UND92,96

I don't know about the jucos, but UND has lost Rayfield. link. Northern Iowa certainly seems to be taking their sweet time naming Glas to the job. Hindsight is 20/20, but I really wish Buning wouldn't have been so convinced that he needed to wait until the dI decision was made before hiring a new coach. It's come back to bite him in the butt by potentially causing us to lose an entire recruiting period.

One other point about Nelson's article from the Sunday paper: why does he seem to indicate that the reason people are so down on the men's basketball program is because of the lack of national success? I can't speak for anyone else, but my biggest beef isn't the overall winning percentage or the lack of playoff success, it's the mediocrity in NCC play. Here are UND's NCC finishes since the last conference title: 6th 9th 7th 3rd 3rd 5th 3rd 3rd 7th 5th 6th And the finishes probably would have been worse the past few years but for the small number of teams now in the NCC. It's hard to believe we could go this long without even a runner-up finish, let alone a title.

Wayne Nelson article on the state of flux the UND men's basketball program is in: link. IMO, this article is far too pro-Herbst. But then again, Nelson's track record is that he rarely, if ever, writes anything which could be construed as negative about a UND coach, regardless of whether it's the head coach or an assistant. It was mentioned in the article about the need to sign several juco transfers and how that's a key to the fortunes of the team next year. But why is it that we're in that position now? Could it be because of poor recruiting the past 3-4 years?

Here's an article on the development of Ryan Chappell. link. UND should have outstanding running back depth this year, and Chappell's speed should be a big asset on special teams, as well. The article also mentions Branden Dungy (nephew of Tony). I assume he must be a walk-on?

Would Ben have gotten the UNI job had they been coming off several so-so (or worse) seasons in a row? Highly unlikely. I'd like to hear some answers to the questions posed by star2city. Even if somehow a person were going to buy into the whole theory that Herbst should be considered blameless for the team's poor performance the past few years, he shouldn't get a free pass with regard to the sub-par recruiting.

He's not a hockey player, but UND already has at least one pretty good lacrosse player on campus: link.

It sounds like Tim Miles has a very good chance of getting the Wilmington job, as the Kansas assistant who was a finalist has withdrawn. That leaves Miles and an assistant from Texas.

Glas finally applies at UNI. link.

I'm sure the opinions of the players might carry a bit more weight if they were coming off a 25 win season rather than a 13-15 season, but it will be interesting to see what happens, that's for sure. From purely a self-preservation standpoint, it doesn't surprise me in the least that they'd back Herbst. He recruited most of them, and they know where they would stand with him.

It seems to me there are some parallels between the current men's basketball situation, and the volleyball situation when Maria Bruggeman resigned. Both programs have had their share of struggles in recent years. Bruggeman's assistant Jason Holt applied for, and was apparently a finalist for the head coaching job, but obviously didn't get it. That certainly doesn't prove that Herbst won't get the job, but it may provide some insight into Buning's feelings about promoting an assistant when the program is seemingly underachieving.

It sounds like Dryburgh and a few others will be waiting to see what transpires with the coaching situation before deciding whether to sign with UND. link. Kruse and Boyce are apparently still committed to UND regardless.

What in the world was I thinking using Hallstrom as a source?

Samuelson is apparently going to NDSU. [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=123269

McFeely weighs in on the Glas situation. [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=123270

I've made my points regarding WHY Herbst shouldn't be hired. I'm not going to re-hash most of them again, other than to say that promoting an assistant from a modestly successful program is a big gamble, particularly when the fans have made it as clear as they have that they're down on the present regime. But even if you don't think Smith is the guy, it's not like he's the ONLY alternative to Herbst out there. By the way, don't you have have a relative who played for Smith this past year? What does he think of Smith as a coach? Although it's been nearly 20 years ago, I can recall Rich Glas's first season. The team was terrible, but they played hard, and the fans were patient because they were (and are) willing to give a new coach more slack than somebody who's been there for several years. Ditto for Roger Thomas when he took over for Behrns. If Herbst were to get the job, he wouldn't get that same sort of slack from the fans, IMO. I believe a lot of fans consider him to have been part of the problem, rather than the solution.

