The Fake Lonnie Finch

I'll admit that I only read the first post and skimmed through the rest. What I have to say is no surprise: part of the problem with the defense has been the offense (and special teams) giving the ball away resulting in short fields for the opponent - week after week after week, year in and year out. It wears on a defense to be put back on the field in bad positions all the time. If it were an occassional occurrence, that's one thing. But, turning the ball over is the most consistent thing Dodge's offense has done since he's been here. That will change under Canales. Dodge and Ford are no longer going to be calling plays. Dodge has even turned over the reigns to Canales to groom the quarterbacks. I'm not worried about that side of the ball anymore. As far as the defense, the progression has been: 2007: Nine returning starters wasted on a high school defensive coordinator, DL coach, and secondary coach from the business world 2008: Many inexperienced players under Deloach in his first season back - and the DL still being led by a high school coach 2009: An 11 point improvement under Deloach and new DL coach Nelson 2010 will be even better. The defensive side of the ball will be in its third season under Deloach. After figuring out 25 WRs on a roster doesn't help a college football program, the addition of defensive recruits in 2009 and this year will give Deloach and Nelson even more to build with. Under Dodge and Ford, the offense showed no similar 11 point jump from season-to-season. The only constant was the turnovers and failure to nail down short yardage situations. Ford's departure and Dodge's decision to step out of the picture and just "be used as a resource" as he put it ( ), combined with the addition of a bona fide BCS-level offensive coordinator will give our offense the rocket fuel to take off in 2010. We've got pros in charge now on both sides of the ball, so we don't have to worry about Todd "Resource" Dodge and Todd "I'm back at the high school level where I belong" Ford mucking up the works. Be thankful.

Scouts, Inc. lists him as a WKU commit, last update 1/31/2009 - must've happened yesterday or today.

My trust is in Canales, Deloach, Nelson, Gandy, Leftwich, and Gahagan. Dodge, since agreeing to turn over the playcalling and training of QBs to Canales, is no more than a side issue to me now. We now have guys on both sides of the ball with enough experience at this level calling the shots. Dodge can go sit up in the press box, eat hot dogs and drink Diet Cokes for all I care. He won't be the one calling the shots anyway - and, it's the best career move he's ever made! Think of the upside for Dodge in giving up control to people who actually know what they're doing - he can become a Mack Brown-, Bobby Bowden-, Joe Pa-like figurehead in his mid-40s instead of having to wait until his 70s. Maybe he can borrow Bowden's old golf cart to go to and from practice and sit in the shade while Canales gets us ready for 2010.

Grothe does look startled, doesn't he?

Here's another potential issue to chew on...Canales doesn't use a Dan Hawkins Play Calling Wrist Band the way Todd Dodge did. And, he called plays from the sideline, not the booth. That's two issues. Problems? How will Canales know what to do without the Dan Hawkins Play Calling Wrist Band? What does he hope to gain by being on the sideline?

This is what I want to see in 2010... ...after we win the Belt in 2010, I want Todd Dodge to don the Scrappy head and run around Fouts Field giving the fans a high five.

Okay...look, though...was I wrong before? I mean, we were 5-31 from 2007 to 2009 with three wins against hapless Western Kentucky. And, I mean, wins over hapless Western Kentucky that were genuine, unnecessarily hard-fought struggles. Dadgum near everyone else took the candy from the baby with WKU. For us, it was like wrestling King Kong for the last banana in the bunch! It was pitiful, terribly pitiful. I've always claimed that the right coach and coaching staff can turn a program around in one season. I've given ample examples from big schools, little schools, BCS schools, non-BCS schools, public schools, private schools. We will now see if I'm right about the coaching thing. If I am, I promise to gloat as much in a positive manner about being right as I did in a negative manner about...being right.

So, you think he's retaining the role of clock manager? That may shoot this thing all to hell!

Carry the Diet Coke cans?

