iramurphy

Don't believe you will see demise of fb at AC in near future. It not likely they will be as good. They have plenty of good kids and had good recruiting last year. Having said that, who cares? Sioux just need to get better with a focus on becoming a great team.

Of course that would also include physical or occupational therapy, chemical or petroleum engr. a more prestigious college of business, more opportunities in medical sciences, the entrepreneurship program, geological engineering and geological sciences, medical technology, accounting and I guess most can understand pre-med and pre-law students have an advantage being on campus for 5 yrs and can take advantage of internships and lab work or courses with professors who are med school or law school staff. Athletically UND has the opportunity to play in the Big Sky and compete for conference and National Championships. If the kids are good enough and choose UND chances are good. If you are good enough your college career can lead to an NFL career. You can be part of the team that turns things around and that is pretty cool. The ag college you probably went to will not likely be on game day and if they play well will certainly continue to have an exciting game day atmosphere for fans. As a player we don't get to hang out with the tv guys and we play the game which is more fun with a great crowd. When UND gets there program back on track, the Alerus and pre-game at UND isnangreat atmosphere. You highlight one of the big differences between the programs. You talk about the past and game day. I talk about a great athletic opportunity while obtaining an excellent education in a great atmosphere. Same situation I faced as hs senior. Ag school was coming off national championship yr and had pounded UND in previous season. My Soph yr we demolished an undefeated ag college team. And help them to negative yardage. I chose to go to UND cuz they had a better passing game and the head civil engr for the federal highway administration recommended UND's Civil Engr. program. When I changed my major, I had more choices of a major field of study. My teammates are now Doctors, Lawyers, teachers, Engineers, Accountants, Farmers, Pilots, military veterans, entrepreneurs, and CEOs of companies and corporations. Simple as that, I wanted more than Game Day and the fans. In addition to a great education we won a couple of conference Championships and a Bowl game. When I served in combat with the 1st Armored Div. my radio operator was a UND guy. Our Brigade JAG guy was a UND guy. We had Apache and Blackhawks guys who were UND guys. The CEO of Cargill is a UND guy. CEO of Buffalo Wild Wings a UND gal. Our backup QB is CEO of one of the largest timber companies in the world. Our punter was CEO of one of largest food wholesalers in Colorado. Defensive tackle attorney who owned multiple gold mines around the world as only part of his financial empire. The estimated net worth of those teammates is in the millions. More importantly, those same teammates give back to their communities regularly. There is a connection for UND students that you won't understand. That my young friend is the UND advantage in a nut shell. I and many others will take that over playing for a team that had previously been a winner. Once school is over no one gives a rats behind what I did or didn't do on a fb field or even if I played. Besides, they are building a new road between MSP and Grand Forks that will make the trip to games shorter for parents to drive than the drive to Fargo.

Don't read more into what I believe than is there. I listed what I would use as selling points for kids. Playing at Big Sky locations is more attractive to me than many other FCS schools. The AC's recent success is a factor in their favor. Most athlete's and coaches will choose to consider the AC based on that factor alone. That is their advantage. Once kids are on campus we show them other factors that neutralize the advantage the AC starts with. Why have they had more recent success? They upgraded their weight room and locker room facilities before we did. They moved to fcs before we did. By the time this years recruits are Soph we can neutralize their advantage. The recruits can connect to players and coaches on their visit. As long as thenschool, facilities and schedule arenattractive, those connections trump past history. Your frustrations are similar to other Sioux fans and you make some good points. To be successful you must believe in your organization and your people. Then you convince others to believe. My position coach, Gene Murphy once convinced a recruit's Mom they were going to build a new highway between MSP and GF that would make trip to GF shorter than MSP to Fargo. Once you get those recruits here you convince them they can do things they didn't even consider they were capable of.

Because kids have parents and the good ones want to know what the school can offer academically. UND has a big advantage. Big Sky is a more attractive schedule for travel. Montana, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, California, Colorado,, Utah, Oregon and Idaho. UND is upgrading their facilities and has a great campus and facilities. Graduates do well. You sell the kid on his opportunity to be part of something special at UND rather than choosing a school based on their past. That is what good recruiters can do. Not sure I would want to go to war with folks who give up so easily.

