UND-FB-FAN

The traditional response doesn't work. Schools that strive for greatness in a particular sport don't tolerate .500 records. Eventually, they cut ties and hire someone who is capable of taking the particular athletic team at hand to the next level. Jones doesn't deserve a raise, I am not making that point. The point I am making, however, is that UND deserves a men's basketball coach that is on the same level, both coaching- and salary-wise, as NDSU, USD, and SDSU. Nothing more, nothing less. Although Jones has twice finished in the top three of the Big Sky, he has yet to considerably exceed a 0.500 season record and win a post-season tournament game. Not to mention his out-of-conference record is atrocious. All the last couple years have demonstrated to me is that the Big Sky Conference is a weak basketball conference, with the top of the conference (Weber State and Montana) being the exception. Lastly, the fans should support 0.500 basketball? That tells me the expectations of the university and/or supporters for men's basketball are below where I want them to be. A 0.500 basketball team will always have difficulty making the NCAA tournament. We can maybe finish in the top 3 in the Big Sky Conference, but trying to win the conference tournament will always be a different story. I also would like to put on record as to saying, as history showed last December when Faison hired Bubba, that I believe Faison would increase the salary if Jones is fired and a new coach is hired. I just hope the hire is comparable to the coaches of NDSU, SDSU, and USD. 100K is not comparable to 200K...c'mon man!

Of course, the traditional "D2 - he hasn't earned it yet" response. There's no reason we should have to go through a couple losing seasons before we actually get on par with NDSU, USD, and SDSU coach-wise. Currently, our head basketball coach makes less than half of what the other regional coaches make. That isn't an issue?

Recently reported that Dave Richman, the newly named men's basketball head coach at NDSU, will make 190k per year at NDSU. USD's recent hire will get 185k and SDSU's Nagy makes 200k. Brian Jones is making well below 100k a year. This is concerning to me because it demonstrates our lack of commitment to basketball. We did what we needed to in football, by raising the salary a bit and making a quality hire. Now, we need to make a hire for men's basketball that is also worth an $150,000 deal or so. It's only a matter of time before a new hire is made - I'd give Jones a year or two at the most. Of course, when Faison decides to hire someone new, it depends not only on the performance of Jones, but also the athletic department's available funds for making a new hire. If we're gonna be dually a top football/basketball school in the Big Sky Conference, we need to show it financially.

Definitely a 3. Has too much shoot or drive in him to be a 4. He's 6'5" so be best fits the SG or SF spot

If anything, I think the general change in philosophy will be the one thing that allows UND football to be successful again. Having a Wisconsin alum coach up the O-line and an offensive coordinator who wants to run the football and use play-action off of that is key. It will both help our defense with improved time of possession and keep our turnovers down. Not to mention it will best utilize our recruiting pipelines and allow us to "out-physical" the more finesse teams of the Big Sky. Add in the desire to pressure and "get after it" on defense, and the defense should hopefully improve and get more takeaways. All in all, the philosophy that Bubba Schweigert is implementing will lead UND to more success. Why Mussman ever thought a pass-happy offense and conservative 3-4 defense would be successful, I'll never know.

Early candidate for B.S. statement of the year right here. Bubba has the potential to a better head coach then Klieman. He's already made a splash in recruiting so I don't know what you're talking about. Good luck handling the loses this season.

Really? That surprises me. So everytime NDSU hires a coach, the coach will be a future FBS or major program head coach? You're really giving Gene Taylor a lot of credit I guess. This "ignoring NDSU" thing is a joke. If you're a UND supporter and/or North Dakota resident, it's nearly impossible to just "not care" what NDSU does.

They are multiple - under center, shotgun, and pistol. The pistol can be very effective if run correctly. We'll see a lot more runs and PA out of it this year and it should work nicely.

All I've got to say is Saul Phillips is a heckuva better coach than Brian Jones. And I like seeing NDSU have to hire a new guy - hopefully it hurts their program. Losing both Bohl and Phillips can only hurt Ag school athletics, which makes me happy.

Both starting OLBs from last season (Bennett and Finley) are gone. Butler at OLB will likely give him that playing time he deserves, perhaps even a starting spot. Safety spots will likely go to Carr and Reyes, or possibly JUCO signee Chris Hannible. I think Butler is the kind of player that needs to be on the field a lot for the defense to be successful. He has the frame and athleticism to make a very good OLB.

