jdub27

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.

Wrong, but what's new. NDSU(x2), SDSU, Idaho and Weber will all be televised on Midco for sure. Can't confirm at the moment if there will be more and what FSN+ will be picking up. The broadcast contract requires Midco to broadcast at least 5 games, however I'm not sure if the two away ones (NDSU and SDSU) count toward that minimum.

I'm just stating I heard the exact same thing about BH outperforming AZ in practice, which is why he won the back-up job. There was clearly a difference between that and what happened on the actual field, which is why the change was made.

I've heard the exact same thing. The coaches went with the player who showed in he gave them the best chance to win, the back-up job was earned on the practice field and had zero to do with playing favorites. The staff then adjusted once they saw the in-game performance. No clue why there is such a huge disparity between practice and in-game between the players but the decision was made based on the information they had available to them.

Not sure how it is a rumor, both have already been announced and are scheduled for the same week. My guess is they didn't want to do the Potato Bowl with a Thursday night game in August, though the french fry feed at tailgating could be pretty interesting. One less "event" game but not really a ton of overlap outside of the parade. Potato Bowl 2018 UND Homecoming

Here are the confirmed games so far. Missing 3 away and 1 home conference games plus bye week. @UNC will be one of them and I would guess @MSU would be another. 8/30 - MVSU 9/8 - @Washington 9/15 - @SHSU 9/22 - Idaho State 9/29 - TBD 10/6 - TBD 10/13 - Montana 10/20 - TBD 10/27 - Weber State 11/3 - @Idaho 11/10 - TBD 11/17 - TBD

They had to redo all of the schedules with Idaho joining and don't believe they have publicly released them, however it looks like Montana and possibly Weber have their 2018 schedules up. Both have are schedule to travel to UND next season. 10/13 - Montana 10/27 - Weber St Those two don't deviate from what was originally scheduled a few years ago, but that doesn't account for Idaho and how that will affect UND yet. This was what their conference schedule was supposed to look like: Sept. 22 Idaho State Sept. 29 at Northern Colorado Oct. 6 Bye Oct. 13 Montana Oct. 20 at Sacramento State Oct. 27 Weber State Nov. 3 at Montana State Nov. 10 Portland State Nov. 17 at Northern Arizona Side note: A bye in the middle of the year!!!!

I mean, you can think whatever you want since there is not way to prove or disprove it, but UND has had multiple drives in the last couple minutes of games to go ahead or ice the game over the last couple of years.

Playing maybe, but not starting and playing pretty much every down. Based on the pre-fall depth chart posted a few days ago, I don't think the redshirt freshman were planning on seeing a ton of snaps behind Stockwell and Bell other than some rotation. The silver lining is there are quite a few getting a taste now and are learning what it takes.

At the skill positions, yes for the most part outside of a game or two at WR and Keaton's leg. Line has been a revolving door until recently (in more ways than one). Losing Norberg was a pretty big blow plus Fiedler is the best blocking tight end on the roster, not having those two really dampens max protect schemes to help the inexperienced line, though Luke is back now. I'm not saying that things couldn't be better, I'm just wondering how much of it was limited by personnel and how much is coaching limitations. It's somewhere between the two, tough to tell exactly where. Regardless, it's been a disappointment to say the least.

I'll preface this with believing you need to play with the hand your dealt and make the best of it and I think both sides of the back have left things to be desired but: How much flexibility can you really have when you are dealing with that much inexperience? At that point, wouldn't doing the basics of the system be the most obvious solution? If you're only missing a few pieces, some adaption works but trying to teach young guys something that deviates from whatever it is they've learned in their short time could just cause even more problems. Just a thought.

Yep, but it's a fine, fine line. As you stated earlier, it's in the perception.