UND92,96

I would be shocked if NDSU doesn't promote from within. Hopefully that works out as well for them as it did for us.

I suppose it makes perfect sense for him to leave now given the fact that this senior class is going to be impossible to replace. If not now, it may never happen. I just figured it would be for a place like Kansas St.

Just saw that on twitter. If true, that would be a shock. I figured it would take a Big 12 or Big 10 job to get him out of Fargo.

EWU wins 41-17.

EWU up 34-17 early in 4th.

Montana has closed the gap to 7--now 42-35. EWU and SDSU tied at 14.

EWU has taken a 14-7 lead.

EWU and SDSU tied at 7 at the end of the first quarter.

SDSU takes an early 7-0 lead on EWU.

Ugh. Hopefully EWU doesn't lay an egg, too. I'm starting to feel like a Big Ten fan during bowl season.

Any guesses as to when the new coach will be announced? I am guessing one week from today--lucky Friday the 13th.

I feel like Nielson would have been the frontrunner last year.

Starkey seems like a great candidate. I'm quite surprised he's stayed at Concordia-St. Paul for 11 years given his incredible record. Is he just that happy there, or has he been up for other dI jobs in the past but not been hired? EDIT: This article from the Strib a few years ago addresses the question of whether he is interested in a dI job: http://www.startribu.../129275878.html While it would great to land him, it sounds like it might be tough to lure him away from the cities.

Not saying you have to be from this region to recruit it, but if you have no ties to it, count me as skeptical that you are going to be much of an improvement over the outgoing staff recruiting-wise. Personally I think there's almost no chance Faison even seriously considers Pflugrad, but I fully intend to support the decision regardless of who he hires. I just hope the Bollinger skeptics do the same if he is hired.

I feel like recruiting is the key to this rebuilding job. Even disregarding the off the field issues for a moment, what evidence is there that Pflugrad would be able to recruit well in this region? I keep using this example, but look at Lennon at SIU--a new geographical area can completely change whether a coach is perceived to be a good recruiter.

I think Rob is around 62. I have no idea whether he's interested in getting back into coaching in some capacity, but you would think this might be the one situation which may draw him back into it for a few years anyway.

I am still at the same point I've been for about three years--expect to beat everybody at home, and expect to lose to nearly everybody on the road/neutral court.

In terms of the coaches who have tweeted in the past week or so, the profiles of Kotelnicki, Schleusner and Freund still describe them as UND assistant coaches. Of course, it's possible at least one of them just hasn't bothered to update his profile yet.

One applicant who hasn't been mentioned much is Rob Ianello, the current wr coach at Kansas. Ianello is most notable for the fact that he was fired a couple of years ago as head coach at Akron by phone, on his way to his mother's funeral.

Bohl would probably give them the most bang for the buck. Pelini was making a little under $3 million/year. They could get Bohl for far less with similar or better results. But whether his past there precludes his consideration is the question? EDIT: Upon further review, the playing careers of Bohl and Cotton at Nebraska actually overlapped for a couple of years. In the event Bohl were to be hired, I suppose there's a decent chance Cotton might be retained?

He meets pretty much every criteria from the job announcement, AND Faison knows him from their days at New Mexico St. At 57, I don't know how much longer he plans to coach, but I agree he'll likely be getting a call from Faison if he hasn't already. http://en.wikipedia....i/Barney_Cotton

I don't foresee that being much of a deterrent to firing him. There will be alums with deep pockets who will pony up to get rid of him. Even the ABC/ESPN guys are saying how he's said and done all the wrong things.

I'd say today's debacle on senior day in Lincoln may be the last straw for Pelini at Nebraska. I still feel like the Nebraska situation could impact a lot of things regarding the coaching situations at UND and NDSU.

Take this for what it's worth given the source, but on the Bobcat board there is some speculation that Ash actually wants him to go. Maybe this is completely off base, and admittedly I'd probably be less skeptical if he'd waited until late in the game to apply like the other true contenders for the job are expected to do. Again, this is hardly proof of anything, but it doesn't seem like many on the Bobcat board would be disappointed if he left.