untjim1995

I am not a huge fan of TFLF, but doesn't this cross the line on the personal attack?

Something tells me that if Dodge wins at least two games, that he will still be the coach here. Just my opinion, though.

One of the best con-men coaches of all time in my opinion. He could sell ice to Eskimos --he was that charismatic. Couldn't outcoach your below-average YMCA coach for under-6 year olds. Seriously, it was one thing to lose by 75 at Maryland, another to just get absolutely crushed against Big West and SBC teams twice a week. There are many solid comparisons you can make between he and Dodge on the football side of things. Both got alot of excitment generated for their teams and got much imprioved facilities, but the actual team perfromance was much worse than anyone could have dreamed.

1-11 I just can't see us competing yet with any of the teams on the schedule beyond WKU and Army, so I will have UNT split in those two games. Our lines are weak (even if they are supposedly improving) and the QB is fragile and inexperienced (BTW, his backups are inexperienced, too). My gut says neither Todd nor Riley will be here after this year. If, however, UNT was to split its opening 4 games, they could be at 4-5 wins at the end of the year, but, again, I just don't see how us doing that.

Here are my thoughts on a very interesting topic, but involving a Baylor vs. UNT comparison. I know that the comparison is supposed to be with us in the SBC as the role of Baylor, but the view that Baylor should ever move out of the Big XII will never occur becasue of the following listing. Pros for being Baylor: 1. Money--lots of it and its mostly guaranteed. No downside--only gets higher if the Big XII gets two teams in the BCS games or if you make a bowl game and get additional monies from the game. 2. Prestige--Being in a BCS conference alone adds much more credibility than anyone can challenge. For example, everyone at TCU would die to get into a AQ-BCS league that played local schools. As a matter of fact, Baylor made more bowl money last year by being in the BCS than TCU made for beating Boise State and finishing in the Top Ten. That alone still drives me crazy, but it makes the point. 3. Image--Both in the state and in the national media, Baylor gets more attention just because of who they play in conference. Recruits who like a smaller school and can get playing time early would probably feel like Baylor's situation could be a great fit. Cons for being Baylor: 1. Loser Mentality--this description is awfully hard to get rid of. As a matter of fact, their fans are so excited because last year they beat A&M and went 4-8. That's the tough part about playing in the Big XII South every year. 2. Apathy--alumni and administration always have the crutch to lean on and say, "Hey, we can't beat OU, Texas, Nebraska, etc..so it really isn't a big deal if we go 3-9 every year." For obvious reasons, I won't go into the breakdown of being UNT and in the SBC--the Pros are almost non-existent when compared to anyone else in Texas. I would take their place or anyone in CUSA for that matter in a heartbeat. The real question I have is why the non AQ-BCS schools in Texas do not want to be aligned with UNT in a conference still to this day? I understand the past with the SWC, butI just don't get why that view is still in play when UTEP is easily accepted. I just don't get it.

TFLF, Great post--maybe the most accurate post I have read in a long time regarding our cycle of repitition at UNT regarding football. Sometimes, I wonder why this school even keeps football around at this level. So little support--both in dollars and in fanbase--make the old nestor views very difficult to beat. If this stadium gets built by 2012, then I will truly believe that we want to stay at the FBS level. But, if it doesn't, I fear that this program won't be around down the road. I think sometimes we all fool ourselves into believeing that the student body voted for big changes with the stadium vote in the fall, but I think the overwhelming number of people who didn't vote in the election fall more in line with the NO voter than the YES voter. Now, that is not a reason for the fee to be overturned, but it does speak to the fact that the stadium still faces a lot of hurdles before we can get this going. This isn't even considering the fact that fundraising hasn't exactly boomed, either. Tthe only way that this program will ever be anything other than a Bottom 20 Team is if the administration and BOR decide that the "flyer" approach for a head coach is not the way to go, but instead they go out and get a Coach Fry-type guy with skins on the wall. Otherwise, you will continue to get coordinators from non-BCS schools and HS head coaches here at UNT.

