UND92,96

I'm glad somebody commented on this, as I saw that Buning was interviewed on the news the other night, but was unable to to hear the report where I was. It certainly is interesting that Groenewold and Buning seem to have very different recollections about their conversations on this matter.

I don't suppose you would care to elaborate?

I was happy to see that besides Oksendahl and Schaley, all the other members of the 2005 recruiting class are still with the team. I didn't notice any defections by players who would have had a good chance to play this fall.

I thought Manke looked very good today. Despite Lennon's comments in the Herald today to the effect that no offensive player has locked up a starting position (not even Dressler? ), I have to think Manke is the guy at quarterback based on his play late last season and in the scrimmage today. I was disappointed that we didn't get to see Chappell, but he looked to have a limp when walking on the sidelines so presumably he was kept out for precautionary reasons. Also, I noticed that Oksendahl is no longer on the roster, nor is Schaley. Overall, I think the Sioux should be very good next year, particularly with the addition of SDSU transfer Murray to further bolster the o-line, getting Strouth back healthy, and hopefully getting ZBJ back.

I definitely think Chappell could be a factor at running back, as he's probably got more big-play ability than any back on the team, but with Strouth and Beatty coming back in the fall, I suspect we won't see him in the backfield all that often until the 2007 season.

You are clearly much more patient than I am. I have a hunch that whomever the next coach is, he'll be somebody who is currently familiar with the fact that the odds of UND going dI within the very near future are good. Ideally, yes, you'd probably like to make the dI announcement first, but unless we're willing to even further damage the recruiting for next year, I'm not sure that's a luxury we have. These potential recruits aren't going to wait around forever.

Kolpack thinks so. [url="http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=124200

Kruse signed with UND. link.

I don't believe Travis Mertens has signed with anybody yet, so there's still possibly one good high school recruit out there for UND once a new coach is hired.

I'm not necessarily advocating anything in particular, but do people think that Buning is doing the right thing by allowing Rich to completely dictate when the announcement is going to be made that he's leaving? It seems to me that it's been more or less common knowledge for at least 15 days now that he's going. Obviously this has had a huge impact on recruiting. While I completely understand the legalities that require UNI to keep the job open for a period of time, I can't help but wonder whether allowing this to drag out for more than two weeks during the late signing period is in UND's best interests.

Here's what I don't understand--Ben was promoted March 22. He hired Kyle Green on March 28. Was there an open spot on the UNI staff even before Mac left, and Green had applied for it? If not, why did that process take such a short time compared to this one? I know Green is a former UNI assistant, but I don't see why that should allow for an expedited process, as it wasn't truly hiring from within.

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