undVBfan

There is no way for a coach to really predict what will happen over 4-5 once players get to campus. I suspect the coaches would love if they had 3 seniors, 3 juniors, and such every year, but it doesn't work like that. Players get injured, move (closer to) home, get tired of the grind, or get beat out by younger players and don't want to be practice players for the rest of their careers. There a lots of reasons why programs end up looking like this, and UND seems to have had a little bit of all-of-the-above. If everyone sticks around in a year or two we'll wonder why we have all the seniors. :-) Minnesota, Stanford, USC, Nebraska, and such, they're figuring out how to work the RPI to either ensure they make the tourney in a bad year, or get the highest seed possible in a normal year. Some schools (Florida St comes to mind) have really work the RPI formula through scheduling. We're basically an AQ conference, so we just need to figure out how to get into the best position possible to win the conference tourney. I suspect it's up to the coach and his staff if he wants to go for confidence or challenges early in the year.

I agree that Canada has been largely untapped, except maybe for the most elite players. And given the financial benefits of playing in the US (full ride and maybe COA, does volleyball offer COA?) vs. Canada (I believe tuition only, and likely limited $$$ at that) you would think we would be more successful.

I feel good about the selection. I think we would have been good either way, but I really like the choice. Recruiting is going to be key, as in all college sports. It sounds like he has that background to do well. I think recruiting is less about having "connections" and "knowing the region" and more about the person being able to sell his vision, and by association, the program to perspective student-athletes. Everyone needs connections, but the coach still has to seal the deal. I also like the choice because he gave up a head coaching position to come here in December to be an assistant. To be let go by the new head coach now would have been painful. That is not a good enough reason to hire him, but hopefully any karma from hiring him will a nice bonus. I also like that's he's keeping the current staff, apparently minus Mia, but I've speculated she was done either way. Whether they stay long or not is another story (see Dan Brown), but at least they have the chance to make it work.

Do you live in Grand Forks? It's not a big place. And I think he really liked driving the Bronco. :-)

I wish we Let's be honest, we're North Dakota. It's not a bad job, but someone who thinks they have a realistic shot at a P5 school isn't going to apply here. Someone who wants a stop to show that they should get a chance at a P5 school will apply here. We need to be realistic. And I don't know why you seem to think the current applicants won't be good. What would we have said about Hardee or Pryor before they ended up here? To us, they were no-ones until they had a nice runs here. Why can't Lamppa or Tiffin be the next guy you never heard of until now who did well here? And if either Pryor or Hardee had been here longer, it's likely they would have been looking for what's next. Unless you get someone seriously committed to the area, we're a place for people looking for a landing on the way down or for people looking to move up. A new-ish AD and 3 head coach openings at the same time might have had an influence on potential applicants. You may or may not think that some/most of this was for the best, but the rest of the world might not see anything other than lots of turnover in the athletic department.

I've met Lamppa. He had a nice run at USD, then went to Washington State with the then coach from SDSU (Palieo, or something like that). That guy didn't last long in Pullman, and it looks like he's been doing the assistant routine waiting for his next change. Got to say hi when ISU was in town. Nice enough guy, would likely do well in the community. That's not to say Tiffin wouldn't also do well, I just have no personal knowledge about him.

Has anyone heard anything about the assistants? I feel especially bad for Tiffin. He moved here roughly around semester break, so that's not a long tenure with UND before having to worry about your job. The new coach might keep some/all of the staff, but I suspect he/she will want to have the freedom to bring in their own staff if they want. It wouldn't surprise me if Mia is gone. Not for volleyball reasons, but because she's graduated and may be be looking for what's next in life. I thought I heard she was ready to go but was asked to stay by the coach. It true, there will likely be no such loyalties to the next coach. Unless she's the next coach. :-)

I thought I heard it was down to 2 candidates, but I can't verify that, nor do I have any idea who they are (if true). Anyone with any insights? I haven't heard of anyone who even applied.

