The Fake Lonnie Finch

I would say the shellacking at OU started it, and it began to spiral when Meager was pulled after the 600+ yard game at SMU. Dodge had some nice, experienced players on the roster when he arrived. He chose to give more playing time to younger players. He chose it, and he's reaped it ever since. I only feel bad for Vizza in that he was part of two QB controversies. He bailed out on the second one. He should have been redshirting the 2007 season and playing his junior year now. He never should have had to worry about Riley Dodge even sniffing the field at QB...because he never would have at the other 119 FBS schools. Vizza got out of the way so that the Dodge's could live their poorly imagined fantasy of father coaching son at QB in college. It was a disaster from many standpoints - our won-loss record, QB recruiting, and Riley's own health. Dodge just didn't understand the game at this level. Neither did his assistants. Football isn't football at all levels, as he supposed and tried to convince us (...and...some here believed him!). Dodge will be gone soon. We hope RV will do the correct thing and have a guy hired by December 1. We need a head coach in the houses of JUCO QBs, OLs, and DLs before the mid-December JUCO signing date. We need more experienced players to go through spring practice. We're going to be thin enough with graduations to simply hope JUCO guys qualify during the summer and can actually play once they are on campus in August. Time is of the essence for us. The 2011 season can be as big as the Tulsa turnaround from 1-11 in 2002 to 8-5 and a bowl in 2003 if RV makes the right hire and makes it fast!

Dude, he's gone.

The only thing I don't like is that they seem to slack off on the weekends.

I'm a fan of Kragthorpe. Although, some here harbor some resentment toward him because of things he said about UNT after he left. I could care less. Darrell Dickey said some things as well - and, they were all true. I'm not for painting over crap with sunshine. If Kragthorpe won't blow sunshine up my a*s, I'm fine with that. As long as he wins. We're in a lot better position facility-wise now than when he was briefly here in 1994. He's proven his stuff isn't BCS worthy. But, I can speak firsthand that he took a very crappy Tulsa program on the verge of dropping down to I-AA and turned them into a winner in year one. He can do it with a mid-major: Tulsa during my law school years, 2000-2002, coached by Keith Burns: 2000: 5-7 2001: 1-10 (sole victory over I-AA Indiana State) 2002: 1-11 (sole victory over 2-10 UTEP) Burns' 2000 Tulsa squad began the season 3-2, then reeled off a Dodge-esque 4-26 record to finish off his three seasons. Kragthorpe was the Buffalo Bills QB coach, but had family in Tulsa, so the AD called him and he agreed to give it a shot: 2003: 8-5, Humanitarian Bowl 2004: 4-8 2005: 9-4, Conference USA Champions, Liberty Bowl winners 2006: 8-5, Armed Forces Bowl Kragthorpe is living it Tulsa, so the move isn't that far. I stand unopposed to 8- and 9-win seasons and bowl games. I think he could do it here. The Tulsa program was in as bad a shape as ours is now when he took over. Plus, they had no new stadium waiting for Kragthorpe. They simply began renovations on their oversized high school stadium that my mom cheered at when she was in high school back in the 1960s. Pathetic. In my opinion, Kragthorpe along with other proven Mid-Major builders John L. Smith, Dennis Franchione, Steve Logan, and Jeff Bower should already have had their phone rung by Rick Villareal...like in the fourth quarter of last week's game already.

This place is starting to suck because of all of the back and forth about Dodge. For those who oppose Dodge: Isn't it good enough that he's gone? Who cares what he says now? Nobody. We already know that. For those who support Dodge: Just accept the fact that he couldn't do it at this level and move on. No one cares how nice he is. Most coaches are nice. Everyone just move along. The thing I do resent about RV hiring Dodge is that it never healed the fanbase. It stayed fractured for the entire four year tenure. Please, RV, for peace and brotherhood among the fanbase, please hire someone who the fanbase can fully support...or, at least someone who has the credentials that should warrant full support.

