Rich's last shot...

[SiouxMeNow]

I know this is a delicate subject with some people but I think we need to talk about it too...Is next years NC staged at the Ralph RG's last shot to make a run before he heads off into the sunset? People have been rumbing for awhile but the fact maybe UND should "move on" has always been brushed off...but perhaps this next season will be the real test. I think hosting the Elite 8 in GF is Rich's last shot to produce a winner before he does a Dave Gunther and moves "on" after a long career at UND. Don't get me wrong....Rich is a great guy and and a great promoter of UND but he's just not getting it done...thoughts???

[UND92,96]

I would think Rich needs to have a pretty good season next year considering what he has returning and the fact that UND hasn't won a share of the NCC title in about 10 years. I have no idea how much, if any jeopardy his job would be in if the Sioux have a mediocre season next year. Roger Thomas has fortunately not had any difficult decisions thus far, at least that I'm aware of, with regard to the firing of coaches. In other words, whether RT has the stomach to fire somebody for simply not winning enough is an unknown.

[SiouxMeNow]

say what you want about Terry Wanless (and I could say a LOT - i hated that egg-headed jerk) but he summoned up the balls to fire Gino and damn near got lynched for it. Sure it cost him his job eventually when uncle Ralph came around but he never bitched about that. (I guess a couple YEARS severance pay takes care of any hurt feelings but he could have gone out kicking and screaming!!

I know rog and rich are good friends, they've both got kids playing for the Sioux FB team, and it would be a horrible situation...that's why I think it would be an orchestrated "retirement" rather than a firing...he announces it just before next season starts...then it's do or die for the Elite 8 at the Ralph. Either way, Rich goes out saving face (which I'm all for) and UND can move on to a new coach who can produce a winning program...

[UND Fan]

My take on the 2003-2004 season and on the Glas situation:

The Season

I think that Rich and his staff did an excellent job of coaching this team to a 14-14 record considering the early season injuries. As we all know, we let several games slip away and could have easily won 18-20 games - which would have been amazing based upon the talent level of the team. The primary problem with our losing games in the late going was that we only had one guard on the team who was recruited - that was Johnson and, unfortunately, he has not proven to be the leader who can take control of a game when it comes to crunch time. All the rest of the guards were walk-ons and performed like walk-ons for the most part. Not taking anything away from Jahner. He played pretty well but you are not going to win a NCC title with him at the point. Austin was recruited but he certainly didn't contribute much this season due to many personal problems. I am not sure whether he will be much better next year. Hopefully, he can get his life together.

That was the good news - a respectable record under the circumstances. For those who question Rich's coaching ability, he did a pretty good job this season. You certainly could question why, with 10 scholarships, he didn't have more players on the squad who were capable of contributing.

We do have to remember that it is very difficult to recruit kids to UND - mostly because of three reasons:

1) Distance from their homes (there are not many DII quality kids in ND or NW MN). Many kids (and their parents) who do not go DI, want to be fairly close to home so family and girl friends can watch them play. Most every recruit we go after out of state lives closer to any of the other NCC schools than Grand Forks. For talented kids, many of whom have turned out to be NCC all-conference performers, their college choice has gotten down to UND and another school. Often, the deciding factor is location.

2) Recruiting costs. Because of GF's remoteness as opposed to all other NCC and DII schools, it is expensive to bring kids in for visits - not many can drive. If you look at the rosters of the other NCC teams, you will see that many of their recruits lived within a couple of hundred miles of the school. More times than not over the last 15 years, the recruiting fund has been depleted prior to filling our needs.

3) Weather. There is no question that GF's weather is a factor. It is cold and the winter is long. Be assured that our competition is reminding kids of this. I was born and raised in ND and am proud to be from there but I currently live in Florida. I cannot imagine moving back to ND because of the weather. The same goes for recruits who have options to go to a variety of schools.

A lot has been said about whether it is best for UND to recruit talented freshmen or JC players/transfers. I can assure you that the UND coaching staff would prefer to primarily recruit talented HS players along with a very good JC player each year. But it is not that simple, we have to get the best players who are willing to come to UND and in recent years, it has been difficult to recruit freshmen. Obviously, we have had success with many HS players but believe me, we would have won some NCC titles had we been able to land a few of the HS recruits flipped a coin and decided to go elsewhere. We have also been the top DII choice for many players who decided to go DI. Had we landed a few of them, things would have been different. From both a recruiting and injury standpoint, we have not had much luck recently. However, I do buy into the theory to some degree that you make your own luck.

