GrandGreen

Data gathered about walk ons: DE Brandon McCoy - 6'2 260-270 (look at video posted above): 24 year old Iraq veteran. This guy could be the real deal. LB Nick Crewe - 6'3 215 Woodlands All dist 2nd team: Good size LB Khary Alexcee - Clear Springs Hm all district LB Drew Miller - 6'2 225 Prosper District MV Def player DB Connor Higgins - 6' 175 Graham All District wide receiver DB Jimmy Reynolds - 6'3 165 Grand Prairie, good frame from great town McCoy and Miller based on very limited knowledge look like good bets.

NT signs new player. Can't get link to work but it is from Austin Statesman. Akins High senior Knockus Sashington has signed to play football at the University of North Texas. Sashington, who played as a wide receiver and cornerback, was named Offensive Player of the Year and first team All-District. He also played basketball and ran track, and is graduating in the top 25 percent of his class. “We are looking for young men who are committed to bring the best they can be in all areas of their lives,” said University of North Texas Head Coach Todd Dodge in his letter to Sashington. “We strongly feel that you will make a huge impact in our program on the field and in the classroom.”

I would be very disappointed if Dickey came anywhere close to the NT Hall of Fame. I give him all the credit for an incredible run in the Belt but character has to be a factor when selecting a coach to the HOF. Even if you disregard the pitiful antics after he was terminated, DD was all about DD. He continued throughout his career to berate his situation at NT, I guess to elevate his achievements despite the poor circumstances at NT. Even though there was more than just a grain of truth in his comments, it didn't do anyone any good to continually be reminded that NT athletics had issues. It is no wonder that recruiting against any other school became increasingly difficult when the HC continually bemoaned the situation at NT. It also didn't help that IMO after a couple of bowl appearances that Dickey appears much more interested in getting a job upgrade than growing or even maintaining the program. Yes, DD had success at NT and build a great Belt program but you can't disregard that he also was responsible for the dismantlement of that program.

Lets see Thomas led the nation and had the best year of any running back in NT history but he is not NT HOF worthy? Have you bothered to look at the athletes already in there? Thomas, Kennedy, Hall, Cobbs and Brewster will all probably be inducted at some point, but for my money no one should go in till they honor the late Walter Chapman. Sorry, that is my usual rant when HOF discussions happen. He was arguably the best player on the Fry team's and dominated a game from the interior line like Greene and Kennedy. Once had 22 tackles from the nose position, and had stats that were much better than Kennedy.

Obviously, the Belt picked ULM; how else did they become a member. I would be a little careful throwing around reported athletic budgets, because there are practically no reporting standards and they can be very misleading. For example, private school tuition such as SMU could amount to over a $6m difference between their budget and NT and yet their real out of pocket costs are close to the same. Unless they have recently changed, athletes tuition in Louisiana is not counted in the athletic budget. A lot if not most universities do about everything they can to hide the obvious, they lose a lot of money on athletes. Instead of berating ULM maybe we should hire someone from there, with their budget they are playing the same number of sports and have about the same number of coaches as NT. I am not so sure that NT is not going to have more budget problems with this new stadium. Unless, they have some major donations they are keeping undercover; paying for half of the stadium may put a definite drain on the budget and revenues that would normally go for operating expenses may be used for debt service. I certainly hope that doesn't happen but even new revenue streams such as premium seating and suites may not be enough to cover stadium construction costs. Back to ULM, based on what I have recently read all football programs in Louisiana expect LSU are heavily subsidized by the state. ULL and ULM may get over half their athletic budget from the state. With more state cutbacks probably coming in Louisiana, it may be very tough for not only ULM but ULL and La Tech to remain viable in the FB division. Just be aware that weeding out the undesired may have some very bad consequences. NT is at the bottom in almost every category when compared to the FB schools as a whole; budget, attendance, and stadium size.

