SilverEagle

To quote John Wayne (from the Movie "The Searchers") and Buddie Holly's big hit song (the title of which was inspired by John Wayne's signiture line from the same movie)............... "That'll be the Day".

Just a guess, but wouldn't SF pay more for their position coach than we would?

It's mostly concrete (but I agree that the ugly aluminum add-on stands are more visable), and it's been painted several times since Ike was President. BTW, does anyone know how much 'the Armadillo" cost to build? Was it all private doners that built it? BTW(2). Was the Super Pit built with donated money? If so, how much was raised?

I just think that it's interesting, as well as a tribute to his flexibility, that Jennings has always coached DB's. His position in college was the DL. I remember him as being about 5' 8" or 5'9" X 240. At any rate, he seems to be a very good find, and we will benefit greatly from his recruiting connections.

:clapping:I'm with Rick and "Lefty" here. What in the hell has Daniel Maeger ever done to the North Texas fan base that he catches such venom? I just wish that our fan base worked a tenth as hard being better fans, as Daniel has worked here at North Texas to be the best QB that he can be. As Rick said, considering the position coach that he had to work under (Daniel worked, the coach did God knows what) for the first two years, it's a wonder that he can walk and chew gum at the same time. So what! if he doesn't throw 60 to 80 yard lasers to the WR's. Who the hell does......consistently? So what! if he has some "Ints" in a game? I believe that the all might GV has thrown his share of "int's" this last year. Plus, this offense lends itself to multiple "ints" in a game......regardless of who's throwing. Unless we, as a fan base, consistently fill up fouts, yell our heads off the whole game, and (this is the one that bothers me as much as anything) consistently show up wearing the friggin school colors,( ), we have absolutely no reason to trash this young man.

DeLoach helped develop some of the best defensive players in UNT history during his tenure with the Mean Green, including defensive lineman Brandon Kennedy and linebackers Brad Kassell and Cody Spencer. Without a core of defensive players like that, our defense won't make an immediate (and magical) return to our 2002 defensive glory. Here's hoping that Booger Kennedy wasn't to Gary DeLoach, what Vincent Young was to Mack Brown. But, good Lord, just about anything would be better than what we've had this last season. Two things that are immediate positives for me. DeLoach coached a North Texas defense that never gave up against LSU. And DeLoach knows the "culture" here at North Texas, so there won't be any "getting to know us" distractions for him. In other words, he'll hit the ground running, if he's hired.

Hmmmmm........

Which of us won't?

And what connection did he have with Chuck Peterson? If Coach Dodge is a competent manager, all he has to do is look at how successful DeLoach was in his previous tenure at North Texas, and then the rest should be easy. Don't all competent CEO's do the same thing?

This is especially true for North Texas.......... and has been for decades. Hayden Fry understood that. As did Corky Nelson, Dennis Parker and to a certain extent Matt Simon. Jerry Moore and Bob Tyler I'm not too sure about. DD was receptive to the press, but he never sought them out. Of course, seeking out the press is officially the job of the SID, as well as the AD. But at North Texas (because of our unique culture) it's really everyone's job.

In the fall of 66, I was standing at the small hill overlooking Eagle Stadium in Decatur watching the team practice. An older gentleman walked up beside me and started talking about the team and it's prospects for that season. After I gave my assessment (unbiased of course), the gentleman said "Well, that's by boy Neal down there. He just started coaching here". Neal's father had just driven down from Era to watch his son in his first High School coaching gig. Neal Wilson was an assistant coach under Bill Davis at Decatur in the 66 and 67 seasons. He was hired as Head Coach for the 68 season and stayed in that position until 71 or 72, when he then moved to Boswell. From Boswell he went on to Lewisville. In my humble opinion, his best coaching took place in the 68 season at Decatur. Decatur had just graduated four all-state and numerous all-district players from the previous season. Coach Wilson cobbled together a group of players that included some promising players from the previous years freshman team, and JV team, as was as a senior nose tackle (who ended up being all-district) who, up to that point, had never played football while in High School. That year, Decatur scraped together a district championship (when they should have ended up in third place) and went to the play-offs where they barely lost to San Saba in bi-district. To me, that's real coaching. Ronnie Gage was one of the players that eventually played for Neal Wilson at Decatur. Gary Prescott (assistant at Lewisville and head coach at Northwest and Decatur) also played under Coach Wilson when he was still an assistant at Decatur.

Ok, so how many other papers printed a front page article when the results of the investigation came out? Like many on this board, I don't get the paper version, but rather, read the links posted to the DRC and DMN. I know that it's not X' and O's bashing, it's about public relations. At best, North Texas is pretty lightly regarded by most of the press in Texas (and the rest of the United States as well) and we can ill afford to treat our local press badly.....unless the University is planning to pull up stakes and move to Fort Worth.....or Southlake.

Vito was being treated badly before that NAACP situation occured. The front page retraction about that story/situation is an editors call.....not Vito's.