The new facility should help a great deal deal with recruiting although the home-court advantage we have had at Hyslop on't be there in The Ralph. Hopefully, that kind of atmosphere can be established at The Betty. The new digs can do a great deal to offset our location and the weather but recruiting will always be a challenge due to the reasons noted above.

I feel the current staff has done a pretty good job under the circumstances in recent years. However, I also feel that after a few years at the same school, a change is often necessary. That was the case with Gino and Gunther. Both were great coaches and great people but the change was needed. It will be interesting how next year plays out. I agree that if we have another mediocre year, there will be alot of pressure for a change.

[UND92,96]

I am basically in agreement with everything UND Fan said, but a couple of things keep perplexing me:

1. The UND men's basketball program has a tradition which is better than virtually everybody in the NCC, save maybe SDSU, and even in comparison with them UND has a significant advantage in the all-time series. So have things really changed that much in the past 10 years with regard to recruiting challenges so that UND went from being perennially one of the top programs in the region to one that is stuck in the middle? You need to change with the times, and I'm not sure we've done that very successfully.

2. When you look at the long list of sports in which UND has won conference titles in recent years, there doesn't seem to be any particularly compelling reason why the men's basketball program has not. Each sport is unique, of course, but I don't believe the situation with the men's basketball program is so different from all other sports that we should just accept mediocrity, either. The resources are in place, the tradition is there, the fan support is among the best in dII, local media coverage is extensive, and while REA has its flaws as a basketball facility, it has to be absolutely jaw-dropping to a kid in for a visit. I have to think that those things should more than offset the fact that we are geographically remote, or that it's a little colder here than South Dakota or southern Minnesota. Those obstacles have always been here, and they've been overcome many times.

I have blasted Rich in the past, particularly after losses to Minot St., UMC and Mary. I know many others have felt the same way. With that said, I would like to see him succeed again, but I really think this upcoming year is a make-or-break situation.

[UND Fan]

92,96 - You make some very good points. Times probably haven't changed that much that the items I mentioned would result in our less-than-stellar results in recent years. I do know that if we had landed 4-5 of the kids that "flipped the coin" and decided to go elsewhere, we would have won some championships.

I absolutely agree that there is no excuse for our losing some of the games we have lost in the last 5-6 years. Many embarrassing losses - even in years when we had some pretty decent talent. Coaching has to take the brunt of the responsibility for these losses. Ther have been more of these type losses in the last five years than in the preview 15.

A previous post stated something about an orchestrated retirement for Rich. If the decision is made that it is time for a change, it would be great if Rich wasn't "fired". However, I don't think they could call it a retirement as I would doubt that Rich is in the financial position to retire anytime soon.

The best case scenario is that we get back where we used to be: always in the running for the NCC title and often winning it, not losing games we shouldn't lose and getting to the NCAA playoffs on a consistent basis.

Time will tell.

I will give my thoughts on recruiting and next year's team on the recruiting site within the next few days.

[Cratter]

Kids just don't flip the coin and happen to go to other schools. They go to other places for reasons, probably like the coaches there better. Basketball is a unique sport, but why do the women, with the excellent coach of Roebuck, always win and the men, with Glas, always loss. They both recruit to the same school in the same city using the same facilities.

[SiouxMeNow]

frankly, Rich has NO excuse if he can't recruit to a DII school with the facilities we will have this fall....I appreciate the previous posts and I understand your arguements (and frankly agree with most of the "problems") but it's time to SH*T or get off the pot...

[SiouxMeNow]

and Cratter is correct...Roebuck manages to get good quality recruits DESPITE his personality...which I can't imagine is a big recruiting tool. AND I hear Wrigely has NEVER been a MAJOR SPONSOR...go figure...

[shep]

and Cratter is correct...Roebuck manages to get good quality recruits DESPITE his personality...which I can't imagine is a big recruiting tool. AND I hear Wrigely has NEVER been a MAJOR SPONSOR...go figure...

I agree with the Roebuck quote but I suspect the chance to play for an NCAA title drives alot of women here.

Glas hasn't had a shot at the title since the Gulseth years. Remember he packed the team with some very good ND players and w/o the backyard boys, we haven't been serious contenders in a long time so this is the year IMO to put up or pack up.

[Cratter]

Interesting to bring this thread back now that the season is done.