MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Right -- doesn't mean there won't be good candidates, but it won't be a comprehensive national search.

[Drake Palmer]

Right -- doesn't mean there won't be good candidates, but it won't be a comprehensive national search.

Exactly.

Woody - interesting your choice of words, It's amazing who might pop out of the woodwork for a "head job."  Subliminal message? 

C'mon PI – As an alumnus, where's the sense of outrage, frustration, disappointment?  Or do you feel like your school had their 15 minutes of hoops dreams fulfilled and now you're resigned to slide back into the morass of mediocrity?  I'm not a Hamline grad, but I'm thinking to myself - What the blank is going on over there?

[localcoach]

Well Drake can I get some karma from you ol' friend?? 

What a tough move for Barry, but the reality is, as our new friend "Woody" mentioned, he will make an additional $25-35k a year between his teaching and coaching responsibilities.  And I can concur with Woody that the parents in that district are willing to shell out extra $$ to win.  I also believe that his son Brady plays on an AAU team with some of the Orono youngsters, so maybe this played a factor as well.

As for candidates to replace Coach Wohler, I highly doubt you'll see Coach Perrel or Coach Hayes go hard after it.  I'm sure that both understand that the reality is HU is working with less $$ than Bethel, Carleton, and many other MIAC institutions.  Until the administration in Piper land puts their money where their mouth is, I can't see any consistency coming from their programs, which as Drake alluded to, means a likely downward trend.  Plus remember that Perrel's daughter attends Bethel and if he leaves that will mean more tuition $$ out of pocket.

Expect to hear names of previous finalists from before back in the mix, along with guys like Brady Larson.  This one will be interesting.  Dan O'Brien better make a good hire.  IMHO, the right move would be to keep Larson around, at least for one season. 

[Woody]

Expect to hear names of previous finalists from before back in the mix, along with guys like Brady Larson.  This one will be interesting.  Dan O'Brien better make a good hire.  IMHO, the right move would be to keep Larson around, at least for one season. 

If you want "O'Brien to make a good hire" and "the right move would be to keep Larson around, at least for one season" then why not hire him full time? Or, do you think he's just the right guy for an interim position for one year? However, from what I've seen of him and listening to others, he's not ready experience or maturity wise for the job. I'm sure his old man (head coach at St. Francis) is strong-arming/politicking like crazy for him, but, "IMHO", long term, he's not what Hamline needs. I suppose O'Brien can tell him that he's the interim coach for next season and will be "strongly considered" for the head job when they officially open the position and conduct their "national search", but bottom line, Larson would have to handle & conduct himself a whole lot better than what he has so far displayed.

I fully agree with those that have stated it's time for the HU Administration to put their money where their mouths are. HU has a rich tradition of basketball success. Right now, it's worth pennies.

For me, the main question is: Who the hell in their right mind would apply for a position at this school where everyone (coaches) seems to be walking on egg shells? Maybe the University President ought to revisit her commitment to O'Brien and determine if he's the right guy for that position. (I did read in the paper that he's pretty good at wiping off tables in the press room, so apparently he is qualified for the position)

Or, better yet, maybe he'll take the Mike Manning (Rosemount HS AD) approach and just hire himself.

[miacsuperfan]

Too bad about Wohler leaving HU.   I enjoyed watching his teams play--a different style than most.   The best gym in MIAC needs someone good to walk it's sidelines.   In spite of Barry's last year with Pipes, I suggest Orono is getting a pretty good basketball coach.   I hope the parents let him do his job and keep their mouths shut.   (Do any of you know a parent that knows jack about how to coach basketball?)    From what I understand, he did a nice job of keeping parents in their places while at Marshall.  And if his kid is half the player he was, we should be hearing about a pretty good young kid out of Orono in couple of years with the last name of Wohler.   Will any of the current HU players leave on account of the change in coaches?

[piperinsider]

Outrage? I'm to the same point with Hamline as I am with the Timberwolves. Roster/coaching changes don't affect me until I start to see results. You have to understand that I've been going to basketball games for eight years and for only one of them, did I expect them to win. It has been a mediocre program for years.

There was some great moments such as 2002-2003 when Josh Hanson, Tyler Petrich and Jerome Williams almost pulled the team from last to the playoffs. There was the playoff win. There was that win against GAC. There was that win against UST.

Until this program plants itself in the middle to upper tier of the conference, I really won't get too excited over one player or a coach leaving. Right now, this program needs more than that.

[piperinsider]

http://www.stcloudtimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070629/SPORTS/106290030/1002

It's just quotes from MAC AD Travis Feezel.

[Drake Palmer]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if a person works for one of the local area MIAC schools, their immediate family members can attend any of the colleges for half of the tuition fees.   If Perrel was interested, offered & accepted the position at Hamline, his daughter should still be able to attend Bethel under their present tuition arrangement.

