iramurphy

Every program needs to reevaluate the performance and progress of every player on the team at the end of each season and in FB again at the end of spring ball. Coaches need a self assessment of what went well and what didn’t, strengths and weaknesses and whether or not they have the right personnel in position for the team to be successful and for the player to be successful. They also need to reevaluate whether or not they have the right personal to run the schemes they plan to run. Every team has players lingering behind others for whatever reason that can contribute better at a different position. Teams also need to evaluate whether or not they as a staff are developing these players to their full potential. We had Nordby, Zalvaney, Steckler, Gunderson, Klein, Ihry, and 3 younger guys at TE. How often do we ever run a double TE set? How many times do we throw to the TE? Can Ihry or Gunderson play LB or DE. That’s what spring ball is for. Can Koshiol play LB. 3 very good athletes, that may provide depth at some key positions and get them more playing time. The Coaching staff needs to do self evaluations and answer the question: are we developing this player to their full potential? If not, why not? If so is there any other position the player can play to better help the team. That should also get the player more playing time. In my opinion those evaluations and decisions are as important as recruiting. I have no idea if our staff does this, if so, to what extent or are they doing a much better evaluation? I used TE as an example but OL and DL is an example of guys who may better contribute from the other side of the line of scrimmage. Our staff wants conference, and national championships as much or more than anyone else. It’s harder than we think, but it’s not impossible.

Paul Muckenhirn, All-American. He was a HS qb. We used to sign a lot of QBs that ended up as RBs, TEs, DBs, LBs, DEs, and occasionally in the line.

Could be LB or DE. Great athlete, tough kid. He should be on the field. I think they should include TE’s in passing tree more often.

Look at the athletes at TE. Find a way to get them on the field at the same time. Our best athletes need an opportunity to play. We should be doing that during spring ball. Steckler comes to mind.

I hope they allow all 4 to push for the starting job. We can improve at every position and that includes QB.

Then the AD should have a meeting with him/her.

Minot kid should have had game misconduct. 5 min major. Minot coach should have benched the kid for additional game. If coach didn’t do that, the Minot AD should make that happen.

Correct but the same can be said for all HS recruits. He has the intangibles: leadership, winning program, Championship. These are the guys who can develop in QBs who can carry a team. Schuster had those intangibles. Feeney does. Kaminski seems to. Romfo does. They were all winners and leaders. This has been one of my concerns. Can we develop these guys in our program to reach their full potential. Is that more of an issue for us than X’s and O’s?

What happened to Hindbjorgen?

FB and hockey deal with Army could be fun.

I’ll share some thoughts. I don’t believe at this point I am qualified to call X’s and O’s anymore (or any less) than others here. It’s easy to second guess and all fan bases have plenty of “Monday morning QBs”. Some calls are inexplainable (4th down call against the Bison) and others are great calls or terrible calls depending on whether or not they work. I’m not sure why we are still hashing out calls from 2,3 or 4 seasons ago. If your point is you have no suggestions other than coaching changes you may be correct. Correct me if I’m wrong, but some of the comments about how how many times we have practiced certain plays, how well we ran them in practice and whether Danny or Bubba call certain plays could only be known by someone who is at practice every day. The folks who repeatedly accuse those who don’t agree with them as being satisfied with mediocrity or responsible for UND not winning a National Championship yet haven’t a clue about the passions and support any of us have for winning. Talk is cheap. My concerns have little to do with play calling. My concerns since we moved to FCS have more to do with support and resources available to help move the programs forward. We are better positioned than most FCS teams. Our immediate priorities are finish Phase 2, raise coaches salaries, and deal with the challenges of the transfer portal and NIL. My biggest concerns with the program (since FCS) including staff, is more related to how well we develop the guys we recruit that we think can help us reach our goal of a Nat. Champ. Is our program helping all of our kids reach their full potential? Have all of our guys improved their fundamentals? Do our guys understand how to break down and study film? Have we improved our tackling skills, blocking skills, ability to secure the FB, improved our ability to know where the weaknesses are in zone vs man to man defenses in order to get open? Are we learning how to close gaps and man up when receivers come into our zone. Is our game awareness improved so we know the importance of first down yardage in our routes and when running the ball on third down. Do our QBs and receivers spend the extra time to develop timing on pass routes so the ball gets to receivers as they come out of their break or move into the seem of the zone. Are we getting our players the necessary speed/strength/nutrition to maximize their speed and strength potential. Lastly are we matching all players to the positions where they can best be successful and more importantly help the team be successful. How many outstanding athletes are stacked up at TE? How many of those guys could play DE, LB, or OL? Moving forward I believe we will also need to better compete with FBS teams to hang onto the guys we have, to recruit guys from the portal and to recruit our share from the top FCS schools and even some FBS schools. We also need to be prepared to move to FBS if necessary/opportunities with the other Dakotas/Montanas arise. That in my mind should be our focus and they are attainable goals. If we do that, the X’s and O’s get a lot easier. Merry Christmas all and remember it’s just a game but still a game we should strive to win.

