SilverEagle

I like this commentary about the incident. At Miami, stupidity now has tenure By Gil LeBreton Star-Telegram Staff Writer The thing about Miami is it's not the heat -- it's the stupidity. The football teams from Florida International and the University of Miami displayed ample doses of it during their televised third-quarter brawl last Saturday night. There was holder-tackling. Helmet-swinging. Cleat-kicking. And even a medical breakthrough -- crutch-clubbing. It was an ugly incident, even for a school that has a long police-blotter history of such incidents. At the minimum, several lengthy suspensions appeared to be in order for the brawling Hurricanes. Some dismissals from the team, perhaps. And revoking of scholarships. But no, not at Miami. University president Donna Shalala said Tuesday that the wrist slaps already imposed on 13 Miami players were punishment enough. "This university will be firm and punish people who do bad things," Shalala said. "But we will not throw any student under the bus for instant restoration of our image or our reputation. "I will not hang them in a public square. I will not eliminate their participation at the university. I will not take away their scholarships." Amazing. Effective immediately, the school president added, Miami will institute a "zero tolerance" policy for football players who fight. From now on, it appears, swat somebody with your crutches during a midfield melee, and you're gone. I get it. Rant and rescue. The mark of another bad parent. A day before, Miami coach Larry Coker stood before the media and assured, "I do have a grip on this program. Don't ever doubt that." But Coker barely has a grip on his job, let alone his football team. A shouting and shoving match broke out in Louisville earlier this season, when Miami players decided to dance on the Cardinals' midfield logo before the opening kickoff. After quitting and embarrassing themselves at the Peach Bowl last season, losing 40-3, Miami players started a fight with LSU in the post-game tunnel. Miami didn't write the book on college athletes in trouble. But history tells us that the Hurricanes are in plenty of the mugshots. Shalala can issue whatever decrees she wants, but Miami's unofficial public probation isn't over. And Coker should know that. Miami, of all schools, should have already had a "zero tolerance" policy for on-field fighting. All schools should, come to think of it. If, let's say, a chemistry major, while representing the university, starts a room-clearing brawl on national TV, wouldn't he be more severely reprimanded than made to empty a few hospital bed pans? Wouldn't a normal student have his scholarship taken away or be kicked out of school? Football players at Miami are on full scholarship. According to the school's Web site, tuition, room and board at Miami is worth $45,343 per year. And Shalala wants to "honor" these thugs' scholarships? At crosstown Florida International, nine miles from the Miami campus, punishment for the Saturday incident came swiftly. Two FIU players were dismissed from the team. Sixteen other players were suspended indefinitely. But Shalala doesn't want her school's punks thrown "under the bus?" One of the wry sidebars to Saturday night's brawl is that it was "Salute to Florida High School Football" night at the Orange Bowl, and hundreds of South Florida prep teams reportedly were in attendance. But when The Miami Herald asked one of them about the fight, safety Major Wright of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, who's being recruited by the Hurricanes, said, "It doesn't make me look at Miami any differently. Miami is Miami." Miami is Miami. Truer words were never spoken. The irony is that Shalala, a former member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet, was brought to Miami in 2001, in part, to oversee the advancement of the university's academic profile. Coker reportedly is graduating more football players than Dennis Erickson ever did, but Miami has failed so far in its mission to become a palm-tree Harvard. It may have five national championships in football, but Miami still ranks no higher than 50th (according to one respected ranking) among the nation's private universities. How many of those coveted A-students are going to see Saturday's brawl at the Orange Bowl and want to race to enroll at Miami? How many parents would allow them? Instead of ranting and rescuing, Miami should be scouring and showing them the door. Until then, Miami is Miami.

Since I'm not a "stat" guy, here's a question. Win or lose, does this game go on Dickey's official record as the head coach at NT?

Excellent point. As I observed in the spring, Woody Wilson is probably the fastest QB we've ever had at NT. But even the most talented running QB needs at least a crease in order to "make something happen".

We can always hope......and dream.

I believe that a stint is placed in one (or more) of the main arteries going into the heart to relieve blockage. My step-father had that proceedure after suffering a mild heart attack. Like Coach Dickey, he also suffered from diabetes. I don't see how Coach Dickey can continue in the high stress job of being a head coach, with so many health concerns. No coaching job is worth risking your life over. I'm very concerned for his long term health, and for the emotional well-being of his wife and daughter. I wish Coach Dickey a full recovery.

Four years of domination? We lucked out in several of those games....including the game (NMSU) that clinched our first SunBelt championship. Plus, our only win in the NO bowl was mainly due to 6 turn overs....and we didn't win by that much. Colorado St., Memphis, and especially Southen Miss showed our coaching for what it really is.

