North Dakota

Caledonia native Isaac Fruechte named offensive coordinator at North Dakota

Published

2 years ago

January 28, 2024

Caledonia native Isaac Fruechte named offensive coordinator at North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The University of North Dakota football program has finally found its next play-caller.

The Fighting Hawks have hired Caledonia native and Winona State University offensive coordinator Isaac Fruechte to be UND’s offensive coordinator, following a strange, short stint as offensive coordinator for Grand Forks native Jake Landry, who accepted the role at UND before pivoting to take the same job at North Dakota State.

The job at UND opened originally after Danny Freund left after five seasons calling plays to join two-time defending national champion South Dakota State.

Fruechte, 32, has coaching stops at Wisconsin-La Crosse, Northern Iowa, Northern State and Winona State.

Fruechte was offensive coordinator at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2018, then wide receivers coach at UNI in 2019. He was offensive coordinator at Northern State from 2019 to 2021 before taking the job at Winona State.

Fruechte, a native of Caledonia, Minn., played junior college football at Rochester Community and Technical College for one season before spending three seasons playing for the University of Minnesota. In his three-year Gophers career, Fruechte started 18 games, caught 50 passes for 702 yards and three touchdowns.

I. Fruechte

He was on the practice squad and a special teams performer for the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings in 2015 and 2016.

A handful of southeastern Minnesota natives are on the North Dakota roster. Goodhue’s Adam Poncelet was a freshman wide receiver last fall, Pine Island’s Josh Navratil was a senior linebacker (he has announced he’s coming back for his fifth year of eligibility in 2024), and Caledonia’s Casey Schultz was a sophomore defensive lineman in 2023.

North Dakota plays in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which is the home to six of the past seven national champions (four by North Dakota State, the past two by South Dakota State). North Dakota tied for third in the MVC in 2023 and went 7-5 overall, losing a first-round home playoff game to Sacramento State, 42-35.

UND is expected to start spring ball at the end of February.

Winona State averaged 25.4 points per game last season. The Warriors, of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in NCAA Division II, finished 5-6 in 2023.

UND moved quickly to fill the position vacated by Landry. The Herald reported Landry’s in-state move on Friday night.

Miller has covered sports at the Grand Forks Herald since 2004 and was the state sportswriter of the year in 2019 and 2022.

His primary beat is UND football but also reports on a variety of UND sports and local preps.

He can be reached at (701) 780-1121, tmiller@gfherald.com or on Twitter at @tommillergf.

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North Dakota

Pepperdine hosts North Dakota State following Koenen’s 22-point game

Published

53 minutes ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Pepperdine hosts North Dakota State following Koenen’s 22-point game

North Dakota State Bison (8-2) at Pepperdine Waves (7-2)

Malibu, California; Tuesday, 5 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota State visits Pepperdine after Avery Koenen scored 22 points in North Dakota State’s 83-55 victory against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

The Waves are 4-0 on their home court. Pepperdine is 1-0 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 18.2 turnovers per game.

The Bison are 3-0 on the road. North Dakota State scores 77.4 points and has outscored opponents by 15.3 points per game.

Pepperdine averages 8.1 made 3-pointers per game, 2.8 more made shots than the 5.3 per game North Dakota State gives up. North Dakota State averages 6.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.1 fewer made shots on average than the 7.3 per game Pepperdine allows.

TOP PERFORMERS: Seleh Harmon averages 2.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Waves, scoring 10.4 points while shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc. Elli Guiney is shooting 47.3% and averaging 14.4 points.

Molly Lenz averages 1.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Bison, scoring 7.8 points while shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc. Koenen is averaging 18.2 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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North Dakota

North Dakota lawmakers from West Fargo announce bid for reelection

Published

13 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

North Dakota lawmakers from West Fargo announce bid for reelection

WEST FARGO — Three incumbents from West Fargo will run for reelection to their state legislative seats.

North Dakota Sen. Judy Lee and Reps. Jim Jonas and Austen Schauer, all Republicans, announced Sunday, Dec. 14, that they would campaign to represent District 13 in the state Legislature. The district covers much of north West Fargo.

Austin Schauer.

Special to The Forum

Lee was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1994. Jonas and Schauer have served in the state House since 2023 and 2019, respectively.

The three ran unopposed in the 2022 election. The next election for their seats is in 2026.

Jim Jonas, candidate for West Fargo School Board. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor — Jim Jonas.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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North Dakota

Bids awarded for construction of Highway 85

Published

1 day ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Bids awarded for construction of Highway 85

WATFORD CITY, N.D. (KUMV) – The North Dakota Department of Transportation awarded more than 150 million dollars in bids to continue expanding highway 85 south of Watford City.

More than $83.8 million will go to Park Construction out of Minneapolis for one segment. It covers about five and a half miles south of the Long X Bridge, going through another section of the badlands. It’s expected to be a three-year project due to the rough terrain.

The next segment covers 12 and a half miles south from the badlands to the highway 200 intersection. The winning bid went to Strata out of Grand Forks for $61.7 million. It will be a two-year project.

Funding for these projects were provided by both the state and federal government.

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