iramurphy

Its a college FB game, I would hope the Governor has better things to do. It will be an extra incentive to meet them every year in the playoffs as long as UND is D1AA.

Good point. Other than the Nickel and resuming the rivalry, there is no reason for them to play us right now. We didn't play them when they needed us because it would have hurt our playoff chances and I wouldn't expect them to do us any favors. I think they will resume the rivalry when it is in their best interest. They are very good this year. I think they will beat the Gophers by at least 3 TD's if not more. (I think UND would beat the Gophers this year as well). It would be a fun game to play them this year because of our speed on offense but I am not sure we could stop them either. They are a lot better than Central or Western Washington. Bohl is a better coach then the last couple of guys. Lennon would make sure we were competitive but we won't ever know because it isn't going to happen and comparing scores doesn't mean much either.

A couple of points which I think are valid. Kupchella is a former faculty guy and an academician. He did a number of things very well at UND. I think his biggest mistake was not understanding the importance of intercollegiate athletics at a University and especially in a smaller University like UND. Athletics is an important tool which should be used to improve campus life for the students as entertainment and a rallying point for building loyalties to your school. It should also be used as a marketing tool to increase the visibility of your University. We do not market our athletic teams, programs nor the successes of our student athletes a well as we should. We should also tie in our music programs and fine arts programs to build an entertainment package for the University and the community and region. The new AD and president would do well to see to it that the Marching band is well funded and well supported. It can greatly improve the atmosphere of the games and events at UND and for the community. Those kids need some sort of financial aid to recognize all of the hard work required to have a first class D1 band. The band we have does a great job but we need to increase the numbers and we need the type of band kids want to attend UND to be part of. President Kupcella, though very intelligent and honorable, missed those opportunites. I don't know why anyone's evaluation should be part of public record. In Mn. we are required to provide the public and media with a summary of similar evaluations but do not have to provide the details of someone's personal file. I believe much of that is protected by the privacy act but I am not an attorney. Bunings rating from the survey evaluation was dismal. He does, however, make some very good points in his rebuttal. The Athletic Department must have a strategic plan and mission statement and both should be referred to frequently. They should have the approval of the president so in cases like this you should easily know if you are adherring to the strategic plan and leading your department within the parameters set up by that plan and your own mission statement. You must also have and adhere to your budget. If so, it would be difficult to fire you. It is clear Buning had a number of problems. He had coaches upset with him and he had staff quitting for whatever reason. Things weren't getting done as evidenced by the gameday issues for FB referred to in a different post. To blame his demise on the "good old boys" would be a cop-out. I have been associated with UND athletics in some form or another for 37 years. I am not sure who the "good old boys" are but in most situations it is not us and it is the reason that things occur to others when we don't agree or understand. To some it is why Gino or Roger Thomas were hired and to others it is why they moved on. UND, over the years, has done a pretty good job of isolating employees from the whims of alumni and the booster groups. When you have employees, volunteers, alumni, coaches and eventually your supervisors lose faith in you then maybe you haven't sone as well as you should have. This seems to be the case and not the "good old boys". What should have occured was Kupchella should have called Buning in and let him know if he was disatisfied and was going to make a change and then negotiated an end to the relationship. It should have occured before the school year started. I know he looks to Harmeson as his right hand man, and relies and his recommendations but in the end the President needs to handle the dismissal of an AD. I also do not know what Harmeson knows nor the details of the Leave of Absence. In Mn. you cannot dilvulge reasons for the laeve of absence in many cases and with Harmeson being an attorney, I suspect he knows that. I am still puzzled at the release of the survey info but I assume it wasn't protected under the privacy act. Kupchella and Harmeson need to negotiate whatever buyout they need to do and bring this to closure ASAP. That could be what they are trying to do and are using the LOA to get this done but it seems it may have been prudent to have negotiated something this summer and made a quick and clean end to the issue. Lastly, I agree with our AC friends this has nothing to do with them or their own personel issues over the years.

You are correct. NDSU and George Ellis have nothing to do with this.

The Alumnus was not an employee. He volunteered to assist the D1 move and his role was to advise Persident Kupchella and to raise money for the move which I understand he has done very well with. Buning did not answer to this individual. If I didn't like his actions or interactions I would have told him we need to make an appointment with the president to clarify everyone's roles so there would be no miscommunication. You are correct in that if Buning was to be fired it should have been done earlier.

