Cats have done better in the last few years. Had UM won the recent games, that would not be the case. Don't know about next year. Don't know who will be on team and they haven't had a practice to watch. Yes, winning a national championship or two would have been nice in first stint. Close, but didn't happen. A bunch of semi-final games was a huge positive. Showed how good the program was. Not winning a championship after getting there doesn't mean much to me, just as losing to the Cats, while painful, doesn't mean that much to me. They are just games, and they need to be looked at with all other games in the seasons. Very good seasons.
The "goals" are outdated and mean little to mean. Winning games and going deep in the playoffs are how I measure the team and its success. I'm not worried about losing support at all. The Griz have been very good in most years, and the seasons have been very exciting. There was huge excitement this year, and there will be huge excitement next year.
I truly don't get how some fans seem to think losing a game or two is the end of the world, or evidence the sky is falling, or the program is in trouble or has many structural problems. I don't view it that way at all.
The coaches will figure out what they believe should be done for the future and try to do that. They probably do that every year. The coaches will try to recruit more top players. Those may or may not include MT high school kids. I've changed my view on that. The Portal is now much more important than recruiting MT or high school kids. Obviously, a mix is necessary.
It looks like Portal departures are going to keep getting worse for most teams, maybe all teams. Bob Beers told me when we were talking at Amanda Pflugrad's wedding last summer, that it's just like the NFL. You assess your needs and holes, and go fill them. His view was "what's the big deal".
Building up a bigger NIL pot is going to be key. Not sure how UM can do that and make it sustainable. The good news is that most of the Griz players want to play for the Griz. If the money gap can be narrowed, they seem to be sticking around. Perhaps that will change. Also, in recent years, the Griz have been getting big interest from good players who want to finish their career with a chance to go to the national champ game. The players seem to buy into the program and coaches quickly, and want to listen to the coaches and help make the team better and more successful. That is big.
