iramurphy

No, I think it is difficult to run inside if the RB's can't break arm tackles. I am impressed with hard hard these guys run but I think we need to use some sort of read option run game and let Mollberg run. Heck, he is 230 lbs. Having said that Miller got a number of his yards against Montana State running inside. Improving our consistency in pass game will help the run and inproving our run game helps the pass. (Go figure). I need to be careful what I babble on about because I am sure ESPN will be reading this and want me on their show and I don't have time.

You didn't "watch him blow the call" cuz they haven't put in the read option. They should cuz he can run. He had a decent game yesterday. Poor decision on the pick but he stuck a number of passes into tight spots and through for 350 yds while getting pressured much of the time. We are fine at QB. Defense was better fundamentally but still gave up over 400 yds. we must eliminate the TO's and penalties. Long way to go. Need to get better each week No moral victories in this league.

Chavon Mackey might but only if he was the guy burned.

"Whoa" Sparky. Nothing here about anyone being grander than anyone.I'm not trying to portray anyone else as anything. Also not trying to pretend we don't need to move UND FB forward. Just ahve a different attitude and perspective. Maybe UND athletics shares their spread sheets with you but I wasn't aware UND FB was the financial "loser" you think is. Maybe it is but maybe it isn't. It shouldn't be hard to find out but don't forget to include the $$$$ donated to UND FB through the UND FB alumni to offset costs of scholarships and facilites. It is substantial. We also donate to other sports. We are all on the same team. Spread sheet should include that and I don't believe that is included in Alerus figures. Not pretending the poor attendence isn't a problem and I have no idea what the spread sheet for expenses and revenues at the Alerus is for UND FB but UND FB is very important to UND. I believe the recent drop in the Fr population is partly due to UND's FB, MBB, and WBB struggles and the fact that we have't had the same level of success in hockey. This is asituation that doesn't need finger pointing and in fighting.

REA has been a great boost to UND athletics. There was never a "promise" of a stated amount of money. I haven't seen a spread sheet for UND athletics but last time I saw an accurate summary UND FB wasn't losing $$. You may not be old enough to remember when UND FB supported hockey and a number of other sports. UND MBB and WBB have been profitable in the past. The Englestad gift guarantees UND hockey will be profitable and it should. The gift was also to help other UND sports. We did have some issues with the previous REA guy who was let go. He didn't want to do anything for UND athletics. (was an AC guy). Iwabucci guy, if you don't like other Sioux sports then go enjoy hockey. I was around when hockey needed FB and as athletes we had a great relationship with each other and had the same fan base. Hockey will need FB and other sports to be maximize chance of continued success. For those whinign about FB you can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. Donate $$ with a note to Kelly you want this program turned around now. Encourage all area kids to attend UND athletes or not. Don't need to see tax returns. No one is doing anything illegal and unless your name is Englestad it is none of our business. Just say thanks and enjoy.

Google the word. Lee Bohnet wrote a book a few years ago documenting UND athletics including FB. UND was a conference power for years, played and won a number of D2 bowl games and played in 2 National Championship games winning one. From the Red Jarret teams of the 1930's or the Fritz Pollard teams (Olympic athlete who played FB here and whose Dad was the first black head FB coach in the NFL) to our dominance over our pals from the south over the years including our 10-3 record over the last 13 contests I think we have had an excellent program. I am not into comparing us right now with other excellent programs cuz I think we need to "right the ship" first.

I would diagree with those who don't think we can recruit to UND. We have a long and storied tradition of excellence with UND FB and UND athletics. The facilites are excellent and are getting better. UND is an outstanding academic institution with Alumni excelling in all walks of life from outer space to Hollywood, to the CEO offices of Cargill and Buffalo Wild Wings. Our graduates have excelled in the fields of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Business, Aviation and Entreprenureship. We have excellent programs in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and many grads have excelled over the years as educators. We offer graduate programs in many of those fields of study. We have a beautiful campus and the cost of an education at UND is still a bargain. We belong to one of the premier FCS conferences in the country and playing for UND will take you as a student athlete to Montana, Washington, Utah, Oregon, California, Idaho, Arizona and Colorado on a regualr basis. You will make lifelong friends not only with your teammates but with the other UND students. Those students and UND alumni offer connections which can be very helpful in whatever career path you eventually choose. You will get a first rate education. If you are good enough to play here you be one of the players who leads this team back to a position of National prominence and that can be more special than sitting around talking about what some teams did before you got here. If you as a coach can't sell a kid on the UND experience you don't belong here and maybe don't belong in coaching. We will get this thing turned around. Go Sioux!

