Continuing the Program Building

[nanacat]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

[TomCat88]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

[nanacat]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

I did see him at the presser, but for some reason had him younger in my mind. And, yes, seems there aren't many senior to step into those roles. Younger guys can though, and probably will. There's motivation to continue the process to make the natty again.

[aucat]

I think we will be okay next year and be competitive. However, we missed a golden opportunity this year. We didn't even have close games hardly. I don't expect that to be the case next year. I will forever be disappointed that the coaches had the team underprepared and simply did not coach well in the first half but that is water over the dam. The foundation for the program is there and we will be fine next year. But getting all the way to the FCS championship game is really a tough thing to do. It is amazing how NDSU consistently does that. I found it interesting that their coach says he never comes to Montana and doesn't know anything about the state. He recruits from the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin sounds like. I am at least glad that SDSU knocked them out for a couple of years. We open with Oregon and SDSU next year. I'm as enthusiastic as ever about our football program and I"m ready for spring practice to begin.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

I have never really been on this side of things....a pure fan. Are these the things that fans really worry about? Everyone has to remember that most all of the guys on this team were leaders coming out of high school, most of these guys were team captains, multi year team captains at that, while in high school. These coaches recruit a certain type of player, there is a reason why we went to the NC and every year we are in the hunt. Relax your brains, the leaders will emerge as off-season is begins and drags on. There is no telling who the leaders will be, as you all know, it isn't always a sr or the best player(s)...These coaches are great leaders themselves and from what I see, are very adept at forging leaders in the fire. This isn't something anyone should be worried about.

As far as continuing to build the program i think it comes in various ways.

Recruiting:
They obviously have to continue to recruit well. From what I've seen the coaches are very good at evaluating talent. Last year they filled specific needs with specialized players. They got several guys that could have played this year, and if we weren't rolling the way we were they may have played this year and played extremely well. Fortunately they didn't have to play so they are ready to step in and contribute right now. They just reloaded. This years class I stated on the recruiting post is filled with guys that can play multiple positions. That tells me the coaches fill they have their starters on the roster right now, and these incoming guys are depth guys that will be placed where we need them most. Not to play right now but to provide depth until they are ready. We have guys that will be starting for about 2yrs before they possibly are looking to the portal, just facts we all know it. So we have high caliber players ready to go and we have the depth to keep the team afloat if injuries happen.

Development:
We have to have to have to develop our players. Our speed guys have to get faster and get a little stronger. Our strong guys have to get even stronger and increase their speed. Across the board we have to develop our skill level and fine tune our technique. As I see it, these coaches do that at a high clip. Look at this years srs, development across the board and wow were they darn good. We can't gamble on getting guys that are ready to go right now and expect them to do well. The college game is different than high school so development is key. They also have to get guys that fall in love with the process and don't worry about the product. When you have a team full of guys that fall in love with the process the product takes care of itself. I believe we have those kind of players on the roster right now so I see no reason why they should backslide.

Retention:
How do we facilitate retention. EVERY school is trying to figure this part out. From big schools that are winning nattys to FCS cellar dwellers are trying to figure out the formula to retain as many players as possible every year. I'm not sure that there is a formula. The reality is every team is going to lose players every year to the portal, whether that is your best players or your backups that feel they should be playing. I think having a hefty collective and in place NIL deals for your players coming in and currently on the roster is the first step. Will we ever get to paying players millions probably not, will we get to paying players 100k possibly. Money is only one piece of it. The next way to retain players is to have schemes that showcase their ability and give them legitimate looks at the nfl. I know for a fact that during the season nfl teams came to practices on a regular to see our players, that is a step in the right direction. Now we have to find way to get players drafted and in to camps fairly routinely. I know that being in the greater houston area there are a lot of trainers that can prepare a player for the draft and workouts. Maybe MSU should look into every 2nd semester paying a high profile trainer to develop and prepare our players for their pro days. Coming from someone that went through the process, there are tricks to testing well, and when you have someone that knows the tricks and knows the position specific drills the boys will see it goes a long ways to turning heads. When a player feels that they can put up great numbers, get in front of scouts and be prepared for those workouts they have less of a reason to go else where.