Although I would love to see Wade attend and play for UND, I really doubt he'll take UND over Southern Mississippi. One is FBS and the other is FCS, plus the weather is a bit nicer down south.

National Letters of Intent essentially commit you to a specific program. If no NLI is sent, then there is no legitimate commitment to a school. That is the case for Dashon Wade.

S Dashon Wade never submitted his NLI. He is not committed to the University of North Dakota. On the other hand, CB Dominique Blackmon did submit his NLI and he will be here next fall.

Absolutely. The secondary will have an opportunity to be effective next season.

CB Dominique Blackmon highlights: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1602435/dominique-blackmon S Wade and CB Blackmon are huge additions. Add in CB Carter of the incoming freshmen class and next seasons secondary may have a fighting chance.

Appears we've signed two JUCOs; one from Indiana and another from New Jersey. @kevphx83: Green & White sighting in East Orange, NJ. Welcome to the family. @kevphx83: Green & White sighting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to the family. Edit: Player from New Jersey is S Dashon Wade, per SiouxFBInsider http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1803047/dashon-wade

I agree. Need a tall WR to compliment our smaller guys in McGill and Carr. Also, Mayo is a promising looking prospect. NEED cornerbacks! Let's get both of them aboard! Go Sioux!

I honestly don't agree. When we decided to run the ball, like in 2012 vs. Sacramento State, we could run the ball. It's a matter of will and intention when it comes to running the ball. We'll end up with good offensive linemen - it's a product of recruiting Minnesota and Wisconsin. And our throw the ball all-the-time mindset caused horrible turnover ratios. I think we'll see improvements in turnover ratio, penalties, and defense next season because that can only get better, and as a result, I think we'll do better than last year and win more than 3 games. I've been optimistic before, but I think because last year was so bad, the only direction to go is now up. I say anywhere from 4 to 6 wins next season. Year 2 of the Bubba era is the year to get excited about.

Early season: 6 or 7 Later portion of season: 2:30 or 3:00 No reason to have games early when it's 80 degrees outside and people want to tailgate and/or enjoy the last month or so of nice weather

And I'm sure both will be heavily utilized this upcoming season. Iverson with the 22/21 personnel sets and Ratelle's athleticism in bringing pressure.

One at least has to believe it will be a system that works. Offensively its time to run the football and go with boots and nakeds off of that to utilize the athleticism of Mollberg. None of this "throw the football the whole game" crap. Also, it will be nice to see us pressure a bit more because our secondary has been EXPOSED over the past few seasons.

With no games being played, the players are already supporting UND athletics better and are very optimistic. I'll take that as a good sign. Add in the recruiting class given the shortened recruiting period and the staff's experience and philosophy, and I believe were in better hands. Will it be good enough? We won't know until games are played. My issue with Jones is he can't win out of conference or on the road. If you can't win OOC games or road games, it will be difficult to win the Big Sky, especially if the tournament is on the road. UND's men basketball teams have been inconsistent and I directly attribute that to Jones' coaching.

I fault both Brian Jones and Brian Faison for the mess that UND athletics, with the exception being hockey, has been in for the past decade. Until pressure was actually put on Faison to fire Mussman, he didn't even consider it. Now that Bubba has been hired, the program is finally moving in the right direction. As far as basketball, stop waiting for the 'right' moment and just fire Jones and get someone in here that can get the job done. I can GUARANTEE you Jones will never win a Big Sky championship, so all were doing is allowing for more wasted seasons. Brewster is a good basketball coach and the success can be seen. In the areas of football and men's basketball though, the coaching as been unorganized and sporadic at best. Thankfully Bubba is now helping out the football side of things and cleaning up Mussman's mess. Faison isn't as aggressive as I'd like him to be; nevertheless, he'll eventually be forced into firing Jones.

Mussman lacked leadership, as I always warned. Thankfully Bubba and his staff know how to lead and they are passionate. Plus, you have to love the blue-collar run the ball and blitz philosophy they are implementing.

Brian Jones has yet to impress. I hold him accountable because of the inconsistently of all his teams. You never know what you're gonna get, and that, in my opinion, is bad coaching.