PlummMeanGreen

I just think its time to warp speed this program to where it should have been a long time ago. We can keep Dentonizin' this thing all we want and think like we all have for most of the last few decades, but I don't think Todd Dodge has any intentions of being part of that kind of era or football program in Denton. Its really not just Denton, either, (where we still should have annually had 15,000 fans coming from the city at the Top of the Golden Triangle alone w/o even counting NT Exes or UNT students); but never-minding all that of the past, it is time for all our constituencies to come together now and in the future. At some point in time and hopefully soon, we need to leave some parts of our past in the past and actually grow this football program right alongside the same kind of growth Denton and Denton County have been having and are experiencing now.

Just seeing if some of you would catch it? or...................Senior Moment? Hey! Wait till some of yall turn middle age, dammitt! I will now go correct it! Hellsbells! Now I'm acting like Bobby Ray!

How many times the past decades have we seen a new coach ignite a new spirit among his team and its fan base and have a good 1'st year? Now we've also seen some bad 2'nd years a la Fry's 2'nd season in Denton. I think we might have enough talent to beat some lower division D1-A schools (which made up most of DD's 42 wins at UNT truth be known); but I'm anxious to see how JUCO recruiting goes this month and on national signing date as well. Hayden Fry took over a Rod Rust team that had won only 1 game and Fry tied for the Missouri Valley Conference football championship his 1'st year in Denton (and the MVC did not have a bowl tie-in back during that era). There is just something about having a higher profile name coach (which we should all know by now that Todd Dodge is by all the statewide/national reaction to his hire by UNT) and how our present Mean Green football players are all going to want to make their individual impressions as to what they can bring to a team coached by Coach Dodge starting this Spring. Folks (jeez, I just cannot get away from that damn word) but anyway....... folks ...............this football program has been direction-less for quite awhile now in recruiting and an upward bound direction and the last 2 year's results should be all the proof in the pudding that anyone would ever need to know that. Anyway...............back to the topic at hand as far as attendance for our home season opener with our new HFC: ...........31,000+ Standing Room Only.............. Why not? We've already started selling tickets, right?

Jeez, I hope all this (what do you call it now the, uh, "forward pass?") business doesn't spur on some: Run The Ball chants from our elect.

2 more UIL Texas HS play-off games as deep into the play-offs as the SLC Dragons are can also be a plus. Those 2 games (assuming the other green team coached by Dodge gets to the championship game) will be broadcast on radio with the last one on statewide television; anyone else think this might be said a few times on those broadcasts: "Todd Dodge, the new HFC at the University of North Texas?" I, too, am concerned about too many HS coaches as assistants; but I will also defer to the "In Todd We Trust" saying one of you has so cleverly started on GoMeanGreen.com I do hope the defensive coordinator has the college background thing going for him, though. We all want this thing to succeed so much up at UNT that I guess its such things as all this we've been discussing that has us a bit nervous? I think Coach Dodd would understand where those of us who have been wandering in the "low profile" NCAA D1 wilderness for so long are coming from; as well as all you newbies who are now on the groundfloor of something that could even take us beyond the Hayden Fry era high profile successes if we play our cards right in Denton, Texas, America. Another upside at UNT (and there are many) is we still have that tremendous reservoir of potential UNT fans who live not so far from Fouts Field (starting with the largest residential campus this side of UT-Austin); also not so far from the the Mean Green Village and our future new NCAA D1-A football stadium (palace?) from which to draw so many new Mean Green fans.

The highlighted part of El Paso Eagle's post could be Todd Dodge's biggest legacy at UNT because of what he is bringing to the table as the UNT HFC that Big Donor-types would be more inclined to invest into. Those Big Donor-types will not invest into a program that merely has SBC success & playing the 4'th place CUSA team in the Big Easy as our end-all, folks. Look toward the direction of Boise State (our former Big West foe who is now in the BCS Championship Series) as to what Rick V and Todd D can now go out on the fund-raising trail and tell such heavy hitters: THIS IS WHAT WE WANT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS AND WE MUST GET OUR NEW STADIUM JUMP-STARTED TO HELP US GET THERE!

