MeanGreen61

Mean Green aren't on this list of mismatched opponents in the upcoming season. We did help create #4 by dropping Miami to play LSU. http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=797234

FWIW some more off season stuff. Tom Dienhart Ranking the non-BCS coaches: Don't overlook these rising stars Posted: April 15, 2008 They work in the shadow of the BCS Big Boys, but don't underestimate the acumen of non-BCS head coaches. These are some of the best in the business. In these ranks, you'll find a coach who has won a national championship (Howard Schnellenberger), a coach who has led his team to a BCS bowl win (Chris Petersen), a coach who has worked the BCS title game (Frank Solich) and a former NFL head coach (June Jones). And Bronco Mendenhall is poised to be the next non-BCS coach to experience a BCS bowl breakthrough. Some of these non-BCS talents are destined to coach at a BCS school: guys like Petersen, Todd Graham, Skip Holtz, Rick Stockstill, J.D. Brookhart, Butch Jones, Mario Cristobal, Gregg Brandon, Brady Hoke, Troy Calhoun, Al Golden and Bill Cubit, among others. And look at some of the newcomers: Kevin Sumlin, Larry Fedora and Steve Fairchild are three of the fastest rising stars in the business. RANKING THE NON-BCS COACHES 1. June Jones, SMU 2. Gary Patterson, TCU 3. Pat Hill, Fresno State 4. Bronco Mendenhall, BYU 5. Chris Petersen, Boise State 6. Todd Graham, Tulsa 7. Larry Blakeney, Troy 8. Dick Tomey, San Jose State 9. George O'Leary, Central Florida 10. Kyle Whittingham, Utah 11. Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green 12. Skip Holtz, East Carolina 13. Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic 14. Mike Price, UTEP 15. Rocky Long, New Mexico 16. Larry Fedora, Southern Mississippi 17. Frank Solich, Ohio 18. Troy Calhoun, Air Force 19. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee 20. Chris Ault, Nevada 21. Butch Jones, Central Michigan 22. Bill Cubit, Western Michigan 23. Kevin Sumlin, Houston 24. Tom Amstutz, Toledo 25. Bob Toledo, Tulane 26. Brady Hoke, Ball State 27. Al Golden, Temple 28. Tommy West, Memphis 29. Joe Glenn, Wyoming 30. Hal Mumme, New Mexico State 31. J.D. Brookhart, Akron 32. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy 33. Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio) 34. Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan 35. Doug Martin, Kent State 36. Steve Fairchild, Colorado State 37. Mario Cristobal, Florida International 38. Mark Snyder, Marshall 39. Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois 40. Derek Dooley, Louisiana Tech 41. Steve Roberts, Arkansas State 42. Rickey Bustle, Louisiana-Lafayette 43. Mike Sanford, UNLV 44. Todd Dodge, North Texas 45. Neil Callaway, UAB 46. Turner Gill, Buffalo 47. Brent Guy, Utah State 48. David Bailiff, Rice 49. Robb Akey, Idaho 50. Greg McMackin, Hawaii 51. Stan Brock, Army 52. Chuck Long, San Diego State Tom Dienhart is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at tdienhart@sportingnews.com. RANKING THE NON-BCS COACHES http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=400500

How are ya as a defensive back ?

Not commenting about the hire. Capps was my first choice.

Typical Green Bat sour grapes post.

Bitter, bitter.

