PlummMeanGreen

Check this out: http://texas.construction.com/texas_construction_news/2010/0817_CarterStadium.asp Anyone else notice who TCU is using to design their upgraded stadium? Do we get a referral fee or did ol' Jerry already grab hold of that? Also noticed they are going from approx. 47K seats to a 40K seater, too. Seems remodeled stadiums across the USA lose thousands of seats upon completion. GMG!

No better way to say it as KRAM1 has so perfectly crafted his words and thoughts. (Of course, I would say the same thing but stretch it out to about 8 more paragraphs). GMG!

As I believe The Tasty Greek posted, Dennis Franchione has applied for 2 jobs the last few years that even paid less as I recall the post and the salaries. IMO if we need to get another coach and......... we get a name coach, he has to guarantee UNT 5 years and a $1,000,000 buyout clause if one of the Big Boys comes after him on or before Year 5. Don't know how that would play out in the legal system, but if we lose one prematurely we ought to still win at the bank with a huge buyout clause. GMG!

Mean Joe looks like he might have a season or 2 left in him? And just 12 injuries for the Miners? GMG!

Welcome to insanity and the UNT asylum. I may very well be one of the first ones they brought in with the tight, white jacket wrapped around my upper torso. It got started when I kept having to change my undies' to various colors of green of which my alma mater could never decide the shade of green they liked best--it took me over the edge when one year Walmart didn't have our latest shade of green. So here I am today with my other friends. One even sings our school song to Iron Butterfly's In The Garden Of Eden aka inna-goduh-da-vita and it actually sounds pretty good to me. They're coming to take me away, huh, huh... To the funny farm where life is fun. GMG! Seriously...welcome.

If UNT would have won all those games we lost in the 4'th quarter last year, that would have bought Coach Dodge some capital for this year--but we didn't win all those games last year. This whole thing reeks of sadness. GMG!

And TTG hits on the other part of this that also ran past my mind: Coach Fran could probably pay North Texas to coach here because he's so well vested from recent stops. He might take a UNLV type of arrangement at first, though, but later the money will have to be laid out on the table if he takes us to the next level, ie, Top 25? And don't forget, we're talking about a coach with Fran who wanted the North Texas job when our powers that be pulled off yet another "no brainer" hire with Dennis "where is he today" Parker. (Wonder if North Texas ever turned down a job resume' from Knute Rockne in our illustrious football hiring past)? Seriously, if TDodge doesn't hit his 6 or 7 but if he did, I would be perfectly happy with him pulling off such a miracle and get a chance to have a fresh new "recruiting start" at the new stadium which he was a chief inspiration for UNT to build but...............if we have to hire another, I don't know if Coach Fran is the man or not, but I have had an intrigue with him when all this got started and that was basically after the Rice loss. Like Deep Green posted and I liberally paraphrase, we "must" be dead on right with this hire==we cannot afford to do what we've been doing forever in Denton in hiring the wrong person again. The new stadium makes the stakes much higher now and aren't we really all glad for that? I did have a TCU'er very, very recently tell me Coach Fran lied but I'm guessing that was probably one of the many "sports lies" most HFC's or sports types have told once or twice in their careers that we've all been a victim to at one time or another? I mean they got Gary Patterson off Coach Fran's TCU staff so why should it matter for TCU'ers who might be still hacked off with Coach Fran for choosing the, uh, BCS Series bowl guaranteed Crimson Tide over TCU (who has to hope all the stars in the universe are in perfect alignment and, uh, one more thing....has to win "every" game on their schedule to get a BCS bowl)? At any rate, it's not a fair arrangement for TCU or any of the rest of us, quite frankly; but we are a few years from having to worry about all that for now. Sports Lies? You know em' well...like when an NFL General Manager gives his HFC the dreaded vote of confidence and then you know his man is usually a goner--sometimes by the next week? Like when a college HFC says he wants to stay "forever" at his "dream" job and then an Alabama Crimson Tide-type program comes along and changes his mind? Sports Liar! Sports Liar! Pants On Fire! Many of us who were around in the 70's loved the great Hayden Fry for those short (but very productive) 6 years he was in Denton, but recently when he said he'd stayed at UNT if his fine teams had only gotten rewarded with bowl games? Well, I don't know of or have ever heard of any coach in NCAA D1 who turns down any Big 10 job to stay at an outpost such as our beloved Denton and the (then) venerable ol' Fouts Field as home field--do you? It's about brighter lights, larger crowds, more national attention (more money?) and no NCAA D1 HFC will turn that down for long. (You really think Peterson will stay at Boise forever--I don't)? Yes oh yes...the dreaded sports lie alright. It can easily be detected but it will sneak up on you when you've lost all unbiase toward any HFC at your respective alma mater that you emulate; that is, who you think would never pull off such a thing as...........the sports lie. GMG!

