The Fake Lonnie Finch

Silver, you're talking about two separate things. Over there, the Baalist government sponsors the beating of a 70 year old woman. It's a law on the books there. We don't have a similar law on our books, nor would we. Further in the case you discuss, the man was convicted of murder, but his sentence was given in light of the use of the "sudden passion" doctrine, which is not only on the books, but also well-established common law dating back well over 100 years. The crux of the matter lies in the intent of the criminal actor. In this case, the jury could have rejected the "sudden passion" issue brought during the sentencing phase. It didn't. And, in America, you get what you get when you have 12 random people deciding the fate of another - and basing that decision on the information presented by two attorneys and what is allowed by the judge...who is also a former attorney. Now, obviously, if you don't like the "sudden passion" defense, the best thing you can do, politically, is to vote for Republican judges. On the whole, conservative judges are less tolerant of such defenses than liberal judges. However, you may be one to vote straight ticket Democrat, thereby putting judges on the bench who are more lenient with defense attorneys and their clients. Better yet, you might vote for Republican legislators who are more likely to pass laws that make is harder for defense attorneys to get their clients off with such defenses as "sudden passion." In any case, you compare apples to oranges. We don't have laws on the book that call for beating women who have two unrelated men in their home. Saudi Arabia does.

Rick, cut Dodge some slack. It took him two years and 21 losses to figure out that a tight end might be useful for receiving, blocking and such at this level of play. Let him work up to fullback and putting the QB behind center. The way our athletic department works, I figure another 10 loss season will buy him a contract extension; and, therefore, more time to "grow" into the college game. Perhaps by the time UTSA is in Conference USA or the MWC, he'll finally have it all figured out.

No problem.

Correction: ULM starts spring practice today, and their website has a story and audio links from the head coach and players: http://www.ulmathletics.com/SportSelect.db...amp;SPSID=90583 Therefore, we are alone in our lack of information provided by the athletic department regarding spring practices.

Dude, this is why I drive in the slow lane these days. I don't care what's going on, I just let people pass if they want to pass. It isn't worth jumping over in the fast lane anymore, not with kids and a wife waiting at home. I drove past about a six car pile up this afternoon on 635, half of which was in the HOV lane, the other half in the "fast" lane. People just rush around too much anymore. It's not worth the risk.

March 16, 2009 We rival ULM in dearth of information UNT website, nothing about spring practice: http://www.meangreensports.com/SportSelect...&SPSID=9058 FIU website, daily spring pratice reports via TY Hilton player diary; head coach Cristobal wrote about the first week of practice: http://www.fiusports.com/SportSelect.dbml?...amp;SPSID=49159 FAU spring ball doesn't begin until March 25th. All practices are open to the public. Arkansas State website, practice reports posted: http://www.astateredwolves.com/SportSelect...amp;SPSID=35558 Troy spring ball doesn't begin until March 18th. ULM website, no updates, spring game is March 21st: http://www.ulmathletics.com/SportSelect.db...amp;SPSID=90583 ULL website, daily updates: http://www.ragincajuns.com/ViewArticle.dbm...;ATCLID=3690731 WKU spring ball doesn't begin until March 28th, a full schedule is posted on the website: http://www.wkusports.com/fls/5400/WKU%20Sp...ice%20Times.pdf MTSU website, spring ball opens today, full story: http://www.goblueraiders.com/section.cfm/sport/football

Exactly. We keep ourselves in a financial and political noose because we won't drill what we have offshore. That whole sandbox over there wasn't worth a squirt of piss until oil was discovered. Once Gaddaffi brought BP to their knees, the rest of the Arab world took notice and, eventually, took control of the worldwide market through OPEC. They only control it because we let them. And, we let them because of the envirowhackjobs that now infiltrate every walk of American life - from the Unabomber fringes to the falsely guilt-ridden, middle class church pews of the Rick Warrens of the world. Our dependence on foreign oil is the most unnecessary waste of time and resources going. If we drilled our own, OPEC would have no choice but to fall into line. We could stop wasting so much diplomatic time and effort on the Baal-worshiping, mental midgets in the middle east and simply ignore them.

Come on, guys. Dodge is just trying to keep this newfangled "tight end" position from leaking out to the rest of the football world. We're on to something here and must keep a lid on it.

