Cat in SoDak

I found these quotes from the 2007 "settlement" announcement ironic today:

Following the money at UND leads to the men's hockey and football programs, neither of which would be members of the Summit League. Seems to me the "powers that be", who happen to be nickname opponents, are using a self made Summit League "crisis" to ram through a decision that the majority of fans and alumni do not want. Kinda sounds like the "once we pass a health care bill, people will learn to like it" argument in the news these days. If letting the process play out over the course of 2010 and possibly delaying a conference schedule by one year would be devasting to the UND athletic department, then the Summit League isn't going to save it.

Yes, but he could have said "no thanks" after the initial contact or after he became a finalist or immediately after his interview. I think the perception about using the MSU job as leverage comes from the fact that he waited until he had the leverage (job offer) to bow out. I sincerely wish Coach Lennon and the UND program continued success in the future. I'm disappointed that we lost out on a great coach, but obviously his heart is in Grand Forks, so that's where he should be. Hopefully, Coach Ash can help sort out some of the issues we have and MSU will move forward successfully as well.

Guess we'll find out on Monday. I wonder where those pesky internet rumors came from? MSU football: 'Cats schedule Monday press conference to announce coach By JEFF WELSCH Chronicle Sports Editor Montana State will announce its new football coach at 11 a.m. Monday at the Stadium Club, athletic director Peter Fields said Saturday. Still unclear is who the Bobcats' 31st coach will be. Early Saturday, rumors circulated on Internet message boards at MSU and North Dakota that UND head coach Dale Lennon, one of the three remaining finalists, had followed Carroll coach Mike Van Diest's lead and pulled out of the running. Fields declined to comment on the rumor "one way or the other right now" before revealing the scheduling of the press conference. "We're still looking at the candidates we brought in - minus Van Diest," he added. Attempts to reach Lennon were unsuccessful as of 4 p.m. Saturday. Also Saturday, an unidentified source said former MSU coach Mike Kramer has accepted a position as an assistant at Eastern Washington under his friend Paul Wulff. Attempts to reach Kramer and officials at EWU were unsuccessful.

I get the feeling that support for Lennon is gathering some steam. Is it enough to unseat the sentimental choice? Tough to call right now. If the annoucement comes sooner, I bet it's MVD. If it's delayed at all, I'm going with Lennon.

I agree. In my gut, I hope it's Lennon. You guys are very lucky to have him at UND. An earlier post in this thread mentioned the A&M game. Basically I-A opponent = $$$$$$$$. We've played one "money" game a year for quite a while and I don't see that changing.

I think his good chance went out the window when one of our starting cornerbacks was arrested for cocaine trafficking during the Idaho interview process. Mike Kramer did a lot of positive things for our program. He greatly improved our talent level on the field and worked very hard to get folks in Montana excited about Bobcat football again. Unfortunately, the actions of some of the players he recruited, plus the APR situation in recent years, cast a black cloud over his tenure that he was never going to escape. The end game could have been handled much better by the AD and university leaders, but I truly believe we had to go in another direction. A lawsuit isn't going to be pretty, for MSU or Mike Kramer. The timing of his press conference, on the day the public forums begin, plus the fact his lawyer has close ties to the University of Montana (his son was the QB on their national championship team) just adds to the bitter taste in my mouth.

I would like to think Lennon isn't using the MSU job as political ammo and that he would have dropped out if he wasn't truly interested, but who knows. The point about Van Diest is spot on. The path of least resistance for Fields would be to name him and move on. As I've said in previous posts, I think Lennon is the best candidate, but given the situation in Bozeman, Van Diest is probably the right man in the right place at the right time.

I don't think anybody has left since Kramer was fired. We did have a couple of OL that were academically ineligible for spring ball. I don't know all the details regarding future scholarship losses, but I've heard we could lose up to 3 if we don't show improvement. The player introductions you mention were embarrasing. I remember seeing them before the Montana - Montana St. game and just shaking my head. I think the reliance on 1-A dropdowns has had an extremely negative effect on our program off the field. Kids coming to play for a year or two but making little progress towards a degree is crippling under the new measurement system. I'm not implying this was always the case, but it doesn't take too many occurrences to put your APR in the sewer. MSU recently completed a thorough review of their recruiting practices, which will hopefully lead to some positive changes. For the most part, I believe we have good kids and MSU is a wonderful place to go to school. Unfortunately, the actions of a few have put a black cloud over the program. I don't think the new staff will be wading into a cesspool, but there will be challenges.

Yep. Unless Van Diest drops f-bombs and confuses Montana St. with the University of Montana in the public forum, he's probably the guy. If I were the MSU AD, it would take me about as long to offer Lennon the job as it takes to type "Dale Lennon" on the contract.

The fact is there's going to be a lot of pressure on Fields to hire Van Diest. Whether that influences his decision remains to be seen. I truly believe Lennon is the best candidate. But Van Diest might be the right candidate.

Must've been something like that, as Kill was the only other name I heard mentioned.

Van Diest is the sentimental choice among Bobcats fans, due to his Montana roots. I'd prefer Lennon, as he's proven himself at the upper echelon of D-II, which is basically the same as I-AA, in my opinion. Plus, based on the few things I've read and heard, he seems like a great guy. The off the field situation is a little messy in Bozeman, to say the least. The APR issue will probably be most urgent for the new coach coming in, as we've lost scholarships in the past. The ongoing criminal investigation is bad PR, but hopefully won't end up affecting the current roster too much. On the field, there is a lot of talent back from a team that went to the I-AA quarterfinals. The defense should be especially good. Facilities wise, MSU has a stadium that seats around 14,000, which I believe is similar to the Alerus Center. At Montana State, football is king, which may or may not be a factor for Coach Lennon. Lastly, Bozeman is a beautiful place to live. It's a classic college town, similar to Grand Forks in that regard, I imagine. I certainly wish no ill will towards UND, but I'll be pulling for Dale Lennon as the process plays out next week.