The Fake Lonnie Finch

Look everyone- Former Pitt and Stanford head coach Walt Harris is an assistant at Akron for $75k - Ford was making more than that! There are former head coaches who have already made their retirement dough who will stand on the sidelines of mid-majors - even as assistants! Everyone here wants to sell this thing short. We can't do that. Good coaches will come here...but, you have to go ahead and ask them. You can't bury your head in the sand and pretend you can't do something when proof otherwise is all over the mid-major landscape.

It was the Flexbone. The upshot, if this is what is occuring, is that we have good tailbacks...and Petersen would also possibly lobby for a...drumroll, please...fullback or two! Also, he has experience in designing offenses where the quarterback isn't standing in the shotgun 100% of the time. Again, if this happens, I don't think Petersen changes the big picture of what Dodge does. I think we'll still be a pass-first team. But, I think Petersen and Dodge together could easily scheme in what Petersen knows in order to get the maximum production out of our tailbacks...and, again...the possibility of FULLBACKS!!!

Agreed. And, since Louisville gave him a $2.2 million dollar parting gift, perhaps he'd consider a mere $275k a year to resurrect our program and his reputation. Even if he uses us as a stepping stone, if he turn us around the way he did Tulsa we'd have some appeal to the next coach down the line.

ULM game? Look, the truth is, we haven't seen a complete game out of this team for three years under Dodge. Not one. They're in it for a quarter, they're out of it for three. Well-prepared teams don't loll in and out of games year after year after year. Anyway, as I told Rick last spring, what goes on behind the scenes doesn't sell tickets. Texas fans don't care how many DWI's their players rack up - unless they start losing. Tennessee fans will still show up even though three players were arrested for robbery. It doesn't matter - unless they are losing. The majority of kids in every program are good and doing well. And, every one has some bad apples as well. But, truthfully, most of those aren't necessarily bad apples, but just kids who made mistakes. It happens. I think it's a slap at the good kids who played under Dickey to continually throw them under the bus for Dodge's inability to get his team to perform right on the field for 60 minutes 36 games into his tenure. But, Rick's job is to reach beyond those of us who are already paying cutomers. We are easy. We have degrees and will be there no matter what. Rick's job is to get those beyond the UNT grad. If he can't do that, he shouldn't be the athletic director. There are plenty of coaches out there who run clean programs andwin. We're in the Sun Belt Conference, not the Big 12 or SEC. The climb isn't as steep as some want us to believe. Rick needs to go out and get coaches who don't make excuses about the past (coaches) or present (youth), but who will go out and win.

I had a meeting yesterday, too, with a guy from the Far East who complained about percentage of Mexicans in the area where his store is. I didn't bother pointing out to him that without the Mexicans, no one would be in his store in the first place. Everyone's money is green, fella.

Not that so much. Just seeing them both on the sidelines walking around.

The Caddy? How about Tiger's head? His wife did quite a number on him. Married fellas, let this be a lesson to you - don't take whores to Australia when you're married. You'd think Tiger would have known this based on the whole thing with the South Carolina governor deal.

I'd like to see Weis and Mangino at Monroe, both on the sideline. That'd really be something. I'm not always crazy about the Cajun people, but the food is good as well as the atmosphere. Louisiana is a very entertaining place. I like to grab a bite and have a look around at it every now and again.

Um, Florida State and North Texas are different animals. FSU's recruiting is going to be fine no matter who is coaching. Us, not so much. Either way, they aren't wasting time making changes at Arkansas-Pine Bluff: http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2009/...rts/sports1.txt

They've got a great Waffle House in Monroe. I try to stop there on my way back and forth to Florida. You can get grits. Charlie Weis could, too, if he'd take the job there.

I think the jury is in on whether Dodge can turn this thing around, but the cousel doesn't like the verdict...or, the cost of the defense of the case.

I think the decision's already been made and they're now giving us the Tiger Woods treatment.

Weis in Monroe...book it.

Sun Belt Individual Statistics: http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2009/Internet/con...00000818PD.HTML

Could one of the offers be from us? After all, Louisville just gave him $2.2 million to leave, so he ain't hurting financially. And, he says he's moving back to Tulsa. The man likes this region. Hopefully RV will at least give him a holla. http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/...oad-out-of-town

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091130/SPORTS/711309920 "Neuheisel could use a lesson in defeat management. In 2007, North Texas lost a game at Oklahoma, 79-10, in part because Todd Dodge, the North Texas coach, kept passing the ball."

Well, Mr. OGdog078, consider this...Todd Dodge signed Jeremy Knott and didn't bother to sign anyone else. So, where does the fault really lie? This goes to the heart of what I've argued here for the past couple of years - the "Dodge is a great recruiter" line is bunk. The guy didn't know FBS talent from a hole in the ground. So far, he's had many more misses than hits. But, why should Dodge be held accountable? He'd never been a college footbal coach at the highest level before. He deserved the chance to waste our time with a never-ending learning curve on everything from recruiting to what to do in short yardage situations, right?

Yeah. I remember. That was my first year at UNT. I didn't understand it then...and, I don't understand it now. We traded his competitive football for a high school coach from Marshall. So stupid.

