UND92,96

On the one hand, yes, this season has been pretty much a disaster. And Hutter is ultimately responsible for both the players that were brought in, and in keeping some of the returnees who realistically aren't legitimate division I players, which clearly he knew from having coached them for a year. On the other hand, last year's team was actually very close to being quite good. They split two close games with NDSU, and were far more competitive vs. SDSU than in the previous years. IMO, the two biggest reasons for the improvement were the addition of Schiller, and presumably at least to some extent Hutter's coaching, since those were really the only major changes from the year before. The bottom line is that he couldn't adequately replace Pemberton, Schiller and Ibrahim from the portal, and without difference-makers it's extremely difficult to win. Will he fare any better in the portal after this season? He's going to have to, because realistically the incoming freshmen plus Duchsherer may be able to replace the production of Demers, Aumer and Hughes, but I'm not sure it's realistic to expect much more than that from freshmen and somebody who hasn't played serious basketball in four years.

Article about the Micah Curtis situation: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/und-freshman-forward-micah-curtis-likely-to-miss-remainder-of-2025-26-season To summarize, he's very likely out for the season due to injury.

Disappointed to hear about Grace. I thought he’d play a lot in 2026.

Former UND player, and current Omaha assistant coach.

I haven't seen enough games to comment on how he's doing defensively, but I feel like Anderson has been mostly decent on offense, aside from his FG percentage being too low. 9 points and 4 boards per game isn't bad for a guy who averaged 14 ppg last year for dII Central Washington, but I guess I don't know exactly what the expectations for him were.

Nguyen is definitely saying the right things as far as recruiting philosophy: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/new-und-volleyball-coach-ready-to-tap-midwest-recruiting

It looks like UND's receivers coach from 2019 to 2024--Sam King--will be looking for a job. Wasn't retained when Schmidt took over, and was at Washington State this past year, but like Freund, it doesn't appear Rogers is bringing him to Iowa State.

New coach hired: https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/und-hires-david-nguyen-as-volleyball-coach Definitely wasn't expecting UND to hire a current division I head coach, particularly one who has actually had some success.

The volleyball situation was pretty similar to men's basketball, and that's how I see this most likely playing out.

I think Theo Grace will make an impact at LB next year. Same high school as Noland and the Beavers. Was the KC metro defensive player of the year in 2024.

You have to hand it to USD--they seem do a good job of identifying RB prospects. Phillips wasn't even supposed to be the starter this year.

I know Avery Scott is still hoping to get an additional year. In 2022 he apparently played in three games for West Virginia State, and under the current rules that would not have resulted in losing a year of eligibility, but at the time it did result in losing that year.

I have no idea whether he still wants to coach, but Craig Smith is available after Utah surprisingly let him go late last season. It would be incredibly ironic given he could and should have been hired instead of Brian Jones to replace Rich Glas 20 years ago. UND grad from Stephen, MN. Still only in his early 50s.

Looks like UND has its first portal addition of the year—Marquis Edmond II, a safety from Virginia St.

Last offseason USD lost three starting offensive linemen, a starting receiver, a starting DB and a LB who was their leading tackler to the portal. Then their leading rusher went down with a season-ending injury in September. And obviously now they're the last Dakota team standing. You just never know.

UND has offered Wayne State (NE) defensive lineman Carter Sitzman. He has a pretty impressive list of offers, including NDSU, SDSU, USD, Wyoming, Tennessee Tech, Indiana St., Incarnate Word, Tarleton St., Kent St. and Buffalo.

I'm very curious to see if incoming freshman Tyler Zdon can get into the mix early on, also.

O.K., my mistake.

SDSU is currently at three players leaving via the portal, per the Jackrabbit_Illstrtd twitter feed.

He was apparently one of about 36 nominees in 2014.

All too well.

I think it would be fine to bring in a quarterback to compete with Jerry, but I feel like the odds of a new OC/QB coach fixing whatever was wrong with him in the second half of the season are much higher than finding a clearly better quarterback in the portal. I fully expect that Jerry will be the starter, and Sulik the likely backup. I did a little checking on transfer quarterbacks UND has brought in over the years. The rosters on the UND athletics only go back to 2003, but since that time I counted nine QB transfers. Braden Hanson obviously worked out in the one season he was here. Nate Ketteringham had his moments. The rest played either sparingly, or not at all, and generally only lasted a season or two on the roster before transferring out.

I would add Devereaux to the list of "must keeps".

Being the head coach of three different division I schools in three years is pretty unbelievable. Regardless of the money, that's a bad, bad look for Rogers. It will also presumably mean four schools in four years for Freund regardless of where he ends up.

I'm certainly not saying Hutter is the greatest coach who ever lived, but Dawn Staley couldn't win with this roster. Nobody is going to X and O their way out of this. We need some more players who can play at this level, regardless of what system is used.