UND-FB-FAN
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Posts posted by UND-FB-FAN
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2 minutes ago, jdub27 said:
Can't say I believe this is fully accurate but there are some truths in it.
Ignoring that hockey is the economic engine for UND's athletic department would definitely lead to a quick departure. So yes, it is a priority that would have significant trickle down effects. However, that doesn't mean there aren't fair questions to be asked about incremental funding. It is also a lot more complicated and misunderstood on where some of that funding comes from and how it is applied by those giving direct funds to do certain things.HPC I and II, the new football facilities, updates to Bronson Field and the new softball field also show that those in charge are far from ignoring other sports.
New facilities are a positive, and will help, but the current coaching will continue to limit the overall success. The ceiling is set.
The current coach's inability to lead UND football to a championship, despite his love and connections, is perpetuated by supporters prioritizing friendship over team success, hindering UND’s performance in big games.
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UND leadership's job security isn't tied to football performance but to hockey, a focus set by major donor Ralph Engelstad and his foundation. This priority, and the resultant funding discrepancy, has been noticed by student-athletes and coaches, leading to their departure to better-funded regional rivals. Despite hollow conversations with UND leaders, new football facilities offer some hope for talent improvement, although inadequate coaching decisions will remain a problem.
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48 minutes ago, iramurphy said:
UND has worked very hard for donations at virtually every giving level. I think over time they have recognized gifts of $100 and up.
What I was discussing was your comment regarding what “influential donors” demand. My reference to the 6 and 7 figure donors pertained to that statement. My opinion is that the best institutions don’t respond to boosters “demands”. They will listen to 7-8 figure donors and their ideas or opinions as to how best to utilize that donation.
No institution should succumb to demands of a booster based on a monetary donation that would compromise the integrity of the institution. It would be an egregious mistake to set a precedent by allowing boosters to demand specific decisions based solely on a monetary donation. .Ironically, the much criticized and publicized UND deal with REA, Inc. suggests that precedent has already been set.
Ultimately, actions always speak louder than words. Been a lot of words lately (as usual). Been a few actions, also. I don’t agree with many of the actions. Time will tell if everything works out, but history suggests it won’t.
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22 minutes ago, iramurphy said:
Your second paragraph is kind of the same sentiment you have expressed many timesThat is because it hasn’t been proven wrong yet. The current football coaching situation, despite lacking in high-end skills for recruitment, retention, and coaching strategy for championship success, is favored by the leadership for its cost-effectiveness, compliance, and affable personality.
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39 minutes ago, iramurphy said:
6 figures doesn’t cut it.
Within the grand scheme, if this is the approach, then therein lies the problem with UND athletics. Sitting around and waiting for all those 7-8 figure donations has really been going well, hasn’t it? These type of financial gaps (https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/miller-coaching-exits-not-about-the-financial-gap-and-all-about-the-financial-gap) wouldn’t exist if the “only the big boys and girls get invited to the table” approach was gone
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2 hours ago, iramurphy said:
Define influential donor. 4 figures? 5 figures? 6, 7, 8 figures?
In my experience, most donors give to organizations as a sign of gratitude for how they have benefited from their previous relationships with an organization or support for future success of an organization that they feel is important to them or their community. Very few major donors give with the idea that recipients will respond to their demands. They don’t tend to “demand” anything, even a handshake.
It can happen, as it recently did, with billionaire donors pulling donations from a number of our nation’s universities but only after said universities were garnering negative coverage by major media outlets.
I believe rather than trying to dictate how should interact with our athletic department staff, we should become influential donors ourselves then make an appointment with the decision makers to express our concerns. I can tell you it’s going to take donations more than 6 figures to get the kind of attention we think that should get us.
In this day and age, 6 to 7 figures minimum. See recent Sanford gift (https://blogs.und.edu/und-today/2024/04/und-announces-6-5-million-gift-from-sanford-health/).
As we sit at present, UND leaders prefer cost-effective, comfortable football coaching options and a hockey focus over perhaps more risky coaching enhancements, while sentiment-driven football donors unknowingly accept third (or fourth) place.
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On 4/16/2024 at 9:10 AM, gundy1124 said:
We can't keep a kid from Fordville, ND on the roster, holy crap.
On 4/16/2024 at 10:46 AM, forksandspoons said:You can blame the portal all you want but UND did lose its best two offensive coaches. Who let that happen?
