SilverEagle

Ok, if Esteban Santiago is still on the roster, then you can't have him for the OL. I only see Miller and Thomas as NT's and Kendrick Ridge (6-1 X 275) and E.Santiago (6'5" X 275) as D-linemen. Kenneth Okonkwo is listed as a DL, but at 6'2 X 230?.... you've got to be kidding me. Thomas only saw limited duty last season, and I'm still not sure what his health status is. We need someone to help cause our opponents to go 3 and out. That didn't happen too much last year. Folks, we need a couple of big, aggressive, DL's.

Am I the only one NOT obsessed with Riley Dodge? Riley Dodge is a fine QB, and a great competitor, but he is not the only QB prospect out there. My concern is that some great prospect (dare I suggest possibly greater than Riley ) might shy away from coming to North Texas because Riley is here, and he would perceive that the QB competition is not an open competition.

Don't forget Hurd.

Well, I don't like us being such a negative example either. But to be honest, we've only ourselves to blame for being such an easy target. We (North Texas students/alums) are the ones who have stayed away in droves from athletic events, using the excuse that "when the school starts winning we'll attend..etc....etc....etc"...blah blah blah. But even when we were winning, our numbers weren't up as significatly as a school of 30+students and 100K almuni should have been. Todd Dodge can come in and win games and championships, but it's up to US to show up in the kind of numbers that our program deserves. If we are waiting for Todd Dodge to make us feel good about ourselves and our school, then we deserve the kind of shots that a "little ball of hate" throws at us. Todd Dodge has his job to do, and we have OURS. BUY SEASON TICKETS JOIN THE MEAN GREEN CLUB JOIN YOUR LOCAL EXES ORGANIZATION ACTUALLY SHOW UP TO GAMES BE LOUD AND ROWDY

Understand. Been there. Unfortunately, under completely different circumstances though(Ramone-gate). Looking forward to more participation by you and other former North Texas athletes.

Yes, he was highly rated coming out of HS, but he didn't beat out Hopovac. Stick82, I'm not going to get too offended by your comment. But to answer your uncivil question, yes! I attended several games last year. I've watched various North Texas QB's for over 40 years. The first one was Vidal Carlin (65 & 66). I consider myself a pretty good judge of QB's and IMHO the main thing that our current crop of QB's need is some Todd Dodge coaching. Nathan Tune has the most potential, but the rest of them would work just fine with some competent coaching/instruction/encouragement. Meanwhile, we certainly need to sign a QB (or two) for the future, but the QB position is not the most urgent need on this team.

.....including Dennis Hopovac. Here are the areas of immediate need that I see, in the order of urgency. Feel free to arrange them in your order of importance FG kicker D-Linemen Linebackers (most of ours are Jr's) DB's O-Linemen RB's WR TE QB

I like the image, but Mean Green should dominated the image, not the coach.

HEY NOW! That is a great tradition that the Green Brigade has established. Just about everyone participates in it, it's fun, and it connects North Texas fans from several generations. "Hey Baby" is a one hit wonder by Bruce Channel (from Jacksonville Texas), released in 1962. More information here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Channel

Jim, I totally agree with this. I was thinking recently that if we start realizing our potential again, much like we did in the mid-late 70's, we could finally get an invite to CUSA. I'm now convinced that I'm thinking much too small. Our goal for moving up should at least be the MWC.

I will give Kudos to Rick V. for taking the calculated risk of hiring a High School coach to be our next Head Coach. It's a big risk on his part, especially if TD doesn't make (for whatever strange reason) the transition to D-1 coaching. But the potential upside is tremendous. We have someone who is supremely confident in himself, and therefore by taking this job at North Texas, he is supremely confident in our University, and it's ability to reach it's full potential. His success will make RV look like a genius, and it has the potential to jump-start us back to the point where Hayden Fry left....which was the last time we were nationally ranked in D-1 football. However, considering that RV has two associate athletic directors, and (God help us) the director of the Mean Green club that he brought from Southern Miss. And, considering that at least two of the coaching possibilites mentioned during the process were connected to RV thru S. Miss, the word crony would (or should) naturally be uttered. At least by anyone who is halfway observant. I will still be around worring about the best interest of my/our Alma Mater long after RV is gone on to his next job. I will not apologize to anyone for my concern for the best interest of my/our University in this important hiring process.....or for using the "C" word.

