iramurphy

I agree Kuppy isn't very personable. I agree he has not communicated well with the UND community and that includes GF. I have been to functions with both of them and wouldn't disagree with you. I am not a big fan but he has a reputation for speaking the truth. Chapman has a reputation for making statements that need to be verified. I think Chapman has out hustled Kupchella and is a better politician. He has done a pretty good job for NDSU so far but I wouldn't trust him to do much for any school other than NDSU. Clifford and Loftsgard were not like that. I have no knowlege or criticism of his community involvement but would believe what you say. I believe his meeting attendence at the presidents meetings can be verified. I think he missed another one in Bismarck this week. I would think four of the board members would be supportive of him especially Paulsen who communicates to the board he will control Chapman. I believe the facts are, it is Chapman who controls Paulsen.

Read the posts closer. Most of them are not unjustly critical of anyone. If you think just because UND's coaching staff is a great staff that they never make a mistake, I would respectfully disagree. I think what baffles a lot of people is that there is a guy on the team that many players, former players and even some former coaches think is a better QB. Manke has better numbers and has always performed well. Many people close to the program can't understand why he doesn't get a chance. Belmore had performed well until the last two games. Manke is that good that we should have had him in there when Chris struggled. These are legitimate questions at any level. This website is a vehicle for that discussion without having to meet at your place over a beer in order to have the type of discussion that goes on here. Without the fans and their interest we wouldn't have this discussion. I think there is very little inappropriate criticism of the coaching staff and Belmore. Some of the criticism has also been supportive of Belmore at the same time calling for Manke. I said the same thing this week I said at the start of the season. Both QB's need quality playing time. Manke didn't get it despite the fact that we were 9-0 going into the UNO game. Because of that we are in a pickle now and the staff doesn't seem to have the confidence to put Manke in in a situation where Chris is struggling. I think it is as simple as that and not disloyal to the program, the kids, or the staff. There are a lot of defensive players who want to go to UND because they know they will play. UND will start losing QB's if they are never going to get in the game unless they are the starter. I don't mean mop up duty when we are up by 40 points either.

On a somewhat related topic I was told by someone who knows that Kuppy is respected by the State Board and Potts. They trust him and when he says something, they know he is telling the truth. Not everyone on the Board likes him however. They said the opposite is true about Chapman. He is self centered and self serving and will mistate the facts in order to get whatever he wants. He will screw and other schools including UND and doesn't see any point in helping the other schools out. The other presidents don't care for him because he is trying to dissociate the AC from the other Universities. Chapman frequently skips meetings and sends one of his subordinates instead. He remains aloof from the other presidents. At one of the meetings in Bottineau he flew at state expense to Bottineau for the late afternoon portion of a two day meeting, then rather than stay overnight in the "hick town" he flew back to Fargo for the night. He flew back to Bottineau in the AM for the rest of the meeting. Taxpayers picked up the tab. He uses John Q. Paulsen as his boy and Paulsen (who at times, as a supposed neutral board member refers to NDSU as "we" when discussing issues) does Chapman's bidding. I doubt the Fargo Forum would ever do a story on Chapman's relationship with the other Universities or his use of state funds. On a distantly related topic, there is nothing in the Englestad Arena contract that would cause the Arena to be closed or the contract changed if UND changed the Fighting Sioux name. The Arena is leased to UND for 25 years and then will be deeded to UND. It can happen sooner if the controlling board decides to give it to UND. There are no bombs set to blow it up or arragements made to tear it down if UND changes the Fighting Sioux name.

I know they know about Fulmer and Eidenshink. They take their time and the kids ask if UND is interested in them but DL has some alumni who are very good about babysitting anyone UND is interested in until they finally get on them. We also do so in a manner so that we don't break any NCAA rules. I know Eidenshink told the DL coaches he would like to play at UND and that information was passed to the UND coaches. I assume the Sartell and Rocori kids are on their radar. Fergus Falls has a pretty athletic QB who could be a good free safety.

I agree. Belmore has had trouble hanging on to the ball this year, most of his fumbles recovered by UND. It goes back to getting your number two guy quality playing time in the first half. This late in the year Dale probably needs to show confidence in Belmore, but I agree he needs to get Manke in early if Belmore is not playing well. He should have done it earlier this year and last year too but didn't so I am not very confident he will make the change. I still think Belmore has been much better this year, thatn he was last year. Manke's numbers have been better and he outplayed Chris in both spring games but on paper he isn't as tall and isn't as fast. All he does is win, but you can't win from the bench. The other thing (BinCity mentioned a long time ago) was he is a hell of a holder. There have been a few bad snaps this year that he manged to catch and get down. I believe Jeff Glas would echo that.

