April 4, 2025 • 12 mins
Grand Forks Herald Sports Editor Tom Miller, joins Tim and Paul to visit about UND Hockey's Head Coach introductory press conference, basketball portal and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven thirty seven on Friday morning, we need to visit
with the the much haralded Harold Sports edenator. It's Tom
Miller Warrant.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Tom, Good morning, gentlemen. Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, I see that you were busy on the hockey
beat a little bit yesterday. In fact, your story there,
your angle was to discuss kind of the way that
you know, you and the athletic director Bill Shaves talks
a little bit about making a coaching change. I did
(00:35):
read your story. I guess the one of my takes
in that from your description and your questions to to
athletics director Bill Shaves, I guess you know, there's not
just one static way from one program to the next,
or not all viewed in the same lens, so to speak.
As the way I take it, each each program has
(00:55):
its own perspective basically, and I think you almost have to.
I guess in today's college athletics environment, each program has
to be viewed in its own way. And and I
guess that's what I took over your story.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah? You know, I was trying to see if there
were any thoughts on a on a theme between you know,
the coaching moves, and uh, you know, Bill Chaves didn't
didn't exactly offer one, just to say that they were
all like you said, I'll have their own stories. So,
(01:31):
you know, I just tried to talk to Bill Chaves about,
you know, the the brad Berry decision in the timeline
and the process and the reasoning and and that would
maybe allow Brad Schossman to really stick to the the
Dane Jackson side of things. So kind of tried to
tried to get some insight from from Bill Shaves and
(01:53):
let him explain himself a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, I get it, and then of course it's all
right there for for everybody to read. And of course yesterday, uh,
you know, Dan Jackson gets introduced, and you did see
uh Tim was mentioning all the varying interest groups factions
that were in the in the in the in the
(02:15):
relph and I guess that that shows you it's quite
a broad people that had an interest in this, from
current student athletes to uh former ones to you know,
all sorts of uh interested parties. Basically that was another
big takeaway and that Tim had earlier this morning.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, it's always interesting to see at least introductory press conferences,
you know, the Dave Hackstall coming or Geno Gasparini. You know,
saw some former players there as well that date back
to the to the nineties and I'm sure beyond I
just you know, maybe don't recognize everybody. So that's that's
always one fun part of it. And uh, you know
(02:57):
those uh those introductory press conferences like to tell people
are are for TV and I suppose for you guys
maybe uh maybe a radio getting sound bites, but uh,
you know sometimes from a newspaper angle, they aren't. They
aren't always uh the most newsy events. But uh, I
think yesterday we we were able to get quite a
(03:19):
bit of news out of out of that event. So
it was uh, it was pretty productive, I thought, Jim.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I thought it was interesting that coach Jackson brought up
Eric schmidt line of work. Works. Wasn't expecting that.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Huh yeah, that's uh, that was interesting to drop an
Eric Shremitt reference. Uh you know, uh it sounds like
Dane Jackson is kind of uh, you know, taking interest
to pick Eric Schmidt's brain about you know, when when
a guy like Eric Schmidt has been at a place
(03:58):
like Washington and has worked with a guy like calendar bore.
I think any coach is curious about picking the brain
of somebody who has seen it done at such a
high level. You know, is that strength training? Is it nil?
Is it? You know? Nutrition? I just think there's there's
probably a lot of people on you and these campus
(04:18):
who can benefit from from talking with Eric Schmid and
learning what it takes to conduct a business at the
highest end.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Tom, I'm not Sherlock Holmes, and I try to tell
that to people when it comes to transfer portal. Obviously,
that was a big news maker this week in regards
to the transfer portal. On the women's basketball side, I
saw there was an addition where Kira Pemberton now has
designated where she's most likely heading in regards to that,
(04:52):
and of course there was the local player as well,
And so I always try to tell people that they're
there's a million reasons that a student athlete can go
into a portal. I don't know what everybody's reason is specifically,
and sometimes they will tell you one thing, but that
wasn't necessarily their reason, and so no one really ever
(05:15):
knows that. The Only thing is you just know that
they're they're in the portal and they're going somewhere else.
