PlummMeanGreen

WELCOME BACK! (Now I feel like singing "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree")!

Well, if we can get a man of integrity who can also elevate Mean Green football somewhat to how it was when Fry had one of his Mean Green teams in a Top 20 poll (and not our decade long Bottom 25 scavenger hunt) I think we will all be a winner. GMG! PS: I've seen Mean Green fans not support coaches in the past by not showing up. Remember that photo of an all but empty Fouts Field during an NMSU game that I believe FFR took during the DD era? It was quite an eye opener.

6 Losing Years In A Row: The attendance UNT has had in spite of DD's last 2 years of under .500 and now TDdoge's 4 year losing record shows me that many people are still supporting the Mean Green and Todd Dodge and had been hoping to be in attendance when his own personal turn-around would happen. Folks, there are still many of Todd Dodge "the man" fans on GMG.com, but we are now all looking at the reality of the situation at hand, especially with players he would have had to have to turn this thing around not going to get to play for the Mean Green the rest of this season. Can Coach Dodge pull a 12'th hour kind of miracle and save it all? Yes, it's possible but with all that has happened after 3 games--probably improbable. Todd Dodge from what many of you have told me is a man of character and principle and if he lose his job at UNT mid-season or full season he will probably see that as opportunity to get a better match for himself elsewhere. Of course, with one year still left on his contract he would have a year to do a most comprehensive research. GMG!

Listen to me fellow Mean Green enthusiast: Leach's on-going legal problems with the *State of Texas will probably make Leach a hot potato for any public univerisity in the Lone Star State to be interested; especially one particular university in northern Texas that would like the state of Texas legislators to smile upon her and elevate her to Tier One status. Fellow Mean Greeners, do we really want to kick sand in the faces of our Texas legislators now? *If you sue a public university in Texas you are thereby dealing with the State of Texas according to one blog I read. Lets move on from Leach talk, OK? How about Notre Dame ex coach ,ie, 90 year old +/- Ara Parseghian. Lets get that one started. NOTE: Rick V, our interim Prez and Consultant Neinas will probably have a name that will not even be mentioned on GMG.com (most likely). NOTE: All this contingent on if TDodge does not pull a miracle for himself and his team. GMG!

Shall we all list the positive things, ie, the Mean Green Athletic Village and new venues that have happened under RV's watch? Good grief, folks, who's next on this witch burning tour--the Pope? GMG!

Rick V was exactly what North Texas needed when we hired him. He did not let the "we never ever did it this way at UNT or in Denton" crowd pull him down, either. There were a few minor shaky moments with Rick V early on, but who of any of us have not had the same in our own respective walks of life? Rick V is also just what we need now IMHO and I'm proud as hell that he somehow got that new football palace off the blueprints and into a present construction mode in a national economy that some have all but compared to the Great Depression. I still have no idea who is funding most of it, but I know they won't put another single concrete pillar up if its not paid for. I think Rick V and his Troops will find a corporate sponsor in due time, too. Hell, UNT may have to name something after the guy before he's done in Denton. His next hire unless TDodge pulls the mother of all miracles will probably be the most important one since he's been in Denton in light of the debut of a new football stadium. With a new stadium, it might also be the easiest of hires for UNT football since all past HFC hirings with any of our AD's who had to give their prospective HFC's their respective tours knowing how they had to bite their tongues coupled with a faked smile when they saw venerable ol' Fouts Field . GMG!

10 (give or take 5)? Calculator? I still have an abacus and my beads may have malfunctioned. Actually, I was told 10 today from another fan but (as always) I stand to be corrected. GMG! What a terrible day no matter how you slice it, though. I feel sorry for everyone in the entire UNT community but mostly.......our team. I don't think even they expected 0 & 3 after 3 games because I know most of us did not. Never, ever met Todd Dodge personally, either, but my heart goes out to him and what will probably turn out to be a short career at UNT, but I like the way he has handled himself up there (and will handle himself when the time comes for him to be let go). GMG!

