UNT Mean Green

This was a nice article by the NY Times, and it put the program and Coach Dodge in a positive light.

Let's add Montgomery, Mosley, Dunbar, Hamilton (who, in case some of you didn't watch or attend the game, is an extremely dynamic player and a true threat to score every time he touches it), and the powerful freshman Jeremi Mathis to this running back conversation and we are set for some time. Cam has proven to be a good 6+ ypc guy who chews up yardage. I'm personally excited about Dunbar and Hamilton and watching them for the coming 3 seasons. They are very dynamic players who have a lot of speed and are dangerous with the ball in their hands. And of course Micah Mosley is a steady-eddy guy who is very consistent. (let's not forget the threat of Riley Dodge running the ball either from QB or WR). Our running game looks good for years to come especially if we continue to improve our O-Line play.

Excellent Post.

Feeley is actually a starter now at 6'4" 318 lbs.

This is a good post in general, however I have to disagree/throw a wrench in there about one thing. The comment of Giovanni flourishing if we weren't running this offense or running a different one is inaccurate (in my opinion only) because of one thing. Dodge said when he recruited Giovanni out of Alamo Heights that he was 'the perfect guy to run this offense'. So if we ran a different offense, I don't think Giovanni would even be here. Now, let's talk more about those O-Line splits!!!

Anyone else think our offensive lineman's splits are too narrow, which don't allow for wide throwing lanes and also causes the box to be more crowded making it difficult to run? Seems like when you watch the best spread offenses their lineman have very wide splits (3+ feet) or so.

Being born and raised in Southlake as I was, you are correct. Carroll has always bad a good program. The statement that Dodge did an outstanding job there is true, and I don't think that will be done in 5A football again. The statement that everybody does a good job there is however not true. Check out Tom Rapp. He was between Ledbetter and Dodge and lost a whole lot of football games. Everyone wants to talk about all of this talent Dodge had at SLC. Well 20 something players to Division 1 schools in 6 years is not bad, but you have to remember he was playing the Allen's, South Grand Prairie's, Euless Trinity's that have 5-10 D1's every season. There was a difference, and it was coaching and more importantly someone who could lead that program the right way. We've even seen it falter somewhat since Dodge left, as Carroll has lost 3 games in 1.5 seasons, which is more than Dodge lost since moving to 5A.

So you're on strike?!?

DBU= Private, Very Small, Expensive (competitive instant they moved to D1) UNT= Public, Large, Inexpensive (no reason can't be competitive and better than DBU was upon entering D1 (ie starting a program for UNT))

Believe it or not there have been several people who are highly regarded in the baseball industry be it college or pro ball who have inquired about the UNT job (and lots of them for that matter). There is plenty of talent in the backyard (as there is in football) but in comparing baseball to football you are comparing apples to oranges. It's a totally different dynamic than football. There is no BCS. And schools in a non-major conference have a legitimate change (similar to basketball) to play for a championship. Here's a list of mid majors to make it to Omaha since 1998: 1998-Long Beach State 1999-Rice & Cal State Fullerton 2000-Louisiana Lafayette & San Jose State 2001-Cal State Fullerton 2002-Rice 2003-Rice & Cal State Fullerton & Missouri State 2004-Cal State Fullerton 2005-Tulane 2006-Cal State Fullerton & Rice 2007-Rice & UC Irvine & Cal State Fullerton 2008-Fresno State Those are just the teams in Omaha, not in Super Regionals and Regionals. I don't think if you go back to the start of the BCS that you'll have that solid of representation from non-BCS conferences. More parity and a better opportunity to play for a championship in baseball than in football.

I can do that. He's contacted me several times asking about UNT baseball and we talk about once every 2 weeks.

I'm going to bet you that baseball will be able to secure private donations faster than any of the other sports/facilities in the shortest amount of time. (Don't forget this sport has been brought up before a couple of times and has an active standing committee as part of the Advisory Committee ready to move when RV says "go".)