Hand held times are faster because the timer's reaction time in starting the stopwatch is always slow and most often the timer stops the watch early because they must anticipate the finish. I doubt very seriously that any coaches take quoted 40 times very seriously. The problem is that coaches know that a fat (fully automated time) time of 4.7 is ultra fast, but the majority of fans that are used to seeing all these 4.5 and lower times are going to question why they ever signed a wide receiver with that kind of speed. There is an article that I use to have bookmarked but lost it, talking about the ridiculousness of 40 times and how a roided-up Ben Johnson when running a record 100 meter on a track and using blocks didn't run as fast as a lot of quoted football player's times. I agree obviously that 40 times are quoted often although it is almost a meaningless statistics. It has developed into a type of shorthand that been established. A 4.5 time is pretty much standard for any running back, defensive back or wide receiver and means that the player has good speed. A sub-4.5 time means that the player is very fast. In reality the only time that is really important is how fast the player is in pads which is seldom reported. As far as height go, generally the players are at least an inch shorter with two not uncommon. Weights are all over the place. Again coaches perpetuate the false stats because they don't want anyone to think they are recruiting smaller and slower athletes.

Yes, that would be a little too much of a difference.

40 times are part fiction, hyperbole, and otherwise unreliable. Almost every quoted 40 time is either a hoax or a least subject to questioning. I hate to break it to you unlike what you read in Texas Football, every high school football team is not full of players with 4.4 or 4.5 speed. There is for example an estimated 2.4 second difference in an automated and a manual time. So those timed manually pending other factors at 4.5 are roughtly equivalent to a 4.74 auto time. There is also a hugh difference in if it is timed based on a starting gun or signal or started on runner's movement. Throw in other factors such as running surface, weather conditions and runners' attire and it really gets complicated. There is also a difference in the accuracy of auto timing devices. Some would cite the pro camps as being the most accurate. I believe they run on grass in workout gear and are automatically timed started on runner movement. The only realistic way to judge speed is to have the team acually run races against one another. You may notice that a lot of coaches shy away from 40 speed times questions because they know that most times quoted are baloney. Back to the original question based on visual only, I think the fastest are Jackson, Stradford, Dodge, Dunbar and Outlaw. I am also sure that some of the defensive backs are comparable in speed.

No, you don't terminate anybody based on the first three games, NT will most likely be the underdog against all three schools although I feel like two are very winnable. What possible good could come out of changing coaches that early? if you remember RV let lame duck DD coach after he had been terminated, an unfortunate move for all but it certainly doesn't point to RV making any rash changes. My only hope, is that our AD will have a new coach picked or a very short list before he announces a decision. I don't want what we got last year. RV ostensibly reviewing the coach after the year with apparently no other options identified. I was far bringing back Dodge at that point, rather then going through a long progress and ending up with most likely a hurried choice. I do think Dodge has a good chance to turn it around this year, however if the team doesn't show improvement in the first half of the season, I hope the athletic administration is doing everything they can to select the next coach.

Picking Morris over Dunbar is strange. Morris had 14 more yards rushing last year but it took him 63 more carries. Dunbar averaged 6.9 ypg and scored 17 td's compared to Morris at 5.3 and 11 tds. Steele does a better job than most, he at least provides a lot more detail. He does base a lot of his projections on his high school ratings of players, thus he holds Riley in very high regard. Riley was given a ship to UT and it wasn't to play QB so there is a basis for his pick. With the number of NT players mentioned in the first four teams, he must think NT will be much improved. With Drake and Santiago on the first team offensive line and Gill and Johnson also included on the first four teams, Steele must think NT will have a very good offensive line. Picking Atkisson first team was real surprise, I hope he lives up to it. Overall, I think Dunbar should be on the first team and Carey higher but in truth there are several NT players that were higher than I anticipated.

