fightingsioux4life

I am guessing Sac State (this weekend) and Northern Colorado.

I guess that comment should be aimed at Faison and Kelley and not you. This is where the rubber meets the road. Mussman hasn't earned a $250K+ salary, but if we want to build this program the right way, that is the salary range that a new coach will command (whether it's Tibesar or someone else). I am very anxious to find out what they decide after the season.

Realists rarely accomplish anything great. Visionaries that look at the long-term and are willing to put serious resources into a venture usually do.

I loved Muss as offensive coordinator. He always seemed to have a knack for calling the right plays at the right times. But being head coach is a much different job and not all coordinators succeed as head coaches (the NFL is full of examples of this). Muss would be better off going to Carbondale and taking over Lennon's offense there; they certainly have struggled to score points since Lennon took over.

Very funny! We'll just have to agree to disagree on that stuff. As for Fighting Sioux athletics, we are in lock-step!

All I know is that this program has regressed and deteriorated to its lowest point since 1986. Mussman is at the top of the food chain in the Memorial Stadium football offices and has been since 2008. That means the buck stops with him. That's how it works in the military and it's how it works in collegiate athletics. And unless this team somehow runs the table, I don't see him surviving.

Don't be too hard on him. When you are defending Chris Mussman in a thread entitled "Fire Muss", sometimes snide comments are all you have in the ammo clip.

Yeah, that too. This team just has a different feel to it than previous Hakstol teams. And I mean that in a good way.

The forwards are looking more like the ones we had in the 1990's: smaller, faster, more skilled. I think Hakstol is trying to build a team that can keep up with those speedy teams in Hockey East. Being tough, rugged and physical worked during the regular season, but not once the NCAA tournament rolled around. Whether this works out or not is anybody's guess.

Yeah, there's a lot of hockey between us and March. I think there will be some bumps along the way and I have learned not to overreact to every bad-looking loss in October and November. I am looking forward to watching these freshmen grow and mature.

Or Sacred Heart with Holy Cross.

You hit the nail right on the head. And I think this year's team is evidence that Hakstol is doing just that.

Yeah, you are correct, I have been (along with a few other brave souls on here). And I don't apologize for it, either. It is fair to ask why we haven't hung a green NCAA banner during Hakstol's tenure with the talent that has come through Grand Forks. Granted, we have had some early departures, but so does every other program. I do think he is making some positive changes to the team in terms of recruiting and style of play and I think this year's team has some solid potential. And I am not in the "Fire Hak" crowd. But it is more than fair to question the lack of NCAA titles under Hak's leadership. And I think he would tell you the same thing if you asked him.

I was in my own little world on Friday night; didn't pay much attention to anybody. Next time, speak up and I should hear you.

Heck, I am 39 and I am easily provoked!

You obviously didn't read his original post! He said, and I quote: These are the "valid points" I am supposed to congratulate him on? This poster basically is accepting the fact that UND will continue being penny-wise and pound-foolish with the FB program. This is the very definition of apathy and acceptance of mediocrity. If our fans let it be known that they don't mind having the FB program being run on a shoestring budget (the women's hockey coach makes more than our FB coach!), then why should the athletic department care if we improve or not? I honestly hope that yesterday was a sign of a revival of sorts for this team, as I do not enjoy going to the Alerus Center to watch us lose over and over again. And it would be much easier to have Mussman work out long-term instead of having to blow it all up and start over. But if all Mussman can do is put together teams that can finish in the middle of the pack in the Big Sky and barely have winning seasons, then I think a change is in order. And it had better not be promoting from within to save a few bucks. I stand by the comments I made. And if you feel "dumber" for reading them, then that is your problem.

So we are just supposed to accept mediocrity and 5-6 seasons and (if we are all good little boys and girls) a few winning seasons thrown in there (6-5 or at best 7-4) because it isn't "feasible" to pay what it takes to bring in leadership that will lead us to greatness and that's just the way it is and la de da de da!!! Well my friend, you and I have very different visions of what being a Division I FCS institution can and should be. And fans like you are part of the problem here. Mediocrity breeds apathy with breeds more mediocrity and so on. The more you and others like you make excuses and rationalize every bad decision, the worse things get. In another discussion, someone said that nobody is using "transition" as an excuse for our problems. Well, you just proved that person wrong. This is Mussman's team, Mussman's staff, Mussman's show. And as head coach of the program, everything that happens is a reflection of him and his body of work. Yesterday's better-than-expected performance notwithstanding, that body of work doesn't look too impressive from what I am sitting. And if you think that "not being in the room" means we don't know anything about anything, then I will have to disagree with you about that as well. I would rather not have to start over from scratch, but after this season is over, Faison will have his first really tough decision to make as Athletic Director. That decision will have both short-term and long-term consequences for the FB program. And it will impact recruiting one way or the other. Every fan of this program should be concerned about recruiting right now. And if you aren't, you are living in fantasy land.

Before Blasi, Miami was a wanna-be, never-was program. So I think he still has some wiggle-room with the fan base.

And UND is in desperate need of donations to pay for banners for its championship teams?

The more I learn about Notre Dame, the more I HATE them.

If that's all it's going to be based on, then why not just hang banners for hockey and nothing else? The way UND whines and complains about the cost of things all the time, they probably would welcome the cost savings.

That will be a nice change from last season, where if Kristo and Knight didn't do it, it just didn't happen.

That might be a solution too. You simply cannot have a 12,000 seat hockey area like REA, not have adequate parking and expect people to just accept it and not have problems with it. Imagine the Xcel Energy Center without it's own parking ramp?!?! There would be more problems than if Randy Moss was driving around St. Paul!

That is what it looked like this weekend. I like the potential this group has, but there will be some bumps in the road along the way. Everyone needs to remain calm and focus on the long-term and not the short-term.

It's a good program and a perennial NCAA title contender. What's not to like?