I don't think there is any way the CSP coach is interested. I think he has too good of a setup where is at right now. And if he was looking for "bigger and better," I suspect he would have had plenty of opportunities in the past. While UND isn't a bad job, I don't think it's the job he was waiting for to make the move. If Hugh retires and UM comes calling, that might be another story. :-) Found a name from the past on the FIVB website. I had heard Amanda was a serious beach player before coming to UND. She was undersized for the front row in D1, but not for a defender on the sand. Turkey is 2* event (all the Olympic hopefuls are at a 4* in Brazil this week), so Tokyo isn't an option, but if she keeps progressing Paris could be a possibility in 2024. http://worldtour.2019.fivb.com/en/806

I don't think these are fair statements. I don't know any of the coaches *really well*, but I've been around this sport long enough, and have had pretty good contact with another coach to see the time/travel commitment it takes at the D1 level. With a couple of young kids at home I can't blame him for wanting to step back from the travel schedule. Travel for conference and recruiting at a D3 school, especially in an urban area, has to be significantly less. If it was a move to a D1 school or anywhere other than Texas I think I would have a different opinion, but I can't blame a guy for wanting to spend less time away from home. And about the Bronco, I think he was just waiting until he could get the classic plates, or whatever they call the special plates for older cars.

That would be nice, but they're pretty rare. Finding someone with the mobility you would expect makes it even more difficult. What we really need is a live arm on the outside who can consistently score even when we're predictable (the subtitle on that is 'poor passing'). Someone who can finish from the back row is also a big need, again for bad passes and as a legit option to keep the blockers honest. If we can find that in one person great, if not, that's why they get 15 subs. :-)

I'm never surprised when someone wants to be closer to home, especially after their freshman year. I hope she's happy and it all works out for her. I have no first hand knowledge about the team chemistry, or lack of, but I wouldn't assume there was a team problem because she left. Lots of players in every sport just want to be closer to home. I do believe there was an issue earlier in the season, but that was addressed and I'm pretty sure won't be back next year.:-) I don't know the move is a big step down. Midland is a good team. They lost in the semis this year at the NAIA championships. I'm not sure where the best NAIA teams would fit in at the NCAA level. Maybe mid level D1 or upper level D2? It's just a guess, the physicality and size of the players just keeps going up with the higher levels.

It's not confirmed, and I haven't tracked down the source yet, but I suspect it's true. I wouldn't say she was a bust, but I thought she was predictable and easy to read. But it does leave another hole to fill. Looking back a year or so I think the loss of Merseli ended up being more of an issue than Griffin (relative comparison, both BIG losses). UND really needs a 6 rotation player who can sideout, pass, and hit from the pipe (there was no legitimate backrow option last year).

Anyone know anything about this? I'm not 100% sure that this is a bad thing. Unless there is a transfer coming in that we haven't heard about it's a year of experience gone, but again, I think it could work out for the best in the long run. http://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/75795/d1-transfers-2019?page=1

Flores might be a nice surprise, at least to the fans, but I'm sure it wasn't by choice. And it really shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Most of the players we're likely 6 rotation players in high school, so the front row players should have experience passing and the back row players should have experience in the front row. She's pretty undersized, even for a mid-major conference, but obviously has played outside before tonight. I love the "next women up attitude", but it seems like the Fighting Hawks could probably use a M*A*S*H next time they go on the road. They're really beat up. Hopefully young bodies heal quickly; they have a huge, winnable match on Saturday. It would be great if there was be a big crowd (for an 11 AM match ).

I've heard much of the same, but not from parents. I haven't heard any specific details (purposely didn't ask), but again, I'm not surprised that this where we are. Disappointed, but not surprised (anymore). There is some serious potential, and a couple of glaring weaknesses. Time might help the current crew, or someone else is the answer. Either way, I'm pretty sure those issues will be addressed. I suspect too many players are getting a lot of court time much sooner than Coach probably would have wanted to play them. Playing freshman isn't an excuse, and I have never heard Coach use it as an excuse, but at the same time he has a ton of inexperience on the court all at the same time. For the freshman it's a huge jump, the game is SO much quicker, and the reads have to happen so much faster. It'll get better, but maybe not too much more this year. We've been pretty spoiled; after that last several years anything short of seriously competing for the AQ is a down year. It's a good problem to have as a fan. Maybe not so much for Coach, but I'm pretty sure he'll get it going in the right direction.

I've had some questions about the setting, but I don't know that I would put it all on Rautio. I think she's pretty readable, but when the passing is struggling just about every setter is predictable. When they're running something off a perfect pass then the tempo and location need to be near perfect, but for most of the high balls the hitter has tons of time to adjust. And there have been a LOT of high balls this year. And we're not in practice, at least I'm not, so I don't know what conversations they're having about out of system attacks. I do know Prior likes hitters to be aggressive, which means taking a swing whenever possible. Against good teams giving a free ball is just about the same as hitting into the net, you are going to lose the point. I know nothing about the choice of setters, but it couldn't have been easy. Mattson had been here two years (I think?). That's a lot of time on the bench learning how to run the offense from Mia. They must have saw something that helped with the decision. Regardless, they'll be better next year, pretty much guaranteed.