Broken bones are not a sign of poor conditioning last I checked on that subject. It's a sign of some terrifically bad luck for a football player no matter what school he represents. BUT...........you say so many people don't think we deserve a new stadium at UNT? I'm looking for a line filled with such people who don't think we need a new stadium at UNT but I don't see that line or one even beginning to form. More than ever UNT needs a new stadium. We have to have something to sell a future new HFC (if that time happens now sooner than later that we need one) and a new stadium like UNT is building will be one helluva' selling point. Ask Baylor who had their dressing room electricity go out at half time several years if we need a new stadium. Ask UNT fans who have to sit almost 45 yards from the field of play if we need a new stadium. Ask the UNT students who voted to help fund a new stadium if we need a new stadium. Ask the Indians whose apparent sacred gravesite Fouts Field was built on if we need a new stadium. Ask any UNT letterman still alive and starting with Mean Joe Greene if we need a new stadium. Ask those of us whose eyesights have progressively gotten worse thru the decades (poor sight lines & 45 yards away from the field of action?) if we need a new stadium. Ask every Mean Green opponent's AD, HFC, their radio broadcasting team (no elevetor at FF) and all their respective football teams of the last several decades if UNT needs a new stadium. So...........who the hell is in line saying we don't need a new stadium? 2011 for UNT means the New Stadium At The Mean Green Village which BTW we can't undo whats been built for those who say we don't deserve a new stadium and most likely because of our football team that needs a MASH unit on the sidelines.............a new HFC to help us debut that new stadium. (Dodge will never be the one to bring up the injuries in a "woe is me" attitude--guarantee it)! Bless his heart but.......10 season ending injuries to starters after 3 games .....totally unheard of in my 5 plus decades of following football at every level) but injuries are part of football for every team..... ..........TDodge has been told of the criteria of 7 wins to stay in his position--barring a miracle it just won't be possible for him to stay, but isn't that we've all been saying since the Rice game? No 7--No Job? 0 & 6 (and I'd guess no sooner) will probably mean a private meeting between Rick V and Todd Dodge. IMHO.....the DD versus TD comparisons are not what UNT wants to hold up as its barometer, either, but rather its most likely time for AD Rick V to start his private (discreet) search for (as GrayEagle posted last week) a name football coach who will not be an offensive or defensive coordinator, ie, an unknown commodity and a starter head football coaches kit, but rather a proven performer at the highest level of NCAA FBS. He may not even be in football at the moment, too, and no, that is not a reference or endorsement for Mike Leach, either. Barry Switzer inquired (oh yes, he did) about the UNT job right after Dennis Parker was fired at UNT and he probably did that because he was tired sitting on his Norman, OK, sofa and he knew what UNT did for Fry's career as well. But.....it wasn't that long after he made that inquiry about the UNT job that Jerry Jones hired him to take JJ's place as I recall the chronology of that. Today was one of the saddest days I can think of for the Mean Green. The young men who have elgibility left will I think experience better days in the future, but for the moment, I guess it will be all about building character in the face of extreme adversity. Lets hope we can get a slew of medical redshirts out of most of these injuries. UNT does have a case to present with such massive numbers of season ending injuries I would think. GMG !

2 bad recruiting years and the same offense that had produced 2 prior losing seasons we talking about here ? TTG, you are a great alum and if we had 10,000 more like you, we'd be in the freakin Big 12 today (and I'm serious as a heart attack when I say that). We just agree to disagree many times. No biggie, I did that with some of my favorite cousins, too. GMG!

Thanks, Mean Green 93-98! You da' man! (once again....the very awkward cinematic solo applause when no one else joins in--when they're freakin' supposed to)! Again, UNT duplicates its offense from Clemson game and runs over Army! GMG!