That's my take on it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, it's obviously a major part of college athletics, particularly
college basketball. I feel like right now, and you know,
we've talked a lot of times that I just I
feel like the good thing is that nobody is happy
with the current setup. Probably the best thing for you
(05:45):
and d fans is that everybody doesn't like it. That
means change will happen at some point in some fashion,
whether that's dictated by the federal government, whether that's dictated
by the court system, or you know, a lesser option
than maybe the NCAA make some sort of change. It's
it's a unique setup, and I think I had conversations
(06:08):
yesterday with people about you know, I've seen at the
national level a really interesting conversation of comparing this, Well,
it's pro athletics, but it's I think the interesting angle is,
you know, no, it's not in athletics. You're you're not
really permitted to UH to bounce around at a yearly basis. So,
(06:31):
you know, does this ever enter a path of a
contract situation? You know, how how could you possibly get
this UH to have some order of stability? I think
that's what everybody's looking for whether you're a blue blood
or or a low major. The current system feels unsustainable
to all parties. So to to get to get the
(06:55):
system to jive with the courts, I'm not sure what
path that goes down, but the encouraging thing is nobody
likes it, and to me, that means change is coming
at some point.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Interesting, Tim, Well, who would have to initiate that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, you know, because the NCAA is a little ghe
handcuff Well, there's the handcuffing situation, right, Like, what the
problem is the restricting of earnings of people who have
the potential to make earnings, and that will be struck
down in the courts. And so the the only way
(07:37):
I see to solve that is to have athletes collective
bargain for their positioning. Would that deem them employees? Does
that create a new issue? That's possible? And that's when
I say the only way I see solutions are from
(08:00):
a from a from the federal government. And if it's
not from the federal government, then maybe the NCAA has
to work through some sort of system that allows athletes
a seat at the table so you can have like
a player's association or some way to collectively bargain your position.
(08:24):
And I'm not a lawyer. Does that appease what's transpired?
You know? Everything that's transpired is you can't restrict the
earnings of these We don't, I just we don't call
them employees, but student athletes who can who can get
who can get revenue. You can't restrict that access. And
(08:48):
coming to a solution on that problem is it's going
to be super important before before parody is dead, before
competitive balance is dead. That seems pretty important to me
right now.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
You're not a lawyer, but you play one on TV. Okay,
to your point, collective bargainting, here's where I think that
goes down that road kind of like where I use
the NBA as an example of this, where this could go.
Where back in the day the NBA, you could draft
(09:22):
a player right out of high school, right Lebron James
got right out of high school. But I think collective
bargaining a lot of the veterans are like, hey, is
there a way to keep these guys coming and take
some of our veteran jobs from getting here so soon?
So you can't come right out of high school in
the NBA. I could see student athletes that are in
(09:44):
the collective bargaining group being like, well, let's make high
schooler's wait a year because I can stay here in college,
because right now it doesn't matter if it's seven eight years.
It seems for a lot of you know, So I
could almost see the current ones in that collective bargaining
room trying to keep them inside the money train. Basically,
and and and I think high school recruits are already
(10:07):
having challenges as it is, but I only think you
know that then it could go even more difficult for them.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Basically, Yeah, I mean, the University of North Dakota men's
basketball has roster spots to fill, and you know, if
you're a high school kid, there's only going to be
so many spots for you because U and D needs
immediate help. And then the problem around the country is
everybody needs immediate help, and you don't really get immediate
(10:33):
help from an eighteen year old kid, particularly maybe one
from North Dakota who needs to get in a weight
room and get get exposed to the college athletics. So
high school athletes are are in a tough spot with
all of this, are more going to be pushed to
the junior college way. You know, does prep school you know,
(10:55):
like a Jamal web type has become more common. I'm
I'm not sure, but uh it's uh, it's a weird
time at college athletics. I just think something something has
to give here.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Okay, anything else for Tom Tim No, I can't think
of me anything right now. I think we ran through
the gamut there.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Well, I got one more thing and I had something
that he won't be covering. He's just gonna throw on,
you know, just another thing that Brad's got a wade through.
He's got to go cover these tennis programs from you
and d that are are really good right now, and
we got home tennis action.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, schwas Shaftsman texted me yesterday and said, man, it
felt good to write a tennis story after all this
hockey stuff. So luckily, luckily for me, I catched something
back in his wheelhouse. Uh So, yeah, he wrote a
He wrote a tennis story last night about UNI men's
tennis on a on a thirteen game winning streak, school
(11:55):
record sixteen wins. Comes down to this weekend UH match
with Denver to see who takes the Summer League title.
There so that that's been one of you and these
shining programs. Right now it happens to be men's tennis.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Strangely enough, well again, you know, I mean, we are
a bit of a wine and cheese crowd in this community,
so I mean, you know, it's so anyway, Tom, thanks
for dropping in on us here on this Friday morning.
