bincitysioux

Well one fan base's team is something like 35-2 over the last three years so I can see why they want some continuity. I think a lot of UND fans just felt that a total reboot of the program would be best. Hopefully Bubba proves to those fans right quick that he can get the job done. I think he will.

I'd say they are somewhat similar with some key differences. Age difference being one. Both have lots of experience as Defensive Coordinator. Bubba has a few years as a HC under his belt. Both have a ring as a defensive coordinator. Big difference there though is that Schwiegert helped build the team and defense that got him his ring. Kliemen really just took over a defense that was already on cruise control and went along for the ride. Both have spent time at more than one traditionally good football programs. Both are familiar with the same recruiting areas.

I think the Big Sky is a much deeper conference. It has more dogs too, like ISU, UNC, and sadly North Dakota right now. I guess both cases are to be expected since it has more teams.

I'm saying I don't think it is likely that North Dakota would rent the Fargodome and bus the team there for practice if the Alerus was previously booked for those dates. They'd maybe make that effort for hockey, but not for football IMO. FU treats football like we treat hockey.

In a couple years, I'll feel the same way. I never thought playoffs were a realistic possibility in 2013. We lost a lot of skill from a just a 5 win team in 2012. Never expected just 3 wins either though..............

I'll take Freund at this point...................

Simmer.................... Agree.

Tony Landry, the postgame radio guy?

Missouri St. is a pretty good team. It will be a tough game, but I fully expect North Dakota squeak that one out on the road. Playing the 2nd place MVFC team is a far cry from playing the 2nd place Big Sky team. We nearly beat Portland St. on the road last year. I feel we sould win by 10 at the Alerus. With newly found enthusiasm with the hiring of Coach Schweigert, I'm thinking minimum 4 wins, best case 6 wins. I think Robert Morris, Portland St., Weber, and UNC are all wins. Missouri St., Southern Utah, and Stony Brook are all very winnable. We could very well take 2 out of 3 from those games. Given where we are at, 4 wins would be progress. IMO 6 wins would be a smashing success, and honestly it's not out of the realm of possibilities. Regardless of the W-L record, I expect a fundamentally sound, better disciplined, less schizophrenic team, in 2014.

Tough to say. Which comparison benefits FU the most in a practice setting?

True that! Lennon is currently in a unique spot. Won 7 games last year and finished in 2nd place behind the mighty Bison in the "vaunted" MVFC. SIU is a team that schedules very tough in the OOC season. He has the 2nd best winning percentage of any coach in the history of the program. If they miss the playoffs next season, I could see him getting the axe. At the same time, if they make the playoffs I could see him getting a nifty contract extension.

This was his first year as QB coach, he worked with running backs the last two years. I never expected either of our Freshman quarterbacks to tear up the Big Sky their first year on the field. I feel neither were great, but neither were horrible. What do expect from freshman who never knew from game to game who was going to start. Both have talent and a lot of upside. I guess it is probably the "good ole boy" in me. Freund had a great career here. As a player, he wasn't the most physically gifted, but he was just so smart. Made great decisions and always knew what was going on. He is a coaches kid, so it is in his blood, he's been around it his whole life. He's from Wisconsin so that gives him a potentially important recruiting angle. Just think he's a bright guy that could have some upside.

I really hope Freund stays as QB coach. I don't know enough about Hoffner to know if he'd be a good OC. I know he got Mankato on the right track. I know he got railroaded at Mankato. I hope he can get back into the coaching profession. If it happens here in some capacity, I'm all for it. Lots of people seem to be assuming Schmidt will come here as DC. Who's to say he won't become DC at SIU? Same position, same money, doesn't have to move.

What I'm saying is, that I don't think North Dakota would ask the Fargodome. I could book the Fargodome if I had enough coin.

Ok, Nostrodamus....................... NDSU is very good. Extremely good. Great. I agree. However, I'm not ready to push for the elimination of college football simply because nobody could ever possibly do better than the 2013 Bison.

It is the same deal with the Alerus. You don't need UND's permission to rent it, and you don't need FU's permission to rent the Fargodome. My point is that I think it is unlikely that UND would do what NDSU is doing this week. They'd either send them to the Hyslop or send them outside.

How do you figure? Darrell said 13,000. If we averaged that, our building would be full. I think his point is that in a year like 2002 (when we were bad but coming off a Natty) we averaged over 10,000. NDSU wasn't very good then and they averaged about the same. We actually set our attendance record in 2008, when we were nothing great, but coming off some great years. I think UND aspires to fill the Alerus. If we win, it can happen.

I'm not wildly shocked that NDSU rented the Alerus for practice. I just thought the timing was interesting given that North Dakota is holding a pretty significant press conference there the same day. Sadly, it kind of puts things into perspective a little bit as to how much each school is willing to invest in their programs though, don't you think? Does anybody really think that if we were playing in the National Championship 9 days from now and the Alerus was booked that our team would get bussed to the Fargodome for practice? Best case scenario, our players would be in the Hyslop. Worst case scenario, they'd be given shovels and told to clear an area at Memorial.

"Sigh"................. The Thundering Herd.............bumped by Rasslin'.................

Can't believe nobody has jumped on this yet. Jeff Kolpack: So will the Bison be having practice at the same time in the same place we'll be introducing our new Head Coach? A bit awkward.......

Just so we can put to bed the DeBoer as OC talk, this is from a Carbondale newspaper:

Honestly, I expect the Sioux to flirt with .500 next season and have a winning record in Bubba's second year. By 2016, one of our senior QBs will be handing it off 20+ times to Patrick Sharp every week while Bubba's nasty D will be terrorizing Big Sky quarterbacks en route to our first playoff appearance in DI.

I don't necessarily agree. I'm normally a University apologist, but I too am quite frustrated with how long this process has taken. I'm really having a hard time with coming up with a plausible explanation as to why a coach wasn't named by December 13. It certainly should have gone no later than this past Friday IMO. Having said that, I think Faison has been an excellent A.D., possibly the best this University has ever had, for many reasons that I've outlined in the past. Despite what happened this past month, the initial hiring of Ashlee Hardee was a home run. Totally turned that program around. When things went bad, he acted quite swiftly in a way that tells me his standards are high As the end of the transition to DI came to a close, he basically had two conferences fighting for us. When The Summit League's commissioner had egg all over his face after the Big Sky came in stole UND out from under them, I loved how he handled the outlandish allegations that Douple started throwing around involving the nickname issue. Faison called a press conference and basically announced that Tom Douple is a lying sack of you know what. He made no bones about it. The guy has great resolve. When the WCHA imploded, Faison took the lead in establishing a new league that would insure that UND wouldn't be stuck with the "have-nots" of the college hockey world. Ala "Douple-Gate", I liked how he was never bashful that he questioned the leadership of the WCHA. He fired Mussman. The fact that he probably had to go to the President and say, "We need to make a change at the top of the football program, I need money to buy out the contract that I extended a year ago", tells me he cares more about the direction of the program than he does his own job security. I'd take Faison every day of the week and twice on Sunday over Gene Taylor.

Ya don't say...

That's the reason that a good box-out is even more important right now.