Name: Fake Lonnie to you, Kevin to those who know me best (and worst) Coaching experience: None, unless you count intramural flag football Age: I was born in the Summer of '69, the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, just a few weeks before the moon landing, Woodstock, and the Miracle Mets! Why I'd be a great hire: -I'd be like Barry Switzer and Mack Brown...I'd physically be there, but the assistants would be doing the work. -I love Florida and would recruit it on my own dime...in between visits to the beach. -Everything except buying the Pepsi to stock my office mini-fridge would be delegated...no Diet Coke boy wandering around the complex. -I'd be honest after every loss, beginning post game interviews with some version of "Well, we f*cked that thing up royally tonight, didn't we?" -I'd give the offensive coordinator full control of the offense and the defensive coordinator full control of the defense...crazy, right? -I speak the Spanish well enough to recruit kickers straight out of Mexico, giving the squad an international flavor and following...possibly a television deal with Telemundo. Why I'd be a bad hire: -I'd want to wear a button down shirt and tie like Landry and Paterno...no cheesy, brand-driven, annually-changing sideline wear for me. -I like billboard advertising. -I would demand a darker, football team-only shade of green for the uniforms and helmets. -I like a snack during games and might miss a play or two per game running down the hot dog vendor...which would be fine because the assistants would be calling the plays anyway. -At sporting events, my wife is very enthusiastic - some would say, overly so. She'd be calling me an idiot louder than most of the other fans around her. And, who would know better than her? No one. After years of marriage, I can vouch for this - no one. Expected compensation: $7k per month, plus a year's supply of butter pecan ice cream; an all expenses paid trip to Chuck E. Cheese's if we win the Belt; four family passes to Six Flags if we win the national title.

Thank for the contract post, gangrene. Contracts are fun to read! I get tired of reading lease agreements for our customers. Good to read a different kind of contract for a change.

What I find interesting is that in 2002, a private not-for-profit foundation was established to help fund USF athletics. That's how you become a major player these days. And, it makes sense. With a foundation established, you can continually fund things like coaches salaries with annuities, bonds...whatever. The money you get in donations to the foundation keeps making money for the school.

University firing without cause: 75% of salaray + television/radio/endorsements (shoe money) 2010: $800,000 + $900,000 = $1,275,000 - Amount paid by subsequent coaching job 2011: $850,000 + $950,000 = $1,350,000 - Amount paid by subsequent coaching job 2012: $900,000 + $1,000,000 = $1,425,000 - Amount paid by subsequent coaching job 2013: $950,000 + $1,050,000 = $1,500,000 - Amount paid by subsequent coaching job 2014: $1,000,000 + $1,100,000 = $1,575,000 - Amount paid by subsequent coaching job TOTAL: $7,125,000 - Amounts paid by subsequent coaching job "If the University terminates this Agreement without cause, Coach agrees to use reasonable efforts to obtain similar football related position between date of termination and the term the contract would have otherwise concluded." That is the clause that says he has to look to similar employment. USF could argue he didn't look in 2010, so they don't owe him 2010 money. Dennis Franchione, on the other hand, obviously does this because his clause with Texas A&M was similar. University firing with cause: 1/12 of adjusted base pay rate (salary) only: 2009 salary: $750,000 x 1/12 = $62,500

Agreed. Any school stupid enough to fire Glen Mason after his fielding his fifth consecutive bowl sqaud - and 7th in 10 years - deserves all the bad it gets. I'd love to have the kind of Glen Mason-type success that Minnesota looked down upon.

I can't freaking believe Jeff Horton is the interim coach! I've got a friend who played linebacker for him at UNLV; said the guy is a total douche. But, the article made Brewster sound like a total douche as well, so it's not surprising they'd end up on the same coaching staff. Jeff F'ing Horton. Unbelievable.

..and, there's a bye week. Plenty of time for minds to run wild before the next game.

