UNK Coach Morris
- Thread starter HillnDale
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Was curious if he wasn't on thin ice? Thought maybe he might survive with win yesterday and getting to 3 wins in a very tough conference.
This post was edited on 11/16 7:00 PM by viewfromthebooth
This post was edited on 11/16 7:00 PM by viewfromthebooth
Are they ever going to match the 36 rides that usually the MIAA teams offer? I know in the RMAC they offered less then that , but I would of hoped that in the plan to switch over to the MIAA they would increase the scholarships to match them. I am curious. as to that .
This needs to be fixed. It is hand tying the program. Get them what they need to be able to put the same kind of athletes on the field as other teams. Bump up the scholarships. Let them be able to compete on the same level or don't expect success that is on the administration.
That's a great question. Tough enough to compete if you have 36 and almost impossible when you are 10 or more down. Take that same percentage in scholarship shortcomings and apply it to the Huskers. They would be somewhere around 60-65 which would be the same as the old 1-AA.
It's more than just saying "ok, let's offer the max level of scholarships for football," though. There has to be funding for it, which is something both Morris and Dr. Plinske (as well as the other athletics coaches) have been trying to get.
Dr. Plinske was quoted in today's Kearney paper saying the football program is "over 30 scholarships," so, for argument's sake, let's just say they're ~5 short of the full 36. It's not just a matter of adding 5 scholarships to football, but then adding an equal amount to women's athletics. Then you have to look at other sports...would it be fair if football was fully-funded but (say) men's basketball was operating well below their limit? You get where I'm going. It'd be hundreds of thousands of dollars that the school would have to come up with on top of what they already get from donors. Is it possible? Yes, but I don't see it happening overnight.
Just my two cents.
It sounds a lot like what U.N.O. was going thru before they cut football and wrestling there a few years ago. I really thought that Morris was a pretty good coach when U.N.K. was in the RMAC. It seems like the moving up to the MIAA without matching the increase in scholarships was not a wise move on UNK's part. Besides the travel part of it, I thought they had a good fit in the RMAC. I sure hope they can bring the program back up , it gives Nebraska kids a chance to play college football here in state which is a good thing.
They just renovated the soccer field at UNO for $2mm so the 300 people that watch games there have a 1 st class facility and they are building a $70mm arena so a bunch of Canadian and Minnesota kids can play hockey there. I guess what UNK should do is drop football and wait for all of the UNL Foundation money to start pouring in. What is the Foundation at right now, I thought it was close to $2 billion but I could be off a couple of hundred mill or so.
Saw that there is an early list of 16 candidates that the AD would like to talk about the opening. Any guesses?
Dr. Plinske mentioned that they want someone with Nebraska ties, but I think his #1 has to be Lance Leipold (HC at Wisconsin-Whitewater). He was an assistant at UNO for ~13 seasons, then took the head coach position at Whitewater (which Dr. Plinske was AD at during the time). So not only does he have Nebraska ties, but he also used to work under Dr. Plinske. He's applied for D2 and FCS jobs before, so I think he'd be willing to take this job.
For those that don't know, Leipold was also featured on College Gameday earlier this season. Here's the segment they did on him.
This post was edited on 11/18 5:46 PM by unavailableusername
Why do you think it's that far-fetched? I'm not saying that he'd for sure come to Kearney, but I think Dr. Plinske will reach out to him about the opening. Who knows from there.
I don't see why Leipold wouldn't at least listen to Dr. Plinske. Wisconsin-Whitewater is a division III team and UNK is division II. UNK has made a lot of nice improvements to Foster Field and now it's time to step up the fundraising and get in line with the other programs in their conference as far as scholarships go.
I think Leipold takes the phone call and thinks about it out of respect for Dr. Plinske, but I think he has his eyes set on something bigger than UNK. After winning 5 National Championships and in line for a 6th this season with the Warhawks, I think there will be some bigger programs with more to offer him than what Kearney can, no offense to UNK. Maybe go after a coach like Matt Franzen, who has taken Doane from the bottom feeder to contender in the GPAC, or a coach like that.
What about the coach at Morningside? They are No. 1 in NAIA right now and he has a ton of Nebraska kids and ties to the state on his staff.
I don't know about all of this Bill O'Boyle talk. He got fired from Chadron for a reason (that reason being he embezzled money from the football program). I don't know that I would hire a guy that steals from the program when the program UNK is trying to build is already below its competition when it comes to funds.
Fall guy for the former AD and president? Story I heard, and saw in the newspaper, was that he deposited money from a golf tournament (designated as a football fundraiser) into a private account and then used that money to pay his traffic tickets. Not sure how that involves the AD/President, but there very well could be more details. Either way, he knew about the private account, he used money from that private account for personal reasons (traffic ticket), and UNK has money short falls in football. Seems like a bad combo to me.
How was he rail-roaded? He made the decision to deposit money in that account that everyone knew about. He didn't have to do anything, all he had to do was hand the money over to the AD or someone else in the Dept if he felt it was wrong. Its about doing what is right and wrong. You can only choose one.
AD who starts account, fully funds account for years, hands program over to coach (who continues tournament and account) is then thrown under bus by AD who wants his coaching job back. Then when shit hits fan, retires, never to be heard from again. Great coach, better man.
The deal at Chadron was a shady AD needed a fall guy and pinned his own misdeeds on a great man and great coach. Leopoldo left UNO for Whitewater because even though it was D-3, it was a better program and situation than a floundering UNO program. Sandy Buda might be worth a shot.
