iramurphy

What???? Where do you come up with that? Good find and a nice addition but more highly sought after by whom? Am I missing something here?

Zach Muckenhirn is with Orioles AA team. Had been invited to spring training this spring.

I don’t think it works that way. The donor may mandate a domed facility but who would UND’s mandate go to??? You are correct in stating a domed stadium would be a priority for long term baseball success.

Frankly I couldn’t care less about their interest. I care even less what their fans think. He is an outstanding athlete who our coaches wanted badly and they see a great future for him at UND. I also prefer not to hear a regular update on what their fans think.

Because too many people forget how important the off line is regardless of who the RB is. JJ if he stays healthy, has the ability to be an All American if our oline plays well. I agree Gordon right now is right behind him. Two very good backs. How they use the other backs, when and where will depend on the oline and our off scheme. We also need to remember our receivers block well. A lot of teams don’t have that advantage. Our TE’s have also blocked well but it will be interesting to see how we use our TE’s this year.

The President will need to discuss the agreement but needs to be more diplomatic. On paper this agreement, many years later, doesn’t seem to make sense. As an investment to obtain well over a million dollars for UND, it does. I try to remember donors don’t owe the recipient anything and often like the subsequent perks. When Ralph made his donation he stated was remained after the arena was built was to be used to support UND athletics. We all need to focus on the big picture and positioning ourselves for long term success. Some people forget Clifford and Strinden were key figures in Ralph’s donation and plans. We need to aggressively move toward finding the key donors for Women’s athletics, as well as FB and MBB without having to wait for a new contract. It will take donors with a net worth of a lot more than 3-5 million but it will also take 5,000 people to up their annual donation to $1,000 or more per year. UND alumni office and coaches work very hard to make that happen.

I wouldn’t want to defund hockey. Former hockey guy stepped up and made a donation which should keep hockey well funded for the foreseeable future. We may need to tweak the contract so all FB,VB, MBB,WBB revenues primarily benefit the respective sports those revenues come from if any of those revenues are directed elsewhere. Chaves challenge is to find the boosters to provide the resources to provide financial stability to our other sports. That means increasing revenues to allow us to increase our coaches salaries across the board. What’s good for hockey is good for our other sports and vice versa. We also need to move beyond the name/logo fiasco.

Hockey doesn’t dictate BB salaries. Chaves does. Lots of work to be done.

Think they could remember the plays?

Outstanding goalie with coaching experience. Also one of the brighter players to go through the program. College coaching experience. A smart goalie, like a QB or middle LB in FB or point guard in BB should be communicating and guiding his teammates at his end of the ice. He has to be able to communicate and lead if he is one of the best. As an assistant you better be paying attention to all positions and what the team schemes are offensively and defensively and what works and doesn’t work on PP and PK. If you play college hockey and don’t understand what each position player is supposed to be doing on each shift and during every situation, then you aren’t going to develop to your full potential. I would expect he has been developing these abilities and his leadership abilities. At this level it is no longer something as stupid as 30 min “bag skate”. I predict he will do a great job and someday be a head coach if that is his passion.

Exactly. How anyone can fairly judge RB’s until we have a good off line is beyond me. Santiago, Oliviera, Johanneson, Gordon, McKinney are all decent RBs. Santiago and Oliviera were excellent. Put these guys behind a good off line and an innovative well balanced scheme and I think we would be tough to stop. The QB situation is also tough to judge without a good off line. I think we have been adequate all things considered. We all tend to look at wins and losses but until we field a complete team I don’t know of many RBs or QBs who could put our past teams on their backs and will us to win. Hopefully our off lines will develop into the strength of our program. A good off line can make an average RB very good but it’s tough for an outstanding RB to make a below average off line good or great. Hunting for hogs is difficult and not an exact science because it takes kids smart enough to understand their schemes with the passion for greatness rewarded with little more than the self satisfaction of dominating the guys on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

Your “obsession” should be with your family and friends. What this place used to be is about the people. Still is. The athletes never paid much attention to the name nor the logos until the PC folks, activists, and NCAA took away the logo. “what used to be” was that students, and fans supported our teams. The name and logo was no more important than the new one. The traditions and history of our athletic teams over the years has little if anything to do with the names and logos. Only an ignorant moron thinks there is anything we can do to bring back the former name and logo. I’m not sure how educated people don’t realize how the failure to move on after all of these years only harms the University and our athletic teams. Pick a name and logo and move on. Focus on increasing revenue and fan support and winning.

Baloney! These two kids were 2 of the best in the world in their sport. If you can’t understand where they were coming from then I can’t help you. Their hockey program was as important to them as the men’s program was to any of our former players or coaches. When they transferred here they increased the chance UND women’s hockey would become a national power. They felt the same as a men’s player would have had the men’s program been shut down with little notice to them and lack of communication. They deserve our respect and we should cut them some slack over their anger.