It's ugly if he stays. It's ugly if he goes. Nothing of Todd Dodge, that's just the way things are for any school in this situation. For example, I doubt Minnesota runs the table in the Big Ten now that Brewster is gone. It take spring and fall to get your game philosophy and techniques installed. If they aren't working by this point in the season, there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do about it. Ditto on if someone comes mid-season. It's not like you've got all of this time to orient the team in a new direction over the span of a few days. I'd say, keep Dodge until it's over. If you are going to fire or reassign, wait until after the next loss. But, let him coach to the end either way. Although...I hope againt all hope the next loss isn't to WKU. It's hard enough to stomach that FIU ended their long losing streak against us back in 2007. WKU has a similarly long losing streak going. If we end up being their streak buster as well...it'll be too much.

It's not really "sticking it to" anyone if that's the way the contract is written. I mean, if Navy didn't have the clause whereby they stopped paying Weatherbie if he found another coaching job, then it's their own fault. As I've said before, you've got to make sure you're covered for all contingencies - mainly, a coach leaving too early because he's successful and someone else money whips him or a coach being fired before a contract is finished. Either way, a contract is a contract. I'd like to see Leavitt's contract. My guess is, he's in litigation because there was a clause allowing USF to terminate him without pay under certain circumstances. Also, a positive court outcome for him, might "clear" his name among potential employers. Although...his resume is good enough to get him in the door anyway. Schools with alot of pressure to win will gamble on guys who have won. Rick Neuheisel, anyone? Trouble following Butch Davis from port to port? If you've won at the BCS level, someone will give you another shot.

...against their former employers, Texas Tech and South Florida: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/benched_coaches_shooting_back/ This is actually a pretty good read from the ABA journal about coaching and the law, and how much is at stake these days for both the school and the coaches. If anyone has a copy somewhere of those links that have the coaching contracts, please link a copy of Leavitt's. Odds are it will contain a clause saying USF owes him nothing more if he finds gainful employment elsewhere. His current suit seeks the $7 million USF still owed him. If the future employment clause does exist within his USF contract, our deal would have to be sweet enough to match what he might be granted should he win the suit. As to Mark Mangino, he and Kansas made a final settlement that I'll have to look up again. I don't believe his settlement precluded him working again. As I recall, it was a full and final settlement. ... I've discussed all of this before. Schools will include these clauses to protect themselves from paying on multiple contracts. For example, Darrell Dickey's contract didn't include the clause, so we had to keep paying him even though Utah State hired him a few months after we fired him. Many of these clauses will also stipulate that the coach must continue to seek opportunities within the profession in order to keep receiving payments. Then, if they do find other coaching jobs, the payments end. That is part of the reason why you see coaches, such as Dennis Franchione, applying for coaches spots that open up after every season. The former school make the contract so that the coaches, if fired, can't just sit at home and collect paychecks. Back in the 1990s, Oklahoma fired Gary Gibbs without either clause. As a results, they paid him until 2000. He collected checks from OU for the 1995 through 1999 seasons. In fact, during the 1999 season, OU was paying three head coaches - Bob Stoops, John Blake, and Gary Gibbs. And, you think we've got problems! Gary Gibbs began to sell insurance during his down time. So, he collected two paychecks during that time period. Once OU's obligations ran out, he got back into the coaching business, becoming Georgia's defensive coordinator in 2000. Most schools have wised up to this and now include the clause that requires the former coaches to actively seek employment in the coaching profession. ... I'd like to have Jim Leavitt, but with his lawsuit still hanging out there, the amount needed to draw him is going to be near the $7 million he was due on his final USF contract. If I were RV, I would call his agent, at minimum, to see exactly how confident they are in winning and how eager he is to get back into coaching. Such would be proper due diligence on RV's part in keeping with his responsibilities to find us a competitive, competent coach. In addition, I'd be on the phone with all other formers who have built successful programs - Steve Logan, Jeff Bower, Dennis Franchione, Glen Mason, etc.

This intrigues me. Leavitt is as solid as they come on defense. He also has ties to former Kansas State coaches like Mark Mangino, who was also outsted from his job over a weird player accusation. I'd be fine with Leavitt as head coach, Canales as OC, and Mangino as OL coach or co-offensive coordinator. He was the offensive coordinator at OU when they won their title in 2000. It's well known that Kansas is bombing without Mangino. South Florida began the 2007-2009 seasons 6-0, 5-0, and 5-0 respectively. This year, their first without Leavitt, they are 3-3 and 0-2 in the Big East. Let's let Kansas' and South Florida's mistake in firing those guys be our gain.

