Irish

Not saying you're wrong - I just really wish someone would come out and explain the entire workings of the Ralph and how they intersect with the UND Athletic Department.

The optics on this are awful and I am sure not many understand how the Ralph's finance fit into our athletic budget (not saying I do). However, it is not like each sport has a pile of money based on its own generated revenue and hockey is taking a chunk from that which is rightfully football's. All money and budgets come from the Athletic Department and revenue is pooled and then budgeted out. Most sports besides the big ones lose money and are subsidized by others. Our year to year football budgets don't look too bad in comparison to other schools (don't have time to look this up again). We fall short in facilities for many reasons - lack of planning, getting a late start in Division I, getting a late start on Phase I, lack of a large donor, declining football attendance - in other words many factors. Can we support both sports well - absolutely - especially if football starts winning.

Our failure with some potential big donors has been noted and discussed here - and not by me - I'm not sure why it is my fault for mentioning it. Englesteads and Sanford for starters. As for the rest - if I am not excited about a 37-32 record with no playoff wins I can express that here. If you don't like it too bad. Don't read it. I don't appreciate the personal attacks from you.

Interesting if a bit misleading. I see no cause-effect or correlation since there are vast differences in how each college athletic programs evolved. I just don't buy the theory that Hockey somehow robs Football of resources. What's more true is that successful programs of any sport generate resources. What I do think happens is that with a Hockey program that is regularly in the hunt for a National Championship there is much less demand and pressure for Football to be highly successful. We are much more content to be slightly above average when we are winning elsewhere. I don't see the slow development of Phase II as a failure of fan support as much as a failure of UND administrators who have alienated many deep pocket doners. I think if we didn't have idiots in the President's office and ineffective AD's (not necessary the current one) we would see Phase II as complete or near complete. Bubba's record would not be tolerated at most top programs but he gets a lot of love here. That's the difference.

For me it is the total disconnect between their skill and their chirping - they are as mouthy as a conference champ but play like a bottom dweller

I am truly surprised at how many people on this board that think that after Bubba's body of work for the past 6 years think he deserves a big raise and an extension. And the answer that "this is the best we can do right now - we couldn't get anyone better, but maybe, just maybe his first year OC will mature and be the guy in a few years" just makes me sad about the state of the once great program.

So - after 6 years of Mussman and so far 6 years of Bubba (with zero playoff wins and a 37-32 record) we should wait another few years so that our coach with 1 year of OC experience can develop into a potential head coach?

I really hope so - I'm just trying to figure out how 4 more years of Bubba fits into this plan.

That's because anyone coming in would have to rebuild. The bigger question is are we going to be where we want to be as a program after 10 years of Bubba?

Are you predicting a big change in the success level of UND Football? Are we going to dominate the Valley. If so, why?

Please email Chaves and let him know what you think about this deep dive into mediocrity. UND.AD@und.edu

Any wonder why we have a crap program while the Bison have unprecedented success? I had a cocktail with a Bison friend who told me this - "I have good news and bad news - Cox entered the transfer portal, however UND gave Bubba a 4 year extension". So tired of this. Thanks a lot Chaves.

Exactly

We need to write Chaves and tell him what our expectations for Sioux Football are and how disappointed we are. He clearly doesn't get it.

It screams "this is our expectations for UND Football for the near future". Not a good move. I thought Chaves was better than that.

You are correct about the big steps - which pretty much solves the development question. Looking at last year it was pretty evident there was a scoring talent deficit. Glad we are back on track. We seemed to be caught short after the flight after our Natty. We need a combination of role players and high end studs. It is our formula for success. Glad we are back on track. The answer when we talk about recruiting NHL talent can't be "but Boston University".

This shows the importance of having some high end studs in our line-up. See Pinto last night. Last year we couldn't score to save our butts. Almost every time this is mentioned the automatic reply is "Boston University". If we are to win #9 we need some NHL talent on the roster. And the Goering for Shaw swap is a winner too.

Could not agree more - the fantastic new screen is used almost exclusively for "commercial" contests like the idiotic races or some kind of crowd/kiss cam. Nothing to promote the game at all.

Nice win - Great effort by Thome. Great character - doesn't get playing time for the first half of the season and works on his game and steps up when called.

Agreed - a big part of this is having high aspirations every year - especially after missing the tournament for two years in a row every bump in the road is analyzed and commented on. Every season could be the year we get #9. At Bemidji - meh.

You've really got to admire a guy who isn't getting much playing time, works hard on his game in practice, and then steps in big time when called. Well done Mr. Thome.

When our defense is tough we are really hard to beat - I think our scoring starts with our D. Looks like we're back.

This shows how important to have a scorer on the roster. Last year I don't know if we would have won this one. We need some high end talents like Pinto to be at the highesty level. Nice win.

A nice character win last night - both for players and coaches. I believe we have the talent and grit to go all the way - we still need to clean a few things up first. The goalie thing is a big mystery to me but we do have the best goalie coach in the country. The one thing I wish we could fix is the habit of giving up a goal within a minute of scoring. This is focus and intensity. People have correctly commented that Friday went south after the shorty, but we would have been in a much better position if we didn't immediately give up a goal after scoring first - we let them back in the game at that point. It seems like this has happened frequently in the last few years. This is fixable. I hope we are on our way to putting things together for a second half run.