Irish

It wouldn't hurt for Bubba to observe how a first year coach handles the game either.

So ... you're saying we need a 3-4 because of our recruiting failures?

What did I say that wasn't true? At least the second year in a row that we have come out of Christmas sluggish and struggling. Last year it cost us a playoff berth.

In my opinion this is not so much that the 3-4 is a poor defense as it is a symbol of our hidebound coach. Don't have the personnel to run it this year? - "Do it anyway - that's what we do." Time for a new coordinator - "Who in house is most experienced at the 3-4?" You're a 37-32 coach at UND - what's your plan for improvement? "More of the same". It symbolizes 5 years of Rudy, all of the 4th down and short punts, the Idaho State games, and the Day By Day press conferences. If at the end of the day the 3-4 is the best option for our personnel - great. But please open up your mind a bit. Bubba is a dinosaur and the comet is approaching.

So did the team.

Once again a Berry team looks like crap after the Christmas Break - remember the pact?

On the plus side we haven't had a veer offense put up over 200 yards on us in years.

And we do the exact opposite.

It's like we are the McPoyles of college football.

I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this.

It isn't so much that the 3-4 is a bad defense (although not many schools use it and it was installed for an entirely different situation) - It's more that we insist on using only this regardless of personnel or situation and at times have difficulty recruiting for it. This also goes to the idea that Bubba is ultra old-school and very slow to change or adapt. Hopefully the success of our new OC will lead us to at least look at other options. If we have the personnel to make the 3-4 work great. If not, we need to be able to adjust.

Only if we had this year's results because we didn't have the personnel for the defense we were running.

Exactly

Sheer stuborness and reluctance to change seem to factor into many of Bubba's decisions

So - apparently having high end studs pays off.

I am not "Sioux Forever" but I will never wear anything that prominently displays the lame Fighting Hawks name or logo. I would get behind the Fighting Moose in a New York minute.

Merry Christmas to you too - I enjoy your posts greatly. And I'm not saying lobbying for Bubba was wrong in any way. I was slightly in the Deboer camp but thought Bubba was a good hire and brought some qualities we needed after Muss. Here's hoping everything falls into place next year. We have some nice things to build on.

You are correct in asserting that in general civilians and/or family should not be criticized on this board. You are also correct that Lowell has nothing to do with the day to day operations or recruiting for our football team. However, there is a perception that may be accurate that even though he was not on the selection committee, given his role on the Athletic Committee and UND contacts, his position in the Business community, and the network of older alumni in the area which he was part of that he had some impact on the selection of Bubba over Debor. There certainly was a group that pushed hard for Bubba because "this is his dream job", "he's one of us", and "he is a part of UND's past success". I personally witnessed lobbying for Bubba from this group (although not from Lowell). I'm not saying this is bad - everyone has the right to contact anyone and advocate for what they believe in. I am saying that I believe Lowell had much more influence than "the rest of us" in regards to the hiring.

That's why I said we need to adjust our program to the individual and situation - I am not saying no heavy explosive lifts, I am saying we need to be able to make changes when necessary and tailor more to individual needs - and upgrade our nutrition. My bigger point was that honest evaluation and being flexible enough to change if needed seems to be hard for our program - that's why we had Rudy for 5 years.

That's your take-away from my post? I used it as a generalization - but it doesn't entail powerlifting for everyone regardless of position. In my mind a 21st century strength and conditioning program is constantly evaluating its program and results and incorporating new ideas as they fit. It is flexible as new ideas come into play and new athletes come into the system and it adapts to different needs both by position and individual athlete. I am not saying that there is one "modern approach", I am saying that we need to be able to evaluate and change as necessary. It certainly involves nutrition and motivation. Tom Brady has very different conditioning needs than Julian Edelman or offensive tackle Marcus Cannon. I am advocating for looking at results and making changes as necessary - and although that idea isn't unique to the 21st century it needs to be applied to our program. I am not the only poster that thinks our Strength and Conditioning needs an upgrade. My overall post was that we need the ability to make changes when needed and I used Strength and Conditioning as one example.

This, in my mind, illustrates perhaps the biggest weakness of our program - the apparent inability to properly evaluate coaches and systems and make meaningful changes. See 5 years of Rudy. Rudy didn't change one iota, was allowed to go on for 5 years, and if anything became more "Rudylike" as the years went by. Someone in charge needs to talk to Baukol about maybe going away from the "powerlifting for all" philosophy and perhaps adapt a position specific workout program according to agreed upon goals (you know, like almost all top programs do) - and while we're at it let's talk a bit about nutrition. Perhaps Chaves is the difference maker here as we are finally Rudy free. Strength and Conditioning needs to join the 21st century. I think if we could evaluate and make changes throughout the program there would be a lot less fan frustration - much of it now is focused on things that just don't seem to change. And as long as we are taking this radical approach about looking at new things let's talk about the 3-4 defense and how it works without the 3 being physically able to tie up the O linemen.

Bubba's team desperately needs to move out of the coulda woulda shoulda phase and into some real achievements. Did we play some very good teams tough this year - absolutely. Are we 6 years into Bubba's reign and still without a playoff victory - also yes. We've almost put it together for many years now (with a few bumps in the road). Time to demand success. Being "wait until next year" fans is getting old.

Great job - keep them coming.

It's probably the same in most programs but every year we are excited about our new recruits and predict great things. Then 3-4 years later we complain about recruiting (including the fact that most didn't have any other FCS offers) and notice a glaring weakness or two we didn't fill (a big nose tackle for example). We also aren't excited about their development. Rinse, Repeat.

It's hard for me to tell how good this class is since almost all recruits have accolades coming out of High School. Those who follow more closely - what grade would you give this class so far? Do we have many recruits with other BCS offers for example. I know we still need some big bodies and are excited about our QB prospects.