I don't know if anyone has said it or not, but the reason that North Texas has not beaten (or upset) some name schools is because our administrators don't want a coach with that sort of attitude. Or at least they've conveyed that message by the coaches that they've hired since Corky Nelson left. Corky was the last coach that we've had here that believed that he could coach with anyone, and that his teams could play with anyone. There, I hope that answers your question.

It's a good thing NT didn't play today. We might have found a way to be more inept.

I'll get more basic than that. I wouldn't want to play the SMU game over again.

I've never had any problems joining (or renewing) the MGC. Just pick up the phone and call them. The person who answered the phone at the AD when I called was very helpful. My only request of the young man that I talked to was that I didn't want Mandy to get any credit for my joining. He said that he thought that that could be arranged. He also didn't seemed to be the least bit surprised at my request. I usually avoid talking to Mandy if I can.

You must be talking about "The Story of North Texas", by Dr. James Rogers. It was originally published in 1965 on NT's 75th anniversary, and was updated in 1990 as part of our centenial celebration. I have a copy of the original version.

When I first started going to North Texas, one of my mothers old friends was over visiting at my mothers house. When I mentioned that I was going to North Texas she said that she had graduated in the early or mid 20's from North Texas. She told me that while she was a student there, she was involved in what was then a big scandal/mystery of the time. She said that as a prank, some young men at school that she knew stole Hardin Simmons' school flag (according to her a big rival of ours back then) prior to our game with them. They brought it to her to hide, which she reluctantly agreed to do. She said that Dr. Bruce was furious about the prank, and called an all school assembly. She said that he got up in front of the assembled students and, like some fire and brimstone Baptist minister, preached a very fiery sermon about the reprehensible behavior of stealing another schools property. She said that she was just sure that Dr. Bruce knew it was her, and that he was directing the sermon at her. She said that she had the young men involved take the flag back, and no one ever knew (other than the culprits who stole it) that she had been involved in this huge scandal. Pretty tame stuff by our standards, but a big deal back then.

He'd be better off giving during practice, recruiting, and especially at game time.

I wouldn't even want to speculate on the headlines if Ball State were to....well.....have their way with us.

Yes.....many times.

The last coach before Dodge was I believe a guy named Ledbetter. And you're right, they were very successful before Dodge took over. Dodge kept the momentum going, and made them successful in 4-A and 5-A.

Why do people keep saying this? We don't use the perfectly good WR's that we already have. If you're going to suggest another position for DM, .....maybe db.

Graves needs to be given a medical RS. He can be one of the team leaders next year.

Sputtering offense has logjam at quarterback Something has to have started before it can sputter.

I've said this before. I don't have a problem with hiring a coach "on their way up" as long as our hiring authority has enough sense to hire someone just like them as a replacement. We just need to be very focused and consistent when we hire replacements, so that, eventually our program will have grown to a point (fan wise, and money wise) that the coaches that we WANT to stay, can end up staying because we can afford to keep them. In other words, we should have hired someone just like Hayden Fry when he left. The alternative would have been to hire Bill Brasher (as Fry recommended). But what the "powers that be" did was ignore Fry's suggestion and went about hiring someone just the opposite of Fry. Since then, the hiring process for coaches at North Texas has been (in the words of my father's generation) one big SNAFU.

The next coach at North Texas needs to be someone that understands what he is getting himself into (in our past history that was Hayden Fry and Corky Nelson). He would also need to be someone who is one hell of a speaker/motivator....like Hayden.

He could also teach people a thing or two about fund raising, and meeting and greeting the public.

He was also assistant head coach there before he retired.

We lost to Memphis 0-41 in 1974, but I thought we were out of the MVC and "Indy" starting that year.

I would prefer that you pick one for us Jack. If anyone has observed most of the good and bad in coaching at North Texas it's certainly you. There are arguments out there for just about any situation. High School coaches moving up to D-1 head coaching jobs. I can't remember a situation where that has ever worked. Even the former Stephenville coach (Art Briles) at Houston spent three years as an assistant at TT before taking the head coaching job at Houston. Retired/defrocked coaches. If you put Hayden Fry in the "defrocked" catagory, then we are 1 & 1 on this situation. Hayden worked out great, but Bob Tyler was a disaster. R.C. Slocum sounds intriqueing, AND he has the advantage of knowing what he would be getting himself into.......... AND knowing immediately what to work on. Get someone that truly wants to be here I like this idea best of all. In the interview, I would ask him to give me a realistic plan, other than the standard response of "winning games" (isn't that always a given?) for getting the student body, alumni, and community excited again about North Texas football. I would ask him to name at least 15 Texas HS coaches that he could get on the phone at that moment who would give him a lead on some hot prospects. I would ask him to list every player that he recruited and developed as a college coach, that no other college seemed to want, but who was successful playing for him. I would then ask him to give me an extemporaneous speech/presentation, pretending that he is in front of a group of alumni and students, talking about how he is going to turn things around.