MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

pgkevin · August 04, 2026, 11:31:45 PM

Quote from: Jbothe on August 04, 2026, 07:52:32 PMIWU schedule was similar last year. Only 4 of 12 games before Christmas were at home. That includes Sikma tournament.

They did not have a home CCIW in that stretch last year either.

Makes you wonder if Shirk has commitments in December each yea4.

Probably not the whole story, but probably plays a part in late December

https://theclassic.org/fanzone/facilities-venues/

WUPHF · August 05, 2026, 09:57:11 AM

Quote from: pgkevin on August 04, 2026, 11:31:45 PMProbably not the whole story, but probably plays a part in late December

https://theclassic.org/fanzone/facilities-venues/

I doubt it, this was about the opportunity to play the national runner-ups in Atlanta.

Gregory Sager · **Yesterday** at 06:15:42 PM

Welcome to North Park, Robbie Harman! The new man in charge of Vikings men's basketball comes to NPU after a successful stint as the head coach of D2 Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Looking forward to meeting him at some point within the next few days and talking shop.

WUPHF · **Yesterday** at 08:26:03 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on Yesterday at 06:15:42 PMWelcome to North Park, Robbie Harman! The new man in charge of Vikings men's basketball comes to NPU after a successful stint as the head coach of D2 Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Congrats Greg, looks like another strong hire.

markerickson · **Today** at 10:22:13 AM

I know the timing sucks with McGhee's departure. So NPU hires an unemployed coach with a sub .500 record with no ties to Chicago. Definitely not a "strong hire."

Greek Tragedy · **Today** at 11:49:39 AM

He was unemployed because he stopped down in April, so it's not like he'd been out of a job for a year or more. A "strong stint" is subjective. He was 53-60.

Gotberg · **Today** at 11:59:35 AM

Quote from: Greek Tragedy on Today at 11:49:39 AMHe was unemployed because he stopped down in April, so it's not like he'd been out of a job for a year or more. A "strong stint" is subjective. He was 53-60.

I would not be surprised if he learned Northwest Oklahoma was not the place to be....

PauldingLightUP · Last Edit: **Today** at 12:29:24 PM by PauldingLightUP

Quote from: WUPHF on Today at 11:02:23 AM
Quote from: markerickson on Today at 10:22:13 AMI know the timing sucks with McGhee's departure. So NPU hires an unemployed coach with a sub .500 record with no ties to Chicago. Definitely not a "strong hire."

He was unemployed after a successful strong stint as a head coach?

Hopefully Greg could give us a progress update on his wife's cancer which is what the release said why he left his previous job. Maybe it improved and he's able to coach again?

Gregory Sager · Last Edit: **Today** at 12:19:49 PM by Gregory Sager

Quote from: markerickson on Today at 10:22:13 AMI know the timing sucks with McGhee's departure. So NPU hires an unemployed coach with a sub .500 record with no ties to Chicago. Definitely not a "strong hire."

Good grief, Mark.

Robbie Harman resigned from the NWOSU job this past April because his wife had been stricken with cancer. It had nothing to do with his performance as coach. If anything, resigning his job in order to take care of his ailing wife was a plus in terms of how the search committee evaluated him, because it speaks to his character and his values.

Are you familiar at all with NWOSU? It's a school smaller than North Park that's located in Alva, OK, population 5,000. Alva is two hours from the nearest city of any size (Wichita, KS). Alva isn't in the middle of nowhere; it's on the far edge of nowhere. It's so remote that the U.S. government located Camp Alva, its highest-security POW camp, there during WWII. That's where they put Nazi leaders, Gestapo agents, and extremists. It's by far the most remote school in the Great American Conference, which is relatively (for the Great Plains) clustered in Arkansas and the more heavily populated areas of eastern Oklahoma. I wouldn't be surprised if tumbleweeds blow across the field during Rangers football games in Alva.

Are you familiar with the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, which measures all-sports success in D1, D2, D3, and NAIA by how many appearances in national tournaments schools make, and how far they get in those tournaments? Each of the other 11 schools in the GAC has appeared in the Learfield Cup standings at least six times within the past decade and a half. NWOSU has been ranked once; their women's basketball team, which finished second in the GAC, qualified for the D2 tourney last season and ended over a decade's worth of school years in which NWOSU athletics was shut out of D2 postseason play entirely. Given what a tough ask it is to compete in the GAC as an NWOSU head coach, Robbie Harman clearly did well by the standards of Rangers sports.

Robbie Harman has a very solid c.v. on the assistant level at various scholarship-level stops: Davenport and UM-Crookston in D2 and Central Michigan (his alma mater) in D1, as well as a brief stop at legendary NAIA program Oklahoma City.

The fact that he has no Chicago ties is irrelevant. Did you not notice who his full-time assistant coach and recruiting coordinator is at North Park? TJ Cobbs knows the landscape of Chicagoland basketball. He's lived here his entire life and played and coached here. He's very familiar with the local high school coaching fraternity, since he was a part of it until a couple of months ago. If Robbie Harman was being asked to come in and hire a second chair at the last minute to run the local-recruiting operation for him, then his unfamiliarity with Chicagoland might be an issue. But that's not the case here, is it?

All in all, a very bad take on your part.

WUPHF · **Today** at 12:55:08 PM

Thanks Greg, I like this hire even more.