http://media.www.ntdaily.com/media/storage...y-3325189.shtml

Post by SpaceRaider on the muts board. Sun Belt: There are five games against I-AA opponents, with provisional member Western Kentucky playing two of those. There also are 26 games against "Big Six" members, the second-most of any league. Each Sun Belt team is playing at least two "Big Six" opponents; Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky are playing four each, and Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Monroe and Troy are playing three each. Each of the league's nine members have just five home games, with FIU and Middle Tennessee the only league schools playing host to a "Big Six" member (USF is at FIU and Maryland is at MTSU). TEAMS WITH FIVE HOME GAMES Akron Arkansas State Bowling Green Central Michigan Eastern Michigan FAU FIU Fresno State Kent State Louisiana-Lafayette Louisiana-Monroe Middle Tennessee Navy North Texas Ohio U. Troy *Stanford Temple Western Kentucky Western Michigan NOTE: Last season, there were 22 teams with five home games, with two of those (Duke and Florida State) from "Big Six" leagues. NON-"BIG SIXERS" HOSTING "BIG SIXERS" Vanderbilt at Miami University, Aug. 28 Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech, Aug. 30 Minnesota at Bowling Green, Sept. 6 West Virginia at East Carolina, Sept. 6 Maryland at Middle Tennessee, Sept. 6 Texas Tech at Nevada, Sept. 6 Texas A&M at New Mexico, Sept. 6 Connecticut at Temple, Sept. 6 USF at UCF, Sept. 6 Texas at UTEP, Sept. 6 UCLA at BYU, Sept. 13 Wisconsin at Fresno State, Sept. 13 Arizona at New Mexico, Sept. 13 Stanford at TCU, Sept. 13 USF at Florida International, Sept. 20 Iowa State at UNLV, Sept. 20 Cincinnati at Akron, Sept. 27 Oregon State at Utah, Oct. 2 Cincinnati at Marshall, Oct. 3 Louisville at Memphis, Oct. 10 Washington State at Hawaii, Nov. 29 Cincinnati at Hawaii, Dec. 6 ARTICLE http://middletennessee.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=796874

As usual, UNT gets ZERO respect Kansas State Giving Freeman More Freedom ... Now in his third year as the starter, QB Josh Freeman is being given more responsibility running new offensive coordinator Dave Brock's no-huddle, up-tempo offense. Basically, the KSU coaching staff saw how Missouri and Kansas flourished last year with the quicker attack, and it wants the same thing. While Freeman appears to know what he's doing, the line needs more time to get used to the rhythm. Replacing Jordy Nelson ... Nelson was everything to the KSU passing game, and while there's a ton of speed returning Josh Freeman needs more reliable options to throw to. With Deon Murphy out this spring to work on his schoolwork, it's been up to a slew of untested players to try to come through. Sophomore Lamark Brown is the size and the talent to grow into the role, but he's not a finished product, and Ernie Pierce and Cedric Wilson have a little bit of experience, but everyone's in a holding pattern until fall when JUCO transfers Attrail Snipes, Aubrey Quarles, and Brandon Banks come in. Don't be shocked if the three newcomers are the three starters on opening day. 45-29, Bulldogs ... Kansas State wanted out of its date with Fresno State, and it got it. The Bulldogs won last year's game in Fresno, and the Wildcats obviously didn't want anything to do with an even better FSU team coming to Manhattan. Out goes Pat Hill and company, and in comes Montana State. Fresno State quickly replaced the Wildcats with Rutgers, and now KSU head coach Ron Prince's talk about not wanting to duck anyone goes out the window. Making the wimp-out even more unnecessary is that the game with FSU would've come after a tune-up against North Texas and with an off-week to follow.

CUSA would really be a step up in dolllar committment for UNT to pay out coaches a competetive salary. Take a look at what they pay their coaches. CUSA COACHES COMPENSTATION http://www.nola.com/tulane/images/TULANEGX.pdf

Exerpts 1. Texas State needs a conference that will have it. 2. Texas State needs to win much bigger than it has to this point, while nearly doubling its $13 million budget to improve facilities, raise coaching salaries and fund 85 scholarships, up from the 63 allowed in I-AA. Both are easier said than done, but a move to Division I would drastically raise the school's profile, encourage larger donations and bring the exposure that most doctoral research institutions enjoy. So Texas State will probably set its sights on the Sun Belt. It wouldn't find a natural rival there outside of North Texas, and travel expenses would grow with trips to Florida Atlantic and Florida International as well as Troy, but what beggar can be choosy? The Bobcats certainly could not make it as an independent. There's only one Notre Dame. Article http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sp.../0413bohls.html

