The Fake Lonnie Finch

Went to the OU-TCU game. No seat cushions allowed in at the Sooner games; they'll rent 'em to ya for $5. I guess I can see this in a broad, general public safety kind of way. Sadly, I thinks its a post-9/11 thing because I think I remember people going into OU's field with their own seat cushions back for the 1991 UNT-OU game.

You forgot about Bob Stoops...two OOC losses.

And, you ignore that fact the Boise community supports the team, the school administration supports it, it gets extra money every year for having a bowl game on its campus that they have used to upgrade its facilities. Other than the fact that both were once Division I-AA schools, there is no comparison between UNT and Boise State. The folks around their program have always been committed to making it succeed; ours are dragged, kicking and screaming to the idea. Apples and oranges.

Okay, I'll tell you - the Texas State game versus A&M was a fluke. With Hurricane Rita apporaching and the game moved up two day to Thursday, yes it was a fluke. With the game moved on Tuesday and much of A&M's Houston area fan based worried about other things and not attending the game on Thursday instead of Saturday, I'll say, yes, it was a fluke. With players getting an unexpectedly short week of practice due to Hurricane Rita and the game move up, yes, I'll say it's a fluke. With A&M's many Houston-area players hearing that their parents' home and businesses may be destroyed in the next couple of days, I'd say their attention probably wasn't 100% on Texas State. It didn't matter, anyway. A&M played the game half-hearted, leading 41-17 going into the fourth quarter, and sleep-walking through the fourth quarter. Yes, that Texas State scored two fourth quarter touchdowns made the game look closer than it really was. Basically, then, it's was a fluke. And, as far as we're concerned, how Texas State plays A&M in unusual circumstances is hardly germane to a conversation about Darrell Dickey.

So, what you're telling us is that these coaches are loyal to their programs. Good. Hopefully, Darrell Dickey is as well. You can keep dreaming that there's abetter coach for UNT, but there probably isn't. He's got the support of the alumni who actually give money to the program. He's got strong recruiting ties from his own and his family's (dad and brother) coaching ties. And, he's willing to do the job without a major commitment to facilities and without support of the school and community. You're sadly mistaken if you think this job is attractive to other Division I-A coaches. Dickey's job is a dogfight, and we're lucky he's chosen to keep it. He's likely the only guy out there that won't treat us like a stepping stone.

The out of conference talk is a waste of time. We don't play in Conference USA. We don't play in the Big 12. We don't play in the SEC. We play in the Sun Belt. Now, believe me, I' m no fan of playing the whip-our-butts-for-money games. I'd rather build it up the way Kansas State did - open the season playing teams we have a realistic chance of beating. Before Kansas State got good, no one accused them of playing an easy schedule. Once they got good, however, everyone accused them of playing cupcakes. Funny how that works. But, what Bill Snyder convinced the athletic director was that the team developed better if you could play winnable games in the beginning. You don't pick up a ton of confidence from being anhilated for money. Nor are you able to really try different things with your offense and defense. I like match-ups like we had with Tulsa. Granted, we went into the game with nine new guys on defense, and they have an offense full of experience players. In other years - next year - that game is closer. One we can build with. I like the idea of starting with a Divison I-AA opponent, then scheduling a couple of Division I-A school we can realistically beat or compete with. The examples here, again, are currently Tulsa and Baylor. The other side of this is, though, generating money during home games. That mean actually filling up Fouts Field for home games, buying programs, getting a hat or shirt once a year, etc. See, if people are offering us $500,000 to whip us, we have to be able to generate about that amount regularly enough in home games that our AD can say to the LSUs and OUs of the world, "No thanks. We've got a team and program to think about here, too." We're not at that point. And, it's not Darrell Dickey's fault. Gut check time is here folks. We're young and going to make more mistakes this year than in past years. But, will you still be at the games? Can we be like South Carolina fans and sell out the stadium even to watch an 0-11 team? Or, do we just jump on and off the bandwagon year to year, pointing the finger when things don't go right. Gut check time. Who's in; who's out?

