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Not to mention at least twice as many bowls (5 or 6 in the big 12) -- as someone else pointed pointed out earlier.

I think secrecy to a point is good. However, at this point, I think we've lost a great opportunity to create some buzz about the program. Having said all of that, I don't think any of this matters if they end up laying an egg on Tues.

Agreed. Also -- can you imagine having to buyout a losing coach in year 3 of a 5 year contract at 585K a year? I don't think we can do that. We need a coach that's basically a "sure thing" (or as close as you can get) when it comes to winning. In other words, we need someone with at least a winning record. That's why Fran and/or Leavitt are a no brainers.

I agree. And as a side note, you can bet that if we hire him all of the sports radio guys will be mentioning his record and giving us bad publicity over it which of course can harm recruiting. The wind is leaving the sails already . . . . .

It’s pretty risky to finance a coach’s salary on the promise of generating money by filling the new stadium and/or selling corp suites. What happen’s if you hire a coach to a long term contract and you don’t win? I've never really bought into the old "if you build it they will come". Indeed, SMU opened Ford in 2000 and that didn't produce "butts in seats" until last year. Likewise, i must assume they didn't generate money off their suits for the last 8 years as they didn't get serious about paying for a coach until last year when donors came up with the money to land Jones. In any event, think I’ve been taken a little out of context. What I’m saying is that everyone wants a big name coach. To really get a name coach we need to pony up a lot more than what we’re used to paying around here. My point is that everyone (not just big donors) should think about contributing to a fund that would help this effort. This is especially true of the people that clamor the loudest for a big name coach. It’s real easy to say I want this guy or that guy and then complain when a nobody is hired. I honestly hope the the university can pay 500K a year. If so, all it would take is 1000 donors contributing $250 a year to come up with another 250K to get us to 750K. Is that too much to ask for a university of our size? That’s all I’m saying. If we get a 1000 people to commit pledges for 3 years and and we're able to sell the suites etc as you suggest then we can start saving and banking for the future.

Everyone wants a big name coach but it’s going to be extremely difficult without the funds. I think most of the people on this board want to go to CUSA. However, the average CUSA salary is approx $755K according to these figures http://www.nola.com/tulane/images/TULANEGX.pdf and approx $772K according to these http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2009-coaches-contracts-database.htm Further, the you will note that the programs at the top of the conference are the ones paying the salaries 750K or above. If the university is prepared to pay 600K that’s great and would be a big improvement from our current situation. However, I seriously doubt the university (without the help of donors) has the cash to pay a salary in the 750K. The fact is we need donors if we want to get serious. I’m not saying we can’t get a Bower or someone similar for less than 750K but to be competitive long term we need to be with the rest of the pack at 750K or greater.

You are correct See link for all dead periods/quiet periods and contact periods. http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/AMA/recruit...tball-Color.pdf

Fact - we have an AD who says he’s still evaluating the program . . . . . . . in Dec. Fact - we have a head coach who has said publicly that he’s not sure of his future. Fact - if we make a change we can’t formally pull the trigger until Jan. 2nd at the earliest and signing day is Feb 3rd If you think this is good for recruiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This is ridiculous. The only thing I can think of is that Dodge was presented with the ultimatum of firing his coaches and he balked causing RV to have to scramble. It sounds like RV didn’t have a plan B or if he did, it wasn’t nailed down. This is a lose - lose situation all the way around.

You can argue about FSU but at least they had a "coach in waiting". And even then they have paid a price for their indecision. Harry is 100% right on this one. Even if the coaches know what's going on the recruits don't. RV should have come out publicly on this on weeks ago.

We can’t afford to buy out TD’s contract and spend what we need to spend to get a proven coach in here unless RV finds some money that he hasn’t found before. Yeah UTSA hired Coker for 200K a year but he also received between a 2-3 million buy out from Miami. How many proven winners are out there that 1) already have their nest egg built up; 2)are willing to come to Denton; and 3) will not be tempted to go elsewhere for more money? To play with the big boys you need to spend about 750K a year. For example in CUSA (where I think most of us want to be) here’s what the coaches make: CUSA average approx 808K not including Tulane. see link www.freep.com/article/20091110/SPORTS07/91110057/Database--NCAA-football-head-coaches%5C--salaries?appSession=027209658218771 Please note the amounts for SMU and Tulsa are lower than what’s been reported in other media outlets. Even the WAC average is over 600K a year. www.freep.com/article/20091110/SPORTS07/91110057/Database--NCAA-football-head-coaches%5C--salaries?appSession=385209658443344 Clearly we don’t have the money to play in the 600-800K legue. Maybe we could get Bower for less and if so I think that’s something that should be explored. However, if you can’t get a proven coach then you’re taking a big risk. Moreover, time is against us even if we get a big name coach. Specifically, with a 30 day waiting period, a new coach would come in here in early Jan at the earliest leaving only a month to recruit. That would lead us right back to where Dodge started 3 years ago. A mistake here would set us back even further. On the other hand, we had 5 losses by 4 points or less. Clearly, we’ve made some progress. I’ve said before that Dodge has made plenty of mistakes and I’m not convinced that he will turn it around given his insistence on playing his son at qb and our inability to cure simple problems. However, at this point it’s too late to switch horses even assuming we had the money to do so. Nevertheless, the lesser of two evils is to stick with Dodge. He has shown improvement and stability right now is key given the proximity of signing day and our economic situation. What concerns me most right now is our inability to get RV and TD on same page. The longer this uncertainty of of TD’s job security lasts the more damage is done to the program. This is simply inexcusable. This is especially true in light of the comments Dodge made last week. RV should have publicly made his decision two weeks ago.