That continuity of assistant coaches hiring from within came from a winning Bronco football program by each predeccessor, too, as I recall. In Peterson's 1'st year at Boise, I remember counting back then that they had had 4 or 5 HFC'ing hires in the space of about 10 or 11 years which I think phenomenal how they kept the thing going with each coach. (The Broncos also stayed in the Top 25 most or all of that time of coaching turnovers, too). GMG!

Upon further review, you are right, albeit I think what I was referring to with Coach Fran's short stay in Tuscaloosa was: (1) He knew before he signed on that the Crimson Tide were fixin' to have some bad NCAA problems and... (2) In spite of this, he told Alabama officials he would stay the course--but he didn't. So I guess he told a little white lie? That decision by Coach Fran does not make his situation a deal-breaker with us if he got an interview with UNT........IMHO; that is, if we have a job opening after this season. GMG!

North Texas is going to have an "impact" new stadium and (if TD doesn't make it happen) we are going to need an "impact" name coach. The left out factor of this is what state and metro area UNT is located. (1) TCU's got it goin' on as about as good as they ever have even during the modern era of the SWC; (2) SMU has a milion dollar coach (for now) and will probably go to some bowl game each year and then we have... (3) CGU (Coaches Graveyard University--the last NCAA D1 HFC's job for any coach we've had in Denton since Jerry Moore. The new Mean Green Stadium with the Name Coach can help us get over the "CGU" part very quickly IMHO. UNT's "Name Coach" is going to have to probably recruit next Fall's starting Mean Green QB with one who is presently a high school senior this Fall. (We can't do this QB thing to Riley Dodge any longer folks--we don't need him crippled and in a wheelchair with crippling arthritis due to multi breakage of bones by the time he hits age 30). We all hope for the Hollywood ending and TDodge comes back, but that is probably not likely in light of the worst injured college football team I've seen or ever read about. Sometimes a change is not only good for said school--but for said HFC as well. Coach Fran? This is still intriguing to me no matter how many of you think he has Aggie and Tide cooties. Yep! He screwed up those last 2 jobs in places you have little room to screw up, but this is where the UNT job may be the perfect fit for this guy because-------HE WANT'S TO PROVE HE STILL HAS THE RIGHT STUFF? Coach Fran (while at TSU-SM) wanted the UNT HFC's job very bad when Dennis Parker got it on the whim of one of President Hurley's lietenants and no names mentioned since he is a friend. Fact is IMHO our best shot at UNT is to do a another recycling job. UNT recycled Hayden Fry's career post SMU-firing in November of 1972 and instead of his going into selling insurance Coach Fry is now in the College Football Hall of Fame, ie, mostly based on his Iowa job but where did the Hawkeyes go to get their future Hall of Famer? GMG!

Wright Waters has had the heevie'jeevies for UNT since we fired DD and then hired TDodge is word that I had heard back then. I guess he should now be on our future new HFC selection committee? Mean Green Radio Network guys did say on their broadcast how his first up-close look of our new stadium last weekend somewhat blew him away and he also said......"photos on the internet did not do it justice." Commish' Benson is trying to keep his hand (and job) in the FBS instead of the next lower level and right now might say just about anything, but I like our potential to do the Boise State thing much more than his 2 named examples. North Texas has NCAA D1 history (neverminding those years in NCAA 1-AA purgatory); the schools Benson is dealing with do not have such a legacy and will not for quite awhile. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that our new stadium can be a complete game-changer for Mean Green football and when it takes off, more and more will see (if they even need further proof) how such an albatross Fouts Field has been to us for half a century. GMG!

