UND-FB-FAN

And this is why Gundy knows ball. Amen. I couldn’t agree more. It’s also why our defense is not where it needs to be; no one to focus in, recruit, and develop the guys in the trenches.

There are hundreds of coaches that I would be pleased with as they would be an upgrade; remains to be seen if that will happen. And you better “prove it” or pull a quote where I said “Danny is a D2 coach” because I never typed that, said that, or believed that. Now you’re just talking pure bullsh*t. I’ve said it before and will say it again: UND lost the only guy on staff that could possibly do better than the current head coach. Now, they’ll have to go outside the staff when Bubba is hopefully fired or forced out to retirement (which may in fact be the reason Danny Freund left to begin with).

Umm … to pull a Saban you have to have first formed a perennial powerhouse and won numerous championships … Bubba is nearly the polar opposite. So no “pulling a Saban” happening anytime soon. UND ain’t going to attract anyone external worthwhile at OC. 2024 is lost. 2025 can be saved though with termination and then subsequent thoughtful external hiring.

Which is going to happen again. History repeats itself. It’s quite cyclical in fact. We willing to try break the cycle?

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once … so yes … all of the above. I bet you think you’ve canceled me in excellent left-wing fashion; good job, you should be so proud.

I don’t see how UND can lure anyone outside program now … unless that person is clueless, in which case 2024 will be a disaster anyways.

It wouldn’t be good. UND isn’t going to be good in 2024. Extending Bubba only ensures UND football isn’t good for more seasons beyond that. But I get your reasoning, and it easily could happen, which is frightening.

Hockey, probably …

Danny cannot be blamed with this at all. He absolutely made the right move given the circumstances. This fiasco is a result of horrific decisions made (or not made) by Bubba Schweigert, Bill Chaves, and the entire UND athletics administration. With that said, their hands are somewhat tied, unfortunately, given the highly controversial agreement with REA, Inc., Engelstads, etc. … an agreement that probably works if you’re a division II institution, but not a division I institution.

Exactly. Stubbornness and greed. I’ve lost nearly all respect for him and his posse.

Being a “hockey university” is a unique, highly criticizable position to begin with, but sure, you could say jealousy is a small part of it.

Kind of missing the point, aren’t you? The one coach on staff that could replace Bubba as head coach and do better than him has left, and he took a lesser position at a rival institution. That is the issue.

There is complacency all around. No one is pretending. That narrative can go away. Overall, big picture-wise, there is complacency, and again, recent events suggest it exists also. We should not be losing coaches on lateral moves to peer instructions, and if it’s because a staff is considered to have no future, then they should be terminated now so that the next season (2024) isn’t doomed from the start. Again, complacency and contentment with mediocrity. Another example was the defensive coordinator spot last year; internal promotion, because nobody externally worthwhile was hired. As a result, we end up with a horrific defense. Next season, offensive coordinator leaves. Highly doubtful we will get an external candidate once again. Bubba’s stubbornness is stagnating and even possibly sinking this program. We can agree to disagree, but your stance (and presumably the admin department’s stance) is the reason this program has been mediocre the past several seasons. But I am hopeful our time will come with eventual changes in light of upcoming new facility upgrades, but it won’t be 2024, maybe 2025 or 2026. And you clearly don’t understand what an institutional or program-wide rebuild is. Sometimes you do in fact need to tear it down, or in other words take a step back, in order to take two steps forward.

More on this; I can’t fathom how one could be content just because this program is doing better than they were at their worst. 2012/2013 were awful seasons, bottom of the barrel, and now you think we’re all good because we’re a “hell of a lot better” than that? That is asinine thinking. This program is better but certainly not anywhere near the best, because in the FCS, that means top 5-10. It’s very top heavy. Bubba has essentially not won a playoff game in 10 years, including some abysmal seasons (3-8 in 2017 and 5-6 in 2021) thrown in there; this program is absolutely just mediocre. It’s all smoke and mirrors to project otherwise. New leadership needed. Bubba has been inflated and overrated from the start, hence even the controversy regarding his hiring in 2013.

I’d be very surprised if an outside candidate - including even a D2 coordinator - would want to sign with this sinking ship, but you never know. Think back to the D coordinator spot last season - we all know how that went. This program is spiraling out of control and will continue to until a new top man gets the job.

Oh I’ve definitely taken a stand (along with many others) and that is this program is heading no where great with Bubba. OC for 2024 will be an internal hire (promotion essentially) as per usual with Bubba. No one from outside the program is jumping onboard this sinking ship. I’ll stick my neck out and say probably Sam King or Joe Pawlak but I don’t know for sure. As for donations, mine are stagnant at this point with Bubba at the helm. 2021 extension after a losing season was the final straw. When (if) Chaves and the UND admin show they actually want to fund football like a top FCS program, and also demonstrate they have a top-tier vision, then I’d be happy to jump back onboard. In the meantime, simply watching this team in-person consistently lose big games - both at home and on the road - will have to do.

That big guy in the chair ain’t gonna be Bubba. Bubba has done some good things, yes, but he should’ve stepped down or been terminated a few years ago.

Do you wanna help bolster the salary pool? I’d be happy to help with it if Bubba wasn’t the head coach. Bottom line, I don’t expect the list to be very exquisite, and that’s disappointing but it’s the current state of UND Football. Who would want to hitch their coaching career to Bubba at this stage?

On the day of his retirement announcement, I read this quote of his. "Mediocre people don’t like high achievers, and high achievers don’t like mediocre people. So if everybody doesn’t buy-in to the same principles and values of the organization at the same high standard, you’re never going to be successful." - Nick Saban This especially resonates with me because it actually highlights UND football’s issues right now.

Yeah. Uninspiring list.

https://careers.und.edu/jobs/offensive-coordinator-football-grand-forks-north-dakota-united-states New OC job listing mentions salary as $80,000-110,000. They need to lean more towards the 110k if they want something worthwhile.

This is why the current state of UND athletics is pathetic right now.

Bingo

He was good here. No one else on current staff unfortunately was or is, though, so losing him to a lateral move to a conference peer is awful.

What a joke.