2023 Football Season

[Kab]

Just stay away from Minot state 

[UND Football Fan]

Mama,

Mary was a putrid running double slot veer, Mary went to a passing attack. 1st two years were gross for him but he did not have the players for his system. His last two they were competitive went from a 70 something loss to Mankato to a last play defeat this year. 
 

He won in High School, College and did wonders at Bemidji prior to Mary. 
 

He had a lot less to work with then most D2 schools. I could be wrong but he turned down a Montana State O-Coordinator to be a head coach. (which surprised me)
 

I am not saying he is the best coach of all time. I’m saying as an assistant he would a good/tolerable get. Some coaches are better assistants coaches then head coach.

[UND08]

44 minutes ago, UND Football Fan said:

Mama,

Mary was a putrid running double slot veer, Mary went to a passing attack. 1st two years were gross for him but he did not have the players for his system. His last two they were competitive went from a 70 something loss to Mankato to a last play defeat this year. 
 

He won in High School, College and did wonders at Bemidji prior to Mary. 
 

He had a lot less to work with then most D2 schools. I could be wrong but he turned down a Montana State O-Coordinator to be a head coach. (which surprised me)
 

I am not saying he is the best coach of all time. I’m saying as an assistant he would a good/tolerable get. Some coaches are better assistants coaches then head coach.

Mary and Minot programs have been pretty bad for the most part since they moved up (Minot more so than Mary)...but Bagnell can coach offense.  He'll do well in an offensive assistant role wherever he's going.

[Mama Sue]

I agree he did not have much to work with and he would do well but he hardly walks on water. 
I just hope we get coaching staff with the fire snd determination.

[jdub27]

Doesn't seem like he'd move to take an FCS position coach (especially if he actually turned down Montana St) but maybe it's a possibility if he saw a chance to slide into an OC role in a few years... 

[Sioux>Bison]

My assumption is that Bubba steps down to D Coordinator, gives Danny the helm, brings in Bagwell to be the new O coordinator. Bubba’s legacy becomes instantly infamous!

[shep]

1 minute ago, Sioux>Bison said:

My assumption is that Bubba steps down to D Coordinator, gives Danny the helm, brings in Bagwell to be the new O coordinator. Bubba’s legacy becomes instantly infamous!

Wow!

How hard would it be for Danny to inform Bubba he wants to go 4-3

[Devils]

5 hours ago, Mama Sue said:

You call a 2 - 9 record competitive? Of course they were 0 - 9

To be fair, 6 of those losses were by a combined 23 points and I think their starting QB was injured and didn't play the last 3 or 4 games.  They were very competitive in 2021 as well.  Lost to Mankato and Duluth by 3 points in each of those years.  No idea where he's going but he took Mary a long way from where it was when they were losing every game by 30-50 before he got there.

[Devils]

Sounds like Bagnell is going to USD.

[UND1983]

1 hour ago, Devils said:

Sounds like Bagnell is going to USD.

Are the Yotes back? simple question

[Nodak61]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:33 PM, UND-FB-FAN said:

Man you’re dense (and clueless). I haven’t pivoted away from anything. Nice try on your own “made up argument”. 

Rudolph was fired in November.

Holinka stepped away in February (same month another coach stepped away for a regional rival). Can’t you see the writing on the wall? Subpar coaching salary, subpar leadership. UND football needs better. Promoting from within is not the universal solution, and going from Rudolph to Freund in 2018 does not suggest otherwise. It just shows Rudolph was that awful of a hire back in 2014, and UND football still has issues in 2023. Poor salary and poor connections = continual inbreeding and internal promotions. 

I've listened to the whole "inbreeding" comments from you and others over a long time and I'll add my two cents, take it for what it's worth.  

When you take a job, do you hope for a promotion to a better position within that job?  If you start as a cashier, do you not hope and work hard enough to earn a promotion?  Why should coaching be any different?  If you get hired as a graduate assistant, wouldn't you hope to work hard enough to be hired as a full time coach?  Goodness sake, in your world no one moves up the ladder of success, especially if you're from within the program.

Think you need to change your tag line - you sir are not a "fan".   I get that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but yours doesn't change.   If not happy, move on.  

Again, my two cents and it may not be worth it..... or help the cause...

[JohnboyND7]

19 hours ago, Sioux>Bison said:

My assumption is that Bubba steps down to D Coordinator, gives Danny the helm, brings in Bagwell to be the new O coordinator. Bubba’s legacy becomes instantly infamous!

The head coach is going to take a demotion?

[The Sicatoka]

18 minutes ago, JohnboyND7 said:

The head coach is going to take a demotion?

[UND08]

1 hour ago, Nodak61 said:

I've listened to the whole "inbreeding" comments from you and others over a long time and I'll add my two cents, take it for what it's worth.  