Fulmer from Detroit Lakes started the season with a torn cartilage in his knee that had just been scoped then broke his ankle in the second last game of the year. He has a great upside and if UND has a little $$ left over he would be worth a small Scholarship or at least recruit as a walkon. I am not sure he had a good enough year to get a n offer though. He had a great year last year and good year this year despite the injury. Eidenshink from Detroit Lakes had a dominating year. Fans and coaches from the other teams walked away commenting on him. He as been offered a full ride at Stanford to wrestle. NDSU had him in last weekend but I don't know if that was for wrestling, FB or both. He has multiple D1 wrestling offers. DL's coach said he is the best linebacker he has coached. He is very smart, very tough, and very agressive. The DL coach said he would rather play FB in college and would very much like to play at UND. He keeps his weight down for wrestling but would likely play at 230-235lbs. 4 yr starter and also started in the O-Line. Team aptain 2 years. High ACT score and 4.0 student. ( I assume that means he wouldn't get in to the AC because he is overqualified). Rocori has a DE 6' 4" 260lbs, very athletic and quick. He can play at this level if not higher. I think his name is Torres. They had a FB NG 6' 2" 205 who was very good but I am not sure he is big enough to play Dline or fast enough to play FB or LB. He might be but I don't know. Sartell has a 5' 10" 230lbs FB who is very good and reminded me of Wistoff.

I believe he would have been complimentary to Manke and said we are lucky to have two fine quality QB's but Belmore will start and has had a good year and he would be comfortable playing either one and the team has confidence in both of them etc. That would have been the correct answer for the media but I wish one of media types would have asked the question and pushed for an answer. Dale is such a nice guy and still not smooth with the media so I don't think anyone wants to put him on the spot. A previous poster stated it best, what does Manke have to do to get a shot? Good luck to Belmore, I think he will have a good day. I still wish Dale would get Manke some quality time early in every game so he has no doubt what Manke will do for him when the game is on the line. Manke has never let him down. I think mussman is afraid that once Manke gets in, he will be hard to get back out!

I believe that is crap. His HS FB coach said the gophers were recruiting him and it was down to UND or the gophs. Forney is also a very bright kid. I think he wanted to play for the best program in the country so he selected UND.

Points well taken. I think some of the language is going to be a bit colorful but I think the perverbial "F word" should not be used. When I was a student we had a bit of fun with the other teams and the refs. I think the Sioux Crew at FB games have been entertaining but I can't hear what is shouted by individuals. I think the students can do it without me leading the way. (If that happened none of the recruits would come here).

Yup. I recruited for UND for a number of years. Gene Murphy was one of the best and he recruited the Mothers. There are mothers out there who will find the fact that the UND student section is screaming "F--- you Denver" repeatedly is not acceptable and enough to lean toward some other school when all else is equal. I do not think UND is the only school where this has occured and I don't think we will lose a lot of kids but it creates a very negative image of the UND student section when compared to other schools where they actually have coordinated, clever cheers. If we were to allow this to be the norm at UND events, I would be willing to bet a lot that some recruits parent or the recruit will be turned off by it somewhere along the line.

Mom, That doesn't excuse the lack of class shown by the UND fans. It means you are a good Mom. I guarantee you that even though we all have heard the word, there will be some recruit with his parents at a game who will hear it and it may cost us a recruit someday. Why should you have to spend time explaining this unacceptable behavior to your kid at a UND event?? I have always thought UND fans were better than that. It is one thing to tell your kids to be aware of that type of language and they willlikely hear it on the school bus or playground, but come on, these are kids who are supposedly capable of getting a 22 on their ACT. We should expect and demand better. They can use their minds to be more creative and it will be alot more fun for us and for your kids.

I agree. Hockey is so much more fun as a fan when your student section is smart enough to be clever. The F--- you Denver chant is an indication of ignorance. If it continues I would ban them to the rafters. They should be forwarned and then sent home. It shows absolutely no class. I like the band down closer to the ice next to the students. With a little imagination, it should be awesome.

Agreed. Berhns pissed off a lot of people when he ran the score up one year when UND was down. He is a very good coach and he is a very good recruiter. He wasn't ready to be a head coach here and he did not have a great staff. When he left here, he knew that was his biggest mistake and he hasn't made it again. Most of them were NAIA coaches and didn't understand the talent level needed to succeed in the NCC. He has outcoached our guys the last few years and it doesn't sit well with us. Condolences to Pat, Suzie and the family.

