UND92,96

A few questions that I had were answered yesterday. First, Jamaal Franklin is apparently still on the team. He was listed as one of the players who was not participating in the game, along with Glas, Trenbeath, Sundby, Hoffelt and Grossman. Second, Duane Wenzel is indeed the backup kicker. He's no Jeff Glas, but he looked like an adequate emergency kicker. Third, my point about Storhaug's lack of height is no longer an issue, since now he's listed in the program as being 6'0" instead of 5'11". Does anybody know whether Mike Rohde is still around? I didn't see that he got any carries yesterday, although the "other" running back recruit out of Wisconsin, Jordan Armentraut, looked good.

According to this column, St. Cloud St. funded just 24 football scholarships last year, and will be at around 28 this year. I had always thought there was an NCC minimum (30 or so) that schools had to fund, but either that's not the case, or else there's no real penalty even if such a minimum exists but is not complied with. NOTE: This link will likely expire by early Sunday morning.

Here's an article on the signing of Phillips from an Illinois paper: link.

It wouldn't surprise me if Briggs was actually in the 5'10" range, although he was listed at 6'0" in the program (believe it or not, I actually have one!). Back then, the biggest UND offensive lineman was 265 so obviously times have really changed. It's clear that the UND coaches have a strong preference for offensive linemen who are at least 6'2", and preferably taller than that. Aside from Braegelmann who is listed as being 6'1", it's been quite some time since UND has signed an offensive lineman shorter than 6'2". Presumably, that's why Storhaug had to walk-on. You see quite a few 6'0" and under offensive linemen in the NSIC, but not too many in the NCC.

Who's going to be doing the kicking tomorrow? I assume Glas has had to sit out this spring since he's a 6th-year-senior-to-be. In the Herald's depth chart, they listed Duane Wenzel, a 2003 defensive back recruit who wasn't even on the roster last year, as the kicker, but I wonder if that was just a mistake on their part?

I would agree that some people are going to look at those facts and question whether UND should remain in dII. However, until NDSU and SDSU find a conference for the majority of their sports, I don't think most UND fans will be pushing for a move. The idea of potentially being a dI independent for several years is far less enticing than remaining in the NCC in my opinion.

UND signs a juco wing: link. It looks like recruiting is now probably done, according to the article. Phillips sounds similar to ex-UND player Frank Iverson, who wasn't necessarily a huge scorer but was very hard-nosed and a heck of a rebounder.

I was a little surprised that Storhaug is listed as the starting center at this point. I figured Braegelmann may more over to that slot. Obviously I hope Storhaug can handle the job, and if he does he would be the smallest UND starting offensive lineman in many, many years, at least in terms of height. I don't recall the last starting lineman who was under 6'0".

I'd be very surprised if Cierra is receiving more than a very nominal amount of scholarship money. Regarding Seay, Roebuck has hinted on the radio coaches' show that a local junior is being recruited. Presumably, that player is Seay.

Defense OLB: 1. Dahlen; 2. Babington-Johnson OLB: 1. Maier; 2. S. Brennan ILB: 1. Anderson; 2. Halstenson ILB: 1. Ullsperger; 2. Meek NG: 1. Duchscher; 2. Wolff DE: 1. Enger; 2. R. Brennan DE: 1. Peterson; 2. Cadwell SS: 1. Gagner; 2. DeSautel FS: 1. Brandsted; 2. Greenwood CB: 1. Hoffschneider; 2. Weigelt CB: 1. Alexander; 2. Longe Offense QB: 1. Belmore; 2. Manke TB: 1. Strouth; 2. Beatty FB: 1. Christensen; 2. Thomas SE: 1. Groeschl; 2. Loegering FL: 1. Dressler; 2. Grossman TE: 1. Kusler; 2. Mielke LT: 1. Hoffelt; 2. Bauer LG: 1. Braegelmann; 2. Soll C: 1. Storhaug; 2. Muscha RG: 1. Kuper; 2. Troen RT: 1. Buisker; 2. Bronson I was surprised not see Franklin as at least a backup corner. Is he still on the team?

Has anybody heard anything about what prompted the Southwest State women's coach to resign? He was quite successful, and you very rarely see a coach resign from his or her current job without having another job lined up. Presumably, he was forced out, but I have no idea for what reason(s).