From what I can see MSU is doing the things they need to do to keep building and stay on their current trajectory. Getting players is the key to winning coupled with top tier coaching. We have great coaching, I mean they were just in the natty and lost by only 3pts. We have great players currently on roster. We have the combination of players and coaches to continue to be a great team. Will we go to the natty again next year? I don't know. Will be a top tier team and is in the conversation? Yes we will be. We are doing the things, so we just have to keep doing those things look at what other programs are doing to stay relevant and constantly morph to stay ahead of the game. I really think they should talk to the top tier p4 schools to see what they are doing and we do it on a smaller scale. I can tell you the family that i have talked to said that MSU looks just like a big time power 4 school just on a smaller scale....ya'll are doing it right and keeping the faith is the biggest key now.

[nanacat]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

I have never really been on this side of things....a pure fan. Are these the things that fans really worry about? Everyone has to remember that most all of the guys on this team were leaders coming out of high school, most of these guys were team captains, multi year team captains at that, while in high school. These coaches recruit a certain type of player, there is a reason why we went to the NC and every year we are in the hunt. Relax your brains, the leaders will emerge as off-season is begins and drags on. There is no telling who the leaders will be, as you all know, it isn't always a sr or the best player(s)...These coaches are great leaders themselves and from what I see, are very adept at forging leaders in the fire. This isn't something anyone should be worried about.

As far as continuing to build the program i think it comes in various ways.

Recruiting:
They obviously have to continue to recruit well. From what I've seen the coaches are very good at evaluating talent. Last year they filled specific needs with specialized players. They got several guys that could have played this year, and if we weren't rolling the way we were they may have played this year and played extremely well. Fortunately they didn't have to play so they are ready to step in and contribute right now. They just reloaded. This years class I stated on the recruiting post is filled with guys that can play multiple positions. That tells me the coaches fill they have their starters on the roster right now, and these incoming guys are depth guys that will be placed where we need them most. Not to play right now but to provide depth until they are ready. We have guys that will be starting for about 2yrs before they possibly are looking to the portal, just facts we all know it. So we have high caliber players ready to go and we have the depth to keep the team afloat if injuries happen.

Development:
We have to have to have to develop our players. Our speed guys have to get faster and get a little stronger. Our strong guys have to get even stronger and increase their speed. Across the board we have to develop our skill level and fine tune our technique. As I see it, these coaches do that at a high clip. Look at this years srs, development across the board and wow were they darn good. We can't gamble on getting guys that are ready to go right now and expect them to do well. The college game is different than high school so development is key. They also have to get guys that fall in love with the process and don't worry about the product. When you have a team full of guys that fall in love with the process the product takes care of itself. I believe we have those kind of players on the roster right now so I see no reason why they should backslide.

Retention:
How do we facilitate retention. EVERY school is trying to figure this part out. From big schools that are winning nattys to FCS cellar dwellers are trying to figure out the formula to retain as many players as possible every year. I'm not sure that there is a formula. The reality is every team is going to lose players every year to the portal, whether that is your best players or your backups that feel they should be playing. I think having a hefty collective and in place NIL deals for your players coming in and currently on the roster is the first step. Will we ever get to paying players millions probably not, will we get to paying players 100k possibly. Money is only one piece of it. The next way to retain players is to have schemes that showcase their ability and give them legitimate looks at the nfl. I know for a fact that during the season nfl teams came to practices on a regular to see our players, that is a step in the right direction. Now we have to find way to get players drafted and in to camps fairly routinely. I know that being in the greater houston area there are a lot of trainers that can prepare a player for the draft and workouts. Maybe MSU should look into every 2nd semester paying a high profile trainer to develop and prepare our players for their pro days. Coming from someone that went through the process, there are tricks to testing well, and when you have someone that knows the tricks and knows the position specific drills the boys will see it goes a long ways to turning heads. When a player feels that they can put up great numbers, get in front of scouts and be prepared for those workouts they have less of a reason to go else where.

