Irish

This, in my opinion, is a real worry and the biggest problem with the Ralph. I wish they would take some of the money used for extras and use it to replace the revenue they are getting from the constant ad stream. That and revamp what comes over the PA during games.

I certainly do - and the fog that would hang up among the rafters. I would start by changing almost everything that comes over the PA system after the game starts. How many times have you seen the crowd cheering a strong Sioux effort only to be silenced by blaring music or some inane ad or contest. If they have enough money for a multi-million scoreboard then they could certainly forgo a bit of ad revenue during the game (looking at you, Steamatic). I would also make an effort to coordinate cheers - get everyone in the sieve cheer for example - maybe by flashing the cheer on the new scoreboard. And have the students develop some cheers from their section. Remember the Farce - half the fun at games was their creativity. Too much PA control by people who think corporate and do not know enough about the game.

When you have been coaching a program for 5-6 years, a lot of recruiting is selling your "brand". "Come here and this is what we are about and here is how we see you fitting in." This is why, in addition to his mind-numbing play calling it was so damaging to keep Rudolf for so long. What do you think a top recruit saw in our offense? I know we are in a new era now, but recruiting wise it feels like starting over. Bubba's coaching is in my opinion ultra conservative. This is only a fun style when you are the ones doing the face-smashing. I like what I have been seeing lately, but establishing what UND Football is about is vital for our future.

Boyddj282 is exactly why we need Bubba to pick up his game and right soon.

Sorry if I came across as too critical. I am just intensely curious as to what Berry is doing to snap us out of this slide. Perhaps my curiosity got the best of me.

I agree that 3 years is a small sample. However, if we don't get our act together this year it could easily extend to 4 then 5 years which is getting much more significant. And no, we can't just show up and get all the players we want. However, we can sell the fact that we have the best arena, lead the nation in attendance, have fans that travel like no other fan base, have top notch training facilities, have 8 National Titles, and have a history of consistently developing NHL ready talent as shown by the number of our alumni in the league. Given those factors the lack of scoring last year is troubling. Having said that, I like the talent we have coming in and love our returning D and goalies. I also love adding Karl as a coach. I look for a great year. I am very curious, however, as to what changes Berry is making to bring us back to the top.

Do other teams have good years? Absolutely. But it is totally unacceptable for St. Clown and Duluth to have consistently better programs than us. There is absolutely no reason or excuse for this. None. I hope the changes being made return us to the top.

Clearly you are going to drop the "big changes" message here without giving any more details. I hope they are much more than cosmetic. I don't care that much how we select Captains, what jerseys we wear (within reason), or how we warm up and to what music. I do care that we will stop giving up 2 goal leads, stop giving up goals within a minute of scoring, have a better than 15% power play, up our recruiting, and bring back scoring to our program. If these changes affect any of these areas then I am excited to see them.

Agreed, but at least they are drawing crowds - Led the nation in attendance. Both Bubba's need to pick it up this year. I love the football only fan's reply to any issue - "but hockey".

Of all of the issues and desires for this football season, having a logo on the turf is about 100th.

This sounds great - any specifics on what changes are being made? It isn't always easy to take a hard look at what you are doing and make changes - Good for Coach Berry.

This is a huge year for us after a 3 year downhill slide. So far I liked what I have seen of Berry's adjustments - especially with the addition of Karl as coach. In my eyes we are the premier program in the country. However, we need to re-establish some things right soon or face a bigger uphill battle getting this program where it needs to be. We can't be the place where scoring goes to die. After much internet discussion from last year I'm still not sure how things went off the rails so fast. I like some of the talent we have coming in, but offense needs to be a huge priority (as well as the power play) There is absolutely no way we should be second fiddle to the likes of St. Clown and Duluth - none. Sure maybe a year here and there as an anomaly but year after year really? Time we were top of the pack again. We should be getting some absolute studs in the mix - we shouldn't bleed recruits to the likes of Wisconsin. If we don't establish our program this year it may be a serious blow for the future. Having said that, if Rowe doesn't want to work with the best goalie coach in the country there is not much more that needs to be said.