Since there was an article in the Herald, we know Miller and Gutter signed. What I don't understand is why there still hasn't been a press release on www.fightingsioux.com. There's typically a release by the middle of the afternoon of the first day of a signing period regardless of which sport it is. Also, was there ever anything in the Bismarck Tribune regarding Miller's signing? I never saw anything in the online edition, but perhaps I missed it.

Here it is: link This link probably won't work for very long, however.

It looks like the DAC-10 has been in contact with UMC about a possible move back to that conference according to the Minot paper:

April 23. I'm not sure what time, however.

As RD17 pointed out in a different thread, this would potentially be bad for the NCC in terms of non-conference scheduling--particularly for basketball. The NSIC adding three teams would mean six more conference games for them, and correspondingly that would mean far fewer regional dII opponents for the NCC to play in basketball. Such a move could possibly make Winona St. re-evaluate their situation, however. Based upon what I have been able to gather from Winona fans on the d2football.com board, they realize that as things stand now, they're only going to potentially be challenged a couple of times a year in the NSIC in football. As such, they enjoy the idea of being able to play stronger opponents in non-conference games. An 11-team NSIC would presumably mean a 10-game conference schedule, meaning there could only be one non-conference game per year. Maybe this would be the nudge they need to go into a far more competitive football conference. Even though they would be giving up a virtual guaranteed playoff spot, the flip side would be at least their fans would have a much more interesting schedule.

Would the NSIC realistically be looking to expand beyond 10 teams? I suppose if nothing else, Minot St. would give them an insurance policy should one of the better NSIC programs look seriously at joining the NCC.

2005: 6-6 2004: 5-9 2003: 11-5 2002: 12-6 2001: 9-9 2000: 11-7 total: 54-42 (.562)

You are correct--that would make for a pretty small lineup. However, it seems more and more teams are going to a true three-guard lineup. For example, Illinois had a perimeter of 6'0", 6'3" and 6'3" with Brown, Williams and Head. Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm NOT comparing Doyle, Nobles and Harkins to those three in terms of ability! I suppose for teams which had more size on the perimeter creating a big matchup problem, either Jacobson, Miller or another juco transfer could be inserted into the starting lineup.

Here is a Herald article on the signings of Gutter and Miller: link. It also confirms that the women are done recruiting for the year. With the addition of Koenig, Gutter and Miller, plus hopefully another immediate impact juco and the addition of Harkins coming off a red-shirt season, hopefully all the freshmen can red-shirt. There should be a lot of competition for playing time between Nobles, Doyle, Harkins, Miller, Jacobson, Lindahl, Koenig, Wells, Gutter and whomever else is signed over the next month or so. Anybody know whether Swan will return? His playing time and performance level really diminished as the season went along. I'll predict a starting lineup of Doyle, Nobles, Harkins, Lindahl and Koenig. But if Lindahl's shooting doesn't return to his sophomore year form, perhaps it would be better to start Koenig at the 4 and either Wells or Gutter at the 5 for defense/rebounding purposes.

I was of course aware of Koenig, and I had heard about Gutter, but I hadn't heard about Miller. He averaged 25.8 ppg, and had 117 3-pointers on the year! Thanks for the info.

The first day of the spring signing period is Wednesday. Anybody have any recruiting news? Should we expect any signings on Wednesday?

Here's a Herald article on the Sioux kicking game: link. As the article points out, UND's special teams should again be a big strength. A return combo of Dressler and transfer Anthony Longe should be excellent.

There were at least 4-5 dI guys who applied, but aside from Purpur who withdrew, all were eliminated prior to the list being narrowed down to the final three. It would be hard for an NDSU fan to knock Molde, the dIII guy, too much considering he was also a finalist for the NDSU a.d. job in 2001, and he was a long-time dI head football coach. As I recall, the three finalists for the NDSU job were Molde, a then South Alabama assistant a.d. (now the a.d. at North Alabama) Joel Erdmann, and Taylor, who was then an assistant a.d. at Navy. I don't see any real difference in the quality of the candidates for the UND job compared to the NDSU finalists from 2001. Clearly Bollinger could have gone into administration years ago had he wanted to, but just as he left coaching so as to have more time to follow Brooks' and his other kids' athletic careers, being an a.d. would have made that more difficult. I believe his youngest is now a senior in high school, so obviously the timing was right for him to seek the a.d. job at the school for which he's worked for many years. McCarthy is still quite young at 34 so the fact that he's risen to a head a.d. at a dII school already is pretty impressive. And Molde has a lot of experience as both an administrator, and as the head football coach at Western Michigan.