GrayEagle

It's true that new coaches do not often retain anyone from the old staff. I'd suppose that it's because if the team was bad enough to have to replace the coach then the coaching staff must be bad. If the coach moves up he often takes most of his staff with him so there's little to pick from in that situation. Still, in our case (if we get a name coach) most of his former successful staffs have moved up or out and there just might be a qualified member worthy of keeping. If it were me I'd at least look at each coach's specialty and how well they handled it. At least they have FBS experience. I often wonder if there might have been a more positive result had Dodge kept Fred Bleil as DC.

I need to get a copy of "The Story of North Texas" to see how much coincides with my remembrances. I may be off-base on some things and a few go back before my time but I've been exposed to a lot in the 60+ years since I first enrolled. I can guess what Dr. Bruce thought about athletics. In spite of the largest enrollment of all of the teacher's colleges no one ever tried to advance our stature in athletics until Joe McConnell. During his tenure we became a "major" college as the Division I classification was known at that time. As to Carl Matthews, he was a HUGE basketball fan and was responsible for getting us into the Missouri Valley Conference. The Valley was one of the top basketball conferences in the country at that time with such powers as Cincinnati, Louisville, Wichita State, and other top programs. But, it is true that he discouraged (forbade?) the formation of any support group that would give money to the university because he thought that it would give them too much power. So yes, it was all about power. He probably looked down the road at the Mustang Club to support his opinion. I qualified his less than rabid support with the word "basketball" but he did do a little to advance our national posture in sports. Coach Mitchell just followed orders. If they gave him lemons he would make lemonade. A great coach in developing the talent that he had because he wasn't a great recruiter. In fact many, if not most, of his players had to enroll in school then tryout for the team. If you made the team you would then get a scholarship. From knowing him, I would doubt that he cared about donations from alumni because he would continue to run the Xs and Os of his team as he saw fit. I also got the impression that few wanted to cross him.

Perhaps I left others with the impression that the task is hopeless. Maybe, but maybe not. The chairman of the BOR is very pro athletics and is a former letterman. If Dan Smith can convince the majority of the board the need and priority of striking now and not procrastinating then we could have a bright future. We need to channel as much funding as we legally can into athletics. We have a window to the university sitting out there between two interstates that needs a heap of advertising. Successful athletic programs can provide more publicity for the university than any other means. As Nike says, "Just Do It."

The answer to your last sentence is Gerry Faust. But there was one successful coach who made the jump (ironically from the same high school). His name was Paul Brown and he went from Massilon (OH) High School to HFC at Ohio State University and later on to the Cleveland pro franchise. So, altogether it's been done once. There have been other attempts with less than moderate to no success but since it happened once we may have believed that Todd Dodge could duplicate that feat.

Normally I am against interim coaches. However, I believe that this has some unusual circumstances. If the job has to be posted 30 days prior to a hiring then it would hamstring the new coach in recruiting for the 2011 season if the current coach was allowed to finish. With the record of the past five years and the opening of the new stadium a new coach will need all of the advantages possible to deliver our needs. The new coach must have the freedom to select his hires so I'm not sure what advantage that would give an interim coach. Leavitt already knows what Canales can do so if he's the hire the remainder of the season may hold little value for the interim coach if it's Chico but say it's anyone else. What Canales can do in the last games could have a great bearing on the new head football coaches' choice for an OC. That could be good for our future. None of this should take place, however, until Todd Dodge has been mathematically eliminated.

I understand the tenor of your posting and largely agree with you. Perhaps the only point of contention would be that the current administration turns a deaf ear to its alumni and fans. That was so true for many years but I am beginning to notice a turnaround in the administration's stance. The administrations prior to Norval Pohl, with the exception of Jitter Nolan and to a lesser extent Joe McConnell and Carl Matthews (basketball), have all turned a blind eye and ear to athletics. Their excuse was that they were building academics and couldn't afford guns and butter. Now, academics has been vastly improved. We offer more than 200 fields of study in the three degrees offered and have and are adding more each year, often with outstanding professors. We shouldn't slight academics but at the same time athletics can do a lot to advance the perception of the university that it shouldn't be ignored. Personally I believe that Norval Pohl got it, Gretchen Bataille got it and I know that Lane Rawlins understands it. The only one that doesn't seem to get it is chancellor Lee Jackson. His thrust has been UNT Dallas and the UNT Dallas Law School (which diminishes the prestige of the flagship university in Denton). He is building his legacy to the detriment of the Denton faculty, students and alumni. Only the Board of Regents can control him and they seem reluctant to do so.

Okay, I get it. I should've said three forward talons. Then there is one behind. The claw handsign originally had three curled fingers representing the three forward talons of the eagle and the thumb represented the rear talon. I don't know when it was changed. I guess people were just to lazy to try to make the three finger sign.

When she was on an Austin TV station she made no bones about her pride in NT. She even called UT the University of "South Texas".

Come on, Deep. It gets our minds off of how bad things really are.

P.S. I like windmills, just not next to a stadium.

1. North Texas 2. Three, just like a real eagle's talon. 3. SOW (white on a green helmet) 4. Green home; white away; white home and away; black or dark green. 5. Temporary attention-getter 6. Scrappy 7. Emerald green 8. "New" Southwest Conference or CUSA 9. No, the MVC was dying when we left 10. Near the Lyceum? 11. Never, it's timeless 12. Both. I wish we'd mix it up...a little script writing, a little SWAC, a little military, etc. 13. No, it was great in that era but that era has gone Thanks. Enjoyed the questions.

