Expectations for Next Season & New Coach?

[tjamz]

Based on what, your inflated opinion of teams that were on NDSU's schedule? How would Ferris State have done against SDSU?

Honestly... close game if they could contain Zenner. Not saying they could have but not out of the realm of possibility either. I'm not huge on sdsu (I was earlier in the season before we played them). I truly felt that Ferris was infinitely better then Delaware state as well. Maybe crushed was too big of a statement... but I truly believe they would beat UND.

SDSU was (regardless of records) the 5th best team in mvfc this year. UNI, SIU and YSU were better teams. The best team doesn't always win though. SDSU lacked a solid defense and rested everything on the back of Zenner. As we've seen that only takes you so far.

[tjamz]

Fwiw I , I based my opinion on how UND performed and the level of play I saw from Ferris State. wish we had played Montana State, that would have been more interesting from a story line perspective, but we had to play those who wanted to play us. Ferris State stepped up and played respectable football against what many are considering one of the best fcs teams in history.

[UND-FB-FAN]

In the Alerus Center, UND would've beat Ferris State. We played tough against SDSU and Eastern Washington - there's no way Ferris State wins, unless it was late in the year when the team had no confidence.

[UND-FB-FAN]

But 3 or 4 wins means we are basically as bad as this year, and I think we will struggle more in 2015 because of this years recruiting bust. I hope you are wrong, because for 3 or 4 wins we could just as well have kept Muss.

Why keep Muss? He had no potential to lead this team to a conference championship due to his lack of leadership and general incompetence. Getting 4 wins next year would be an improvement considering the players lost and next years more difficult schedule.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Everyone is talking as if there is no hope moving forward because of this year's possible bust of a recruiting class. What I have to say those people is "shut up and wait and see". You can b*itch all you want after we're blown out this season, which I don't see happening, but not now.

First thing, we don't know this year's class yet! The class will include transfers and JUCOs.

Secondly, we don't know how good the young players will be moving forward! That includes sophomores and especially the redshirt freshmen. Players such as Patrick Sharp, Aeron Carr, Kyle Norberg, and Cole Reyes could make an immediate impact based on what I've heard. Also, other young performers such as Mollberg/Bartels, Marcus Cheatom, Casey Young, Will Ratelle, Javen Butler, etc. could be much improved this season under Bubba's tutelage.

Let's wait and see how this team (which we are unsure of in terms of final composition) reacts to Bubba's staff's coaching. As of now, we have no idea.

[geaux_sioux]

I'm pretty pumped to see how the coaches handle getting this class together and am looking forward to a refreshing change of philosophy.

[Hawkster]

Everyone is talking as if there is no hope moving forward because of this year's possible bust of a recruiting class. What I have to say those people is "shut up and wait and see". You can b*itch all you want after we're blown out this season, which I don't see happening, but not now.

First thing, we don't know this year's class yet! The class will include transfers and JUCOs.

Secondly, we don't know how good the young players will be moving forward! That includes sophomores and especially the redshirt freshmen. Players such as Patrick Sharp, Aeron Carr, Kyle Norberg, and Cole Reyes could make an immediate impact based on what I've heard. Also, other young performers such as Mollberg/Bartels, Marcus Cheatom, Casey Young, Will Ratelle, Javen Butler, etc. could be much improved this season under Bubba's tutelage.

Let's wait and see how this team (which we are unsure of in terms of final composition) reacts to Bubba's staff's coaching. As of now, we have no idea.

Heck, I was talking 6 wins and people are telling me him expecting way too much. Beats me what to think around here. I've been pretty optimistic about everything except for what I've seen in commits and I'm hoping that changes.

[dlsiouxfan]

How much does DI hockey help or hurt DI football at UND? Obviously, dollars go to hockey. How much harder is it for UND to compete in football then our neighbors to the South?

To be perfectly frank Division I hockey is a resource drain! NDSU's salary pool for their FB coaches is more than double that of UND's. That's a huge difference. Just think of the coaches who would have applied for the head job if we were offering $300K instead of $150K.

That being said I'm going to support the new coaching staff but unless they get the support they need from administration at UND I"m going to be less than optimistic. Faison and Kelly are making the exact same mistakes their predecessors Kupchella and Thomas made by ceding their authority to the parasites over at REA.

[Irish]

To be perfectly frank Division I hockey is a resource drain! NDSU's salary pool for their FB coaches is more than double that of UND's. That's a huge difference. Just think of the coaches who would have applied for the head job if we were offering $300K instead of $150K.

That being said I'm going to support the new coaching staff but unless they get the support they need from administration at UND I"m going to be less than optimistic. Faison and Kelly are making the exact same mistakes their predecessors Kupchella and Thomas made by ceding their authority to the parasites over at REA.

It's not hockey being a resource drain - It's the attitude that we have a program that wins national championships (or at least used to) and that football can coast a bit - at least compared to the demands on NDSU football - how long would have Muss lasted at NDSU - they insist on winners and are willing to look outside the box. We insist that everyone is in the fold and that criticism is anti-Sioux - we don't demand excellence and are willing to tolerate mediocrity longer than the Bison are.

