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UND's next Athletic Director


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Roger wasn't dead set against the D1 move he wanted it on a different time table. He wanted the facilities brought up to D1 standards first then make the move. I sat in on a couple of meetings and that was his position.

Purpur, Bollinger and Blais would all be good candidates. I don't know if any of them are interested though. Blais just took a coaching job in Fargo, Bollinger is doing well at Bemidji and likes the area and Purpur is doing well at Stanford from what I understand. There will likely be more good candidates. This will be an exciting and challenging time for the person who takes the job.

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Dean Blais

Will you tell me how Dean Blais is qualified and has the attributes to be a good AD at this VERY critical juncture in UND Athletics history?

He is a hockey coach! The biggest thing on his resume are his NCAA championships AS A COACH.

The AD position is more than glad handing and being a public figure.

Although Dean is an amazing hockey coach and a better guy, he would not be suited to be AD with no experience what so ever to speak of.

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Will you tell me how Dean Blais is qualified and has the attributes to be a good AD at this VERY critical juncture in UND Athletics history?

He is a hockey coach! The biggest thing on his resume are his NCAA championships AS A COACH.

The AD position is more than glad handing and being a public figure.

Although Dean is an amazing hockey coach and a better guy, he would not be suited to be AD with no experience what so ever to speak of.

Well said!

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Will you tell me how Dean Blais is qualified and has the attributes to be a good AD at this VERY critical juncture in UND Athletics history?

He is a hockey coach! The biggest thing on his resume are his NCAA championships AS A COACH.

The AD position is more than glad handing and being a public figure.

Although Dean is an amazing hockey coach and a better guy, he would not be suited to be AD with no experience what so ever to speak of.

Is his experience really all that much different from that of Wisconsin a.d. Barry Alvarez? That's not to say that Blais is interested, or should get the job even if he is, but I'm not sure his work experience should automatically exclude him, either.

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Is his experience really all that much different from that of Wisconsin a.d. Barry Alvarez? That's not to say that Blais is interested, or should get the job even if he is, but I'm not sure his work experience should automatically exclude him, either.

I see your point but comparing UND to Wisconsin is apples and oranges. Barry Alvarez was able to be the AD while he was coaching because he had a plethora of Associate AD's to pick up the slack. They in fact were the ones running the department. They would just report to him on their progress. I would assume the same situation still exists with Alvarez concentrating his time on fundraising and big time boosters.

The same situation does not exist at UND. You only have a couple Assistant AD's. The AD at UND is more involved in everyday decisions than at Wisconsin.

Furthermore, Wisconsin is already a well-established athletic presence in the Big 10 Conference. UND is transitioning to D-I without knowing for sure where all the money is going to come from. Without a marketing plan in place for D-I. Without knowing what conference they will be competing in.

Bottomline, we need someone that knows what they are doing and can't afford to bring in a "big name" without any administration experience what so ever.

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I see your point but comparing UND to Wisconsin is apples and oranges. Barry Alvarez was able to be the AD while he was coaching because he had a plethora of Associate AD's to pick up the slack. They in fact were the ones running the department. They would just report to him on their progress. I would assume the same situation still exists with Alvarez concentrating his time on fundraising and big time boosters.

The same situation does not exist at UND. You only have a couple Assistant AD's. The AD at UND is more involved in everyday decisions than at Wisconsin.

Furthermore, Wisconsin is already a well-established athletic presence in the Big 10 Conference. UND is transitioning to D-I without knowing for sure where all the money is going to come from. Without a marketing plan in place for D-I. Without knowing what conference they will be competing in.

Bottomline, we need someone that knows what they are doing and can't afford to bring in a "big name" without any administration experience what so ever.

I'm looking at this from the angle that our list of choices may not be what they otherwise would be due to the timing, specifically the uncertainty about the identity of the new president. If we can get an experienced administrator, then great. I'm all for Rob Bollinger, for example. But if some or even all of the obvious candidates are scared off, I'd rather have somebody like Blais than some assistant a.d. who may not realize what he or she is really getting into here. IMO, Buning fell into the latter category. We won't really know until we see the list of applicants. I just don't want to dismiss somebody of the stature of Dean Blais without knowing who else may be interested.

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Will you tell me how Dean Blais is qualified and has the attributes to be a good AD at this VERY critical juncture in UND Athletics history?

He is a hockey coach! The biggest thing on his resume are his NCAA championships AS A COACH.

The AD position is more than glad handing and being a public figure.

