Matt

seems pretty fed up & homesick. This keeps up, it would be surprising to see him back next year.

And they haven't been nationally relevant in football since '87.

I used Bohl's contract to illustrate if a coach is going, it doesn't matter what the contract is. Whether that's Bohl-leave due to success-or Muss-leave due to failure. I'm not even necessarily arguing Muss shouldn't have received the extension. What I am saying is that since Faison extended him, it won't reflect well on him to fire him the following year, so I am speculating that Faison's threshold for dismissal is likely to be higher than what many would like.

If this is turning into a "here's why we needed to extend Muss in the first place" discussion, let's consider this: is a recruit more/less likely to believe Muss would have been back on a 1 year deal, or Bohl on a 5-year deal?

I guess that depends on the situation. In Muss' case, he'd been there for several years as an assistant and head coach, had some success and just jumping into a new conference? If he were paid on consecutive 1-year deals, I don't think I'd have any reason to think he'd be gone. If it was a struggling coach, program not doing well, then sure I have some reservations. To go back to my original point though-I don't have a problem with extensions per se. I'm just speculating that since Faison just extended Muss, the threshold to fire him will be high.

You'd be hard pressed to convince me that matters at the FCS level. In BCS conferences where top coaches are always jumping ship for a better deal? Sure. That gets used against you in recruiting. There just isn't the mobility among FCS coaches for that to matter. Now, trying to hire a coach on a year to year contract when the industry standard is a multi-year deal? Sure, that's a problem. But I don't buy that carries weight with FCS recruits-FCS coaches just don't move around much.

I didn't mean to imply Faison couldn't fire him due to the extension. I'm sure there's a buyout. I'm just saying, put yourself in President Kelly's shoes. Faison signs Muss to an extension, then one year later Faison thinks so little of Muss he would rather pay him not to coach the team? Just after you extended him? For Faison to jettison Muss, this season will have to end in utter shambles, and it won't reflect well on anyone.

I'm not sure he's gone at 4-7. Faison just gave him an extension. It will reflect extraordinarily poorly on Faison if, one year removed from a lengthy extension he fires him? What does that say about his judgement? I think if there's ANY gray area, Muss will stay. Faison has already hitched his wagon to him.

Similar comparisons? Before Bill McCartney arrived, Colorado hadn't been the Big 8 champ since '76. Prior to that it was '61. UND is not the Colorado of this scenario. UND would be the Oklahoma or Nebraska of your comparison, I would say any coach that came into those places and put up those numbers would have been fired before the "fire McCartney" chant could even begin. Maybe Muss will surprise me and follow McCartney's footsteps and compete for national titles and finish as his school's all time winingest...sorry-I can't even bring myself to finish typing that BS.

certainly not. I'm more familiar with them (unknowns) than you could know. I'm just holding Muss to the same standard which I've no doubt he holds himself. If you asked him to grade the last few years of QB recruiting, I'm certain he'd agree with the "F" grade as well. When you choose this profession, you don't get a pass due to the "unknowns of recruiting". The coaches say the same thing on signing day-that the real test of how good a recruiting class is will come in a few years. This isn't to say he is overall a bad recruiter. He's done really well with WRs. In the end though, it's like Parcells said, "you are what your record says you are."

you can't blame that attrition on the coaches? Sure you can! They hand picked those guys! If the attrition was a guy here or there over the years in different positions, then sure-it happens. To whiff repeatedly at the same position, they get the same grade they've undoubtedly been giving to so many players..."F".

