UND92,96

I have written an e-mail to Harmeson about my concerns about the hiring process and the list of interviewees/finalists. I doubt it will do anything, but I think it's important that he know how many people are upset about how things have been handled up until now. Even if we are remaining in division II, I think we could have done much better, and the omission of Smith is appalling considering the current state of the careers of Weemer (couldn't find a college job last year), Jones (recently demoted) and Herbst (mediocre recruiting and associate head coach of a struggling program).

Just for the record, Johnson, Jaskulski, Gillespie and Fuller all have Masters, in addition to having more than five years NCAA experience. I noticed there is no mention of Herbst having a Masters in his bio on the official UND athletic web page. Whether he actually has one, I don't know.

I believe what happened is that longtime Eastern Illinois coach Rick Samuels was fired after the 2004-05 season, meaning all of his assistants were also let go. Weemer was unable to find another college job, so he took what he could get--a high school job. Eastern had one pretty good season while Weemer was there (21-10 and an NCAA appearance). Other than that, the records ranged from 6-21 to 17-12. I believe his inclusion as a finalist is difficult to justify, to say the least. But for Ralston, I'd say the odds of Weemer getting an interview would have been somewhere between slim and none.

It could have been a factor with some of them, but as for Johnson, for example, I can't imagine Fort Hays State pays better than UND. And this five-year NCAA experience thing was stupid, to say the least. Sleeping on this hasn't made me any less upset, unfortunately.

Glas is actually associate head coach at UNI. link. Of the four finalists, IMO Brown is the one most likely to be a future star as a head coach. I would prefer him over the other three finalists. I'm just still trying to figure out how Smith, Johnson, Fuller, Jaskowski, etc. didn't warrant interviews over Jones and Weemer, in particular. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

There's probably only one of us on this board in a position to know much about Jones, and this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence:

Based on what I can tell, Weemer was a high school coach in Illinois last year. Either something like 50 of the 56 applicants withdrew at the last minute, or this was perhaps the worst job ever done by a search committee at UND.

Alright people, this should disappoint nearly everyone. link. I'm speechless.

I agree with Jeff Kolpack, and typically I do not.

Forum [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=126428

I brought up the fact that I doubt Ralston has any experience hiring a basketball coach, or knows much about basketball, because while those factors would not necessarily preclude a person from being on the committee, they do call into question why she's on the committee instead of a highly-respected coach like Dale Lennon, who could also offer the viewpoint of a coach from a different sport, and who also is somebody I trust to do the right thing for UND. Can anybody honestly say that they know enough about Ralston to say they have more faith in her than Lennon (or another longtime UND coach)? I don't recall Ralston's predecessor Kathy McCann being prominently involved in hiring coaches, at least in high profile sports, but perhaps I just never heard about it.

Does she have any experience hiring basketball coaches? I'm skeptical that she does, or for that matter, that she knows much about the game. Of the three members of the committee, she should be the one taking a backseat to the other two, because ultimately, it's Buning's show, and Roebuck knows a lot more about what it takes to be a basketball coach than she does. I just hope that we don't have a Chris Voelz type egomaniac on our hands.

My feeling is that Ralston should not have been on this committee. I would have preferred Lennon. It's not like she's been around for very long, and her connections and/or expertise, to the extent she has any, didn't exactly help us out in hiring a volleyball coach. Secondly, if Smith's perceived lack of experience was too big of a strike against him, then Herbst had better not be a finalist, either.

If this is true, my confidence in our leadership is pretty well shot.

Besides Herbst and his family and friends, does anybody in his or her right mind really think he would be a better head coach than Smith?

No, nothing has been announced. I tend to believe what hollywoodstar posted, however.

I don't know why Ralston is even on this committee. If she were going to be useful, it was going to be in hiring a volleyball coach. And frankly, that was a questionable hire.

If true, I am extremely disappointed. I had considered it a virtual sure thing that Smith would not only get a phone interview, but would be one of the finalists. I'm guessing the finalists will probably end up being Johnson, Jaskulski, Fuller and possibly Gillespie. Unless Rico or Herbst get consideration, I doubt anybody with ties to the area will be among the finalists. When's the last time that happened for a high-profile UND athletic department job? I find it a bit ironic that if this "rule" were in place 20 years ago, Roebuck (who is on the search committee) would not have gotten his current job. It would be very interesting to know whether he agreed with Buning and Ralston on requiring five years of NCAA experience.

Herald article on the screening process to pare down the list of applicants. Both Terry Olson and Craig Irwin have applied. It's surprising how few current dII head coaches ended up applying.

I agree that this was very unprofessional. I had refrained from publicly commenting on this rumor until now because I wasn't positive that it was true. I am extremely opposed to Herbst getting the job, but I don't believe anybody should be treated in that manner. I hope somebody at the Herald has the guts to ask Buning to comment on this matter.

Five more applicants, including Rico Burkett and Mark Graupe. Fuller bio.

UND to play exhibition games vs. Indiana and Purdue next year. link.

Anything's possible, but whether Smith would be willing to be an assistant at anyplace other than a tournament-eligible dI school is questionable. What I'd love to see is Smith as head coach and Terry Olson as his primary assistant, but I realize the chances of that happening are probably slim. Olson is more experienced, and seems to be a good recruiter.

I agree. I think his only chance was to have been promoted without a national search.

And he was also sure that the transfer from Colorado State wouldn't have to sit out a year if she transferred to NDSU.