Although Dean is an amazing hockey coach and a better guy, he would not be suited to be AD with no experience what so ever to speak of.

Roger Thomas had no AD experience to speak of when he became UND's AD in 1999. I don't believe that experience is necessarily the biggest determiner of who would be a good AD. People didn't seem to complain about the lack of experience back then.

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Roger Thomas had no AD experience to speak of when he became UND's AD in 1999. I don't believe that experience is necessarily the biggest determiner of who would be a good AD. People didn't seem to complain about the lack of experience back then.

You are right, Roger didn't have experience as AD when he took over. Although I think Roger did a good job as AD, there were some things that were not done that the Athletic Dept had to deal with when Roger left that is reflected in Bunings statements to Harmensen.

Every AD makes mistakes and there is no possible way that they can get everything right. If you were looking for an exception to the rule on coaches turning into ADs, then I would say Roger would be that exception.

That being said, I don't think Dean holds the same attributes that Roger has and thus I don't believe he would be a successful AD at UND.

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You are right, Roger didn't have experience as AD when he took over. Although I think Roger did a good job as AD, there were some things that were not done that the Athletic Dept had to deal with when Roger left that is reflected in Bunings statements to Harmensen.

Every AD makes mistakes and there is no possible way that they can get everything right. If you were looking for an exception to the rule on coaches turning into ADs, then I would say Roger would be that exception.

That being said, I don't think Dean holds the same attributes that Roger has and thus I don't believe he would be a successful AD at UND.

Roger Thomas probably faced more issues as a AD then any of UND's previous AD's. The transition to playing (and paying) in two new facilities and all the issues of not only completing design and construction of facilities, plus adapting to issues of no longer having revenue streams such as concessions, tickets, marketing, promotion ect....after adapting to REA taking over almost all of these items. Then to top if off we need to balance a budget where we now have to "PAY" to practice and play games in both the Alerus and REA. These continue to be major issues that the new AD will face.

RT also hired Dave Hakstol and Dale Lennon and we won two National Titles while he was AD by the way....not too bad.

My #1 pick has always been Rob Bollinger, and continues to be. That being said I think right now UND needs a "Face for the Program" one of trust, intergerity, honesty, and one that is reconizable to Facility, Coaches, Alumni, Students, and Fans.

Hire all the bean counters you need (no offense to bean counters) we need a Man that we can count on, that you can point to and say with pride he is "Our Guy"

IMHO.... both Dean Blais and Rob Bollinger fit that criteria to a tee, and I would welcome either one of them back at UND.

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First off, Dean will never takae this job. I no him personally aand he will never have a job again where he sits in teh office day in and day out. hence the NHL job he had. Arule dean out... I heard its aa done deal rob to und but i wish they would pick some one other then a good ole boy.

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Roger Thomas probably faced more issues as a AD then any of UND's previous AD's. The transition to playing (and paying) in two new facilities and all the issues of not only completing design and construction of facilities, plus adapting to issues of no longer having revenue streams such as concessions, tickets, marketing, promotion ect....after adapting to REA taking over almost all of these items. Then to top if off we need to balance a budget where we now have to "PAY" to practice and play games in both the Alerus and REA. These continue to be major issues that the new AD will face.

RT also hired Dave Hakstol and Dale Lennon and we won two National Titles while he was AD by the way....not too bad.

My #1 pick has always been Rob Bollinger, and continues to be. That being said I think right now UND needs a "Face for the Program" one of trust, intergerity, honesty, and one that is reconizable to Facility, Coaches, Alumni, Students, and Fans.

Hire all the bean counters you need (no offense to bean counters) we need a Man that we can count on, that you can point to and say with pride he is "Our Guy"

IMHO.... both Dean Blais and Rob Bollinger fit that criteria to a tee, and I would welcome either one of them back at UND.

I agree with everything you just said except for the Dean Blais part. Rob would be a great candidate but Dean does not have the experience and attributes that is needed. Rob does.

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Here's Kevin Fee's list of possible candidates with local connections, all of whom have been previously mentioned on this board. link

I think that list is a great start. IMO None of these gentlemen will even consider the job, until a new president has been named.

It would not surprise me that UND's administration will rush to hire a new AD, and by doing so turn away some of the best possible canidates.

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First off, Dean will never takae this job. I no him personally aand he will never have a job again where he sits in teh office day in and day out. hence the NHL job he had. Arule dean out... I heard its aa done deal rob to und but i wish they would pick some one other then a good ole boy.

Proudsioux has it right, Dean has absolutely no interest in the AD job.

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