You mean Craig James didn't say something dismissive about TD going to NT?

I think that when Richie Whitt first started his career with the Star Telegram, one of his jobs was to cover North Texas football. Good (and hopeful) article.

If you don't think/believe you can win a game, then you might as well not show up.

ABSOLUTELY TRUE! I have been around North Texas graduates since I was in Jr. High. Through all of my contacts, (and this includes people who graduated recently, and people who attended and graduated back in the 40's) every one of them refers to their alma mater in the same way.......NORTH TEXAS. There is no other major college with our name, and so NT should be on our helmets.

If it was on a Saturday in the spring, it would also provide an opportunity for some spring tailgating practice.

This is what I had in mind for us. We need this kind of D-lineman. Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy has announced the signing of defensive tackle Tonga “Junior” Tea (pronounced TEE-uh) to a national letter of intent. Tea, a first-team All-America selection from Snow Junior College, is expected to join the Cowboys in January and participate in spring drills with OSU. “He’ll be a great addition for us and will give us some strength and maturity on the interior of our defense,” said Gundy. “We’re very excited about his attitude and the excitement he has about the game of football. By coming in and participating in spring practice, he’ll be a big addition.” Tea was named a first-team National Junior College Athletic Association All-American and Rivals ranked him as one of the top 30 two-year players in the country, regardless of position. Scout’s JCFootball.com considers Tea as the nation’s best junior college defensive tackle and a top-10 overall prospect. The 6-0, 310-pound native of Anchorage, Alaska, played just one season of high school football at East Anchorage High School, but still earned all-state honors. He redshirted his first year at Snow. As a sophomore, Tea was credited with 24 tackles, including nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage, 3.5 quarterback sacks and he forced a fumble. He was twice named as the Badgers’ defensive player of the week despite facing constant double teams. Snow finished the season ranked No. 2 in the junior college poll, and the Snow defense was among the top 15 units in the country each of the last two seasons. The Badgers allowed just 211 yards per game in 2006.

Here is the full story. Former Haltom head football coach Clayton George has gone through the application process at North Texas and is expected to be the first member of new UNT coach Todd Dodge’s staff, a university spokesperson said. Athletic director Rick Villarreal, who is helping facilitate early hires for Dodge while he finishes as Carroll’s head coach, did not return a phone call. Former UNT quarterback Mitch Maher, who played with George from 1991-93, confirmed George will join Dodge’s staff. On Tuesday, the Birdville school district announced in a release that George had “resigned his position [at Haltom] with BISD to take a coaching position at the University of North Texas.” In 1992 and ’93, George, a receiver, and Maher were coached by Dodge, then UNT’s quarterback/receivers coach. George did not return phone calls. When did Mitch Maher become spokesperson/info-source for the current coaching regime?

Because that's what many people on this board do. Haven't you been paying attention?

Asked by whom?

My expectation is that the team shows up to all it's games in 07 with the attitude of I DIDN'T COME HERE TO LOSE.

Well, I bought mine through the book store.

Since TD is unable to officially recruit, I would think that he was unable to officially hire anyone as well. So, if Clayton George is on staff and recruiting, who hired him?

Well, I saw Tune run the second team during fall practice and observed that he was a very solid prospect. He threw well, he moved well, and he carried himself with a lot of confidence. I've been told that QB training/mentoring under DD has been minimal at best. So, if that's the case, then it'll be real interesting to see what happens when all of the QB's get a big dose of real QB training/mentoring. Tune will probably benefit the most, since he's still new to the job, and (in theory) hasn't picked up any bad habits. I still think that DM's main problem has been his intensity, which leads to him to press too hard to make a big play, which then has often led to int's. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Well, since we have been talking about helmet designs that are similar to several other college teams, as well as one HS team, I'd rather be accused of copying someone like Michigan that some of the others we've discussed.