Uhh, I believe that there are a couple missing... J.W. St. Clair 1915-1919 20-10-3 Theron Fouts 1920-1924 23-14-2 Overall, North Texas ranks 73rd in winning percentage all-time of the current FBS teams with a winning percentage of .51268 (at least they did at the beginning of the season). They have won 468, lost 444, and tied 34.

Happy Birthday, Rick! I wish you the best and appreciate all that you have done for the University of North Texas. You took a program that had been abused for twenty years and made it something to be proud of (as soon as we fix football and women's basketball). Thank you for the first-class facilities. May you have many more birthdays and stay here until you retire.

I was very disappointed at last week's attendance. We had to get SMU's attendance counter to top 17,000. I really don't understand why there weren't well over 20K with the perfect weather and coming off of a win. Louisiana's our closest conference member and about as near a conference rival as we have; at least we've played them the most (I didn't check it out maybe we've played Arky State more). Both SMU and TCU were out of town and we shouldn't have that many Texas or OU fans that attend our games. I realize that losing's a bummer but we should've won that one and at the least our offense is more entertaining than many of those in the past. The message has been delivered that this is likely this coaching staff's swan song so we don't have to stay away to deliver that message. So, at this point, we are destroying the chances of getting a better coach or a better conference by staying away. What coach worth his salt would want to come to a school that barely meets the minimum requirement? Attendance was also a major factor in UTEP's admittance to CUSA over North Texas. They had it...we didn't. If you ever had it in your heart to attend a North Texas game now is the time. According to the Cajun Raider we are averaging just over 20,000 after the first two games. We need to hold that average as nearly and the Fouts finale with K-State should give us a good boost toward opening the new stadium. It may also get a conference's attention as well should there be an opening. There's no guarantee that it will but I can almost assure puny attendance the rest of this year will assure us that it won't. So, enjoy the tailgating and enjoy the games. If, somehow, this team catches lightning in a bottle and wins (or nearly wins) out you'll be glad that you did.

Jim, quit thinking small. The next expansion will add at least 15,000 seats when we are invited to the Big XII. Seriously, if we can consistently fill the new stadium I would guess that we'll go ahead and expand it to 50K because if we can do that that will mean that we are having a lot of success on the field. I haven't seen any plans for the expansion but understand that it calls for filling in the horseshoe and double-decking the east side. BTW, what is the large structure between the east stands and the AC?

Baine has practiced at the position; just not with the starters. Two of the top 4 WRs are still reasonably fit at this time. Carey had a rough start due to reporting with a hand injury but is productive. Jamaal Jackson still starts. We also don't know the extent of Hamilton's injury. Other than that, there's no doubt that injuries have hit us harder than probably any other time in our history. If Todd's career here was five or ten games under .500 then he might be considered for a do-over (based on the injury factor) but his record is so poor that the fans simply won't stand for it. Last year should have been his breakthrough season. He lost six games by four or less points. In most cases he lost the lead late in the game. To me, it seems that this team (and last years') have the talent and the desire but are not coached to win. Rick has to consider how the fans would react to another season with TD as head coach. If he does not win seven games I believe that it will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to sell even this year's amount of season tickets. What would happen to donations? Would they increase just because we have a new stadium? Maybe, but I'd guess not.

Or, you might call it the upper tier of the lower level.

I see some playing, just not at tight end, or at least where most tight ends lineup. Olewale is the only one that has caught a pass (he's actually caught two) but I know that Kilmartin was thrown to at least once. Tight end lining up at tight end is about as rare as a quarterback lining up under center.

Robb Akey had great success at Idaho last year no question. The problem is this is not his first year. With his eight wins last year that brings his record to 11-26 for the first three years at Idaho. If he had three wins in his first two years here this beautiful new stadium would be empty except for the diehards. Gary Anderson is another who may someday be a Hall of Famer but we can't afford to take that risk. I believe that we need a proven FBS coach who can attract donors, fans, players and students. We need someone that the Denton area can point to with pride and be willing to support from the gitgo. There have been about six names trotted out that would definitely fit our need. There may be others that have yet to surface. I hope that we don't take a chance on a high-risk coordinator with no prior head coaching experience this time. We didn't build a $150 million dollar stadium (Plumm got my attention with that one) to poboy a coach for it.

Should John Shorter also be added to that list? I don't remember seeing #18 on the field or sidelines last night.

I'm not certain that Dodge will be fired. He could just be reassigned since he has another year on his contract. Todd has been a good ambassador for North Texas; he just can't win. That way, it wouldn't matter whether you hired the new coach early or late. Or, if you allowed an interim coach to finish the season since Todd would just be reassigned.

No, it's Todd Dodge who is the preacher's kid.

Pretty salty language for a preacher's kid, LJ.

TV still drives the bus. BCS AQ conferences have it; non-AQ don't. The wisest solution would be to divide the non-AQ teams into four 12-team conferences based on proximity. It would save on travel expenses and build regional rivalries...thus increasing attendance. The TV revenue would be shared based on attendance or some similar formula. The NCAA is a hollow association with little authority to do what is best for the membership as a whole so there is no chance of using any measure of common sense or reasoning. It won't happen.

Cook had a year of QB in HS but he's out for the year. Hamilton, Carey, and Taylor were high school quarterbacks. But, other than an occasional wildcat play I'd prefer not to see any on a regular basis. Do we know that Baine can't be the backup?