......31,000+<><> *Standing Room Only...... NOTE: Lots of extra dragon/mean green and even some burn't orange-clad fans in this audience for the home football season debut of UNT Coach Todd Dodge--a very, very special night for Texas college football. * PS: Why not? Especially if they start selling season (& individual) tickets for this game now (or at least very soon--like at a real "Spring" Football Game played on a Saturday in the Spring)? As soon as I can, I'll buy my tickets. Quite frankly, wouldn't want to miss out on this most historic event for the entire university family.

Come now, please don't be ashamed. I think my own being "ashamed days" are now over because having to feel ashamed can be a real, uh, shame? FWIW, BS, whoops, I need to go ahead and spell out your moniker, Black Scholes (sorry 'bout that) ; anyway, I have been attending "Posting Big Colored Letters On Message Boards Anonymous" and am taking an active part in their 13 step program. Wish me well, because if this doesn't work (see there, I still have my moments of weakness), anyway, if the 13 step program doesn't seem to be working for me, well...............its off to the Betty Dodge Center for ol' PMG! (To quote Lousiana'a favorite daughter and songstress: "Whoops! I did it again)!" Now excuse me while I finish watching Mexia's favorite daughter in the movie Skyscraper (one of the worst I've ever seen, but exceptions can be made as far as watching this "boob" of a movie). Oh heck! Now I am really ashamed!

Gosh, Quoner, what an interesting signature you have. Hopefully, a red and green asteroid will not hit your abode.

READER'S DIGEST LARGE LETTER EDITION Thank you fellow NT Ex of ours George Dunham for telling your fellow KTCK 1310 Ticket'sters just minutes ago to "get off the Todd Dodge will get a few wins and boogy out of Denton and off into the wild blue yonder." Who can predict the future, TD may or he may not, but he will leave something behind very nice would be my guess when he does leave UNT whether thats 4, 6, 8 or 12 years from now. Yet its as George "Jub-Jub" Dunham said on The Ticket minutes ago when he said the Todd Dodge family sure does enjoy living in this part of Texas. So...............to the rest of you non-BCS'ers who would persevere all this "Todd Dodge here today/Todd Dodge gone tomorrow" tommyrot as much as anyone please do hear me out; hellsbells (forget just me) here the entire gol' darned Mean Green Nation out on this: Your school's head football coach if offered a job where he has an opportunity to win a national championship will boogy out of your alma mater's outpost and football program just as quickly as anyone elses. That's just the way the cow eats the cabbage among those in the non-BCS, so quit thinking UNT is the "only" school this could ever happen to; although, many of our elect believe the completion of a NCAA D1-A college football stadium at the best location in the entire Lone Star State (outside Austin) and all this at our Mean Green Village will further reduce the chances for such things to happen in Denton, Texas, America. So once again, fellow non-BCS'ers who have been visiting and posting on GoMeanGreen.com in record numbers the last 24-48 hours and those of you who may even be reading this post, FWIW, this is mean't for you: We know we have one helluva' damn good hire with Todd Dodge as HFC at the University of North Texas, so get over it, get a grip on yourselves and lets us enjoy all this without all the jealous little snippets coming from a hardy handful of you. Wouldn't you want that from us if you had just hired the best HS football coach in your own state that even Bill Parcell's version of America's Team wanted to hire? Thanks in advance....

Finally! The DRC's Dallas newspaper give us our due (and some positive press)! Great article, Mr. Sherrington!

"The Republic of Texas...I like the sound of that." (John Wayne's line as he played the role of Davey Crocket in "The Alamo", circa 1960 version of the movie) Many people saying the name NORTH TEXAS today I believe we'd all agree?