He was there because he coached the older guys on the 1979 team when he was a grad asst. He was also there because of his loyalty to Gene Murphy the 1979 team's head coach and one of the most respected and well liked coaches in any sport in UND history. He was there because he is and always will be a very important part of the UND family and a first class guy. That brings me to a point that I think a lot of people on need to understand. If we are going to make th D1 move we need to start paying attention to some of the things that go with being a D1 program. You don't have an announcer at your games who keeps making mistakes as to whether or not the running back is Dressler , Chappell or a variation of both (Ryan Dressler). Your announcer does not forget to introduce the Hall of Fame Team's head coach (who left his wheelchair and used a cane to walk out on to the field with his team only to be forgotten by the announcer and then only as an after thought the announcer mumbled something about Coach Murphy that most people couldn't understand. You also need to have an announcer who makes sure if you are going to announce Chappell broke the school record with 306 rushing yards you do so so the fans can hear and understand what he is saying. If the best you can do is holler "OK Sioux Fans on your feet its third and 3", you as an announcer need to upgrade before the next home game or move on. That was pathetic and embarrassing. The announcer also forgot to intrduce the family of one of the other FB coaches from the 1979 team the late Don Stoner's family. Your work as an announcer at a colleg FB game at UND starts the week before the game learning how to pronounce the names and then make sure all special events and announcements are clear. That didn't get done.

no

Chapman's problems aren't with UND or with Kupchella. His problems are that he doesn't understand he answers to the Chancellor. I believe he has pushed that issue to the limit and even Paulsen and Andrews have told him to toe the line. Getting Clayburgh off of the state board, although she was from Grand Forks, hurts him rather than helps him. She didn't like Kupchella and she was really liked Chapman. the new make up of the board will not tolerate the crap the board has tolerated from him in the past and I believe he has been told that. Chapman could have acheived everything he has without creating the conflict between himself and the 3 previous Chancellors. Paulsen, Andrews and Clayburgh were very instrumental in allowing the controversy which should have been dealt with the first time Chapman had problems with Isaac and then again with Potts and then again with Dunn. The new guy doesn't want conflict and unless Chapman creates a new problem there should be no more issues. Chapman gets most of the credit that should go to the staff and NDSU community. He has done a number of good things for them but most would have happened without him. It wouldn't have happened without the work of Inniger and his staff, the Fargo City council and the support for their athletics they get from the state and community as well as the research dollars they get both from the hard work of their faculty and the N.Dak. congressional team of Dorgan, Conrad and Pomeroy. What he does very well is he gets out and around campus and Fargo and meets and greets the right people. That is his job and he does it very well. Those are his strengths. His major weakness is his lack of integrity and problems with lack of honesty when dealing with the board and in the past with the Attorney General. His ego is the only thing I know of bigger than his ears and that I believe is a higher priority to him than NDSU.

It would be great for the athletes and for Northwood if UND's athletic Dept. would bus down the FB and hockey teams for a day to help with the cleanup. I hope the UND student body is willing to go down and help out if they are needed. Student senate should arrange for coordination with Red Cross or Salvation Army to see if they could be of help.

Weston was a pretty darn good receiver even his freshman year. He was very gradually worked into the scheme and he has improved every year but he was pretty darn good from the day he walked on campus.

$12 for youth is too much. They should be able to sell them for $5. You want kids to go and make a parnet bring the kdi along. Very few if any UND games can't accomodate 2000 kids at $5 per kid.

That is a good guess.

Heard there is a good chance another home game is close to being finalized. Good team from out east.

You are correct. You may also add UND to the same list. It will be a while for both schools but, that is the goal of the guy at UND who is spearheading the D1AA move. You can bet NDSU would have the same aspirations. One step at a time though.

Military leadership of all places requires the understanding that everyday you get up, you go to work with the idea that you take care of your soldiers and do whatever it takes to position them for success. If you take care of your soldiers they will not only successfully complete the mission, they will in turn take care of you. In the military, maybe more so than other professions, each of your soldiers needs to be ready to assume the role of leader and to assume the role of their immediate superiors. That is one of the reasons the US military has such an excellent record of success. If an athletic director goes to work everyday with the idea that he needs to serve his subordinates in such a way as to position them for success, and then recognize those who work for him or her as the reason for those successes, that AD will do well. He needs to figure out his staff strengths and weaknesses then provide those folks with the necessary resources to get the job done. If you can't allow those with the ability to do their jobs without micromanaging and you don't have very clear lines of communication so they understand their roles and their missions, you have set yourself and your oganization up for less than optimal success or worse yet, ossible failure. Without commenting on Mr. Buning, his Army background should have provided ample training and experience to avoid the present problems he is alleged to have. Your comment that "coming from an Army background I can understand where Mr. Buning may need to work on this aspect of his leadership style" would lead me to think you may not have any military experience outside of the movies or that if you were in the military, you did not have good leadership. I am not meaning to criticize, but too many people make the mistake of thinking military leadership is simply odering people around because you outrank them. Military leadership is similar to leadership elsewhere. Those leaders are followed out of respect from their suborinates. The stakes happen to be a lot higher than winning hockey games or football games or championships and for some there is no next season.