Successful hockey is good for fb and the other sports and successful fb is good for hockey. Hockey fans are different in that we have Sioux hockey fans who are also Bison fans. Hockey creates a different culture in many ways and this website tends to have more hockey fans. Fans at any University tend to jump on the bandwagon of winning teams. People want to associate with success thus the culture of the rabid fans who tend to be a bit goofy. Kupchella didn't appreciate the value of intercollegiate athletics to the University. Successful programs in fb, bb, and hockey lead to positive marketing and publicity for the University. The REA staff in the beginning tended to focus on hockey and with repeated participation in FF we had a lot of folks who jumped on the bandwagon and made trips to Englestad a social event. AC fb has a lot of that now. I returned from San Diego Sunday and there were a lot of folks returning from the ac game on the plane. There were quite a few who were there for the social scene and to somehow associate with a winning program. That success helps them in soccer, bb, wrestling etc. hs kids will chose a lesser academic opportunity to be part of the game day and playoff scene. That leads to increased enrollment and donations. Long and short term benefits. UND demands excellence but priorities are a bit different. Kelly understands value of athletics to the University. Until this past season FB was making slow but steady progress. We will find out how much the coaching was a factor but contrary to some of our blog experts I don't think this team is without talent. Wish Edwards, Jackson, Golladay and Brown would have stayed. Sparks was great kid. Not sure why he didn't play more. Hurts to lose Adams and Kuska. Up to staff to replace kids we lost through transfers, injuries and graduation. Expectation should be we are better next fall and we are competing for playoff spot in 2 years, conference title in 3 yrs. local hs coaches feel Bubba, Rudolph, and Schmidt are great core of coaches and good recruiters. Misconception that criticism is not accepted is unwarranted. Mussman was let go with time on contract cuz this season was unacceptable and program took step back. Time will tell but if program not moving in positive direction within 2 yrs there will be pressure to make change. New facility, Big Sky, and excellent academics are all recruiting positives. Those who dwell on our neighbors to south have valid concerns. They will be good again and if there new staff falters it won't be right away. Not working today, waiting for my wife to get rotator cuff repair, so I'm full of great wisdom. (Or more likely just full of crap but there you go)

Not fascinated by any of them. A guy I coached with and played for, had a lot of respect for Dale. He can coach and his players respected him and played hard for him. Doesnt matter what level. I dont know exactly why they have struggled at SIU. guys who can coach tend to have ups and downs. Why didn't Shanahan or Lombardi have success with the Redskins after winning Super Bowls elsewhere. Not reliving memories cuz I didn't play then, but I can observe and have an opinion and that opinion was shared by some pretty good FB coaches and players. Bloggers tend to be more impressed with the resume than the person cuz that's all we have to go by. Bubba can coach and he can recruit. I didn't hire him but I might have, I wasn't privy to the necessary info. I know he and his staff have a very small window to evaluate talent on team then talent of recruits and start building for success. I will do what I can to help and really don't care if he has UND, area or local ties as long as he gets the job done and does things the right way. I have no reason to think and his staff won't do a great job. If they don't we get someone else. If these guys fail it won't be for lack of effort. Bubba has a passion for this job and that is positive. Not arguing either but time will tell.

Former NFL qb, former d2 head coach, former fcs asst. on paper many would agree it is a good hire.

Dale left to persue an opportunity at a higher level. He is a loyal UND guy and is an excellent coach. He left after consulting with Gene Murphy who is arguably the most popular coach of any sport in UND history. He was liked and respected by coaches and athletes of all sports as well as students who had him in the classroom. Dale was a Murphy protégé. He wanted to coach at highest level possible. UND was not ready to provide him with necessary resources for the move to fcs so he did the smart thing. To comment he would return as line coach doesn't make sense. He could return as head coach and would do great job. Dale got UND to top of D2 before he left. He is a proven winner.

