The next coach of UND football is....

[Shawn-O]

38 days to hire Lennon.

Thomas was staying in a new capacity, giving the situation at least some continuity. Less sense of urgency.

30 days to hire Jones.

Buning/Ralston/Harmeson clusterbleep. Wouldv'e expected nothing different.

This is day 30. Why do people think it should be so much quicker this particular time?

It's a dismissal and a total reboot. Needed a sense of urgency for the current players and future recruits.

[UNDBIZ]

BTW...one of my buddies has an extra ticket to Friday's SU semi game and I'm gonna go. I long to watch in person a top notch FB team and program so I might as well take advantage of the freebie.

[WeAreNorthDakota]

I'm hoping it's Deboer unless there's a surprise finalist. That 65-3 record at Sioux Falls is pretty damn impressive. He could be a classic example of being a better head coach than coordinator. Use the expanded staff budget to bring in a good defensive coordinator and let's get this program back on track.

[UND92,96]

Thomas was staying in a new capacity, giving the situation at least some continuity. Less sense of urgency.

Buning/Ralston/Harmeson clusterbleep. Wouldv'e expected nothing different.

It's a dismissal and a total reboot. Needed a sense of urgency for the current players and future recruits.

Agreed. There's also somewhat of a sense of frustration in that the rules governing the hiring process at UND are apparently not easily available for viewing, short of a trip to Twamley, which leads to questions as to whether this process could have been streamlined in this particular case. How much, if any leeway does Kelley have to suspend or waive certain requirements?

[BobIwabuchiFan]

I think the fact that DeBoer applied on the final day, and apparently was asked, is very telling. I think it goes his way.

I think it tells you a lot about the position of Brian Faison...To have to ask an OC from a MSVC team to apply on the last day doesn't connote great respect and pull in the football world in my honest opinion...If he had a real list to begin with, then I don't see how we are asking Mr. DeBoer to apply at the end of the process.

[Siouxperfan777]

Looking back on the 124 pages of comments I think we can all agree that this process has taken a long time. We are anxious for a new head coach to lead us back to Winnersville USA. But a growing trend for us UND fans is to find any piece of "baggage" we can on any one of these candidates without trying to find the good in these guys! What kind of support system is that?

In whatever decision Brian Faison makes in the next day or so lets support the decision like loyal, tried and true UND fans...and show this coach that we want to see a football team (that may not win a bunch of games the first couple years) that doesn't take plays off, that plays to the end of every whistle, and plays hard for one another..and for us!! What we saw the last half of this year was a football team that had ZERO motivation and weren't even playing for their own pride. The focus, discipline, and heart were GONE.

Please for the sake of all that is holy, lets give this next coach a chance to succeed before we jump all over his past failures. Change is necessary whether its Deboer, Bubba, or a dark horse; but lets not think that WE has a fan base have it all figured out.

I digress....

[Hawkster]

Between the two, I still think Bubba is the better choice. He's from defensive side of the ball and that seems to be how championships are won. Also, Bubba has more experience with D2 and D1 as opposed to NAIA.

And, lastly, if it's DeBoar, every time you see him or hear his name, like Pavlov's dogs, you are going to think about that day he totally humiliated UND football. That day really started the death spiral of this team, and while being reminded of it may not be a major factor, it's still a burr under my hide.

Bubba works for me. Yo.

[jdub27]

Seriously? Please stop with this. One of these 2 could have been hired the day after the deadline. Not like BF used his connections on this one...probably just asked Muss his thoughts as they were swapping tissues!

If they hiring committee wasn't able to start the process until the opening's deadline, then no, it wasn't going to be done the day after the deadline, especially having to go through the HR stuff on top of the interview process. Apparently it took a week.

Great question and one that the media HAS to ask Faison. At least get the stupid posting requirement out of the way so the only thing the new head coach has to deal with when assembling his staff is the stupid HR points system and interview requirements.

