7NationalTitles

All they need is the OK from Kupchella to get it done. If they have his approval, they don't need him to be at the meeting. It may look better if the is there but sometimes the situation calls for immediate action and the action can't be delayed until everyone is in place. I'm sure Kupchella weighed in accordingly.

You're teaching journalism to me? I thought you told me at one time you weren't a journalist? Sorry, I forgot, reporter / member of the media. How can someone who hasn't worked in journalism teach journalistic standards. OK, sorry....to pacify people let's call my source "Deep Throat". There, he's got a name. Now the journalist (I mean reporter or member of the media) in you can go about speculating and writing who Deep Throat is.

The first one.

Maybe I'm stupid, but I don't think journalists (or reporters or members of the media for that matter ) tend to reveal their sources. I'm not a journalist (or reporter or member of the media for that matter) but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night and my understanding is that the rule of thumb for all good "journalists" is to never reveal their sources. If you do, you usually don't have those sources for information in the future. So let's see....I can reveal my sources to you and name names so you'll be satisfied or I can choose to ignore your clamoring for sources and continue to have inside information in the future. Um duh that's a tough one......which one would you do? I know you think Buning is great in your eyes and that is why you choose not to believe any information without "sources". Face the facts, for the most part you are never going to get any revealing of sources and no one should ever reveal their sources to you or anyone else for that matter. You can cry for "sources" all you want because you too realize in the end you won't get any "source" and that makes you feel better because you can go on believing Buning is a great AD and you won't have to face the music that he is in fact not as great as you think he is or will be missed as much as you think he will be. Bottom line, you sleep better at night knowing you haven't put your faith into someone who isn't competent because no one named names for you. But sometimes, you have to take people at their word even if it's not what you want to hear especially in this case since you like Buning (I'm gathering this because you consider he has done a great job and he'll be missed). Too many people know the facts and know the inside information to blow it off as message board rumors. I'm sorry, but I can't help you any more than that. What's the saying..........you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

They probably are the ones who saw him doing push-ups at a football game or saw him give a "rah rah" speech at a booster or other athletic event.......so yeah, he must be a great guy if he does those things.

Indeed interesting. A chess game seems to come to mind but without the "check mate" as of now.

You've got to get off the kool-aid, he's not coming back. See the following from a different thread for what "leave of absence" means in this particular instance: Either way you look at it, Buning is not coming back so those who believe he has a chance can just come back to earth from the fantasy world they are living in.

Read between the lines....it's not "only" a leave of absence. Buning is not going to be the AD at UND from this day forward.

So was the manner in which Hakstol's contract negotiations progressed (or didn't progress and the issues that arose during those negotiations) the straw that broke the camel's back? Or was that simply a mere culmination of events.........women's hockey coach hiring process, Lennon flirting with a new job resulting from his relationship with Buning, Hakstol's contract negotiations, p**sing off alumni / boosters..........that lead to Buning's demise? Or was it just the small, uninformed minority over here on SS.com and they should be the ones to blame?

This will no longer be necessary, Redwing.

Another plausible cause for the "leave of absence" term. With Buning's personality, probably a very likely cause since I'm sure he didn't / isn't going to leave easily. In any event, Buning won't be back.

It's actually pretty simple....see the post two posts above.

Ahhh.....leave of absence. The politically correct term so that each party can save face. The result of the conversation that ends with, "You're fired.................You can't fire me because I quit." "Oh OK, you are / I am taking a leave of absence." It's convenient for both parties.

You said UND, hence we thought you were referring to the institution / administration. If I make a statement about the Minnesota Vikings have a history of handling coaches poorly, I wouldn't be referring to the fans, the boosters, the former players, etc. I'd be referring to the organization if I just said Minnesota Vikings and my guess is that is how many people would take it similar to your reference of UND.