There is a difference between last season and what opportunities lay ahead. What I said was if you think this is a sinking ship which some have said then jump. There is plenty of room for criticism but I think there is also plenty of room for optimism. At some point in time the term screwing a dead horse comes to mind. Time to move on and I don't listen to the AC fans and I doubt there is a single one who cares what I think. I have better things to do. Bubba doesn't have difficult circumstances he has a great opportunity and I bet if you asked him he would agree. That is why he took this job.

I dont think chest bumps either figuratively or in reality are anything but goofy. Considering the number of ACL injuries nationwide that have occured with celebratory chest bumps or jumping out of control, I would not let my players do chest bumps on the field either.

My expectation is that we have a decent recruiting year and are improved next fall. No blow outs. I would let these kids know I expect them to stay out of trouble, keep their grades up and play above and beyond what was expected of them. Each kid needs to realize this happens everyday and we can all raise our level of performance. We have enough talent to be competitive but it will take a lot more work in the weight room and off season conditioning, film study and dedication than they have experienced. I would expect the same from our coaching staff , administration and fans. This can be a lot of fun if we all get on board. We need to quit comparing what we do with our pals to the south and just wish them luck with their game and start focusing on the things we can influence and control. If these kids and coaches do that and our administration commits to giving these guys the resources to be successful it will happen. Those who think this is a sinking ship put your life jacket on and jump. Those who stay can be part of a brotherhood that can be a team to be remembered as one of most important in history of UND fb.

Had surgery on neck. Not something everyone comes back from. Don't know details. The way he plays and hits he may be advised to hang it up. I was told similar to Peyton Manning's surgery. Manning was advised by some not to play again. Riskier for db who plays as physical as this kid.

Most games in this series, the ag school was beaten.Similar to almost everything we have played them in this year. VB,MBB,WBB, and soccer. Other than vb their "imaginations" had different outcomes. Who cares what they do? Hopefully they will be able to be good enough to make the playoffs most years and we will get them there. In the meantime their fans can enjoy their success and say what they wish,but until we play, it is just talk.

No. He's making $180,000 per yr as qb coach.

There were people who were weighing on on both these guys and others. I heard from one former asst. coach who felt Bubba would be a great coach before they had nine finalists. I never new about your mythical good old boy network. If it exists, who cares? Most schools have alumni who donate and former athletes who support the programs and they may feel as strongly as you and others on the board that their opinion mattered. Shouldn't bother anyone. Both these guys and others who applied can coach. HS coaches in the area liked Bubba and respected him when he was around. He can recruit. DeBoer can recruit. Faison chose Bubba. There isn't any one of us who knows this isn't a great choice not is there any of us who knows it is. Know one here knows that any of the other candidates will be better than Bubba nor he better than they. What we know right now is Bubba is our new coach and he needs to get going today. Simple as that. We need to see if there is anything we can do with our $$, time, resources or influence to help him and this team be successful next fall. It was 70 degrees playing golf today and I get to have dinner with my family and go to midnight mass. We will get this thing turned around but for now let just thank God or whomever you believe in that we live in America and can attend church, mosque, or temple if we please or not believe if we chose to. But I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays and a Happy and healthy New Year. Go Sioux.

Interesting to see fans make unkind remarks about some of the kids who are transferring yet if the team struggles some claim they won't buy tickets, donate or go to games. As a fan base we failed just as much as our coaching staff and players. When our kids struggled many of us quit on them. These kids saw that and lost faith. We need to commit to attending games and supporting in whatever way we can. Whomever the coach is we need to be willing to give him 5 yrs of attendance and whatever we can afford $$$. Faison, Kelly and our alumni office to to commit to getting to know these kids, coaches and fans and upgrade the support to improve their chance to succeed. I spoke with 2 of the freshmen last night who are home for Christmas and both had a look of determination speaking of the future. They aren't going to worry about who left and yes they were disappointed to lose the talent. I would quit fussing about why some kids leave. It will happen at this level cuz we need kids from other parts of the country. When these guys are faraway from home and family and we as fans quit on them when they struggled they are more apt to leave. Don't worry about what someone else did or didn't do what did we as individuals do or not do. We can be part of the solution or part of the problem. Our coaches, Faison, Kelly need to approach their job every day with the thought that they are on campus to serve our coaches,athletes,students and subodinate staff and make sure they have the support and resources to make this a positive experience and be successful. We as fans need to avoid waiting around to see what happens and start asking what we can do together to get this thing turned around.

