iramurphy

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.

What about all the folks who keep calling for a new coach? They want change as long as someone else pays for it. If Bubba has a contract through 2025 then this is just is a waste of time. If you want changes write a check for 6 figures to get us started and we can try to find 10-20 others. The same suspects call for coaching changes when any of our teams aren’t doing well. Sometimes warranted, usually not. Most show no insight into either the sport nor coaching but that’s what they see on ESPN. What ESPN doesn’t usually stress is the millions it costs schools to make coaching changes when there are unexpired multi-year contracts. It’s less expensive to provide the funds for coaching salary upgrades including assistant coaches, but instead of the “we should have… or what if… “ it doesn’t seem that those with the financial resources to do write the checks. That doesn’t mean fans who aren’t constantly clamoring for change every time we fail are any less upset than those who seem to think it means they are happy with mediocrity. (It may mean if we aren’t playing or coaching we have higher priorities). We still have a long way to go to reach the level of excellence and consistency we all want. I’m not going to write a check for $1million or even $100,000 right now so I will support this team and coaching staff as long as they are in place. Lots of reasons to criticize and be frustrated but frankly our kids laid an egg. They didn’t play up to their ability and if we don’t do that, we will struggle to win in this league.

Maybe. I think both of them have ability to play for Gophers but I would offer and let them know we would want them if things don’t work out.

Probably not. At the Gopher Elite camp he played corner and shut down the elite corners except for once when he got beat deep. He is a quiet but really hard nosed kid. I would offer him so if things don’t work out at Minn we might get him through transfer portal. Same with his younger brother but they scholarshiped Mason. Neither of these guys will be satisfied just to be on the team. They want to play. I told Bubba a year ago about these guys. They were at UND’s camps and liked UND but they are Minnesota kids. I would offer both but I think both can play for Gophers.

Yes

Detroit Lakes Sr. Ethan Carrier ran for 313 yds on 9 carries against Perham tonight. He is a PWO commit for Gophers. 6’ 2” 190lbs. 4.6 40. He and his younger brother Mason 6’2” 215lb Jr LB, RB, QB excelled at Gophers Elite camp last summer. Mason is Gophers first 2024 commit. Gophers project Ethan as a DB and Mason as a LB. I would hope UND would try to “flip” Ethan with a scholarship offer.

Yes and yes. He and the other young players need time to adjust to the speed, quickness, and physical play at the college level. He has a lot of potential but getting stronger and being able to play defense at this level are 2 important keys.

Actually, the athletic department, the alumni office, the chamber of commerce, city and county leaders, the faculty, and the local and regional media can all be part of a concerted effort to improve and publicize UND events and other local events. We can find lots of people to blame but maybe involving the stakeholders could help.

So you probably run a Tampa 2 with the deeper MLB if they have 2 or 3 “speed” guys or Cover 2 if they have one speed guy, with your MLB in underneath coverage but then we are more vulnerable to the crossing routes. Tall athletic receivers pose problems as well, just different. I believe we have a food receiving group that allows us to be successful if we get them the ball.

They are tough to play one on one. Don’t forget that only a small percentage of passes are thrown more than 25 yds downfield. Even running 40 yds you don’t cover much more ground in .4 sec much less .1-.2sec. Pass defense starts with the receivers coming off the line of scrimmage and the pressure on the QB. That’s why there are a number of WR in the NFL who run 4.5 and 4.6. The elite speed guys pose a unique challenge but it’s tough to run a 4.4 if you have a DB or LB jacking you up or forcing you off your route at the LOS. Changes your defensive schemes but pressure on the QB is a great neutralizer.

I believe the players and coaches will be encouraged by their ability to compete against Nebraska and their time in the film room should confirm that cleaning up penalties, missed assignments, and other correctable errors they can be a very good FB team. I would like to see our QB get through his reads quicker and get the ball to his receivers coming off of their breaks and as they enter the seam of the zones. As our QB’s mature, they need to be able to read defenses at LOS so they know at the snap which reads are likely to be there. Receivers need to continue to find the seams when the ball isn’t there right away, and accelerate away from the defenders to maintain the initial cushion. The initial reads and that timing for the QB and achieving and maintaining those cushions are maybe the toughest skills to perfect in the passing game. It starts with Oline protection. We talk a lot about burners but our receivers are athletic enough to get open. Against dbacks as skilled as Nebraska, if the ball isn’t there in the short time the receiver breaks open those guys close fast and then we either have to go to the next read or a safety valve for 3-4 yds. Ron Erhard told me years ago he wasn’t worried as much about yards after catch. He wanted guys who would catch the ball and hang on to it. I would argue that a 4.3 40 guy that has those skills is a bigger threat than a 4.6 guy but most of the big pass plays are as much a coverage error or play by the offense that gets the advantage over the defensive set. If we can get through our reads fast enough and get the ball to receivers quicker I think we will see a more potent attack. We need to average more than 3-4 yds per completion to be successful this year.

Take the NDSU discussion to the one for Morons please. It has nothing to do with the Nebraska game

You are correct. Multiple studies over the years have shown how athletic success has a positive impact on donations, marketing and in most cases student enrollment. It would be interesting to see an updated study regarding student enrollment but I believe it still holds true.

How do we define “burner”. Is it their timed 40? What speed will satisfy our wish for a “burner”. It’s a legitimate issue but how do we define it?

“We” don’t make that decision.

I didn’t ask the question. I was happy to hear the answer. I’m just learning all I can.

It seems that somehow I haven’t been able to learn as much about this game as a number of the rest of you. I didn’t realize the answer to all of our problems was as simple as hiring DeBoer. Thanks for your input. I never would have thought of that.

Well if you haven’t been meeting with him it would usually because you either aren’t interested or for some reason Chaves doesn’t know about you. Call him up, introduce yourself and ask how you can help. Chaves and other staff members are working hard to bring things together. Right now the focus seems to be on Phase 2 of the facility upgrade. Probably where it should be.

I never mentioned Mussman. I have stated multiple times that the ultimate responsibility for the success and failure of the team rests on the coaches. In this particular case, the problem was execution. No one yet has pointed out what the coach should have done differently. The obvious answer is to get better guys. I think they have been trying to do that. My only suggestion is for anyone who wants to be a punter consider a punter’s camp like the one Darren Bennet runs. Last year, this guy didn’t have a big leg, but not many were returned. The coaches probably did the best they could with what we had. Let’s see how this guy does in the next few games.