The only explanation I can think of is that he wanted the new coach to be able to tailor the job description to the candidates he wanted, i.e. what Hakstol did when he re-hired Brad Berry, But IMO, that is not even close to a good enough reason to waste three weeks (15 business days) before assistant coaches can be hired, particularly since signing day is Feb. 5 and you'd think it would be better to have assistant coaches in place asap for recruiting purposes.

This is really a head-scratcher. Siouxjoy - can you think of any way the new head coach won't have to wait for the 15 business days to be able to hire his assistants (other than hiring internally)?

If a guy is going to assemble his staff and get the majority of his guys that he wants, you have to give him some time to put that together. You would have a hard time convincing guys to apply for a job with only a chance that the guy who is asking him is going to get the head coaching job. Otherwise you run into a lot of people putting their names out there (due to open record laws) only having them pull out while possibly offending their current employer. Could it have been put out a week or so ago? Possibly, but no way is it posted at the same time.

[Shawn-O]

I think it tells you a lot about the position of Brian Faison...To have to ask an OC from a MSVC team to apply on the last day doesn't connote great respect and pull in the football world in my honest opinion...If he had a real list to begin with, then I don't see how we are asking Mr. DeBoer to apply at the end of the process.

That's the most startling thing out of all of this...

[dmksioux]

If they hiring committee wasn't able to start the process until the opening's deadline, then no, it wasn't going to be done the day after the deadline, especially having to go through the HR stuff on top of the interview process. Apparently it took a week.

If a guy is going to assemble his staff and get the majority of his guys that he wants, you have to give him some time to put that together. You would have a hard time convincing guys to apply for a job with only a chance that the guy who is asking him is going to get the head coaching job. Otherwise you run into a lot of people putting their names out there (due to open record laws) only having them pull out while possibly offending their current employer. Could it have been put out a week or so ago? Possibly, but no way is it posted at the same time.

Who cares who applies for the Assistant positions. You get the posting out there to meet the time requirements, make it generic enough and when the head coach is selected, he can have his guy apply. There could be zero applicants before the HC is named, doesn't really matter as it is just a formality to speed along the process.

[Csonked Out]

That's the most startling thing out of all of this...

NDSU is paying there coach a base salary of 260k for them to promote the DC to HC. Why are we so shocked with the quality of applicants when our minimum salary on the position is at 150k. Coaches follow the paycheck and you get what you spend......The bottom line is we need a minimum of 250k IMHO to get the caliber of coach we are discussing on here. At our salary we get Bubba and Deboer....

[UNDvince97-01]

If they hiring committee wasn't able to start the process until the opening's deadline, then no, it wasn't going to be done the day after the deadline, especially having to go through the HR stuff on top of the interview process. Apparently it took a week.

If a guy is going to assemble his staff and get the majority of his guys that he wants, you have to give him some time to put that together. You would have a hard time convincing guys to apply for a job with only a chance that the guy who is asking him is going to get the head coaching job. Otherwise you run into a lot of people putting their names out there (due to open record laws) only having them pull out while possibly offending their current employer. Could it have been put out a week or so ago? Possibly, but no way is it posted at the same time.

I strongly disagree.

Here's the difference. Head coaching candidates already have an idea of how they want to put their staffs together. They are very calculated. It's how they become head coaching candidates. You think a guy like Bubba doesn't have a list of a few at each position already? AD's should operate this way too, just like the Boise State AD said he did with Petersen. He had his list ready before Petersen even left. Head Coaching candidates work the same way. Guarantee it.

By posting those positions at the same time (this would make sense since they were made open at the same time as the head coach job) you eliminate the painful process of getting your guys in place. Maybe there is a position or 2 that take no longer to hire and fill out. If so, so be it. But at least you give the head coach the ability of getting everything in place in a timely manner and hit the ground running. After the hires are done, there is TONS of planning that takes place moving forward. Many, many meetings to decide who's doing what and calling who. Recruiting territories, all of it. Call it offseason "gameplanning".

