iramurphy

I think you are making an assumption. How can you say a team that runs the bubble screen virtually every game doesn’t practice the play. We missed the block and Tom shouldn’t have thrown the ball. Defenses try to get to the receiver whenever they think the play is called with that formation. The defender jumped the play no one blocked him. I’m not sure how you get a coaching error out of that. Good DBs are usually trying to get an edge and jump a route.

Good points. I didn’t mention anyone person, I said some people. Nothing wrong with criticizing. I just strongly disagree that those who find positives are part of the so called problem.

We have no idea what happened in the locker room at half time. None of the players listen to a coaches halftime interview. Most of the halftime is spent with position coaches, then OC or DC and lastly head coach. Virtually the entire time spent making corrections, and adjustments. Bubba can get pretty emotional and he can get his message across. He doesn’t put on a show for fans or media. Having said that I have no idea what was said at half time.

First of all there is no such thing as moral victories. What fans opinions are on this medium doesn’t reflect where the program is going. Too many fans can’t seem to understand that there are a lot of UND fans who look for positives and want to build on that. There seem to be a number of fans who look for the negatives and their only solution is to fire people (coaches, AD, medical staff Kauk etc). Most of us fans have little depth of knowledge of even some of the basic fundamentals of the X’s and O’s. I do know that fans who are proud of the effort and are looking for positives to build on are not part of the problem and the fact they take that approach does not mean they are satisfied with anything less than championship results. I would also suggest those who only focus on the negatives are not part of the solution. We would all like to move this and all of our programs forward overnight. In the meantime there is no reason to turn on each other. I saw a relatively young FB team take on one of the top FCS teams in the country yesterday and give them all they could handle. A pick 6, a key fumble, 5 missed tackles on a punt return, and poor coverage on an on side kick were 4 plays that made the difference in my mind. We may or may not make the playoffs this year. I think we need to run the table. Their isn’t a weak sister on the schedule. These games will be dog fights. Having said that I think this staff has slowly improved our depth and talent. I don’t like every call but I’m not at practice and I don’t review film. Even if I did we have guys on this staff who do that and do that better than I. The people who will make the decisions regarding staff are not posting on this medium. Just my opinion. Great effort yesterday, no quite good enough. Move on and get better.

I’ve learned long ago that preseason polls aren’t worth fussing over. Who cares what the pollsters think. What matters of course is what each team’s players and coaches think and then what they do to attain whatever goals they have set for themselves. I doubt we will finish last.

Sather isn’t going anywhere. He is bringing together key pieces to the puzzle. Eaglestaff and Omot are special. Brooks is Kansas Mr. Basketball. If these guys can jell with the returning guys this team will be a lot better. It’s a work in progress. The transfer portal threatens all mid majors but if we can add some size with athletic ability and hang on to these freshman, I would bet UND can push for a conference title in a year or two. Sather has done a good job but slowed by outgoing transfers.

What I said was successes and failures are primarily up to the players. I also said players and coaches are responsible for successes and failures and that responsibility varies at different times. I didn’t say “coaches have very little to do with losing games”. I didn’t backpedal you just didn’t read my posts clearly. I still believe that players are primarily responsible. Coaches and players can make critical mistakes and coaches and players can make key contributions. I’m not sure what put a burr under your saddle but I’m sure sorry if any of that somehow hurts your feelings. In this game, our players seemed well prepared and coaches were making good calls and the players executed. Defensively we struggled most of the game after the first series. In the last part of the game our clock management/play calling was suspect and our special teams and (in the end) our defense made the difference. I’m not sure who to blame for our secondary play. Our special teams weren’t as special today. Missed FG, punting wasn’t good, some poor KO and KO coverage. Both players and coaches are responsible for our struggles. But players and coaches overcame the adversity and won a game against a decent team. There isn’t a “gimme game” in this league. Today was a big win on the road that we had to have.

You may wish to reread the posts. I don’t believe anyone here said that unless it was your “knowledgeable “ guys from hs and youth FB or wherever they come from.

