jdub27

Has this staff ever preemptively suspended a player and ended up being wrong? Going to give them (the staff) the benefit of the doubt, especially since clearly handling these situations with kid's gloves is no longer an option. Don't put yourself in a situation that can be considered questionable and it shouldn't be an issue.

The offense averaged just shy of 400 yards and 25 points/game, including 172 yards rushing on 4.9 yards/carry. With the type of grind it out, smash mouth football that this team is supposed to play, that should be more than sufficient to set the team up for the success assuming the defense holds up its end of the bargain. Not going to beat a dead horse on why it didn't or how UND should have completely changed their offensive identity mid-season, but just putting a little perspective out there.

A little surprised at the rotation this far. Will be interesting to see how it plays out as the year progresses and match-ups dictate various combinations. Looked like Brown was in street clothes on the bench last night and didn't play against Troy. Wonder what's going on there. Box score said Walter played 8 minutes last night and all in the first half. Going to need to get him going.

As it currently sits, yes. UND WBB schedule is @SDSU, @USD, MSU, ISU so far. NDSU games aren't listed but guessing those will be televised as well. That would put them past the minimum of 5. Don't know what the holdup on UND's end is, only thing I can think of is they are trying to figure out how many games they can get on FSN/FSN+

About 10 months. I'd imagine there is a lot of red tape they had to go through both to see what happened, if it could be fixed, if there is any builder liability and what kind of insurance payout they would get before they could actually make any real decisions. That's not even taking into account the work they had to do to rearrange all of their services.

I don't really buy your first comment since (in general) a lot of the same people who were adamantly against the first one were in support of the second one. The fact that the margin it passed by was so significantly different backs that up. However to claim the purpose was the only issue is disingenuous. The original tax increase was 50% higher, had a 50 yr sunset vs. 20 yrs and didn't have a specific purposes. Those behind the measures researched what was palatable to the public and then went to the voters with that. They learned their lesson the first time. Overall, seems like a logical solution in the end. However, I would agree that the library issue played at least a small portion into the original measure being defeated, but from how bad that whole thing has been mismanaged by the library board, that shouldn't be a surprise. Voters have made it clear they aren't buying whatever vision the board is randomly selling that day of the week and saw the blank check as a way for them to get what keeps being rejected. They are the ones that are going to have to come up with some outside the box solutions to get what they want.

The first attempt got the results it deserved. They actually put some effort into this one and it did as well. Even so, I was actually surprised to see the margin it passed by.

Brown is on the trip.

According this article, UND and SEMO were his only two offers when he graduated last year and went and played a post-grad year. Picked up offers from Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Wichita State, LSU UALR, SHSU, Cal State and Tulsa. Originally committed to Tulsa in October, reopened his recruitment and picked UND. 24/7 has him as a 4 star recruit and number 11 player in Texas. Kudos to Coach Jones and staff. Stuck with the kid and got him over some huge names.

You might have a point if UND hired CarrSports to do something besides chew gum, but they didn't..... Just pointing on the the relevant details and giant holes in your latest connect the dot theory. I know how announcement of UND moving to the Summit/MVFC threw a giant wrench in the UND/Big Sky/FBS one.

So what you meant to say is that schools that have used CarrSports for a Feasibility Study (one of the multiple services they offer) are interested in moving up and many have done so. I'd say that is significantly different than claiming schools that have used them for an Athletic Director search (the service which UND has retained them for) have "almost all made a major move up after consulting with him". Since UND's name is on the Feasibility Study list, along with the XDSU's, it looks like they chose to work with a firm they are familiar with and vice-versa to utilize another one of the services they provide. That proves absolutely nothing.

He's not actually on the committee, he's the consultant for the search firm who was hired. This is not a surprise and was announced that they were utilizing a search firm at the retirement announcement. Can you provide a better list than they have on their website that shows this is actually true? Their website lists clients they have represented in AD searches, none of which have moved up to my knowledge outside of Troy and that was in 2001. Troy had the same AD from 1994-2005, so them doing any AD work for Troy had nothing to do with a move up. I think it is an absurd stretch to state that "almost all" have made a major move up. Georgia Institute of Technology Auburn University Virginia Commonwealth University Troy University University of North Carolina University at Buffalo Butler University Elon University Long Beach State University Duke University Kentucky Clemson

Without getting too deep into politics, the simplistic philosophy on the other end of the political spectrum is just as laughable when trying to apply it in the real world.