I see no logical reason for the assistant positions to have not been posted already to get the "clock" ticking.

[fightingsioux4life]

Looks like it's down to the wire.

Tom Miller @tommillergf

Can confirm that UND football job is down to Kalen DeBoer and Bubba Schweigert.

[southpaw]

NDSU is paying there coach a base salary of 260k for them to promote the DC to HC. Why are we so shocked with the quality of applicants when our minimum salary on the position is at 150k. Coaches follow the paycheck and you get what you spend......The bottom line is we need a minimum of 250k IMHO to get the caliber of coach we are discussing on here. At our salary we get Bubba and Deboer....

Because the word minimum means it can't go any higher than that.

[jodcon]

If they hiring committee wasn't able to start the process until the opening's deadline, then no, it wasn't going to be done the day after the deadline, especially having to go through the HR stuff on top of the interview process. Apparently it took a week.

If a guy is going to assemble his staff and get the majority of his guys that he wants, you have to give him some time to put that together. You would have a hard time convincing guys to apply for a job with only a chance that the guy who is asking him is going to get the head coaching job. Otherwise you run into a lot of people putting their names out there (due to open record laws) only having them pull out while possibly offending their current employer. Could it have been put out a week or so ago? Possibly, but no way is it posted at the same time.

I see the deadline for that opening is December 30, so it's fairly quick and not really out of line, in fact I think it's pretty smart. You have to think the new coach won't be there much before that between finishing where he is now and factoring in Christmas, my thinking is they put the notice out there to see who is interested in the assistant positions hoping somebody interesting applies, maybe even somebody who was on the HC list looking to make a move. The new coach probably has a short list of guys in mind for his position coaches, maybe even the Asst. HC, but it sure doesn't hurt to throw a line out and see if you can hook a bigger fish before you have to pull the trigger.

With the timeline of this, it's not going to really affect the hiring more than a few days it appears, those few days will probably be worth it in the long run.

[mksioux]

If a guy is going to assemble his staff and get the majority of his guys that he wants, you have to give him some time to put that together. You would have a hard time convincing guys to apply for a job with only a chance that the guy who is asking him is going to get the head coaching job. Otherwise you run into a lot of people putting their names out there (due to open record laws) only having them pull out while possibly offending their current employer. Could it have been put out a week or so ago? Possibly, but no way is it posted at the same time.

I honestly don't understand your point. Give the new head coach all the time he needs. What I'm saying is - don't hamstring him by not allowing him to hire anyone until three weeks after he starts. You post the job well in advance of the head coach being hired and post it as "open until filled" and give it a generic job description. Who cares who applies before the head coach is named? Once the head coach is named, he tells the people he wants to hire to apply, then pull the posting and get the HR requirements going immediately. If he's not sure on a particular assistant, he can keep that posting open a little longer. By waiting to post until after the head coach is hired, you're wasting three weeks.

[Irish]

Looking back on the 124 pages of comments I think we can all agree that this process has taken a long time. We are anxious for a new head coach to lead us back to Winnersville USA. But a growing trend for us UND fans is to find any piece of "baggage" we can on any one of these candidates without trying to find the good in these guys! What kind of support system is that?

In whatever decision Brian Faison makes in the next day or so lets support the decision like loyal, tried and true UND fans...and show this coach that we want to see a football team (that may not win a bunch of games the first couple years) that doesn't take plays off, that plays to the end of every whistle, and plays hard for one another..and for us!! What we saw the last half of this year was a football team that had ZERO motivation and weren't even playing for their own pride. The focus, discipline, and heart were GONE.

Please for the sake of all that is holy, lets give this next coach a chance to succeed before we jump all over his past failures. Change is necessary whether its Deboer, Bubba, or a dark horse; but lets not think that WE has a fan base have it all figured out.

I digress....