Terminations fall into one of three categories: -with just cause (coach fired for triggering an issue listed in the contract) -without just cause (coach has not triggered an issue listed, but the school feels a need for a change in directions) -employee termination (coach decides to leave without being fired) [1] In terminations with just cause, the school's liability to the coach end. That is, they owe nothing more, even if there is time remaining. [2] In terminations without just cause, the school is still liable for the contract. Now, how liable it is becomes the key. In some cases, clauses reduce partially or fully the amount paid depending on the future employment of the fired coach through the end of the contract. In some cases, the school stays on the hook for whatever amount would be owed normally, minus whatever amount the coach earns at a new job. The job doesn't have to be in coaching. The clause that completely ends the school's liability for the remaining contract due to employment is usually worded as follows: Mitigation of Damages by Employee If University Terminates Without Cause. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section (X.XX.X), the Employee (Coach) agrees to mitigate the University's obligation to pay liquidated damges under Section (X.XX.X) and to make reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain comparable employment, such as a coaching position at a university or professional team, as soon as reasonably possible after termination of this Agreement by the University without cause. After the Employee (Coach) obtains such new employment, the University's financial obligations under this Agreement, including Section (X.XX.X), shall cease. [3] If the coach decides to leave, he may or may not owe liquidated damages to the school. That is why you have stories such as the one with Rich Rodriguez owing West Virginia money after he left them for Michigan. The reason "for cause" are generally obvious and egregious - team being put on probation by the NCAA under the coaches watch, most anything involving drugs or steroids, those nagging moral turpitudes that got Mike Price ousted at Bama before he even coached a game, etc. Basically, stuff that puts you in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Most firings are "without cause" - 'hey, this guy ain't getting the job done anymore.' In those cases, the contracts are still owed. Depending on the wording of the contract, they can be reduced by the amount the fired coach earns at any other (football or non-football) job for the remainder of the contract period. So, if Miami was paying Coker, say $1,000,000 a season on the remainder of the contract. If he picked up a job as a coordinator somewhere for $300,000, Miami would still owe him $700,000. However, if they have included the clause I posted above, they are no longer obligated to him if he gets a job, no matter what the pay. So, if he can't find another football job paying $1,000,000, he'd be losing money. With such clause in place, he'd be paid $300,000 as the coordinator at the new school, and nothing by Miami. In that scenario, there's no point in taking a job that pays less than Miami pays until the Miami contract expires. Also, Lifer, every public school's finances are a matter of public record. You can easily lay your hands on the contracts of any state employee you want with a little work. I'm not at liberty to say whose contracts I have seen. Obviously.

On top of all that, if people like me and Lifer aren't debating, the forum breaks down into poring over ULa-La's 2009 schedule and the latest, updated spring roster postings.

Pot, meet kettle. And, you get drowned out by the same old tiring rhetoric and positivity towards a program spiraling downward. You may chose to see 2-10 and 1-11 seasons as progress. Others here do not. You see it the way you see it, other see it differently. There's nothing wrong with that. You can be UNT's PR machine all day long, but at the end of the day, until we are winning - or, at this point, even competing - it means nothing. Unfortunately for you, the current weight of evidence all around this thing is that Todd Dodge doesn't know what he's doing. It's up to him to prove otherwise. It's not up to us to simply take your word or his at face value after the two seasons of the worst beatings in the school's history. If he had improved the teams even as much as FIU's second year coach did in 2008, things would be different. They're not. They were as horrid as we were in 2007 and improved greatly in 2008. The beating FIU gave us simply shows the gap we face within our own conference. As it stands, Dodge took a 2-10 team in 2007 and made it worse in 2008. If he wants respect, he'll have to do what every other coach in the country does and earn it with the product he puts on the field. Nothing said on a message board will change that. It was a huge gamble to hire him in the first place - and one that doesn't look anywhere near like it wil payoff.

