MVFC Day: Kalen DeBoer stories & UND's open door to bust through with Eric Schmidt

North Dakota's head coach played linebacker on a Div. II national championship team in 2001. So, Eric Schmidt has lived UND's heyday. Now he is in his second season as head coach, trying to turn it from a perennial 7-5 FCS team into a national champion. What did he take from years with Dale Lennon at both UND and Southern Illinois, where as a young assistant Schmidt met USF legend and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer? Yeah, Schmidt could immediately see how DeBoer's NAIA dominance could eventually translate into ascending the FCS and FBS ranks, and goes into detail. Part of Schmidt's path back to UND was eventually coaching under DeBoer at Fresno State and Washington, where he saw even more magic touch, this time from DeBoer as a head coach. The Fighting Hawks were 8-6 last year, with five of their losses coming by five points or less, including No. 1 NDSU. How does UND get over the hump? How does Schmidt process the in-state bully Bison no longer being a road block to UND's path to MVFC titles?