[iramurphy]

Successful hockey is good for fb and the other sports and successful fb is good for hockey. Hockey fans are different in that we have Sioux hockey fans who are also Bison fans. Hockey creates a different culture in many ways and this website tends to have more hockey fans. Fans at any University tend to jump on the bandwagon of winning teams. People want to associate with success thus the culture of the rabid fans who tend to be a bit goofy. Kupchella didn't appreciate the value of intercollegiate athletics to the University. Successful programs in fb, bb, and hockey lead to positive marketing and publicity for the University. The REA staff in the beginning tended to focus on hockey and with repeated participation in FF we had a lot of folks who jumped on the bandwagon and made trips to Englestad a social event. AC fb has a lot of that now. I returned from San Diego Sunday and there were a lot of folks returning from the ac game on the plane. There were quite a few who were there for the social scene and to somehow associate with a winning program. That success helps them in soccer, bb, wrestling etc. hs kids will chose a lesser academic opportunity to be part of the game day and playoff scene. That leads to increased enrollment and donations. Long and short term benefits.

UND demands excellence but priorities are a bit different. Kelly understands value of athletics to the University. Until this past season FB was making slow but steady progress. We will find out how much the coaching was a factor but contrary to some of our blog experts I don't think this team is without talent. Wish Edwards, Jackson, Golladay and Brown would have stayed. Sparks was great kid. Not sure why he didn't play more. Hurts to lose Adams and Kuska. Up to staff to replace kids we lost through transfers, injuries and graduation. Expectation should be we are better next fall and we are competing for playoff spot in 2 years, conference title in 3 yrs. local hs coaches feel Bubba, Rudolph, and Schmidt are great core of coaches and good recruiters. Misconception that criticism is not accepted is unwarranted. Mussman was let go with time on contract cuz this season was unacceptable and program took step back. Time will tell but if program not moving in positive direction within 2 yrs there will be pressure to make change. New facility, Big Sky, and excellent academics are all recruiting positives. Those who dwell on our neighbors to south have valid concerns. They will be good again and if there new staff falters it won't be right away. Not working today, waiting for my wife to get rotator cuff repair, so I'm full of great wisdom. (Or more likely just full of crap but there you go)

[Siouxperman8]

I am disppointed to see that Sparks is leaving. He ran well when he got a few carries at the end of the year.

[Hayduke]

Reading the peeing matches here over the Fargo School vs. UND in recruiting, it kind of made me think of how you might recruit a potential player over the University of Agriculture and Applied Science.

Without the IPF in place, I don't think you can get them with superior facilities. (That'll change.)

Obviously, the tradition at the FCS level isn't there.

Coaching? Well, hopefully Bubba is a salesman and can impress a young man with his credentials.

Perhaps those with family ties to UND over NDSU may choose Grand Forks.

The school, to me is the factor. No, I'm not going to say that UND is vastly superior to the school to the south. However, it does show up on lists as mildly superior. But, the programs offered could be the wild card for some players. We offer programs that FU does not, and vice versa. The petroleum engineering degree program could be a factor, for example.

Anyway, just throwing this out there.

[jdub27]

To be perfectly frank Division I hockey is a resource drain! NDSU's salary pool for their FB coaches is more than double that of UND's. That's a huge difference. Just think of the coaches who would have applied for the head job if we were offering $300K instead of $150K.

That being said I'm going to support the new coaching staff but unless they get the support they need from administration at UND I"m going to be less than optimistic. Faison and Kelly are making the exact same mistakes their predecessors Kupchella and Thomas made by ceding their authority to the parasites over at REA.

Kelley OK'd Faison's buyout of Mussman's contract, that doesn't happen if they don't believe in the need for a successful program. The $150K was the minimum salary that was posted, Bubba ended up taking that. Their was additional money available if it would have been needed which will now instead go back into the program, including in the assistant's salary pool.

As for coach's salary, Bohl's base salary this year was $206K. He had a lot of incentives that came after that, but only after he earned them. NDSU didn't have much of a choice other than offer Klieman a large salary to keep him on board. He ended up getting $261K but without some of the larger incentives Bohl had (3% of ticket revenue being the biggest one). Had they not hired Klieman, their staff would have been absoutely gutted, likely lost quite a few of their verbal commits, and they would have had the pleasure of enjoying the state hiring procedures. With the timing of when everything happened, Taylor made an offer Klieman couldn't refuse.

I'd be curious how the assistant's salary pool stacks up. Guessing NDSU's is higher, but doubtful it is as much as you'd think. Bohl's contract required NDSU's to be in the top 10% of FCS but I haven't seen anything that shows Klieman's includes that. It has been indicated that UND's is in the top 3-5 of the Big Sky now.

[fgoSioux]

The cupboard is going to be damn near empty for UND next year. People need to realize it. The difference between the two rosters is enormous.

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

[homer]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

Your right, we should probably fold the program. You sure seem to stick up for FU a lot in your posts. Wierd!!

[UND-1]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

Can you cut the "we" sh*t? Every post you have made is negative to UND and positive to certain other schools. Gets old. Lamest thing one can do on a message board but FU fans constantly do it.