She was at the last home match, sitting behind the team for the first couple of sets. I didn't see her the last couple, but I wasn't really looking too hard for her. I heard she was still around, but not behind the team bench... I don't know any more than anyone else, but I suspect she's done at UND. I don't know what the story is, but it hasn't seemed to click from the beginning of the season. She seemed to have the arm to bring some much needed heat from the pin, but all too often didn't. So many tips and rolls. And it never seemed to get better as the season went on. :-(

I am very pleasantly amused that 1258 with a Saturday at 11 AM start can be consider poor/good, but not great. I was in the Betty the first time UND topped 1000 (I believe against NJIT). That was a BIG deal at the time. I was also in the Hyslop when 300 would have been amazing, although when they beat NDSU for the first time in ~50 years in 2002 they had a reasonable crowd. UND volleyball has come a long way, due to the teams/coaching AND the community embracing the product on the floor. Have you watched any of the road games on PlutoTV? Our support is ridiculous compared to what you see on the road. I'm pretty sure the players appreciate how good they have it here, even for a Saturday morning.

While the thought of Dooley playing past this year is a nice idea, I seriously doubt Prior would do anything that would be +Dooley/-UND. He has one goal, figure out how to be the best in the Big Sky in November. It's fun to talk about, but an at-large NCAA bid isn't happening, we're in an AQ conference. Last year he tried things out early, some worked and some didn't. By the end of the conference schedule he had things clicking. Now is the time to figure out what might work and what won't. Dooley out of the backrow is an interesting idea, but I haven't seen it. Did they have her hitting a red or out of the pipe? Regardless, by tournament time I'm sure they will be doing whatever works best. I haven't seen Ahrens play, but I wouldn't worry about her blocking right now. I saw Dooley before UND. Dooley in high school wasn't the blocker that UND's Dooley has been. :-) Who knows how Ahrens will turn out once she gets here, but I wouldn't write anyone off yet. She could end up being even better than Faith (wouldn't that be nice ).

I agree with everything you say, but I fear it won't matter. The NCAA only seeds the top 16 for volleyball. Then they try to keep all the other teams within 400 miles so they don't have to fly the teams, if at all possible. So until the NCAA starts seeding all the teams (as they do in basketball) or we make the top 16, UND is almost guaranteed to go to Minnesota. However, not getting them in the first round would be nice. :-)

I wish it wasn't true, but the Big Sky, and the Summit, are AQ conferences. Regardless of how well we do, both in pre-season and conference, there will always be enough weak conference teams to kill our RPI. It's pretty rare that an at-large bid goes to a team with an RPI greater than the low 40's. The lowest RPI I remember seeing for a Big Sky or Summit team has been in the neighborhood of the 70's or 80's. Years ago South Dakota State had a pretty good run with the coach who went to Washington State, *maybe* they had a pretty good RPI, but I still doubt it would have been enough for an at-large bit. And until we win a few matches in the tournament I wouldn't expect the program to get any breaks. I suspect it's the same for basketball as well.

I'm hoping for a UND victory, but reality can be a b*tch sometimes. :-) Can they win? Of course, and if they don't believe they can they shouldn't make the trip. Am I betting on it? Not so much. :-( Having said that, Prior is going to win. He WANTS to win this, and will have them as prepared as possible to do so. He's not going for a "let's try not to embarrass ourselves to much" trip, he's going to win. I like that. :-) But again, to be honest, if it doesn't work out so well the takeaway won't be a "oh my gosh, how did we lose that match?" type response, it will be a "ok, so now you've seen what it's like at that level - let's get to work" type response. Either way, it can definitely be a long-term positive.

I think it's safe to say that all of the above (No Champions club passes, no free student passes, hockey and probably to a lesser degree HS state volleyball) contributed to the poor attendance. Which is frustrating, because I know the athletic department is working VERY hard to make sure that everything in the tournament is first class. Let's hope for better attendance tonight.

Anyone remember when UND played in the mini-gym upstairs in the Hyslop. We've come a long ways... I seem to recall the first game over 1000 was against NJIT, back when UND was in the Great West, I think Steve B called them the New Jersey Institute of Trucking, or something like that. Very cool that Prior referenced Hardee, he did a lot of good for the program. Regardless of his unfortunate exit, he left the program WAY, WAY better than when he arrived. Coaches talk about "bettering the ball," he definitely bettered the program.