From what I can see MSU is doing the things they need to do to keep building and stay on their current trajectory. Getting players is the key to winning coupled with top tier coaching. We have great coaching, I mean they were just in the natty and lost by only 3pts. We have great players currently on roster. We have the combination of players and coaches to continue to be a great team. Will we go to the natty again next year? I don't know. Will be a top tier team and is in the conversation? Yes we will be. We are doing the things, so we just have to keep doing those things look at what other programs are doing to stay relevant and constantly morph to stay ahead of the game. I really think they should talk to the top tier p4 schools to see what they are doing and we do it on a smaller scale. I can tell you the family that i have talked to said that MSU looks just like a big time power 4 school just on a smaller scale....ya'll are doing it right and keeping the faith is the biggest key now.

I'm not sure that it's a common thing fans worry about, but after seeing the focus and leadership this year, it's on the minds of many. This year's seniors, after the loss to NSDU in playoffs, gathered together and set a plan in place to go 1-0 in everything they did. That was their mantra in 2024, from January to December. There was definite leadership, focus, encouragement, and it was 90% player led, from what we heard. Therefore, it is easy to want that again after seeing the success they had last year. Can it happen? Of course. Will it happen? Don't know, guess we'll see, but the example was set and I think there are players who can step into those roles. It's super easy to get downtrodden with the loss, with the transfers, and coaching losses, but you're right, we do need to keep the faith and be confident in what remains and the trajectory Bobcat football is on. To finish #2 in the nation and be the last undefeated team prior to January 7th was pretty incredible.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

In talking about continuing building the program...I just saw that Ty went to Twitter trying to find an agent. Like he made s post dating he's declaring for the draft and if any agent would like to guide him please reach out. I think this is the kind of thing that screams to a potential player "the school doesn't care about you going pro". Amen I was a sr after the season our school brought in 5-10 agents to give all the srs their pitch and info. It was really helpful in finding an agent early on or at least not being left on your own trying to figure it out. Maybe MSU did does this maybe they don't... I'm not sure. If they are doing it awesome... if they aren't I think it's something they should do... help those wanting to continue playing find abbeys or least give them a list of names to call. If retaining players is what we want, they are going to have show players they are invested in them going pro just like they invested in them being a great player for MSU. As a player when you know you have that kind of support you want to stick around.... just an idea.

[KIX]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

I have never really been on this side of things....a pure fan. Are these the things that fans really worry about? Everyone has to remember that most all of the guys on this team were leaders coming out of high school, most of these guys were team captains, multi year team captains at that, while in high school. These coaches recruit a certain type of player, there is a reason why we went to the NC and every year we are in the hunt. Relax your brains, the leaders will emerge as off-season is begins and drags on. There is no telling who the leaders will be, as you all know, it isn't always a sr or the best player(s)...These coaches are great leaders themselves and from what I see, are very adept at forging leaders in the fire. This isn't something anyone should be worried about.

As far as continuing to build the program i think it comes in various ways.

Recruiting:
They obviously have to continue to recruit well. From what I've seen the coaches are very good at evaluating talent. Last year they filled specific needs with specialized players. They got several guys that could have played this year, and if we weren't rolling the way we were they may have played this year and played extremely well. Fortunately they didn't have to play so they are ready to step in and contribute right now. They just reloaded. This years class I stated on the recruiting post is filled with guys that can play multiple positions. That tells me the coaches fill they have their starters on the roster right now, and these incoming guys are depth guys that will be placed where we need them most. Not to play right now but to provide depth until they are ready. We have guys that will be starting for about 2yrs before they possibly are looking to the portal, just facts we all know it. So we have high caliber players ready to go and we have the depth to keep the team afloat if injuries happen.

Development:
We have to have to have to develop our players. Our speed guys have to get faster and get a little stronger. Our strong guys have to get even stronger and increase their speed. Across the board we have to develop our skill level and fine tune our technique. As I see it, these coaches do that at a high clip. Look at this years srs, development across the board and wow were they darn good. We can't gamble on getting guys that are ready to go right now and expect them to do well. The college game is different than high school so development is key. They also have to get guys that fall in love with the process and don't worry about the product. When you have a team full of guys that fall in love with the process the product takes care of itself. I believe we have those kind of players on the roster right now so I see no reason why they should backslide.