Unfortunately, NT in football is the poorest of the sisters. It sure is fun to bad mouth the Belt, does anyone ever considered were NT would be without it? The problem is outside of the even worst fit WAC; nobody else wants NT. CUSA which is obviously a better fit geographically may look great from NT' view but many of the Western Division members think it is in their best interest to exclude NT. The non-Texas members don't want another Texas team, and the Texas teams don't want to help an in-state rival. Even if CUSA wanted NT, has anyone looked at the budget differences between NT and CUSA teams. Part of those differences would be made up with more funds coming from the conference and possible reduced travel, but NT would still most likely be by far the poorest funded school in CUSA. Yes, NT should always try to be better in athletics and academics and part of that is moving up the conference food chain. However, the Belt is not the problem and the continued my school is too good for the Belt mantra coming from supporters of every conference member is beyond old.

Lets see, Wilson was a juco AA who left the team before a game, Flemings a transfer from OSU who apparently couldn't cut it academically until he went to Hawaii, Curtis Muse an early sign juco who didn't make it academically and wasn't that good anyway, Babb who for some reason many thought NT had a chance at, and Thomas who apparently NT recruited before he signed with LSU. I guess a list of what could have been? Too bad this is an all decade team are you could throw in Vinnie Johnson, Terry Teagle and Spud Webb.

Thanks for the correction, got any other input?

NT has just concluded 10 years in the Belt, so it maybe appropriate to debate all decade and/or all Belt teams for NT. Starting with the easiest to discuss, men's basketball. The first year in the Belt, was Trilli's last year and the team was a disastrous 4-24. Johnny Jones has been here the other nine years with a record of 150-121 making NT 154-145 in the last ten years. Starting with the center position, my choice would be George Odufawa with another year to go. He has the highest rebound average for one year during the period by over 2 a game, 10.7 last year. He also was second team All Conference selection last year (he got robbed) and as such is the only NT big man to get this high an honor. He was also on last years all Belt tournament team. My second team choice would be Keith Wooden who when healthy and in something resembling in-shape was as good as offensive center as I have seen in the Green. At the four, I will go with Eric Tremiel. The team's leading scorer and rebounder in his junior year. Third team all conference in both his years at NT. Tournament MVP last year. For second team will go with Quincy Williams who led the team in rebounding for two years and was a very consistent player for all four years at NT. At the wings or shooting guards the number one choice is easy, Chris Davis. Joining him on the first team is Calvin Watson. Calvin was Belt Tournament MVP in 2007 and a four year player who got better every year. The first of my second team selections are Leonard Hopkins who led the team in scoring for two years and was second team all conference for two years. The other second teamer with a year to go, is Tristan Thompson. A player who gets better every year and hopefully the best is still to come. At point, Josh White is an easy pick. He may not be technically the best point for NT but he is definitely the best player who played point for the decade. One of the best clutch players in NT history. Always seems to put the team ahead of any personal play. Second team All Belt his freshman year and third team his junior year. All Belt tournament his sophomore year. Second team all decade would be Isaac Hines who once led the team in rebounding from the point position. MVP of the decade again is easy, Chris Davis. Surprisingly the only player from NT to make first team All Belt and he did that twice. He played in the Sun Belt for three years in which he led the team in scoring and assists and led the team in rebounding for two years. One of the best players in school history.

I wonder why a lot of people keep referring to a Texas centered conference as the new SWC. The Southwest conference was basically a Texas conference that included the state powers. Since none of the Big 12 schools are going to opt for a conference that includes the have-nots of Texas and it is unlikely that TCU with their recent success would consider it either, any league with the remaining schools would be the SWC in name only. South-central would be a more descriptive for a new Texas area based conference. Combining the western divisions of CUSA and the Belt makes too much sense to ever happen. Egos and the magical mysterious "my school is to good to be associated with your" concept will likely keep it from happening unless it is absolutely essential for survival. No matter how much red ink flows at SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane and Memphis, they are just too good to be associated with NT, ULL, Ark St, etc. It matters not that an intelligent case for this belief can not be supported.