On 4/16/2024 at 9:51 AM, Oxbow6 said:So season ticket renewals are available starting today. Everyone will be charged for tickets upfront for a home playoff game for the 2024 season. If no playoff game in 2024 then those dollars are carried over for a potential 2025 home playoff game. Ridiculous IMO. One should have the option to buy playoff tickets....not be forced to buy and prepay for those tickets. Based on the schedule there is minimal chance of making the playoffs much less hosting. Just another money grab.
Bubba ball and Chaves coordinating …
Ridiculous.
Influential donors need to start demanding results/wins, not nice guy hand-shakes.
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On 3/10/2024 at 10:33 PM, UND-FB-FAN said:
Jeez. So predictable. F UND athletics. Hockey will choke it away too
Hey, look, right again. So easy predicting the actions of this wandering-in-the-dark lost program. Good job Chaves.
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Nepotism, Corruption and Mediocrity continues at UND!
No surprise … it’s easier just accepting apathy at this point.
Good luck folks with your mediocrity. Hard to be too proud of my alma mater at this point. I’ll direct my dollars and investments elsewhere. Can’t believe I’ve put in as much $ as I have … stupidity! Pile on, I admit it! I screwed up supporting this program, but I’ll still be around a bit.
The local traditions and culture around NE North Dakota and western Minnesota (with the exception apparently being Fargo, which is unsurprisingly booming) continues to astonish me.
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Jeez. So predictable. F UND athletics. Hockey will choke it away too
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Solid win vs USD. I worry UND will drop the first round game vs ORU. Hopefully they have a solid tourney showing. Would love to see some exposure in the championship game or, better yet, in the national tournament!
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On 2/26/2024 at 2:50 PM, Hawkster said:
I would hope an FBS assistant makes more than an FCS HC. Even NDSU pay is small potatoes compared to FBS.
Why would you “hope” for that?
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On 2/22/2024 at 6:46 PM, sioux24/7 said:
How are we not offering kids in our backyard before everyone else?
Laziness? Incompetence?
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Awesome progress this year out of mbb program. Need to finish well; this will make the remainder of the season fun and worth watching!
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2 hours ago, CMSioux said:
Where do you see those funds coming from?
This is an intentional issue by UND. It would take ~ 50-100k more per year to significantly increase salary pool for UND football relative to the competition. When you consider the amount of funds allocated elsewhere, and what has been recently raised for construction projects, this is not a number that is impossible to find or raise. But, once again, the expectations for UND football are too low. UND administration is satisfied with middle of the road salaries. Now Chaves has been now quoted in the GF Herald saying salaries aren’t everything; sure, they’re not, but its been the elephant in the room for a while for UND football, especially this off-season with the coaching turnover. If you want to recruit top coaching candidates to Grand Forks, you need to compensate at the same level - if not more - than NDSU and SDSU. Right now, UND football is purposefully putting themselves at a disadvantage. The true tell will be when Bubba is no longer head coach and a new coach is being searched for; that will especially be the time to raise the salary pool for obvious (recruiting) purposes during the searching/hiring process. Simply paying the current coaches more now isn’t going to fix current problems/issues.
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1 hour ago, gundy1124 said:
It's true, have heard this, and the numbers show it. As hard as some have been on Bubba, would all of you do the same?? Our coordinators are better paid than Bubba.
The average of the top 3 HC's made $368,046. Bubba made 69.3% of this amount.
The average of the top 3 OC's made $120,381. Danny made 86.4% of this amount. (If Bubba was at 86.4% like Danny, that would be another $63,000)
The average of the top 3 DC's made $117,402. Joel made 75.3% of this amount. (not unreasonable for a 1st year DC)
Is it a good long-term strategy to expect the HC to take less money AND pass all increases onto assistants?? Nope!!
This is MVFC.
Sure, Bubba has gave up some of his salary, but the assistant coaches pool is too low even with those “donations”. Needs to be raised, but you don’t give that elevation to the current guys; you make that elevation availabe upon an open competitive job search to attract the best. That is the simple solution, but yet, it’s not that simple. Need UND to want football to be better, first and foremost. That comes down to Chaves, Armacost, and more importantly, the major stakeholders. Put your money where your mouth is. You get what you pay for. Facilities are looking good, but you can’t recruit and retain high quality coaches without high end salaries. After all, we’re taking about Grand Forks, ND …
Lastly, Bubba has had a good run, but the salary rises need to align with a change in coaching staff, not under the current regime.
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45 minutes ago, homer said:
Facilities are equally…….possibly more important in getting/retaining the athletes that can compete for conference championships.
