eulessismore

I hope I haven't engaged in character assassination towards Riley, and have criticized those who have claimed he was faking injuries or otherwise not doing his best. It is widely perceived by many who follow football in this area, whether true or not, that there won't be an open competition for quarterback at North Texas under the present circumstances. And I do think the saying that the most popular player on a team is always the backup (or third string in our case) QB only holds true for losing teams. However, I have found the things said about Knott to be even more reprehensible, suggesting that we "hate" him. Isn't it reasonable though, to question why, regardless of who has been kicking or punting for North Texas during the Dodge era, that their performance, as well as that of their supporting cast, and the kicking game overall, has regressed? I for one don't claim to know any one person to blame for all this, but I do believe it's the responsibility of the head coach, Todd Dodge, to see that our kicking game gets better.

I'm 100% certain I want to quit expecting to lose.

If there's 15,000 trashing the program on this board, they should all throw in $100 each per year, come up with $1.5 million, and offer really competitive coaches salaries.

I'm in also for him winning the seven. Those seven won, then I'm for five.

What, running off unhappy North Texas fans? I guess we're doing a pretty good job as we get later in any recent season.

She doesn't just want platitudes; she wants what I do: winning football.

It sounds like a goal is at least being inferred (by the fans, based on what RV said). However, I haven't read anything to indicate that TD expects to do anything differently. To me, it seems like my lawn improvements; I put in a patchwork of St. Augustine grass last summer (fortunately we had late summer rains), it's kind of started to put out runners, giving me hope that the gaps will be filled based on what I have already done. I have a duplex, and as a part of the lease agreement, require the tenant to mow and edge, which he pays his kid to do; I will also pay the kid to apply fertilizer if it appears necessary. I don't expect to do much if any additional work, but I expect to see impressive results.

Some of this I find internally contradictory. I want to support the kids, but it wasn't until very late in the season that Dodge admitted "It's my responsibility to have the team ready to play, and I didn't." Further, some of the mistakes; Riley carrying the ball loosely, celebration penalties, lack of protecting the kicker, etc., went on over numerous games. Aren't some of these coachable problems that can be worked on over the course of the season? If you look at the box score, we were losing because of problems that, to some extent, could have been helped by better play calling, or mistakes that could have been corrected early in the season.

Man, what a relief it was when I realized your title meant the AD (Rick Villarreal) said that; when I first saw it, I thought it was about us having an "Ad" (like a billboard) saying that. That would be way too ironic for right now.

I would too, but am kind of doubtful. But, I never knew what it was like to have a father, so I'm not sure how these things work.

Damn, I hate to hear that. I thought Tyler Washington was going to be a stud.

I was thinking of starting a thread just on this subject, but I think this will be the gathering storm that blows any cohesion this board now has into a million little pieces: why aren't we starting Derek Thompson instead of Riley Dodge.

I guess I wasn't too enthused about the changes being mentioned, especially with George, since he's recruited some players that were good to great (Dunbar). I don't really know much about Rausch, except that I read on his meangreensports.com bio that he played secondary in college, and sounded like he was pretty good at it (was a GA under Les Miles, I think), making me wonder why some of our assistants are coaching positions they did not play. I don't know much about Ford, except that a lot of people I know don't like "his" offense. But does he actually get to call any plays? I'm always hearing Dodge talking in the post game about some play or other he called. That's one of my concerns about Dodge, is the possibility that he's too "hands on". I'd really like to see a little more focus from him on clock management.

Was either school FBS (or D1 as it may have been called then) at the time?

My wife does too. She still supports me, although she has no ties to North Texas except being an arts lover, and saying that she sees North Texas as a place where the arts won't always come last. Unfortunately (in my opinion), she's figured out interceptions, blocked kicks and punts, fumbles, missed field goals and extra points, coming out of the red zone with no points, and losing a lead late in the game. I didn't think she knew that much about football before I started taking her to the games within the last 3 years, but I guess some things aren't that hard to learn.

One thing I did hear from Dodge after one of (many) recent games we lost with help from a failed kicking game. When questioned by Jub Jub about a blocked FG, Dodge talked about (in so many words) "Knott, bless his heart, we'll have to look at the film to see if the kick was low, yadayadayada". I guess that's a point of view advocated by enough in this forum he could have some defenders of that; I have read and heard from enough people who know something about football that people blocking our kicks are coming way too free. And, not to mention our punts getting blocked, or that our kicking game was no good before Knott came here, and what about the great punter we had when Dodge came here, and whose game got worse. And oh yes, Atterberry was doing great before teams started realizing we couldn't stop their punt block units. And it didn't sound like from what I read today that RV or Dodge are convinced that anything needs to be done differently, since we're "within a touchdown of winning many games". Is that counting on the PAT kick to be successful, or not?

Also, there is a time (dead period?) when coaches cannot contact recruits, which may or may not mitigate the impact of this nondecision. Does anyone know when said "dead period" is?

We'll do fine. All of us.

Well, at least it doesn't seem like a quickie divorce just before Christmas. I'm still thinking of the original hire as a "whirlwind courtship", as Kragthorpe's hire at Louisville was described. Sometimes the first idea is not the best one.

I agree; I had thought possibly a safety, but I think corners don't have to help with stopping the run so much. Honestly, anybody at corner who could stop the big play once a game or so would be a great addition to the D.

Dang, fancy that; in this age, some assistant coach out driving out in the boondocks of East Texas or whereever, on their way to visit a recruit, knowing more than somebody with high speed internet!

One of Johnny Jones assistants has kind of a cool looking comb over; check it out at the next basketball game you go to. On a positive note, at age 62, I still have all my hair, and hardly any of it gray, which I attribute to not having had kids.

Maybe someone in the AD leaked something before the principles had sat down with their accountants.

Dodge and Villareal were at SMU?

Just based on his bringing Lance Dunbar with him, any thing resulting in George leaving kills the deal for me.