Huff

It was worse this past week than in previous weeks. Maybe it was because there were less people there to mask his comments or maybe a tough season just wore on his nerves. It is annoying as the devil, but there is not much we can do about it except maybe change where we sit and I am not going to do that.

I had an opportunity to visit briefly before the football game last Saturday with Board of Regents Chairman Bobby Ray. Some of what he said will be pleasant, some will be unpleasant, and some will depend on your point of view on the subject he addressed. We started by my asking about the search for a new President. He said that the process was coming along well. He said that it is a slow process that must be done carefully but that we had several quality people who were interested in the position. He did not name any names and I did not ask for any names. I told him that a lot of people are concerned that we might get a new President who would not have a real commitment to athletics at North Texas. He gave me a stern gaze and said "Don, do you really believe that I would allow that to happen?" He was very firm in stating that there would be no retreat from the emphasis that had been placed on our athletic program in the past several months. He named some names of members of the Board of Regents who felt as he did, but finally said that they all felt the same way. I asked him if I could quote him on that. He said, "Yes, please do". We then talked about Darrell Dickey. I asked if there was any possibility of his being replaced as a result of the poor football season in 2005. He said that there was no possibility of that happening. He said that one bad season out of the past five years is not a reason to be terminated. He said that they (I am not sure exactly who he meant by this) would meet with coach Dickey at the end of the season to see what he needed to get things back on track (my words, not Bobby's). I got the impression that he supports Coach Dickey and would try as hard as possible to get him what he needs in order to be successful. We did not talk about any other football coaches or their specific situations. We then talked about the possibility of a new football stadium. I asked where we stood on getting a new football stadium. He gave me a one word answer - "Nowhere". He went on to say that while efforts are being made to attact a major donor it had not yet happened. He said that it would take just the right company to make a major contribution and that had not yet happened. He said that the university continues to work to find the funding for a new stadium but that it had not happened yet. I told him that Rick V had told people that we would be in a new stadium by 2009. He said that he believed that for us to be in a new stadium by 2009 we would need to have the money lined up today. I got the impression that fund raising for the stadium might not be as far along as I had believed. Once again, that is only my impression. At that point some other people walked up and the conversation turned to other things - like the restaurant that was providing the Bar-B-Q before the game. I got the impression from my conversation with Bobby that the emphasis that would be placed on athletics would not decrease in the future. It would not surprise me to see our next President as someone from a university with a strong athletic tradition. He did not say that, but it was an impression that I got. I don't see the legacy that Dr. Pohl will leave as being in danger. As I said at the start of this post, some of this will be good news, some will be bad news, and some will depend on your point of view. Regardless of your feelings about these subjects I felt that it was information that this group of North Texas fans should hear. Don Hufstedler Azle, Texas

Let me add to those saying Congratulations to Arkansas State. They could have folded their tents at the half when they were behind, but came out and played hard and well in the second half. They did what they needed to do to win the game and got some help from ULL in order to go Bowling. Good luck to them in the New Orleans Bowl.

Can you imagine the riot that would occur if DD ALLOWED a team to score late in the game? It might get really ugly, folks. No matter how sound the strategy might seem to some, it would be seen as a sign that our head coach had given up to others.

When I talked to Rick V a few weeks ago he said that he hoped that Rice would be our twelfth game for next year. He said that he thought the game next year would be in Houston with the Owls coming to Denton the following season. He said that it was not set, but that is the way he hoped it would work. If anyone has more recent information, please post it for everyone to see.

Our group of six will be among the faithful who attend. The attendance for this one could be pretty bad. I would guess that there will be about 5000 in the stadium. This is not a good way to send off this group of Seniors who have done so much for this program, but it is the price we pay to get a game on national TV.

Today's DRC said that Andy Mac would be allowed to coach the final two games of this season. That is a better deal than I believed would happen when I read that his termination would be "effective immediately". I believed that MT was going to send him away with two games left in the season. That would not have been good.

I think it shows a tremendous lack of class to make his dismissal "effective immediately". Let the man finish the season then turn him loose.

Corky Nelson was actually the defensive coordinator at Baylor before coming to North Texas, but you are correct that he did win a state championship at Tyler with Earl Campbell.

My goodness, who would want to hire a coach who has won four consecutive conference championships? One of these years he will get a nice promotion and leave NT. A few years after he leaves we will look back on the Dickey years as "the good old days".

