UND92,96

At this point, I'd be completely stunned if Lennon is coaching the Sioux in the 2007 season.

Purely from a professional standpoint, yes, it would make much more sense for him to stay at his present job. But there's also something to be said for getting head coaching experience, as well as a "quality of life" issue of being closer to home. UND is of course his alma mater, and his brother is currently on the team. Basically, it's probably just wishful thinking on my and others' parts, but I heard some rumor/speculation awhile back that there may be some interest there should the job open up, so you never know.

I've always thought UNO was on the verge of a big Title IX problem, due in part to the fact that they don't have a women's hockey program, but they actually got a B+ grade.

I have no idea what the LTC would do, but if he didn't contact Tibesar immediately, it would be a huge mistake. He's got everything UND could possibly want in a coach, PLUS he's got division I experience, which I'm going to assume would be listed as a preference on the job announcement. Whether he'd be interested or not is another question, but he should be number one on the wishlist IMO.

While many of us have known this to be true for some time, this is the first time that I'm aware of that a media member has said it publicly.

Apparently Van Diest does have a lot of dI assistant experience.

As do I. However, if Lennon has now decided that he's far more willing than he's been in the past to entertain other possibilities, I can't really see him staying at UND all that much longer even if he's not offered the Montana State job. I hope I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I have right now.

Kolpack blog questioning why Lennon would be interested in the Montana State job.

One other obvious potential candidate I forgot to mention--Jeff Tesch. Winning at Bemidji State with very few scholarships is quite an accomplishment. Also a former UND assistant under Roger Thomas.

It sure seems like it would have made sense for there to have been a UND-BSU football game this year. I know a few years ago Tesch made no bones about the fact that he didn't feel his program was ready to compete with an upper echelon NCC team, but it seems like a game against a team like UND would be more beneficial to his program at this point than their yearly meeting with Minot State.

Lennon will interview in Bozeman on Wednesday. link.

I happened to be at the Can Ad on Friday, May 25, when either this was going on, or at least when many of the participants were at the hotel. I can only imagine that there were some rather interesting conversations going on there... From the above link:

I just didn't think there was a compelling reason to change it. Obviously, in time it will probably catch on, but I still think of MSU-Moorhead as Moorhead State, too.

Lots of good points here, Bob. For several of the reasons you mention, I don't really expect Lennon to take this job if offered. However, unless Buning is either forced out, or else dramatically changes the way he deals with the coaches, I'd expect Lennon to leave for a different job within the next year or two. With regard to the part of your post I highlighted, I agree 100%. Don't underestimate the political clout of the football alums.

I'm with this guy (Brian MacPherson of the St. Cloud Times) when it comes to the name change from I-AA: If you're going to change a name that has been in use for a long time, you'd better be prepared for a lot of people to ignore the new name for a long time.

I realize there was a Herald article on Saturday, but the fact that none of the sportswriters has done a blog entry on the Lennon issue is perplexing to me. You know for a fact that Kolpack/Hallstrom would have written several entries by now if Bohl were a finalist elsewhere.

I realize being in charge of an athletic department isn't a popularity contest, but to have this many coaches--including the three highest-profile ones--being seriously unhappy tells me there's a problem. A big problem. And as we know, some of those coaches have friends who have a bit of influence...

The thing that I personally don't like about Ralston's position is that she's married to somebody who holds a pretty high position at UND--Don Kojich, whose title is Executive Assoc. V.P. for University Relations. Maybe this doesn't give her more power than her job warrants, but on the other hand, it could. From the outside looking in, she certainly appears to wield a heck of a lot more power than her predecessor did. Let's be honest here, the fact that a seemingly unqualified candidate made the list of finalists for the men's basketball job due to Ralston having once worked with him at Eastern Illinois certainly didn't make her (or by extension the LTC) look very good.

I think it would go 1. Tibesar; 2. Bubba; 3. Mussman or Hedberg. The "x" factor in my mind is this--if the perception is out there there Lennon left primarily due to not wanting to work for Buning anymore, how likely is it that any of his friends and/or current or former colleagues would really want to try work for somebody if Lennon couldn't? And regardless of what Lennon says publicly, I firmly believe that if Wanless or RT or Rob Bollinger or any number of other people were a.d. right now, he would have said "thanks, but no thanks" when Montana State called.

Lennon is a finalist for the Montana State job. [url="http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=39681

I believe he took a job with Bankforward, a new bank in Grand Forks.

Has Jeff Bowen's old job with the alumni association been filled yet? If not, that would be a possibility.

Idalski names his first assistant.

I was in Tavern United last Friday, and I was pretty impressed with it. The beer was surprisingly cheap ($1.50 for a bottle). From what I saw of the hotel--which was really just the lobby/restaurant/water park area--it looks very nice. Despite not having done any sort of marketing yet, I was told the hotel was about 80% full for this past weekend.

If I'm not mistaken, he's a former UND basketball letterwinner, as is his brother Pete.