Former UND coach Dale Lennon's book captures memorable moments of 2001 national title
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 16—GRAND FORKS — Now the Executive Director of the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation, former UND football coach Dale Lennon was naturally inclined to document the history of UND's 2001 NCAA Division II national championship season.
"I'm dealing with history every day, and I see what happens if stories aren't preserved," Lennon said. "So much surrounds the story, and I wanted to capture as much as I could so the story was told accurately. I was always reminding myself ... I'm writing this for someone 50 years from now. I wanted to capture all the situations that existed in that year."
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In July, Lennon published a book "It's Time" to document the season and provide history and insight into the memorable moments of the 2001 title season. Lennon dives into the characters behind the scenes, the construction of the Alerus Center, the impact of 9/11 and — in true coach style — breaks down the X's and O's of the season's biggest plays.
Lennon's book is
available for purchase on Amazon
.
"I started just messing around with it, writing things down and not really knowing what I was going to do with it," Lennon said.
With the help of a book-organizing app, Lennon started to streamline his thoughts and documents.
"It kind of became an obsession ... one chapter led to another chapter, and I was waking up at 3 a.m. needing to write," Lennon said. "But I still didn't know if I wanted to publish it. I didn't work with anyone and nobody knew about it but my wife, and she didn't quite know what I was up to."
When Lennon reached the point of a rough draft, he reached out to one of his players from the 2001 team — Mac Schneider, a former United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota.
"I was asking for input and whether this was worth finishing," Lennon said. "I sent it to him and Mac responded extremely positive. I don't know if Mac hadn't responded the way he had if I would have got to the point of finishing it. I really just wrote it for the team and the individuals surrounding the team. I wasn't looking to push in the market further than that. Deciding to publish really puts yourself out there. I wasn't sure if I was ready to do that, but then I had to."
Schneider eventually wrote the foreword for Lennon's book.
This weekend, Lennon is driving across the state — with a couple of boxes of books — back to Grand Forks for the 25-year reunion of the 2001 national championship. The team will be recognized at UND's football game Saturday against South Dakota State.
For Lennon, reminiscing about the 2001 season through the book was worth the effort.
"I really felt connected and there again," Lennon said. "That in itself was worth it."
During the last gathering of UND's 2001 national title team, Lennon was still coaching at Southern Illinois. Current UND head coach and 2001 standout linebacker Eric Schmidt was with Lennon at SIU, as was 2001 UND defensive coordinator and former UND head coach Bubba Schweigert.
"It's going to be emotional," Lennon said. "I haven't seen some of them in a long time. I'm looking forward to it. As far as a true 2001 team reunion, there hasn't been one I've been part of until now."