Smitty

Looking at Plumm's psychedelic posts, he might be a good a person to ask.

Good one.

It's coaching and it's talent. Remember the Cowboys in the early 90s? They didn't do anything that was unexpected. They ran Emmitt, threw to Michael, and invited anyone to try to stop them. That drive to start the second half of the second Super Bowl against Buffalo was just hand offs to Emmitt again and again and again. Pure talent was too much to stop. However, that talent was well coached. We've all seen undisciplined teams waste talent - look at the New York Giants this year. But when it all comes together, it is a thing of beauty. A high coach once told me precisely what an opponent was going to do against him and precisely how he was going to counter it, and he explained how that opponent would be forced to change their strategy or die. It unfolded exactly as he said it would. Nothing fancy, just great coaching making the most of his team's talent. 77-1 strongly suggests that Coach Dodge has been making the most of his talent.

Snead's just making a smart decision. I have no idea how hard he's worked for playing time. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he did work hard, because I don't think the backup quarterback at UT could be a slacker. I think Snead saw that the die was cast the week after he took over for the injured Colt McCoy against Kansas State. According to Scout.com: "Snead worked with the first team offense during the Horns' bye week and early the week of the A&M game, but was again relegated to back-up duty when the coaches announced McCoy as the Aggie game starter. Despite reports that McCoy was at less than 100-percent for the A&M game, Snead's only action came on the Horns' final desperation drive after McCoy had to be carted off the field." UT has clearly settled on McCoy. The reality is that Snead could spend his whole college career on the bench hoping for an injury. Despite having starting-caliber talent, he could work his tail off and still end up as a four-year backup. That's the lesson a lot of kids fail to understand until they sign on with a giant program and find themselves lost in the avalanche of recruits that programs like UT bring in every year. I don't blame Snead a bit. The fact that he wants to play rather than be comfortable as a backup suggests that he is willing to work hard. He's obviously good enough to play elsewhere, so he's going to do so. If Coach Dodge wants him, bring him on. From what I've read, Snead would have to sit out the 2007 season. But he still has his redshirt year, so apparently he can use that at the same time he sits out, leaving him with three years of eligibility.

I recommend the seatbacks. They are surprisingly comfortable, vastly more than the metal bleachers. I think the cost is $20 per seat for the season. They are worth it. We've added seatbacks to our season tickets since they've been available. They have a padded seat and they're bolted to the bleachers. UNT installs them. I believe they are only available for season-ticket holders.

Are we there yet?

The contest ends Thursday night. The site says 11:59 p.m., but I bet that's eastern time so probably at 10:59 here. The current standings: Final Round - 2006 Caris Tschauner (Sun Belt) 182,826 Shawn Manners (SEC) 142,862 Lindsey Visnic (Big East) 97,103 Jovauna Currey (Pac-10) 62,689 Taylor Yates (SEC) 25,507 Vanessa Marrero (Sun Belt) 17,660 Kimberly Barksdale (ACC) 16,701 Elissa Glavash (Big Ten) 3,617 Holly Thomas (Big 12) 3,157

It's always the Cowboys, isn't it? Still, we've pulled in a massive amount of publicity, and ALL positive. What a great day. Good to see people posting about buying tickets, too. All Green, all the time.

Hey, those are the facts. Negative they may be, but you deal with them head-on, not try to avoid them and hope they slide by.

Everyone wanted to make a splash with this hiring. Well, consider: The main teaser on the front page of the Morning News was Dodge. That's big. The hiring dominated Page 1 of the sports section, and there was a full page inside with three large articles. They sent arguably their No. 1 columnist (hats off to UNT for doing this on an otherwise dead-day in sports). And from my own experience, I promise that some of those articles are being read today by journalists in other parts of the country. It appears we are getting great coverage all over the state, and I'll bet throughout the conference. Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Denton, Dallas's Quick, The Ticket, ESPN, ESPN radio, the TV stations, on and on. Best of all, I have heard hardly one negative comment from any media. It's been almost universally positive, and that just doesn't happen very often. The hiring was a huge topic of discussion on boards across the state, and for all the negative posts (and don't we disparage other schools, too?) there was a decidedly nervous tone to those comments. Kind of a whistling-through-the-graveyard attitude. Because they know that if Coach Dodge has only half the success he had at Southlake, UNT will be competitive, go to bowls, and beat our Lone Star brothers. And I can promise you that almost every high school football player in the state of Texas is taking notice of this hiring. I'm not saying they'll be flooding the phonelines and all be signing letters of intent, but they will take much greater notice of UNT than they would have last week. Splash made. Now let's do our part and fill that stadium next year! That's the single biggest contribution we can make to advance this program.

He has no coaching experience that I know of, and is heavily involved in his church in Arkansas.

That was my first reaction as well. Positive, got a sense of humor, itching to go. Lot of energy in the man.

Got a bit of a nervous habit, doesn't he? I think he's almost as wired as we are! Good!

I don't mean to harp on DD, but in ten minutes Coach Dodd has been more positive than DD was in the last five years.

It's a tough room.

If you're still having trouble, click on the "Live" tab, then click on "North Texas Press Conference."

It's up!

KNTU says it will start between 7:15 and 7:30. KNTU is live from the press conference.

It's on KNTU now. They have not started yet, but are doing interviews.

I'm getting nothing and its not on KNTU. Maybe starting late?

Nice timing to get the board back up. Do you know how many alums would have exploded this morning if they didn't have this outlet?

I don't think they've announced next year's schedule yet.

One other thing: Coach Dodge has as much to lose in this as RV and UNT do. If this is his first step to a big-time college job, he needs to make a splash at this first stop. He needs the kind of success seen at Rutgers or Boise State. If he fails, its a big step back for his career. Both he and RV are taking a chance, but the reward is just so huge that it's a risk worth taking.

Absolutely. Lets make a statement - especially to new recruits - that UNT is arriving. We've got the coach, the stadium is coming, AND WE'VE GOT THE FANS. No kid wants to play in a half-empty stadium. Make that statement at the home opener, then continue it all year. That's the best way we boosters can help this program prosper, help keep a great coach, and help recruit top players.

We're all happy. We've got the coach that was at or near the top of almost everyone's list. Now we need to look to the 2007 start of the Todd Dodge era and make it special. The Mean Green Nation needs to fill Fouts Field for next season's home opener. Every swingin' Green needs to be in that stadium, EVERY LAST ONE OF US, wearing green (not red or white or blue) and ready to make Fouts Field a living hell for UNT opponents. AND BRING FRIENDS! Push season tickets. Sell this program. We've got something to sell now, real reason for optimism. Invite friends to the games. If you're a season-ticket holder but can't make it to a game, find somebody to give your tickets to. No un-used tickets, especially for the opener! No empty seats! Begin the mantra, repeat it often, and make it happen: PACK FOUTS!