I haven't read the contract, so that is interesting to say the least. But will they do it? And what would the pay be? Any thoughts on this?

I do think he has a short list, but I think it is only to use if Dodge resigns or takes a job at another school (i.e., position coach or coordinator) Lets face it--there is just no way that UNT can afford to pay two coaches at the same time (even if Dodge was reassigned). Dodge will get year 4 if he wants it--even if he goes winless. Heck, if some of the reports are true about the topic of paying coaches, we are still paying Dickey some dollars, which is probably why Dodge was the perfect candidate for the athletic department in 2007. My hopes are twofold for 2009: 1.) We end up overacheiving and Dodge stays, which seems close to miraculous at this point (winning 4+ games) or 2.)We only win a game or two and Dodge resigns to go back to HS or go become a position coach at some other college. And, as far as RV losing his job, I have no idea how many years he has left on his contract, but it seems far-fetched to think he will be gone after all of the improvement we have seen overall for the department during his tenure.

NT80, I am not trying to rile you up here, but please explain to me why these schools aren't playing us and haven't played us frequently since we moved up. Yes, SMU has us on the schedule in 2014 (I think), and we have a game against Rice scheduled, but it seems that the attendance isn't the driver here. Beating UNT to most of their fanbase is not a big win, but losing to us is a huge loss. Otherwise, we would always have one of them on our schedule. I am not counting any Texas Big XII schools because the advantage they have is huge and they can afford to play us, although Tech and Baylor won't play us anytime soon because of the pain those losses caused to their team and alumni. Apparently, TCU wants nothing to do with scheduling UNT again because they see no good from it. UH, UTEP, and Rice could use the attendance boost, too. But, they don't schedule UNT much, even though we want to play them often. I still believe that our way in the current environment of FBS football is through an improving Sunbelt and by continuing to play (and actually defeat) Tulsa, La Tech, Army, Navy, and other somewhat notable teams in OOC, while also making it to bowl games. The new stadium will help with that immensely. But I don't believe that the other Texas schools that are mid-majors will do us in favors. Our best hope is to just get better than them--and that is very doable, but it will take a long time from where we are right now. But, at that point, UNT would get to be the chooser in who to play in OOC--or even better, to choose whether to join a confernece that includes some of those old SWC has-beens that cling to their past.

Haven't the costs to travel to and from Denton always been cheaper than to the other outposts you mentioned? Since we moved back up to D-IA status, we have played SMU twice, TCU three times, Rice and UH once, and UTEP none. We won one time against these in-state schools, so us beating them can't be a reason that we don't play them regularly. The real reasons are exactly why we will never be in a conference with these schools--their administration and fans don't want anything to do with having us in a conference with them. That is why our only paths to the future in I-A involve a SBC that continues to get stronger over the next few decades or by getting an E-WAC division going. It will not involve any current FBS schools in Texas, IMHO.

I enjoy reading your posts--but after I read them, more often than not, I really do believe that UNT will never give you what you expect as a fan. Look, you talk about raising expectations, but in the last 14 years of the program, we have had exactly 3 winning seasons as a D-1 school. We can't even get a stadium built without jumping through about 10 rings of fire. We cannot afford to hire a really good coach--we always have to take a flier (i.e. Parker, Simon, Dickey, and Dodge). None of those coaches had any college head-coaching experience. I realize college coordinators make the leap often, but often they don't work out as head coaches. So we get what we can afford. Rice gets Bailiff, SMU gets Jones, Tulsa gets Graham, and UTEP got Price. Places like Tulsa, SMU, Rice, and UTEP want to have their football programs succeed--we want music and arts to succeed (See Phillip Young types). I understand your frustration, but I just wonder why you keep banging your head so hard against the wall on the subject of TDodge and the program's flaws. Until we get that new stadium built and can get financial support to pay for a good coaching staff, we will be a program that will be stuck in SBC land. With Fouts getting worse every day, with a putrid record of late, and with the coach having a few more years on the contract, as well as the previous one, too, the only hope is that Dodge finds success with his new QB. Recruits and their families aren't stupid. Its the whole thing that stinks--and until someone up at the top decides that we need to support and fund a better athletic program than fine arts and music, then our fortunes could change. But since that has never happened, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I respectfully disagree. UH is a much better conference, has much better media coverage, and has a much higher budget and donors. They have rivals that want to play them and be in a conference with them. UNT has none of these and probably won't even come close for some time. UH also will probably get to be a Tier 1 University. I really am envious of them when compared to our situation. IF RV is interested and UH is interested, that would be a very good fit for both.