When you take a job, do you hope for a promotion to a better position within that job?  If you start as a cashier, do you not hope and work hard enough to earn a promotion?  Why should coaching be any different?  If you get hired as a graduate assistant, wouldn't you hope to work hard enough to be hired as a full time coach?  Goodness sake, in your world no one moves up the ladder of success, especially if you're from within the program.

Think you need to change your tag line - you sir are not a "fan".   I get that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but yours doesn't change.   If not happy, move on.  

Again, my two cents and it may not be worth it..... or help the cause...

Here's the thing that I see on "inbreeding" for what it's worth (and it's not much).

There's a lot that goes into coaching that doesn't play out on the scoreboard.  Bubba seems to appreciate that and factor that into staffing decisions when looking to hire from within vs an external hire.  Many fans (assuming folks like UND-FB-FAN and others) see a team not performing at a level that keeps up with their biggest rivals, and wonders if internal/inbreeding (ie hiring someone with UND connections) is the best idea.  I personally can appreciate both points of view.  I will say my guess is the internal type hires happen a lot at UND because our salary pool for assistant coaches lags our regional rivals.  THAT IS A PROBLEM!  It should be a significant priority of the program for the AD.  If Bubba is given chicken crap to work with, he's gotta make chicken salad out of it...and I think to an extent he's done a good job of it.  That being said...I do wish we could make more external types of hires, as diversity of thought and new ideas would be welcome.  Danny did a great job of bringing that as an internal hire when he got the OC job.  I don't assume that's going to happen with every hire we make.

All that said...position coaches move on often.  It's good for them to do so, so that they can coach on multiple staffs and build up a diverse body of knowledge.  I think one thing that annoys me is that our RB coach leaves (as is likely to be expected giving what we pay that position) and everyone's first thought is "GREG HARDIN."  There are people within our fanbase that don't love much about that era of UND football, but more importantly to me is Greg qualified to coach a position that he's never played with his body of work?  EWU didn't exactly light the world on fire in his first year there.  I'd hope that we conduct a national search and hire the best qualified candidate, whether it's an alum or not.  We've had 3-4 RB coaches in a row that weren't UND alums...and they all did a pretty good job for us.  I trust Bubba and his senior staff will make a good decision on this one.

Now on the DC side...the timing sucks here.  We may have to hire internally...and I'm not sure we have any great candidates on staff, especially given our defensive performance last year.  If judging by performance on the field alone, none of our defensive staff deserve a promotion in my eyes.  That being said, I'm sure Bubba looks at more than that...and furthermore somebody is going to get that job regardless of if they are deserving or not.  That's a big break for somebody on the staff...and I sure hope they take advantage of it!  Bubba probably does too...because a step backwards on the field this year will be met with plenty of scrutiny...probably a lot more than some of the fine posters on this forum would like to see.  That's D1 athletics...the product on the field at most places directly translates into your job security.

[UND1983]

Hardin was let go at EWU I think

[SWSiouxMN]

10 hours ago, UND1983 said:

Are the Yotes back? simple question

With that schedule they have next year, they better be back. 

[sioux24/7]

2 hours ago, UND1983 said:

Hardin was let go at EWU I think

Yeah looks that way. Says it’s mutual but odd after only one year. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

21 hours ago, Nodak61 said:

I've listened to the whole "inbreeding" comments from you and others over a long time and I'll add my two cents, take it for what it's worth.  

When you take a job, do you hope for a promotion to a better position within that job?  If you start as a cashier, do you not hope and work hard enough to earn a promotion?  Why should coaching be any different?  If you get hired as a graduate assistant, wouldn't you hope to work hard enough to be hired as a full time coach?  Goodness sake, in your world no one moves up the ladder of success, especially if you're from within the program.

Think you need to change your tag line - you sir are not a "fan".   I get that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but yours doesn't change.   If not happy, move on.  

Again, my two cents and it may not be worth it..... or help the cause...

I’m a fan, but I’m not blind, and I’m also a realist. Attacks on my ability to follow the team, know the coaches and former alumni, and buy tickets and donate to the university are laughable and just provide me more entertainment. I’ll continue to be present - thanks for your consideration.

Anyways, the concept you’ve outlined of promotion within is the goal of most organizations, but inclusion from the outside is also important. UND football has issues beyond just coaching, and perpetually promoting from within doesn’t address those issues, in my opinion. That is, UND football isn’t at a level where they can guarantee ascension with only internal promotions. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

13 hours ago, UND08 said:

I will say my guess is the internal type hires happen a lot at UND because our salary pool for assistant coaches lags our regional rivals.  THAT IS A PROBLEM! 

This is correct, as I also have recently posted on this board. It is also clearly why coaches leave abruptly.

[The Sicatoka]

1 hour ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

This is correct, as I also have recently posted on this board. It is also clearly why coaches leave abruptly.

How does a coach leave not abruptly? 

[The Sicatoka]

56 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

How does a coach leave not abruptly? 

I figured it out! 