Look - this "shut up and fall in line if you are a true fan" crap is nonsense. People have a right to be frustrated - we have been stuck with a train wreck of a program for several years.

Here's why I am frustrated -

We could see this coming a mile off this year - Why the Athletic Department wasn't ready is beyond me

The process is bizarre at best and not conducive to getting a coach in place

This "national search" and "Faison's vast contacts" bs we were fed - Really? After a "national search" we couldn't come up with a finalist who isn't on Lennon's staff at Carbondale? A program that in the last 4 years is 15-23.

We are so averse to anything new it is pathetic. Add to this the Bison success and color me frustrated.

[fightingsioux4life]

Look - this "shut up and fall in line if you are a true fan" crap is nonsense. People have a right to be frustrated - we have been stuck with a train wreck of a program for several years.

Here's why I am frustrated -

We could see this coming a mile off this year - Why the Athletic Department wasn't ready is beyond me

The process is bizarre at best and not conducive to getting a coach in place

This "national search" and "Faison's vast contacts" bs we were fed - Really? After a "national search" we couldn't come up with a finalist who isn't on Lennon's staff at Carbondale? A program that in the last 4 years is 15-23.

We are so averse to anything new it is pathetic. Add to this the Bison success and color me frustrated.

I share your frustration. But I think it is premature to declare the coaching search a failure. If Faison makes the right choice, in 5 years no one is going to care about how he did it. Let's just wait and see what happens. I am comfortable with Faison being in charge of this process.

[Csonked Out]

Because the word minimum means it can't go any higher than that.

Ya 100k higher.....give me a break....it's not a competitive salary either way and you know it

[UNDvince97-01]

The Head Coach hires the assistants.

Not HR, not Faison.

Thank the lord.

[FargoBison]

So is it true that Caruso was never contacted? Doubt there was ever a more perfect hire for your head coaching position.

[UND92,96]

Looks like it's down to the wire.

I just got done watching the "UND Sports Zone" on the Herald web site, which was posted about an hour ago. They talked as if Cummings was also expected to be a finalist. I wonder if he withdrew? Or maybe they were simply incorrect?

[jdub27]

I honestly don't understand your point. Give the new head coach all the time he needs. What I'm saying is - don't hamstring him by not allowing him to hire anyone until three weeks after he starts. You post the job well in advance of the head coach being hired and post it as "open until filled" and give it a generic job description. Who cares who applies before the head coach is named? Once the head coach is named, he tells the people he wants to hire to apply, then pull the posting and get the HR requirements going immediately. If he's not sure on a particular assistant, he can keep that posting open a little longer. By waiting to post until after the head coach is hired, you're wasting three weeks.

You thought 9 head coach interviews was a lot to sort through? With the generic requirements for the assistant coach position, to get some of the guys you want to hire, can you imagine how many applicants you would have to go through if it was open for over a month due to the point system they have to work through? The position closes on 12/30. Well under 2 weeks from when the new coach will be hired. Do I think it could have been posted a week sooner? Definitely. No clue why they waited to pull down the head coaching one before the assistant coaching one was put up.

I think a fair question to ask is why does the Assistant Coach position only need to be posted for 10 days rather than 15? Different categorization within the University?

[UNDBIZ]

I think Montana football is a program we aspire to, so......

http://missoulian.co...19bb2963f4.html

Exact terms of the contract were not made available Thursday, although Gee said Delaney’s base salary would be near $150,000. That figure could grow if certain performance incentives are met in addition to TV and radio money received on the side.

[southpaw]

Ya 100k higher.....give me a break....it's not a competitive salary either way and you know it

Of course $150k isn't a competitive salary. That's why it's called the minimum. If you're able to bring in someone good who makes $90k right now, why handcuff yourself with a $250k minimum when they may accept something less than that?

What was NDSU's minimum salary? Just because their HC makes $260k doesn't mean their minimum is any higher than UND's.

And didn't Faison say they received additional funding to increase the original minimum? Then why still bitch about $150k?