UND-FB-FAN

Out of respect for individuals involved, yes. Let’s just say some of the so called “speculation” that the “idiots” on this site stirred up doing the numerous coaching announcements were largely correct. But, again, most on here are just unrealistic idiots …

Learned more info of late. Not good. Doomed program with Bubba as head coach. Need new leadership … and that may extend beyond just football. Hope 2024 goes better than I think it will.

Would be pretty easy to have a new establishment in Grand Forks and hire Schlossman away from Forum Communications. Money talks.

You’re absolutely correct. UND not having a major media presence located within Grand Forks (no more WDAZ; Forum Communications dictating everything now) has absolutely hurt UND athletics. Grand Forks needs to look into getting a new media presence back in Grand Forks. Lastly, writers need to coalesce and form a Grand Forks based collective; move away from Fargo dictated Forum communications. Won’t happen overnight, but needs to be a goal, especially for UND athletics …

Game was anything but perfect for UND, but they won, and that’s all that matters. Too many missed shots for UND, FG% was not great, but ultimately Amar, BJ and Tyree got UND to the finish line. Ultimately keep improving, and now go for #7 in a row!

This will be a tough game. All the pressure on UND. Hopefully they rise to the occasion in front of the home crowd. Fun February event for a Saturday afternoon; will be more fun if UND shows up and gets the job done.

Bg game vs ag college tomorrow! Go Hawks!

It’s money. XDSU’s have invested more $, which includes facilities, staff (coaching) salaries, and beyond the departments, it now also includes NIL funds. UND is improving facilities, but coaching salaries and NIL are the next two major areas UND football needs to improve. To take it one step further, *how* UND utilizes the addition to the Pollard Center and Memorial Village is crucial. *How* will UND be featuring football with the new facility. The Ralph does a fantastic job with hockey (in terms of the aesthetics). NDSU and SDSU do a very good job aesthetically with their football facilities, namely coaching offices, cafeteria, meeting rooms, trophy cases, etc. These things matter to recruits these days, but just not as much as actual $ upfront. Still, facilities show commitment as well as the history and tradition. If UND does the new facility right, it should take new football recruits no more than 30 seconds to realize upon entering that UND has the better head-to-head record vs NDSU, has won both Big Sky and MVFC conference titles, won the DII national championship in 2001, and has numerous athletes in the pros (NFL and CFL) over the past 20 years. If you’re not featuring those things up front, then you’re not doing it right. As for coaching salaries, although salaries need to improve, I would not advocate paying Bubba and his staff more until they prove they can produce more. So, with that, we enter a huge 2024 season of “prove it to us”. I think we can both agree, 2024 is a huge year in terms of determining the next steps.

This is understandable, and in numerous collegiate coaching hiring situations across the country, tradition and loyalty is often considered; but … … there certainly now needs to be consideration to sway away from this with the next hire. For what it’s worth, the most recent offensive coordinator hire (Fruechte) has no prior UND ties, but it is far too early to know if that will be beneficial in the long run.

I agree completely; I just think that the biggest issue of them all is the actual dysfunctionality of the program itself, not the external factors that UND can’t control (hence, the importance of accountability).

Then why all the committee did this and the committee did that hoopla?

There needs to be more accountability; it’s realistic to also acknowledge that. UND needs to make their own luck, and get the job done. Stop blaming others, like the playoff committee. It’s a petty excuse, so I do agree with you on your point being essentially an excuse, and not realistic discourse.

Negative posters? Okay so you’re a positive poster … glad we got that straightened out. What’s positive about losing nearly every road game and never winning post season games while regional rivals win playoff games, including national championships, year after year?

This is all just purely hypothetical, but it would seem this GOBC is the enemy given all the “inbreeding” concerns of late. Therefore, is @gfhockey actually the enemy?

I wish I could comprehend.

To be fair, their new employers (SDSU and Montana) were both better than NDSU in 2023.

I agree, not black and white, but UND football hasn’t faced an exodus like this before, at least not in the recent past. The mixed narrative explanation (that is, there are a lot of things in play for each coaching move) is really just a pathetic way to save face. In reality, if being honest with ourselves, we all know the writing is on the wall. Even folks who do not closely follow UND football or have any internal connections can see it. I do appreciate your (@jdub27) persistent loyalty to the current Bubba regime, though, although you’re likely to go down with the ship.

I mean, since going DI, UND football is 1-0 with Dale giving the pregame speech and it’s a big 1-0.

You’re absolutely correct, as always. Let’s see what the Nuke-stricken Titantic can do in 2024. I just hope there are consequences if the Titanic does indeed sink. If it doesn’t sink, then we’ll all be onboard celebrating in the end.

“No one is arguing this isn't an important year for a whole bunch of reasons. But some of the suggestions are so far from being based in reality, starting to think half this board is made up of ndsu accounts just having fun at UND's expense.” - that would count as paranoia. There’s a lot of pure love on this board for UND. No need to try make sense of disputes with this idea. Secondly, should UND be satisfied with a top 20 finish every year? With no playoff wins or chance at a championship. That seems like asinine low expectations considering how top heavy the FCS is, but I guess this highlights the simple dilemma UND athletics faces; is top 15-20 good enough? Coaching departures signify the football program is currently stuck in the 15-20 range and won’t ascend, anyways. Put yourself in their shoes. You wouldn’t move to a lateral FCS position for a slight pay raise if you thought there would be upcoming success at UND, as that itself would lead to much bigger opportunities (FBS). Clearly that is not what those [formerly] within the inside thought. Bubba is soon to retire or be asked to “retire”, so the staff with greater aspirations have left. It’s not hard to decipher. The solution is fire Bubba (or have him “retire”) and hire a better leader, someone who can further build the UND football program to championship standards. Bubba can’t do that.

As the Massey rankings suggest, UND is about ~15th in the FCS and I agree with that. But there are numerous concerns suggesting that UND’s ceiling under Bubba is around 15th (current coach exodus, no significant road wins, lack of leadership, mediocre recruiting, no playoff wins, etc.) and 2024 is likely a season of regression. NDSU and SDSU‘s success puts pressure on UND, yes, but that still doesn’t excuse extending a coach like Bubba year after year. In fact, NDSU and SDSU’s success should give Bubba less leniency, not more.

This is the type of paranoid rationalization I’d expect from someone who is too stubborn and nearsighted (credit to @The Sicatoka) to understand and accept what is needed for UND football to take that next step.

Much better than current situation. Bubba has imploded this program. He couldn’t see the writing on the wall. Stubborn, incompetent man towards the end … but he gets another year worth of payout. Always comes down to $. Would UND AD like more $ from football games, including playoffs? If so, get a better coach.

Ouch.

Agreed. Poor management strategy at this point, and it’s likely a combination of nearsightedness and stubbornness.