Unbelievable. This was a guy who just went 6-6 with new QBs. Did someone give ULM some money or what? To me, this kind of firing is absurd. The guy overachieved with the roster he had this year. But, I suppose ULM is raising the stake. If, as some posters on their board suggest, they are really going after the youngest Stoops brother, you've got to wonder where the money is all of the sudden coming from. Weatherbie was one of the lowest paid coaches in college football. I think Mark Stoops made double what Weatherbie makes. If they can pull off hiring someone like that, and we stand pat...we are really falling further behind.

Mathematical equations don't win games.

I'd be happy to be complacently in a bowl game every season. Look at what moving beyond "complacency" has done for Michigan as well.

Really? In our conference games, there was only one game where we didn't trail by at least two touchdowns at some point in the game. That was the FIU game, and we still lost it. Final scores can be deceiving. We lost to many teams this season that were riddled with injuries or breaking in new quarterbacks, and they still jumped on us early enough to hold onto victories. At full strength, and with the benefit of experience, many of those teams that "only" beat us by a touchdown or less would have pummeled us. Look, we've got one year at this thing. The offensive line is going to be as deep as it can be next year, but will be breaking in alot of new players in 2011. Ditto on the defensive side of the ball. Everyone focuses too much on the stadium part of 2011. The real issue is depth and experience, and whether or not we have coaches who can get young players up to speed in a hurry. Currently, we have only one coach who seems to be able to do that - Shelton Gandy. The truth of the matter is that unless some changes are made, 2011 - new stadium and all - would likely be another bust year with Dodge on board. The roster is just shaking out that way. We need a fresh approach. We won't get it with Dodge and the current staff as it exists. They are too much on the "we're young" excuse wagon. Well, they're going to be young again on the lines in 2011. So, do we really want to break it in with another season with a litany of excuses about being young? Especially when we watched a bunch of "young" teams beat us this season?

I heard that this morning as well. Sounded to me like Jub still wanted Dodge on board. Jub's defenses and excuses were, of course, all related to off the field stuff. It's old. Every college coach in America deals with off the field stuff. Mack Brown had yet another player arrested for DWI this weekend. Tennessee had three or four involved in a robbery. Everyone has injuries on top of all of those things. And, yet, some coaches find way to win in spite of all the falderall off the field. The fact of the matter is that there are some coaches who can handle the off the field stuff without it messing up the product on the field. Todd Dodge cannot. It seems that he must plod along, doing one thing at a time. First we'll do this, then we'll do that...maybe we'll win, maybe we won't. But, we care. And, that's the other thing that's overblown. The vast majority of college coaches care for their players. It's not like we stumbled upon some sort of anomaly in Dodge. Coaches are just about 100% churchgoers with families that take good pictures and have neat, clean lives. There are very few exceptions. So, believing that this should even be factored in is nothing more than an excuse for the poor on the field product.

I have family in Arkansas, so I follow the Razorbacks. They never seem to be able to get over the hump. They forced Nutt out, for sure. Regardless, to me, they are like Auburn and Clemson and so many other programs - if a guy is winning and taking you to bowl games, be happy. The changes they have made haven't been dramatic. I'd argue they weren't even really necessary. The problem at those schools is that if you have one blip, you're gone. And, the blip can even be a bowl season! And, that's where I don't understand the people who say Todd Dodge had it tough here. The media coverage, fan interest, and overall expectations at North Texas are so low that they are just about off the radar.

The Bar Was Set Low...But, Baby We Crossed It! Mario Christobal, FIU: 8 wins in three seasons priors, 9 wins since taking the job. Robb Akey, Idaho: 9 wins in three seasons prior, 10 wins since taking the job with a bowl game remaining. Bill Lynch, Indiana: 12 wins in three seasons prior, 14 wins since taking the job, including a bowl game in 2007. Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State: 15 wins and one bowl season in the three season prior, 16 wins and one bowl season (2008) since taking the job. David Bailiff, Rice: 11 wins and one bowl season prior in the three seasons prior, 15 wins and one bowl season (2008) since taking the job. Art Briles, Baylor: 7 wins in the two seasons prior, 8 wins since taking the job. Steve Fairchild, Colorado State: 7 wins in the two seasons prior, 10 wins and a bowl game (2008) since taking the job. Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois: 9 wins and one bowl season in the two seasons prior, 13 wins and a bowl season, possibly two, since taking the job. June Jones, SMU: 7 wins in the two seasons prior, 8 wins and a bowl game since taking the job. The Bar Was Set Low...But, We Still Couldn't Make It Neil Callaway, UAB: 15 wins and one bowl in the three seasons prior, 11 wins and no bowls since taking the job. Todd Dodge, North Texas: 12 wins and one bowl in the three seasons prior, 5 wins since taking the job. Bob Toledo, Tulane: 11 wins in the three seasons prior, 9 wins since taking the job. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA: 13 wins and two bowls in the two seasons prior, 10 wins and an outside shot at a bowl (6-6) since taking the job. Paul Wulff, Washington State: 11 wins in the two seasons prior, 3 wins since taking the job. The Bar Was Set Pretty Low And I Wracked My Jimmies Trying To Get Over It Derek Dooley, Louisiana Tech: 16 wins and a bowl game in the three seasons prior, 16 wins and a bowl season since taking over.