MSUM Football Focused on Culture Shift after Disappointing Season

The Dragons have implemented new tactics to play more as a team, including mixing things up in the cafeteria.

MOORHEAD, Minn. — No matter how you look at last year’s football season for MSU-Moorhead it was a disappointment.

The Dragons had high expectations with a strong senior corps, but they still failed to get six wins.

This year, many of those starting pieces are gone.

Head coach Steve Laqua says there needed to be a culture shift after evaluating what went wrong a year ago.

He says he’s been implementing other ways to have his guys play more as a team.

One thing they’re doing is splitting up the normal groups during meal times to get out of their comfort zones and promote more team unity.

“The coaches aren’t allowed to have a coaches-only table. The seniors aren’t allowed to have a seniors-only table. It is mixed from coaches, seniors, freshmen, and it needs to be that way,” Laqua said at MSUM’s media day on Wednesday. “I think those small, little things of everybody understanding each other a little better has definitely been a help so far in fall camp.”

Senior defensive back Michael Strand believes those little things will translate to the football field.

“I think it’s just easier to trust who you’re playing with,” Strand said. “If you don’t even know the guy you’re lining up beside, it’s like you don’t know if you can really trust them. So, it’s a lot easier to do your one-eleventh and do your job if you know everyone around you.”

It is also giving the younger players more of an opportunity to learn from the veteran players.

“For freshmen coming in, it’s a different atmosphere,” senior offensive lineman Andrew Erickson said. “For them to actually have a conversation with a senior about maybe advice or what you even had for breakfast, it’s just another conversation that they might not have ever had.”