Westside

Ahhh, makes sense. I thought it could be the day when new coach or staff was announced. My bad

Freund's twitter profile mentions 12/21/13... Any significance to that?

Agreed. Although, I think that Tibesar as an UND alum, former player & coach would not mislead Faison. Tibesar is a very intelligent guy, he would not go around giving false hope to the AD at his alma mater. You would think Faison & Tibesar had conversations to gauge his interest. If Tibesar was interested, he would have known he would be one of the "clubhouse leaders" & I just don't think he strings Faison along like that. The fact that the job description was designed to his skill set & qualifications and he never even formally applied is definitely a problem. EDIT: Didn't see UND92,96 post above this when I typed, but basically same premise...

I'm not sold on Bubba as a head coach either. Decent coordinator, but I just don't feel he has "it" to be a head coach. Looking at UMD's records, Nielson had considerable success both before & after Bubba, while Bubba was mediocre at best. If we go through this prolonged "nationwide search" to end up w/ Bubba Schweigert, I will be severely disappointed.

Anyone have an idea of who is on this "search committee" that is doing the screening & conducting finalist interviews? A mix of UND Football alums, UND Admin & HR types??? Please don't let it all be Admin & HR

I would hope that DeBoer is at least included in "the nine"... He may not have as many "points" as others due to his age & not being in the coaching game as long as some of the others, that's why this HR "point system" is so ridiculous. Hopefully Faison has more control over this...

This is the part of this "search" that has really bugged me... Why can't the applications go straight to Faison? Who would be more qualified to choose the right candidates to move forward, the HR staff or the actual Athletic Director??? I realize they are following university/state procedure, but c'mon, this doesn't really make any sense, as well as the fact that it's taken almost a month to get 9 "candidates" since the job was posted.... Time to look at some of these policies & timelines.

This is one of my fears of the prolonged coaching search... Will qualified candidates withdraw their applications or move on to other coaching opportunities as this process continues to drag out? I trust Faison is sticking to "his plan" but I'd like to see the process expedited somewhat.

I do believe that Pflugrad & the AD were made scapegoats at Montana... I was looking at the Montana coaching staff from 2011 to 2012. After Pflugard was let go, 6 out of his 10 coaches were still on the 2012 staff, including Mick Delaney, 2011's Assistant Head Coach, who was promoted to Head Coach in 2012. This 10 number does include DC Mike Breske, who accepted the D-Coordinator position at Wash St (definitely a move up) 2 months before Pflugrad was fired and OC Jonathan Smith, who also left 2 months before Pflugrad was let go, was hired as QB coach at Boise State (a good career move & probably a nice bump in pay as well). These were both a month before the alleged incident with Johnson occured as well. So basically, only 2 coaching staff members were not retained from the 2011 staff to the 2012 staff (not sure what became of those 2 coaches, if they moved on by their own choice, retired, were not renewed, etc, but it looks like their coaching duties were split amongst the other coaches.) If University of Montana was so concerned with a culture problem or the behavior of the football team, why would they keep all but 2 of the existing coaches, including promoting a current staff member to head coach? You'd think they would do a total house-cleaning if there was such concern. Looks to me like the higher ups needed a scapegoat & that was Pflugrad.

What I remember reading on the Yote board back when Glenn was hired was that USD was grooming Wes Beschorner as Glenn's possible successor. Beschorner is a young guy but has been OC for past 5 years & I see he has the title of Associate Head Coach since Glenn came along. Still you'd think DeBoer would at least get a look if he doesn't end up here.

Hire DeBoer, Muss gets to replace him as OC on Lennon's staff at SIU, which takes a nice chunk out of UND's buyout to Muss. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone. In all seriousness, if Faison doesn't want to go the way of Pflugrad, then DeBoer is a very intriguing candidate.

I watched Taylor's press conference yesterday. I believe he said he was looking into state posting requirements & would possibly pursue the "emergency situation" if available to speed up the process. (Not his exact words but something along those lines)

There's something in court records much more recent than that... like 2 weeks ago..... I could care less but since BisenDan feels like coming on here to spout off about partying, well.....

According to Court Records, your D-Tackle Perry has been doing some partying recently, along with playing a playoff game.....

55 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Pflugrad

Good one....

Wonder if anyone from Rod Carey's NIU staff would have interest? Might be a couple of good candidates... http://www.niuhuskie...ann_739809.html - Jay Niemann, DC at NIU. Past FCS experience as DC at Drake & Northern Iowa. Head Coach at D3 Simpson in Iowa. http://www.niuhuskie...ole_739850.html - Bob Cole, OC at NIU. Past FCS/Big Sky experience as OC at Portland St & Montana. Also OC at Utah State & Wyoming. Just a thought....

I've never been to Greeley either, but I always can smell when I'm close on I-25.

Very saddened to hear this news today. I met Chad & got to know him a little, a few years back while he was coaching in Fargo. Just a genuine great guy. Always took the time to talk to a fellow Sioux fan. Thoughts & prayers to his family & friends. Rest in Peace, Chad.

The possibility of Bollinger reminds me a lot of the Minnesota b-ball coaching search & hiring of Richard Pitino last spring. Many said Richard Pitino was too young, not enough experience yet (only head coach at FIU 1 yr), etc, etc. Speculation is that Pitino probably isn't ready for Big 10 hoops this early in his career, but Minnesota's only chance to get him was now. 1 or 2 more years & Pitino possibly would be on to bigger & better things at a major college hoops program. I see this as UND's window of opportunity w/ Brooks Bollinger... In a few years, he will be on to bigger & better things. So, is it worth taking a chance on a young up & comer? I think so. First year may have some growing pains & be an adjustment year, but he could be a phenomenal head coach in a year or 2.

We've had a Big Sky schedule for 2 seasons. This years home schedule was called one of the best in FCS. And yet, 2013 attendance was still lower than when UND started the transition. 2013 had some of the worst attendance #'s in Alerus history. Why? Not consistently winning or putting a competitive product on the field. This post by Vegas Sioux says all you need to know....

I think it's a pipe-dream to hope that Bollinger would come to UND as an Off Coordinator or Asst Coach. As a young coach, I can't see him cutting ties w/ Paul Chryst (a fellow Badger) at an ACC school to come to an FCS school as an assistant. He can stay on Chryst's staff & soon move up the FBS ladder as OC at Pitt or another FBS school. Just my opinion, but I think it would have to be the Head Coach position to get him thinking about UND. I'd back him or Caruso for the head coach here.

If there's mutual interest from both UND & Caruso, he would be able to start the interview process soon as St. Thomas did not make the d3 playoffs this year. http://www.tommiesports.com/ftbl/news/NCAA_1117.html

UND Press Release (from KFGO) http://kfgo.com/blogs/so-many-opinions-so-little-time/953/press-release-und-fires-football-coach-chris-mussman/