There are certain headaches and shortcomings football coaches expect during their first season at a new school.

Scott Downing experienced more than a few of those problems last year during his first season at the University of Northern Colorado. Yet no matter how irritating they were, many were things Downing knew could be corrected. Numbers told part of the story:

• Four games in which his team committed at least four turnovers.

• Seventeen interceptions from a struggling passing game that managed only six touchdowns.

• Twenty-four rushing touchdowns allowed by a defense that also gave up an average of more than 400 yards a game.

• 141-24 was the total the Bears were outscored in losing their final three home games.

Frustrating as those things were, they were the sort of growing pains Downing could live with. What blindsided him, and the entire UNC community, were off-field troubles, rules violations and tragedies that put the Bears in national headlines no one in Greeley wanted to read.

About to enter his second season after a 1-10 inaugural campaign that was more miserable than the record indicates, Downing learned he would have to adjust his expectations.

Not the expectations he has of himself, or the vision he has for UNC football as it begins its first year as a fully accredited Division I athletic program, but for the process it will take to climb to the top of the Big Sky Conference.

Now, despite the expectations of improvement in Boulder, the hope of a rebound in Fort Collins and a new era at the Air Force Academy, perhaps no Division I coach in Colorado has more questions to answer, or ghosts to vanquish, than Downing.

"I think last year I was a little impatient with the team as a whole because I had high expectations," said Downing, who spent 22 years as an assistant at Nebraska, Wyoming and Purdue before arriving at UNC. "Not just in the win-loss column, but off the field, in the classroom. I had very high expectations of competing in the Big Sky, and I found my expectations for our rate of improvement might have been a little much. We haven't changed our approach or our expectation level.

"I hate to use this term, but we're in building mode here. I find I'm having more fun with the players now."

Don't blame Downing for making a point of having fun after a season that was anything but.

The litany of off-field setbacks that marked his first season included the stabbing of punter Rafael Mendoza, allegedly by his backup, Mitch Cozad.

Mendoza is expected to be the Bears' No. 1 punter and Cozad was on trial this month for attempted murder. Cozad was found guilty of second-degree assault Thursday, but jurors acquitted him of the attempted-first-degree murder charge.

While Downing said, "We are ready to put this incident behind us," there's much more to try to forget, including bar fights, assault charges and the fallout from an illegal offseason practice that resulted in one-game suspensions for three assistant coaches and the midseason resignation of another.

Adding tragedy to the insults, former UNC player Sam Safken lost his battle with cancer Sept. 19 and 25-year old former running back Adam Matthews, the Bears' all-time leading rusher until former teammate and good friend Andre Wilson topped his mark last season, died unexpectedly Nov. 2.

Nonetheless, despite one win in 11 games, Downing's superiors rallied in his corner as they watched him weather the first- season storm that never seemed to wane.

"What coach Downing and his staff did last year with what we call those 'external issues,' he demonstrated leadership I've never seen in 20 years of athletic administration," athletic director Jay Hinrichs said. "Scott pulled everything he learned from his mentors, guys like Joe Tiller, and drew on his own wealth of experience, too. Still, to pile it all up at once . . . was a lot to ask for.

"It was an extraordinary effort to keep everyone's heads up. Scott did a great job, based on his experience and personality, and we know he is going to have success moving this thing forward."

While turnovers gave Downing many a headache on Saturday afternoons, now he hopes turnover - as in a revamped roster - will help erase some of the stigma of 2006.

UNC welcomed about 30 new players - freshmen and transfers - when practice began last week for this season.

That is roughly one-third of the roster that did not endure the stabbing incident, did not have the Bears tradition embarrassed by off-field fights and did not have to play football after shedding tears for their fallen teammates.

As UNC truly begins its Division I era, these new faces, combined with the holdovers who endured more hardship and adversity than most players confront in their careers, are ready to rally behind Downing and put UNC back on the map for the right reasons.

"It was very impressive how (Downing) kept us going," junior linebacker Joe Kenney said. "He made us not focus on anything bad and just play football. Basically, everyone has gotten over it. Now we just want to do our best to do what we can to win football games."

Northern Colorado facts

• Practices: Held on practice fields southeast of Nottingham Field.

• Tentative practice dates this week: Today, 8-10 a.m., 7-9:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Thursday, 8-10:30 a.m., 7-9 p.m.; Friday, 2-5 p.m.; Saturday, 8-10:30 a.m., 7-9:30 p.m.

• 2006 record: 1-10 overall, 0-8 (ninth/last) in the Big Sky Conference.

• Opening game: Sept. 1, at Hawaii.

• Media's predicted Big Sky finish: Ninth (last).

• Preseason to-do list: Forget everything about 2006. On and off the field, the Bears struggled in coach Scott Downing's first season. To post the sort of victories that would vanquish the ghosts of 2006, the Bears need to patch up a rushing defense that allowed more than 180 yards a game and limit the giveaways that led to a turnover ratio of minus-7.

• Best reason for optimism: The arrival of about 30 new players, including freshmen and transfers, into the program. The Bears will be young, likely will take their lumps and probably will have a difficult time climbing out of the Big Sky cellar. But the fresh faces will not be saddled by the doldrums of 2006 and could help lay the groundwork for the success Downing envisions for the program.

Season of discontent

The stabbing in the kicking leg of punter Rafael Mendoza, allegedly by backup Mitch Cozad, hardly was the only headache or heartache Downing endured last year during his first season at Northern Colorado.

• Sept. 11: Mendoza is assaulted in the parking lot outside his apartment complex. Cozad eventually is arrested.

• Sept. 19: Former Northern Colorado player Sam Safken dies after a battle with cancer.

• Oct. 8: Defensive lineman Jacob Carlson, a co-captain, is arrested after a bar fight in which he allegedly uttered a racial slur.

• October: The school self-reports a violation involving an illegal offseason practice. Three assistant coaches are suspended for one game. Part of the fallout includes the resignation of defensive line coach Craig Robinson. That week, Downing told the Rocky Mountain News those incidents were unrelated.

• Oct. 15: Fullback Garrett Bliss is arrested for assault after an alleged attack on another student who reportedly was sending text messages to Bliss' girlfriend.

• Nov. 2: Former running back Adam Matthews suddenly dies of heart failure. Matthews was Northern Colorado's all-time leading rusher until friend and former teammate Andre Wilson broke his mark 16 days after Matthews' death.

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