iramurphy

You left out a very important part of DFS's post. He/she said "UND and the fan" (fans). I am not trying to lobby for Bollinger because I have stated my opinion. To clear up misconceptions of those who have not coached or been part of an athletic department Rob has been functioning as an assisstant AD for years and has been very successful at it. The assistant AD in Fargo with similar duties is Inniger. No one would say he has no experience, yet I read where some posters think that because this position at UND is with the Alumni office, it wouldn't count as AD experience. At the bigger Universities around the country this is a typical duty of one of the assistant AD's. Because a candidate is very good working with people and well liked does not mean they can't make difficult decisions or work with difficult people. The assistant AD's make those decisions all of the time, so all of the candidates should have experience doing just that. I think all four of them do. If folks don't realize the importance of the fans, students and Alumni then I am not sure they understand modern day Intercollegiate athletics. Read the thousands of posts on this site and I would think one might change their mind. People want their opinion to matter and if your AD makes you think your opinion is important then you are much more likely to donate, support the University, cooperate with projects or plans, donate your time or attend athletic events. I respectfully disagree if you meant to say that there are more important things in chosing the AD than the people skills, but I disagree. If you don't have the people skills you won't get people to listen beyond the superficial BS. It isn't the only thing by a long shot, but whether we are looking for a new AD, new coach, new president of our University or a CEO for our company these people skills are of paramount importance.

I would hope not and that doesn't make the atmosphere. The best atmosphere is likely your own arena and it isn't worth debating which is best but I like ours. Other than tounaments, I have only been to Gopher and Duluth games. If you are a Gopher fan you will prefer their atmosphere. UND and the Gophers have better atmosphere than the Dogs but that is just my opinion. Why would anyone give a rat's behind if they stand or sit. It isn't worth having your seats threatened by the president of the university and making National news for foul language is it?? It certainly isn't worth giving up seats to be able to stand. The team has no clue whether the students stand or sit and could care less. They appreciate the cheers and the support but you don't need to stand the whole game to accomplish that do you?

I am confident the students and University can come up with a solution. I still can't get an answer to my question why is it so important to stand the whole game??? Do I understand there is anyone in their right mind who would propose we "rope off seats" so students can stand the whole game? Why would we want to keep people form attending the games? I would think if you gave the students an option of sitting and standing occasionally when it makes sense vs losing those extra tickets, they would want the extra seats. Especially those students who couldn't get seats otherwise.

I assume a UND alumnus maybe. I doubt the UND alumni office. Bottom line... the problem still needs to be clearly defined. Then the groups you mentioned can work on it. I am still wondering... what is the deal with students standing during games?

That is my biggest concern with administration. Who did you submit ideas to and why didn't they follow up? Things tend to be assigned to subordinates. Does the president actually listen to the students? What exactly is his concern? What is the concern of non-students? I firmly believe most of us had a great time at UND and wish the same for the students. If I am sitting next to someone who is foul mouthed I will ask theem politely to clean it up and if that doesn't work tell them to knock it off then have them tossed. I might get my butt kicked someday but we can all help a little. Wouldn't it be wise to clearly define the problem before we try to solve it? I would like to know his specific issues not just "fan behavior". Thanks for your reply.

Great publicity for the school. I don't think UND fan behavior is anything close to what they were taking about at Maryland and the Reddick kid. Maybe I am missing something but I didn't hear anything way out of the ordinary at Sioux games. Maybe it gets more entertaining near the penalty box. I still think Kuppy needs to get closer to the students and hear from them.

Mike Greenwood is not leaving UND according to Mike Greenwood himself. He is doing very well athletically and academically. He has no clue where the rumor came from.

I agree but is there anyway for students to address this? An earlier poster commented that it is the students University. More accurately is that the professors and administrators work for the students and taxpayers. There should be some way to open communication with the president. In my opinion it would be good for him to get out into the dorms, fraternities and sororities and wherever on campus he can meet with students. Tom Clifford did it and it was very effective. He needs to listen to the students. He could take his concerns to them and then consider stting up a more formal forum if he still thinks he has a problem.