[jdub27]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

Good thing recruiting is such an exact science and the games are played on paper.

I'm confused by your comment about the two latest offers. Are you saying they are D-II talent or we aren't going to get them? Can anyone interpret the rambling for me?

[UND-FB-FAN]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

I still say let's wait and see, because you definitely don't know what you're talking about. Yes NDSU's recruiting class is shaping up very nicely, but it should be considering they just won 3 national championships in a row. UND has offered several players recently that are on NDSU's radar, so your DII talent statement is incorrect. Also, if a twin cities kid has a connection to the university through his family or familiarity with UND hockey, there's a chance he'd pick UND over NDSU. I agree that NDSU is much more appealing than UND to a neutral, unbiased recruit, but in North Dakota and Minnesota there are several recruits who are partial to either UND or NDSU. Add in UND's academics and there are several reasons UND's class could be far better than pessimistic fools think. Oh, and how about JUCO players or FBS dropdowns? Are they all DII talent too? C'mon man, your negative attitude is not realistic, but rather just pessimistic and appalling.

[SIOUX29]

As far as all this recruiting chatter, look back to the late 80's early 90's as far as that goes. AC won 2 NC's I believe '89 & '91. Did that stop UND from getting quality players to turn the program around into a winning program NO, so why can't it happen now? A lot a times kids like to nock the top team off and be known as the group that turned it around at a school.

[NDSIOUXFAN1]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

Moo U likes to think that they will just keep on winning championships and kids will continue to keep rolling in. The fact is that Bohl will likely pull a few from this current class and a few will likely commit to a different school because of the coaching change. UND will likely pull 1-2 recruits because of the changes at the Ag school, but Moo U people tend to forget that most recruits do NOT choose a school based solely on the football program. I know it is hard to understand, but when those Ag kids aren't playing football or getting arrested, they need to attend classes. Personally, I don't really care what the Ag school does, I know that we have a solid coaching staff in place that will go after the right kids to fit the program and help us compete at a very high level.

[mksioux]

Secondly, we don't know how good the young players will be moving forward! That includes sophomores and especially the redshirt freshmen. Players such as Patrick Sharp, Aeron Carr, Kyle Norberg, and Cole Reyes could make an immediate impact based on what I've heard. Also, other young performers such as Mollberg/Bartels, Marcus Cheatom, Casey Young, Will Ratelle, Javen Butler, etc. could be much improved this season under Bubba's tutelage.

Are all these guys are going to be on the roster come fall? I don't think we know that yet.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Are all these guys are going to be on the roster come fall? I don't think we know that yet.

Let's start with spring ball, and yes, I believe the sophomores and freshmen I mentioned will be on the roster come spring ball. Now, one or two could be gone, but the majority of the young nucleus of players will be back.

[FargoBison]

I'd be curious how the assistant's salary pool stacks up. Guessing NDSU's is higher, but doubtful it is as much as you'd think. Bohl's contract required NDSU's to be in the top 10% of FCS but I haven't seen anything that shows Klieman's includes that. It has been indicated that UND's is in the top 3-5 of the Big Sky now.

I don't know what is in Coach K's contract but the assistant pool salary will remain the same from last year.

[BobIwabuchiFan]

First, whoever keeps feeling the need to blame Sioux Hockey for Sioux Football's ride to oblivion needs to get their head examined. If we didn't have the hockey program we have, then we would still be in DII football. Period. Take it to the bank - the financial reporting backs this up. So, instead of trying to blame poor personnel decisions by the AD on the hockey program, why not celebrate the fact that we have a championship caliper sports program like Hockey on campus and look for ways for Football to exploit this advantage. Second, per IRAMURPHY, we need to model our football approach off of the marketing and program experiences of the Hockey program and our sister college to the South. Granted, it may feel like eating crow, but the humbling experience is a character builder not unlike what Bubba is preaching now about our need to re-establish a blue-collar, lunch pail attitude in our football program and quit making excuses for poor outcomes and take responsibility and move it forward.

[iramurphy]

Thank god there is one voice of sanity on this board. Again I'll ask this question. If you are a recruit why in the hell would you choose UND over SU?? Playing time?? People are saying wait til this class is signed. Are you f#$#$%$ kidding me? The type of kids we are going to get at this point are Div II talent...Like the last two kids we just offered. There isn't a chance in hell we get those type of players this year...Zero chance...Have you looked at the kids that have Verballed to Su? We would take half that class and be happy as hell!! They still have another 8-10 kids to add....Again on those kids if we are head to head does anyone think a kid would choose us??/

Reality check people.....we are in a WORLD of hurt...and its not changing anytime soon...no matter who the coach is...

Because kids have parents and the good ones want to know what the school can offer academically. UND has a big advantage. Big Sky is a more attractive schedule for travel. Montana, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, California, Colorado,, Utah, Oregon and Idaho. UND is upgrading their facilities and has a great campus and facilities. Graduates do well. You sell the kid on his opportunity to be part of something special at UND rather than choosing a school based on their past. That is what good recruiters can do. Not sure I would want to go to war with folks who give up so easily.