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...3.5b3c73b6.html

April 12, 2008 Thoughts on UNT's spring workouts There will be a story in tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle on UNT's spring game. Until then, here is a rundown of the good, the bad and the continuing concerns after spring for the Mean Green. The good: Heading into spring practice, there was no bigger priority than finding a way to fix the Mean Green defense, which was terrible last season. So far, so good. UNT's first-team defense progressed nicely and ended spring workouts by holding the first-team offense to 10 points in five drives and got after quarterback Giovanni Vizza all day. Defensive end Eddrick Gilmore looks like he could a playmaker. UNT's kicking game was another big problem last season, one the Mean Green appears to have addressed with the addition of kicker Jeremy Knott. UNT should also have a much more dangerous receiving corps. Redshirt freshman Sam Roberson looks like he could be a star for an offense that should be very productive again next season. Giovanni Vizza got a whole lot of work in spring practice. He produced after being thrown to the wolves with very little experience as a freshman last season and should benefit from the experience. The bad: There never seems to be much in the way of bad news in spring practice outside of injuries. That happens when the only team you are playing is your scout team, but the Mean Green's offensive line could have had a better spring. Starting center Kelvin Drake missed all of spring with an ankle injury, starting tackle Matt Menard barely got any work in after surgery, backup Chad Rose never got on the field due to injury and backup Matt Tomlinson injured his knee and had surgery on Thursday. A lot of offensive line play is about chemistry, and UNT didn’t get a chance to develop much in that regard. UNT gave up six sacks in the spring game. Teams like Kansas State and LSU are going to throw much better pass rushers at UNT than what it faced in spring practice. The hope is a host of newcomers will help in the fall. They had better help, or UNT could be in trouble. UNT’s cup is not exactly running over when it comes to impact defensive linemen, either. Joseph Miller is a solid Sun Belt Conference player and could threaten for all-league honors and Gilmore could be great. Outside of those two, UNT does not have much in the way of proven players. Tackles Isaac Thomas and Jonathan Stewart missed spring practice, Charlie Brown was once a wide receiver and is listed at 255 pounds and fellow backup Kail Krider checks in at 245. Marquis Sykes could be a solid defensive end, but is unproven. UNT signed a potential impact player in junior college end Alonzo Horton. The Mean Green could be in trouble if it suffers and injury or two. Losing Miller or Gilmore would be devastating. The jury is still out: UNT knows what it has in linebacker Craig Robertson, but most of the Mean Green’s other players on its two-deep are unproven. Tobe Nwigwe was a backup last season and started two years ago. He could be a standout, but has had issues off the field. UNT’s coaches believe AJ Penson has star potential, but he has yet to prove his value in the regular season. Colt Mahan is undersized as UNT’s backup middle linebacker at 220 pounds. It was tough to tell just how good the group could be with UNT’s offensive line in flux for most of spring. Could these guys be great? Maybe. Could they be a liability? That is also a possibility. UNT’s defensive backs are also a question mark. Head coach Todd Dodge has made no secret of the fact he thought the group was a liability last season. UNT signed a host of junior college players and will likely start nearly from scratch. Adryan Adams and Kylee Hill showed flashes after transferring at the semester break, but no one will know how good the group can be until the fall when the rest of those key transfers arrive. Running back Micah Mosley provided a nice complement to former national rushing champion Jamario Thomas last season and Cam Montgomery has looked good since taking last year off to recover from a hamstring injury. Can they carry the load together? That has yet to be determined. Thomas carried UNT to its second win last season over Western Kentucky. Dodge doesn’t exactly use the running game a whole lot anyway, but it would be nice to have an impact running back. UNT will find out if it has one or a good combination of a few in the fall.

Not a sucker.......a SUPPORTER !

Someone already has or will probably be happy to take your vacated seat(s) in Section E.