Still, a name coach will help any program get to where they want to go--quicker. It has happened before at UNT. The name coach also can merely get on his cell phone and "wala" we have a home and home with a school we'd never thought possible because UNT's name coach knows "Big Time U's" name coach--they were assistants together at another Big Time U. These kinds of things happen when you have friends in high places compared to friends anyone can have at the bottom quadrant of the FBS. Casepoint: Hayden Fry gets on the phone with Darrell Royal and "wala" North Texas has a first time ever series with the University of Texas. When we got those games with UT it caught the attention of many in the college football world, but more importantly--the Lone Star State. Back then, schools at the level we were just did not get games with the UT's of the then NCAA world. Name coach, folks. It will make our lives much easier in the long term in Mean Green Country. So..........Name Coach + New Football Stadium ='s Destinations Yet Unseen By North Texas Football. GMG!

Jack, I just had one of those visions of less than grandeur moments. Please forgive, I promise not do that again. GMG! PS: You're right, though, why even bother with a 5K or 10K expansion--aim higher. I was hoping for an initial seating that would wow some future conference suitors for our cause, but am happy with what we're getting next Fall, too. GMG! !

Damn right Riley Dodge is a trooper. How many bones has he broken for our dear ol' alma mater now and just keeps coming back for more? Playing with a broken hand and all the other broken bones he's endured while at North Texas makes him something pretty special IMHO and I just hate it when people who don't know about all this put him down. Yes, it's all part of the game alright, but this kid has laid it down and on the field for the Mean Green when many others would have said, "screw it, I don't have to do this anymore." He will be one of our more successful alums in whatever venture he seeks: Hide! Watch! See! GMG

Was wondering if anyone would have known that about ol' Flip; but I shoulda' known you would'a, Quoner. GMG! Just like a coach can lose his team--I do think as a poster I've now lost this thread. GMG!!

Great idea, Judge Joe! I'll start pulling out my teeth now so I can get into that RV Park. GMG! Happy Birthday (again) Rick V!

Quoner, I have suspicioned for quite awhile now that you are actually that new minister over at "The Church of What's Happening Now." I'll send offerings of burnt's sacrifices and very soon. Now back to Loooo-cy and JFK... GMG!

Good question, Green Mean. I remember seeing TAMU Coach Gene Stallings last game as Aggie coach versus DKR's Horns down in College Station when Kyle Field seated about 45,000--it had a track in it, too, which they put chairs around the stadium perimeter at that time. Many of us remmber OSU in Stillwater's stadium and the dramatic change T. Boone Pickens money created for that stadium. Some of these stadiums don't even resemble their former looks. TCU will probably do the same thing with Amon Carter as OSU did and I would guess may lose some seating as a result? PerryFrog, you there? I left you a PM anyway. GMG!

The wings part of our stadium look like a temporary thing to me with the erector set backing on all the renderings. How many butts does the "wings" part of our new stadium even seat? Could it be taken out completely and 10K be put in its place? I see major college stadiums with endzone seating as large as sideline seating. Wonder if there is a new stadium master plan in place for expansion of stadium? I have no idea what the student side will look like since all we see is the Press Box side in most everything. I would think double-decking the student side would be out of the question because of how expensive that would be. Anyone know? GMG! PS: Thanks for the photo, FFR! And are there 4 separate corners that have present areas for expansion, Rick?

Some of you close to the stadium scene have an answer for the future expansion of our new stadium when that day arrives (and it will). And then...at what part of our new stadium would you put a 5,000 or 10,000 seat expansion (which would be more likely)? Prediction: A new "name HFC" will cause this expansion to happen much sooner than later. GMG!