I can testify to this policy and treatment of reporters as well. At one early fall practice, Mr. Vito and I shared the shade (such as it was) from a scrawny tree right by the entrance to the practice field. Unless you were related to one of the players (or I guess one of the coaches) you couldn't be inside and close up. However, on that particular day, as Mr. Vito and I watched, a well known letterman, who I don't think is related to anyone on the team, came walking out of the practice area right before the team came out. He had been in there talking to coach LaCroix. We watched this, and neither of us said anything....which is a tribute to Mr. Vito's professionalism. But this had to be very annoying to someone who makes their living reporting on the team. I'm sure he would rather have been standing under the tent set up in the middle of the practice field, interviewing players and coaches in a more comfortable setting. Instead he was running over and grabbing people as they walked out of the practice field and interviewing them as they were trying to get back to the locker room....after having to stand out in the sun for over an hour.

Between JJ getting hired at SMU and Briles getting hired at Baylor, that makes it much tougher for Dodge to recruit local offensive talent.

Lets see, Coach Dodge let Mendoza do what he thought was best. So I have a feeling that he will let anyone he hires as a DC, do what he thinks is best as well.......especially if that DC has any sort of college skins on the wall. Plus, keep in mind that Dodge has already demonstrated that he will fire anyone that is not getting the job done......even a long time friend. Then again, Mendoza set new standards for "not getting the job done", so the standards for improvement couldn't be that high. Which brings up another question to consider in this thread. What standards of performance would any of you set for the new DC if you were Coach Dodge. If it were me, I would take the stats of Coach Bliel's last defense and say "this is my expectation for the first year".

....until it starts sputtering again, and then the parts and labor to fix it are MUCH higher than an American made car.

Barry Switzer was one of the best recruiters of all time.....of both white and black players. A good recruiter is a good recruiter. I've thought about this for a long time, and I guess that this is as good a place as any to bring it up. The Black community is just as congnizant of "bottom line" issues in making life decisions as the white community. Black parents certainly want their children to go to a college where their children are comfortable (culture-wise and other wise), but they also want their children to be equipped to succeed in life after they quit playing football. THAT is their main decision making process......not color. If blind loyalty to color was the black community's only decision making factor, then why aren't Grambling State, Southern U., Texas Southern and all the other traditionally black schools nationally ranked powers every year? North Texas was the first Texas state D-1 school to offer black players scholarships. But out of blind loyalty, did that make us the first choice of all black athletes in the state of Texas after that? Hell no! To say (or imply) that an all-white coaching staff would be a detriment to recruiting in the black community is an insult to the intelligence and decision making ability of the black community.

Yeah, but there weren't any numbers to go with that contention. We never questioned that statement (made by DD), partly because RF was a coach of color. One example of what I'm talking about is someone who's defense was consistently kick-ass in the 1-AA ranks. Similar to this guy. http://www.goasu.com/football/coach/48/ Or the guy that shut down the high powered WTA&M offense. http://www.nwmissouri.edu/sports/football/...ff.htm#bostwick ..Or the DC for the national D-2 champs, Valdosta State. http://www.vstateblazers.com/staff-profile.php?staff_id=6

Since I'm so close to the program, and therefore looking at it (sometimes) with blinders on, I like to bounce these situations off my wife to get her very logical take on it. I told her that Mendoza had been fired and the reasons why. I then told her that everyone at GMG is excited about a rumor that a former DC at Texas was the hot prospect to replace Mendoza. She asked why the DC was leaving Texas. When I told her it was because the Texas defense had given up entirely too many points, she just smiled and said. "So North Texas is getting rid of their old american-made car, that has lots of engine problems, so that they can buy a Mercedes with engine problems?" Hmmm, I'm afraid that I have to agree with her on this. Jack, I hope that you are mistaken about DeLoach. I much prefer him as our next DC...........OR THE NEXT UP-AND-COMING YOUNG COLLEGE DC.

The main reason that I think that DeLoach would be a good hire (besides his previous success here) is that he has been here before and knows about the culture at North Texas. No one else seems to think that this is important, but North Texas can be a culture shock for a coach......even a High School coach. One of the reasons that I liked the Dodge hire was that he spent two years here and knew what he was getting himself into when he took the job. I don't think that DD ever understood North Texas, and didn't have a clue as to the best way to help improve the program.

The thing about DeLoach is that he knows North Texas, and the North Texas area, and he was successful while he was here. I wouldn't see a down side to this.

He played two years at North Texas (80 & 81), after he transferred from a B-10 school (Indiana or Illinois). I suspect he was asked to leave. I remember that after our game with Texas (we lost 23-10......boy aren't those the days!), Tony was quoted as saying that he wasn't the least bit impressed with Texas, and their level of talent. I suppose he was asked that question because he had played in the B-10 and the reporter was curious as to how our best stacked up against the B-10. Here is a story about him. http://www.sunherald.com/sports/story/277759.html I don't ever remember him doing anything for NT after he left. I could be wrong however.

I know it's already after Christmas. But here we are, a bunch of Mean Green "Ralphies", praying and scheming about how we can get that Red Ryder BB gun (aka Gary Deloach).

Deloach the greatest DC ever at North Texas? I think that Bill Brashier and Corky Nelson (defense was really his area of expertise) would be a bit ahead of him.