Off the muts board. Those poor BCS folks really suffer. Georgia Tech sell 241 tickets & nets $150,000 from Humanitarian Bowl ...Georgia Tech sold only 241 tickets to the Humanitarian Bowl. Its allotment was 3,000. But what might sound like an embarrassingly low sales figure wasn't unprecedented for an ACC team playing in the Boise, Idaho, game. And what sounds like a recipe for financial distress turned out to be nothing of the sort. Tech netted almost $150,000 from its trip to Boise. The Yellow Jackets lost the game 40-28 to Fresno State on Dec. 31, but they didn't lose money. There are three reasons. First, the ACC gives its Humanitarian Bowl representative $950,000 plus 3,000 tickets to sell at $50 apiece. That $1.1 million expense allowance is larger than the amount the conference gives to participants in easier-to-reach locations in the South. No ACC team has sold out its allotment in at least five seasons, Humanitarian Bowl executive director Kevin McDonald said, and Miami's sales for the 2006 game were "right in the same ballpark" with Tech's. But although Tech had to eat $137,950 in unsold tickets, things could have been far worse. The 3,000-ticket allotment is less than a quarter of the 12,750 tickets Tech was responsible for in the Gator Bowl a year earlier. The small size of the Humanitarian Bowl allotment limited the price the Jackets paid for having their fan base in the midst of the coaching change blahs. And finally, Tech held the line on expenses by limiting the number of band members, athletics department officials, university administrators and faculty representatives. All 330 members of the band went to the Gator Bowl after the 2006 season, but only 50 went to the Humanitarian Bowl in 2007...... ...The expense-cutting wasn't universal. "We made sure the kids [on the football team] weren't disadvantaged," Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich said. "We went right up to the NCAA maximum [for bowl gifts]." Radakovich serves on the NCAA committee that certifies bowls, and he has seen a lot of bowl expense reports. The report Tech submitted to the NCAA, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained under Georgia's open records law, shows the school's largest expense was the $267,400 in transportation costs for players, coaches and other team staff. Another $200,000 went toward bowl bonuses. The bottom line: Tech had $1.1 million in expense allowance, including the 3,000 tickets, and $951,850 in expenses, including the unsold tickets, for net revenue of $148,150. Schools are allowed to keep any unused portion of their expense allowance, ACC associate commissioner Mike Finn said. Tech's big bowl payoff comes later this month when the ACC shares its bowl revenue. The conference splits the money 12 ways, with each member getting an equal amount. Total ACC revenue distribution from all sports totals about $11 million per school per year...... ARTICLE http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/g...hbowl_0410.html

DENTON, Texas (4/10/08) – There were probably some unrealistic expectations placed on Dodge by fans who had witnessed his unprecedented success at nearby Southlake Carroll High School. After all, in the five years before becoming the head coach at North Texas, Dodge had only experienced defeat one time. And while there was an optimistic outlook on how his high school success would translate at the collegiate level, history was not on his side. Of the five coaches before him that made the jump directly from high school to major college football programs, only one had a winning record in his first year. Legendary Ohio State head coach Paul Brown went 6-1-1 in 1941 - his first year with the Buckeyes after a successful high school career at Massillon (Ohio) High School. Many of the improvements were blatantly obvious. Dodge had an immediate impact on the offense, which showed a dramatic advancement in nearly every statistical category. North Texas improved from being ranked 117th in the nation in total offense during the 2006 season, to 47th in the nation in 2007. The defense, however, didn’t keep the pace. North Texas finished last in the nation in scoring defense, allowing an average of 45.1 points per game. The Mean Green allowed three opponents to score more than 60 points, which had only happened five times in the history of the program prior to last year. The two times that North Texas held its opponent below 30 points, it won the game. It was a tall order for a young offense learning a new system to match its opponents scoring production. Dodge recognized the problem and offered a solution in the way of Gary DeLoach. DeLoach was hired as the Mean Green’s defensive coordinator in late January with the hopes of restoring the success that he had while leading the North Texas defense from 2000-2002. In his last year at North Texas before taking a job as an assistant coach at UCLA, DeLoach had North Texas ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense and No. 9 in the nation in total defense. In four of his five years at UCLA, his defensive unit ranked in the top 50 nationally. FULL ARTICLE http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle...;ATCLID=1436473

