PlummMeanGreen

We hear what your saying greenminer, but the situation involving R'odge's "de-committ" is obviously much more different than other "de-committs" that will be taking place over the next academic year. I think it would really be safe for all of us to say: WECOME TO MEAN COUNTRY, RILEY DODGE! YOU WILL PLAY A BIG PART OF YOUR DAD'S HISTORY-MAKING IN DENTON, TEXAS, AMERICA! (Sorry, folks, but I just love those Reader's Digest giant letter edition, uh, letters).

And especially since it was a school called "NTSU" that last beat the Mustangs in Dallas--our only win vs. SMU in Dallas FWIW) And what a sweet victory that was (and this when SMU was even a member in the now defunct Southwest Conference to boot).

I nominate the above post as the "Riley Dodge Will Put Up Some Good Numbers As A D1-A College QB" post of the week! Not really sure where the very QB who was the field general for the 2006 Texas UIL 5A state football champion has been made to be all but "talent-less" from some of these wretched college message boards across our great state. It's almost laughable to read some of the non-chalant "he has no college level" QB talent concerning Riley Dodge. (Did they not see the same televised 5A state championship game some of us saw, for heaven's sake)? Great post, GEO! BTW, WELCOME TO MEAN GREEN COUNTRY, MR VIZZA!

CHASIN' GREEN RABBITS! There is a plethora of totally useful information and data that comes from www.GoMeanGreen.com. We have had very un-subtle hints for years that some feature articles in the DRC/DMN came from a few thread themes or subjects that came from this forum. We have had some UNT athletic employees discuss things specifically that could have only come from a certain theme from this forum while at the same time some telling many of us that they, uh, never read www.GoMeanGreen.com. TALK ABOUT YOUR BASIC DIVERSIFIED COLLEGE MESSAGE BOARD SPANNING 7 DECADES! Well, you have all that with www.GoMeanGreen. On this forum, you have NT Exes from almost every decade starting with the 1940's who post their ancedotes from all their respective eras or decades at UNT. There are some from this group who can get a bit opinionated while throwing in (absolutely for free) their own HSO's; but Good Golly Miss Molly, this is what a college message board like this (and about 10,000 others just like this one across the USA) are mostly for. Most college officials would be wise to read this board and just filter out what they feel they need to filter out, but what better microcosim of UNT diversity can you find anywere other than www.GoMeanGreen? Rick Villarreal? He is the kind of UNT A.D. I thought we should always have in Denton. No, he hasn't done everything according to Hoyle the way some NT Exes thought it should be done at times (a few extended contracts for one example); but if we had the perfect A.D. at UNT we probably wouldn't know how to handle that in the first place. I'd bet UT's DeLoss Dodds hasn't always been picture perfect, either, but what he has that Rick V hasn't had at UNT are a heckuva' bunch more alums and alum's donations to work with. Rick V has had to operate as AD much of his time in Denton under some very difficult circumstances of which most the time the only alternative he really ever had was to just grin and bare it. For you new posters who may be unaware: Rick V saw a need to change the direction of Mean Green football as far back as November of 2001 with what I felt was a sincere attempt on his part to put UNT football in a position as to where our annual recruiting and Game Day successes would give us a legitimate chance at Top 25 rankings (a la Boise State U). In my heart of hearts, I just don't think Rick V ever saw Top 25 rankings happening with DD as our HFC. Then DD bought some time with 4 bowls games, but with his football program not anywhere close to Top 25 rankings during any of those 4 bowl years. Those non-Top 25 bowl teams most likely the prime reason he could not get even one job interview with a higher profile D1-A football program. Yet, an attempt to make a HFC's change by Rick V back in 2001 was over-ruled by a UNT regent who had allowed himself to get way too close to a UNT employee, and in this case, that would be the HFC of UNT. But as they say................alls well that ends well; although all of this (with the black jersey caper for starters) didn't end well at all for most concerned. IN ALL FAIRNESS TO DARRELL DICKEY: After the year DD's fine (yet un-ranked) football team finished 9 & 3 and he still had no higher profile football job interviews or offers, I think it affected him tremendously (like it would most). If one thinks about it, after that 9 & 3 season, things in Mean Green Country started going backwards, DD's sarcastic/sardonic radio comments became even more constant and many of DD's assistant coaches even seemed to take on the same personna as their boss. Heck, with one of DD's assistant coaches, we almost had a World Federation of Wrestling event "live" from the stands of Fouts Field thanks to our good fellow alum, one Mr. Silver Eagle!