I wasn't able to go to this one, but listened to much of it on the radio. It seemed to me that the biggest problems we had were with our kicking game. We messed up a chip shot field goal attempt in the first quarter due to a bad snap. We missed an extra point. We had a punt of six yards which gave FAU great field position. We then missed the last field goal attempt to tie the game. Those kind of thing just kill your chances to win.

We sometimes forget that last year we averaged over twenty passes per game. We threw 252 passes in twelve games. We threw the ball twenty or more times in six of our twelve games. The highest number of passing attempts was 36 against Colorado. The lowest number of passing attempts was 12 against Utah State. As our quarterback gets more comfortable in his position look for more passes to be thrown.

A brief report in today's Ft. Worth Star-Telegram said that there were talks about moving the game to Fouts Field but Florida Atlantic was not willing to do it. (I can't say that I blame them for that). The story said that the game could be moved to an earlier time for kickoff or to Dolphin Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins. The story stated that"classes have been cancelled and the Florida Atlantic campus was without power for ten days" after the most recent hurricane.

We met on a blind date in the Spring of my Sophomore (her Freshman) year. We have now been married almost 42 years. She says that is a LONG time with the same old guy.

Rick, I normally ignore your posts, but I could not let this one pass. I HAVE been to road games. Last year we went to Utah State. This year I went to Miami to watch our team play Florida International. What I saw in Florida were a bunch of kids fighting their tails off. They were playing a Florida International team with some good athletes. They had several kids who could have played for lots of Division 1 schools. Our coaches made some adjustments that shut down what they were doing on offense. They did not score a point after the first quarter. We are not having a good year. Lots of folks saw this one coming. Go back and read some of Harry's posts from the pre-season where he just about comes out and says that we will not be very good this year but look out for 2006 and 2007. Nobody likes to have a down year, but it happens. This year's Oklahoma team is a great example. They lost to a TCU team that plays at a lower level than they do. For us that would be like losing to a 1-AA team. They won in overtime against a Baylor team that they have dominated in past years. Their fans aren't happy with them, either. The same coaches who led us to four consecutive conference championships and four consecutive bowl games did not forget how to coach over the summer. Hang in there. It will get better.....but probably not this year.

If having a winning football team was part of the deal, SMU would not have been invited. There are lots of other things that will go into that decision IF Tulane ever decedes to give up football at this level. I personally think that is a VERY BIG if.........

La Tech 42 UNT 10 The offense can't move the ball. The defense is on the field for too long. The fourth quarter gets ugly.

NT80 has a good point. We attended the game in Miami and were amazed when they announced the crowd at 14 thousand. I promise you that there weren't 14 HUNDRED people at that game. They must be counting the tickets sold or using the SMU counting system. Either way, there were certainly not 14 K at that game.

They also had a young running back named Pete Pedro that was a good one. Joe Kerbel recruited some good players to Canyon. They used to give Texas Tech fits so the Red Raiders quit playing them. The programs have gone in seperate directions since then but at one time WT could tee it up with lots of people.

Gamebreaker I hope that you DO COME BACK. Suffer through the tough times. It makes those conference championships and trips to Bowl games even sweeter.

Wow.....That is amazing. If I were a betting man I would jump all over Troy plus 6.5 against us. My concern is our ability to score at all - let along beat anyone by a touchdown. I sure hope it is right, and I would take it right now and not even play the game.

Bachelors degree in Physical Education Master's degree in Secondary Education After trying to coach for seven years I became a school administrator. This makes my 33rd year as a junior high principal. It is funny, but I never taught PE a single day even though that was my major.

That is just horrible.... We went to the North Texas Vs Utah State game last year in Logan. We were very impressed with the people of Utah. Our prayers are with all those who lost loved ones in this wreck.

Kathy and I will be going to the Florida International game in October along with two other North Texas fans from Arlington.

Let's see if I have this right.....we are discussing getting rid of the only coach in the history of North Texas to win four straight conference championships. We are discussing getting rid of the coach who just took us to four straight bowl games. Is that right? Good Gosh..... We would probably not be having this discussion at all if Andrew Smith were playing quarterback for us instead of a redshirt Freshman. This is a very inexperienced team that will get better as the year goes along. This year will be a tough one but hang in there. Our babies will grow up just like the "Brandon Kennedy bunch" did.