UND-FB-FAN

Absolutely. UND may need to start emphasizing the most important position in sports a bit more.

My end-point expectation for DI UND men's basketball has always been for UND to consistently reach the NCAA tournament. It's lofty but certainly not impossible, especially if Moo U can do it. Furthermore, it's 90% bashing because of Jones' body of work at UND (losing record). If he wants positive reputation points, he needs to consistently win. He'll get the opportunity to prove his worth as an extension is almost certainly coming.

For being such a UND/Brian Jones fan, you apparently did not attend very many UND men's basketball games at the Betty this season. UND fans loved themselves some hoops this season and the Betty was consistently rocking, particularity the "conference championship" game against Portland State.

QB, OL, and WR positions can all be improved. Heck, TE and tailback can also be improved. There's no question that depth and level of ability from the offensive starters can improve across the board. I'm hoping for a very productive spring ball, for this reason.

You need to separate your personal feelings (you obviously are biased) with the occupational realities of being a colleagiate DI head coach. There is natural criticism with the job due to the open competition and, subsequently, pressure and turnover. These coaches aren't necessary underpaid by any stretch of the imagination, even if you think Jones is receiving next to nothing. If you don't perform, you lose your job. Jones and his team have performed and Jones will keep his job.

I wouldn't say that. UND is winning and that is the most important aspect of it all. My remaining doubts can be alleviated with a BSC tournament championship/NCAA tournament appearance and no choke jobs; Go Hawks!

You better call up your buddy (or just host him a party) and congratulate him.

Why would UND cater more so to those living out-of-state versus those in-state? Last I checked, UND stands for University of NORTH DAKOTA. I am very happy with the move to the Summit and Missouri Valley Football Conferences - they both make more financial and logistical sense. If your priority is to travel to an "appealing travel location", fly to Hawaii or Mexico.

I agree - The Summit League conference tournament will be a great annual event and I'm also looking forward to attending. Go Hawks!

QB situation is yet iffy and it needs to be worked out; still plenty of time this spring, summer, and fall to work on that. UND's offensive identify helps to cover up UND's inept QB play; however, you need good to great offensive line play for that identity to be successful. So, in summary, I agree with @iramurphy

Your comment was aimed at the UND offensive line in the context of spring ball, as was my reply. In fact, I agreed with you.

Weber State and their coaching staff have the experience, so its hard to completely disagree with this. UND still has a good shot, obviously.

This all sounds very logical and truthful to me.

As the #1 seed, UND certainly better be of the mindset that they can win it all this year (or else there is some serious lack of leadership). I do understand the concerns, though, considering this a one-and-done single elimination tournament.

This is a wide-open field with a neutral floor, but with that said, a 5 to 10 seed winning would definitely surprise me.

No need for concern, but even the staff will tell you the OL needs to be emphasized this spring and moving forward into the fall. You are right, though, that depth is being worked on. Offensive line injuries did affect UND some late last season, even into the playoff game. Last year, the offensive line didn't perform as well as it did in 2015, and its necessary for how UND wants to play offensive football. UND beats Richmond if they can just line-up and play downhill smash-mouth football last December in the 4th quarter (remember there was a lot of throwing and 3 and outs); this is why OL is being emphasized moving forward. There is always something that can be improved upon.

Or just cut women's hockey and free up all kinds of money for the sports that Grand Forks folks actually attend ...

Thanks for the report! Sounds like offensive line, offensive line, and offensive line! As well as QB and defensive back depth! Improvements yet to be made - always need to strive for improvement.

If Jones and his squad can reach the NCAA tournament, I'm quite sure everyone will (or at least I will) be just fine with Faison signing Jones to a 3 or 4 year contract. That kind of exposure (NCAA tournament) would be huge for UND's program and is just what UND needs every year as their top goal in order to recruit off of it. The pending performance in this week's Big Sky Conference tournament is big; UND is the #1 seed and they need to play like it!

Let's be careful not to temper expectations too much. Yes, winning a regular season title is a big deal, but winning a tournament championship and reaching the dance is FAR MORE IMPORTANT due to exposure potential with the NCAA tournament. I know I may be going too far with this, but just to illustrate a point, UND shouldn't cancel their plans to attend Reno and the BSC tournament. Jones and his team need to execute under pressure AND expectations (they are the #1 seed, in fact) and win the conference tournament or else, essentially, they have choked. You can't set half-way goals and expect for the entirety of accomplishments to happen. Raise expectations a bit and expect the #1 seed UND Fighting Hawks to represent the Big Sky Conference as the #1 Big Sky Conference team in the NCAA tournament. EDIT: Oh, and lastly, let's not try to raise NDSU on a pedestal by saying their 20+ point loss to IUPUI was just a fluke. NDSU put themselves in a position to lose badly and that happened. UND shouldn't let that happen at the conference tournament or else they too (coaches and/or players) deserve some level of constructive criticism.

I agree with this. If UND is dancing, you have to retain Coach Jones. If UND doesn't make the NCAA tournament due to an upset in the BSC tournament, then Faison will have to carefully weigh both options (extension versus hiring a new coach). My gut tells me Faison will be locking up Jones irregardless of the Big Sky Conference tournament results, unfortunately.

If another AD decides to hire Jones, that would be very unfortunate for that particularly institution (and wonderful for UND, in my opinion).

Value hire: Half the price for twice the coach; this also exists in reality, @hoops44 It explains why low level coaches get hired by bigger institutions: salary obviously does not always represent ability. There are many factors besides salary to consider.

400k? That's over a 4-fold increase; makes little sense to quadruple the salary when one could remove the "less valued" and hire with double the salary. Also, quadrupling the salary is not plausible.

Well, in the past 5 seasons, Weber State and Rahe have done well (2 out of 5 [40%] seasons both regular season and conference tournament champions). With that said, he won the conference regular season and conference tournament his first season (2006-2007) which set the table for his tenure and salary. Jones' program did not win the BSC regular season until his fifth try.