I want a coach that you will guarantee we won't be getting spanked by 40 pts.

Shouldn't be mass exodus but seniors and team leaders if they are leaders will be pulling this group together. There is always risk for freshmen and anyone not playing regularly. Whomever decided to have the freshmen red shirts sit in stands during game made a poor decision. If it came from Faison and I were Mussman I would have said that is my decision and they stay. I would have been willing to get fired over that issue. I was at those home games where someone saw some guys screwing around when we were losing a game and there are better ways to deal with that. The McKesson kid who was the walk on from San Diego who I thought showed some potential is leaving. If these guys aren't made to part of the program by the coaches and teammates the we lose some potential players. There are walk-ons at all levels of college fb ho end up starters and sometimes stars. Some of those guys never start but can remain part of team and there contributions come later in the form of donated $$$. Talking to these guys before they leave for Christmas break is most important reason for getting new coach hired sooner rather than later.

Any AD, including Faison, Taylor, or the guy at Boise needs to have a short list of people whom they would consider as replacements for your key people. Faison should know today who he has in mind if Hakstol would ever leave. Over time he should be listening, watching and paying attention for potential hires for MBB, WBB, VB and even track, swimming, soccer etc. For the same reason UND needs to be positioning in the event other Big Sky schools or our pals from the AC and S.Dak decide to move up a notch. I don't think that is move to make cuz we would at best be like the Fresno States or N. Illinios of the world. We still need to be prepared. That being said, Faison had to know in October this was going to happen and if so, should have been prepared to move quickly once we got through the state hiring fiasco. He shouldn't need to rush through his decision cuz he should have started this whole process in his mind months ago. Once he made the decision he should have had feelers out. We are where we are, let's get on with this. I doubt anyone other than Faison and maybe a couple of people close to him know where he is going with this.

Don't know. I would guess it is some way to give extra points with this goofy point system they use. I believe you are correct in that we should have had some idea who we wanted and how to make sure they would get past initial screening. They should have said professional fb coaching experience. Would have covered both NFL and CFL. I would hope once we pass the initial time requirements Faison can move things along at a reasonable pace. Some kids are done with finals already. Our new coach should get a chance to meet with players before they leave for break or worse leave for another school.

The app was never designed for Tibesar. Only people on this board thought he was a legitimate candidate. I don't think Faison even knows Tibesar.

None of this has anything to do with the AC. We r a non entity to them right now and except for recruiting, they r a non entity to us. The biggest reason to get a coach and new staff on board is to recruit the kids we have to stay here. HS recruits can still be recruited. It will be tougher but bfd. Lots of things in life are tougher.

Your comment was "only he was just a ball boy" didn't seem complimentary. I agree Bubba is a viable candidate. Like I said Bollinger is not a candidate. Don't get put off if someone sticks up for him. I never said you don't understand fb. The fact that I may or may not think I know something doesn't make me or anyone else anymore or less qualified than you to comment on a fan board. The powers that be don't seem to think enough of us to add us to the interviewing committee so we are all just a bunch of rubes with nothing else to do today.

No chance.

Bollinger was on the radar cuz he is an up and coming " blue chip" coach. He has been successful where ever he has been and that will continue. Stating it was cuz he was a ball boy would not be a statement from anyone who understands something about college fb or coaching. He would have been an excellent candidate. Don't know if would have been best candidate but some guys have "it" and he is one of them. Risks because of lack of head coaching experience, but I would have been willing to put my job on the line for a guy with his ability and intelligence. He is a class act, but he isn't interested so I'm not sure why the remark. Had he applied he may not have been best candidate but he would have been a good one.