Retention:
How do we facilitate retention. EVERY school is trying to figure this part out. From big schools that are winning nattys to FCS cellar dwellers are trying to figure out the formula to retain as many players as possible every year. I'm not sure that there is a formula. The reality is every team is going to lose players every year to the portal, whether that is your best players or your backups that feel they should be playing. I think having a hefty collective and in place NIL deals for your players coming in and currently on the roster is the first step. Will we ever get to paying players millions probably not, will we get to paying players 100k possibly. Money is only one piece of it. The next way to retain players is to have schemes that showcase their ability and give them legitimate looks at the nfl. I know for a fact that during the season nfl teams came to practices on a regular to see our players, that is a step in the right direction. Now we have to find way to get players drafted and in to camps fairly routinely. I know that being in the greater houston area there are a lot of trainers that can prepare a player for the draft and workouts. Maybe MSU should look into every 2nd semester paying a high profile trainer to develop and prepare our players for their pro days. Coming from someone that went through the process, there are tricks to testing well, and when you have someone that knows the tricks and knows the position specific drills the boys will see it goes a long ways to turning heads. When a player feels that they can put up great numbers, get in front of scouts and be prepared for those workouts they have less of a reason to go else where.

From what I can see MSU is doing the things they need to do to keep building and stay on their current trajectory. Getting players is the key to winning coupled with top tier coaching. We have great coaching, I mean they were just in the natty and lost by only 3pts. We have great players currently on roster. We have the combination of players and coaches to continue to be a great team. Will we go to the natty again next year? I don't know. Will be a top tier team and is in the conversation? Yes we will be. We are doing the things, so we just have to keep doing those things look at what other programs are doing to stay relevant and constantly morph to stay ahead of the game. I really think they should talk to the top tier p4 schools to see what they are doing and we do it on a smaller scale. I can tell you the family that i have talked to said that MSU looks just like a big time power 4 school just on a smaller scale....ya'll are doing it right and keeping the faith is the biggest key now.

I'm not sure that it's a common thing fans worry about, but after seeing the focus and leadership this year, it's on the minds of many. This year's seniors, after the loss to NSDU in playoffs, gathered together and set a plan in place to go 1-0 in everything they did. That was their mantra in 2024, from January to December. There was definite leadership, focus, encouragement, and it was 90% player led, from what we heard. Therefore, it is easy to want that again after seeing the success they had last year. Can it happen? Of course. Will it happen? Don't know, guess we'll see, but the example was set and I think there are players who can step into those roles. It's super easy to get downtrodden with the loss, with the transfers, and coaching losses, but you're right, we do need to keep the faith and be confident in what remains and the trajectory Bobcat football is on. To finish #2 in the nation and be the last undefeated team prior to January 7th was pretty incredible.

Yep. There are leaders (high school, et al) and there are LEADERS (Tommy, Ortt, Wehr, Perk, Grebe, Danny, Schmidt).

[coloradocat]

In talking about continuing building the program...I just saw that Ty went to Twitter trying to find an agent. Like he made s post dating he's declaring for the draft and if any agent would like to guide him please reach out. I think this is the kind of thing that screams to a potential player "the school doesn't care about you going pro". Amen I was a sr after the season our school brought in 5-10 agents to give all the srs their pitch and info. It was really helpful in finding an agent early on or at least not being left on your own trying to figure it out. Maybe MSU did does this maybe they don't... I'm not sure. If they are doing it awesome... if they aren't I think it's something they should do... help those wanting to continue playing find abbeys or least give them a list of names to call. If retaining players is what we want, they are going to have show players they are invested in them going pro just like they invested in them being a great player for MSU. As a player when you know you have that kind of support you want to stick around.... just an idea.

Did you play at the FCS level or FBS? I know we're really competing with the G5 and I have no idea what the standard is for FCS teams, even the DSUs, but it seems like expecting the school to do a lot of the leg work towards players getting agents is setting expectations too high. If Ty is looking for an agent on Twitter it's not because MSU didn't do its job.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

In talking about continuing building the program...I just saw that Ty went to Twitter trying to find an agent. Like he made s post dating he's declaring for the draft and if any agent would like to guide him please reach out. I think this is the kind of thing that screams to a potential player "the school doesn't care about you going pro". Amen I was a sr after the season our school brought in 5-10 agents to give all the srs their pitch and info. It was really helpful in finding an agent early on or at least not being left on your own trying to figure it out. Maybe MSU did does this maybe they don't... I'm not sure. If they are doing it awesome... if they aren't I think it's something they should do... help those wanting to continue playing find abbeys or least give them a list of names to call. If retaining players is what we want, they are going to have show players they are invested in them going pro just like they invested in them being a great player for MSU. As a player when you know you have that kind of support you want to stick around.... just an idea.

