Matt

It will be interesting just how big the decrease in season ticket holders for next year will be. A new hire will mitigate it, but there will be a drop IMHO.

The herald should be asking Klieman every day if he has communicated with Faison regarding the UND position.

How do we even know this yet? People are coming to a lot of conclusions off of a very limited sample size. Plus, didn't I just read Pitt just lost an offered recruit, from Wisconsin, to the ac?

The damage to recruiting has already been done. This program is a festering wound that needed to be scrubbed out. I don't give a s**t what other programs do or have done. I don't want any one of these guys representing UND in a living room unless the new coach chooses him for that purpose. But, that must be the choice of the new coach and his staff. If that means they lose out on a month or two so be it. This reclamation project is bigger than this recruiting class, which, I'm not particularly optimistic about.

No single one of these points are taken in a vacuum. All of them, in conjunction with an awful product on the field and overall losing record after this length of time makes each one of those things stand out. If he wins, no one cares what he does with his hair, or if he wears earbuds, or any of the rest of it.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief You're getting closer to acceptance...just let it out...

Winning is always the issue. The only thing which really varies with any program's attendance is where the ceiling or floor is set. For some it's higher due to capacity, population, competition from other entertainment dollars, etc. Every AD knows what is above/below the mean. What we are seeing is in the toilet.

That's cray cray "chief"! I just love using these hipster d-bag references! Look at me! I'm cool now! And you're my bro!

There is one immutable truth about attendance which holds true no matter who you are or what teams are on the schedule from year to year. Win games. Even Moorhead State had full home bleachers when they won games.

http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/coaches/CarusoGlenn.html Prior to Caruso's arrival at UND St Thomas, the class of the league was Montana St Johns, Montana State Concordia, and Eastern Washington Bethel. They are now the dominant team in the MIAC. Sound familiar?

You mean the world hasn't stopped to find out if Faison has made a decision?

IALTO

That would have to be a life changing previous engagement.

...he just thought Muss was worth an extended contract before coaching a single big sky game. There's plenty of questionable judgement to go around in this disaster.

Look at the rosters of MSU, UM, and EWU. Tell me how many of those guys UND offered. Now do the same with the rosters for the ac, sdsu, and usd.

People like us don't switch, but there's a new generation which has no idea what you are talking about.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel here. Sam Houston has owned the Big Sky with running and defense. The ac? More balanced than Sam, but it comes down to running (because they run to set up the pass) and defense. SDSU? Yes, running and defense. Muss has been making the offense way more complex than it needs to be.

True, but we aren't talking about idiot fan opinions here. The eye in the sky don't lie, and you don't get run off the field by anyone worth a damn for two straight years unless you don't have the horses to compete. Muss has been getting killed on the recruiting trail.

The two programs compete heavily for corporate dollars. Think of it this way...if the roles were reversed and the ac had hung around in d2, and were playing winona and grand valley while UND was winning at Minnesota, hosted college gameday, and moving on their third straight national title-generally considered the gold standard of fcs football...the sponsors would be lining up to be a part of it as they do now at the ac. As it stands, UND sends players out as dominos delivery drivers with tickets for the handful of season ticket holders that are left. They should be able to complete that run around town with one car and about 10minutes to complete that task next year.

I understand the point you're making, but UND is competing with the ac whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. In fact, the truth is, prior to even setting foot on the athletic field with a big sky opponent, the UND staff will need to defeat the ac on the recruiting trail. And I won't even get into public perception. I would also argue that Mussman has tried, and failed, to assemble what he believes is the type of team needed to play Big Sky football(whatever that means). At the expense of the type of football that brought the program to prominence.

There's also an elephant in the room that hasn't been mentioned: having the most dominant program in the nation 80 miles away. IMHO, the guy willing to step into the UND job is one with some loyalty to UND, or someone with ambition to use success at UND as a step to somewhere bigger (Caruso?). I really wonder if the candidates with experience at the ac would consider UND a place that they could compete with what the ac has built. I don't want this to get into a discussion of d2 glory days. That stuff is a distant memory. Had UND taken the offer the ac extended and been their partner in the move up, I believe things would be much different today. Both in public perception of UND football and the quality of product on the field. UND football has a long way to go and they aren't just struggling to get to the middle of the pack in the BSC, they have the unenviable distinction of being compared by their recruiting base to what has now become the gold standard program of FCS football. It will take a special guy to walk into this situation. Roger showed it can be done, but that task also took several years.

Whether or not Hazelton would take the job if offered is a totally different concept as to whether or not UND should consider him a candidate for the position.

Difference is the turnovers and inability to run the ball. I never would have believed a UND team would absolutely be unable to run the ball against basically everyone but a non-scholarship team.

They're fortunate that the Davis O might be the worst in the nation.

I've only seen Bachmeier of this bunch. He's an athlete. I think he can contribute at this level. Don't know that he'll be a star. Local seniors, I want the Lawrence kid from Moorhead. 6'5 185 WR hasn't begun to fill out that frame. One of the top track runners in MN.