These are good numbers but don't forget who was doing the fund raising and started the Fighting Sioux club which not only was the key to the increased fundraising but also the Fighting Sioux club increased the season ticket holders in FB, WBB, MBB. I am not sure about hockey becaude i think hockey was either sold out or near sold out. It was a team effort and Rob Bollinger was a very important part of these improvements to all sports not just FB.

D1Fargo you have a point. Both of these guys were criticised by their boss for how both schools did not comply with the strategy the presidents were supposed to use in delaing with the legislature. I understand why Chapman and his staff are doing things the way they are and why the Med School Dean tried to do what he did. They are both trying to get more for their institutions. (I think the Med School dean and Chapman are similar by the way). Both Chapman and Kupchella deserved to have these problems addressed in their respective evaluations. I believe there is a big difference in how Chapman reacted to his crticism and how Kupchella did. That is what I think will keep Chapman in trouble with his boss whomever it is. None of this has anything to do with hatred toward NDSU. I just think when the same person keeps getting in trouble with the boss and the boss changes and the same subordinate still gets in trouble then maybe it isn't the boss.

I doubt you will understand the difference. I believe it was the Dean of the Med School rather than Kupcella himself who was operating outside of the agreeed upon process. I wouldn't know if what he was doing was with Kupchella's blessing or not. When the Chancellor told him to take care of it he did. Chapman's biggest problem isn't whether he is trying to get more outside of the agreed upon process. When the chancellor's told him to take care of it he not only didn't, but insists he doesn't have to and what he is doing is what is best for his institution. He has a point, but the State of North Dakota has set up a system that at this time has decided that is not how things will be done. The issue most are critical of is that he is having problems dealing with his supervisor and it doesn't seem to make a difference who it is. Both Potts and Dunn are having the same problems with him I will predict the new chancellor will also have problem with Chapman. Paulsen enables the behavior. The pattern of his behavior continues with how he deals with the Fargo Dome Authority and his temper and unprofessional outbursts. I don't have a problem with him trying to get more money outside of the legislature, I have a problem with his difficulty telling the truth and his difficulty working for and with others. Kupchella doesn't seem to have that problem. The word is that he is respected by his peers and that he can be trusted. Chapman does not enjoy the same respect and trust out side of the Fargo NDSU people. If Kupchella was continually having problems with his boss, and others and was in trouble with the Attorney General, I think you would see alot more criticism of him here and elsewhere. The criticism and mistrust of Chapman is not unique to this forum, nor is the respect and trust for Kupcella. It is too bad because with some mentoring, Chapman might be the best in your history. Paulsen would serve the people of the state of N.Dak. best by mentoring ratherr thann enabling.

Drew Dagget finished 4th in the 110 hurdles and the high jump. His 800m relay team also placed 4th. He is the State Champ in the 300m hurdles with an excellent time of 38.87 sec. He almost single handedly placed 4th in the Class A meet. He is a horse and should be a hell of a player for the Sioux. The Gophers missed on this kid. Coach Lennon was a big reason he will be a Sioux instead of a Bison.

You obviously don't know Coach Lennon nor the Alumni or Boosters. Here are a couple of facts. Dale didn't persue this job they contacted him. He was offered the job and turned it down. He didn't need anything from the Alumni or boosters he has full support. He wasn't looking for anything. If you know the guy you would know he wouldn't use this as a ploy for what he might want. He stayed at UND out of loyalty to the kids and to UND football. HE has had chances to move to other D1AA jobs in the past and will have more chances in the future.

Well said.

There is pressure. Hopefully you won't see it. No reason to air dirty laundry in public but I guess this is a public forum. As I mentioned in another post, I was just told by a very reliable source Dale is staying. Someone either needs to start mentoring Buning or move him along.

I was just told by a very reliable source Dale is staying. Had he left it would have been a disaster for UND FB, and would ahve hurt the D1 move and UND athletics overall. The Buning problem needs to be taken care of. There are not a lot of people who have the integrity of Dale Lennon who will put his loyalty to his kids and alma mater ahead of personal gain.