Please, no more naming snafu's at UNT. But (to take your suggestion) maybe a few "Hellsbells!" on that jumbotron would be in order over that (forever) beyond decible-tolerable eagle screech someone in the press box seems to be most enamored with. A Few Gentle Musings: Hellsbells, FG, how could you have ever known AC/DC was a favorite rock group of mine, unless you (surely you didn't) mean't the other definition? If so, still for me..............a good, faithful, prudent, and loyal woman is the prefererred choice in that department, although the millions of us who are single guys and have gotten used to it may prefer the complete unadulterated freedom of that co-existance. Heck, I'm running into even more single women who are loving their single-hood after a couple or more disasters of that other fine institution of bliss. NOW IN A SERIOUS VEIN, SINCE YOUR AFOREMENTIONED POST AND MY PRESENT ONE UP TO THIS POINT HAS NOT BEEN THAT: BUT............. after several decades of spending/investing a small fortune (not near as much as most of you I'm sure); but having done that and after having spent a helluva' whole bunch of time even volunteering personal service (like many of you) on behalf of Mean Green athletics, I feel any of us who call themselves NT Exes & who have hung in with all this for several decades now just want to start seeing some semblance of a return in our investment. To he honest, many of my post the last 2 years probably have that very thought and theme in the back of my mind as I posted and many times I just couldn't get this similar theme ouf of my thought-processes: "After all these decades, just when is any of this going to start happening at my alma mater, but even moreso...................when is it going to start happening in a non-Bottom 25 sort of way?" WELL............I THINK THAT VERY MAGIC TIME HAS FINALLY ARRIVED & TO QUOTE ELVIS (and another poster who posted the same): (FOR MANY OF US)........................ IT'S NOW OR NEVER.

Ross Perot Stadium Ross, Jr. owns many, many acres along the I35-W corridor as you go past Texas Motor Speedway and into the Denton City Limits.

It's never too late to start new traditions. I guess we'd all agree that Boise State sorta' started a new one for themselves in last January's BCS Championship Bowl win over OU. UNT is 2 & 2 against Boise State U in our football series with the Broncos. So maybe we are not as far away from what they've had going of late than we previously may have thought? We know what we have to do at UNT with venues at the Mean Green Village and what we have to do as a Lone Star State-based university to equal what BSU has been doing the last few years, but doesn't all this seem more do-able now than ever before? Granted, BSU doesn't have the name-value or ID of a Notre Dame, but how many ex SWC schools not in the Big 12 (including TT, BU & TAMU who are in the Big 12) have been to a BCS Championship Bowl lately?

I defer to the "black letter" addition in the signature below.

Good points, especially the one in the first sentence of your post, Green to the Bone. FWIW................Tre' Newton would receive unconditional love from the entire Mean Green Nation.

