undVBfan

I know. But she tipped a lot, so there is definitely an element of truth in the statement.

A bit harsh, but she did roll WAY more than I liked. I love the notion that fortune favors the brave, I think there is something to it. I hope it's a great move for both her and UND.

Mattie Dalton is gone, supposedly going to Drake. She's not listed on UND's 26 roster. She was second on the team in kills, which surprises me. She is a little undersized for this level, and didn't seem to have the arm to make up for it. Plus there are three OH/OPP's coming in, all 6' or taller, so that might have contributed to the decision.

So you are disappointed that coach isn't doing more to circumvent the recruiting rules? And yes, I understand the realities of recruiting. Your friends daughter received an invite to camp, which is not nothing. It's possible that is all the interest coach has in this player mat this time. Or maybe he'll wait until he can officially her to initiate more contact. In a year, if she is someone he's really interested in, she'll know. Either way, given this one data point, it seems like you're looking hard to find a problem that isn't there.

How do you know he isn't recruiting from the region? There are only so many players from the region who can play D1, and those who can play next year are already signed - of which we got 2 from ND (Tupac recruits), 3 if you count Tessa Washington from NDSCS/Wisconsin. Tessa looks to have signed April 2025, played at NDSCS last season, and is now listed on the 2026 roster. Right now he's finding players that everyone has missed, which basically means looking overseas. Any serious recruiting of locals right now would be for kids playing 16s/maybe 17s and couldn't be here for at least a year, likely two. And that's if we can get them, our record of the past few years doesn't make it easier. I haven't met the new coach, but I can all but guarantee he'll take all of the studs from the region he can get, once he can get them 🙂, but talent still trumps region.

It's possible UND didn't have a presence, but it's also likely they were there. If I ran into any of the staff in Target I'd put it 50-50 I'd recognize the head coach and less than 1% I'd recognize the new assistants. Coaches there would be looking at 17's and 18's for the diamonds in the rough that others missed as well as the younger divisions for early recruiting, so if they were there they would be all over the place and easy to miss. There is also lots of volleyball to be watched with USAV, AAU and JVA organizations and they can't be everywhere. I'd like to see a local/regional flavor to the lineup and I suspect any coach would as well. Regardless, I wouldn't put too much on a dad not seeing someone from UND at the tournament. I haven't met him yet, but I'm pretty sure Coach Nguyen didn't get where he is without looking everywhere for talent.

Another signing, Sally Marong from Germany. Looks to be a 5'10 outside. Should have 4 years of eligibility. The international recruits seemed to work for him at FD, let's hope for more of the same here.

Kimanni Rugley -> Winthrop

Well, we're going to see Nguyen's recruiting skills put to the test right away. From the portal: Vanessa Washington -> Akron Sadie White -> Saint Mary's Ava Galvan -> Saint Mary's Kimanni Rugley -> TBD Kelly Kelsick -> Florida A&M I hadn't heard about White and Galvan. Interesting that they are going to the same school. Galvan might be the biggest loss of the bunch. We now have 1 setter with limited experience and 1 middle with limited experience. Coach has some work to do.

Interesting, I didn't think the position was ever advertised. Maybe they don't need to advertise? Was the hockey HC position actually listed in UND Human Resources page? Regardless, we have a coach. He'll be here for spring ball, in plenty of time to determine potential of the current group. And hopefully in time to be able to recruit as needed from the portal. I don't know enough about the other coaches at UND to speculate too much, but I think we all felt Tupac was a good hire at time, so can we just let that go? It didn't work, but no one brought up any red flags at the time. And I'm still not convinced they won't do well at their next stop. I like that this is an experienced HC and not their first time in the big chair. I suspect it's different in ways no one can imagine until you get there. And he's had success, so he's got that going for him, which is nice. I have to believe that Derek has some connection to this, likely just saying, hey, if you are looking for a new job UND is going to be/is hiring (depending upon the timing 🙂). Anything beyond that is just being silly. FD is basically a suburb of NYC, so maybe hearing about life in GF sounded appealing to a guy with 2 kids. And the cost of living has to be better. Recruiting is selling himself first and then the environment/team/program. This isn't a place where there enough NIL money to make a player overlook too many things they don't like. And no one we recruit is also being considered by a team that could dethrone T A&M next year, so players know what's in store come December. They want a place there they can get an education, play, ideally win, and enjoy (or at least not hate) the process. Recruiting is also identifying talent. That might have been the Tupac's weakness. Nguyen's overseas players (4 Italians, all 6'1"+) speak to having connections to find talent missed by others, so that has potential. No red flags for me. I'm looking forward to getting back to the days of Hardee and Prior, with winning records and lots of butts in the seats.

Agreed that the matches last weekend were fun to watch. Didn't see a lot of UK and Pitt. UNL/T A&M was crazy. It's nice to see players stay aggressive at crunch time, it drives me crazy when the players stop being aggressive late in tight sets. Play to win, not playing to not lose. Assistants from big time schools typically move on to being a HC at a big time school. We're looking for the unknown assistant likely from a school not in the top 20, someone hungry and looking for their big chance. Which is what I thought we had 4 years ago, but lets not beat on that anymore and move on. 😞 And I'm still not convinced they won't do well elsewhere, we'll see what they learned from their time here.

See Rugley is in the portal. She was a freshman who played most of the matches. I thought I heard she had an owie during the season, so maybe she would have played in every match. She's the second middle to depart and the middle who saw the most time on court. We desperately need experienced physical middles. I thought Galvan was doing some nice things the later part of the season, so keeping her will be important. Rivera saw some action, but not a ton. She needs to be more physical. And everyone needs to figure out how to connect with the setter(s).

Got it. Then, to quote Miss Emily Litella, "Nevermind." For what it's worth, Tiffin is coaching at D3 Schreiner University in Kerrville TX. No, I had never heard of it either. 🙂They went 24-7 this year. Miss Emily Litella

Missed this earlier. How is it possible UND would still be paying him in 2025? Tupac has been here for 4 years. When Tiffin was let go he supposedly had a year left on his contract. With a salary of $100,000 (nice round number) would UND pay him ~$2000/month for 48 months?

It's begun. Washington is in the portal. I expect more to follow. She's not surprising, her playing time was next to nothing compared to last year. She's a little undersized, but has good hops. She seemed to connect well with Norris and Timperley last year, so this year was a surprise. There never seemed to be a solid connection with the setter at any point this year, so I have no idea what happened. 🤷‍♂️I do believe overall they tried too hard to run in-system sets with out-of-system passes, so consistent connections with anyone were scarce.