There needs to be a reality check here. Newsflash: We don't have the talent to compete with Kansas State right now no matter who the coach is. Whether Dickey and Flanigan planned to run 100% of the time or pass 100% of the time would not have mattered. Our players aren't as fast as K-State's. They're not as big as K-State's. They're not as talented as K-State's. Period. Look, we have a good football coach. What we don't have is the facilities and support to help said good football coach consistently attract top flight talent. Compounding the difficulty is that we are in a state with nine other Division I-A schools trying to sign the best football recruits in the state. Not only that, but our state is bordered by Lousiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico. Combined, those states have 15 Division I-A schools, and each regularly recruits Texas as hard as they can. So, within our region we've got 25 Division I-A schools, at minimum, chasing the best of our state's players. Folks, that's over 20% of all Division I-A football schools in and around our state - and that's before the Miamis, USCs, Nebraskas, etc. of the football world come in to do their cherry picking! If you don't think Darrell Dickey has done a great job against those recruiting odds, you're living in a dream world. We've got what we need in a coach - someone who wins with the players he can get. But, Dickey can't do everything. As mentioned in another insightful post, there is a football arms race going on out there. Some schools' administrations have recognized it and done all they could to keep up. Other haven't. Ours simply hasn't. Not only that, but some communities get behind their home team. Look at Fresno State, which has been embraced by that whole valley area to the extent that the team wears a "V" on the back of their helmets to represent the community. Austin supports the 'Horns, Norman supports the Sooners, College Station supports A&M to the hilt. You drive through Fort Worth neighborhoods and many of the houses in all types of neighborhoods have the purple "TCU" emblazoned on their curbs with the house address. It's a pride factor that Denton sorely lacks. I don't mean to step on anyone's toes, believe me, because we all want the same thing. But, tossing out Darrell Dickey based on games scheduled against opponents who have much more talent than we do is stupid. What we have in Darrell Dickey could be what Air Force has in Fisher DeBerry, what Fresno State has in Pat Hill, what Colorado State has in Sonny Lubick, what Southern Miss has in Jeff Bowers - if everyone else will just step up! It's the 21st Century, folks. Division I-A football is a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year job for everyone involved - coaches, players, administration, fans, community. The whole kit and kaboodle. So, the bottom line, really, is step up or shut up. No 21st Century football coach will succeed at a Division I-A program without support, no matter how good he is.

Sonny Lubick, Colorado State - Six conference titles Fisher DeBerry, Air Force Academy - Three conference titles Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic - One national title Jeff Bowers, Southern Mississippi - Four conference titles Ken Hatfield, Rice - Four conference titles Tom Amstutz, Toledo - Two conference titles To make this easy, I just listed coaches from non-BCS schools. There's a pretty good list. Most have been at their schools for many years. And, each has had their share of ups and downs. You also have to consider that I didn't list guys without conference title, but who have done well at their programs, such as Fresno State's Pat Hill. You think the Fresno State fans are trying to run Pat "No Conference Titles" Hill off? You have to face reality here. Darrell Dickey can be another Fisher DeBerry, Jeff Bowers, Pat Hill. He does what he can with the little the school offers. Many of the coaches listed above took years to build their programs. The facilities at most were crappy when the coach took over. Their on the field successes fueled donations, school administration support, and community support. Darrell Dickey only has control of one of those three things. If you ask me, Dickey's held up his end of the deal. It's time for the school and everybody else to step forward - if they really want UNT to be a good football school.

The fire Dickey stuff is crazy talk. I can't think of another coach since Hayden Fry who has done more with this program. This coaching job is a fight on and off the field. The university executives don't care, most of the students don't care, the professors and staff don't care, the city doesn't care. Proof is the terrible stadium we play in and the inability to fill it to capacity even occassionally. The reality is simply that the UNT football job is not attractive. It's not high paying. It's not high profile. It's an uphill battle everyday. To think anyone would put up with the constant obstacles that Dickey has and produce the same results is absurd. Until this year, our athletic directors basically set up our seasons with whip-our-butts-for-money road games. This year, we finally get Tulsa in here. If not for Hurricane Katrina, we'd have had two sure butt kickings for cash - LSU and KSU. I have hope with the type of schedule we play this year. Plus, I'm not unrealistic. We don't get a constant flow of blue chip players year in and year out. So, when we enter a new season with only two returning starters on defense, I'm not buying into pie-in-the-sky predictions. We are what we are until the school and moneyed alumni step forward consistently enough to give our football program - and all our athletic programs - the facilities to compete at the highest levels. You can dream all you want that Dickey is somehow miscoaching the team. The truth is, if Dickey were never here, we'd still be floundering around with 2-9 records every year with no hope in sight and nothing to be proud of. I wish we'd had a coach like Dickey from 90-95 when I was at UNT. We were awful and knew every year we'd be awful. We caught lightning in a bottle in 1994 as subsequent seasons proved. At this point in the program, I'm backing Dickey until we post back-to-back losing seasons.