No, it's precisely because while being trained as a lawyer, I took both amateur and professional sports law from the guy who wrote the texbook, Ray Yasser, and we studied contracts extensively. It is not speculation that Coker was being paid by Miami. Miami, like any other school whose administration and athletic department have their head screwed on properly, don't pay former coaches to stand on other sidelines collecting their cash. And human nature being what it is, Coker wasn't going to trade millions of dollars for hundreds of thousands. I would say the Sun Belt is the poorest in cash and talent at the FBS level. We've got the fewest bowl ties in and have fewer guys in the NFL than any of the other conferences. I'm not sure what else that signals. That our conference commissioner turns down bowl affiliations because they are beneath us? Or, our player have the talent to go pro, but choose not to? Look, it's simple - UTSA has a bigger vision of their football program than we do. It's neither a good thing or a bad thing. It's just that way it is. In any given profession, there is talk and there is action. We have talk. UTSA, like FAU and USF before in building their programs from scratch, are taking action.

Well, I mean, add it up: -It's a clinic in Texas, where our school is located. -It's being held by and attended by other coaches either coaching in Texas or with former coaching ties in Texas (Sumlin, Dickey, Dykes, etc.) -It's about one-back, spread offenses, which we run. Seems like it would be a slam dunk that we'd at least have a wide receivers coach up there. But, I guess Todd Dodge and his staff have already proven that they don't need any help from anyone else - especially other college and pro coaches running similar offenses. I mean, what could possibly be learned? None of those guys have near the state high school championships that Dodge has.

Gibbs wasn't bad. Blake was awful. But, that wasn't the point. The point of Gibbs was that although he won and took OU to bowl games, he was ousted and reviled the Sooner fans and media. Contrast that with Dodge who seems to be unable to handle the pressure of one writer. The other point is money. Gibbs and Blake were paid by OU through the end of their contracts, but had the stipulation that those payments would end if they got another job coaching. Thus, it didn't make sense financially for either of them to simply go be an assistant somewhere else right off the bat. They were being paid head coach money to sit at home with their families and watch it all on TV. When their contracts finally played out, they were on the sidelines again. And, neither had to labor at schools in smaller conferences. Coker is the same in this regard. He was being paid head coach money by Miami. In addition, ESPN was paying him. So, there was no point in throwing his name into every open coaching position. When the contract expired, he took an opportunity. See, any way you split it, we are the exception - we pay coaches to stand on other team's sidelines. Other schools don't. When our head coaching job is open, we assume we can't get certain coaches, although they can be had, especially guys who already have money in the bank, but no more contracts remaining. UTSA, withouth a football program, is already more aggressive than we are about the future. They are serious about it. If they weren't, they would have hired the Division II coach that was a finalist. We're not, so we hire high school coaches. Hiring Coker simply signals that they will be an FCS/I-AA pass through the way FAU and USF were. If they just wanted to be an FCS school, they'd have hired someone with less credentials and experience than Coker.

Not really. There are places where simply winning isn't good enough. That's the point. Here, you don't even have to win and people will be defending you from dusk til dawn. The pressure is tiny and that's what makes the criticism of Brett Vito all the more absurd. He's one of only two writers in America even giving a smidgen of notice to the program. Whereas, you've got coaches at many other school having a whole nation of writers second guessing their every move. The point remains, if Dodge can't handle the criticism of one writer in a city of less than 75,000 covering the poorest football conference in FBS, he shouldn't be up here. As far as jobs for Coker - if he's drawing a paycheck from Miami and ESPN, there's no point taking just any offer that comes along. His last four stops, over a roughly 20 year span were, what...Miami, Ohio State, and Okahoma. After that, he wouldn't likely just default down to SMU, Tulsa or Rice if he didn't have to. And, since he was drawing two paychecks, he didn't have to. And, so, he didn't. Again, many coaches will sit out the remainder of their contract before they jump back in (and, again, for reasons unknown, we put Darrell Dickey in the rare and unique position of being able to collect money from us while standing on someone else's sideline). UTSA is in the heart of the territory he's covered well throughout his four decade career in coaching. The school is large and without a program the way USF was. Like Schnellenberger, he could pick up an opportunity like this based on his reputation. I wouldn't say that it won't repeat FAU and USF's successes. Those schools have all had a push from everyone involved, top to bottom. Schnellenberger and Leavitt were able to bide their time in I-AA while preparing their schools for I-A/FBS. It will be no different for Coker at UTSA. The NCAA and many conferences will smile upon the media market of San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl is already a proven entity there. The only variable now, as Howard Schnellenberger once said, is time.

