Who was the greatest Bison coach of all time??

[TheBisonator]

I don't think we've ever had a discussion about historic Bison coaches, and I'm curious at what people think of some of the coaches from the past. We've had a few legendary coaches, IMO, but it might be hard to tell who was the best.

[WYOBISONMAN]

I voted for Morton, but I am probably jaded because he was the coach when I was in undergrad school.....

[BisonMav]

I picked Mudra, he jump-started the Bison Football program, and rest is history. Morton would be my second choice, he got the championship ball rolling in the 1980's. Of course Gilmore Dobie went on to bigger and better things after NDSU.

[gwendel]

It's hard to pick against the winningest coach in NDSU history (Hager), but I opted for the 2nd winningest coach (Ron Erhardt) because he is the coach responsible for molding NDSU's national powerhouse image. It's true that Mudra jump-started the Bison football program, but he was a flash-in-the-pan. He wasn't at NDSU long enough to create a dynasty. And after he left there was definitely a feeling on campus that he abandoned the team for his own glory.

Erhardt walked on water while he coached at NDSU. When you walked across campus and encountered him, you spoke reverently in hushed tones. No one bowed, but they felt like it. Even while he was an active coach, they referred to it as the Erhardt era. And when he left, they said there'd never be another like him. There was a fear that the glory days of NDSU football were over. Well, "they" were wrong as they usually are.

Erhardt also went on to bigger and better things and earned two super bowl rings in the NFL.

But my choice also may be tainted by the fact that Erhardt was the man on campus in my undergrad years.

Here's an article about great regional coaches done by the Forum in 1999. It's not about just football coaches or even NDSU coaches, but is a great read for anyone interested in regional sports history. Read about Ron Erhardt, Rocky Hager, Amy Ruley, Sid Cichy and others:

http://www.in-forum.com/specials/century/jan3/week39.html

[gwendel]

I'd heard of Gilmore Dobie, but I never really knew anything about him.
So I did a simple Google search.

He probably would be an excellent candidate for the greatest Washington Huskies coach of all time. Never lost a game in 9 seasons! Wow!!! *:o

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3693

[BisonMav]

He probably would be an excellent candidate for the greatest Washington Huskies coach of all time. Never lost a game in 9 seasons! Wow!!! *:o

Make that 11 seasons, 2 at NDSU, 9 at Washington.

[JBB]

I voted for Finnegan. Legendary coach from a different era. A corner Stone to NDSU football tradition he paved the way for the others yet to come.

[GFBisonFan]

I voted for Hager because he was there during my undergrad and he is the winningest coach

[kchats]

Don Morton "When it Reigns it Pours" How can you go against 4 national championship teams in a row? The others a very good as well and the Bison Football book 3 decades of excellence covers the history very well.

[sambini]

mORTON ONLY WON IT IN 83. Erhardt got it going and became a successful coach in the NFL. He has 2 super bowl rings.Coach Morton teams played in the championships in 81 lost to SW Texas, 82 lost to ucdavis in the semis, 83 beat central state of ohio to win it all,and 84 lost to Troy State of Alabama on a 49 yard fgoal with 3 seconds left. 85 he was at Tulsa.

[BisonInTexas]

How can in not be Mudra? Before he came, there was no Bison football. He got the Teammakers going and started it all. Without him, none of the success we have grown accustomed to in the last 40+ years would have been possible.

Craig

[DG_Moore]

I think it was NDSU President Albrecht who was mostly responsible for NDSU going from having a losing record against the whole conference to having a winning record beginning in 1963. When Albrecht became President his primary concern was the sad state of Bison Athletics just our current main effort is expanding the graduate school and research grants. The move to Division I is more an offshoot of that than a main objective.

[sambini]

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