Gonzaga plays in the WCC with: San Diego, Portland, St. Mary's, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Loyola Maymount, and Santa Clara. Over the years, with Portland being the exception, all of the other teams in that conference have made the tournament and have had some level of success. But, again, most casual hoops fans who only follow the conferences that they "know" (BCS or close-to-home conferences), so I can understand how you feel. The SBC is a good league for hoops, better than many others, but WKU doesn't make people from all over the Metroplex flock to the Pit for a home game against them. But, even if we were in CUSA, I doubt very seriously that a game against Memphis would sell out because college hoops just doesn't matter much here in DFW--and it never has, which is really too bad. College hoops is my favorite sport, just ahead of college football. Luckily, college hoops knows how to crown a champ, unlike football.

Interesting pricing for their season tickets--6 games. I am not sure if you also have to donate first to get these prices or if this is the all-in-one price for their tickets. It would seem to be the latter, but here goes: Stadium Club $1100/seat Mustang Club Sideline $280/seat Sideline Reserved West $150/seat Sideline Reserved East $120/seat Family Section $72/seat End Zone Reserved $72/seat I wonder if they are giving a discount for the last two seating options for season-ticket buyers versus just paying at the time you walk up. Anyway, it all interests me because if we get our new stadium, what will our prices be? Will the majority of fans pay a much higher price to come there and watch SBC games?

There is only problem to your thinking bigger and better than playing in a conference with UTSA and TSU: Those other Texas colleges look at UNT the exact same way that we look at UTSA or TSU, especially the Metrpolex teams and their fans. UTEP, UH, Rice, SMU, and TCU have more to gain if a TSU or UTSA join their conference or play OOC games against them in the future because they get more exposure in an area of the state that they can recruit better. Unfortunately, our location, which is a hotbed for recruiting anyway, already has exposure in the two conferences that we would love to be a member in--and SMU and TCU want nothing to do with us being in their conference. The best hope for UNT, in my opinion, is for the larger public universities in the SBC and CUSA to create their own conference. Then, a conference of La Tech, Ark State, UH, ULL, UNT, UTEP, NMSU, USM, UAB, Troy, MTSU, and WKU would be a great combo of all of the SBC and CUSA. UNT would be a prominent player as the only Metroplex school in this scenario and we would upgrade our conference immediately. Sadly, though, if SMU is in CUSA, we won't be--its just that simple. And probably the same with TCU and the MWC, too.

Completely agree. I see 1-2 wins in 2009--at the most. (WKU and an upset--maybe Army??) I think this will be the end of the road and we get to start all over again, which bums me out because I like TD and think he is a terrific family man. It just appears that TD and UNT are not a good fit together. All of which leads to this question: Knowing how stellar our leadership has been in hiring football coaches in the last 30 years, who on here thinks that we will get the next hire anywhere close to being right? We haven't gotten the right guy here since Corky Nelson in 1982--and we fired him in 1990 to bring in Dennis Parker/Matt Simon/Darrell Dickey/Todd Dodge over the last 17 years. And we wonder why we have no support--with these "terrific" hires, who would have ever guessed that we cared more for music than football? Good things are happening for coaches getting passed over by UNT!!