Looks like ICW ball.

I didn’t say they were good. I didn’t see on the replay who recovered the fumble. I’m not sure they missed that one.

ICW turned it over 4 times. Poor special team play. Missed open receivers. Missed opportunities. Miller carried the team with his run game when they needed him. Bison won a game when they weren’t playing their best. I didn’t see who recovered the fumble but refs were sure of the call the one I disagreed with was the TD pass but I could be wrong. ICW lost a game they could/should have won. Bison won one they could/should have lost. More than refs I thought ICW had too many unforced errors and missed opportunities.

Started with punt returner not fielding a punt. Another punt the blocker commits the mortal sin of letting a punt hit him. Two bad snaps fumbled by QB cost points and stopped a drive. Bison also dropped 3 passes and screwed up the KO return. They also lost a TD on the holding call. The TD that was called no catch I thought should have stood. Receiver caught ball took 2 steps then bobbled ball slightly as he went down but I don’t think lost control. In college I thought rule was it was catch if you don’t lose control. Bison have ICW reeling and they get ball back to start second half. If they score on their first drive, I don’t think ICW will recover. They looked awfully good for a quarter.

I’m not at all offended by the term gray hairs. I’m not offended by any of this. It seems some can’t discern the difference between disagreeing with how to get where we all seem to want to go and being satisfied with where we are right now. Also disagreeing with characterizations of a large group of people based on the color of one’s hair doesn’t necessarily indicate people are upset or offended. Because virtually every other sports teams best seats are usually the most expensive, then for the most part they will be occupied by people who have worked longer and have enough money to spend on expensive seats. It says nothing of “stagnation or conservatism”. It doesn’t indicate apathy. I would guess the seating demographics are the same at other schools. I also don’t care if you and others are critical and call for changes. That may be the solution. My opinion is that those changes weren’t going to happen during the season nor until contracts are up. The folks who didn’t feel firing coaches is the answer now are not happy with mediocrity and they aren’t apathetic. There are people young and old who will support UND athletics regardless of wins and losses. Loyal fans aren’t necessarily stagnant, old, rich, apathetic, conservative etc. I can’t speak for others but I shared my philosophy. At this point in time, it doesn’t matter what I think about coaches so I move beyond that. I try to see what can be done to improve the programs with what and who we have until such time we can improve things. I am ok helping when and where I can. In that company you work for you are correct in that companies must evolve over time with changes in technology, the economy, demographics etc. I dare say that if your company has a culture where if my attitude is “it isn’t my job” my company may not reach its full potential.

You missed my point. Your criticism and characterizations of an entire group of people based on a physical attribute is ridiculous. That group may also have business and leadership experiences that others don’t have. I “assumed” because of your constant criticism of anyone who doesn’t agree with your opinions and solutions you must have extensive experience in those areas. I now assume I was wrong. My point is that many of the “gray hairs” you criticize may have experience with problem solving, building successful programs, dealing with failures etc. Those experiences may be valuable in trying to solve these issues. Many young people already have those experiences and are also needed to solve our issues. We won’t move forward as quickly if we leave people out of the equation. That includes young and old, dyed hair, gray hair or no hair, those with financial resources to donate and those who may not have financial resources but have the time and the energy to be part of the solution. For what it’s worth there isn’t anything you say or do that upsets me. Your posts are entertaining and I don’t mind “pulling your chain” and the seeing your responses. (I got a kick out of the Rumsfeld comment). I hope you and your loved ones all have a Merry Christmas and Happy and healthy New Year. Go Hawks.

