FARGO - There is plenty of upside to going 20-2 over two years for the North Dakota State football program. Interest is at an all-time high, the team set a home attendance record and the Bison created some national noise.
It's also the downside.
Coach Craig Bohl may be marketable to bigger programs, something that is currently all speculation and no substance. Still, once the coaching shakeup begins, his name will most certainly be thrown around.
"It comes with the territory," Bohl said. "It's part of college coaching. The comment I'm going to make is the same one I made last year: I'm just not going to comment on any potential employment opportunities."
Rumors of those potential opportunities, however, have already found the living rooms of high school seniors who are considering NDSU. Bohl said the subject has come up with potential recruits.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We like to think young men out there look at NDSU and the program that's here," Bohl said Monday. "There's not a lot we can do to go in and dispel all the rumors that are out there but there are a lot of rumors."
The conjecture surfaced on two talk radio shows in Fargo on Monday. Bohl's record at NDSU in five years is 43-12, which is remarkable considering the Bison are in their last year of a five-year reclassification to Division I.
NDSU will not be eligible for the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs until next year. Bohl took a team that finished 2-8 in Division II in 2002 and started an almost immediate turnaround.
The Bison went 8-3 in both 2003 and 2004. A 7-4 season in 2005 was followed by 10-1 last year. Bohl interviewed for the vacant position at the University of Minnesota, a job that went to Tim Brewster.
"It's something you deal with but I'm confident he'll be here next year," NDSU athletic director Gene Taylor said. "Unless something changes, I see no reason to worry about it."
Taylor said he's concerned about what effect, if any, Bohl's job talk will have on recruiting. He said as more jobs become open in the next few weeks, Bohl's name will probably get "tossed around."
"I think it's really something he doesn't look forward to and wishes it wouldn't happen," Taylor said. "We'll have to battle through that recruiting cycle."
The Herald are Forum are both owned by Forum Communications.
