2024 UND Football

[The Sicatoka]

11 minutes ago, SkoHawks said:

Anyone attend the town hall? Skimmed the article on the herald about it, and seemed like it was probably lot of yada yada. 

https://forum.siouxsports.com/topic/39922-north-dakota-athletics-town-hall-may-7-2024/#comments

 

[gundy1124]

17 hours ago, NDRA said:

Listened to Hagen's interview with Izzo today.  Sounds like he was offered by Montana and Coastal Carolina in addition to Jacks.  Said Pawlak leaving bothered him.  Also noted that he liked the small town and Agriculture feel to the SDSU campus.

Imagine UND pulling a starting O-lineman from the Jacks or Montana.........it's not even on my list of possibilities.

Imagine being on a team for a few years, being a starter, then abandoning that team for another in conference team........wasn't on my list of possibilities, but is now I guess.

Sad thing is UND players probably had a going away party for him and they hugged and cried it out, 25 years ago probably throwing fists.

[UND08]

2 hours ago, gundy1124 said:

Imagine UND pulling a starting O-lineman from the Jacks or Montana.........it's not even on my list of possibilities.

Imagine being on a team for a few years, being a starter, then abandoning that team for another in conference team........wasn't on my list of possibilities, but is now I guess.

Sad thing is UND players probably had a going away party for him and they hugged and cried it out, 25 years ago probably throwing fists.

I'll (gulp) give Bubba credit...historically his MO of "finding diamonds in the rough and developing them" worked out pretty well.  We made a fair amount of hay with kids who's highest (and often only) D1 offer was UND.  With where the school was at in the local pecking order...it was a good idea.

But here's the problem.  A lot of those kids came to Grand Forks solely because it was their best offer...their chance to play "D1 ball"...Many of them would have rather played at a higher level...but the offers never came.  Now that transfer rules have been loosened, it's easy enough for one of those kids that wanted an offer from say NIU to come to UND, ball out for a year or two, and then portal to the school he originally wanted to go to now that he has proven himself capable.  It's totally sucky and unfair for a program like UND...but it is what it is, and we have to adapt.  Facilities, NIL, Alston...all help...winning and program stability also help...but it's awfully hard to compare resumes with the two FCS giants down I-29 from us.  And on top of that...some kids just want to look at it as a business, and pseudo year to year free agency.  Not much a coach can do about that...other than avoid those kids as best as you can (unless you feel they can help the team).  It's a different world and those who adapt will find a way...and those who don't will struggle.

This will obviously affect everyone at the FCS level (and up the food chain to the G5 as well).  However, SDSU/NDSU have some level of "destination" attached to their programs because of their success and the importance they place on football as institutions.  They won't be immune from it...but they'll likely fare better than others in the MVFC because of it (both in retaining kids and pulling kids from the portal who want to be a big fish in a smaller pond).  The Montana schools will also likely see plenty of transfer activity out (like everyone else)...but Bozeman and Missoula are "cooler" than Grand Forks and might be easier to sell to incoming kids.  I also saw that YSU's portal numbers made ours look extremely stable.  When you have this phenomenon with so many G5 programs in your backyard its not surprising to see.

It's a new world...the kids won the battle...but they may end up losing the war as fans lose interest and choose not to donate to for-profit NIL collectives.

[ND-fan]

I agree with everything you said this movement of players is going to be fact of life and this is at all level of play because your seeing it at the high school level where players are moving to be better program. The players may be loser of this eventually but I have to believe number of schools are going to lose this war to also. I could for see schools dropping number of sports like football because it becomes to costly and without fan support not generating enough revenue.  The other choice is dropping down in the sports where you have program but its just not big expense and you can say you have sport. I just see the top P 5 programs going away from NCAA and form top athletic league where they are basically professional sports teams. The upper Midwest teams here are going to struggle because we don't have resources and population to play with big boys and I think donors and Alumni are going to come to point of there is limit they can support these universities and when that happens reality is going to hit home even for ardent fans even on here dream of playing with big schools is not going to happen. The big schools there will not want to play against us because there is no benefit for them financially or interest with there fan base. I just don't seeing it happening and with out some success in trying fans even here will lose interest. 

[gundy1124]

1 hour ago, UND08 said:

It's a new world...the kids won the battle...but they may end up losing the war as fans lose interest and choose not to donate to for-profit NIL collectives.

I think this ages well.  Unless you are a major player, maybe 10-15% of programs are, it's an awfully rough journey ahead and more athletes will be hurt than helped by the Wild West footings college football is on.

