CaribbeanGreen

If I recall (as stated above), much of the beef with Simon was personality conflicts with the AD's office, etc. Matt has skins on the wall, including a Super Bowl ring. He was in a bad situation... you know how some of us talk about how much better things are now program-wise than back in the mid-late 90's? That's what Simon had to deal with.

Agreed. Homecoming. Winless opponent. Coming off an embarassing loss. This is the quintessential nut-up week. If we don't show it this week, we shouldn't expect to see it this season.

Dude, enough is enough. Give it a rest. How many threads do you need?

Agreed. He had great success with the Screaming Eagles, and we all know that stint in the pros in Orlando was never a good fit....

I agree that this was a disaster, and would not be against change... but this post, Mr. Greek, was genius.

But that's the thing -- we didn't come out running the ball 80% of the time -- not at all. We tried to throw, tried to roll Woody out into space, etc. -- and PISS POOR execution failed us time and time again. This is in no way in defense of the coaching staff - tonight was a total disaster - but we missed wide open WRs, threw into double coverage, put the ball on the ground, etc. all night long. I really think we are underestimating the fact that this staff's biggest failure may be on the recruiting trail. We don't want to admit that, but we got physically whipped tonight. Can you imagine any sequence of play calling that would have worked out there? We'd have tripped over our own two feet. And as for the 9 years thing, you know my thoughts on that -- and I think my point here backs that up. From 2001-04, this "same old offense" looked pretty damn good when Kevin Galbreath and Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas' Evil Twin were gashing defenses and Scott Hall was the most efficient passer in the SBC, hitting Johnny Quinn and George Marshall deep. Hell, we had the nation's leading rusher in back to back seasons doing this! God, just writing that paragraph made me recoil at what we're throwing out there now. Systems work -- but only when they have the right players. I'm not disagreeing with the assessment that the coaches are on the hottest of seats and should be - they should - but i think we're missing the fact that we may want to criticize them a little more for recruiting failures that we've dared to in the past. You could say "Well, a good coach meshes his system to match the players he has - we really have good players." Fine - I can see that point, maybe at the high school level. But THIS STAFF RECRUITS THESE PLAYERS. If they are, in fact, loaded with talent, then they were recruiting poorly in that they weren't getting system guys. I don't think that's the case, but either way, it's bad news.

Agreed. A win-out, nothing less, is the only acceptable outcome. That being said, with your talent level at almost every offensive position, I can't IMAGINE this being possible. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm not so sure we really have any talent. SMU was, obviously, a total and complete fluke. That was our Super Bowl. It's clear now. Where the heck is the talent? We are HORRIBLE at almost every offensive position save Quinn (remember, JT has been subpar for two years now). Defensively, we take horrible penalities, leave WRs running free, and have been blown off the ball consistently. It's painful at this point, but I don't even see much of the talent.

They are. Tulane in NO.

No, remember? There's also "Quinn runs a post wide open across the middle of the field and we bounce it behind him"... and when Meager is in, we have the "run around the backfield aimlessly for a few seconds and then hurl it into the dirt when someone touches you"... that generally works well.

Woody just decided -- again -- that throwing into double coverage is FUN. At least Nwigwe wasn't wide open, because then the ball would have been three yards behind him and in the dirt.

There are 9 and a half minutes left in the 3rd, and we have 18 total yards. Against MTSU. No funeral.

Remember when Jamario was good, like 2 years ago? Those were good times.

Awesome points! You have solved all our problems with this thread. Completely necessary. Although, your accusing someone of always coming across as a complainer made me giggle.

you should see the joke of a "thing" they play in now. This is huge for FIU.

It's far more fun for some posters to revel in negativity. These are the same people who must secretly root against NT, based on the blind negativity towards our current regime and the refusal to deem anything in our recent past a rousing success. The same people who post 10 times the amount after a bad loss than a great win. I thought this was supposed to be fun. Not for some, apparently.