The word I got on that was from one close to the scene in the athletic dept. back when all this transpired. Of course, we know that we have heard so many urban tales in times past from our athletic dept., now haven't we? And I don't neccesarily focus on our present athletic administration on any of that, either. I know when the Denton Radisson threw their hands up on trying to maintain the golf course and asked UNT to take it back helped seal the deal on this huge project we now have going on at the Mean Green Village. Moving across the interstate was also the reason plans were scrapped to use the old Services Bldg as an athletic center, too, in spite of another urban tale I've read on why we didn't proceed with that project. Actually.............and FWIW...........isn't Interstate 35E already way too close to our Fouts Field complex? I thought it was in 1972 and I still do in 2007. Amazing how thru the decades there are just so many other things concerning our alma mater that just haven't changed me and many other minds as well. Our hiring practices most of the last 25 years is toward the top of that list for many and our varsity team's overall W/L records in that same amount of time as well; also, what many feel are our school's fund-raising of a a rather smallish financial endowment over that same span of time has been a disappointment for a school located in DFW and one established in 1890. Enuf' of all that--that was yester-year and yester-year's gone. Todd Dodge's hiring was more than just a breath of fresh air for many of us and gives many of us hope that: HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Yes! Gee.........thanks, greenjoe. (Now is this the part of the commerical whenyou throw me your jersey)?

THE NCAA TOO BUSY DOING OTHER THINGS: The NCAA and a very, very small group of American Indians (most likely an approx. ratio of 1 to :1,000,000 if that many) are too busy trying to wipe the slate clean of Indian-related mascots completely off the American collegiate landscape. Wonder if they (the NCAA) had time to poll the many native Americans who actually felt honored & proud by all these soon-to-disappear mascots?

With the recent $1 million plus "initial" gift given by the mega-wealthy Denton County family (whose last name suddenly escapes me) I thought by now we might even have an updated version of a similar video or even a more accurate architecural rendering of what our new stadium will actually look like. On some of Texas intercollegiate brethren's forums, perhaps a few well placed photos by some of our GMG.com "photo linksters" showing the veranda portion of our A/C which will be in the south end zone over-looking the football field of our future new football palace might be in order? Don't we all love it when UNT "stadium talk" begins to get free advertisement on other school's forums. What may need to be stressed on our friend's forums is that this new stadium is no UNT pipe dream, but is one that TxDOT has actually forced our hand to build while making us hustle up funding to make this new stadium become a reality since they (TxDOT) are claiming by eminent domain this portion of much needed Interstate 35-E corridor land that (lucky for us) just happens to be very close to where our press box side main concesssion area is presently located. What we never, never, ever needed to do in Mean Green Country was to keep on doing a "patch-work quilt" job on Fouts Field. I look forward to its demolition day--it's been a long time coming for this 1951-constructed stadium that someone up there created some very poor blue-prints for our football future.

Understand what you are saying, BIG DAWG, but IMO, having 2 good QB's is almost a necessity for most D1-A programs these days. Obviously, 1 key injury to a starting QB and then you're down to 1 key talented back-up QB; might not be a bad idea to even have 3 quality QB's in camp in that case. I applaud the young Dodge for what he did and not just because UNT is the beneficiary of this. I think UT officials understand Riley's decision probably more than those who have already criticized Riley for changing his mind. FWIW, it's America where one can still do such things as change your mind. Lest we forget, we, too, were once 17 and 18 years old.

Hmmm? Why would they even mention Boise State period? When is the last time Mean Green football was talked up as much in the media this time of year anyhow?

Good grief, why all this early "pre-Senior year" judgement on Riley Dodge as a non-college FB QB prospect?!?!? Riley Dodge is hardly a midget or pygmy for heaven's sake. Heck, he can projectile puke and then throw TD passes that win at the highest level of all Texas High School "freakin" Football; all you non-UNT'ers who are really coming down on the kid now that he's in our camp just watch out now, ya' hear)? (RDodge will show all his critics in due time what his pedigree is all about and then he will get the last laugh with all this--Hide...........Watch..............&................See). Hellsbells! The kid could grow another 2 or 3 or so inches before he's even a sophomore at UNT (Mean Joe Greene era & UNT great Cedric Hardman (who was also an NFL All Pro selection for several years) grew about 5 or 6 inches in height while an NT student. He also put on the weight required for a defensive linemen. Cedric Hardman should (along with others from UNT) also be in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Why he is not is makes that organization a state-wide hall of shame for those who have done all past inductions. What a crock from some old SWC fart-knockers who have led the way to put so many slow a-foot white RB's in what they've turned (to an extent) into their Texas Hall of Shame-- it's almost laughable. FWIW, Abner Haynes could run circles around most of em'! Never saw Abner at UNT but I did see him run (in person) when he was a Kansas City Chief. Sorry for chasing a few rabbits, here. Short QB's who didn't grow taller in college? Can anyone say.............Doug Flutie?!?! Or more locally with UNT ties............can anyone say the, uh, great Mitch Mahr? Todd Dodge as UNT Offenisve Coordinator back in the early 90's recruited Mitch out of Plano East HS. IMHO, MM could have played QB quite effectively for any Hayden Fry-coached team against high profile teams we had some success as well as many other NCAA D1-A higher echelon schools for my money. How can we ever forget Mitch's huge game against Big 12 Oklahoma State? Another game we could have won even as a D1-AA school.