[UND08]

1 minute ago, gundy1124 said:

I think this ages well.  Unless you are a major player, maybe 10-15% of programs are, it's an awfully rough journey ahead and more athletes will be hurt than helped by the Wild West footings college football is on.

Agreed...here's an example, and it'll butt-hurt some but it is what it is.

I've been a supporter of the football program for a long time.  I think Bubba is a good ambassador for UND, and for the most part he has recruited and developed high quality human beings that are ok to decent football players at this level (with some high caliber kids certainly sprinkled in).  I like the idea of Alston awards and facilities upgrades and donating to make sure the student athletes are well taken care of when it comes to wellness (gear/nutrition/training/etc).

That said...what an NIL collective represents is pseudo-professionalism.  If we as fans are going to be asked to join the collective in order to pay players...then THEY HAD BETTER WIN AT A HIGH LEVEL!  I'm not convinced that we have the roster to do that next year...and I have yet to hear any specific plans as to how we are going to address that other than the same old coach speak.  Couple that with the fact that the face of the collective sort of rubs me the wrong way (to be fair I don't know him)...and the fact that collectives are for-profit with very limited disclosure of where the money is going...and, I'll just be honest...I'm out.  Was college football better when players were only getting an education (at least above the table) and it was more difficult to leave when the going got tough?  ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY it was in my opinion!  Now is my mindset wrong and anti-player?  Yes...but it's my money...I'm the consumer of the product...and I just have a harder time getting excited about a sport that requires your program to win an arms race that it likely can't (and institutionally I'm not sure wants to) win.  If too many supporters and fans/boosters start thinking that way...we'll be left with 80-100 programs that are willing to play pseudo-professional football...and d3.  I don't think the athletes win in the long run when that plays out.

[SiouxDini]

4 hours ago, UND08 said:

Agreed...here's an example, and it'll butt-hurt some but it is what it is.

I've been a supporter of the football program for a long time.  I think Bubba is a good ambassador for UND, and for the most part he has recruited and developed high quality human beings that are ok to decent football players at this level (with some high caliber kids certainly sprinkled in).  I like the idea of Alston awards and facilities upgrades and donating to make sure the student athletes are well taken care of when it comes to wellness (gear/nutrition/training/etc).

That said...what an NIL collective represents is pseudo-professionalism.  If we as fans are going to be asked to join the collective in order to pay players...then THEY HAD BETTER WIN AT A HIGH LEVEL!  I'm not convinced that we have the roster to do that next year...and I have yet to hear any specific plans as to how we are going to address that other than the same old coach speak.  Couple that with the fact that the face of the collective sort of rubs me the wrong way (to be fair I don't know him)...and the fact that collectives are for-profit with very limited disclosure of where the money is going...and, I'll just be honest...I'm out.  Was college football better when players were only getting an education (at least above the table) and it was more difficult to leave when the going got tough?  ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY it was in my opinion!  Now is my mindset wrong and anti-player?  Yes...but it's my money...I'm the consumer of the product...and I just have a harder time getting excited about a sport that requires your program to win an arms race that it likely can't (and institutionally I'm not sure wants to) win.  If too many supporters and fans/boosters start thinking that way...we'll be left with 80-100 programs that are willing to play pseudo-professional football...and d3.  I don't think the athletes win in the long run when that plays out.

I couldn't agree more.

[UND-FB-FAN]

9 hours ago, gundy1124 said:

Imagine UND pulling a starting O-lineman from the Jacks or Montana.........it's not even on my list of possibilities.

Imagine being on a team for a few years, being a starter, then abandoning that team for another in conference team........wasn't on my list of possibilities, but is now I guess.

Sad thing is UND players probably had a going away party for him and they hugged and cried it out, 25 years ago probably throwing fists.

Bubba Schweigert has lost this program. He was at the town hall meeting, and perhaps as such, no difficult questions were asked. I will hope for a miracle in 2024, but doesn’t look probable. 

[fightingsioux4life]

If a P5 program offers an NDSU player an opportunity to play at a higher level, no way that kid says no. NDSU zealots may think they are high end FBS material, but they are not. Neither is anyone in the MVFC or FCS in general.

The dumpster fire that is college athletics will benefit the mega conferences at the expense of everyone else. And this model is not sustainable.

[sioux24/7]

2 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Bubba Schweigert has lost this program. He was at the town hall meeting, and perhaps as such, no difficult questions were asked. I will hope for a miracle in 2024, but doesn’t look probable. 

