rcade

Pat Forde shreds Petrino on ESPN.Com: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto...mp;sportCat=ncf If you're an Arkansas fan, do you really want this guy? He's looked for jobs five times in the past five years, all the while signing huge long-term contracts and telling people he wasn't leaving.

UCF also has two of the strengths that are often cited about North Texas -- close proximity to a major city and one of the state's largest student enrollments -- and one of its weaknesses -- a bunch of more established in-state rivals with huge juice in state government. I'd love to see UNT's athletic department send a team to Orlando to figure out how UCF got its stadium built and managed to fund its football team so well, given the circumstances it faced.

I've read several game stories from the first two football seasons in which the team is called the Teachers. I don't know yet whether this was an official mascot or just a practice of the media.

Trying to keep Ticket-related Wikipedia entries free from vandalism is hopeless. I made the mistake of editing a prank out of Gordon Keith's entry there and people responded by adding my name (and aberrant sexual proclivities I reportedly favor) into other Wikipedia entries.

I'm aware of what a water table is. I just haven't read a technical analysis of how it prevents the in-ground renovation idea at Fouts.

Troy Phillips, the writer of the blog entry I quoted here, thinks I've unfairly characterized it. He told me in email, "I NEVER alleged that Darrell Dickey stole a TV, and if you can't understand that from reading a blog, then I can't help you." I think asking the question "Dickey ... a thief?" was making an allegation, even though he immediately dismissed it as "unlikely." But in the interest of fairness, I wanted to note his rebuttal.

It isn't personal with me. I posted this item solely because UNT's beat writer for the Star-Telegram wrote it on the paper's college football blog. I described it as a "wild allegation" in the topic header, and for the record I have trouble believing any UNT staffer would be stupid enough to commit felony theft and steal a TV. Especially a coach who was walking away with a nice go-away paycheck.

Dickey coming back to Dallas would be great for the SMU/UNT rivalry, but if I were an SMU alumnus I'd be aghast at the prospect he might be one of the top coordinators in the program. That black uniform stunt still rankles me. A college coach who lets his emotions get away from him to the point that he pulls an F-U on a school on the way out the door isn't going to run a high-character program. And SMU is an environment where any off-field problems will be blown up huge by the media.

As a followup to this topic, Troy Phillips' blog entry has been edited to remove the paragraph alleging that a plasma TV left along with Dickey: http://startelegram.typepad.com/college_fo...-year-what.html I don't know what it means, but my guess is that the Star-Telegram didn't want to make an allegation that strong as an aside in a blog entry that didn't quote anybody.

I watched on ESPN 360. The UT announcers couldn't stop talking about how good White is.

Can someone with knowledge of these issues explain the water table issue?

During this offseason, I'm writing articles on the earliest eras of North Texas football. I've begun researching the pre-1920 era when football was just beginning at the school: 1913, Coach J.W. Pender, record 0-1 1914, Coach J.W. Pender, record 3-3 1915, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 4-1 1916, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 4-3-1 1917, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 6-1 1918, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 1-2-1 1919, Coach J.W. St. Clair, record 5-3 I'm finding some cool stuff, like the fact our first mascot was the Teachers, as you can see in this cutline from a picture in the Dallas Morning News published in 1915 of the team's backfield: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=20...8149&size=l If anyone knows people I should talk to or other sources for information on early teams, I'd appreciate the help.

My question: What is the glass full of? Was Coach Mendoza seen leaving the area with a smirk on his face?

Selling points for UNT football: 1. Come play for Coach Dodge's offense 2. Come play for UNT's defense and get significant playing time from day one 3. Stay in DFW and play in front of your family and friends 4. Play for a school that's made four bowl trips for winning its conference There are some academic hooks too -- great music school, strong programs in many other areas. How good's our graduation rate for athletes?

Under that logic, Les Miles is taking over in Michigan and Nick Saban's still the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Calling it a lock that Mendoza will stay, even before North Texas has time to do any post-season evaluation, seems premature to me. (I do think chances are strong that Dodge keeps his word and retains him.)

For me, it's not just the losses but the way we lost them. Troy beat us like a paycheck game, and against FIU we weren't even competitive. I expected to lose a lot of games in Dodge's first season, but not to get stomped so often. But that's all in the distant past now. It's all green and it's all good.

Sheesh. Tough crowd.

Thanks. If it's any consolation, if Mendoza comes back and the defense has a good year, I don't think anyone here will be remembered for backing him more vociferously than you did.

http://public.fotki.com/cubanprncs81/fiu_s...vs-north-texas/ The box score from the AP claimed 10,000 people attended. 9,000 of them must have been in the bathroom during these shots.

Not sure I follow you here, GreenBat. I think it's a mistake to bring Coach Mendoza back, but I'm prepared to live with it.

No one is talking about running Coach Dodge out of town.

Y'all should live in Florida. You have no idea how hard these fans are on the Florida Gators, or what they were like when Ron Zook was head coach.

I've been supporting this program since 1988. Do you think that if you insult people here long enough, the last season will magically stop sucking and we'll pick up a couple of wins retroactively?

The idea that we were patient with Dickey and are not being patient with Dodge is not true. Dickey was on the verge of being fired when the Mean Green began their conference win streak. He saved his job with on-field success. Weird concept, eh?

Dumb question. I'd rather be 4-8 or 5-7 under Coach Dodge, which is what North Texas would have been with an average defense.