2025 Season

[Oxbow6]

Chavez make a call to see if he can lure Hardee away from his short bus driver route??

[jdub27]

Kind of surprised and disappointed this hire didn't work out. Credentials looked good coming in.
On to the search...

[forksandspoons]

Poach a coach from SDSU. 

[Dustin]

1 hour ago, forksandspoons said:

Poach a coach from SDSU. 

Sort of ironic, but when UND was dominating volleyball, SDSU was the laughingstock. 

[HockeyHawk]

3 hours ago, jdub27 said:

Kind of surprised and disappointed this hire didn't work out. Credentials looked good coming in.
On to the search...

When the athletic department is a dumpster fire programs within said department become a dumpster fire. 

[gfhockey]

10 minutes ago, HockeyHawk said:

When the athletic department is a dumpster fire programs within said department become a dumpster fire. 

Any sources on how the morale is?

[lawkota]

I honestly felt this was a home run hire.  

For whatever reason, his teams could not finish.  They could not finish off sets when they were up late, they could not finish off games when they were up a set.  And they seemed to crumble when play went against them.

[sioux24/7]

How about Chad Braegelmann from SCSU? 

[UND92,96]

44 minutes ago, sioux24/7 said:

How about Chad Braegelmann from SCSU? 

I think he actually makes more money than Tupac did. But if UND were going to pay at a level more commensurate with what it's going to take to be competitive in volleyball, I think he'd be an excellent candidate.

[Dustin]

1 hour ago, lawkota said:

I honestly felt this was a home run hire.  

For whatever reason, his teams could not finish.  They could not finish off sets when they were up late, they could not finish off games when they were up a set.  And they seemed to crumble when play went against them.

I was right there with you.

[coachdags]

On 11/19/2025 at 3:33 PM, Big Green said:

Time will tell, but Hockey, Football and Soccer seems to be moving in the right direction.  Way too early to tell with W. Basketball.  He inherited a mess.

 

One could argue that Hockey and football were already in the system, Coaches that were elevated or came back.

I have yet to see Chaves hire a Coach and produce consistently an above .500 Season in a major Sport.

We have had some successes in Tennis, Track, Golf (individually). Still waiting for a "Home Run" Hire?

[jdub27]

28 minutes ago, UND92,96 said:

I think he actually makes more money than Tupac did. But if UND were going to pay at a level more commensurate with what it's going to take to be competitive in volleyball, I think he'd be an excellent candidate.

I think you're right, but it is pretty close. Not an amount that should be an issue if he's the right candidate.

[undVBfan]

This one is an enigma to me. I've been around for quite a while and I really thought this was a good hire. Great pedigrees, young, energetic, personable, out in the community - they hit all of the things I wanted in the new hire. They inherited a program in a rough place and got to the league tournament in his first year. I really thought the program was primed to get back to the Hardee/Prior era, not just in term of wins but in fans in the seats and overall excitement regarding the program.

Unfortunately the team hasn't got it done. I don't know if they couldn't get the players they really wanted, or if they got the players they wanted and it turned out they weren't the players they needed? Ball control has been a major problem (NO team has too much ball control 😁), and it seems they are always trying to run an offense faster than their passing allows. Lack of outsides who can consistently terminate off of shaky passes didn't help, but physical 6'+ outsides with a live arm are pretty hard to come by. Consistent connections with the middles hasn't really happened since Stockman and Dell, which doesn't make the life of the outsides any easier.

I don't know that there was anything close to a starting line up this year for literally the entire year. We're not in practice, and don't know who is hurt, or who's doing what, but it seems strange that a line up wasn't solidified at some point in the season. It seems that a lot of people have to be questioning their role, both this year and looking forward. It'll be interesting to see what the roster looks like come January, and then again in May. The portal opens in early December. We have a LOT of players added in the past year, some saw some playing time and others not so much. And a couple that used to see a lot of playing time in the previous year or two who saw much less this past year. It'll be interesting to see who sticks around long enough to see what the new coach has to say and then who sticks around after that. I saw a few of the "newer" players start to step up towards the end of the season, we'll see who is willing to stick around for the hopeful rebuild next season.

Regarding potential coaches, I've been told Brady has it *nice* at CSP. It he really wanted to leave he would have been gone a long time ago. He's been winning a lot for a long time and has had plenty of opportunities. I suspect we'll look for someone not unlike the Tupac's, a DI assistant, strong background, and looking for a place to make a name for themselves in their first HC position. I liked the Tupac's and wish it would have worked out, but here we are. I wish the same for whomever is next. 

For the Tupac's I have nothing but positive thoughts and the hope that this ends up being a great learning experience and that their next great adventure (not counting the little one on the way) is successful. And best of luck with what I thought I read was a little boy. Either way, best of luck. And get some sleep now, it'll be in short supply for a while. 😀

[UND1983]

Recruiting.  That's it.  Get better players that care about UND and they will win.  No, they don't need to go to California, Texas and Canada to get volleyball players.  The state's around us are really good at it.

[undVBfan]

9 hours ago, UND1983 said:

Recruiting.  That's it.  Get better players that care about UND and they will win.  No, they don't need to go to California, Texas and Canada to get volleyball players.  The state's around us are really good at it.

I absolutely agree it is easier to recruit talent than to develop talent. If you have any secrets on how to know how talented a 17/18 year old will be in 3-5 years *please* offer up what you can. 😁 

While I agree we need players who are committed to UND, I think that develops from the culture of the team and their experiences while here. They'll come for opportunity and scholarships. They'll stay if we find people who are willing to invest in the process and are surrounded by others willing to do the same. I'm sure everyone is wonderful while being recruited, recognizing those who can really make a difference over their potential 4-5 years at UND is a whole other challenge. And by difference, I don't mean just talent, but in the locker room, and everything/everywhere else it takes to make 13+ players become a successful team.