Well what a surprise. It seems you always find someone to blame. Now you have labeled a group based on the color of their hair, characterized them as “stagnant “ blamed them for “conservatism” and based on hair color they are responsible for “UND’s lack of complete ascension” (though not entirely “). Of course as a board member of a multi million dollar business, and with your vast. experience having taken over failed businesses and turned them into Fortune 500 giants, all the time coaching 3 college sports to Championships you would know this. What about the red heads? Are they also a big part of the problem? I am curious as to what other than agree with your constant negative comments and firing everyone you want the gray hairs to do. How about the ones with big noses? Better yet big yabbas? I doubt you have the ability to understand how stupid your recent posts are. Most can understand why you want a coaching change whether they agree or not. This recent post tells a lot about where you are coming from.

I don’t (nor have I ever) liked the contract that gives REA any control over anything not directly related to REA revenues or the Engelstad donations. However donors often tie strings to their donations. The recipient needs to know where to draw the line. UND drew the line with Sanford and turned down a $10,000,000 initial donation. Sanford wanted exclusive sports med rights. Frankly, I don’t know if there were any other strings but the parties had a tentative agreement. I don’t know the details of the issues with the Engelstads and UND but I wasn’t aware of “corruption”. If they negotiated and got a legal contract, then I don’t believe there is evidence of corruption but that’s my opinion. I don’t know all if the facts. I do know that Ralph and his foundation has been extremely generous to multiple organizations and causes including UND.

The case I referred to was money from a private donor. Certainly public sentiment is a big issue with tax dollars. In Minnesota politicians will be falling all over themselves to find ways to spend the tax surplus. Their priorities tend to be either rewarding voters or buying votes. I don’t hear much discussion about a “rainy day fund”. There is discussion regarding no longer taxing social security but half of the politicians will have a fit if that applies to all SS recipients. Given time both sides will create a s show and then waste a good portion if not all. If private donors want to earmark their donations, it’s best to say thank you. If they wish to make unrestricted donations then public sentiment is a factor.

Wanting better than 7-4/6-5 isn’t popular? Anyone who believes that isn’t paying attention. For those who aren’t going to contribute when we are not doing as well as we would like, that’s ok but then let the rest of us move on. I think assuming that because one doesn’t agree with how we get to the Championship level means they are happy with 7-4, 6-5,8-3, 9-2 is wrong. For those who see the answer as coaching changes, you may be right. Some of us look at where we are, the contracts, the resources, the facilities and think we dug such a big hole waiting to move up that it is taking more time than we like. As our resources slowly improve, and we coaching changes not on the horizon, then some have decided we have to continue to be patient. I expect us to be better next year and I think we have resources in place to be better. I may be overly optimistic but it beats complaining over and over again about things I can’t control. What I can do is go to games and send money. I can encourage kids in my community to take advantage of the tremendous academic and growth opportunities at UND. It isn’t that rare that an athlete chooses a school where his or her friends/relatives/former teammates go (especially boyfriend/girlfriend). Like I said I may be wrong and if so, I’m ok with that. If UND changes coaches or continues to support our staff I will support UND either way.

Not without her permission and I’m not an attorney.

I’m not so sure. Probably not card sales or shirts. Will the mattress company give more than the Red Pepper? What will it cost to get a 2 or 3 star to UND or NDSU. Scholarships and championships may no longer be as high of a priority as before. The Power 5’s and schools in metro areas or nearby big businesses will be able to sweeten the offers for recruits. Starting to wonder about hockey.

Maybe. I understood that he had looked pretty good at QB.

Thanks. This is one night I know I’m not full of crap. I’m drinking a liter of golytely in preparation for my colonoscopy tomorrow. Hopefully, when you younger guys get older you won’t have to do this.