This was written by a fan a while back who I think expressed the view of most alums in the UNT community except: those who perhaps befriended Darrell Dickey (who I had heard person-to-person was most congenial) but those who got close to the man who thereby lost their complete objectivity on his performance, especially his last 2 years which included 2 bad recruiting classes that enabled the UNT cupboard to not be so full when TDodge took over in mid-December 4 years ago. Since he had no early signees as he was at SLC in the Spring before the December he was hired at UNT all recruiting gurus would tell the rest of us that "Dodge virtually had no recruiting class his first year at UNT. So what will make or break TDodge will (according to recruiting experts) be done on the basis of 3, I repeat, "3" full recruiting classes). Dodge will NOT except the aforementioned as an excuse although those outside the UNT community will tell us if Dodge is fired that the guy "ONLY" had 3 full recruiting classes. They will then ask many of us "What the hell does North Texas want a coach to do thats had only 3 full recruiting classes--hell he didn't even have the promise of a new stadium when he signed a contract?" (Get ready for those kind of comments from some non-UNT alums as well as some of our fellow Texas HS Coach's Association friends, fellow UNT alums--that is if they will even give the time of day to anyone connected to UNT). Dodge knows his expectations and most of us alums will except his termination if he doesn't meet the magic number of wins. I suspect Todd Dodge does not see this whole, ie point-counterpoint drama being played out on GMG.com as a life and death deal, either, to be honest. So no one I know wants to see UNT persevere Dodge's job another year, another 2 years or another 5 years if he is not "cutting the mustard" now; even if the crystal ball said if he stayed on he would win (I said "win") the freakin' NO's Bowl the next 5 years in a row. Jeez! So for you who have forgotten certain events during the DD era here is just one vignette from a fellow alum (and we damn sure know there are others, of course): There! He Said It! My alma mater, the University of North Texas, made national news this past week when a booster for its football program threatened to withhold a $1 million donation after the team fired Coach Darrell Dickey. In nine seasons, Dickey led the Mean Green to four straight Sun Belt Conference championships and the first bowl trip since 1959. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in the school's modest football history, but two losing seasons and criticism over recruitment led to his ouster. He's receiving a buyout in excess of $540,000 for the remaining years of his contract and agreed to coach through season's end. Two incidents that took place during Saturday's North Texas-Florida Atlantic game show how wildly things have spun out of control at UNT since the firing. According to parents of current players, right before Saturday's game Coach Dickey snuck new black uniforms onto the team without the school's permission. The rec-league quality jerseys didn't contain the names of players or the school and conference logos. They weren't cleared with Athletic Director Rick Villareal or announced to the press before the game and might violate agreements with the school's uniform supplier. During halftime of the game, one assistant coach allegedly started a physical fight with with another after being told he should play seniors because it was their final home game. The incident got so out of hand the offense received no instruction before going back out to start the third quarter. As you might have guessed, North Texas lost the game, 17-16, and fell to 3-8. I'm a small donor to the Mean Green Club, the school's booster program, and a longtime fan of UNT football. Because I've been digging into these incidents on the GoMeanGreen.Com message board, I've gotten independent corroboration from sources affiliated with the program. I'm withholding their names at their request. I can't recall a situation where a head coach sprang new uniforms on a Division I college football team to "piss off" his athletic director, as Dickey reportedly acknowledged to players before the game. Combine this with a coordinator putting another coach in a chokehold until being pulled off and it's a meltdown of historic proportions. Dickey, who also abandoned his customary attire for all-black clothes and a black cap, is photographed with the team in the Denton Record-Chronicle. He told reporters it "wasn't anything other than kids liking that color," drawing the ire of parents who didn't like the stunt being blamed on players. When I saw game photos on Sunday I thought Dickey had declared a period of mourning for his job. I left two messages today with new UNT President Gretchen Bataille to relay these events. The departing seniors on the team deserve a better sendoff than childish stunts from coaches nursing a grudge, fans deserve better, and a school paying Dickey another half-mil not to coach deserves better. I'll be disappointed if Dickey makes the trip Saturday to finish the season against Louisiana-Monroe. I was on the fence about Dickey's firing, but I think he's shown his true colors. GMG!

I think our offense duplicates its Clemson efforts and runs over Army, today. Derek Thompson comes of age today. I'm more worried about FAU (who we have never beaten even during 1 or 2 of our bowl years) than Army to be honest about it. I'm also worried about posters on GMG.com who will be developing peptic ulcers due to all this "will he or will he not pull it off this season" drama, too. I worry about if we get a new UNT HFC next season if we will have to change to yet another new shade of green and worse new fonts for an either white or green helmet. Much to worry about when you are North Texas Ex and/or a poster on GoMeanGreen.com GMG!

Norte! (awkward solo applause when no one else joins in--when their freakin' supposed to_)!

Don't despair, Chrisattsu, yall still have the one interstate, a railroad track that runs thru your student section concessions area and then, of course, Arnold the Flying Pig. UNT cannot compete with the last 2 and it is a matter of intense frustration to many of us on this forum to say the least. GMG!

I think you would be right, TFLF. If a coach loses his team emotionally, it may not matter how good they could get down the road because the mental thing is almost as tough to over-come as the physical (of which we are not doing so good at this moment with all the season-ending injuries). So.......the Army win becomes important for (almost) that reason alone as far as the mental part goes. Still don't think there would be a firing like RV wanted to do (or did) post-ULM game, circa 2001. I think Dodge gets to finish the season just to see what the team does in the SBC but secretly and discreetly, you know Rick V begins his coaching search and even moreso if we were to lose to Coach Schnelly's FAU (who we never beat in either DD's or Dodge's tenures). GMG!