NT like the last two years is in about as weak a recruiting position as possible. I said this last year and got a lot of negative responses, NT should not worry about early recruiting. The level of athletes that they can get at this point early are in general not worth NT's commitment. Wait till much of the season plays out, Dodge hopefully will have turned the program around or if he has not than recruiting should be up to the new staff. In ether case, a rejuvenated Dodge program or a new staff should be able to recruit at a much higher level athlete than now.

A non-factor in what? Too many people stupidly IMO think that the only thing that mattered is how good is your football team when evaluating possible conference affiliations. If being good in any sport is important, it is men's basketball because a team that does well in the NCAA; monetarily benefits the whole conference. Public perception of the university, geography, and political relationship with the potential conference mates are all factors that are as important as athletic prowess. Universities generally want to be grouped with similar institutions in athletics and academics. Even though a school like UT has to get almost all their athletes in school as special admits because of their academic selectivity, they still want to be associated with university with the highest of academic standards. While every university now would like to be in a regional conference to cut costs, most still do not want to give a leg up to potential competitive programs. Tulane does not want to be involved with other Louisiana schools, Memphis with Middle, SMU and others with UNT, etc. In summary, every school is going to act in their own interest and there are a vast number of issues involved with football competitiveness being only one criterion. NT is in the best position, they have ever been to be considered for other conferences. Facilities including the building of a new football stadium are turning from a big minus to a plus. The recent push to become a first tier academic institution will be of substantial help. Being the only public football playing university in the fifth biggest media market has to be very positive. Also being the third largest campus in Texas can't be ignored. Yes, NT has negatives too, but overall NT has recently make great recent strides in athletics and academics. NT is far from a non-factor in the potential conference realignment.

Actually La Tech has recently and somewhat mysteriously moved up to a tier 3 national university per US News and Report. A point that in some of their minds makes them academically superior to all the Belt teams. When NT and La Tech were both being considered for CUSA, I looked in depth at what was published academically and NT was ahead in all categories such as selectivity, average entrance exams, programs offered; I wonder how even on the severely faulted USNR ratings they have passed NT. Whatever they have done, maybe NT should copy it, I can't believe that La Tech has any more resources than NT and as ridiculous as these rankings are they do get a lot of publicity.

I thought going with Simmons in the game was surprising. Troy's Williams pitching in her third tournament game, and NT was starting their third pitcher. Williams also started today against ULL and pitched five good innings. Troy just had a hot pitcher at the right time. Simmons actually did very well until substituted leaving tied at 1 to 1. Pitching obviously was not the problem for NT, they still couldn't get to Williams, and base running was very questionable. NT should continue to build on their first winning season. They do lose their first two pitchers but have all their bats back except Waters. It has been a slow climb for the team but they seem to finally have a coaching staff that can grow the program. Recruiting looks good, but it does look like they need at least another pitcher next year. They return all conference seniors to be Martinez and Cantler as well as sophomore Johnson who should have gotten conference recognition.

Not unexpected but interesting that TSSM is making overtures to the WAC.

Does anyone know for sure if Mangrum is going to play at SMU? I hope he does, I think he can do well there. I echo the above and hope Collin will be a success in the classroom and court.

I agree, apparently Williams is about the only pitcher they use, she is 20-21 for the year. She did give up 9 hits in their last game, so maybe she is tiring. Of course, Lail for NT also pitched yesterday but NT does have a little more pitching depth than most softball teams. I know softball pitchers can seemingly pitch forever, but it has to be at least a small factor. NT did beat them 2 out of 3 in the regular season so I do also like NT's chances. Hopefully, losing the first tournament game 0-8 and being no hit can turn into a positive revenge factor for the team. I do think NT is the better team.

NT wins 5-1 with Lawson winning pitcher. NT is scheduled to play Troy at 5:30 today.

Good match by the ladies, other than doubles; the teams were really close. With all but one player back next year, NT should continue to climb.

With NT batting in bottom of sixth, 5-1 NT.