I hear you on the D-line. I really do. In fact, earlier this week I lamented the fact that we didn't have anyone on board. I'm placing my faith in Charr to work the fat off of Shavod so he can be more effective this year. Also, you look at what we have and it's admittedly raw. It's young - DTs White and Cantly are big guys who should grow into run stoppers. At DE - your looking at LaChris Anyiam and John Webber in the 280s. This can be a big wall of a line. Last year there were too many new parts with a new coach; but, they were still more productive than anything Robert Drake ever ran out there (and he did so with more experienced players!). To me, it's a time and who's-in-charge thing: Mike Nelson, who shaped run-stopping DLs with Dan McCarney at Iowa State during their mid 90s-to mid-00s run of good defenses Gary Deloach, the architect of our old shut down defenses of the ealry 00s Charr Gahagan, who will have worked with the players for a full year by the time fall rolls around The thing has to evolved. Remember this thing was in shambles when Dodge came in and tried to let high school coaches run it. The Big Boy Coaches got it down 11 points per game with some young guys last year. This is year two of Big Boy Coaches all around for the defense. I don't see how it couldn't get better. My worry was always the offense and its ding dong playcalling, critical turnovers, and inability to make in-game adjustments to what was being thrown at them. They often put the defense in bad positions last year. I truly think Canales can eliminate the mistakes - and certainly have more credible gameplan and be able to tweak it in-game. Combine that with what should be natural maturing of the defense under Deloach and Nelson, ans I think you'll be joining me on the new, excited Mean Green alumni side of things.

As Jub-Jub and the Musers would say, yes...this hire gets my football pants excited! And, it's about time. It's been a long time since I've been excited about anything in the program. I'd been whoring myself out to my grad school alma mater's athletic department as a result.

Whatever you did to make the finances on this thing work, thank you! And, thank you Todd Dodge, for taking a 21st Century/CEO approach to leading an FBS program that many successful coaches at this level take. You will not be disappointed! I can't believe how giddy I am at this hire! I never thought I'd see anyone of this caliber at UNT. This defense under Deloach and Nelson, I believe, will be good for another 11 point drop in points again to the mid-20s range. And, the offense under Canales, I'm sure will be good for another 10-15 per game. Damn this is big!

Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! This move will guarantee that Dodge is back in 2011...if he isn't hired away after the big turn around we are about to have! I will now go out on a limb and say that we will win the Sun Belt Conference in 2010. That's how much I believe in this hire, last year's hire of Mike Nelson and Charr Gahagan, and our defense's third full season under Gary Deloach. There is no defense that will confuse this offensive coordinator. And, as shown in the youtube posting on another thread, he will stick the quarterback under center with two tight ends blocking and hand the ball to a tailback down near the goal line. In short, Canales isn't trying to be cute and fancy when six points are on the line - he just goes and gets the six points! Huge! This is huge! This is Tiger Woods calling his mistress and asking her to remove her name identifier from her cell phone calls huge!

Ah, yes! The dreaded tight end! Here's highlights of the USF win over Western Kentucky from last year...first play shown? From the 1...two tight end set, QB behind center...handoff...TOUCHDOWN! Rick, we have our man! He understands what to do at the goal line!

That's exactly where we are - six full-time. Actually, we know people in the industry who do just as well as we do or better with two or three employees fewer than that! This person came in and wowed our president with, what we now know, was just alot of talk. Sales is sales. You can either sell or you can't. The thing is, the person is actually a good worker, and probably is capable of doing more with that desk. The problem is - as is 99% of the cases - this person's family always seems to be having this problem or that. Never anything major, but always and consistently it's something that leads to timeoff requests that fall outside of our employee manual. (In a way, the cynic in me says that people like this try to take advantage of small businesses because you are on a more personal level. They are not going through some large corporate HR department which denies variances in policy without ever having to see the person face-to-face.) We'll adjust either way. What this person needs is to go back to work for a large company - the type that the Federal government forces to give time off, through things like FMLA, everytime a third cousin, twice removed, sneezes. We just can't do it and have that area of our business be consistent. If the person leaves, we'll simply circle the wagons and everyone will pitch in a little to that desk until we decide what to do with it. Fortunately, we're not rocket scientists, so it will be more of an annoyance than a difficulty.

This is the best news since we won the Sun Belt title in 2004! This is a big time get for us!