Did you play at the FCS level or FBS? I know we're really competing with the G5 and I have no idea what the standard is for FCS teams, even the DSUs, but it seems like expecting the school to do a lot of the leg work towards players getting agents is setting expectations too high. If Ty is looking for an agent on Twitter it's not because MSU didn't do its job.

I played at an fbs school that wasn't known for football at all. I'm not saying the school is doing a lot if leg work to get kids agents but to point them in the right direction. Many of these kids don't know where to start in find a decent agent. If we're talking about retention do you not think if a kid like say a scottre knows that when he's done playing the coaches/football staff do all the can to set you up to have a chance at the league? I know that there are schools that literally design their programs around getting you to the nfl...financial literacy, trainers, agent interviews, etc. All I'm saying is adding that extra layer may very well keep a lot if our better players.

And I'm not accusing msu of not doing enough. I clearly said I don't know if they are or aren't... if they are great... if they aren't it's something to think about.

[4KornerKat]

In talking about continuing building the program...I just saw that Ty went to Twitter trying to find an agent. Like he made s post dating he's declaring for the draft and if any agent would like to guide him please reach out. I think this is the kind of thing that screams to a potential player "the school doesn't care about you going pro". Amen I was a sr after the season our school brought in 5-10 agents to give all the srs their pitch and info. It was really helpful in finding an agent early on or at least not being left on your own trying to figure it out. Maybe MSU did does this maybe they don't... I'm not sure. If they are doing it awesome... if they aren't I think it's something they should do... help those wanting to continue playing find abbeys or least give them a list of names to call. If retaining players is what we want, they are going to have show players they are invested in them going pro just like they invested in them being a great player for MSU. As a player when you know you have that kind of support you want to stick around.... just an idea.

Did you play at the FCS level or FBS? I know we're really competing with the G5 and I have no idea what the standard is for FCS teams, even the DSUs, but it seems like expecting the school to do a lot of the leg work towards players getting agents is setting expectations too high. If Ty is looking for an agent on Twitter it's not because MSU didn't do its job.

I played at an fbs school that wasn't known for football at all. I'm not saying the school is doing a lot if leg work to get kids abbeys but to point them in the right direction. Many of these kids don't know where to start in find a decent agent. If we're talking about retention do you not think if a kid like say a scottre knows that energy he's done playing the coaches/football staff do all the can to set you up to have a chance at the league? I know that there are schools that literally design their programs around getting you to the nfl...financial literacy, trainers, agent interviews, etc. Ask I'm saying is adding that extra layer may very well keep a lot if our better players.

And I'm not advising msu of not doing enough. I clearly said I don't know if they are or aren't... if they are great... if they aren't is sobering to think about.

Do you think some of the NIL recruitment has soured the relationships between schools and agents? It seems like a handful of NIL "agents" are also NFLPA certified, and might be tempted to recruit players to other schools while they are around. I don't know if this is or isn't happening, just popped into my head as a reason a university may want to keep a little distance between agents and players now vs. when you were in school.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

In talking about continuing building the program...I just saw that Ty went to Twitter trying to find an agent. Like he made s post dating he's declaring for the draft and if any agent would like to guide him please reach out. I think this is the kind of thing that screams to a potential player "the school doesn't care about you going pro". Amen I was a sr after the season our school brought in 5-10 agents to give all the srs their pitch and info. It was really helpful in finding an agent early on or at least not being left on your own trying to figure it out. Maybe MSU did does this maybe they don't... I'm not sure. If they are doing it awesome... if they aren't I think it's something they should do... help those wanting to continue playing find abbeys or least give them a list of names to call. If retaining players is what we want, they are going to have show players they are invested in them going pro just like they invested in them being a great player for MSU. As a player when you know you have that kind of support you want to stick around.... just an idea.