Hell, I'm nominating you to take UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson's place in Dallas before he puts wheels on eveything not tied down in Denton and moves it to Big D! We all seem to want to win, but apparently its at different levels of the NCAA totem pole. Put some extra mental toughness and armour on pal! GMG!

The WAC is beginning to remind me of another throw-together league of the good, the bad and the ugly whose first year of operations was 2001. If and when Hawaii leaves, the WAC will get even uglier. GMG! ADDENDUM: La Tech says they'd love to have a WAC Texas school since they recruit Texas. Wonder if after we move into our football palace which we are recruiting toward now that they'd rather recruit against UNT or.......whichever Texas school the WAC takes? La Tech Texas Recruiting versus UNT Texas Recruiting..........Advantage: NORTH TEXAS (that advantage is located between 2 major Texas interstates! GMG!!

IN RESPONSE: Aren't we all sorta' stooping down as we compare 2 programs with less than stellar overall records of success that would be totally unacceptable at 99.9% of other NCAA FBS outpost except maybe, uh...........well, you know? If Dodge doesn't make it happen, there will be a new HFC next year. More Problems Than Just Who Our Coach Is or Will Be As In.........why do some never flinch as supporting Bottom 25 mediocrity and suggest that we can "NEVER" do what a school like Boise or TCU has done? Will our new stadium change a few minds in that group--I doubt it as I read their post and wonder how much arsenic they had to drink today. Or will some still want an All Texas Southland Conference type cookie cutter of league so they can drive to away games (in state) at some of those historic Texas towns we've all been to all our lives anyhow? Why tain't what UNT will soon be able to do a la new stadium with those who will never do (and you know which schools I am talking about here in the Lone Star State). Think forward... THERE! I SAID IT! If Dodge doesn't cut the mustard I think he should be fired after this season, just as myself (and many others--except BOR Chairman Bobby Ray) did in DD's 9'th season and furthermore...... I believe if TDodge is terminated he will do it with much professional grace; in other words for those of you who have forgotten: Dodge will have no black unis on any of his teams as a symbol to get "childishly" back at UNT and its alums/fans. YET.......TDodge should be given his full SBC schedule this Fall (which I believe he will anyway) during this his make/break season. I am trying to think of any other D1 program's alums (expecially in the Lone Star State) who would have accepted their own coachs' tenure had their own coach had a 9 year cumulative record of 3 above .500 seasons with his last 2 years as losing years coupled with low ranked recruiting classe--Welcome To UNT, Todd Dodge. Anyone who can tell me of any other D1 school in Texas or beyond whose alums would have been slobber-knockin' content with that kind of record let me be the first to know so I change my mind forever and start having a mind-set of "oh, hell, it's really not that bad and our coach is a good ol' boy anyway--give him another 5 year extension to see if in his 14'th year here he can catch up to .500 in wins/losses . FWIW.........I think all our various recommendations for DD's successor only happened because (amazingly) we all sincerely wanted our school to progress and even (posssibly) go to the next level as a Top 50 football program rather than those around these part who seemed to very comfortably accepting Bottom 25 conference champions going to bowl games and maintaing an SBC'esque "we po' but we proud" mentality. This is hopefully "NOT" the same attitudes we want to take across with us to that new stadium and if it is--UNT has wasted their money--Big Time.........For Just More.....Small Time. I ATTENDED UNT AT THE WRONG TIME I SUPPOSE: I defer to my new signature below and even believe it as a 1976 graduate of the University of North Texas. I suppose my main problem was having been a student at UNT during the 1975 season (with our Tennessee win among others & TN finished 6 & 5 that Fall, too) when my own expectations as to what UNT should use as their barometer, henceforth, was (I suppose) somewhat set in stone--would not have yours had you tasted that kind of success and over-whelming "feel good" with the national pub we got in 1975? I guess the chipping away of that stone thru the decades of "low expectations--small goals & accept just about anything attitudes" while being around those who said and still say "WE CAN'T DO THAT KIND OF THING THAT THAT DASTARDLY FRY HAD THE AUDACITY OF DOING HIS 6 YEARS IN DENTON ANYWAY!" AND HE WAS ONLY HERE 6 YEARS? Hey, give me 6 years of what Fry did than 12 years of what most we've had since would have done post-Fry--like maybe reach .500 in wins/losses in 12 or so years? GMG!

