UND92,96

I believe 2013 is his second year as QB coach.

My wish list is for somebody who: -is a proven leader; -can assemble a quality staff; -can not only recruit, but has the ability to recruit in the traditional recruiting areas. This last factor can be big, and I suspect may be a large part of what has tripped up Lennon and company at SIU. There's no question he can recruit. But recruiting and having contacts in this area is not necessarily the same as in Illinois, Missouri, etc. The Lennon situation is a good example of how a guy can appear to have everything you'd want in a head coach, but not be able to replicate his past success at a different school. Some may claim it's due to going from dII to FCS, but I think the success of Stiegelmeier, who rarely ever beat Lennon in the NCC, somewhat dispels that notion.

I'd be happy to just compare attendance to 2008--terrible schedule, but good attendance (over 10,000 per game average). People were excited about the move to FCS, and didn't particularly care that the opponents were mostly sub-par. Something drastically changed in 2009, and we all know what caused it.

I suspect the bigger key may be ties to Faison moreso than ties to UND. But I'm all for Brooks Bollinger so I hope you're right.

Clearly Faison did hold Muss at least somewhat responsible for the dwindling attendance, or he wouldn't have acknowledged that it was a factor in his decision. It all goes back to the Sioux Falls game of 2009. It was going to take some so-called "signature wins" to erase that memory and win casual fans back, and those wins never came.

He's a heck of a coach, but isn't he around 60? It seems unlikely he'd be looking to move on at this point in his career.

He does have some dI experience at Nebraska. Also gave UND fits as offensive coordinator at UNO under Pat Behrns.

Yup, that was me. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if there's at least some discussion there. He also has two sons currently playing for the Huskers.

Muss's buyout was reportedly $175k. Also, per Tom Miller, it will all come from private money, and if he gets another coach job it will be reduced further.

I'm not anti-Caruso, but is he not an FCS coach right now out of choice, or has nobody seriously looked at him?

Timing is everything. Had Lennon left a year or two earlier than he did, Tibesar likely would have gotten the job rather than Muss. Now, I have a feeling we are at a similar point with Bollinger. If we don't hire him now, it will be too late. He's probably going to be an FBS offensive coordinator in a few years, so it's pretty much now or never. That's not to say that there aren't other great candidates out there. I just feel like the potential for something special may be the greatest with Brooks. Would it be something of a risk given his relative lack of coaching experience? Yes. But I would submit that his overall football experience is that of somebody at least 10 years older than his actual age.

Muss just tweeted something along the lines of "don't cry because it's over." I think it has happened. Edit: Now confirmed by multiple sources--Miller, Nelson, McFeely, etc.

Bingo. Remember the Buning saga? There was no press conference. Once the buyout was negotiated, a press release announcing his "resignation" was issued. It's quite possible something similar could happen here.

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.