Exactly, Mad Hatter. Guys, you've got to remember what we're dealing with this year - tons of young players on defense. What good would it do to throw the ball in the second half of the blowout? To have a young defense get put back on the field over and over again, to risk getting a thin defense riddled with injuries before the rest of conference play? Not worth it. Dickey did the right thing. We won't face a team in the Sun Belt with the speed and depth of K-State's defense. The continued repping of the offense for what we do will pay off more in the long run.

Tulsa will have a decent defense. DE Chadd Evans transferred there from Colorado, and Safety Bobby Klinck from Oklahoma. DE Brandon Lohr's brother Jason played for Nebraska in the late 90s/early 21st Century. Should be a tight game early, but with Tulsa wearing down as the game goes on. Minnesota and OU piled up a ton of rushing yards against them.

Why would they not move it to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport? That would seem more logical from an LSU standpoint than going to Denton.

That player was Brent Rawls, who was then asked to leave the La. Tech program before last season even started. He now sits on the bench of an arena league 2 team. Smart kid. OU wasn't doing great academically until John Blake, then Bob Stoops, got there. During the Blake on-the-field fiasco, they were building the Prentice Gautt Center off the field. Former Heisman winner Steve Owens was the AD back then and really made a commitment to getting athletes to graduate. It looks like Stoops has taken it a step further. Sorry if I sounded hard on RV. Maybe RV just hasn't hired the right folks yet. Or, maybe he was publicly trying to light a fire under the butts of those he has hired.