A thorough back ground check followed by contacting references for anyone being seriously considered before you bring them in for an interview. There is no reason to spend resources to interview a candidate to only learn later you can't shouldn't hire the candidate. We should have learned something from the Shirvani fiasco. Anyone who "Googled" him before the interview would have seen the red flags.

That ship has sailed. We have a new logo and brand. It is what it is , who cares? We need to focus on what is best for the University, our students and our athletic programs.

We need the guys who are always talking about how much money they make to fess up. Anyone who thinks they give enough to influence hiring and firing should easily cover the needed increases in salaries for coaches in all sports. That’s what occurs at other schools. If there are 8-10 of them it’s only another $50-60 grand per year.

That would be great if only they had that kind of money.

There was nothing disappointing in their draft results. Stick goes to a team where he can learn under one of the top QB’s in the league. He is also a great guy. He is athletic enough to make the team and maybe develop into a starter some day. The guys who sign as free agents get about the same deal as the 6th and 7th rounders. The Robbins deal isn’t going to influence who is drafted. You do realize teams draft players who light up the drug test at the combine and draft guys who are arrested for theft/assault/drugs. They aren’t worried about someone’s teammates.

Adam Thielen didn’t pay attention to people who said this. Bottom line is there are so many variables. It takes talent, desire, work ethic and perseverance. In addition, couple that with being in the right place at the right time and you have a shot. Players need to focus on what they can control and ignore the percentages.

Not one of the best thoughts. UND didn’t have a “prick attitude “. There is such a difference between tough, physical, hockey and being a prick. I hope that is what you meant. Our successful teams were a result of talent, teamwork and hard work. We have had some jackasses over the years but I don’t believe our success has ever been dependent upon players being a jerk. That just gets us someone in the box. Some of our toughest most physical players have been nice guys. I don’t need to watch some immature “prick” give the other team an advantage by doing something stupid.

Nope. I used it as an analogy. I am embarrassed that UND fans have made some of the comments they have made about the twins. We should be able to separate the fact that we had to drop women’s hockey from the anger that those most directly affected would express. I compared a group with a passion for something they thought important and having trouble letting go (women’s hockey), with another group who have a passion for something they think is important (name/logo). I thought it would make it easier to understand. I guess I thought wrong. I guess with all of their dedication to women’s hockey I would have cut them some slack.

I’m not criticizing the decision to cut women’s hockey. I happen to understand why 2 former players disagreed with the decision and were pissed. Many people making critical remarks about the twins are the same people who can’t move past the nickname issue. We have less of chance to bring back the old name than we do bringing back women’s hockey. (No chance for either). I am not advocating we bring back a sport we can’t afford. I can understand that without having to rag on the twins.

Keep in mind how many people on this site had a fit because we had to change the name and logo. They still haven't gotten over it, nor accepted the fact that the name is gone and won't be back. It doesn't matter that the continued divisiveness over the former name and logo hurts the University and our athletic department, including hockey. They also don't understand the name and logo aren't that important to winning and maintaining the best hockey team in the country. That is more futile than two alumni hockey players fighting for the sport they love. The twins have dealt with the loss of the team they had put their heart and soul into trying to win a national title. To the twins, and to other women, their passion for their sport is just as strong as ours is for Men's hockey, however, they actually have more "skin in the game". They didn't get to sit on their collective butts, drink beer and criticize players and coaches. They were too busy working their tails off to be two of the best at their sport in the entire world. They should also be given credit for transferring back to UND to try and bolster the program when they could have stayed at Minnesota and vied for a national championship every year. Most of us wouldn't have done that. They are great ambassadors for women's hockey at every level and for women's health. They are a credit to Grand Forks, to the University of North Dakota and to our country. They aren't going to be able to save women's hockey and unless we get a wealthy donor to foot the bill, it isn't coming back. The fact they tried as hard as they did to save Women's hockey is a credit to them. Maybe not realistic but if you have worked as hard as they have, sacrificed as much as they did, for the sport they love you might just cut them some slack.

Yup. Hopefully can tie up 2 blockers. Plugs up the middle and keeps the extra blocker off of the LB. in addition if he’s quick can disrupt off tackle run game and factor into the pass rush. I still like the versatility of the speed and quickness if they are strong enough. Can give the defense added versatility in their schemes especially attacking the passer. If the big guy is quick with great strength instead of xs fat I’ll take him.

I’m not sure that is the biggest factor. It’s important unless they don’t move well. I will take a 280-290lb guy with great quickness, and great core and upper body strength over a 330lb guy with 30lbs of insulation hanging over his belt.