UND92,96

Here are some fairly substantial weight gains: Ryan Kasowski, from 200 to 220 Jeff Tescher, from 218 to 236 Curtis Dublanko, from 200 to 222 Noah Dombrovski, from 231 to 250 Paul German, from 220 to 232 Link Gottbeheat, from 255 to 267 Keith Queoff, from 255 to 277 Jake Caufield, from 220 to 230 Nick Nolte, from 261 to 272

I believe there were 81 players listed on the spring roster, and with 18 signees coming in, that would mean 14 players must be cut.

Based upon the spring game roster, it appears there may have been a number of departures since the fall. Specifically, I noticed that Troy Bryant, Mark Kubacki, Nick Bylin, Matt Simmons and John Carruth from last year's recruiting class were not listed on the roster. Also, Nick Safranski, Pete Hiltner, Brock Setness and Andrew Gudmunson apparently aren't returning, either. Does anybody know the story with Keith and Kory Smith, a pair of 6'4" twin(?) receivers from Florida who are listed as seniors? Also, I'm not familiar with Nick Long, a tight end from Andover (MN).

I don't believe it was ever insinuated that the search be limited in such a way, but it may have warranted being a "preferred" qualification--just as coaching experience was. But it's now a moot point. Bringing it up at all was simply my none-too-subtle way of backing a Rob Bollinger candidacy...

My deepest sympathies go out to the Lennon family, as I saw in the Herald that Dale's father passed away last week.

This news makes the signing of Kenny Watkins even more significant, as I believe there was talk of not red-shirting him even before the news of Jordan's injury. Besides Otto, the Sioux will apparently be quite young at corner.

But in what capacity? If the a.d. is going to be reporting directly to the president, as Kelley has indicated, is Harmeson's vice presidency really needed? I don't know--I'm just asking the question.

The spring game is a week from tomorrow. Until then, unless the Herald runs something I'm not sure there's much to report. I haven't heard anything.

UND gets a commitment from another Missouri kid: link

Terry was and is a fine administrator. However, he probably didn't really understand the "culture" of UND sports when he took the job, which led to some mistakes for which some never forgave him. I don't think Buning really understood what he was getting into either, although he apparently didn't have Terry's administrative skills. I don't believe there was much opposition to Terry within the department, although that certainly was a problem for Buning. Maybe I'm completely off base on this one, and the hiring of an "outsider" without any apparent background in UND's number one sport will work out just fine. To reiterate, my biggest concern is fundraising. To me, that's the biggest key for UND's new a.d. at this time. Perhaps ten years from now the job will be completely different, but we're in the "show me the money" phase of the dI transition. No matter what sort of fundraising track record one may have elsewhere, that doesn't necessarily translate well into a new school/area. A good local example may be Scandrett at MSU-Moorhead. It's closely related to the whole "understanding the culture" theory. People are more apt to make donations when it's somebody they know and trust asking them. Fundraising is one of the reasons I am so in favor of Rob Bollinger.

O.K., I'm going to try this one more time--and keep in mind that I'm a football/basketball guy, and not necessarily a hockey guy. Potentially, we're asking somebody to run the athletic department at UND who faces a major challenge in fundraising in that he's not going to known ANY of the major players, i.e. the alumni and friends with the deepest pockets. These people are absolutely crucial to a successful UND transition to dI. And who are those people (by and large)? Hockey and/or football fans/letterwinners. It's only more difficult now that Dale Lennon is no longer around, because he was wildly popular amongst football alums and fans (that's not a slam at Mussman; he's just a relatively unproven commodity). Added to that challenge, he's apparently also going to be somebody who MAY not know the first thing about hockey, which MAY not make him "fit in" with the average UND sports fan. I believe this quote by Terry Wanless is something to think about: This is going to be something of an apples to oranges comparison because every school has basketball, and most have football, but can you imagine the a.d. at USC, Nebraska, Florida, Michigan, etc. not having any previous experience in football? The a.d. at Kansas, Duke, Indiana or North Carolina not having any basketball background? I just can't see it. Maybe that's not exactly what Wanless meant, but that's more or less how I interpret his above-quoted statement. Hockey is a huge part of the culture at UND. Not that it would be impossible for Hickman and/or Faison to become acclimated with the UND sports culture, but it would be a challenge IMO given their backgrounds. If Hickman or Faison get this job, I wish them nothing but the best. I just hope they're not being placed into a nearly impossible situation. I certainly hope my reservations turn out to be unfounded.

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.