So, do your job as athletic director and hire someone specifically to keep track of the players' classwork: Updated: Sep. 29, 2004 Support staff sets players up for success By Pat Forde ESPN.com Archive NORMAN, Okla. -- D.J. Wolfe is sitting at a computer in the Prentice Gautt Academic Center, fiddling. The Oklahoma freshman running back clicks the mouse a couple times and visits SoonerSports.com, the school's athletic web site, and reads the recap of OU's 31-7 whipping of Oregon the previous day. On a ghostly quiet Sunday night on campus, the sprawling Gautt Center -- named for the school's first African-American scholarship athlete -- is alive and teeming with many of Oklahoma's 450 varsity athletes. Some are working on their own, others are being helped by a battalion of tutors and counselors. All around Wolfe, his fellow freshman football players are doing hard time. They're toiling away under their 10-hour-per-week minimum study hall requirement, the Sooners' built-in firewall against early academic struggles. In walks Adrian Peterson -- the toast of Norman after his brilliant 183-yard performance against the Ducks, but just another entry-level college student on this night. He looks much more like a teenager with books under his arm instead of a football. Wolfe has only a fraction of Peterson's stature and stats -- 17 carries for 65 yards through three games -- but he's ahead of him on the academic depth chart. Wolfe graduated a semester early from Eisenhower High School in Lawton and enrolled at OU last January. His 3.0 grade-point average last spring emancipated him from mandatory freshman study hall -- which is why there is no monitor cracking down on him for reading SoonerSports.com instead of his English comp textbook. "I think everyone comes into study hall thinking 'I don't want to, I don't want to,'" Wolfe says. "But it's better for you. It makes you buckle down and do it." The muscle behind Oklahoma's buckle-down academic support system is Randy Garibay, the department's assistant director for academic affairs and coordinator of academic services. His people check every athlete in every sport into a database when they arrive for study hall, noting the time. The OU academic support staff knows more about who's been naughty or nice than Santa Claus. If you're more than five minutes late, "the system is energized," Garibay says. Phone calls are made to locate the laggardly. If you arrive without books, expect a grilling. And if you don't show up at all? "Coach Bob (Stoops) will know by 9 tomorrow morning," says Garibay, who also drops by practice regularly to give Stoops academic updates in person -- or to provide a little face-to-face encouragement to a player. The retired army colonel looks like the last man in Norman you'd want to cross: shaved head, Fu Manchu mustache, burly chest, intense eyes. But get him talking about his job and the intimidating mien melts. "I'm not looking for a career," he says. "I already had one. My job now is to get these young people ready for the real world. I've got 450 sons and daughters." Wolfe is a favorite son of the academic folks. Bright, diligent, mature and in possession of a luminous smile, he's never had worse than a B average in school. The son of a military man and a hospital receptionist is disciplined enough to live by himself off-campus (after an agreement with a roommate from home fell through) and he loves to cook. He's an aspiring business major whose parents drilled the value of education into his head at an early age. But like virtually every other scholarship football player at Oklahoma, his dominant daydreams revolve around a future in the National Football League. "Every day," Wolfe says with a laugh. "I think that's the goal. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to be here, but I don't think we'd be playing unless it was to go to the next step. ... Maybe one day my number will get called." The numbers are against Wolfe having his number called. Even at Oklahoma, arguably the preeminent college football program of the 21st century, there have been just 13 Sooners drafted in the past five years -- four in the first round. The list of can't-miss collegians who missed at the NFL level is bigger than Tony Mandarich. But it's hard to make young stars believe that they might not be one of the chosen few. "I think everyone comes in thinking, 'I have a shot,'" Wolfe says. "What some players fail to realize, this is only a start. You have to soak up as much as you can, listen as much as you can and learn." Yet even with his dreams centered on football, Wolfe is certain that he spends far more time on academics. He's carrying 12 credit hours this semester: English Comp, Principles of Communications, Library/Information Science and, he says with a sheepish smile, Experiencing Music for Non-Majors. So far, English Comp is the toughie. "I'm not into writing or typing," Wolfe says. "I'd rather talk about it." He's in class from 8:30 a.m. until 11:20 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then he usually drives his 1995 Explorer -- "20-inch spinners, couple TV screens in there," he says proudly -- home to his apartment for a quick nap. After that it's back to his second home, the Barry Switzer Center on the south end of Memorial Stadium. Around 1:15 p.m., Wolfe hits the weight room, trying to add bulk to his 5-foot-11, 192-pound frame. At 2 o'clock, it's time for special-teams meetings and practice. (Wolfe is on the first-team punt return and second-team kickoff and punt coverage units.) Then comes position meetings and, finally, practice. After that, it's time to eat dinner and study. There's not a whole lot of built-in slack time. "That's my life, I guess," he says with a shrug and another bright smile. "Can't complain about it. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world right now. I'm doing something I love to do." Pat Forde is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.

Hmmm. I hardly think Nebraska not going to a bowl game last year is laughable. Hadn't they gone to bowl games every year from like 1969 to 2004? That's a pretty decent stretch, one many other schools would be happy to have under their belts. I don't know what to think of the Big 12 North. I think people are pretty crazy to overlook Kansas State and Nebraska based on single down years, especially Kasnas State with Bill Snyder at the helm. Still, it's hard to look at any of the teams and say they're the obvious front runner. Heck, I wouldn't be shocked if Mark Mangino took the Jayhawks to the North title!

We'd have to know what the whole package is worth before we started making comparisons. What is the base plus the television, plus the shoes contract, plus the bonus structure, etc., etc.? Since none of us are privy to every jot and tittle of every coach's contract, we probably jump the gun in discussing their contracts...unless we're comparing say, the Bob Stoopses and Mack Browns of the coaching world to the Darrell Dickeys and Larry Blakeneys.

It's true. People I've met from Wyoming, the Dakotas, and other states near Nebraska have been big time Husker fans. It's not just the closest thing to professional in Nebraska, then, but for some surrounding states as well. In fact, the biggest Husker fan I know is from Casper, Wyoming.

Didn't we lose all four DL starters and 3/4 of the DBs? I think that's right. Some young guys, including the three new backers from 2004, will have to step it up to make All Conference.

Try a little Metamucil, Cerebus. It's just a message board.

