Update:  After a couple of initial experiments, think I'll start down the MVC path for building modules in 9.  Seems to be more of the trend.  Found some documentation and sample modules (mostly from the DNN8 module contest) to help me get started.  A constructive suggestion for DNN Corp, it would be really nice to see better documentation, organized and professional training with complete end-to-end (non-trivial) examples from DNN corporation.  I know things change quickly and that is a challenge.  The biggest problem I have developing in DNN is getting up-to-date info with solid examples.  If anyone has a 'definitive' example of best practice for MVC module development, let me know.  Many of the examples I see are a bit all over the place in terms of implementation, and I'm always wondering if there's a better way.  I of course understand implementation is dependent on project requirements and personal choice, particularly now with all the options available for front-end.