jdub27

It's a fine line. They do contribute a large amount of fees to the athletic department. They have taken some steps in the this direction already within the last year or two by moving the students over a section. The best thing for everyone is a good team on the field that the students are excited to come support. Feels like we are headed in the right direction. Hopefully with it being Homecoming week and fairly decent weather forecasted for Saturday, there's another good turnout.

Not sure why they just don't look into giving him the ball every play, he was the real deal. From where they're sitting, couldn't hurt to try?

It was all part of Douple's master plan. Actually I think that the WAC offered UMKC some incentives to jump ship and it didn't work out as they had planned.

Weber State will be a bottom team in the Big Sky but gave NDSU a tough game and played them closer than half the MVFC will, so how does that math work out? Would Weber State be a middle of the road team in the MVFC despite them being a bottom team in the Big Sky? Hypotheticals are just that.

Ron Loghry, Big Sky Associate Commissioner, will be speaking at the fan luncheon tomorrow. He's happens to be in charge of the league's television contract. There is always an opportunity to ask questions, might not be a bad thing to bring up...

Agree. My guess is he thought he had a window to really make some noise and tried for a couple quick fixes instead of taking the long-term approach, especially after Brekke started having injury troubles. Sacrificed some long-term gains for a quick term fix. Almost worked.

UND isn't alone at the 5 spot, it is a constant weakness among low and mid-major teams. Have to take some chances on kids and hope they develop.

Not quite the same but something from the Jr Champions newsletter:

And I thought Ticketmaster and Stubhub had a corner on the online shake-down market for fees and ridiculousness. I think there's a new clubhouse leader.

2-deep changes: Starting WR's are now listed as Ferguson/Cerriteno/McGill with Ivery/Seibel/Walker as the #2's. Last week was Walker/McGill/Ivery and Ferguson/Cerriteno/Seibel. Woodsmall now listed as starter at NG and Hinojosa is #2. Carr back as starting FS with Domo Blackmon now listed as #2. Was James/Montague last week. James now listed as back-up SS where Carr was last week. Meindel makes a return and now listed as back-up punter instead of Ben Peters.

Fair enough. They did what they could to save quite a few things, probably beyond what they would in a normal situation. My comment was more of a general one that people are surprised there is no logo because there was pretty much no way there could have been one with what they wanted to do.

You realize that UND has actually dropped the Sioux logo and nickname right? How were they supposed to do a complete renovation and stay in compliance with the settlement agreement?

I'll take MacMillian to start off his senior season the right way.

Quality sources you have. Same one that told you DeBoer was the next head coach?

Apparently there is a semi-pro team in Maryland that uses the name and they use Nokotas. And your favorite team pointed out, putting the "s" on the end is interchangeable.....

I'm confused. So it's Mussman's fault. But it's also Buning's fault that he got fired so someone else had to hire Mussman. You also keep ignoring that Mussman was a huge part of why UND was so successful previously and that Lennon took a new job at the worst possible time for UND (don't blame him for advancing himself) and the cupboard wasn't exactly full when he left. Mussman was a very logical candidate at a time when people weren't exactly going to be pounding down the door for a job at a school in transition. Hindsight makes everyone look pretty smart.

Not sure exactly what you're trying to say but Buning did not hire Mussman.

Haven't heard from any of the Griz faithful yet. I'm sure the sting from two years ago was more than erased last year. Hopefully they bring a decent crowd again. Weather should be a little on the cooler side but plenty warm for some early morning tailgating.

Or predicting it 10 minutes or so after WDAZ posted it on their website...

The MVFC had very, very good OOC results this year, no denying that. But those using this year's results to state how they were robbed out of playoff spots the last couple years is a joke. Pretty sure the MVFC's OOC results last year were right around .500. For the record, here are the MVFC/Big Sky matchups this year with preseason ranks within their respective conferences: Cal Poly (4) - SDSU (2) Weber State (11/12) - NDSU (1) SUU (6/6) - SDSU (2) UND (10/11) - Missouri State (7) Montana (2) - USD (8) NAU (5) - USD (8) Montana (2/2) - NDSU (1) UNC (13) - UNI (3) And just want to point out that two Big Sky teams are the only two teams this far on NDSU's schedule who outperformed the almighty Sagarin rankings...

You predicted UND to lose 38-3. They lost 29-18. They exceeded your prediction by two scores on both sides of the scoreboard. Get some perspective. No one is saying they are satisfied but only being able to see negatives sure must be a terrible way to look at things.

Bubba said Bolduc had been punting well and was staying as the starter.

I fully agree that Jones is fair game from criticism and I am in full agreement with your points. The OOC record is incredibly disappointing, the team seemed to play its best basketball during conference play and tournament time. While the teams might not have been as good, I don't think there were the same issues with the players the first few years he was here compared to what we saw the last two. This year will be a pretty good testing ground for him to prove that. But to say that "if he lays an egg" that he should be fired is not only baseless its not even realistic.

Won't argue that point, but it was the way to get a couple guys to commit that may not have, offer them playing time right away and a chance to do something special their last two years. They almost accomplished it but fell short. I think that the classes are slowly getting balanced out from the "all-in" plan. Seems that the majority of the transfers were an attempt at a quick-fix down low. Had Brekke not gotten hurt a few different times, I think one or two of those transfers don't come to UND. I think the team will surprise some this year and make some noise. May not finish as high in the standings or make it as far in the conference tournament, but will do better than where they are being projected.

So you wanted him coaching for his job after the first year in the Big Sky where he finished third, had the best conference record for a first year team and lost in the conference semi-finals in the final seconds? Glad you aren't the AD, UND wouldn't be able to handle the debt they would have acquired from all the buyouts from your knee-jerk reactions. I'm not trying to give Jones a lifetime contract but I am looking at the realities of the situation before I'm going to be publicly stating his job should be on the line.