Yes. They "sponsor" 5-6 sites in Fargo. Gross proceeds (after prizes and taxes, before expenses) were about $1.1 million last fiscal year. Their actual donations from members were between $4.3 and $4.7 million, depending on which release you read. They had another $300K that was "trade" and another $700K that was "other revenues", which I'm guessing is mostly related to the the gaming numbers. I'm also not sure how they counted their "one-time" donation to cover half of FCOA for the first 3 years. The USA Today number doesn't match anything they've put out, but NDSU also don't make the report used to generate those number public. There number was also inflated a little bit this past year because of additional donations to get basketball tickets in their new arena. I expect the funds they got from that to drop this year for various reasons. The Champion's Club will see a natural increase of at least $350-400K just from the adjustment on donation levels, which hadn't been changed in the last 5+ years. Obviously NDSU has passed UND in this regard, but with the demand they currently have for football tickets, it isn't a surprise.

That's a good point, I had forgotten about that change. And while it is an improvement, I still don't think it negates but original point nor am I sure how that covers actual communication with university employees if someone were to reach out to them. Having a search firm to act as a conduit along with guiding the committee is worth the investment. They are also able to help shape the job posting if there is a preferred candidate that has expressed interest.

I don't disagree in the slightest, just trying to temper anyone's expectations that the game is going to be a lot easier even with Gubrud out. On top of it, EWU is playing with their backs against the wall at 5-4. The points and the over (-6.5, 68.5) look to be a good bet on Saturday.

Not sure you're quite following what open record laws I'm talking about. Any communication between UND and a candidate ,including e-mails and applications, can be requested by the media (or anyone for that matter) with a Freedom of Information request and UND is obligated by law to provide it. In fact, it is actually a pretty simple process. This transparency has prevented qualified candidates from applying for jobs in North Dakota as they don't want their employer to know they are looking. With a search firm, they have the ability to make off the record contact and gauge possible interest in jobs. This allows candidates to "test the water" and see if it is worth having their name out there as looking for a few job. This is nothing new, the same thing happened when UND hired a football coach and a new President. Forum Communications was putting in requests at least every few days, getting and publishing the names of new candidates. UND has appointed people with ties to the University to be on the hiring committee and they will work with the search firm.

Unfortunately the back-up is a highly touted, 2/3* kid out of California who put up video game numbers in high school and by all accounts is ready to continue EWU's streak of very good QB's. With the condition UND's secondary is in, I'm not so certain this will be as big of a step-down as it initially looks.

If one or two things start falling into place early in the season, I think they make a nice run this year. If they hit some adversity and that void isn't filled, I'm not very optimistic.

Too bad, there's people here who was more swag on the team! That's an issue with young corners, they don't trust their instincts. Harris struggled a ton with that his sophomore year. Hopefully we see it click with some of these young guys after they see themselves on film doing the right thing and having an off-season to learn to trust themselves. They only way that could happen is if UND could get a waiver from the NCAA to play a 12th game. Maybe they consider it extenuating circumstances because of the hurricane, but it would be pretty far out of the norm.

I mean, the roads would get built/paid for/fixed either way as well, it is just a matter of how to pay for them. The sales tax allows an easier conduit for visitors to to help cover some of the costs and personally, I'd rather have it that way rather than them using utility bills and likely property taxes to cover it. Their first attempt at it was not well thought out, they figured out what people wanted (lower percentage, sunset, specific uses) and came back with that. With lowering the percentage, they still have some dry powder to do a "big item" in the future if necessary. The nice thing is, they will likely have a more firm estimate on what Grand Fork's share will be since those larger road projects could be eligible for state/federal money to help cover some of the costs and right now, its a total guess on what will be available when the time comes for the project.

The new water treatment plant being built (that is a necessity and going to be paid for by residents one way or another) seems like a pretty tangible thing. And with state funding being cut, "a few nicer city roads" is going to be a big deal in the next decade. They tried the anything/everything tax approach last year and got shot down, mainly because it was too vague and tried to encompass too much. This time around, they listened to people and are trying to focus in on what is necessary. This also allows for some wiggle room in the future.

That's exactly why you hire a search firm, North Dakota open record laws prevent the behind the scenes contact to potential candidates.

Two safeties available in the first half is not ideal. Limit big plays, keep it close and see what happens.

My thoughts/concerns: -One senior on the team and he's new (Jones). Someone or multiple people need to step up and fill the gigantic hole left by the graduation of Q and his leadership. -Can UND play effective up and down basketball and can they get other teams to go along with them? They are going to need to in order to be effective since they are incredibly thin at the post. -Play fundamental basketball, will go a long way with the current roster make up. I see a lot of three pointers being shot this year, securing position and getting second chance points, while limiting them on the other end, will be huge. -Replacing Q's leadership. So important I put it twice. I don't think it can be overstated what someone with that amount of talent and leadership brings to the table and how huge that is for a program.