It’s a big jump but they could be respectable. They have a rapidly growing community and they have made their FB team the focus of their school. People want to associate with success and they have been very successful. They have a community where they have a local media station providing coverage of their games to the entire state and parts of Minnesota and S Dak. They have many area businesses that want to latch on and associate with that success. They have more than enough businesses that will pay for the handful of suites, who will provide tickets, tailgating for their employees and have made their destination games and playoff games events to reconnect with former college friends and FM connections. Granted if they start to struggle things can change but they have the resources to recover faster. They have shown over the years they will do almost anything to support the program. They can likely be competitive against good FBS teams and have proven that. FBS playoffs and National Championships are a big stretch but they and other FCS and even D2 teams have proven they can recruit FBS and future NFL. Beating the very best is a stretch though.

Your “knowledgeable sources” aren’t paying attention then. My opinion is based on HS, College and NFL experiences not someone else’s. Players and coaches are responsible for the successes and failures of plays, games and seasons. The responsibility varies at different times. But this thread is about the Youngstown game. I believe our team will be well prepared and has a good chance of beating a good team on the road.

Bubba and staff are ultimately responsible. I believe everyone knows that. The fact is most fans knowledge of the game is what they learned in HS and what they hear from ESPN. Therefore every failure is the coaches fault and every success is the player. That is today’s culture. I don’t care what happened in 2009 or 2013. Just like the successes 20 years ago don’t keep fans in the stands. The Big Sky and MVFC Championships don’t matter anymore just like the 4th down botched play no longer matters. What matters to me is that we have a very young online that is developing quickly. We have an outstanding oline coach. (Buck stops at Bubba). We have a young QB who no one thinks has a strong arm nor is a good athlete developing into a very good QB under Danny and with Bubba’s so called manage the game philosophy. We have slowly developed more depth and this staff has been able to find kids who are outstanding that other schools miss on. They are doing this despite the advantage our long time rival has with more resources, bigger fan base, and perennial national champions. If that wasn’t happening then Bubba wouldn’t be here. It gets old when early in the season people start up the replace coaches staff nonsense. It’s not going to happen in the middle of the season anyway. There were some interesting meetings over homecoming weekend. I guarantee that the folks whose primary contribution is to call for coaching change weren’t present. The folks there were more focused on moving the program forward and providing long term solutions to the needs of the FB team.

Bubba isn’t playing. This coaching staff is putting our players in a position to be successful. The opposing staff does the same for their team. Our successes and failures are primarily up to the players. I don’t ever recall teammates blaming our coaches. The air needs to get into the fan base before it deflates. We have a room for improvement. As for the Kostich critics you have no clue. Our punter arrived cascade freshman and struggled to average 40 yds/punt. This year he is netting over 40yds per punt and has developed the ability to punt the “Aussie” style to pin teams inside their 20. Our kicker struggled to put KO in the end zone and now have been pretty consistent. Since he arrived he is much more consistent with his FGs. All punters will have a bad punt occasionally. All kickers will miss FGs or have a short KO. All KO and punt coverage will get burned occasionally. All long snappers will have a bad snap. The fact is, our special teams have steadily improved under Kostich. I also know some will blame him when players make a mistake. He has done a very good job. People often forget the importance of special teams. Count how many punts, XPs, FGs, KOs, both offensively and defensively in each game. Thus far we have done well. The issue of potential injury to Siegel is legitimate. I assume coaches have weighed risk vs benefits. If he gets hurt, they made the wrong choice. If he breaks one or continues to get extra yards on returns then we got lucky.

As good of a pass play by a receiver and QB I have seen watching UND FB.

No one else is shocked. You keep posting nonsense about Kostich. (A guy who was respected for his work at Minnesota before coming to UND). Our special teams play has been very good this year and our special teams recruiting just got a commitment from an outstanding kicker from Fargo South. Somehow you have reached the conclusion based on a players mistake not only is Kostich to blame but you have continually posted he should be replaced. When our special teams have had a bad game you have wanted him fired, but when they are playing well you have changed to wanting him gone for one bad play.

Our punter has been outstanding, our place kicker has been good and his kickoffs and our kick coverage and punt coverage has been good. Our upback on KOR moved up away from that kick and our deep back didn’t get up in time to secure the kick before it hit the ground. That isn’t a coaching mistake, it’s a player mistake. Overall our special teams play has been good this year.

