gangrene

Minnesota coaching search should include these options Don Treadwell, offensive coordinator, Michigan State Kevin Sumlin, Houston Mike Leach, former Texas Tech coach Bryan Harsin, offensive coordinator, Boise State Al Golden, Temple

I can attest to this. In over 15 years of working in the advertising industry, I've evaluated sports sponsorships for Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Houston...even Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin proposals have come across my desk...but not once have I ever been approached about a sports sponsorship for UNT. These sports proposals find their way to me directly, via sales representatives from the university's marketing department, or indirectly, via the clients I represent (by the university's marketing department contacting them directly). I've represented some pretty big clients, with both a national and local presence, in my career and I must assume that if I'm not being contacted, none of the other large businesses with corporate headquarters in the DFW area are being contacted either.

There is a thread on the (less popular) Missouri board, tigerboard.com, discussing just that possibility.

From the AP story (picked up by the Washington Examiner): North Texas fires coach Todd Dodge after woeful start in his 4th season By: SCHUYLER DIXON

Here's my take on what our two-step, long-term plan of action should be - #1. We need to hire a head coach with recognized brand equity - a "name" coach with experience and success at an FBS school. A mutually beneficial relationship - he can use North Texas as his stepping stone to another high profile job while we can use his name recognition to immediately restore credibility to our once proud football program while instantly kick-starting/revitalizing the otherwise dead recruiting process. He must be a coach that has FBS level "skins" on the wall and he must be someone that 17, 18 and 19 year old recruits have heard of, will respect and want to play football for. If this coach is only at UNT 2-3 years, that will (hopefully) mean that he's won at North Texas and returned to higher profile program. This would be the ideal scenario for North Texas because we would be winning and playing in bowl games. At the same, it shows future UNT coaches that UNT is a place where aspirational coaches can prove their worth to more established programs with larger athletic budgets and a legitimate chance to win a national championship each year. And that leads me to... #2. Provided #1 materializes, our football program will be reestablished and successful and our roster will be loaded with talent. This is when we look for that hungry, young, "up and coming" coach. Perhaps he was an assistant on #1's staff, an OC/DC at an FBS school with no prior HC experience or an upstart FCS HC looking to elevate to the next level. Regardless, he will be put in a perfect position to succeed rather than fail. All the pieces would be in place and he'd be able to build upon the success his predecessor created. He'd still need to be a strong candidate with a successful resume but, rather than having to rely solely on the brand recognition of his own name, he'd be able to lean more heavily on the brand recognition UNT will have. If this coach was highly successful at UNT, I'd expect him to be gone in 5-7 years. This is the reality of our situation. For those of you looking for a coach that will stick with UNT for 10-15 years, I'm afraid that's not going to happen...not if he has the success we all want to have. If you're satisfied with a coach that will go 7-5 every year, with an occasional 8-4 thrown in, then maybe that's possible. But, until we increase our athletic budget and routinely crack the top 25 we're just going to be a pit stop on the road to success for any aspiring coach to be. Maybe after 10-15 years of continued success and top 10 rankings, we'll be able to afford to keep a great coach?

And we have to show you Missourians how to do everything!

Jerry Moore, perhaps?

Hmm...two posts, two strong suggestions to hire Jim Leavitt. What's your connection to Leavitt? Better yet, what connection does Leavitt have to Missouri?

Jim Harris: Quick Glance Says Leach Should Be Re-Employed This Time Next Year A good read, but one that only serves to reinforce my belief that we'd have no shot at Leach even if we stood united in our attempt to hire him.

Not to mention that the only reason we'd stand a snowball's chance in Hades of getting him is due to the bizarre situation that led to his dismissal.

So you're saying...that's not change, that's more of the same?

OK, you two need to tone it down a bit - no personal attacks (and I've seen them from both sides, on multiple occasions). Play nice or get a time-out. Thanks.

Due to the overwhelming response, I've added Jim Leavitt to the poll. My first choice would be Mike Leach. I had an extreme dislike for the guy at Texas Tech but I can not deny what he did for that program. He united a student body that had become largely disenfranchised under Spike Dykes and he had unprecedented success. However, he comes with a lot of baggage and he's almost certainly well out of our price range. His ego is second to none and I believe he created a hostile, disrespectful fan base with a bad attitude...albeit a very loyal fan base. My second choice is Jim Leavitt. He's already done everything we need our new coach to do: build a program from the ground up (we're in the cellar of, arguably, the worst conference in the FBS), recruit in a state with multiple top 20 programs, help lead his program into a more prestigious conference and, last but not least, WIN.

Riley will finish the season and, I suspect, his career at UNT. He has already been quoted as saying he loves North Texas and would stay at UNT if his dad was not retained. Riley has taken a lot of criticism during his time at UNT, some of it was warranted, but most was not. He was not blessed with the ideal size for a QB and he has endured a number of injuries, but I don't think anyone can dispute his dedication, commitment and heart for the game. Whatever position Riley plays for the remainder of his time at UNT, I wish him success and I hope the criticism will eventually subside. As for Coach Dodge, he has shown and great deal of dignity and respect for North Texas. He has handled adversity like a champion. I think everyone wanted him to succeed here and build this program into what everyone envisions it can become. It just didn't work out and it's time to move on. I wish Coach Dodge the best and I think he'll be successful on whatever path his life takes him. I think he'll have a pretty good OC in about 7 years.

Team Nation, in the Texas vs. The Nation all-star classic in San Antonio. Our source tells us Glanville will replace Howard Schnellenberger, who coach the team for the last two years. footballscoop.com Come on, man!! I thought he'd finally given up after his failure at Portland State. However, I'm pleasantly surprised I haven't seen his name suggested as a UNT candidate this time around. Elvis has left the building!

Ok, having glanced over the termination clauses, Leavitt is owed 75% of his pay, until the year 2014, if he's terminated by the University without cause, but is only owed 1/12 of his adjusted base rate of pay (and I don't see anything indicating this is more than a one-time payment for one season) if he's terminated with cause. Even if the termination with cause pay is until 2014, that's a 66.67% difference between cause and without cause. In addition, he would still be paid a salary through 2014 from USF if he obtained another football-related position, provided he was terminated without cause - it would just be the difference between his salary at his new position and 75% of the base salary he would have earned at USF.

I haven't had the time to review it yet, but here it is.

LOL So, eight wins (I'm giving you WKU since you made the caveat on the condition by stating a loss to WKU would nullify the win against K-State) in four years is good enough for you? As great as a win against K-State might seem, it still only counts as one win.

LOL - I'm dying with laughter.

There's some funny stuff on the Gopher's forum about this. I particularly liked this comment: Maybe someone should sign up and tell them what kind of consulting Neinas provides so they don't get their hopes up too much?

Minnesota Rivals homepage "Chuck Neinas will assist Joel Maturi in the hunt for a new Golden Gopher head coach."

Maybe. He's quoted as saying "he's willing to listen to anyone" - hint, hint. footballscoop.com

I love the fact that the former Montana State women's BB HC (or, at least, someone claiming to be her), mentioned in the article, posted a comment.

LOL, we'd be better served hiring a ballet or gymnastics instructor to teach players how to fall gracefully and not put additional stress on their bones, while increasing flexibility.

I've thought about that too and that would be a dream scenario for UNT. Let's get the band back together.