Appreciate your coverage here from everything across the spectrum over
(12:33):
the last several days. Appreciate reading about it in your
editions of the Grand Forks Herald. Thanks for this and
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Sounds good. Take care, guys.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There goes Tom Miller, sports editor of the Grand Forks Herald,
Seven thirty seven on Friday morning, we need to visit
with the the much haralded Harold Sports edenator. It's Tom
Miller Warrant.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Tom, Good morning, gentlemen. Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Yeah, I see that you were busy on the hockey
beat a little bit yesterday. In fact, your story there,
your angle was to discuss kind of the way that
you know, you and the athletic director Bill Shaves talks
a little bit about making a coaching change. I did
(00:35):
read your story. I guess the one of my takes
in that from your description and your questions to to
athletics director Bill Shaves, I guess you know, there's not
just one static way from one program to the next,
or not all viewed in the same lens, so to speak.
As the way I take it, each each program has
(00:55):
its own perspective basically, and I think you almost have to.
I guess in today's college athletics environment, each program has
to be viewed in its own way. And and I
guess that's what I took over your story.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah? You know, I was trying to see if there
were any thoughts on a on a theme between you know,
the coaching moves, and uh, you know, Bill Chaves didn't
didn't exactly offer one, just to say that they were
all like you said, I'll have their own stories. So,
(01:31):
you know, I just tried to talk to Bill Chaves about,
you know, the the brad Berry decision in the timeline
and the process and the reasoning and and that would
maybe allow Brad Schossman to really stick to the the
Dane Jackson side of things. So kind of tried to
tried to get some insight from from Bill Shaves and
(01:53):
let him explain himself a little bit.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, I get it, and then of course it's all
right there for for everybody to read. And of course yesterday, uh,
you know, Dan Jackson gets introduced, and you did see
uh Tim was mentioning all the varying interest groups factions
that were in the in the in the in the
(02:15):
relph and I guess that that shows you it's quite
a broad people that had an interest in this, from
current student athletes to uh former ones to you know,
all sorts of uh interested parties. Basically that was another
big takeaway and that Tim had earlier this morning.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, it's always interesting to see at least introductory press conferences,
you know, the Dave Hackstall coming or Geno Gasparini. You know,
saw some former players there as well that date back
to the to the nineties and I'm sure beyond I
just you know, maybe don't recognize everybody. So that's that's
always one fun part of it. And uh, you know
(02:57):
those uh those introductory press conferences like to tell people
are are for TV and I suppose for you guys
maybe uh maybe a radio getting sound bites, but uh,
you know sometimes from a newspaper angle, they aren't. They
aren't always uh the most newsy events. But uh, I
think yesterday we we were able to get quite a
(03:19):
bit of news out of out of that event. So
it was uh, it was pretty productive, I thought, Jim.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I thought it was interesting that coach Jackson brought up
Eric schmidt line of work. Works. Wasn't expecting that.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Huh yeah, that's uh, that was interesting to drop an
Eric Shremitt reference. Uh you know, uh it sounds like
Dane Jackson is kind of uh, you know, taking interest
to pick Eric Schmidt's brain about you know, when when
a guy like Eric Schmidt has been at a place
(03:58):
like Washington and has worked with a guy like calendar bore.
I think any coach is curious about picking the brain
of somebody who has seen it done at such a
high level. You know, is that strength training? Is it nil?
Is it? You know? Nutrition? I just think there's there's
probably a lot of people on you and these campus
(04:18):
who can benefit from from talking with Eric Schmid and
learning what it takes to conduct a business at the
highest end.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Tom, I'm not Sherlock Holmes, and I try to tell
that to people when it comes to transfer portal. Obviously,
that was a big news maker this week in regards
to the transfer portal. On the women's basketball side, I
saw there was an addition where Kira Pemberton now has
designated where she's most likely heading in regards to that,
(04:52):
and of course there was the local player as well,
And so I always try to tell people that they're
there's a million reasons that a student athlete can go
into a portal. I don't know what everybody's reason is specifically,
and sometimes they will tell you one thing, but that
wasn't necessarily their reason, and so no one really ever
(05:15):
knows that. The Only thing is you just know that
they're they're in the portal and they're going somewhere else.