Thank God for the wineskins.

If you compare the staff at Ely's Ivy to the Toasted Frog you can see where Ely's is falling down. In my opinion, the Frog has by far the best bartenders in town. Food is great, but a bit exotic. I wish they would add a couple of small plates or a great Burger for when I don't want a full meal. I know they are right next to Joe Blacks and don't want to be a burger and beer joint, but something to eat at the bar besides the great pizza would be nice. Wonderful service though.

I was there not long after their opening and was not pleased with the service - about 10 customers being ignored while two bartenders and a waitress huddled together to chat. Hopefully things have improved since them.

We had two things relative to talent that kept us at an elite level for the past many years - We were a destination for high enders looking to hone their skills for the NHL and we had a great eye for role players and sleepers. You don't have to look farther than our championship year to see this - Top line was one of the best of all time and had two first rounders and an undrafted player. Now look at the last few years of recruiting (especially up front). There is no doubt that we need to re-establish in both of these areas. I like what we have coming in but in my opinion Berry needs success right soon to get things going in the right direction again. Hopefully this season will be the start of another run.

I hadn't been to the Broken Drum for years but recently stopped in for bite and a beer - I recommend it for good bar food.

A big year coming up in many ways. So far I like what Berry is doing. Karl will be a huge asset and not just with the goalies. We seriously need a successful season - and not just to keep the fan base happy. We need to re-establish our brand nationally as a program where top talent can go and develop into NHL ready players. We absolutely can't afford to be seen as the place where offense goes to die. I know we need a mix but our past Blue Chippers contributed greatly to our program. We certainly are due for some good luck and hopefully some stud commits.

Agree Berry needs to up his game but he has at least won a playoff game. Football Bubba is a rah rah guy (nothing wrong with that) who has made a string of bad decisions that are only now being fixed. Anyone who watched football last year knew it - most knew it several years before it dawned on Bubba. The nickname is the least of his problems. I know that we need to adjust to the new nickname but praising Bubba for that is damning him with faint praise. In the words of Minnesota Fats from The Hustler "time to shoot pool, Fast Eddy".

6th year - a .500 coach with no playoff wins - but hey - what a great logo guy. Personally, I loved the Fighting Sioux but saw that we had to change. I'm not very excited about being "The Fighting Hawks" but I can live with it. I can't abide by the new logo though and really have a tough time wearing a poor man's Post Office logo. If I could make one change it would be to get a decent logo design - people would be much more likely to adopt it.

A great addition to our program.

I agree that the BU method isn't a roadmap to titles. However, we still need to be the program that top talent wants to come to to develop their skills. How would our teams have been without Parise, Toews, Oshie, Boesser, or Schmaltz? Top end guys have been very valuable to our program and we should be able to get a few. The lack of big time blue chippers lately concerns me, especially after looking at our offensive output last year. We need to be the go-to team for developing NHL talent like we once were.

The horror - A guy wakes up after a good night's sleep - settles in to read the local paper - opens it - and before he can avert his eyes there it is above the fold - a hockey article.

I hope this happens and maybe with a new O coordinator we will surprise some people. However, we still have a head coach whose game strategy includes calculating how far back we can put our opponents if we punt from where we have the ball. I just don't see us coming in really loose and getting teams on the run. Well we play hard - yes. Will we be loose and freewheeling - I just can't see it.

Agree - this is Bubba's 6th season here (at a whopping career of 30-29). By now the team should be assembled. People talk like this is his first or second year of rebuilding. The entire program including who we recruit, who our assistants are, and what schemes we run are totally on him. It is beyond sad that we expect a 6 win season and think that is fine because we have a hard schedule. At some point instead of us looking at our schedule and bemoaning the good teams we have to play other teams need to be looking at their schedule and commenting that their schedule is tough because we are on it. Time for Bubba to get it done.