Guys, Rick won't make the same mistake twice. I've got more faith in him than I used to. It took alot of guts for him to call a guy like me cold and call me to the carpet for some of my criticisms of Dodge after the 2008 season. But, you know what? Rick heard me out. Whether he believed the criticisms I brought up on that day, I don't know. I know he believes me now. The results are too overwhelming not to. I didn't support what he did when he hired Dodge back in 2006, but I respect that he took the gamble and the criticism for it. He kept moving forward with the stadium plan - which, considering the meat of it has taken place in what is now three years worth of awful economic times - and has been more successful than I imagined. I didn't believe it would happen until it started physically happening. Give Rick a break. With the money at the time, he did what he felt he could. He wants to win as badly as we do. He gambled and lost this time. But, deal him in again. With the stadium as a chip, he'll come up a winner this time.

Maryland will be next. Colorado's annual Big 12 collapse is occurring as well. The loss to FIU leaves us with only two realistically winnable games left - WKU and ULM. It is impossible to go 4-4 in the Belt now. Rick Villareal - or whichever of your minions is trolling the board for you these days - it's time to start making the phone calls. Do not let this thing get ahead of you. Many jobs will open up from now until the end of the season. Do the right thing. Get an experienced program builder hired before December 1 so he can assemble a staff and be out on the road before the early JUCO signing period ends. Sad about all of this. Feel bad for the players. Feel bad for the coaches who didn't begin this rocky gamble but will be caught up in the painful end of it. No more gambles. No more gambles. No more gambles.

Wonder how the players on the losing end of 59-7 feel about Mangino yelling at them now? Coddling them doesn't seem to be working as well.

1. North Texas, undergrad 2. Tulsa, grad school 3. Colleges from cities and states where I have relatives, ex-wives, and former lovers: Various Texas schools, Oklahoma schools, Arkansas schools, Alabama schools, Missouri schools, Houston schools, West Virginia schools, Pennsylvania schools, Florida schools, New Mexico schools, Utah schools, North Carolina schools, Massachusetts schools, etc. 4. Western Michigan and Nebraska.

Does the secretary offer anything of value? Sex is boring and fascist. Is there any free Pepsi involved for the pillow talk afterwards? Maybe a slice of pecan pie? If not, then fire her for sexual harassment; but keep, Dodge if we can go 4-4 in the Belt in 2010.

I see both sides, but I really do hope it answers itself beginning this weekend. Most people inside and outside the program expect us to lose based upon what FIU has done against it's BCS foes. Well, we didn't do too bad against Clemson. Part of me wishes Rick Villareal had played the safer route four years ago and just hired a college coach right off the bat. That's what I wanted then. And, if Dodge is fired or reassigend, it's what I'll want. But, you've got to give this thing a chance to play out with this staff. I think if we lose this weekend and go on the road and lose for the first time to WKU, all arguments are gone. However, while there is a sliver of hope for this coaching staff - yes, late assembled and, probably to some degree, grudgingly assembled - let's go ahead and have some hope. Hope is a night and day different defense than we've seen in four years. Hope is a special teams that really is playing well. Hope is an offensive coordinator who is building safe, ball control offenses around third and fourth team quarterbacks. I think Mr. Mosely is right. Todd Dodge has paid for his sins - and so has Rick Villareal. Many of us have spoken to one or the other of them personally about it. The ship is righted. We list only because of the injuries this season. In past years, we were sinking. Are some of you really believing that the results would be the same if Micah Mosely, J.J. Johnson, Nathan Tune and many other starters and projected starters hadn't been injured? After we beat FAU with third teamers? After we came within a lash of ASU with a fourth team walk on? Come on, you all. In the past, I'm the one who didn't have faith in this thing. But, honesty is honesty. I can't compare this season with any from 2007 to 2009. Those squads would have given vastly different results had the 2010 coaching staff been in place. Can we all at least agree that if we can - and, I can't believe I'm saying this about this team - "upset" FIU then go beat WKU again that there will be some glimmer of hope that this thing is righted?