If a HS coach does that he is hurting his own athlete. Needs to grow up. If he has a problem with a college coach he needs to tell the college coach to grow up. Doesnt' ahve to say it in those words but communication goes both ways and if I am a college recruiter and you or you atheltes don't like my style then tell me so I can improve. If I don't improve, tell my AD.

Twin Cities are a major source of recruting. It is our bread and butter but we have more than one loaf of bread. We are now starting to get some kids again. I believe one of the reasons Belmore was let go was his last year we didn't the kids out of the cities.

first int was terrible throw and he should have tucked ball and run. Second he got hit but shouldn't have thrown. Solid game otherwise. Had 3-4 dropped passes again. They need to add a running dimension to his game. Ran out of trouble a couple of times. He didn't get sacked today. last pass was big time throw to ice game. C+ down from B cuz of Int's.

Tackling is still poor. Discipline is still unacceptable. Can't have 14 penalties. Either some of these guys are not very smart or don't care, but as a coach, if you can't teach discipline you can't coach. Not the progress I hoped to see but a win is a win. 5th game where wide receivers are jumping. They should be going on the snap and don't need to know snap count. Basic fundamentals Who is the receivers coach this year? We also had 3-4 dropped passes again. I would have these receivers after practice each day making sure they watch the ball into their hands. watch them warming up. They don't do it there and they don't do it on passes they drop. They need to do that every pass they catch in practice or games. I would also have all defenders after practice working on form tackling and wrapping up. Again, basic fundamentals. We have a ways to go. Chest bumping looks stupid no matter who does it. Best kept for Pop Warner FB.

If these receivers want to play in the NFL, they need to catch the ball. If they are 10 yds or more away they need to catch whatever is thrown. They also need to make sure if they don't catch the ball ,no one does. Watch the NFL QB's. They put the ball where the receiver can catch it. The good ones go get it and many are not thrown perfectly. If they can't get to it, they make sure the defenders doesn't get it. I haven't seen anything in the home games that shouldn't have been csught cuz it was thrown too fast, but your point is well taken. You also need to throw the ball with touch. Both of our QB's can throw the ball. The O-line needs to give them time. I would also try and get some roll out options and run pass options for Mollberg. He has made some Fr mistakes but he is our best chance to win and I think can become one of our all time greats. I am glad Muss has decided to go with one guy. Whomever he chooses needs to be able to play without being afraid to make a mistake. They just need to make sure if they make a mistake they learn and don't make the same mistake twice. Defensively we may need to challenge our CB's to play man. Not sure if the secondary is understanding the coverages and if that is a problem go to man coverage and everyone should know who is responsible. Otherwise can't miss takcles and both sides need to eliminate penalties. We win this weekend. I believe these kids and coaches have the will to win and no better time to start than now. Kids can't let coaching issue affect them, just go play. Coaches can only deal with what they have control over so worry about the pressure at the end of the season.Go Sioux.

I don't agree there isn't talent. I also agree we need to continue to upgrade. Oline played better last week and I would want to build on that. I would think they might consider utilizing Mollberg's running ability to create something else for the Def to worrry about. They should have some sort of run pass option with our RB's and Jackson off of his running plays where Mollberg can either pull the ball and run, hand off or pull the ball and pass. Might create some match problems for the defense. He ran for over 1000 yds in HS running veer option plays and now weighs 230lbs. He has used his athletic ability to excape the rush better than Bartels. This team can win games but it has to be a different focus and intensity. Doesn't need to come from the coach, can come from team leaders. Who the hell wants to lose. This should be the team that takes us to the next level. I never thought that level would be lower than last year. We are 4 games in and there is still time for kids to show why they play FB. I expect them to win Saturday.

I like Sparks and would like to see him (and other back-ups) get playing time but Miller had a great game last week and deserves to start.. I watched the sideline at the last game and didn't see "screwing around". If fans expect the athletes to never interact with one anther nor smile or laugh during a game then they have nver played. It doesn't necessarily mean they don't care but sometimes you have to be realistic and move on. We all deal with our stress in different ways. Fans tend to be fickle and I don't believe these kids and coaches don't want to win. I am not sure exactly how we got off track but we are. There is no reason these kids can't start now with turning things around. There is talent on this team and enough talent to be competitive. Stop the penalities and missed tackles and dropped balls and we certainly are more competitive. Those are mental errors that can be corrected overnight. Any player who is waiting for the coaches to change things shouldnt' be playing. There are a lot of coaches at all levels who are not well liked or respected but that is no excuse for failure. I am not convinced our play calling is as big a problem as our execution or attention to detail. In my mind that is one of the biggest differences between HS and college and then college and the pros besides speed and size. Work ethic and attention to detail. It does no good for me to repeat my thoughts on issues that bother me. I would assume that the coaching staff knows their is pressure on Faison for a change and they accept that as a challenge and work harder to get things turned around. Play by play, paractice by practice and game by game. I believe they are capable but they need t prove it. What we have seen thus far is not acceptable. If they can turn things around, then that would be quite an accomplishment. Go Sioux

Anything to do with evaluation of performance is protected by the data privacy act. Why would anyone want to read this? It is not anything we need to be privy to. Either he goes or stays. Show some class and don't kick a guy while he is down. Whether the public knows about what is communicated is really none of our business. We just need to know something is being done to move this program forward and put the program in a position to be successful.