It already is hot. Last week, he told one of the kids he knew from a select team he would choose the Sioux over the Gophers at this point in time. He will be a hell of a player and he is only a Jr. Also QB for TRF in FB. They have a very good group of Jrs and Sophs and could very well get by Warroad next year in section 8.

I don't think the "general public" is complaining. I think it is similar to a "small minority" of students causing problems. When all is said and done more is said than done!! I believe Kupchella is referring to the letters or comments he may occasionaly receive but that doesn't mean it is anywhere near the majority. Most fans want to see the game and don't wish to stand. I still haven't had anyone help me understand why the students want to stand the whole game. Standing to yell at the refs or to react to play on the ice I would expect. I believe the new AD, whomever that will be, will work out where the students sit. I know Bollinger understands the importance of students at athletic events. I believe the other candidates do as well. Is the language in the student section a big deal? What is Kuppy referring to? Is there no forum by which thee students can express their opinions on how to solve these issues?

Where did you hear that? He is a hell of a player and will play a lot. He will be an all conference player before he is done for the Sioux and likely an academic all-american. (he is a 4.0 GPA student) and they like him. They play two sets of DB's so he gets a lot of playing time. Why would he give up being a stud and having a good shot at two National Chapionships in the next two years to play for the Jimmies? He had a hell of a spring scrimmage.

I think they have 3 pretty decent candidates. I would prefer Bollinger and I liked Buning. Molde won't be around that long. Any of the four will have the ability to say no. The mistake that Wanless made was that he didn't feel it was his job to raise money and therefore did not ahve a good relationsip with enough Alumni and former athletes. He did some things very well at a difficult time. I liked Roger but he may have been such a nice guy that he had difficulty dealing with the previous REA guy (when that guy wasn't in the back seat of some car in the parking lot with a Bimbo or making off with REA profits) and difficult subordinates. The new AD would be smarter to assign the admin duties to his staff. The leadership duties and team building will be his top priorities and that will include fundraising. He will need to solve the REA dilemma, improve the relationsip with the city and UND students, work with Kupchella and his staff to improve their relationships with students, Alumni, and the regional businesses who support UND. If you are doing a good enough job raising $$$ you won't need to make your teams operate on shoestring budgets and wil be able to reward them at times with an overnight instead of an all night bus trip. Bollinger has raised millions of $$$ and has a strong backing among those who have thick wallets. Buning seems like the type of guy who has the personality to eventually do that. I don't now anything about the other guys. It will be interesting.

I am not positive what you mean. I was in Grand Forks and had heard from a number of people from Grand Forks that Harmeson was making it clear to some of those folks he felt Bollinger didn't have the AD experience that he felt was needed. I was also led to believe that that opinion in view of Harmeson's position as acting AD and search committee member was potential stumbling blocjk to Bollinger. These were people who have been strong UND supporters, not necessarily Bollinger supporters. I do not believe that is appropriate for the committtee members to be voicing these opinions publicly. That belongs at the committee discussions. The public comments are for wags like us who have our own thoughts and opinions. I am not here to lobby. I sent a letter to the appropriate people with my opinion. I have no comments to make about anyone's family and haven't. I wondered if what I had heard was true and other posters seemed to provide evidence that this was so. If I am convinced there is anything in-appropriate I will speak to Harmeson and Kupchella myself. I may know more about Harmeson than you think, but this isn't about him. It is about the AD candidates. I think it is valid to question how committeee members, working for the tax payer, conduct themselves during the course of their job. I wanted to be clear on exactly what his job and title are and was given a nice reference. I believe it is relevant to know someone's background and how they might view UND and UND athletics. If a person went to school here, I believe they are more likely to develop loyalty to the school and athletic programs than if they didn't. I agree it is important to be careful what we say and keep it from getting too personal. I will keep that in mind. Thanks for your thoughts.

Dowzak's birthday is March 1988 so he will only be a senior this coming year. I would think he is big enough physically and whomever gets him may need to promise he can play right away as opposed to playing Jrs for a year. I have no knowledge of what he is thinking and have no inside info other than I know how old he is.