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Coaches and media pick Bears last.

B

Beardown

Active member
Once again. I don't see it happening, but I've said that before. They pick UM to win the conference, which is a little suprising as I thought EW would.

http://www.bigskyconf.com/news/football/2008/7/22/08FBpreseasonpoll722.asp?path=football
 
Last is definitely where we belong for now. I feel like the team will surprise people this year but it hasn't proven anything yet. At least we don't have Chadron St. on our schedule this year. Damn, I had repressed that memory til now.
 
We should be picked last based on what we have shown in the past. The good thing is that the preseason polls don't mean squat and they still have to play all of the games. Uh-oh that might not be a good thing either. Just joking Beardown - don't go crazy on me.
 
My ballot will remain private :) Too many lurkers may shoot me for my bottom three picks. I'll just say I didn't pick NC to finish 9th...
 
I shouldn't have done it but I decided to go over to D2football.com just to see what's going on in D2 and I keep reading references about how UNC is the example of why not to transition to D-I and how we are now a "laughing stock" and that we should move down. The worst part is that I can't defend our team. The UNC teams that have been fielded the last few years wouldn't even be top 50% in D2! The team last year would have had a tight game with New Mexico Highlands.

http://www.d2messageboard.com/showthread.php?t=11605
 
Yeah it's a valid point you make. It's one thing to say moving up is difficult, you can't expect to win, etc. but I think we'd all agree that the team we've fielded the last 5 years or so would get destroyed by the 1990's UNC teams... so why the drop?

ND State, SD State, and UC Davis all schools we used to compete equally with were able to move up and not show that fall off and have even excelled so why has UNC totally shit the bed?

Leadership is the first place I'm looking (and not funding scholarships) and it is sad but also there is no reason we CAN NOT get back to the levels we were at before the downfall which would be competive in the Big Sky in my opinion. Although Downing, Heinrichs, etc like to make it sound like it's so hard to build to that level I think the teams Joe Glenn built would have done decent in the Big Sky.

Perfect example we beat Montana State at their house in 2003.
 
I am kind of offended by that. Football is not going well, but our other sports including mens basketball and baseball have represented well at the DI level. Our basketball wasn't even a decent DII team when I went to school, now we are beating Colorado State!
 
I have been proud of our wrestling team's accomplishments as well but unfortunately people tend to judge the move to D-I based on the football team's performance. Therefore, colleges benefit much more in public opinion and revenue if their football team is successful. That is evident by all the people who use our college as an example of why not to move up which is ridiculous because most of our sports are holding their own. I don't think there is any denying that football is more important to a college than any other sport, except maybe basketball. Would UNC's attendance be dropping right now if the football team was winning the BSC? I don't think so. It seems totally ridiculous but that is how it works.

Downing is probably having a lot of sleepless nights. This season is probably the most important season of his career. If he fails here and gets fired then his head coaching aspirations will die. Kinda like the last basketball coach who is completely out of coaching now.
 
That's good, I hope Downing is worried, we need a little urgency around that program. It seems like they have been on cruise control for a few years now and the car is now running in the ditch.
 
It is a coin toss for me weather we will finish last or not. Despite how bad last season was, we were a hail mary away from not finishing last in the conference...

I do think we are an example of how not to transition however. And it goes beyond the football program. I think it all goes to leadership at the department and university level, and you all pretty much know why I think that...
 
This whole idea of "oh we'll just ramp up slowly on scholarships and things will all just work out because we say they will" just doesn't work. If you don't have the money to fully upgrade immediately then you shouldn't do it... I'm glad they moved up but they totally did it on the cheap and it's cost the program dearly. Because they couldn't fund properly the program fell behind and each terrible season makes it that much harder to recruit and get out of the hole. Now would being fully funded avoid that completely, no, probably not, but it wouldn't have been as bad I don't think and would have shown a commitment and ability to compete at this level instead of looking like we're in over our heads which is does at this point.
 
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