Team looked disorganized at times. No excuse. Still tooo many penalties, lack or discipline, no excuse. Kids either don't know assignments or just flat our are making mistakes. Occasionally a receiver will be wide open, but three or four times in one game??? Twice D-backs came up to make a tackle and backed off. I have never seent hat before at UND. Once game has been decided, you get other kids in there. Why didn't they get Sparks in?? Why didn't they get Varner in the last two games so he could play in front of Montana fans? Why didn't they get any back up linebackers in. See what they can do in a game situation cuz when you get your ass run over by a smaller RB when you have a clean shot at him then someone else can miss tackles as well as you can. When you don't get the others kids in during these games they will be disgruntled and when kids are disgruntled when you are losing you will have problems. Coaches who don't understand the psycholgy of coaching make those mistakes. It won't win the game but it sends a message to those who aren't getting the job and to those who are on the sidelines convinced they can do better that they will get a shot. Receivers lack some fundamentals despite their talent. Gollady needs to go after the damn ball even if it isn't a perfect throw. I was disappointed in a couple of throws that he didn't adjust his route to go after the ball. Can't believe receivers are still dropping passes. Basic fundamental is you look the ball into your hands, make the catch and anything else is "gravy". I am not convinced our talent level is that far off, but how can one argue when we have played so poorly. There are signs of "life" but we can't sustain that. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you are but if you are in position to make a tackle and don't then it comes down to who you are and your own character. The other thing that someone should do is tell our damn D-backs that when you are getting your ass kicked you shut the hell up and try and play better rather than trash talk. Detroit Lakes played in EGF friday and I didn't see any UND coaches. We have a 6' 3" 255 lb D-end who runs a 4.85 40. He might be a MLB at the college level or a D- end. UND hasn't even bothered talking to him. The other tackle D-linemean is 6' 2" 270 lb kid who dominates at this level. The Ag school talks to him and our QB weekly but our coaching staff doesn't think they can play. Wonder who is correct. This will be the first time in 22 yrs we will lose our hold on the DL kids. They only way we will win recruiting battles is to ourwork the other schools and we are getting out worked. I asked one of our coaches at the end of July why they weren't talking to our kids in DL and he didn't know which coach had our area for recruiting. The other problem this creates is that we ahve a 285lb Soph lineman who might be our best kid. Although our center may not be a D1 FCS level kid he is 6' 5" and weighs 265 lbs. If our former UND players are doign their job they won't let these things happen. The Heag (sp?) kid who starts for the Bison at tackle the last 2 years walked on there. One of the Brainerd coaches who played at UND couldn't get UND to scholarship him. He will have a shot at an NFL career. Not sure what the hell these guys are thinking some times but pissing off area coaches and alumni won't get you any support when Faison has to make a decsion. Too many red flags for me to have confidence in these guys right now.

Brooks was a great athlete at GFC and an excellent student. As QB at Wisconsin led them to Rose Bowl. Played for Jets, Vikings and Cowboys. Didn't have HS coaching experience but led Hill Murray to playoffs. He learned a lot holding a clipboard at the NFL level and he can recruit. He has the brains and personality. I would be willing to give him the job trusting he is smart enough to make up for his lack of experience. QB at Wisconsin and NFL functions as a leader and on filed coach. Don't know if he would be interested. I would take him over small college coach or D1 asst with no experience.

Of the guys mentioned my choice would be Brooks Bollinger. He should be able to find a capable staff. Bubba isn't the guy Lennon might be if he was available and if he is it would be because S Ill isn't doing well. The next coach doesn't need UND roots he needs to be able to coach and recruit. Faison needs to pick the best guy available and if he has UND connections or roots all the better but we need someone who can coach more than someone to hang out with. We need to pay the head coach and assistants good salaries commensurate with the quality of our University and our facilities and Big Sky membership.