Okay, employee was given the option to stay with a pay cut. Probably a mistake, but it's hard to do this. Their little area is the smallest of our operation, and the money just isn't coming in there the way it is in other areas. Plus, this person has, in the past, been someone who has pushed the limits on company standards on sick days and vacation days. We're small, so we fly way beneath the radar on most Federal employment and labor laws. After this employee's sick days were used last year, we got a letter from a doctor saying that they would be off for a certian amount of days because of a sick spouse and wouldn't be able to return to work until a week later. Well, that's all nice FMLA language - but, it doesn't apply to companies our size. So, we called said employee and made clear in no uncertain terms that they were to return to work immediately. My guess is this person will leave. But, you never know which way a cat will jump.

I think we'll keep Orr because of his dad's ties to Todd Dodge. Vincent Eddie's loss frees up a scholarship offer for a player more ready to contribute immediately. ULM has gone 6-6 in two of the past three seasons. In the other season, a 4-8 campaign, they beat conference champ Troy. The situation with ULM isn't as dire as it is here. So, they can take a flyer in a guy at this point. I don't think we are in the same position - and, it hurts to say that considering it's ULM we're talking about.

Recruited B.J. Daniels to USF out of Tallahassee when FSU ignored the hometown boy: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/3086/3086 Recruited Willie Tuitama to Arizona: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/33996 http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=3662100 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/recruiting/os-recruiting-usf-commits-react-to-leavitt-firing,0,1977794.story http://southflorida.scout.com/2/928677.html

Easy - Walt Parker Field.

To honor Walt Parker? How about the possibly going real old school at homecoming and having '68' as the logo of the helmet for that game a la Alabama? RV's board-droppers...get his attention for something like this. Also, the new stadium...Walt Parker Stadium? Think about it. Who did more on and off the field for more years for North Texas than Walt?

Besides the obvious fact that he's developed games plans for I-A/FBS school for well over a decade, I think Canales would give us the opportunity to open the recruiting up beyond what we've seen in the past - even moreso than when Dickey was here. The guy was at Snow JC for years, and they are a regular JUCO power. His years of service there, added to what Gandy is already bringing to the table, would pretty much give us JUCO pull from coast to coast. Like Texas, Florida is a state that produces a wealth of football talent. Canales has been helping USF recruit against the instate Florida powers with some success. I like the idea of having that known connection to Florida prep coaches. There's alot of speed in Florida and if Canales could just bring in one per year that'd be a plus. And, Florida kids - like Texas kids - seem to have no reservation about leaving the state to get playing time. Sorry guys, I'm just excited that we really may be getting this guy on board. He's got experience in the Pac-10, the ACC, the Big East, and the NFL in additional to coaching with one of the godfathers of the college pass game, LaVell Edwards at BYU. This would be the biggest coaching hire at UNT since we had Hayden Fry on the sideline. I'm really hoping this dream comes true. We've needed some really great news here for a long time.

Cautious good news: We've looked at the numbers again and may be able to keep the full-timer. I'm hopeful that we can. It's not an integral position, but still one that would take much of our time otherwise to cover - and time is money. Looks like it's going to come down to the cost benefit of time of remaining employees covering the job versus staying the way it is. We are busy in other areas of business and don't exactly want to pull others away from their tasks, essentially adding more to their already full plates. One thing is for sure, the isn't fun.

Back to the issue at hand: Does anybody know if Canales has been contacted for any other job at another school? If not, is money the only sticking point?

I think there's an outside chance that Thompson is a guy that can see down the field and make better decisions. The problem is that we've only seen him for a handful of games in the waning seconds of the season against a defense that was playing back. I'd like to see the QB competition thrown wide open with Thompson and Tune getting the chance to see what they can do guiding the 1's in practice. I think Tune would be fine. Other than the interception against Ohio, he did well in the games he played. I still look at Riley and think of the ways he can create in open spaces and wonder why he would be moved to WR. QBs don't get alot of open spaces. I still maintain that'd he'd be a good punt and kickoff return man as well...once he learned to tuck the ball a little higher up when he's running.