First of all, for those who neg-speked Micah Mosely's dad...come on. This guy's invested in this thing much more than any of us. Second, I agree with what Mr. Mosely says, but only as far as the 2010 season goes. I've written this week and last how sad it is that UNT finally has the right coaching staff in place, but only to have the season lost due to injuries. But, the long and short of it is, Todd Dodge will bear the brunt of poor decision-making from the day of his hire: (1) Not making a full commitment to UNT upon hire. He jacked around in high school playoffs instead. (2) He hired an incompetent coaching staff, comprised mainly of high school coaches, and even one businessman who hadn't coached even so much as high school ball in 13 years. (3) He largely neglected recruiting for the defensive side of the ball, believing - erroneously - that his offense could overcome any defensive shortcomings. (4) He mishandled the quarterback position to the degree that, because of injury, we now rely on walk-ons at the position. Rick Villareal does not escape blame, folks. Rick had been a college football coach before going into the administrative side. He should have known better than anyone that the competition level between high school football and FBS-level football was a gap too wide to be bridged by high school coaches. But, Rick let Todd Dodge hire in all of those assistants. He let him hire in a guy who had been out of coaching for 13 years. Then, he acted indignant when people became critical of the direction of the program after the 1-11 season in 2008. Along with the blame, though, Rick deserves credit for regaining his sanity and forcing Dodge to jettison the remaining high school coaches after the 2009 season and replace them with two thorough professionals in the field. That injuries have given those coaches a tough hand to play is the shame in all of it. As noted yesterday, three years of Deloach are paying off on the defensive side of the ball. Do we even hazard a guess as to how much more lost this thing would be if Gandy hadn't begun to recruit out side the DFW area, picking up gems from Louisiana and the Mississippi JUCOs? I agree with Mr. Mosely to the degree that it is a shame that injuries are hurting this particular coaching staff. But, the problem is, Todd Dodge - with Rick Villareal's approval - let this thing slip so far competitively and depth-wise that the margin of error was necessarily thin for him for this season. However, as much as I've personally criticized the man and his motives and moves, Todd Dodge is to be given his due to standing aside and letting others take more control of the situation. That's not an easy thing to do in any field ego-wise. And, coaching is a very macho field. I believe the CEO approach would have been the wiser approach in 2007-2009. But, better late than never. I stand by my pre-season assertion that a 4-4 record in the Sun Belt is good enough to buy Dodge the fifth season of his contract. I am wholly unconcerned about the out of conference. We played Clemson well. Lost Nathan Tune on what could have been a game-winning drive against Rice. The rug was completely pulled from beneath the offense when Derek Thompson broke his leg in the first quarter of the Army game. K-State...well, as much as I dreamed of victory over them, they look exceptional this season...except when they are playing Nebraska. Anyone who doesn't think a 4-4 Belt record with all of the injuries the offensive side of the ball has suffered isn't an indication that the 2010 coaching staff would be the right staff to continue in 2011 really is, as Mr. Mosely says, a Dodge-hater.

All of this is already known because we went over it the past two off-seasons. The problem is - once we beat FIU and WKU, we'll be on the verge of breaking even for the year and will have crossed the Darrell Dickey 3-Win Threshold at long last. Then, you will all have egg on your faces for doubting this coaching staff. DO NOT underestimate the power of this battle station! IT IS fully operational as you, and Princess Leia, will see on Saturday!

UTSA got Larry Coker with no team fielded yet. UTEP has Mike Price. Tulane has Bob Toledo. UCF has George O'Leary. Those are the only examples off the top of my head of former BCS-level coaches now at non-AQs. The thing is, many coaches want a second shot. I doubt Tulane is paying Toledo anywhere near what he was making at UCLA. Ditto O'Leary with what he was making at Georgia Tech. Guys are out there. I hope we do well enough over the final six games to give this current coaching staff another shot at it. But, if we don't, I think there are probably a good dozen veteran coaches who would give this thing a shot. Especially with the new stadium on the way.