Did you play at the FCS level or FBS? I know we're really competing with the G5 and I have no idea what the standard is for FCS teams, even the DSUs, but it seems like expecting the school to do a lot of the leg work towards players getting agents is setting expectations too high. If Ty is looking for an agent on Twitter it's not because MSU didn't do its job.

I played at an fbs school that wasn't known for football at all. I'm not saying the school is doing a lot if leg work to get kids abbeys but to point them in the right direction. Many of these kids don't know where to start in find a decent agent. If we're talking about retention do you not think if a kid like say a scottre knows that energy he's done playing the coaches/football staff do all the can to set you up to have a chance at the league? I know that there are schools that literally design their programs around getting you to the nfl...financial literacy, trainers, agent interviews, etc. Ask I'm saying is adding that extra layer may very well keep a lot if our better players.

And I'm not advising msu of not doing enough. I clearly said I don't know if they are or aren't... if they are great... if they aren't is sobering to think about.

Do you think some of the NIL recruitment has soured the relationships between schools and agents? It seems like a handful of NIL "agents" are also NFLPA certified, and might be tempted to recruit players to other schools while they are around. I don't know if this is or isn't happening, just popped into my head as a reason a university may want to keep a little distance between agents and players now vs. when you were in school.

That's a really good question.....I'm not sure. I mean to be honest an agent isn't really the spearhead behind that. Some kids see more playing opportunity and the money and they do that on their own. Whether they have an agent or not kids that fall into that category are going to move around regardless. If I'm running a program I'm not worried about that as that is a small section of my team(I mean look at MSU only 3 guys of note are in the portal at this time). I think you will get more kids to stay if you show them that you have a plan and design for how you can help everyone get to the next level. Now we know that everyone won't make it but by having a dedicated trainer for my srs, hosting agent interviews for srs who don't have one, etc. you are positioning your program to say that we do everything we can to help you go pro.....if you don't it isn't because we didn't support you in that dream. That kind of investment could very well pay huge dividends in player retention and player acquisition, which allows us to develop our talent all the way through and win more games.

[4KornerKat]

That's a really good question.....I'm not sure. I mean to be honest an agent isn't really the spearhead behind that. Some kids see more playing opportunity and the money and they do that on their own. Whether they have an agent or not kids that fall into that category are going to move around regardless. If I'm running a program I'm not worried about that as that is a small section of my team(I mean look at MSU only 3 guys of note are in the portal at this time). I think you will get more kids to stay if you show them that you have a plan and design for how you can help everyone get to the next level. Now we know that everyone won't make it but by having a dedicated trainer for my srs, hosting agent interviews for srs who don't have one, etc. you are positioning your program to say that we do everything we can to help you go pro.....if you don't it isn't because we didn't support you in that dream. That kind of investment could very well pay huge dividends in player retention and player acquisition, which allows us to develop our talent all the way through and win more games.

I can't imagine they don't do at least some of that, I know they let guys work out in facilities and host interviews, they definitely host NFL scouts throughout the year, and then have current players that are in the NFL come back and talk to the team.

My thought with NIL and agents is more related to that clip from Jay Norvell a while back, where he mentioned that there are agents taking advantage of players by taking a 20% cut, promising money before its there, etc.

Maybe the "tweet" from Ty was just him making sure he had all the options on the table before he made a decision.

I do think that going forward, the guys that would be looking to get drafted will have NIL/NFLPA agents ahead of time, and this will be a non-issue.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

That's a really good question.....I'm not sure. I mean to be honest an agent isn't really the spearhead behind that. Some kids see more playing opportunity and the money and they do that on their own. Whether they have an agent or not kids that fall into that category are going to move around regardless. If I'm running a program I'm not worried about that as that is a small section of my team(I mean look at MSU only 3 guys of note are in the portal at this time). I think you will get more kids to stay if you show them that you have a plan and design for how you can help everyone get to the next level. Now we know that everyone won't make it but by having a dedicated trainer for my srs, hosting agent interviews for srs who don't have one, etc. you are positioning your program to say that we do everything we can to help you go pro.....if you don't it isn't because we didn't support you in that dream. That kind of investment could very well pay huge dividends in player retention and player acquisition, which allows us to develop our talent all the way through and win more games.

