eulessismore

I thought this was a pretty good article on Tune from when he earned a scholarship. I'm guessing the guy responding to it, Steve Tune, is his father. Kind of a feel good story, and makes you want something good to happen for Nathan. DMN re Tune earning his scholarship

I like Nike. Or, for the proper rhyming, should it be, "I likey Nike"?

The news of these 2 latest recruits makes me think of a book title I see every once in a while when I go to the local library, "When will there be good news?". It was about a much more serious situation; daily life in Iraq, I believe, but for some reason that book title had been coming to mind lately whenever I would think about the NT football program. And yes, I do regard the news of promising recruits at DT and punter as "good news".

I have to agree with you; I have been trying to figure out how we'd have any depth at DT next year and wasn't coming up with many answers.

It does sound like a great pickup for NT. I still think our kicking game needs overall work from the coaching as well as the player perspective. It will be interesting to see how the coaching of kickers is done, since it doesn't appear Gandy is experienced at working with them, and may need help from the previous strength coach (Seroka?).

I agree about Cantly, just based on what I've heard about him from those who should know (parent of teammate). From what I've heard about Franklin, I think he'll also be a good one.

Maybe a solid hire at this position could land a recruit we need for DT position in the 2009 class, help develop Tevinn Cantly into the player he can be, or both.

May I suggest this guy? He could also help Gandy coach special teams, if necessary: Brian Early, DL, ST coach at Central Arkansas

LAZER, you don't seem any crazier than any of the rest of us; honestly, I think some of the anti-Riley postings have been over the top and perhaps inspired by some of Vizza's most vocal supporters, of whom we may see fewer posting here as the terms of his release seem to be resolved (per Vito, anyway). Personally, I agree with your assessment of Vizza, in that he was at least part of the team's offensive futility during the last year. As frustrated as it was to see our ineptitude on defense and special teams, I must say that seeing them get the offense the ball in good position at times (this did happen later in the season), only to see the offense come up empty handed, seemed even more disappointing. My wife doesn't really know much about football, but commented as to how disappointing that was. He didn't really seem like the same player this year as last, and maybe just wasn't happy here. I do admire him that he took the hits that he did and kept coming back for more, but wasn't that even more true of Casey Fitzgerald? I think he was the guy who made both Danny Meager and Giovanni Vizza look as good as they did. KingDL1, I agree; bring on Riley and Nathan, give them both a chance to show what they can do, and let the past take care of itself. After all, like Vizza, they were both starting quarterbacks for state championship high school football teams; which at this point is the best that can be said about any of the quarterbacks on the 2008 roster in terms of winning. Honestly, there are several things I don't understand about the manner in which Vizza departed, but the statements provided to the media before the coaching staff seem odd. If guys like Marcus King and Sam Dibrell could go to Dodge and inform him of their intention to leave, I have a hard time understanding why Vizza would find him less approachable. There are times when I'm down and kind of want to keep things to myself, but I haven't failed to inform management where I work, or my wife at home, of decisions I'm considering, rather than letting them find out through a third party after the decision has been made, past the time when the information could be useful in their work and daily lives. Before anyone thinks I'm putting all this at the foot of Giovanni Vizza, let me say that I consider it likely that his father was driving the decision making process. All that being said; whenever I've seen Nathan Tune or Riley Dodge in a football game, they appeared to be decisive, and oriented towards moving the ball downfield and scoring points. As for our offense and Vizza this year, we continued to move the ball downfield and rack up pass completions, first downs and yardage, but didn't produce the points to match, and turned the ball over too often. Yes, sometimes our receivers missed catches they should have made, but, as LAZER said, Vizza also didn't make some throws he should have. Yes, LAZER, winning cures a lot. Let's hope we find out more about that. Go Green!

I now believe...in the 30 foot chicken!

Here are a few of the questions I've been asking myself for the last couple of days: 1. Am I someone who believes in a 30 foot chicken; or more likely a 6 foot Riley? 2. Is there a conspiracy going on, and if so, does that mean somebody knows what's going on? 3. Will my football team realize that the opponents end zone is really where they want to be, and stop backing up as they approach it? 4. Do parents who realize that their boy child will be a quarterback consult baby naming books which advise using a last name for a first name, such as "Riley", "Chase", or "Graham". If so, will that make competing more difficult for one of my favorites, named "Nathan", or should I just stay Tuned? 5. Will I ever know what happened with Stebo on "the road trip"?

Points well taken, Harry. And new, more experienced assistant coaches?

Finally, the answer to my next question, before I even asked it, "When will there be good news?"

Hey, she's the Young Smart Student; listen to her!