Yeah, I saw that. Guess he's still with the "in" crowd among college coaches.

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=922875 Or, do our guys still go to high school clinics.

Wow. $288 million. Nice stadium. State of Minnesota is kicking in $137 million?

While he was with Green Bay, not while he was in college.

Oh. Because UTSA actually went out and interviewed coaches with college experience, then hired one, they're my new favorite team? I'm just pointing out that while many people on here moan and groan about money Coker is the yet another hire where a coach took around $200k - essentially what we pay. A school who isn't even fielding a football team yet can pay it, yet one of the excuses for us not getting better than a high school grade coach is money. And, as far as passing over jobs, we're back to contract talk again. In every college cotract I've seen (except us with Dickey, thank to our brillant administration and athletic department), a coach will not be paid the remainder of a contract if he goes to work for another school. It's likely Coker simply stayed out until his Miami contract ran out. Gary Gibbs and John Blake both did that after they left Oklahoma. As soon as the school's obligation to pay them ended, they were back on the sidelines and have been ever since. Miami pays well, so Coker likely enjoyed a short reprise, supplementing with some face time on ESPN until the Miami contract ended. Downplay the hire all you like. He went to Miami in 1996 as offensive coordinator and recruited and built the offense that he eventually led to the national title. The NFL is still stocked with players from his Miami offenses - Rashad Butler, Bryant McKinnie, Vernon Carey, Najeh Davenport, Kellen Winslow Jr., Bubba Franks, Reggie Wayne, Frank Gore, Devin Hester, Jeremy Shockey, Edgerrin James, Andre Johnson, Eric Winston, Willis McGahee, Lance Leggett, Brett Romberg, Sinorice Moss, Santana Moss, Clinton Portis, Chris Myers, Roscoe Parrish, Greg Olsen. The NFL is not stocked with former players of Todd Dodge - whether they be former high school players or from UNT. UTSA did well. They took a chance and got Coker on the cheap. Like Howard Schnellenberger and Jim Leavitt before him, Coker will lead a team from FCS (I-AA) to FBS, and will probably have them at least as successful as those two, if not moreso. Us? Well, we've still got our high school head coach for about the same amount of money, and mostly high school coaches still on the offensive side of the ball. It may not make for good football, but it makes for...exciting football? Not really. But, passing records are being set. And, hey, that's far more important than winning anyway, right?

We're talking college, you're talking pro. Either way, the linemen were much smaller when Flutie played college ball 25+ years ago to today. Flutie never started an NFL game until 1998 anyway, after a nine-year career in Canada. Thirteen years passed between his last college game and his first NFL start, so it isn't like he hit the NFL and lit up the scene. Even so, you can go back and look at the size of even the NFL defensive linemen of 1986 and see that very few weighed over 280. Few teams even had 300 pounders: http://www.fantasyfootballchallenge.com/61...ve-linemen.html . The college players were even smaller. And even if size didn't make a difference, you've still got the fact that Riley Dodge won't get near the level of coaching that either Flutie or Brees got in college - either from the head coach or from the other offensive assistants, with the possible exception of Shelton Gandy.

Flutie played in an era when OL and DL were in the 260-280 range. Brees played at Purdue under Joe Tiller...Todd Dodge is no Joe Tiller.

Stradford is tall, man. He definitely looks the part. I hope he the NCAA gives him the waiver.

Base salary of $200,000. Coaches want to coach. The money doesn't matter. Hopefully, this message will be understood by the next athletic director here when he or she is making the next hire for head football coach.

When I was in grad school at Tulsa, you could get tickets free with your student ID. It was a first come, first served thing. Basketball has always been king at Tulsa, so it was always packed...and very loud. A group of us got to know the ticket office people, and so we were able to finagle front row seats for almost every game for a couple of years. The thing about Tulsa is their undergraduate enrollment is small, about 3,000. But, they were fanatical about basketball. It's also interesting to note that the guy who provided the money for Tulsa's basketball arena is the same guy (Donald W Reynolds Foundation) who gave Arkansas the money for their football stadium - both bear his name.