UND Fan

Obviously, no one listened to my little lecture of an hour or so ago. Acutally, I don't have a big problem with that - it is cool that so many of us care so much about our hockey program. As a couple of you have noted, this may not be official. We might learn that a national search will still happen - I would endorse that. As I said earlier, I think the best candidate is Sandy. Also, I made the statement I hoped Johnson would be the new assistant. I had no idea he was making that kind of $ in Lincoln. Unless he really wanted to get into college coaching and/or get back to GF, the paycheck probably would be much better in Lincoln. Bottom line - once a decision is made, we should suck it up and support whoever the coach will be. Outspoken fans in GF and around the country badmouthing our decision can only put a negative light on our great program. Enough lecturing.....

Guys - we seem to be getting awfully paranoid about this. I care about UND hockey as much as anyone else but ...... Regarding hockey, UND has made tons a correct decisions in recent years. I have no doubt that this was another correct one. With Blais endorsing Hakstol and indicating he felt a fairly quick decision was important, that is good enough for me! I would guess there may have been more reasons for the quick decision than just the recruiting issue. It could have been an effort to assure current recruits as well as Bochenski, Greene, Stafford felt comfortable NOW as to who the coach would be. We certainly wouldn't want any of them jumping ship in the next six weeks while the coaching job was in limbo! If I "waved the wand", Sandy would be our new coach but I have full faith that the right decision was made. Let's stop second-guessing and start talking about who the new assistant will be. My money is on Johnson.

We haven't talked about Men's BB in a while. An update: The not-so-good (maybe): Aaron Austin won't be back next year. He has continued to experience some serious personal problems. Even if he magically had them behind him, he would not be eligible. Mike Gutter will not be back. He didn't accept the challenge of going to college and is back in Milwaukee. Probably not going to go back to college at all - what a waste of talent! The real talented JC kid from Ohio that we had hoped to get, didn't make the grades and will enroll at a NAIA school in WV. The good: The injuries to Parks, Nobles and Doyle all are healing quite well. Nobles has been able to go full tilt for some time and the other two have recently been cleared to play. There will an announcement shortly regarding the signing of two guards, one a HSer out of southern MN and a talented JUCO player from IL who played in Nebraska last year. The JUCO player appears to be quite good - averaged 20 or so last year. All three of the high school recruits: Harkins, Seckar-Anderson and the kid to be announced will all redshirt next year. With Gutter gone, we have the $ to bring in another kid and there are a couple pretty good ones out there. If we got another bigger kid who would contribute, they may redshirt Stoute and give him another year to develop. They wish that he had more than one year left - he has a great deal of untapped talent. For those of you who have exchanged e-mail with me regarding the program in the past, feel free to send me a note. There may be a couple of other items of interest to Sioux BB fans.

I had understood something was going on like this with one or more of the Rabbits basketball players. Will there be more arrests coming?

updm002 - Has something finally hit the press? What is the basis for your comments?

Sioux Goo - give us an example of two of the conflict between DB and TB. I am not questioning your comments but .... 1) Unless DB was way off base in his positions, why wouldn't someone have backed him up? 2) Dean has always been very outspoken, had he left just to prove a point, I think he would have at least hinted that there had been some conflict with the REA.

A press conference is scheduled for Saturday at 11:00 with Blais, Roger and Hakstol (the interim head coach) in attendance. It will be interesting if they will introduce Hakstol as the new Head Coach at that time.

Schmitzzz - I was going to ask the same question.....

Do we know for sure that the Admin didn't know he was leaving? Whether Dean and Roger were having some problems or not, Dean should have been classy enough to inform Roger. It would have been for the benefit of the program for Admin to know to start making some decisions. I am sure Dean still cares about the program!

Hennesey is quite sure Hakstol will get the job. If I understood him correctly, he also said that he thought Bochenski would not be back!!.

NDHockey - thanks for your explanation. Again, the good news is that there are many different prospects for this job and all would likely be excellent!

Jloos - "Gino leaving on good terms!!" I don't think you are remembering that situation correctly! I agree with your point but not that statement.

NDHockey - I am curious why do you say Sandelin is overrated. He did a fine job as an assistant for us and has certainly had great success in Duluth in short period of time. It could be debateable whether he should be at the top of the list but please explain the basis for your "overrated" comment.