That's my take on it.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, it's obviously a major part of college athletics, particularly
college basketball. I feel like right now, and you know,
we've talked a lot of times that I just I
feel like the good thing is that nobody is happy
with the current setup. Probably the best thing for you
(05:45):
and d fans is that everybody doesn't like it. That
means change will happen at some point in some fashion,
whether that's dictated by the federal government, whether that's dictated
by the court system, or you know, a lesser option
than maybe the NCAA make some sort of change. It's
it's a unique setup, and I think I had conversations
(06:08):
yesterday with people about you know, I've seen at the
national level a really interesting conversation of comparing this, Well,
it's pro athletics, but it's I think the interesting angle is,
you know, no, it's not in athletics. You're you're not
really permitted to UH to bounce around at a yearly basis. So,
(06:31):
you know, does this ever enter a path of a
contract situation? You know, how how could you possibly get
this UH to have some order of stability? I think
that's what everybody's looking for whether you're a blue blood
or or a low major. The current system feels unsustainable
to all parties. So to to get to get the
(06:55):
system to jive with the courts, I'm not sure what
path that goes down, but the encouraging thing is nobody
likes it, and to me, that means change is coming
at some point.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Interesting, Tim, Well, who would have to initiate that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, you know, because the NCAA is a little ghe
handcuff Well, there's the handcuffing situation, right, Like, what the
problem is the restricting of earnings of people who have
the potential to make earnings, and that will be struck
down in the courts. And so the the only way
(07:37):
I see to solve that is to have athletes collective
bargain for their positioning. Would that deem them employees? Does
that create a new issue? That's possible? And that's when
I say the only way I see solutions are from
(08:00):
a from a from the federal government. And if it's
not from the federal government, then maybe the NCAA has
to work through some sort of system that allows athletes
a seat at the table so you can have like
a player's association or some way to collectively bargain your position.
(08:24):
And I'm not a lawyer. Does that appease what's transpired?
You know? Everything that's transpired is you can't restrict the
earnings of these We don't, I just we don't call
them employees, but student athletes who can who can get
who can get revenue. You can't restrict that access. And
(08:48):
coming to a solution on that problem is it's going
to be super important before before parody is dead, before
competitive balance is dead. That seems pretty important to me
right now.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
You're not a lawyer, but you play one on TV. Okay,
to your point, collective bargainting, here's where I think that
goes down that road kind of like where I use
the NBA as an example of this, where this could go.
Where back in the day the NBA, you could draft
(09:22):
a player right out of high school, right Lebron James
got right out of high school. But I think collective
bargaining a lot of the veterans are like, hey, is
there a way to keep these guys coming and take
some of our veteran jobs from getting here so soon?
So you can't come right out of high school in
the NBA. I could see student athletes that are in
(09:44):
the collective bargaining group being like, well, let's make high
schooler's wait a year because I can stay here in college,
because right now it doesn't matter if it's seven eight years.
It seems for a lot of you know, So I
could almost see the current ones in that collective bargaining
room trying to keep them inside the money train. Basically,
and and and I think high school recruits are already
(10:07):
having challenges as it is, but I only think you
know that then it could go even more difficult for them.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Basically, Yeah, I mean, the University of North Dakota men's
basketball has roster spots to fill, and you know, if
you're a high school kid, there's only going to be
so many spots for you because U and D needs
immediate help. And then the problem around the country is
everybody needs immediate help, and you don't really get immediate
(10:33):
help from an eighteen year old kid, particularly maybe one
from North Dakota who needs to get in a weight
room and get get exposed to the college athletics. So
high school athletes are are in a tough spot with
all of this, are more going to be pushed to
the junior college way. You know, does prep school you know,
(10:55):
like a Jamal web type has become more common. I'm
I'm not sure, but uh it's uh, it's a weird
time at college athletics. I just think something something has
to give here.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Okay, anything else for Tom Tim No, I can't think
of me anything right now. I think we ran through
the gamut there.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Well, I got one more thing and I had something
that he won't be covering. He's just gonna throw on,
you know, just another thing that Brad's got a wade through.
He's got to go cover these tennis programs from you
and d that are are really good right now, and
we got home tennis action.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, schwas Shaftsman texted me yesterday and said, man, it
felt good to write a tennis story after all this
hockey stuff. So luckily, luckily for me, I catched something
back in his wheelhouse. Uh So, yeah, he wrote a
He wrote a tennis story last night about UNI men's
tennis on a on a thirteen game winning streak, school
(11:55):
record sixteen wins. Comes down to this weekend UH match
with Denver to see who takes the Summer League title.
There so that that's been one of you and these
shining programs. Right now it happens to be men's tennis.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Strangely enough, well again, you know, I mean, we are
a bit of a wine and cheese crowd in this community,
so I mean, you know, it's so anyway, Tom, thanks
for dropping in on us here on this Friday morning.
Appreciate your coverage here from everything across the spectrum over
(12:33):
the last several days. Appreciate reading about it in your
editions of the Grand Forks Herald. Thanks for this and
we'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Sounds good. Take care, guys.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
There goes Tom Miller, sports editor of the Grand Forks Herald,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.