Tom should do a fancy table comparing facilities. I bet the same two schools would be at the top but UND is positioned to be much more favorable.
You’re joking, right?
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2 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:
Head coach
Mark Farley, UNI, $400,000
Brock Spack, Illinois State, $364,140
Bob Nielson, USD, $340,000
Tim Polasek, NDSU, $330,000
Jimmy Rogers, SDSU, $310,000
Doug Phillips, Youngstown State, $300,000
Ryan Beard, Missouri State, $275,000*
Nick Hill, Southern Illinois, $265,000
Jody Wright, Murray State, $260,000
Bubba Schweigert, UND, $255,000
Curt Mallory, Indiana State, $218,194Offensive coordinator
Tyler Roehl, NDSU, $123,144*
Bodie Reeder, UNI, $123,000*
Ryan Olson, SDSU, $115,000
Nick Petrino, Missouri State, $108,834*
Tony Petersen, Illinois State, $107,136
Danny Freund, UND, $104,000*
Troy Rothenbuhler, Youngstown State, $102,000
Josh Davis, USD, $100,310
Mike Bath, Indiana State, $94,789
Blake Rolan, Southern Illinois, $93,636
Ben Hodges, Murray State, $76,000Defensive coordinator
Travis Johansen, USD, $119,885
Jason Petrino, NDSU, $117,321*
Jesse Bobbit, SDSU, $115,000
Travis Niekamp, Illinois State, $113,772
L.D. Scott, Missouri State, $108,834*
Antonio James, Southern Illinois, $107,100
Jahmal Brown, Youngstown State, $102,000
Brad Wilson, Indiana State, $99,989
Jeremiah Johnson, UNI, $95,000.04*
Joel Schwenzfeier, UND, $88,400
Dillon Sanders, Murray State, $76,000* — denotes 2023 base salary
From a UND perspective…. Ouch.
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1 hour ago, CMSioux said:
So does this make it appear like the only reason our assistant coach's salaries are competition is because Bubba has been declining raises and passing the money down?
Ridiculous proposition, although Chaves went with it, because as Tom Miller wrote in his article, Bubba won’t be here forever to save that ridiculous budgeting plan, if indeed true. The cold hard truth is football is not appropriately emphasized at UND. Money talks. If you also read Miller’s article, he makes perhaps the best point of all; it’s not what the head coach’s salary is that is correlated with success, but rather what the assistant coaches make that is in fact correlated with success. UND’s assistant coaches - namely coordinators - are not compensated like a championship program within the MVFC. SDSU and NDSU on the other hand…
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14 minutes ago, AJS said:
Shouldn't this be for almost any program a minor issue? Look at UND's athletic budget. For 250K more per year, you could be at the top of the league for salaries. Call it 500K and all of a suddenly you're at the top for all sports. I do think Chaves has done a lot of really good things. Facilities are top notch (once Phase II is completed). Weird that what appears to be the easiest thing to accomplish $ wise, is the only thing that's lacking from this Athletic department.
Regionally speaking, in terms of trying to recruit folks to work and live in Grand Forks, ND, it’s an incredibly, should we say, suspect strategy to have bottom-half salaries compared to conference peers. In my opinion, it’s ridiculous and puts UND athletics in an immediate disadvantage.
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12 hours ago, gfhockey said:
Or the answer will likely be we are going to sit back take a look at everything evaluate the college football landscape think philosophically make an educated guess and then sign the contract with a three-year extension
Unfortunately, this is most probable outcome, but it’s not the right outcome in my opinion.
Improvement is “hard”
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Another illustration of the “issues”:
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Simple alignment is not the issue. Teams rarely are in base defense nowadays anyways; almost always in what you’d call sub packages (nickel). The issues on defense are recruiting, development, and, probably the biggest, the brainpower (or lack thereof) behind the defense.
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2024 UND Football
in Football
Posted
-2024 schedule is promising, but 2013-like disaster very possible.
-Better players are crucial, especially after the transfer losses, but the coaches recruit/retain; falls back onto coaches.
-Extending Bubba maintains status quo, no playoff success.
-Passive change is only way UND improves to new level; that is, Bubba retirement only way things change. Bubba with apparent lifetime contract. Would like to see someone else get a chance at this point, maybe new OC ascends and Bubba allows him to have the job? Bubba's friends favor him over actual UND football results. Good for Bubba that he has made a lot of friends.
-Bubba lacks leadership ability to compete regionally with big boys (NDSU, SDSU, Montana, Montana State)