Holy Heaven! Could Dodges Career At Unt Be Compared To... ...Job of Holy Bible Fame? What's Next For The Love of... Back on topic? PS: Why did they ever cancel I Love Lucy back in that day--I'm still a fan; just love black and white TV. And was the JFK assassination truly a conspiracy? Whoops! I forgot! I'm supposed to talk about Coach Dodge here kinda' like the thread title suggests or I can go to this part of GMG.com to talk about Lucy or JFK: The Eagles Nest (There Should be Pie For Everyone Forum) The place for Non-UNT Sports, politics, and general discussions and debate. Pretty much everything goes. Not a place for the timid or shy! GMG!

Ditto... Coach Dodge has followed the rules and made sure the players did too; Coach Dodge has not been insubordinate to any degree to our leaders at UNT; Coach Dodge has been a good ambassador for UNT wanting to lend a helping hand where he can (according to one I know very close to all this); but the old lack of the "W" thing will cause UNT officials to make a change IMO. Our UNT leaders are also in the PR business, too, and they want to jump-start this new football stadium with a program that would have had some semblance of momentum (which is not what we have now). "IF" we were still that football program in that pathetic track/football stadium they call Fouts Field, TDodge might have gotten another season with even just 5 "W's" this year considering the worst injuries to a college football team I can remember since being a college football fan starting my young teenage years on the Gulf Coast of Texas when I was a Houston Cougar fan. Ever had a job where the karma and leaders (bosses) at that job were not a good match for you and your personal skills? If not, you have been lucky, but most of us have had at least one of those kind of jobs. Coach Dodge will have a good future with a fresh new start elsewhere albeit many of us wanted last year and this year to be his solidifiers as our guy--it just was not mean't to be, folks. GMG! GMG!!

There's not a damn thing fair about life sometimes. I could write a soap opera script (which my late sainted mother jokingly suggested I do) about some of my numerous downtimes and I'll spare you all those diatribes; many of you could do the same about some of your own "life just ain't fair" moments. All these injuries during Coach Dodge's make or break season? Not a damn thing fair about any of them--even last weeks weird things that happened to some more of our players which have added to this entire comedy of errors (injuries) which really none of us can find any humor to at all. At the beginning of this season, many, many, many of us on this board were expecting (and pulling for) Todd Dodge to make his coaching career come-back at UNT and then all the crap (most of which completely out of his hands) begins to happen. Half way thru the season now, its even gotten worse. The Hollywood script that many of us wanted was a 2010 come-back for Todd Dodge starting with wins, culminating into what we'd hoped would be his best recruiting class with a new stadium opening next Fall and then the very thing he said on his hiring day that "UNT must have a new football stadium" of which he would have been our HFC against the University of Houston Coog's at our palace's grand opening. As of today and barring a true miracle of how NCAA HFC's careers are usually measured, I just don't see this thing going past this season for Coach Dodge and, yes, it's another thing in life that is not fair--but it is the reality of the situation. The Hollywood ending would have been most of our preferences for Coach Todd Dodge. J GMG!

Duly impressed, TTG, with your knowledge of scriptures as I had forgotten about Job's come-back. An attorney once told me that the well-rounded attornies were the ones who could freely quote Shakespeare and the Holy Bible. Before this thread disappears into cyber-space, I never intended (which it hasn't yet) for it to be a statement-maker for Coach Dodge's coaching abilities one way or the other. I think the guy (if replaced) will rebound somewhere and probably even be successful again. After all, he was National HS Coach of the Year twice I believe it was and that award for certain had many candidates--like all high school coaches in the entire USA? Yet..........the part of all this our alma mater may need to be concerned (and to turn this coin over) is how we've gotten the reputation as a place where coaches cannot succeed enough to move up to the next level. Last time any UNT HFC moved up to the next level I was a young man with Jerry Moore going to Texas Tech in 1980. I think if we have to replace TDodge (which most likely we will) that going another route of hiring (insert sublemenal "a known coach with NCAA HFC experience" would probably end this 3 plus decade cycle and I think this is a cycle we'd all like to see end? GMG!