I'm certainly not saying things are better on the road, but getting this team/staff out of GF after the last 2 games may help. And ISU may be the only BSC program worse than UND right now. (never thought I'd type those words)

http://www.soconsports.com/fls/4000/socon/FCS/polls/2013/2013_FCS_Coaches_Poll/index.html North Dakota State Remains Unanimous No. 1, Three New Teams Enter Top 10 in FCS Coaches Poll SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Three teams entered the top 10 of the FCS Coaches Poll this week, with Eastern Illinois, Coastal Carolina and Lehigh jumping seven, six and seven spots, respectively, in the rankings. North Dakota State kept a strong hold on the No. 1 slot, notching all 26 first-place votes for the fourth consecutive week. The Bison shut out South Dakota State 20-0 on Saturday, holding last week’s sixth-ranked team to minus-32 yards rushing and 124 yards of total offense on the day. NDSU will face another top-10 opponent this week, as the Bison welcome No. 4 Northern Iowa to the Fargodome. Towson sits at No. 2 again this week, picking up 623 points from the coaches. Sam Houston State (599) moved up one spot to fourth following a 49-35 win over then-No. 3 Eastern Washington. Northern Iowa (567) also inched up a spot in the rankings to No. 4. The Panthers dropped McNeese State, which was ranked No. 9 last week, 41-6 on Saturday. Eastern Illinois jumped seven spots into the top five for the first time this season, earning 485 points. Coastal Carolina pushed forward six spots in the rankings to No. 6 after moving to 5-0 with a 53-28 win at Elon on Saturday. Montana State (465) is seventh, followed by Eastern Washington (450), South Dakota State (432) and Lehigh (345) rounding out the top 10. Central Arkansas (336) moved forward to No. 11, while Montana (330) droped from the top 10 to the No. 12 slot. Fordham jumped three spots this week to settle at No. 13, followed by McNeese State (320) and Wofford (298). Bethune-Cookman slid up to No. 16 with 256 points, while Northern Arizona (242) jumped five spots to No. 17 this week. New Hampshire fell 11 spots to No. 18 after suffering a 34-27 defeat at the hands of Lehigh. Cal Poly in 19th with 198 points, followed by Villanova (168), James Madison (122) and Youngstown State (117). Three new teams enter the poll, with Maine (103) taking the No. 23 ranking. Gardner-Webb (49) and Delaware (47) make their debuts at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. Richmond, Stony Brook and Illinois State dropped from the rankings. The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and is administered by the Southern Conference.

If we start rebating wins in light of poor coaching, this club might be undefeated. Upon further review, there might be some personnel issues as well.

Wasn't the 5-6 season the "down season" for UND? Following the 3-8 season, freshman and sophs for ndsu let them to an OT loss in the semis. I see neither the young guys nor the upperclassmen leading this team anywhere yet.

http://www.grandfork...icle/id/274671/ Interesting comments by Muss in here. If he didn't think rotating QBs was a bad good thing, why do it in the first place? edit: fixed it.

I'd be interested in seeing the pass attempts per game between the two leagues.

ndsu fans make the mistake of thinking that because this year's bison team may have the best defense in the history of fcs football, that the rest of the conference plays defense anywhere near their level. They don't.

Unless you are inside the family, I give them credit for apologizing at all. It takes guts to discuss an a** kicking like that with outsiders. On a positive note, it's unlikely they'll need to make such apologies much longer as there won't be much of a crowd to bear witness.

I agree, with such a drastic transformation in the team, I'm just wondering if Muss shares that vision of what a BSC champ should look like. Between a run game featuring a RB the size of miller, and this defense, it doesnt seem to represent raditional UND in philosophy or performance.

I remember Bohl saying they looked at the top teams in the MVFC and said he tried to emulate what they (uni) were doing to win. Is it possible Muss is trying to transform the program in the last couple of years into what he views as one that competes in the BSC, and that endgame, while still a work in progress, is simply a style of play which is different from what we've known Sioux football to be? Just a thought.

Agree, although I'm surprised (if true) that Hammer would agree to such a request or choose not to ask the question (if Faison didn't request it).

I agree with everything but the Ndsu/uni part. UND needs to focus on EWU, UM, and MSU. Focusing on the MVFC is a distraction.

it wasn't a "some say" thing regarding effort. That came right from Muss this week. He was saying MSU didn't get "our best effort" in the last meeting. You could come to the same conclusion with his post game presser comments regarding the players needing to decide if they want to play football. Those comments, along with the tweets from some younger players, illustrate Muss is on the edge of losing his team if he hasn't done so already.

Unfortunately this game will be far more difficult than it should be. They will be smelling blood, and UND has no confidence.