Come on Deep, based on the history on this board, it makes it fit RIGHT in!!! I can just see it... RV: Darrell, we've decided to move in another direction... DD: But, Rick, we just won our 5th title in 6 years and went 9-3.. I was 2-9 last year?? How can this be, we are winning! RV: Yes, but your teams are getting looser. They're loosing. I had a meeting with UNT78, and he agreed that the loosing was unacceptable.

Amen. Thanks, Rick. What a great, great time it was.

Schnelly has SOME of the elements some posters want in a coach.. living here, I can attest to what it is -- the FU's get MAYBE 1/8th the coverage NT does. You think we have it bad?? It is a MAJOR uphill battle in South Florida. It's a VERY fickle market to begin with (see empty seats at the damn good Marlins games over the past few years), and there is next to zero coverage about the SBC bunk mates here. Its even tough for UCF and USF to draw -- and UCF has an enrollment that if not larger than, is equivalent to NT's. It's an uphill climb, but there are some pieces in place. Back to uncle Howie, what you all would LIKE about him is his big talk. He wants to shake up the world, get FAU in the ACC, build an on-campus Carrier Dome clone, blah blah blah. He's visible, he stumps everywhere he can. You would love the big ideas and thoughts. What you wouldn't love is that NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. Everyone stopped paying attention, because his words just got redundant and hollow. Maybe if the Owls won (or even COMPETED for) a SBC title or two or won some big OOC games, people would notice more and get active - but there never seems to be any follow up. This is where PMG's point becomes even more valid - Howard's age just won't allow him to stay the course on this thing, and I think that adds to the lethargy. Strock at FIU has been much more even-keeled, and seems to have a firm grip on the reality of the challenges he faces. He's not a fireball and isn't demanding BCS or on-campus domes, but I think his team has made some remarkable progress and is headed in the right direction, even without some of the advantages his wealthier, flashier neighbors in Boca have.

Okay, fair enough. That's how you and apparently many like you feel. I guess I just had a different perspective on that whole era. Probably stems from the crap I grew up watching. If you had told me in '99 that I would see NT in a DI bowl in the next ten years, I'd have said you were nuts. I have never been happier about an achievement by a team I followed in MY LIFE than I was watching us beat Idaho at the Loophole on the Square...top 10 night for me. and beating NMSU at Fouts, and Arkie State at Fouts... God, it was just so great. We're not that far removed from being utterly inconsequential. The fact that so many of you are so upset about non-conference losses illustrates just how far we've come. Again, to each his own. I'll be right there with you if we tank in conference play.

what? This is a joke, right? Please?

Remember, FIU is in a similar situation -- new program, major metro area, hotbed of talent, name coach (Don Strock)... all the same questions apply to the Golden Panthers as well.

I disagree on where we'll be the favorite - even as someone who is not on the Fire DD/Abandon Ship! bandwagon just yet, I feel we should expect to win each SBC game on our schedule. There isn't an excuse for being whipped in conference - after 2-9, if that happens again, then I'll be in the executioner's line with you all. I feel like more than 1 SBC loss is enough just cause to make a move, though I'm not sure what it would take in reality given DD's contract status. That being said, I feel like MTSU and ASU will still be a couple of the tougher teams in the Belt. FAU and La-Mo should be the weak sisters, though we can't take anyone for granted. Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't love to be more competitive in non-con games. Hell yes i would be. I just know where we were when i was at NT in the late 90's, and I can see how far we've come. All I'm defending is the contrary of the ludicrous (to me) thought that DD's tenure has been a substandard failure given the results. That doesn't mean for one second I want to win OOC games any less than any of the rest of you.

Yes, I did - I'm just asking, if at that time, after 4 straight championships, people viewed our coaching staff as incompetent and substandard. I was as happy as a whore in a frat house.

So you're saying you believe a MAJORITY believe Darrell Dickey's performance as head coach at North Texas has been substandard, is that right?