Former UND basketball great Steve Brekke has been named as Rob Bollinger's replacement. link.

I'm not intending to denigrate Boyce at all since I've never seen him play, but considering the relatively high number of Mon-Dak players in the past who haven't lived up to their juco stats once they get to a four-year school, should we be skeptical of the impact he'll have at UND (at least offensively), particularly considering he was only honorable mention all-conference? Or is he being signed more for his defensive abilities?

From Wayne Nelson today: C'mon, Rich. This is the worst-kept "secret" in town.

I have to say that I'm shocked that two people have actually posted that they think Herbst is the guy. Even if one were to give him a pass with regard to the program's struggles the past few years, how can you give him a pass with regard to recruiting? Do I really need to rehash the disaster that was last year's recruiting class? Phillips, Miller, Wills, Blackwell and Probst had stellar careers at UND, didn't they? You simply don't promote assistant coaches to become the next head coach unless the program is doing well, and/or unless the assistant in question has an excellent track record as a head coach elsewhere, and/or unless he's done exceptionally well in recruiting at his current position. Hakstol turned out to be an excellent hire, but the hockey program was on much more solid ground than is the men's basketball program, nobody thought UND needed to go in a completely different direction from Blais, and Hakstol had proven to be a very good recruiter. Buning will have ticked off a lot of fans if he promotes Herbst. Do you guys really think all the fans who were leaving after the women's games were thinking to themselves, "if only Herbst were in charge, I'd stay?" One more thing--if Herbst actually has turned down other jobs, what in the world was he thinking? He knew, or at least should have known that Rich was on very thin ice at UND. Was he waiting around for Rich to be fired, thinking he'd really be next in line? He couldn't have possibly predicted the chain of events at Northern Iowa that gave Rich the opportunity to finish out his coaching career elsewhere.

The flip side is, we KNOW Smith can win as a head coach at a school where it is extremely difficult to win. His record there, albeit brief, speaks for itself. With Herbst, while it's possible he could be better than Rich was, it's a complete unknown. Herbst was moderately successful as a juco head coach, and he's been moderately successful (at best) as an assistant, regardless of whether you judge him by his recruiting or by the record UND has accumulated during his tenure. I agree that recruiting will take a big hit, but that alone is not enough of a reason to simply promote the next guy in line. Objectively, anybody would have to admit that UND men's basketball has been, at most, moderately successful the past decade. Under those circumstances, hiring from within would be unusual, if not potentially foolish. I can respect a difference of opinion, but the UND men's basketball program already has a major problem in that most of the fans no longer care. We need new blood, completely untainted by the string of embarrassing losses that have occurred during the Glas/Herbst era, in order to get people excited again. Regardless of whether it's Smith or not, I really want somebody from the outside to be the next coach. I strongly suspect that most of the 80-plus% of fans who wanted Rich to leave would agree. I believe hiring Herbst would be potentially the worst UND coaching hire, in terms of hiring from within, since Pat Behrns took over for Gene Murphy.

Steve Hallstrom had some interesting information is his latest blog entry: link

I've neither spoken to nor corresponded with Buning before now, but I have sent him an e-mail urging him to look outside the program for Rich's successor. I hope other basketball fans consider doing the same.

If Buning actually promotes Herbst, I'll be right out there on the ledge with you. I can't say for certain that Craig Smith is the BEST possible candidate, but he's far and away better than Herbst. What Smith has done at Mayville is almost miraculous. Herbst, on the other hand, hasn't shown me anything. And let's not forget that Rich wasn't all by himself on the bench during those losses to UMC, Minot State, Mary, Mayville State, etc.

Ryan Bakken wrote about the Glas situation in his blog. link.

Time to bump this topic back up to the top.