As a registered member of CoogFans.com, I just offered a very diplomatic response to those from other non-BCS outposts who seem to think their own schools are immune to their own coaches not leaving for a BCS job if given the chance. UH Coach Briles would leave in a New York Minute for a BCS job that has a real chance of winning a national championship and TCU's Gary Patterson the same (and that for the WBAP AM crew who dissed UNT this morning). The old SWC gang still cannot get over the fact that those days are really over for them and that we are hardly the same ol' UNT, either. I really do think once we build a true NCAA D1-A football stadium over at the Mean Green Village for Todd Dodge to coach in this will stop many such comments we've had today from all our "envious?" detractors--not all of them mind you.

MG61, perhaps a case of, uh....................................... ..........GREEN'IS * ENVY? ? ? ?.......... PS: Also, what did Mac Davis' song say about how he found his happiness in a rear view mirror and what city was he speaking about in that song?

Never heard of a 2 year contract for a new hire in NCAA D1-A. The 1.2 million for a non-BCS school spread over 4 years sounds more like it; although I would have hoped for a 5 year contract since it takes most recruits 5 years to graduate (counting their RS freshmen year). Wonder if there were any buyout clauses to TD's contract? A great day to be Mean Green--now this football program can get back on track!

Just by adding a cup of positive to the ingrediants will go a long ways with many of us and even during bad times; but all that other stuff we had been getting previously will not go far at all. Glad we are getting a fresh start........... ............haven't really felt this good about a Mean Green HFC's hire since SMU fired Hayden Fry in November of 1972 and NT hired him in December of 1972.

Should be competitive in the SBC this next Fall and who knows, may win the darn thing with disciplined football thrown in the fray over at the Mean Green Village but future SBC champions under Dodge will have a different look IMHO. Start with the fact that Todd Dodge will (from the git-to) recruit so that any SBC champion he coaches at UNT will aim for Top 25 rankings and he will want his MG football teams to have the opportunity to emulate what Boise State will be doing in the next few weeks in the BCS Championship Series. I really do think this is what Rick V had in mind with his hiring of Todd Dodge. BTW, anyone else read in USA Today over the weekend where the Boise State HFC said taking those " next step up glamor jobs" may not always be the panacea or where its at for some successful NCAA D1-A coaches? In the same context, who or how many have already turned down the Alabama Crimson Tide HFC's job whereas their taking of that job would have been a step up? Truly a great day for anyone who is an NT Ex and/or Mean Green fan!

Uh....................................................wow!

Lots of that ol' green monster called "jealousy" going on out there, eh? Hell, folks, if Todd Dodge is as great as all the "jealousy-mongers" out there putting out all their UNT-barbs on the airwaves today, we are going to be in for one helluva' ride in Mean Green Country. Even the WBAP boys (& Mark Davis for crissakes? ) this AM were getting in their jabs about "why" would Dodge take the UNT job? And oh yes, more of the ol' "he'll be gone" in due time crapola, too. To WBAP'er/TCU apologist Hal Jay: How many D1-A schools have "seriously" put your Coach Patterson on any of their short list of potential hires lately? And come on now, isn't TCU (just like Boise State and, uh, UNT) also a non-BCS school that is hardly a coach that wants to contend for a national championship's final stop, too? So get a grip on it WBAP'ers, you'll all be just fine tomorrow? TO UNT OFFICIALS: PLEASE GET THAT FREAKIN' 40K+ STADIUM BUILT AND SHUT ALL THESE PHUD-PUCKERS UP! :

Shucks, how did you know I hadn't? This is not about me, but this is about the 4'th largest university in Texas hiring the kind of personel who will allow us to function (athletically) as the 4'th largest university in Texas should. RV probably needs to make other personel changes to ancillery staff -types to enhance our situation even more while we have this new surge of unity, but that's just my .02 on that subject. I do look forward to seeing many old friends next Fall (and even those who were pissed at me that I made my feelings known about what I felt DD was doing to this football program). GMG!