No kidding. Hence, my caveat at the beginning of the whole affair: "Before you get all jacked up, understand that I realize this will never happen. How could it when it makes geographic sense, but not monetary sense?"

Lonnie was a defensive back from Irving MacArthur. He lettered at Oklahoma from 1985 to 1987. He played professionally in Canada and in the old NFL-Europe presursor, the World League of American Football. Lonnie's younger brother Reggie was a highly recruited running back out of MacArthur who signed with OU in 1988, but later transferred to North Texas. Reggie's claim to fame is that he was the guy OU DB Jerry Parks handed his gun to in the athletic dorm parking lot after he'd shot Zarak Peters, the beginning of the end of the Barry Switzer Era at OU. Injuries and Erric Pegram pretty much kept Reggie on the UNT sidelines during his Mean Green years.

No. Just using my brain, looking at a map, considering the bottom of the scrap heap conferences, and putting everything involved in order.

I actually have a bigger dream for all of us newcomers on the Division I-A scene, plus some of the older DI-As with not so storied histories. I'd like a new Texas/Regional conference, and a new Southern conference or two. Before you get all jacked up, understand that I realize this will never happen. How could it when it makes geographic sense, but not monetary sense? Just dream a little bit with me since we're in the middle of July: The Southwest 8 Baylor New Mexico State North Texas SMU TCU Texas Tech Tulsa UTEP The New South Alabama-Birmingham Central Florida Florida Atlantic Florida International Middle Tennessee Memphis South Florida Troy State The Gulf 8 Arkansas State Houston Louisiana Tech Louisiana-Lafayette Louisiana-Monroe Rice Southern Mississippi Tulane Three conferences, each with schools from three states, with easier travel for fans...and the schools' travel budgets. Again, don't wad up on me, it's just a mid-July dream.

Fighting with a La. Tech fan. Pathetic. Anyway, I think too many of our folk wearing green glasses are chalking up automatics over Tulsa and Louisiana Tech. I'm not sure about Tech, but went to Tulsa for grad school (UNT undergrad). Steve Kragthorpe has greatly improved their program in the two seasons he's been there. Former UNT OL coach Spencer Leftwich is helping greatly as well. I think UNT-La. Tech will be close, and I gave the preseason nod to the Bulldogs simply due to the fact that they are playing at home. But, Tulsa will come to Denton with talent, experience, and excellent coaching. They'll be ready to rock from the moment they step off the bus. As to the whole conference cat-fighting some of you enjoy, it doesn't matter. Yes, it would be nice to have Louisiana Tech in the Sun Belt simply for geographic reasons. But, you can hardly begrudge them for wanting to stay in a conference with three bowl games and a better television contract - and Boise State and Fresno State leading the way as legitimate annual winners. We can only hope Troy State or someone will step up and deliver winning records annually so that people will stop considering our conference as North Texas and the Seven Dwarfs.

Well, I haven't been to any of the fall practices or had the time to peruse the injury list, but this is what I think on July 6, 2005 about how the Mean Green will fare during their 2005 college football season: Game One - Loss, 0-1 (0-0) Louisiana State University 39, University of North Texas 13 Game Two - Win, 1-1 (1-0) University of North Texas 28, Middle Tennessee State University 22 Game Three - Loss, 1-2 (1-0) University of Tulsa 30, University of North Texas 19 Game Four - Loss, 1-3 (1-0) Kansas State University 40, University of North Texas 20 Game Five - Loss, 1-4 (1-1) Troy State University 26, University of North Texas 23 Game Six - Win, 2-4 (2-1) University of North Texas 33, Florida International University 21 Game Seven - Loss, 2-5 (2-1) Louisiana Technical University 28, University of North Texas 27 Game Eight - Win, 3-5 (3-1) University of North Texas 28, University of Louisiana at Lafayette 21 Game Nine - Win, 4-5 (4-1) University of North Texas 28, University of Louisiana at Monroe 21 Game Ten - Win, 5-5 (5-1) University of North Texas 26, Florida Atlantic University 17 Game Eleven - Win, 6-5 (6-1) University of North Texas 29, Arkansas State University 19 I think that Troy State University will have two conference losses, so the University of North Texas will once again win the Sun Belt Conference despite what the worm-eating sandbaggers that don't like Darrell Dickey say.