Redwing had a good post on the FB thread so I will comment. I saw both games. I have been watching Sioux hockey for 35 yrs. This group of Freshman is very impressive. They will make freshman mistakes but I think they will improve faster and more that the veteran teams. I was suprised at how well Finley moved the puck. He stick handled well and moved pretty well for such a big guy. A year with our conditioning coach and he will be awfully intimidating. Ducan is very quick and very tough. I was impresssed with how well our young forwards went into the corners and played the angles. Toews is going to be quite a talent. You could seee the flashes of brilliance that has everyone so excited. I was impressed with how mature Lee played. He has great vision and directs the power play very well. He also stick handled well and carried the puck through traffic very well. Chorney was very steady and had his first goal. Oshie was so impressive. He is one of the smartest hockey players I have some come into the WCHA in a long time. He outworks the opponents then sets his teamates up with great passing. He seldom goes into the corners and doesn't come out with the puck or kick it to a teamate. He often came away with the puck when the Denver guy got there first. The other thing I was impressed with was that on at least 3 occasions a Denver guy took a run at him and found themselves on their butt. He is a tough kid. I thought Jones looked like a freshman with promise, and Watkins, Kozek and the others looked like very good freshmen. These kids dominated a very good Denver team Friday night and hung with them for most of Saturday night. I wouldn't bet against another trip to the Frozen Four if they improve like they should. I am not a hockey expert but that is what I saw while eating too many of those damn Bavarian Almonds.

Agreed, but even if you as the QB don't understand that snapping the ball with 17 sec left on the play clock when you are trying to run it out may not be best, someone on the sideline should give you a heads up! You can't really change QB's now going in to your last game. The problem is created when you don't let your other QB get anything other than mop-up time in a season where you were 9-0 going into this game averaging over 40 points per game and giving up less than 10 per game. The staff must not have had enough confidence to get your other guy in there and that is too bad. You shouldn't have to wait until this type of situation to find out that your number two guy may be your best QB! However if your philosophy is such that you won't play your #2 during the season while the game is still on the line you don't have the luxury of sending him in to bail out your #1 in these situations. Again, I will still say Belmore has had a good year until the last two games and hadn't done anything to lose the starting job. I have stated I think he is one of the most improved kids on the team Whomever you put in there needs to be given a chance to use your entire playbook to succeed. Whether it was this year, last year, or in the last four years as the previous poster noted, we are awfully conservative offensively, and that puts a lot of pressure on our defense. I think this year we are good enough to dictate what we do offensively rather than crawl into the proverbial shell like we tend to do in these situations. We did the same thing a couple of years ago against these guys and lost a fourth quarter lead. I am not questioning how hard the kids work or try. They gave a good effort yesterday. At least we didn't have as many of the undisciplined penalties as we had against Duluth and Mankato. I think we have a great head coach and a good staff. I am not writing a letter to the paper or calling for anyone's head. That would be stupid. I do think that yesterday was not our coaching staff's brightest hour when we had the ball in the fourth quarter up by 19 however.

This game goes down as one of the worst defeats in UND FB history. It ranks up there with the Sioux loss to the AC in 1972, The Sioux loss to the AC in 1973 and the Sioux loss to Alabama in 1975. All games where UND had more talent and let the game slip away. It may have cost UND the National title in 1972, it cost the conference title in 1973 and it knocked the #1 team in the country out of the playoffs in 1975. This one could cost us the homefield advantage for a number of playoff games this year and if we lose next week could knock us out of the playoffs. We had more talent, but I hate to say it but 'ol Pat B outsmarted us again. This is the reason I said Manke should be getting reps at QB during the season in the first half. If anyone has bothered to look he has completed over 70% of his passes and has no turnovers. He has thrown 3 TDs with no int. usually leading our two's against the other teams ones or twos. He has not turned the ball over. Had he been getting reps during the season in the first half the coaching staff should have had enough confidence to put him in when Belmore is struggling. Let him lead the team and let Belmore start the next game if you insist. The way things are now, it doesn't matter how much Belmore struggles he isn't coming out. We had the same issue last year but at least this year Belmore played well until recently. I am not saying bench Belmore permanantly. If there was a big difference between the two QB's I could understand not putting Manke in. When they are that close you owe it to your defense to put Manke in and get them out of the game safely. I talked to some Redshirt FB players at the hockey game after the game and they said a lot of players think Manke is the better of the two QB's. (So do a number of former coaches and people close to the program). Even if you insist on staying with Belmore, you have to let him do more than run Beatty stretch left on first and second down and either the bubble or short slant on third down. Belmore did not lose this game, the coaching staff did and the team did. The poor clock management was worse than a poor high school team. Whether you have Manke or Belmore in you can't put the shackles on your offense the way they did yesterday. I still think Belmore is one of the most improved kids on the team but he has struggled the last two games. He needs to cover the ball up in a crowd because he has fumbled to much all year. Any other player playing that poorly would be pulled. Pull him, let Manke do his thing, then get Belmore fired up to play again if you think is can't be replaced but don't let the team lose the damn game! It is pretty bad when you need to keep your defense on the field to keep the ball away from your own offense so they don't turn it over. I am wondering if Mussman is intimidated by the idea of Manke at QB. Manke's Dad is as good of offensive FB mind as anyone UND has on their staff! Manke is a coaches kid who has won with a lot less talent although at the HS level. There are a lot of D1 kids whose teams lost to DL because of Manke. If nothing else he would have managed the clock a hell of a lot better and he knows enough to cover the ball with both hands when you are running is a crowd. All he does is win! The defense played their hearts out but the staff needs to put the kids in a better position to win than they did yesterday.

