UND92,96

DE Stanley Jones from Bismarck High has committed to NDSU.

I agree, but Tom has actually been known to be, shall we way, a bit less politically correct than some others at the Herald sports department. When Wayne acknowledges an issue, that says a lot.

I'm not sure enough has been made of the fact that Wayne Nelson, of all people, actually felt as though he had to directly ask Faison the question after the game on Saturday night. Wayne is probably more non-controversial and non-confrontational than any sports writer you will ever find. He would never have asked that question if the only chatter about this was coming from siouxsports.com and people around town. He almost had to have been hearing things from influential alums and/or people within the athletic department.

Yes. The only thing interesting so far is some back and forth between McFeely and Reusse regarding Caruso. Reusse is touting him for he Columbia job. McFeely tweeted back that UND will likely be looking soon.

Just curious--are you saying Bollinger is pipe dream because you don't think he would be interested in the job, or because you don't think Faison would ever hire him?

My guess is that the two may very well be meeting as we speak, and I would not expect any announcement until this afternoon.

I'm quite certain that was not said. And if he had made such a statement recently, why did he give a "no comment" when asked directly by Wayne Nelson after the Davis game to address Muss's future?

Brooks Bollinger. Maybe a couple of Nebraska assistants since Pelini is likely going to be fired? I mentioned earlier in this thread that Barney Cotton and Faison were at New Mexico St. at the same time. And if non-dI coaches get consideration, maybe Lance Leipold?

I personally like Caruso, but I'm afraid the lack of any dI assistant experience is going to be a problem from Faison's perspective. FWIW, Tom Miller has said more than once in the Herald's live chats that he doesn't believe UND will go with a current head coach from dII or dIII.

I suspect this will become a moot point tomorrow, but since this coming week is technically a bye week due to the fact that UND is one of the few programs not playing a 12-game schedule, is there still practice scheduled for the non-seniors?

UND gets a nice home win today, 65-61 over USD.

I can understand this opinion, but truthfully I think it's on Muss for allowing the situation to occur whereby all quarterbacks on the roster were freshmen rather than bringing in another transfer to bridge the gap until next season. None of the great UND quarterbacks of the past were asked to start in their freshman year, so we don't really know whether or not they would have had similar struggles. I suspect they would have, particularly with absolutely no running game and a struggling offensive line. Based on the difference between Goska and Hendrickson from 2010, where UND struggled just to complete a simple pass, to 2011 (for Goska) and 2012 (for Hendrickson), where both played very well, I think there's still reason for optimism notwithstanding this year's struggles.

Here's the UND press release on the new signees: http://www.undsports...TCLID=209308166 With still three or four scholarships remaining, I have to think there will be a couple of juco transfers signed in the spring.

The volleyball press release just came out in the past few minutes. Maybe they are just wanting to put out one or two releases per day? Not sure.

While your article is much appreciated, I couldn't help but notice a pretty big omission--no mention of arguably UND's second-best player, Aaron Anderson.

Try this: http://www.grandforksherald.com/pages/undsportschat

I know many UNC fans wanted him the last time that job was open. Apparently he did apply, but pulled his name from consideration soon after. I have no idea whether he'd be open to leaving the state of Colorado, but he'd be a very intriguing candidate IMO if he had any interest.

On the Herald's live chat going on right now, Tom Miller said he is guessing Muss will be let go on Monday.

I think some get too hung up on labels. A lot of current dII head coaches are former dI assistants anyway. In terms of current dII head coaches, any FCS program looking for a head coach should take a look at CSU-Pueblo's John Wristen (a former longtime FBS assistant ): http://www.gothunder...es/John_Wristen

I'm confused about exactly what's going on in Mankato. You will note that Keen is now in his second season as "interim" coach. Obviously this is related to the Hoffner saga, but I haven't been able to find anything regarding the current status of Hoffner. The last thing I could find was that there was supposedly arbitration a couple of months ago, but nothing has apparently been in the media since.

Given the vast disparity right now between the programs and head coaches, UND is not going to be in a position to get many of the best ND players the way it used to in the 1990's and early 2000's when it got Kleinsasser, Moore, Callahan, Howe, Schmidt, Chappell, etc. IMO, UND needs to focus on getting the under-the-radar types, such as Dan Hendrickson.

UC-Davis has seemingly been very up and down. They got crushed at home by Portland St., and lost almost as badly as UND did at home against Montana. But they've also had some good performances, and handled both UNC and Idaho St. more easily than UND did. They also had a nice win at Southern Utah. If the "good" version of UC-Davis shows up, it could be another long day. If it's the Portland St. or Montana versions, UND would have a shot. However, with an extra week to prepare (they had a bye last week), I suspect this will be the "good" version on Saturday.

So is the problem that there simply aren't Hendrickson, Bellmore, Boyle, etc. types in our traditional recruiting areas anymore, or are we just letting them slip through the cracks and they end up playing in the NSIC? I don't follow dII ball anymore, but I've often wondered how many players UND has overlooked that end up excelling there who could have really contributed here.

This is one of the things I can't understand. The transition UND teams that hung with those decent FBS teams were presumably not more talented than the current team. So why have we gone from being able to compete relatively well against teams that should be at least comparable to the current Montana, Montana St. and EWU teams (if not better), to being routinely blown out by these types of teams? Why have we struggled to find a quality every-down running back since Josh Murray? Why can't our offensive line open holes now, but could a few years ago against Fresno St.? Why could we negate a future NFL back like Baron Batch, but now routinely give up 150-plus yards to less or similarly talented backs?

A few questions-- 1. What, if anything, would it take before you'd think a change DID need to be made? 2. Does it bother you that in his second year, Glenn has USD going to the wire with highly-ranked teams such as Montana and Youngstown St., whereas we have been routinely blown out by teams like that? Clearly, USD is not a playoff team, either. But at least they appear to be on the right track. I just can't say the same for UND. And wanting better leadership for the current and future players so that more people actually want to watch them play is far from turning one's back on them.