No, but his brother, Reggie Finch, did. And he was a huge disappointment.

Can We??? Will We??

Well, if memory serves me, only once did we send another team to a bowl game during our championship years, which was Troy in 2003. People remember Middle because they beat Vandy in the first year of Sun Belt, but they had just moved up from I-AA so they had many I-A transfers, IIRC. After that, the great coaching of Andy Mac really showed up for MTSU. Also, at the same time, Roberts at ASU was just getting going, as well. Bustle at ULL was new, as was Weatherbie at ULM. NMSU was average at best, Idaho and USU were just bad. Basically, DD got the beenfit of a new conference with teams that were either terrible or had coaches that were just starting to build their programs. Let's say we had a coach here at that time like Turner Gill, a guy who has been very energetic in building a program and wanted to watch it grow into a success. Turner Gill (not that he was a choice back then, but you get the idea as an example), in my opnion, would have enjoyed similar success as DD and we would have been better off because of attitude and energy, not to mention no bore-us-to-sleep, run-the-draw-on-every-down coaching that DD was known for. That is why I think it is imperative to have your coach be a guy that fans want to support, but one who also knows what they are doing X's and O's wise, unlike Dodge apparently. DD may have been a decent X's and O's guy, but he was massively horrible in regards to energy or fan appeal, which is why I cannot beleive we have anything named after him at this school, but have nothing named after Hayden Fry. Only at UNT.

Perception wise, I think most folks would agree that the SBC of today is stronger than it was back then. I know that the numbers and the results say differently in his story, but I still believe that the SBC is much better than it was back then. As a matter of fact, I beleive that the SBC of today isn't that bad of a conference. But, I didn't think that back in 2001-2004. I think that Troy's program and FAU's program would have won the conference back then. This isn't saying we wouldn't have competed as well, but DD supporters make that stretch out to be HOF worthy. It wasn't. That is what makes me look at DD's timeframe as just being average--that any other COLLEGE coach could have done as well or better here. And, just to be fair, I think Dodge has been terrible, much worse than Dickey.

The way I look at the Dodge vs. Dickey thing is really pretty simple. Dickey was not that good of a coach, he just benefited from the early SBC. Otherwise, his record would have really sucked. And, Dodge has been worse. Both were/are not what this program needs in a HC. Prior to these two, Simon was a joke (trust me, I worked under him for two years), and Parker was in way over his head. Except for Corky Nelson, who we somehow fired even though he led us to hang with programs we had no business competing with at a I-AA level, and Hayden Fry, who did what most coaches at small schools do--leave for greener pastures, the last 35 years of coaching picks at this fine institution have been well below par. Just goes to show what happens when the university is apathetic toward athletics. The next year will be interesting no matter what happens because we either see major Dodge improvement and he stays, or we see him get fired and we try again to hire someone to get us going in the right direction as we enter a new stadium (hopefully).

It amazes me just how much can change in such a short amount of time...

JJ is currently a good not great coach but he is actually a lot better than the program deserves based on it's support level.

CBL, Good points on where we should be in a year or two. One thing that I would caution everyone on is the fact that the talent doesn't always stay--issues pop up often--whether its grades, drugs, personal issues, etc. What looks good down the road, doesn't always manifest itself into being what we think we see. Secondly, I think JJ will be here for a long time--unless he does get us to the tourney again and attracts bigger programs. His salary fits our budget, his personality doesn't stir up too many emotions around here, and his legacy here will forever be that he brought the program up from the most embarrassing level that it has ever endured (Trilli years). In many ways, the next football coach after Dodge could look similar to JJ in that just by doing something positive--win 4 or 5 games, he will look like a genius compared to what we are seeing right now. But, as for JJ, even if we don't make the tournament (NCAA or NIT), I just can't see him being fired--unless they only win 7 or 8 games. And maybe that says more about UNT and its expectations than it does about JJ or the team.