I'll agree that there may have been more of an issue of the hiring in this instance in the first place but I don't recall AD's being fired one after the other. Unless it was said tongue-in-cheek, I didn't get that out of the earlier statement by PCM.

I agree, what was the point? I'm not a journalist so I may not be as clever as to the hidden nuances of the written word but I agree with Triouxper that what could have been meant other than what was implied. Please elaborate.

That's good stuff right there. Whoa, let me catch my breath for a moment...................................OK OK, I think I'm better now. What club are you performing at this weekend so we can catch some more of that great comedy?

You mean to tell me that the contract was re-newed prior to it running out? Huh? What? He didn't really say that did he? Shhh.....don't let it slip out to mikejm that contracts can get re-newed before the end of the term. I thought you told us a couple weeks ago that "you deal with contracts every day of your life" and contracts don't get renegotiated until the contract runs out. That's still one of the most funny things of self-promotion that I've ever seen on this site.

And at least one of us is a former Patriot. (although my older siblings were Demons...hey, wait, I'm offended by that nickname )

Wow....we're really starting to grasp at straws here. For one thing, as has been mentioned previously, many people are aware of the Buning situation. Some are in the camp that nothing is wrong and others are in the camp that there is something wrong. Either way, there are many other people to back up one claim or the other. The straw that you are desperately trying to grasp includes your own statement and no one else backing it up in the example which is entirely different than the Buning situation. Again, there are people in both Buning camps and they seem to have others than can back up one side or the other. Your example is what it is........just a statement you would be making with no one else coming to your defense. I'm sure you can come up with a better example than the one you tried to make above. Now let me use a term you might be familiar with.......apples and oranges.

Thanks for the insightful rebuttal. But I'm not sure that "completely" answered THETRIOUXPER's question....just a hunch. But thanks for the attempt.

I'm sorry, but this isn't Simplot or the regular business world. Sports are a little different than what you may be used to dealing with in your everyday life. If what you say is so true, then let me ask you this......how soon before the end of his contract did Lucia get an extension, how soon before Eaves contract was up did he get an extension, how soon before Gwozdecki's (spelling?) contract was up did he get an extension, how soon did Pete Carroll get an extension before his contract was up, how soon did Charlie Weiss get contract extension at Notre Dame (after one year for your information). If you want, I go on all night but evidently this isn't the contract law you deal with everyday of your life. I'll stop now so I don't confuse you and mess you up at work tomorrow and make you think you've got to go get contract extensions on all your clients.

Do you always answer questions with questions? Or is that lawyer-speak? I'm just curious when people think a contract should have been completed by before they begin to worry? I can try but I don't think I can make the question any more simple if you are having trouble understanding the previous post.

Some people are worried about the situation and about Buning's ability to keep Hakstol (or other coaches) happy. Some people may be a little worried but feel it will get done no matter what and that's overall there isn't really anything to worry about at this time. Some people aren't worried and feel since he still has a contract, there is nothing more to discuss. Some people feel that Buning is doing a good/great job and the move to D1 is where the money is going and unless the alumni pony-up and help foot the bill, there is nothing that can be done at this point in time. To those of you who say this will get done or aren't worried, at what point in time do you start to worry or do you start questioning the happenings within the AD's office and Buning's ability to keep Hakstol happy? Do you start to worry once practice starts, once the games start, halfway through the season, season's end, or next summer? Also, at what time do those who feel Buning is doing a great/satisfactory job, start to question his ability to lead our athletic department? I'm curious at what it's going to take for some to start to worry about Hakstol or question Buning's performance. Please discuss....

What you say is true in most other areas of the business community other than sports. The vast majority of time successful coaches are signed to extensions, the vast majority of times successful players are signed to extensions or are traded and their new teams sign them to an extension. "Showing respect" is a big part of the sports world whether it be from coaches or players. Now if I'm a lawyer and I have a contract with my firm for example, I would usually wait until the end of that contract until negotiating a new contract. But don't be naive and think the sports world is the same way.