Panther_OldMan

Yep, that makes at least two of us hoping he stays at Grand Forks. A very good student and probably will get turned on to the classroom experience this year. (Two "a" 's in Palandech. Around East Iowa the mild Northern accent sometimes makes it sound as 'Pawwlendek' instead of Chicago-area pronounciation.)

Thank you, Western IL at one time was in a good local recruiting territory, some economic trends have worked against population growth in Northwest Illinois recently and as you go into the Peoria area Illinois State is close and they seem to have hired a good Head Coach a few years back, and were a playoff team last season. Great nickname there: the Leathernecks!

A noob question--is this R.J. Luke, who played at Waubonsie Valley HS on the UND staff? He would be a relatively young assistant.

This was an interesting read, Sioux Valley. I lived in Illinois for my first 31 years and I'd say how you described the impressions of MFCS territory in the minds of those youngsters raised in Cook/DuPage/Lake/McHenry was spot on. However, devil his due, Carbondale was an interesting place to visit all those years ago. Doug Buschon and Edgy Tim of Rivals would probably agree with the statement that the class of 2013 was unusually good in Illinois, for what it's worth.

Tim quoted Sharp, "...Couldn't ask for more on and off the field" Article is about UND being best choice for Sharp.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Sorry to have led you fellas down the wrong path! The more specific details are that our family has lived in Iowa since '07, my boy played for Linn Mar H.S., where Jer Garman was a key part of the football revival. One of the Plainfield North games (IL State playoff) that I watched was streamed over the web. At the game that I saw in person at Plainfield North I had the chance to talk with Kurt Palandech's father, who I have known for about as long as I can recall. Kurt's dad is my cousin. The father was also a well-known three-sport athlete in his day. The Sioux have a fine leader in Kurt. Though it is a probably a topic for a different board, also, speaking as Univ of Illinois graduate UND has gained respect throughout the State of Illinois for challenging legality of the NCAA prohibition on hosting postseason competition on basis of school symbol. The institution certainly demonstrated more spine than the caretakers of Illinois sports.

Hello Sioux fans. I am new poster, I am the father of a young man (now a UNI student) who was a HS teammate of a 2012 UND recruit on offense; and this season I had chance to see the Sioux commit at QB, Kurt Palandech, play two games this year. The offense at Palandech's HS program was strongly run-first. The guards and tackles on his line were big, even by standards of Northern Illinois class 7A. However, Palandech passed for nearly 200 yards in a quarter in a playoff game this season. He's a leader with great speed. Seems like a really big class in numbers and depth for UND. J.J. Robertson was expected to compete to be among the first four receivers at Illinois in '13 as well. He should do well in the Big Sky. Good luck to UND !