UND92,96

Points well taken. However, I did find it somewhat interesting that collegiate coaching experience WAS listed as a "preferred qualification." In UND's situation, my personal opinion is that as between at least a rudimentary understanding of college hockey, and collegiate coaching experience, the former would be more useful than the latter. That probably wouldn't be the case at most schools--even at most schools that actually have hockey--but I believe it is here.

Since I'm one of the relatively few posters on this board whose primary interest isn't hockey, I'm not the one to answer this question, but I'll throw it out there: does anybody think that the job announcement should have included as a "preferred qualification" work experience at a school which sponsors a hockey program? Is it a concern to any of you hockey-first fans that neither finalist has apparently any background whatsoever in hockey or working at a school which has hockey? Just curious.

The Feb. 19 IAC meeting minutes have been posted: link If there was truly a date after which applications would no longer be accepted, shouldn't that have been a decision made in advance by the committee, and included in the job announcement?

I have also done so. If Dr. Kelley agrees to meet with Rob and doesn't come away very impressed, then so be it. I just hope such a meeting happens.

Allcanadagridiron.com recently took his name off the list of signees and/or commitments, so apparently he's not coming to UND after all.

Freund and Manke have been named captains. link

Read post #331. People are free to agree or disagree with a person's decision to not simply apply a few months ago, but there are some valid reasons IMO for not doing so. I feel that when hiring a president, a dean, an a.d. or a coach of a revenue-producing sport, the committee(s) should go out and recruit some of the best candidates who might conceivably be interested rather than waiting for them to come to you. The top people rarely actually apply for jobs, e.g. Dale Lennon and the Southern Illinois football coaching position. In North Dakota, it's especially unattractive to apply without being invited to do so, because your application will be public knowledge from the very beginning.

That was my recollection, as well. I just wasn't sure after reading iramurphy's post whether perhaps something had changed and she was now planning on staying. I'm not interested from the standpoint of their personal lives--merely from the standpoint of whether or not a new SWA will soon be needed. Also, from the standpoint of whether or not it's worth it to dwell too much on her alleged missteps if she's soon going to be gone, anyway. There certainly doesn't appear to be any shortage of lame ducks and/or those actively seeking other employment amongst those who have been involved in this process, does there?

If it's true that Phil is now more or less in Rob's corner (if Rob is the mystery proposed candidate), it seems to me that he could do something here that would more than undo all the negative p.r. he got from many Sioux fans due to the Buning hire, and the whole leave of absence fiasco (whether it was actually any fault of Phil's or not). Unless I'm completely missing something here, the committee's work is now done, and Kelley, along with Harmeson and Kupchella, can now do whatever they want. I see no reason why that can't include interviewing someone else if they deem that to be in the best interests of the UND athletic department. Without this seeming like too much of a personal question--and I have no interest in their personal lives--I had thought that Ralston's departure was imminent once her husband Don Kojich took the job in Illinois. Is she on the way out at UND...or not?

I don't think this has been brought up yet, but if the vote was 7-5, and even excluding chairperson Weisenstein (who probably didn't have a vote), that leaves a total committee membership of 16, so that means four people were absent/didn't vote. Were they not even available by phone?

Very good points. And lest we forget, Tom Buning applied very late in the process the last time around. A little consistency would be nice (I realize the committees have/had different makeups, but still...).

Exactly. I really don't care for North Dakota law as it pertains to the hiring of public employees. It really discourages a lot of very qualified people from applying. I believe there's such a thing as too much openness, and North Dakota law is a perfect example of it. Thank you, Jack McDonald.

link

I suppose as a practical matter, whether "officially" or not, the decision will probably be Kelley's. I just can't imagine Kupchella cares enough about it to become overly involved, and unless Harmeson thinks he's getting the Valley City presidency, he probably isn't going to want to do anything to irritate his soon-to-be-new boss.

How exactly is this going to work? link Who ultimately makes the final decision? IMO, the decision should be Kelley's, and Kelley's alone.

If this was simply a matter of one person-one vote, I suspect it was a very close vote with regard to whether to allow another applicant. It would be very interesting to know exactly how close. I would venture a guess that at least seven people on the above list voted "yes".

You remember correctly.

Langen is overrated and not athletic at all? Are you serious? She's only a four-time all-NCC player, the co-mvp of the league, the second all-time leading scorer and rebounder in UND history, and an all american. But I guess that doesn't mean anything, huh? And please cut the "we" talk. Clearly you are a USD fan, so why not just admit it?

While he's not a new coach, Greg Breitbach has been promoted to offensive coordinator per today's Herald.

*Gasp*, some actual recruiting news in the recruiting thread! UND has received a commitment from 6'10" Mitch Wilmer from Warroad. Not surprisingly, it sounds like he's going to be a project, but he apparently does have some nice potential. No link for now, as the Herald site is not working.

Herald article on the start of spring ball.

I agree that it really isn't fair to blame Roger Thomas for things that were beyond his control. I honestly think that regardless of who was in charge during that time period, a balanced budget simply wasn't going to happen. It was a far more complex situation than many people seem to realize.

I don't know Rob well at all, but I do know he loves UND; he's paid his dues over the years; he is a good fundraiser (and Brooks could be a big help in that regard, as well); and the football and apparently most of the hockey alums/influential boosters seemingly are in his corner. For whatever reason, Kupchella and Harmeson didn't feel like he was the right fit the last time around. Hopefully Rob will apply, and Dr. Kelley sees things a bit differently from his predecessor.

Strictly rumors, but while there may have been some legitimate interest by Purpur at one time, it appears he chose not to seriously pursue the job.

Here's the UND press release on the Kotelnicki hire.