I can't imagine they don't do at least some of that, I know they let guys work out in facilities and host interviews, they definitely host NFL scouts throughout the year, and then have current players that are in the NFL come back and talk to the team.

My thought with NIL and agents is more related to that clip from Jay Norvell a while back, where he mentioned that there are agents taking advantage of players by taking a 20% cut, promising money before its there, etc.

Maybe the "tweet" from Ty was just him making sure he had all the options on the table before he made a decision.

I do think that going forward, the guys that would be looking to get drafted will have NIL/NFLPA agents ahead of time, and this will be a non-issue.

Is Norvell telling the truth? yeah he is. some of these kids are getting taken advantage of. just like i replied to another post some of these kids don't have a great circle of people that can properly advise them. I know that an NFLPA agent cap is 3% of your money, everyone doesn't know that. A kid sees I'm going to get 1mil, they are good giving up 200K cause they are walking away with 800K. what they don't know is that they are gonna have to pay taxes on that 800K and may only walk away with 400-300k.

Yes it is very customary to allow your players to continue to use facilities and have team interviews there.....it's vastly different to have a top tier nfl draft trainer to come in and train every one of your guys that are wanting it. Like that is a game changer. Again we are talking about how do we continue to build, I'm throwing ideas that I think will separate MSU in order to acquire top level talent and retain said talent.....again just ideas as I feel they are already doing a great job.

[nanacat]

Not Bobcat football specific, but a good article about the Big Sky Conference and reaching higher heights.
https://www.montanasports.com/college/s ... igyY4BEqsQ

[FA_Q_M]

I think we will be rebuilding the next several years. The future of this team doesn’t look good, especially since we just want to bring in High School players and don’t look at bringing in talent that can fill holes immediately and allow those younger players to learn and grow.

Wholeheartedly but respectfully disagree. I think we reload. I think we built our offense around Tommy's skill set. Now we have an opportunity to have a more balanced attack with a QB that is more "traditional". I like the depth we have on both sides, and i have no doubt we will surprised by a couple transfers coming in. As long as Vigen is our coach, i see us in reload mode.

[TomCat88]

What does it take? It can't be all about the almighty dollar. There needs to be motivation beyond that. Listening to Tommy and Cam's interviews prior to the game they both referenced staying with their respective teams and the value in that, for consistency sake at the least.
Last year after the loss the Cats team rallied together and determined to take everything at a 1-0 mentality, stuck with each other, committed to each other, and the program. Sounds like NDSU took a similar path after losing the games they did by lifting each other up and determining to not lose again, and it worked.
Sports are so mental, emotional. Loving your team, trusting your coaches, and playing with pride to represent your program are keys.
How does MSU move forward promoting the culture of Montana State Football and get guys from both in state and out of state to buy in and stay committed?
This is from an article I read last night, "MTN Sports spoke with the father of running back Julius Davis who said there’s no place his son would have rather played than in the blue and gold.
“Julius got a lot of ties with NDSU with coach Tim Polasek trying to recruit him from Iowa to Wyoming,” Dornaj Davis said. “But the Bobcats got him, and there's a reason for that. Because the fans, because the environment and the whole wholesome coaches and the humblest coaches.”
Maybe that's what it takes.

Question: Who will be our true team leaders next year? Ones that the other players fully buy into. The leaders this year were exceptional, IMO, and may be hard to replace.

That's a great question! Eiden comes to mind first, Reed, and Davis if he stays. Otherwise I'm not sure. There's a much younger group, not as many upperclassmen to step into those roles.

Also:
Dowlerx2, Polidore, Brott, Jones, …

Yes! Thought about the Dowler boys, Brott and Jones are all good and can certainly be leaders, but they are younger. Was trying to think of senior leaders. Polidore though, won't he be a senior?

Brott will be a senior. He was also at the presser with Mellott and Vigen, and I believe Vigen asked him to go because I think Ortt was originally supposed to be there.

