Guess I am surprised by the negativity towards Bohl. As a follower of the NDSU football program I have to point out a few "myths" that I see on this thread.
myth #1 - NDSU has problems with players for years. This maybe is true for the last two to three years but I don't recall a lot of problems from 2000 to 2007. I blame this on bringing in a few kids that were good talent but maybe had a few character issues that were hard to spot. He or his assistants may not have had time to do a good background check as most of the signees were in the late spring/early summer from JUCO programs and he and his staff were reacting quickly to "emergencies".
A coach can not be responsible for his players 100% of the time as it is not logistically possible. You have to trust the guys a bit. To me the Gophers had the same kind of trouble with three players in 2006 & 2007 with a rape case. This is a bit worse (IMO) then the Best Buy ring theft that involved two NDSU players.
Bohl and Gene Taylor (AD) have instituted a "zero tolerance policy" that he has lost solid players over. It appears that he is back on track and has a better program and players for it.
Myth #2 Bohl is a poor recruiter. At the end of the 2008 season, Bohl was interviewed by Steve Hallstrom of WDAY and admitted that he made mistakes in recruiting and has changed his philosphies. (They were presented on a website per WDAY, not sure if they are around anymore). The 2009 and 2010 classes have been highly touted and are starting to show positive results on the field. Give him two more years of good classes and he could have a top 5 program again.
Myth#3 He hasn't performed well in the conference, this is partly true however in my mind there is some major items with this. When NDSU switched from the Great West to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2008 NDSU needed a completely different style of team. He had built and recruited for the Great West and now needed to switch the style of player for the MVFC. Couple this with the recruiting down turns in 2006-2008 and it lead to two bad years in the MVFC.
This year we are starting to see those recruits make some noise. You might ask the difference, Great West needed speed, MVFC needs both speed and size. Our LB's are bit small right now but they were recruited for the Great West not MVFC...
SIDE NOTE - Bohl spent a number of years coaching under Tom Osborne with Nebraska and has a lot of friends in the D-I A ranks. In his first few years with NDSU, he brought in a lot of his buddies that are now coaching in D-IA programs (some are even in the NFL). I have heard him make references to speaking with Jim Tressel about coaching strategies before. He was run out of Nebraska by Frank Solich however he has spoken about that and admits that he didn't even know some of his own players names as he was wrapped up in the "planning" portion of the position. I personally believe that he has changed his approach but have not facts to prove it.
I do think that Bohl could be a serious candidate for the Gophers. Why?
-He has proven he can win with reasonable talent
-He has been a HC for 7 years and has experienced up and downs and how to react/rebuild/improve upon when things aren't going his way...
-With his D-1 contacts he could possibly bring in some talented coaches that understand "big time" programs. Heck even some of these guys played in the Big Ten.
I do think there are some good coaches in the MVFC that could make a case for the job. Mark Farley (UNI) and Dale Lennon (SIU) both have had strong solid programs in their respective positions and show they can consistently recruit top players and produce winning season after winnign season...