Flood control caused this....and I ain't talking about the kind near the Brazos River as well as Denton and Parker Counties, either. GMG!

Funny, E01...(Even funnier because of what the Baylorites are saying). Anyone think green might best describe the color of the adjective that seems to be affecting some of our fellow Texas D1-A brethren as it concerns all the positive happenings at UNT of late? Trying to remember what happened the last time Baylor came to Fouts Field and played against all those other players in green that (apparently) weren't good enough to play on their team back then, either. Yes, I know, I would be falling short if I didn't mention a "new stadium," but.................Dear Lord Almighty: Please let their be a Big Donor out there real soon for little ol' Teacher's College of Texas Normal State so we can keep good coaching talent around at our alma mater and then progress to that proverbial next level, ie, Top 25 rankings. Amen (I'll even start tithing if need be, OK). Amen (again). Jumpin' Jehosaphats, what we go through at North Texas is enough to drive a man to religion (or Saint Jack Daniels). Well, of course, I don't drink anymore, but then again, I don't drink any less.

Yeah, but he'll lose his, uh, allowance from "Papa Dodge" if he changes again. Wonder who the other SLC players were who changed their committments to UNT? Something Even Bigger on the Horizon in MG Country? Since the practice fields were (in deed) officially named after DD by our BOR's, is NT Ex multi-millionaire Mattress Mac fixin' (a word found only in a Texas dictionary); anyway, is ol' Mattress Mac fixin' to make another big donation--I mean, a realllllly big donation?!?!?!? I do recall reading in a Fort Worth Star Telegram last year when all this DD Practice Field business was an even touchier subject than recently when a FWST sports columnist asked McIngvale if he would still give to UNT in the future: Mac's answer was something to the affect of: "Most likely I will." A very strong gut feeling tells me something very big is cooking at our alma mater. Maybe so big Riley Dodge just had to be part of it? A Mildly Warm Sports Opinion: Doesn't Rivals Recruiting Service sorta' lose credibility when they reduce a HS player's number of ranking stars when a recruit they had previously placed numerous stars re-committs from one of the Big Boys to a non-BCS school? That would be tantamount to reducing the quality of a Texas Motor Speedway race car to that of a Volkswagon Bug once it leaves the TMS track and over to a drive on Interstate 35. Why would the difference of roads the car navigates suddenly affect the quality of the car?