First, let me say that while I’ve been severely disappointed this year with Dodge, I think he deserves one more year. I can understand all those that want him gone and many valid points have been made on both sides of this argument. However, for me it boils down to this -- 1) We’ve made significant progress this year with 6 losses of 7 points or less. Four of those losses were by 4 points; 2) Unless RV can pull in a big name (ie a proven winner like Bower) we’re better off staying with Dodge and letting him have one more year. However, I think the decision with respect to who the starting qb should be -- should be taken out of his hands. I think we win several of these close games with Tune at qb. Having said that, this red shirt issue is inexcusable. I can understand Dodge wanting to win but we were down by two scores with less than two minutes left. The odds were way against us on a comeback. However, he basically made a bad decision in an impossible situation. Specifically, I don't think Dodge would have burned the red shirt if he knew he was coming back as coach. I also don’t think he would have done it out of spite if he knew he was being fired. The fact that he did not know his fate going into this game put him in the position to win at all costs in an effort to try and save his job. Dodge was only doing what any coach in his position would have done. Thus, I think RV shares some of the blame here.

It’s very frustrating because once again we lose in the closing minutes in a game we statistically dominated. Having said that, it's the same mistakes over and over. I do think that we will have a more experienced team next year which should cut out some of the mistakes but I just don't think RD's arm strength is going to change. Thus, I'm forced to agree with the statement that RD’s mistakes become TD’s mistakes at some point. I also don't understand the decision to limit Dunbar's carriers?????? What were they thinking?????

There have been some excellent points made in this thread. In truth we are only 9 points away from being 5-5 and 16 points away from being 6-4. Indeed, we should be 6-4 but for leads we’ve given up in the fourth quarter. I also believe we dominated all of the close games we’ve both won and lost from a statistical standpoint. I don't remember the specifics anymore but some of the close loses should have been double digit wins but for penalties and mistakes. These are things that can be corrected. Also, a case can be made that should 7-3 but from some mistakes/bad calls in the Middle Tennessee State game but that's more of a stretch. Further, most of our players are Freshmen and Sophomores and we have been competitive in most of our games unlike previous years. All of this bodes well for the future. Having said that, I have concerns about the fact that we don’t have a qb that can both run and throw deep. RD is an excellent runner and he's accurate at short ranges. However, if you can’t throw accurately past thirty yards it means your always in the red zone for practical purposes. The field is shortened no matter where you’re at on the field which is big problem against athletic defenses. I also think we need to utilize a full-back more tight ends etc Finally, we have big problems with our inability to blitz and/or put any type of pressure on the opposing qb. I thought our defensive woes would be cured when we hired Deloach but obviously that hasn’t happened. Hopefully they can fix the D with recruiting. In the end, I think we have to stick with Dodge for another year. He’s making progress. It’s really slow progress but it's progress nonetheless. If we switch coaches right now it could set us back years. I think we just have to hope that Dodge continues to grow and learn.

I've been saying for some time that we should join the WAC They have put 2 teams in the BCS the last two years. It's not ideal but it’s a step up. And perception wise - it's a big step up.

see link http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/ Vito's comments: Just to clarify my earlier blog. Sean Warren of Blinn had an offer from UNT. He just didn't have a midterm offer. . . . . . Make no mistake about it; this is a calculated risk on UNT's part.

DeLoach’s endorsement of Dodge was the most interesting thing about tonight. I’ve been sitting on the fence about Dodge reserving judgment until next year. However, when DeLoach speaks it hard not to listen.

What a rollercoaster. I was excited by our win but just sickened by our play at times – anyone else feel the same way?

Your wife is right. Many college bands don’t have as many woodwinds (clarinets, flutes etc) as we do. Sometimes I wished we had more brass instruments so that we could sound louder.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/UTSA_hu...candidates.html I thought some on here might find this interesting.

I think we have about 5K more students than TSU. I'm not so much worried about UTSA as I think they will play off campus at the Alamo Dome. TSU however, is very close in size and has a great campus. They also have the advantage of not being a "directional school" anymore. This student fee was in my mind about staying alive. We're in the mix now but we can't just sit on our laurels. College football remains divided between the world of the “haves” and “have nots”. We can’t afford to have other “have nots” race past us. We have to keep pace at a bare minimum. In any event - I don't want to sound too negative. This is a great week for UNT. Thanks again Flyer!!

Well that’s great news but wouldn’t the same be true for Texas State and UTSA? UTSA is at $20 per credit hour and Texas State is moving to $20 per credit hour over the next five years. It appears that if we wait for the BOR to increase our fees it will take us almost twice as long as Texas State to get to $20 per hour. This vote was a big first step and you deserve the majority of the credit. I just hope RV and the administration understand that we can’t rest now. I think they need to be formulating a plan right now to keep up and stay ahead of schools like that. I'm just curious, is there anything prohibiting another vote in 2-3 years? I would think another vote to increase the fee would be needed at some point after the stadium is built.

Great Job – Flyer!!! This is just the beginning though. We’re going to have to go through this all over again in the next 3-5 years if we want to remain competitive and keep pace with schools like Texas State and UTSA.

Vito -- I still have a gut feeling that the fee will pass, though. If UNT's athletes, the Greek community and the small number of hardcore sports fans at UNT all vote yes, I have a hard time believing there will be enough people who will vote no and send the election the other way. This is the key. If all of these groups voted (as they should have) there is no way we could lose. If we do lose this thing it's because we didn't get our people out.

On the plus side -- all of these “technical problems” should dissuade some of the marginal “No” votes. It sounds like only the real committed are going to vote in this election.