Thursday December 14th.

Copy of Article from Minot Daily News

Fifty-one is the magic number

By MICHAEL LINNELL, Sports Editor mlinnell@minotdailynews.com

Members of the Minot State University Football Search Committee will have their work cut out for them.

Fifty-one official applications have been received by the university for the vacant head football coaching position. The job opened when former head coach Mike Sivertson stepped down last month.

The committee, which met Tuesday night, is working on cutting the initial list down to five semifinalists that will be released later this week.

“The position will remain open until filled,” said Rick Hedberg, MSU athletic director and search committee chairman. “We hope to pick the five tonight (Tuesday), but will be working on it until it is filled.”

The pool of applicants is wide-ranging in both experience and geography. The various applicants hail from 27 different states and ranges from high school head coaches to coordinators at college and college head coaches.

“It makes the decision difficult,” Hedberg said of the amount of people on the list. “I am pretty pleased with the group. A couple of weeks of ago I was a bit more nervous, but overall I am happy with the pool.”

Hedberg said that X's and O's will play into the decision, but the ability of the new head coach to run the overall program is the biggest key.

“I don't put so much stock in that (X's and O's) because (the new coach) will have four other assistants to oversee that,” Hedberg said. “There is so much more to it than that. The biggest parts are the teaching talents, how they relate to a wide variety of athletes, their type of personality. Are they a strong leader? A motivator? But first and foremost, will they commit to Minot State and Minot.”

The commitment will be a big factor in the final decision as stability in the program looms as a big concern for Hedberg.

“We want a commitment to our program, not just a two- or three-year thing,” he said. “We aren't looking for a life sentence here either, but six to 10 years.

“The program is in good shape. We like the kids in the program and that is a credit to Mike (Sivertson) and the rest of the coaching staff and we want that to continue.”

After the selection committee narrows the list, telephone interviews with the semifinalists will be conducted by Dec. 19. Finalists will be on campus between Dec. 20-29 and a final committee report of the finalists will be submitted to Hedberg by Dec. 29.

Minnesota leads the way with four applicants, while North Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, California, Illinois and North Carolina each have three.

Here are a list of notables:

- Tony Biesiot, defensive line coach, University of Minnesota-Duluth. Biesiot coached the defensive line at Minot State and played in the Dakota Athletic Conference at Dickinson State. He is the son of current DSU head coach Hank Biesiot.

- Chuck Parsons, offensive coordinator, North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton. Parsons has been with the Wildcats for the past three years.

- Mark Samson, head coach, Montana State-Northern in Havre, Mont. Samson led MSU-Northern to its first-ever NAIA postseason appearance last season, losing to Carroll College in the first round.

- Pete Stanton, linebackers coach and head track and field coach at Dickinson State. Stanton has been with the Blue Hawks for the past seven seasons. He is a three-time NAIA coach of the year in outdoor track and field.

- Damon Tomeo, interim head coach, Minnesota State-Moorhead. Tomeo is one of the youngest head coaches in the country at 29 and was promoted to interim head coach after just one season as the defensive coordinator.