Football
Football
The Tie That Binds - Linn-Mar Grads Cross Paths in NCAA Division II Football
Friday, November 7, 2008
Scott Underwood |
Buisman, 44, is a 1983 graduate of Linn-Mar High School and is currently Director of Athletics at Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN, a position he has held since 2002. His Maverick football team is 8-2 and currently ranked 5th in Super Regional III. On Saturday, they host the St. Cloud State University Huskies, who are 7-3 and ranked 9th regionally in a battle for the “Traveling Training Kit” and a potential playoff spot.
Before the game Buisman will renew acquaintances with long-time friend Scott Underwood, who is the head coach for St. Cloud State. The two grew up just a half-block apart from one another and shared time in the same offensive and defensive backfield at Linn-Mar on a football team that went 10-1 and advanced to the state semifinals. The two also played together on a basketball squad that went 25-0 and captured the state title.
Underwood, 45, is also a 1983 graduate of Linn-Mar and interviewed with Buisman for the head Maverick job in 2004 while serving as the defensive coordinator for St. Cloud State. Underwood stayed put and eventually landed the head job at St. Cloud State last spring, when his mentor Randy Hedberg departed to take on another coaching opportunity at Southern Illinois University. Behind Underwood’s guidance, the Huskies have used a balanced offense and strong defensive effort to put themselves in position to be considered for the postseason, with one of the setbacks this fall coming at the hands of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, currently the 2nd ranked team in the region.
The Bulldogs have steamrolled their opponents on their way to a 10-0 record. They are coached by Bob Nielson, 48, and a 1979 graduate of Linn-Mar. Bob also serves as the Director of Athletics at UMD, and his brother, Greg, starred on the same high school football team that included Buisman and Underwood. His Bulldog women’s hockey program has captured four national titles and brought the school a great deal of notoriety in that sport, but it his own football team that appears poised to make a great run this postseason. They have already captured the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division title and can clinch the outright overall conference championship with a win over Winona State University this Saturday in Duluth.
Buisman will have a hand in determining where each of the three schools land in the postseason. Buisman serves a co-chair of the Super Regional III advisory committee and has been a member of the NCAA Division II national football committee for five years—the past two years as national chair. He will lead a grueling six-hour process into the wee hours of Sunday morning that will determine the fate of his own club and that of Underwood’s and Nielson’s, as well. It’s a small world coincidence with big-time implications as the NCAA Division II football playoffs are set to get underway.
Courtesy of Minnesota State University, Mankato Athletic Communications
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