Scattershootin' While The Texas Rains Continue: The Fish In My Pond Are Drowning! I made my own Rivals remark in jest, I don't care how many Rivals stars Mean Green recruits get while they're in HS, I think we are more concerned how many stars they develop into under the tutelage of Todd Dodge while in Denton, Texas, America. I think some of these Red Raider local yocals should check the young Dodge's talent and heart once again. How many QB's have we seen in college football that had all the "future NFL" qualities even in high school still sit at their college of choice's bench while QB's like Riley Dodge start ahead of them? So I guess Riley should have actually re-committed to Texas Tech where he would be guaranteed of being at a school that will never win a Big 12 football championship, but rather a school that seems to spend all their time trying to be just like UT or TAMU. (What a tough pair of Permanent University Funded schools for the Techsters to try to emulate). SAY WHAT?!?!?!? FWIW, wasn't the last (outright) conference football championship the Red Rada's won was when they were members of the old Border Conference; you know, back when dinosauers roamed the Texas Panhandle and the...................Estacado? Singer/Song Writer Mac Davis: "Happiness is Lubbock, Texas, in my rear-view mirror." (As a 6'th generation Texan, Mac, I whole-heartedly concur). IF ALL THIS FALLS INTO PLACE...............WELCOME TO MEAN GREEN COUNTRY, RILEY DODGE! & ............. YOU WILL BE PART OF BUILDING A MEAN GREEN FOOTBALL PROGRAM THAT HAS TOP 25 RANKINGS AS IT GOAL (a la Boise State) AND...............PART OF A MG FOOTBALL PROGRAM THAT WILL GO TO BCS CHAMPIONSHIP BOWLS (a la BSU).

Would I be remiss in saying that maybe about half the registered members of www.GoMeanGreen.com in the back of their minds thought this might occur with Riley Dodge? FWIW...................I think Riley Dodge knows others things that are probably soon to be announced at North Texas that has convinced him that he just wants to be part of Mean Green football history right alongside his father--hellsbells, can anyone from UT-Austin really blame the young man if this is true? Just my .02 and a gut feeling with all the aforementioned thoughts. This may all still only be at the rumor stage, but even so, who is to say it still won't happen later on with the young Dodge? As far as Riley Dodge's talent and competitive spirit are concerned, was the present UT Longhorn QB all that ahead of Riley Dodge when he (himself) was on the eve of his own senior year at a Texas HS 2 years ago? As they say--stay tuned! PS: I agree..............great find, DeepGreen PS II: I guess the only down-size of this if true is that Riley may lose a Rivals Recruiting Service star!

Thanks for that info, Arkstfan. I knew there was some kind of re-alignment movement back in the late 1970's and you have confirmed that for many of us. Sorta' funny, but if the Big Boys actually let TV revenue-greed completely dominate them and (subsequently) they stream-lined to about 50 or 60 schools fo form their so-called Super Conference or Division, might they start beating up on each other causing way too many losses in the W/L columns to such an extent that may cause disgruntled alums and fans at the lower half of those (50 or 60) schools to start demanding even more HFC's job turn-over than there is already? (And sort'a sad to have to say this but: I guess the Big Boys need the rest of us to beat up on to be bowl elgible and to pad those W/L columns to satisfy all of their respective constituencies and alum/fan bases, eh)? ANOTHER QUESTION: I've been out of the SBC loop a few weeks, but what has your school and all the other "Indian" mascot schools changed all your new mascot names to? Since the NCAA got all this P.C. business started in the first place, wonder if they'd like to help under-write the high cost all of your schools will have to make all those across-the-board changes?

People talk about having models for their football programs, but what better model for UNT than Boise State; you know, our former conference-mate in the Big West that seems to show up in the Top 25 most any football season? What was it, about 4 or 5 head football coaches in the last 9 or so years at BSU and even their 1'st year coach of last year taking the Broncos to a BCS Championship Bowl and beating some school's football team that wear crimson and cream unis'? Boise State has found the right formula for their school, hopefully we will to if we start going thru some high commodity/in demand NCAA D1-A HFC's in Mean Green Country in the next decade or so.

Amen and amen and amen......."We will have to have such facilities sooner than later to keep a talent like Todd Dodge" (as I quote a longtime friend and fellow NT Ex). As a new member of GMG.com, welcome to the board, Dodge2007. You have a most astute insight as far as UNT and our football program is concerned as I've read your handful of posts. I'm sure most of our young gun alums and "old timers" would be interested to know what your connection is to UNT? Keep on posting.... NOTE: Maybe a poll would be in order to see how many are new posters (less than a month on GMG.com; posters who've been on less than 6 months; posters who been members for over a year? (Don't worry, board veterans, I am not about to start posting polls again).