We got some good news in Fosston's Kayla Baagason commiting to UND for the 2005-6 season. She apparently is very good. It would be great of Kimbrough would make the same decision!

WOW - I guess it wasn't just a rumor this time. The good news is that there are many great candidates with ties ot UND. Sandelin has to be the front-runner with Steve Johnson not too far behind, then Eades, Hakstol, Berry..... I really don't think this will have a huge effect on our program. Dean has a great reputation which I am sure influenced some recruits but the reputation of the program, the facilities and a talented new coach will do be enough to keep the program rocking!!

But many of the boards also have Blais as the Associate Head Coach behind Gallant. I would be very surprised if Dean would make the move without being THE head coach along with a great deal of authority.

I am sure the costs related to the administration of the FSC are assigned to the Athletic Department: salaries/benefits & travel for a couple of people, printing, mailing, pre-game functions, etc. For almost $1.5 million in revenue, $130,000 in expenses seems appropriate.

Sicakota - that was a very interesting post. Where did you find it? I am sure there have been meetings of this committee since last September. I'm curious what they may have talked about.

As I mentioned earlier, I certainly hope that they do not attempt to refurbish the old REA. The price tag to simply repair the roof and other structural problems totaled over a million $. I suppose some of those dollars would be saved by a complete rehab but the cost would be a few million. It would have to be expanded in at least one direction to make it the size necessary for various track event or to have a decent sized FB practice area. With much of the internal structure being concrete, a rehab would be difficult. It would be much better to knock it down and build the type of facility we need!

I do know that there are some serious discussions going on about this at UND but have no idea if or how soon something may happen.

Sicakota - I absolutely agree with your point. We have been blessed in recent years with the Alerus, REA and now the Betty - all at little or no cost to UND. All are first class facilities that add a great deal to the community, the university and to our athletic programs. There is way too much second-guessing and whining going on about various aspects of these buildings - types of seating, where the students sit, why there needs to be a $500,000 fund raising effort to finish the Betty off right, etc. We should all feel very fortunate and stay away from the whining. My question of a couple of days ago was not meant to create controversy - I was just asking the question as to how many people the Betty will seat for BB - hoping that it was 4,000 rather than 3,300. Despite these great "game" facilities, we need to figure out how we can fund an indoor practice facility for FB, BB and track. We are missing out on some very good track athletes who would like to get their education at UND but don't attend due to our poor indoor practice and meet facility. Some of these athletes also play other sports, primarily FB. Once we get such a facility (and the answer is not rehabbing the old REA), we will truly have outstanding facilities in all areas. Recruiting should be much easier, practice preparations much better - with the overall results being more wins, more spectators, more excitement. Just what we all want!!!

I would think that UMD will become a major rival quite quickly - already a rival in hockey, the two northernmost schools in the NCC, they are already quite good in FB and both M & W BB, we often go head-to-head with them in recruiting, etc.

Huskies - I am a UND alum and supporter living in Florida. I have been to the Ralph only a couple of times. I am curious about your comments regarding "more spacious seating". Please explain - are the seats not wide enough, not enough room between rows, etc.

It does appear the Dressler may have a real impact at UND. He racked up a lot of yards for an outmanned ND team against Montana last weekend. His speed ranks right up there with the best in the surrounding states (their top two times at their respective state meets noted): Dressler 100 10.66 (MN 10.49, 10.58), (WS 10.68, 11.07), (SD 10.74, 10.80), (MT 11.01, 11.03) Dressler 200 21.83 (MN 21:09, 21.11), (WS 21.44, 21.98), (SD 22.56, 22.60), (MT 22.15, 22.54) Dressler 400 48.48 (MN 48.61, 48.82), (WS 48.52, 48.80), (SD 49.30, 49.50), (MT 49.36, 49.54) He would have finished in the top five in both the 100 and 200 in MN. I fully realize that all these state track meets were not run under identical conditions so we are not comparing "apples to apples". In fact, I believe the Montana meet was run under some lousy conditions. I also acknowledge that some of these stats may not be 100% accurate but the fact remains, Dressler is pretty damn quick!

I do know that there was a great deal of discussion about the capacity issue before they announced the Betty would be built. It was first proposed that the number would be 3,200. Many, including myself, felt that number was too low. I know many fans and boosters, including Coach Glas, was pleased that the capacity was raised to 4,000. I will try to find out what the real story is.