When you have a 59 year follower of Mean Green football say he was going to cease his following of all this had things continued as is would tend to make anyone from our era be a bit vocal. There were those who expressed similar feelings who never posted their intentions publicly, too. Personally, I'm glad the one who did post his intentions did just that (and that posting was about 6 weeks ago now BTW). Yet, I don't now, m_m, how long are you willing to give him to win conference again? What do you think of the hiring of Todd Dodge? Personally, I think we now have a chance to be another Rutgers or a Boise State because of this hiring by Rick Villlarreal; and many of us felt the need to be vocal about the fact that we didn't feel that we would get such an opportunity under Darrell Dickey. Past SBC football titles under DD had not one time gotten us a Top 25 ranking last I checked. I think Rick V took a big step (today) with solving that problem with the hiring of Todd Dodge. RV probably needs to do more tweaking of his entire staff and surround himself with loyalists with NCAA D1-A talent that can help his (and our's) cause. One reason many of us don't think we should just keep on re-cycling athletic personel up there time and time again. Hell, they can either do a NCAA D1-A job or they can't. Turnstile numbers at Fouts and fundraising results over an extended amount of time would be a strong hint for our AD who can or cannot do the job. All those who are still living who want what we have not had at UNT for so long that some of the young gum alums think some of us older nestors are hallucinating when we talk about what we did have at one time (and at a higher profile). Even just an hour or so ago, KTCK 1310 The Ticket's Hardline gave a thumbs-up for the Fry era at UNT (or least "the Hammer" did who was around these parts following college football while Mike Rhiner was spinning records at the "The Zoo)." NO NEW REVELATION HERE BUT..............DD won conference titles without not one of those teams having received high rankings such as MAC and WAC football champions have done. UNT and the SBC were judged in a not so kind (or respected sort of way) by the national media for those non-rankings, too. Also (as we all know and with even increased numbers who will admit to it now); that is, DD did not win the kind of OOC games that made other schools covet his services as a HFC or want to even grant him an interview. For all concerned (including DD) I believe we were all sorry that Darrell Dickey was not an astounding success in Denton because it became a "lose/lose" proposition for both DD and us, ie, the UNT constituency. So, m_m, to put all this in shorter terms: HELL YES! I AM HAPPY ABOUT THE HIRING OF TODD DODGE ! ! ! GMG!

Rick, united will be a refreshing thing to have once again in MG Country. Some of us being disjointed from our school because of whoever's actions or whatever the scenario is not what most of us would ever prefer or choose if truth be known; especially when one's history of following all this has been of a loyal and faithful to the cause nature for decades. We almost lost a 59 year follower of MG football over recent situations as we all recall from another's post. Many of us did support DD for at least 7 of his 9 years and then only backed off when we just felt the direction of MG football (and other public relation situations we're all even moreso aware of now) had ceased to be upwardly bound yet had taken a southbound lane non-stop, but that was then and now is now--all we have is the present and the future. DODGE BALL IN MEAN GREEN COUNTRY! DUCK OR YOU'LL GET HIT!

IMHO, a payout clause is necessary for any non-BCS school when they've hired a potential "up and comer" away from a non-BCS school leaving them high, dry (and head football coachless). If we are going to get raped by the Big Boys when they get one of ours HFC's, then let them pay a nice sum for our services since we made the original find in the first place with said "up and comer" HFC and since they are probably not even going to kiss us (so to speak) when all is said and done; that is, when they've hired our guy away from us and left us eating their dust as they leave Denton with our "up and comer." I defer to my post (and payout sums after said number of years in Denton) above SCREAMING EAGLE-66's above post; or at least, something similar to it. Of course, getting said new HFC at UNT to agree to a healthy buyout from a potential Big Boy suitor is another thing.

LET THE SLC FEEDER PROGRAM CONTINUE AT THE MEAN GREEN VILLAGE!