I also don't know about this argument about Hamline's perceived, lack of willingness to fund athletics.  I realize the impressive, new Klas Centre & stadium was a result of a recently completed capital campaign, but nonetheless, someone made a decision that this new athletic facility/building was necessary.  And,  it's not like Hamline is barely scrapping by.  I have no idea how their athletic budget compares with other MIAC schools, but their overall endowment placed Hamline solidly in the middle of the league.

Besides, how large of an athletic budget do you need to recruit the upper Midwest, and every other year takes a tournament trip out of state?  Also, if you assume an instructor salary of 40-65K, plus an industry coaching salary average of approximately 24k - 25K, I'm estimating a decent salary package of 65,000.00 – 85,000.00.  Hardly chump change.

I have a difficult time believing Wohler is picking up an additional 25-30K at Orono.
Salary wise, 100 -110K,  puts him close to the same level as a school principal or assistant district superintendent.  If he is getting that kind of coin, then more power to him.  But something tells me this move isn't/wasn't about the dollar.

Outrage? ...Until this program plants itself in the middle to upper tier of the conference, I really won't get too excited over one player or a coach leaving. Right now, this program needs more than that.

PI – that's an interesting position to take for someone who calls themselves "Piperinsider."  To me, your name conjures up an image of a fiercely loyal, partisan supporter, rather than this "fairweather-ish" fan approach I'm hearing.  Perhaps if more, or enough alumni voiced their concern regarding the direction of the athletic programs at Hamline, one might see different results - no?  

[concordia of the north]

Drake:  I don't think all the schools in the metro are united in consortium.  Small private schools have interesting relationships as far as that goes, and they often reflect the church affiliation of the school.  For example I'm pretty sure Concordia and Olaf have a tuition remission agreement as both are ELCA schools.  Concordia has a similar agreement with PLU in Washington.  I don't know how the city schools play out.

Kukla: It was fun.  Tuesday nights are great up there.  When you aren't busy you and your bro should come up.  We had Wes McFarland, Weaver, Steve Strom, Mike Kauls, Garret Ganske (don't know if you remember him, a little before your time), a couple backcourt guys from Luther College, Bob Harris, and I guess Joey Ryan's been making appearances.

If anyone else likes a good serious run MV open gym is putting some good ones together this summer.

Wonka: if Whip dog is Jwhip, I just talked to him yesterday. He and I have had a couple good theological arguments over the years.  I'll have to ask him what this one was about.  Personally I put little stock in "church attendance" as a determining factor for one's faithfulness.

[Drake Palmer]

Drake:  I don't think all the schools in the metro are united in consortium.  Small private schools have interesting relationships as far as that goes, and they often reflect the church affiliation of the school.  For example I'm pretty sure Concordia and Olaf have a tuition remission agreement as both are ELCA schools.  Concordia has a similar agreement with PLU in Washington.  I don't know how the city schools play out.

CON - I'm fairly confident the metro area schools have tuition reciprocity with each other for faculty & staff members' families.  I'm not aware of such a relationship outside of the metro area.

[concordia of the north]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SYUYWAvfWw

I can't remember if I already posted this.  Regardless, it is worth revisiting.  This guy gets me.  I mean, he GETS me.

On a side note, this also reminds me of playing St. Mary's.

[Drake Palmer]

CON -previously posted, but a nice encore performance.

What's Bobby Harris & Joey Ryan up to?  Two very talented players.  I know Ryan ended up at Augustana but did he ever recall from his knee injury?  And where's Harris at -- school anywhere?

[concordia of the north]

Kukla would know better than me but I believe Ryan ended his career as an all-conference player and team leader for Augustana.  I don't know of any tragic ending or what have you.

I'm not going to say anything about Harris, yet.  But very interesting things could happen with that kid.

[abominable_snowman]

did i miss something last night, or did we actually get a decent draft pick with corey brewer?


although my expectations of mchale were quickly fulfilled when he signed ANOTHER gator in the same draft.

[piperinsider]

How do I change my name to Piperbandwagon fan? The insider is now on the outside, but unfortnately someone stole that name from me.

Do you honestly believe my voice of opinion would change anything at Hamline? Or even 50 or 100 peoples? What would we ask for? More wins. DOB is trying to do that by hiring the best coaches he can find. If they don't succeed, he finds another one.

The thing that disappoints me is sometimes the talent is there, but the results aren't. Whether it's coaching, players attitude/determination or other factors, that's what needs to be found out. Tell me how a team with all the pieces to contend for a top 3 position finishes dead last a year aftering making the semifinals with nearly the same roster.

Anybody listening to the tough love covenant today? I hear Common was butchering my name. The one hour I'm not listening, dining with the cute ad rep girl, my 15 seconds of KFAN fame came about.