Were you at the meeting?

[shep]

What happened at the meeting? Any tough questions? Any interesting answers?

[Bison Dan]

11 hours ago, fightingsioux4life said:

If a P5 program offers an NDSU player an opportunity to play at a higher level, no way that kid says no. NDSU zealots may think they are high end FBS material, but they are not. Neither is anyone in the MVFC or FCS in general.

The dumpster fire that is college athletics will benefit the mega conferences at the expense of everyone else. And this model is not sustainable.

Several were offered but declined.  Agree that it's not sustainable and sucks.

[Mama Sue]

I read the NCAA is looking at NIL again. Can’t remember the specifics but I think maybe they are proposing a two tier level…like P5 has different rules than the rest of the schools.

why fix a washing machine that was never broke? Should have left it all alone, IMHO.

[UND-FB-FAN]

9 hours ago, sioux24/7 said:

Were you at the meeting?

Yes. Quite generic, but credit to the department for at least doing it. 

[sioux24/7]

54 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Yes. Quite generic, but credit to the department for at least doing it. 

If you wanted the tough questions asked, sounds like you had your opportunity. 

[AJS]

Seemingly since the Sac State game, it's just been one hit after another for this program. It's so incredibly frustrating to see other peer institutions (Dakota / Montana schools) navigate the transfer portal this off-season so much better than UND. Pre-season polls are coming out, you'll find all of schools in the Top 5 / 10, while UND in nowhere to be found. Losing coaches / players to "peer" schools. It's embarrassing. Need something to turn the tide. The outlook for this program has never looked so bleak. 

 

Note: Very possible perception does not equal reality. Since the program gets such embarrassingly poor coverage, we won't know if things are as bad as they appear until the games are played. 

 

[jdub27]

4 minutes ago, AJS said:

The outlook for this program has never looked so bleak. 

I'd argue that you have a pretty short memory.

[The Sicatoka]

7 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

I'd argue that you have a pretty short memory.

Thoughts of Mussman give me PTSD. 

[petey23]

4 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Thoughts of Mussman give me PTSD. 

I remember being at a Booster meeting in Fargo and he was talking about the new NCAA rules regarding the play clock and when the game clock stops and starts and him talking about their being less plays in football games now so he was planning on a lot more no huddle and playing fast on offense and I am sitting there thinking "but Coach you haven't recruited any talent on defense in a couple years, wouldn't it make more sense to keep the offense on the field as long as possible?"

 

Sadly I was correct in my assessment.

[UND-FB-FAN]

4 hours ago, sioux24/7 said:

If you wanted the tough questions asked, sounds like you had your opportunity. 

… of course.

Incredibly predictable response. And my response is also very predictable: I didn’t need to ask any difficult questions; I’ve already done that behind closed doors. Fairly obvious any difficult questions that were raised during a “town hall” were not going to lead to any changes, particularly involving staffing. Still, I was curious to see what would transpire, and it was, like I said, generic.

[SiouxHawkGuy]

https://theanalyst.com/2024/05/2024-fcs-football-preseason-top-25-rankings/
 

 

wow no love after finishing at #16

[90siouxfan]

9 hours ago, sioux24/7 said:

If you wanted the tough questions asked, sounds like you had your opportunity. 

He only throws popcorn from the cheap seats, but to be faiiiiiirrrrr... it is often buckets and buckets of popcorn  

[Sioux>Bison]

1 hour ago, SiouxHawkGuy said:

https://theanalyst.com/2024/05/2024-fcs-football-preseason-top-25-rankings/
 

 

wow no love after finishing at #16

We return almost no one outside of Bo, including coaches. Not many programs can keep it rolling after that kind of upset. Honestly not worried about offense though the the question is if the defense can really ever get any worse than last year…

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, 90siouxfan said:

He only throws popcorn from the cheap seats, but to be faiiiiiirrrrr... it is often buckets and buckets of popcorn  

This program is in mediocrity purgatory, and I won’t blindly agree with all the decisions that are obviously keeping UND football irrelevant. But, for everyone not throwing popcorn, carry on, and pretend all is well. Fairly low expectations at UND right now, it certainly appears, despite ”leaders” stating everyone wants to win. Anyone in a leadership position at UND right now needs to be looking at themselves in the mirror. Politically-correct town halls do not change that. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, SiouxHawkGuy said:

https://theanalyst.com/2024/05/2024-fcs-football-preseason-top-25-rankings/
 

 

wow no love after finishing at #16

Trajectory appears to be “down” … time will tell.