I think that was their second TD. That was hard to believe that our bigger LB didn't light their RB up. He put his shoulder down and didn't wrap up and the RB barely slowed down. What I don't understand is why they didn't get someone else in. Any LB that gets a clear shot like that and can't make a play needs to consider whether or not he should play college FB.

It doesn't indicate panic. I am not sure about 500 offers out there. At this time we make offers to kids who are likely going FBS or kids who we think might go FCS that we have competion for. Dopubt there are over 500 but I couldn't tell you. Most of these early offers go elsewhere. Many schools do the same. What I think our staff needs to do better right now is communicate with HS coaches and kids. Even potential walk-ons should be treated as if they are very important to our program cuz they are!. This staff risks losing relationships started years ago with coaches, former players and kids when they don't follow up on recommendations from HS coaches or alumni. Doesn't mean all kids recommended can play here but if there isn't clear follow-up and appreciation we lose kids.

You don't seem to get this. There won't be a change til the end of the season. We can either suck it up and play better despite the coaches or we can fold the tent and lose the advances we have made. There is nothing in my post defending the coaches, nor ignoring the problem. Deal with what we can control right now. I am more of a big picture guy. We need a cultural change with this program and the athletic dept. We can lose our hockey edge real fast. Going from the WCHA to the NCHC or whatever the heck it is will pose problems. Competing in the Big Sky for other sports is a challenge. To be successful we need fans, we need a product that is entertaining and will engage the fans. We need administration in the athletic dept and the University that has a vision and willingness to utilize intercollegiate athletics to attract students and help market what we do as a University. If our fans our going to wait until we win all of our games it makes it much more difficult. we are fans and need to do our part. We can be part of the solution or part of the problem. Dealing with the coaches is something that needs to be discussed by our University President and Athletic Director and they need to solve this problem. If you feel better whining and thrashing about or ranting about the failures of the team this year then go to it but quit expecting others to condemn all parts of what we have going. This is a great University with tremendous Alumni support which includes athletics. We have great facilities that are getting better. I believe we have had two good recruiting classes and are making inroads in many areas. We have taken 3 recruits the AC wanted badly the last couple of years. Means to me, we are recrutiing better kids and we are getting better kids. There is a good foundation to build on. The time for the coaching change is at the end of the season unless there are behavior issues or something egregious. The fact that I don't want to quit on these kids or the program doesn't mean I am excusing the coaching. I can't fire or hire but I can donate $$ and I can go to the games and support these kids. As a fan, I am not going to quit on them and so I don't see reason to fuss about coaching changes until such time as it might do some good.

There will be no change during the season. If there is a change you want to the possible candidates and that won't happen in the middle of a season. We can fuss all we want but there is no reason not to focus on getting better each day. Offensively we can still score. Might need to scrap the running game. Might need to get creative to keep pressure off the QB's. Not sure what to say about the defense. I don't have an answer other than they must get better. Coaching and players need to pick it up. It isn't going to get easier and there isn't a team on our schedule that can't beat us on a given day. That is how it will be in the Big Sky. Our kids and coaches can listen to this kind of crap or they can start playing above theier level of ability play after play. Think Indiana State was better than NDSU last year? Find a way to get better and find a way to win. Screw what people think about the coaching. Suck it up and work harder. We aren't good enough to over come mental mistakes, penalties and lack or focus. We are good enough to be a lot better.

I will bet you whatever you wish they are already looking at film for Montana State. I think we have been outplayed as much as outcoached and Im not sticking up for anyone but you can't game plan if your o-line doesn't block, and our defense can't stop a sneeze. That is a coaching issue that starts before the game strategy and adjustments.Overall the past couple of years I think out coaching strategy has been decent. Getting kids to play better and being more disciplined is the most important part of coaching for us right now. If we can't get that done it doesn't matter what schemes or adjustments we make.

Lets drop this. Not this guys fault UND got beat. I have never believed in letting fans on the sidelines and there are better ways to make him feel part of the team. How many more fans can come and go. It is just a philosophy and culture that game time is for the team and coaches. We need to fix more important things than a fans on the sidelines but I thought people wanted to clean up the sideline and keeping fans in the stands is only a very small part of it so I'll give you this one.

Johannesson is Jr. and just ran for 331 yds against Devils Lake but also had big game the week prior. 6'2" about 195lbs. Fast and quick. Might be FBS prospect but he is a big time player. Feeney is the Nephew of former Bison QB Kevin Feeney and son of former Sioux Steve Feeney. 6' 2" Soph with rocket arm and all of the throws. Word is that he is better than his Dad or uncle. I saw the Ellefson kid play BB last year when he was a Soph. He is a beast. Great quickness and is 6'2" and about 225lbs. Playing QB for a very good Hawley team. Great speed. College position may be LB.