If we beat Army, it will have taken only TDodge's 3'rd game of his make/break season to get his 1'st win whereas it was DD's 6'th game of the 2001 season (which was also his make/break season) before that team had its first win. DD went on to save his job in 2001 with a 5 & 6 record plus a NO's Bowl appearance versus Colorado State. Also......a win over Army will change the entire complexion of this board's topics & threads come Sunday. Beat Army! GMG!

Like Gray Eagle said, these threads are rarely serious anymore but... ...for the first time in my adult life next Fall, we won't have to cower down like a whooped dog which we've had to about our present stadium which is IMHO the human equivalent of the elephant man or the hump-backed Quasi Moto; a stadium which has held us back for most of the modern era of NCAA football and made other would-be conferences we wanted in think "is UNT really serious about being in our conference with "THAT" stadium?" If you Bobcats get into the WAC a hardy congrats, but I can tell you that you all will have taken the easy road to get to the FBS compared to the roller coaster rides at UNT with all the many different athletic eras with a cast of thousands athletic dept. employess. Plus we got to see every damn shade of green on the color wheel for team unis and helmets with more ways than you could ever count to put NT or UNT with so many fonts. But...I can now at last defer to the signature below because we get a long over-due and well-deserved fresh new start with our New Stadium At The Mean Green Village which I also hope raises the expectations of some of the posters on this forum who forever think small time accompanied with small goals for Mean Green football, ie, those who for whatever reason don't think we are good enough to model our program after a Boise State or even a TCU. TCU? A school who got so very jump-kicked out of the Big Time post the Southwest Conference meltdown with most of their Frog elect giving up completely as far as having a place at the table of the elite...........but only to see their leaders regroup TCU football, start thinking bigger than even when they were part of the SWC and now watching them (just like Boise) raise their own Phoenix from the desert sands to BCS Bowls. I am sorry for so many of our fellow UNT alums who didn't live long enough to see their own same dreams of such a football palace that (quite frankly) we all can't wait for its ribbon-cutting ceremony. GMG!

In most businesses, firing an employee is the last resort. Where did all the positives of our playing (most likely) the ACC's best defense with over 400 plus yards go? And our Mean Green "D" which showed signs that they could get even better after last Saturday, too? IF...we are not too injured with our starters and if UNT can duplicate the offense as it was at Clemson and an ever-improving "D" as was shown versus Rice.......... ............then why can't anyone see that we could win the flippin' Sun Belt Conference? Folks, we are "still" not in a conference that will be a BCS Bowl Buster just yet. Give this thing some time to develop this season and (guess what) if it doesn't.......we will have to hire a new HFC at UNT. We also need to understand that TDodge was a member in very good standing with the Texas High School Football Association--do we of UNT want to make blubbering fools of ourselves by treating one of "their" own like a poor wayfarin' stranger? Not a good idea--(again)--not a good idea. GMG! PS: Anyone care to respond to my new signature below? If not, I will take it that you approve! GMG!!

If we even need to hire a new football coach after the SBC part of the season is done...........I haven't seen any name on any of this forum's threads yet that I think Rick V would even consider, unless it would be those with USM connections, ie, those that he knows personally. GrayEagle suggested that with a new stadium we need to go after a name coach and I agree.....and a few ex HFC's listed on this forum meet that criteria, but you have to check closely on how much baggage any of those particular coaches would be bringing to North Texas and we know of one that has a cargo full of baggage. If we need to hire anyone, it would be one that we absolutely cannot afford to screw up. I think Rick V with his "short list committee" consisting of our Prez' and Consultant Chuck Neinas would come up with someone we would all mostly agree; of course, on this collegiate smack board we know 100% agreement is a total impossibility. GMG!

I am a fan of the enlarged letter--thanks, stebo! GMG!

Likely not to happen, but.......wouldn't it be the ultimate kick in the butt for UNT if that conference with their 2 proposed Texas additions (still) produced a BCS Bowl Buster team? And we would still be standing firm, faithful, loyal & prudent with the SBC? GMG! Question: Didn't TSU (SM) officials say 2 weeks ago that the WAC would not work well with their future plans to be in the FBS? If not--what will? GMG!!