UND Fan

What do your good ol' boys say about when other assistants will be named?

I did spell my coffee - priceless!!!

I don't know names but there are to be 10-12 in this weekend.

Just made a lot of updates to Wiki but have no idea if all of this is "old news" or not. There is supposed to be a JC OT viviting this weekend: Jerhen Ertel, 6'6", 280, Bagdad (Glendale JC), AZ (2 Star - Scout) Has offers from GA St, IN St & S UT

Why don't you put it to rest for now - feel free to do an "I told you so" a couple of years from now if appropriate. This is getting kind of old!

An excellent 7th post, #84!! Welcome to the board!

I would have agreed with you that 5 or 6 wins were quite possible but finding DBs that can play (and play rather well) right away will be a challenge! As we have learned, you need to have some talent and depth back there and, as of today, we have neither.

The attachment also noted that we have offered a PK, Reid Tauberheim, Farmington, MN

SU will sure have some IL recruiting contacts: North Dakota State: Mike McFeely reports that Chris Klieman is likely to name Tim Polasek (Northern Illinois) offensive coordinator and Matt Entz (Western Illinois) defensive coordinator and that Randy Hedberg (Southern Illinois) could be the new quarterbacks coach. We have not confirmed...

As always, thanks for your help in tracking all this activity!

Agree - his teams played great defense. Each player needed to do so or they would see very little game time!

Very nice size and speed (6'1", 195, 4.4) but it is interesting that he was neither 1st or 2nd team all-conference - especially considering three other DBs from Eastern AZ JC did make the 2nd team. Very interesting that he is visiting SIU this weekend. He has offers from SIU, Savannah St & NM St

I updated Wiki with quite a bit of new info yesterday but there really isn't anything going on other than prospects continuing to make decisions. For the most part, I could probably trash the current Wiki and start over with the activity of the new staff. I am sure much of what I have is no longer valid.

Which "him" are you referring to? Who was eliminated?

If someone other than Jones makes the "real" decision regarding substitutions, that is amazing - and very concerning!

In my book, either way it is coaching. Players need to be taught how to play good defense and, if a player (or many players), chooses not to work hard on the defensive end of the court, they should be sitting at the end of the bench!!

Kyle “Bubba” Schweigert will be formally introduced as the 26th head coach in UND history at a press conference on Friday, Dec. 27 at 10 a.m. at the Alerus Center. Watch the press conference for free live on UND Insider. UNDsports.com will post the press conference and interviews following the event for on-demand viewing.

Yes

I have heard from a reliable source that we will be very pleased with the staff Bubba will announce over the next few days

i fully agree but... it is a lot more of a challenge when our guys under the basket are 6'3" and theirs are 6'8"! We just don't have any size (height or strength). That said, I think the same statement could be made even if our bigger guys were healthy!

I am aware of Bubba making that comment but it was a few years ago - I don't know if it continues to apply today.

The Betty was to have about 4,000 permanent seats but it was cut back due to budget constraints at pretty much the last minute. Too bad that happened - a 4,000 seat venue would have been ideal!

Some observations regarding the frustrations we all have regarding how long it is taking to name a new HC…. I will preface this by saying I am as (or more) concerned as anyone else about how long this is taking. I am one who almost gets more excited about winning a recruiting battle than winning a game. I am the guy who posts all the recruiting updates on Wiki and have followed UND recruiting efforts in most sports for many, many years. Our loss of players and what will ultimately be a poor recruiting class is very concerning and disappointing. These are observations – some of which may or may not be applicable in this situation. I don’t really care to “debate” any of these thoughts. Replacement List – I have no doubts that Faison had a list of potential replacements long before Muss was let go. He simply isn’t so naïve that he wouldn’t start thinking about a replacement until after the firing and then wait until after all the applications are in to start working on this. – We may never learn the “real story” but I bet a coach or two that had initially expressed interest in the job and then changed their minds. I will list some reasons why some talented coaches would not be interested below. The Process – We all agree that the hiring process, as dictated by those outside the athletic department, is ludicrous and must be changed. – I agree with most that it certainly appears that, despite the process, a replacement should have been named a few days ago – before current players left for the holiday break. National Search – It is a given that, unless it is a likelihood that an assistant will be promoted, every program states there will be a national search for a replacement so making the statement is not unique. – I would guess that there was a national search – it simply didn’t result in a candidate either qualified or interested in the job. – I have probably hired a few hundred people in my business career and often felt I would have a bunch of talented candidates to choose from. At times, I have been surprised and disappointed that, for one reason or another, the pool of applicants is not what I expected. I, then, hired someone that didn’t quite have the background/experience that I had hoped for. In many of these cases, the person I hired did an outstanding job for the company. Challenges in Finding an Interested Candidate (not necessarily in order of importance) – While the salary available has increased, it was likely still not enough to lure a “name” coach that would excite all of us. I wish we could offer more but, like in your household or in your business, there is a limited budget to work with – whether we like it or not. The budget available for assistants may also have been a concern. – The IPF will be a great tool for recruiting and development of the team but, unless you really understand the heritage of the program, is the job really that appealing due to the state it is in? Probably not. – UND’s reputation of being a hockey school with FB coming in a distant second. – Does a coach who hasn’t lived in a most northerly climate really want to move his family to North Dakota? – If you think you have the credentials to be offered a HC job in the near future and you are not from the area, is this truly a desirable, sexy job? Probably not! Recruiting (I will preface this by saying that SU certainly knows how to overcome these challenges. Many of these issues have been candidly confirmed by coaches that we have had – in most sports at UND) – Like it or not, it is difficult to recruit players to the remoteness and climate of North Dakota. – Coaches must have a concern about being able to land the best prospects in ND/MN/WS as SU will likely get them – for at least the next few years until our program starts to turn the corner. – While some upper Midwest players may be excited about playing in the Big Sky, many (along with their parents and girlfriends) prefer to play at a school in the Midwest where relatives/friends can more easily see many of their games. Parents, etc. living in MN, NE, IA are able to drive to most MVC games while parents of UND players would only be able to drive to games in GF – and in many cases, it is a long drive to GF. – Budget concerns – many of the better FCS schools don’t need to fly in as most of their recruits for visits. The lack of substantial, relatively nearby population is an issue. Just compare ourselves to SDSU. They have many times the number of prospects within 200-300 miles than we do (the Cities, Nebraska, Iowa, etc.). Prospective coaches may be concerned whether they have the necessary budget to successfully recruit against our competition where many recruits can drive to campus. Bottom line – despite all of our (me included) excitement about the potential of bringing in a “name” HC, doing so was likely much more difficult than anticipated. That said, this has taken too long! However, we are where we are and we need to support the new coach rather than debate the decision that was made. I am one of the offenders but this board has become so negative that any potential recruit taking a look here will be turned off – and they (and current players) do read what is posted here. Based on the above, I have come full circle and now think that either Bubba or Deboer would be a great choice Let’s get excited about the future, write checks to help the effort (if able to do so) and move forward.

There have been others as well: OL Bailey to ASU DE Vega to IL St

Thanks for your very insightful first post!!!! Any other words of wisdom for us?