I have the numbers in front of me and if you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them for you. There have been people advocating (not yourself) men's soccer and gymnastics which all lose significant amounts of money for the NCAA over the course of a year (like track, etc.). The at least 40% was a number mandated by the NCAA for some time (don't know if it still holds true or not) in order to achieve balance in scheduling and expenses. I'm not certain if this percentage is still applied, but the point of the story is your team isn't on the road all season (unless, of course, your theory of being a traveling team holds true )

I take it you aren't considering that you play at least 40% of your games per year at home each spring. Yes, when you do travel it's normally for weekend series, but that's not weekly travel plus lodging. When you have a nice facility, you host the majority of midweek games. The revenues for baseball are significantly more than men's soccer and gymnastics.

They have been starting at 6:30pm all year.

Did you know that the NCAA Division I men's baseball College World Series is the second (2nd) largest championsip series sponsored by the NCAA? Coach Polk made this point .... the baseball regionals, super-regionals and CWS are surpassed in revenue generated for the NCAA only by the men's basketball tournament. What about football? Those bowl games are not revenue shared by the NCAA, only the participating schools and in some cases their conferences. In that case, baseball is the second largest revenue earning sport shared by the NCAA behind Men's Basketball.

Personally I have seen at most college athletic facilities the way it is done is that the bricks are just normal bricks, and there is a "wall of donors" or something like that with plaques commemerating all of the contributors to that facility and the different levels of sponsorship (i.e. platinum, gold, silver, bronze, green, white, whatever).

There are some promising young WR's on the team now, and a few of them are redshirting. Also, from everything you read, that Daniel Mayberry ('09 commit) is one of the best WR's in Dallas area high school football this year. We need quality lineman on both sides to make a difference! That's the biggest difference in top programs and other programs.

7 million could get you this stadium (the other 4 million spent on the facility went into the other fields), which by the way hosted an NCAA Regional on ESPN this past spring for Coastal Carolina: This would be a wonderful facility.

FYI, to clarify that. The pictures of that stadium are real, but they fall into the same category as those pictures that SPARKS drew up of that proposed football stadium. Don't put much (if any) stock into them. When baseball gets here, the stadium won't look like that.

A good baseball facility on par with Baylor and TCU's facilities costs 7-10 million (I'm not certain if that includes land costs or not). A ridiculous baseball facility like the new LSU stadium and the new South Carolina stadium costs as much as most AA or AAA Minor League ballparks in the range of 20-30 million. There is no question that UNT needs baseball, and that baseball can easily be the top sport at North Texas in a short amount of time. Give the right coach necessary funding and it can happen quickly. Look at college baseball in general. There are a lot of successful programs that aren't major athletic schools. Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, Rice, UC Irvine to name a few. Those are all schools that aren't athletic powerhouses (i.e. Texas, LSU, etc) however they are very successful in baseball and are in recruiting hotbeds. Look at the latest college baseball recruiting class rankings. TCU landed a higher ranked class than Texas did (for the second time in 4 years). In 2004, TCU moved into their new stadium, got a new coach who hired the right recruiting guy, and they have been a very successful baseball program since that day. I guess my point is put the correct people in charge with adequate funding and a baseball program can be successful on a national scale in a short amount of time.

Dodge won't be fired...promise.

UNT leads for first time "UNT took its first lead of the season in the first quarter against ULL, its sixth opponent of the year. The Mean Green held UNT to a three-and-out series on its opening possession of the game and drove 41 yards in eight plays to set up kicker Jeremy Knott for a 46-yard field goal." Interesting how the Mean Green held UNT... doesn't this stuff get proof-read before making it into the paper and onto the website? that's poor.

Your D-Ends have to play very well. The read option is simply the QB reading the backside D-End. If the end goes inside on the handoff action, the QB pulls it and runs to where that DE used to be. If the DE comes upfield or at the QB, the QB gives the ball to the RB and off he goes. Angles of pursuit are important and leverage is important. Coach DeLoach will also have to guess right with blitzes and stunts in terms of weakside/strongside and down & distance. I would think you use an extra defender and commit him to the box and make Desormeaux (sp) beat you with his arm.