Manfull and Roger Thomas all coached with him Cal State. Steve Mariucci was there as was Northwestern Asst. Jerry Brown. Roger, Steve and Jerry had some great Murphy stories and took a number of us over to their former offices. A reminder of how much Murph and his staff did with so little. Damon Allen his former QB who rewrote the record books in the CFL shared some great stories. Brian Grover was the UND QB when Mariucci was the QB at Northern Michigan and they were comparing stories. UND was well represented by former coaches and players. The family and CSF put together a nice video tribute that included his UND days. Murph leaves a beautiful family: Tim, Mike and their families, his daughter Aileen, his friend Christine and former wife Kathy (Bruiser) couldn't have been more gracious. The time Gene spent with his players and coaches was time away from family for those folks and we owe them a debt of thanks for sharing their Dad/Husband with the players and the Fighting Sioux family. Mariucci had pictures of Murph behind him for his broadcasts last week. as a tribute to Murph. May he rest in peace.

Because I am an alumnus I can't talk to these kids about going to UND but he never once indicated he "really wanted to be a Bison" . Tell the somebody they don't know what they are talking about. The DL coaches said he was leaning toward UND all along and when he got his offer he commited. I did not hear your guys had offered and he didn't wait to see if the offer was coming. The Detroit Lakes kids do not all want to be Bison. We have not lost a DL kid to the Bison in almost 20 years.

I don't know that they had offered him. They were talking to him and certainly looking at him. Bohl and Vigen made sure they wore their yellow costumes and stood on the sidelines when they came down to scout him. (Mollberg was't playing that game and they were there to watch LaBatt.) I think the biggest problem was he wouldn't have qualified academically. Brian has above a 4.0 GPA and his ACT is 29 or 30. I believe you still need to be below 16 to get in and to the AC have a waiver from Joe Chapman to if your GPA is above a 2.5. ( I think Joe is still in his hidey hole somewhere in Colorado so I don't know what the heck they will do if they get a few recruits who happen to be good students.)

he committed yesterday. good job by sioux coaches getting him. 4.0 GPA and 30 ACT. great athelte.

Murph's Funeral is Monday, Nov. 7 at 11 AM at the St. Juliana Falconieri Church, 1316 N. Acacai Ave., Fullerton, Ca. There is a prayer service the night before at the McAulay and Wallace Funeral Home, 902 N. Harbor, Fullerton, Ca.

We need more than one QB for next year. We need big fast LB's. Our O-line and Dline have made good strides this year. We need to always recruit speed at the skill positions RB, Receiver, DB's. Receivers need to hang on to the ball. When we have struggled with the FBS teams or good FCS teams these areas seem to be our weakness.

Nice article in the LA times on Gene Murphy. They called him "Father Flannagn with a whistle".

You could add Frank Zazula to the group. Your experience is a great example of what made Murph special. If you were a UND guy or gal your were special to Murph whether or not you were a FB player. He helped make UND and UND athletics (not just FB) what it is. The same comments are coming from former players, and students from Cal State and Fullerton College.