Wazzamatta U announces co-assistant adjunct associate film room specialist Heeza Schmuck will retire after his farewell tour this season. He'll be moving on to an unknown job in eight months. The Wassamatta staff and coaches wish him well. 

[Hardcore Hawk]

This will probably push back the first Junior Day visit a week. Initial plan was to have one next Friday. Still a chance that an additional Junior Day gets scheduled later this spring. Still four left on the schedule starting in March. 

[UND08]

3 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

I’m a fan, but I’m not blind, and I’m also a realist. Attacks on my ability to follow the team, know the coaches and former alumni, and buy tickets and donate to the university are laughable and just provide me more entertainment. I’ll continue to be presents - thanks for your consideration.

Anyways, the concept you’ve outlined of promotion within is the goal of most organizations, but inclusion from the outside is also important. UND football has issues beyond just coaching, and perpetually promoting from within doesn’t address those issues, in my opinion. That is, UND football isn’t at a level where they can guarantee ascension with only internal promotions. 

In a roundabout way my post was agreeing with your line of thinking while at the same time trying to soften the blow for the "ever loyal" folks on here...I was trying to play middleman!  Hahaha...

I see both sides of the coin...but I tend to come down closer to your camp than all your haters.  I want this program to have the best resources possible to compete.  We currently lag behind some of our peers (not behind many of them...but the ones we lag are very "visible").  I'm not blaming any stakeholders for where we sit...but it is what it is, and we need to close that gap.  That's an organizational issue more than it is a coaching staff issue.  We need to do better.

And I said it once and I'll say it again...this is D1...not the NAIA.  Wins and losses matter.  NDSU wouldn't put up with a program that struggles to ascend.  Hell I never thought our hockey fans would either...lofty expectations aren't a bad thing in my book!  

"This is division one football! It's the (MVFC)!  It ain't intramurals!... Go play intramurals brother!" ~ Dan Hawkins (mostly)

All that said...these are important hires that I hope we get right...especially given the time crunch!  Hopefully it doesn't impact our recruiting too badly...but junior days have to be right around the corner!

[homer]

25 minutes ago, UND08 said:

In a roundabout way my post was agreeing with your line of thinking while at the same time trying to soften the blow for the "ever loyal" folks on here...I was trying to play middleman!  Hahaha...

I see both sides of the coin...but I tend to come down closer to your camp than all your haters.  I want this program to have the best resources possible to compete.  We currently lag behind some of our peers (not behind many of them...but the ones we do are very "visible").  I'm not blaming any stakeholders for where we sit...but it is what it is, and we need to close that gap.  That's an organizational issue more than it is a coaching staff issue.  We need to do better.

And I said it once and I'll say it again...this is D1...not the NAIA.  Wins and losses matter.  NDSU wouldn't put up with a program that struggles to ascend.  Hell I never thought our hockey fans would either...lofty expectations aren't a bad thing in my book!  

"This is division one football! It's the (MVFC)!  It ain't intramurals!... Go play intramurals brother!" ~ Dan Hawkins (mostly)

All that said...these are important hires that I hope we get right...especially given the time crunch!  Hopefully it doesn't impact our recruiting too badly...but junior days have to be right around the corner!

I’m guessing the “ever loyal” fans share the expectations.  Just likely choose not to post about every post.  It’s a lazy argument, things go bad…..”I have been saying it for ever”……things are good…..”I’ve always been a fan”

For as bad as our coaches are, school support is, D2 players are, facilities are, fanbase sucks…..the program has moved into the “best conference” at our level and made the playoffs two of the three years.  Certainly not the expectation but you can’t win the Natty if you don’t get into the field.  

[UND08]

28 minutes ago, homer said:

I’m guessing the “ever loyal” fans share the expectations.  Just likely choose not to post about every post.  It’s a lazy argument, things go bad…..”I have been saying it for ever”……things are good…..”I’ve always been a fan”

For as bad as our coaches are, school support is, D2 players are, facilities are, fanbase sucks…..the program has moved into the “best conference” at our level and made the playoffs two of the three years.  Certainly not the expectation but you can’t win the Natty if you don’t get into the field.  

Counterpoint - many fans get frustrated watching schools just down I-29 from us dominate the landscape while we plod along hoping for 7-4 and a first round exit somewhere 800+ miles away.  Being in the field does not equal being a contender (I personally wish we had a 16 team field seeded 1-16 but that's another topic for another time).

And you are right...we've made some modest/decent strides the last couple of years.  That being said the gap between the SU's and us hasn't narrowed much.  UND-FB-FAN might be annoying to a lot of you on here...but to some of us the "aw shucks we'll get em next year" mindset is just as annoying.  I will say thankfully in my conversations I've had with people in the know the attitude in the locker room/coaches offices is much less "aw shucks" than I would have expected it to be this fall.  That's a good thing.  Hopefully we can come up with a plan to take the next step and continue to build, and not go backward like we did in 2017.