A big factor in the so called “hockey only” crowd is that there are many UND hockey fans who are Bison fans for all other sports. I’m glad we have them. I don’t believe they prevent success for our other sports, they just aren’t going to support them.

Bubba had D1 FCS experience before he became head coach. Almost every one of our coaches had FBS or FCS experience before UND.

The public support is an obligation of the employer for employees until they are no longer employees. What goes on behind closed doors often is quite different.

Tim and Mike have an obligation to support all of our coaches and we should never hear otherwise even when they personally would take a different approach.

If you haven’t done so I would suggest having lunch with Chaves and Tim Belmore or Steve Brekke and tell them what your concerns are. Challenge them to prove you wrong.

I will take that bet. Chaves schedules FBS schools not just for the money but also because it is a positive factor that recruits look at. They want a chance to play against those teams and experience those game atmospheres.

Nothing wrong with your approach. It’s valid and shared by a number of others. A number of people continue to complain about what was done or not done in the past. There isn’t anything we can do about it. We have extended contracts. I believe the only real option is to buy them out. I’m not willing to spend money to do that. You want to take a wait and see approach before donating. I tend to think it is more helpful to donate in order to have more resources available year after year. I believe then there will be more resources available when the time comes to hire/pay coaches, buy equipment, upgrade facilities etc. If we have to delay to fundraise then we may miss some opportunities. The programs need the $100, $500, $1000, 10,000 Tex just like the big donors. Thanks to all who do what they can. I give back because the program did a lot for me so I may have a different perspective than some others. Works best for me maybe not everyone.

You may be surprised at what he is trying to do. He will be meeting with some key people this week. Muss decision was also an issue involving where we were as a program in transition. Same with Bubba. It’s tough to justify firing a guy whose teams won a Big Sky and a Missouri Valley Championship. In recent years. Transitioning from no conference to a makeshift conference to Big Sky to Missouri Valley disrupts the overall transition. Through in the fact that our fans and supporters haven’t adjusted to the support needed speed up the process and maintain consistency, then I tend to look at what else can I do as opposed to what should someone else do. It has worked for me when I played, when I coached, as a combat commander, in my profession, as an elected official and a community member. When I have done that, it has been easier to sell others on the idea of excellence and success. This web site is entertaining and I learn a lot from others and their perspectives (except for the moron who knows less about sports than he does about health care, but I digress). I may be wrong but I think if we want coaching changes before contract renewal time, we need significant money for buyouts. I also feel we have some excellent assistants and I would rather focus on what we can do now to move forward in a positive manner as opposed to speculating on what we might do in 2025. I’m as frustrated as the rest of you with how we played yesterday. But let’s see if this is who we are or can we rebound. It is so dependent on the OL, DL and fixing the secondary. We have a decent game manager at QB but I don’t see him carrying this team. He is there to not lose games. If the OL can’t protect the QB we are not going to be successful. Again I digress but I get your points and understand the frustration.

As I said, regardless of how I or others feel, I don’t believe we are able to buy out his contract so in the meantime, there is no reason to either call for a change, especially those early in the season or speculate about replacements. Players need to play much better. No excuses for the mental errors, missed blocks, missed tackles and missed assignments. As to your other question, the Soph QB Caden Strand is a good athlete with a strong arm. He needs some fine tuning, especially his form but is a kid they need to get into camp. Too early to know about him. We also have a 6’3” 305lb OL Isaac Cariveau, who has quick feet, is smart and a good athlete. He started as a Freshman but missed most of last year with an ACL tear. Quick enough to play varsity BB as a Fr. If he continues to improve this year and next he will play college ball D-1 or D-2. Also a Soph kicker who is accurate, with a strong leg. Good athlete and very bright. Dad walked in at UND when Roger Thomas coached. Too soon to tell but he is good enough to play D-2 now. DL also has another 3-4 kids who could play D-2 or D-3.

Points well taken. My point is it takes money to buy out a contract. then additional dollars to find a replacement staff. I can’t write those checks and I don’t expect someone else will. So in the meantime, I think we are better than yesterday, but no excuse for yesterday’s performance.