There won’t be many seniors next year that have played a lot.

I have never really been on this side of things....a pure fan. Are these the things that fans really worry about? Everyone has to remember that most all of the guys on this team were leaders coming out of high school, most of these guys were team captains, multi year team captains at that, while in high school. These coaches recruit a certain type of player, there is a reason why we went to the NC and every year we are in the hunt. Relax your brains, the leaders will emerge as off-season is begins and drags on. There is no telling who the leaders will be, as you all know, it isn't always a sr or the best player(s)...These coaches are great leaders themselves and from what I see, are very adept at forging leaders in the fire. This isn't something anyone should be worried about.

As far as continuing to build the program i think it comes in various ways.

Recruiting:
They obviously have to continue to recruit well. From what I've seen the coaches are very good at evaluating talent. Last year they filled specific needs with specialized players. They got several guys that could have played this year, and if we weren't rolling the way we were they may have played this year and played extremely well. Fortunately they didn't have to play so they are ready to step in and contribute right now. They just reloaded. This years class I stated on the recruiting post is filled with guys that can play multiple positions. That tells me the coaches fill they have their starters on the roster right now, and these incoming guys are depth guys that will be placed where we need them most. Not to play right now but to provide depth until they are ready. We have guys that will be starting for about 2yrs before they possibly are looking to the portal, just facts we all know it. So we have high caliber players ready to go and we have the depth to keep the team afloat if injuries happen.

Development:
We have to have to have to develop our players. Our speed guys have to get faster and get a little stronger. Our strong guys have to get even stronger and increase their speed. Across the board we have to develop our skill level and fine tune our technique. As I see it, these coaches do that at a high clip. Look at this years srs, development across the board and wow were they darn good. We can't gamble on getting guys that are ready to go right now and expect them to do well. The college game is different than high school so development is key. They also have to get guys that fall in love with the process and don't worry about the product. When you have a team full of guys that fall in love with the process the product takes care of itself. I believe we have those kind of players on the roster right now so I see no reason why they should backslide.

Retention:
How do we facilitate retention. EVERY school is trying to figure this part out. From big schools that are winning nattys to FCS cellar dwellers are trying to figure out the formula to retain as many players as possible every year. I'm not sure that there is a formula. The reality is every team is going to lose players every year to the portal, whether that is your best players or your backups that feel they should be playing. I think having a hefty collective and in place NIL deals for your players coming in and currently on the roster is the first step. Will we ever get to paying players millions probably not, will we get to paying players 100k possibly. Money is only one piece of it. The next way to retain players is to have schemes that showcase their ability and give them legitimate looks at the nfl. I know for a fact that during the season nfl teams came to practices on a regular to see our players, that is a step in the right direction. Now we have to find way to get players drafted and in to camps fairly routinely. I know that being in the greater houston area there are a lot of trainers that can prepare a player for the draft and workouts. Maybe MSU should look into every 2nd semester paying a high profile trainer to develop and prepare our players for their pro days. Coming from someone that went through the process, there are tricks to testing well, and when you have someone that knows the tricks and knows the position specific drills the boys will see it goes a long ways to turning heads. When a player feels that they can put up great numbers, get in front of scouts and be prepared for those workouts they have less of a reason to go else where.

From what I can see MSU is doing the things they need to do to keep building and stay on their current trajectory. Getting players is the key to winning coupled with top tier coaching. We have great coaching, I mean they were just in the natty and lost by only 3pts. We have great players currently on roster. We have the combination of players and coaches to continue to be a great team. Will we go to the natty again next year? I don't know. Will be a top tier team and is in the conversation? Yes we will be. We are doing the things, so we just have to keep doing those things look at what other programs are doing to stay relevant and constantly morph to stay ahead of the game. I really think they should talk to the top tier p4 schools to see what they are doing and we do it on a smaller scale. I can tell you the family that i have talked to said that MSU looks just like a big time power 4 school just on a smaller scale....ya'll are doing it right and keeping the faith is the biggest key now.

I don't know anything about the whole leadership factor in sports. I was just responding to the post mentioning players that might be good leaders and added a few guys to the list. In my opinion, there are people that stem out as leaders even in pick up games. It just kinda happens.