Sun Belt coaches salary rankings #94 FIU #98 FAU #102 Troy #103 Muts #107 UNT #112 ULM #114 ULL #117 WKU #118 ASU Others of interest #18 SMU #46 TCU #51 Tulsa #96 Louisiana Tech Coaching salaries & contracts http://www.coacheshotseat.com/SalariesContracts.htm

Article from the Muts board. An NCAA study, published in the Journal of Athletic Training this past year, took reporting information from college athletic programs the past 16 years and showed men's spring football had the highest injury rate of all sports with 9.6 injuries per 1,000 participants. Most dangerous college sport is Spring football http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695267933,00.html

If theyre interested, the money must be in their ballpark or they wouldn't even be in the mix.

Apparently we ARE competetive as there are some pretty good coaches interested in the job.

WKU hires McDonald to replace Horn BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Texas assistant coach Ken McDonald will take over as head coach at Western Kentucky. McDonald replaces Darrin Horn, who left last week to become the head coach at South Carolina. Athletic director Wood Selig confirmed the hire. McDonald will be formally introduced at a news conference Sunday afternoon. McDonald spent the last four years at Texas under Rick Barnes. He previously worked as an assistant at Western Kentucky under Dennis Felton from 1998-2003, helping the Hilltoppers reach the NCAA tournament during his final three seasons with the program. FULL ARTICLE http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_...ucky_mcdonald_1

Louisiana tech

UNT two-deep, other notes Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Mean Green's scrimmage on Friday outside of Giovanni Vizza's short outing was the fact that UNT released a two-deep depth chart. Here is where UNT stands as of Friday. Offense LT Matt Menard Jack Crumes LG Tyler Bailey* JJ Johnson Chad Rose C Kelvin Drake* Bryan Glass Bradley Davidson RG Esteban Santiago Troy Kokjohn RT Victor Gill Jacob Kaise WR Sam Roberson Breece Johnson WR Brock Stickler Or Roderick Johnson WR Casey Fitzgerald Alex Lott WR Sam Dibrell Marcus King RB Micah Mosley Cam Montgomery QB Giovanni Vizza Daniel Meager Defense DT Isaac Thomas* Charlie Brown Jesse DeSoto DT Joseph Miller Jonathan Stewart* Kail Krider DE Eddrick Gilmore Kyle Russo DE Marquis Sykes Ryan Davenport MLB Tobe Nwigwe Colt Mahan OLB Craig Robertson Bron Hager OLB AJ Penson Steve Warren CB Antoine Bush Chris Neal CB Latif Nurudeen Adryan Adams S Kartay Agbottah Greg Garden S Kylee Hill Germaine Dawson Special teams K Jeremy Knott P Tryman Spencer KR Jamel Jackson PR Jamel Jackson * -- out for spring It was also interesting how much running UNT did after practice. The whole team had to run for each penalty committed in the scrimmage. It looked like a marathon at the end of practice. Head coach Todd Dodge said the Mean Green must cut down on the number of penalties it commits. Jamel Jackson looks like he could be a dynamic force as a punt and kickoff return man, but he appears to have the nasty habit of being blasted at the end of his returns. He took a couple of really good licks on Friday. He reminds me a little of Ja'Mel Branch. A couple of depth chart changes of note were JUCO transfer Kylee Hill starting at safety and AJ Penson moving ahead of Steve Warren at outside linebacker.

Quick scrimmage notes I will have more later, but here are a few quick hits on UNT's scrimmage. Giovanni Vizza went down after three series. He was hit by defensive lineman Joseph Miller and bit his tongue. He was still spitting blood at the end of the scrimmage. Daniel Meager was held out with a shoulder injury, leaving the official player of the Mean Green Blog Nathan Tune to take most of the snaps. Matt Phillips also played. UNT's first-team offense scored on each of its first two possessions before Vizza went down.