Your 42 year old patient isn't the jack-ass that writes for the Fargo Forum is he?

I couldn't get through until Friday afternoon. I waited 2-5min per call on Wed. and was on hold. On Friday, I got through after waiting 7min. I tried to explain that I couldn't get through Wed. and asked to speak with whomever was in charge. They put me on hold for 18min and no one picked up. I called back (only waited about 35sec.) and they said the supervisor wasn't interested in talking to me and although I did them a favor, a couple of years ago they said I was SOL. We had an awfully small window to order the tcikets and at times long waiting times to get the call through. Might have happened to others.

Went to the game. I didn't think it was as close as the score. O-line didn't show up in the first half, too many sacks. Too many undisciplined penalties on both sides of the ball. Too many were by seniors who should be team leaders. No excuse. They won't get away with sloppy play like that against a good team. Game wasn't sold out but it was a nice day and the visitors side of the field was full with a great following of Sioux fans. Too bad for Bubba because for a school of 10,000 and city that big to not fill the place is pathetic. Their asst AD was in and around Sioux tailgaters learning every thing she could. She was sampling Chili and making sure we had our adult beverages in cups because the campus is "dry". They had Rob Bollinger speak at the Hall of Fame banquet the night before and she said he did a great job. One of their former players said Bubba is connecting with their FB alumni and they are getting on board. Bodes well for thier future. We will need to play better to win out.

Good for Forney. Great player. I am glad he is playing football this fall. There are too many talented athletes convinced by either some idiot or well meaning parent that they should stick to one sport. In Forney's case, he is a hockey player and that's his ticket but he is also a pretty good FB player. Too many other kids miss out on great opportunities to excel in additional sports. It happens to BB players too. I hope Forney commits to UND. His FB coach said two weeks ago it is either UND or the Gophs.

Danny has worn pancakes before, but not often because he usually wasn't up at breakfast time.

Hey Kracker, "Only" $245. Maybe we will turn out to be brothers after all! Wouldn't that be a hoot. I can visualize it already. I don't think we need to spend the $$. We are all brothers and sisters aren't we? You may like some better than others but at the end of the day we are just just a bunch of schmos trying to make it in this world. Maybe we should be helping each other instead of worrying about a college team being called the Sioux. Quick question. When you were in combat did you give a rip about the other guy being American Indian, Irish, black, Phillipino etc. or did you want someone who had your back. Works in the real world to. Just because you are a UND guy there are a lot of folks who would "have your back" and that isn't all bad.

Good point, but to his credit I think he usually would have kept sprinting and makes that play. He should have "felt" that guy and kept rolling to his left. I thought he wasn't quite himself. Three or four of his passes were a bit off mark and the receivers had to make good catches. On the other hand his TD pass to Grossman was perfect. I think overall he may be the most improved player on the team. (I haven't forgotten the backup guy, who buy the way, has a higher completion rate and higher QB efficiency rating). He seems to have confidence and I hope he continues to get better. We might have the two best QB's in the league.

Snowsiouxt person, This particular post has nothing to do with Sioux hockey. The website is not just about Sioux hockey or for that matter Sioux Sports. Judging by the hits on this subject it has generated a lot of interest. I don't see anything in Yttrium's post about being "holier than thou". Your criticism is unfair and unwarrented. It has been entertaining to read Krackers comments from the activists standpoint and then interesting to read the rebuttal from an American Indian who takes a much different view. As someone who years ago was one of the "boys in green" I also would bet there has been much discussion amoung Sioux hcokey players over this issue. I know the Sioux football players have discussed it. If it is a bit too intellectual for you, then simply click your mouse on one of the other subjects. If I can figure that out, so can you.