Well, I haven't had time to keep track of all that has been written about the QB situation on the board today, but am I the only one who's interested in seeing what Nathan Tune and others still on the team who played that position in HS can do when given a chance? Not saying that Riley cannot be the man, but the paramount consideration for him right now should be his health. I don't know for sure that the concussion against Rice last year was the first he's suffered. Dwayne Taylor

Well, bummer. If this was such a young team last year, it will be a younger, or at least more inexperienced, team next year.

You may be that smart guy that everyone is always hoping is out there. I saw a recent quote to the effect that conspiracy theories get perpetuated because of peoples' unending desire to believe that someone out there knows what they're doing.

Or get away from the "fire 'em all" mentality that sent all the assistants to the fomer head coach packing, AND require that the present head coach "hire guys like Charlie Strong (assuming that he's the real deal and can build a program up from practically scratch) while they are promising assistants at Southern Ill. etc". That way, if it becomes necessary to relieve the head coach of his duties, one of those said assistants can be considered as one of the potential head coach candidates. It might even be possible to hire a good head coach from the FCS level; but those at programs such as Richmond, Montana, Delaware, Cal Poly, Texas State, Central Arkansas, etc. may have a sweet enough situation that they would require a pretty high salary to leave, or would be able to demand a good starting salary at an FBS program. I think Bailiff probably got a good compensation package when he left Texas State to go Rice, and same with the guy who left Cal Poly for Army recently.

Ok, I edited it to be a singular assistant, who would be Todd Ford.

I don't think 4 wins is unrealistic. We seem to play at a sufficiently emotional level to beat WKU, have somehow managed to play competitively against ASU for the last 2 years, Ball State and Army will both have new coaches, and we seemed to be improving on defense towards the end of the season. If we can get complete seasons out of Kyle Russo and Eddrick Gilmore, with Franklin, Cantly, or both coming on strong at DT, I think we will have the nucleus of a defensive line, and that should help contain and pressure the quarterback, something which we've been needing for a while. Another thing that could help a lot would be a good hire at special teams. We somehow have managed to let games get out of control starting with bad special teams play; an up and comer from D2 or FCS is needed here. Also, I think we'll get some good running from Montgomery and solid backup from James Hamilton. However, Dodge needs not only to win at least 4 next season, but to have the team playing well whether win or lose. Otherwise, I think he'll start playing under more scrutiny from RV, perhaps being asked to dismiss any remaining assistant he brought from SLC. Just my opinion.

Since 1)Seldom got back to the line of scrimmage, and 3) Is not available next year, I guess 2) Could be a starting point. I do agree that we need greater variety and deception in the playcalling, and that some of the speed, which I think Riley's presence on the field at least showed us what that looks like, is needed to make things work. I really do like the idea of keeping Riley out of play for another year and have him gain some strength to go with his speed.

Hmmm, maybe I could have put the question less offhandedly, but I don't think it's any less a joke than your idea of becoming the Mike Leach of UNT. Really, a better question might be: how can our offense score more points as a part of a team that wins more games. I think the criticism of our defense and special teams this year was valid, but I can think of being disappointed several times when the defense or special teams DID give the offense the ball with good, even outstanding field position when meaningful points were 30 or 40 yards away, and the offense putting no points on the board. I'm not calling out any particular player, mind you, although it would make no difference to me which of the 5 quarterbacks on the 2008 roster were on the field, or for what percentage of the game. And, TFLF, I do agree that coaching has been a problem in all aspects of the game. However, if the current coaching staff has recruited Vizza, who you have now praised, and developed Fitzgerald into a nationally recognized receiver from a walk on with little previous time, they must have done something right. As for other aspects of the offense, many here have praised Leftwich, and rightly so, based on what he's done here AND at other colleges. JUST TRYING TO GET A CONVERSATION STARTED TO SEE IF ANYBODY HAS ANY GOOD IDEAS ON HOW TO GET BETTER. Of course, there's that mass firing of coaches which noone seriously expects to happen between now and next September. Or possibly the question should be; can we work together as alumni, students, coaches and players to get where we want to be, or would that interfere with someone being the smartest person in the room, or board, whatever (which I know for damn sure isn't me).

Could both players handle it? Could the most diehard supporters of either player?

Another potential special teams coordinator. This one also has experience coaching defensive line, as well as strength and conditioning. Another potential ST coach from FCS level By the way, UCA would have won the Southland over Texas State this year if they weren't provisional FCS-they won it on the field of play.

Silvereagle, I found this on the Internet, a column that was written by one of the Sullivan family. One of the Patriots' Sullivan family on Rust. I thought it was interesting one of the Sullivan kids, then, 13, was quoted, in referring to Rust's chain smoking, that "You'd be smoking like that, too, if you were coaching this team." It doesn't sound like, as you say, that he was good at recruiting, and probably didn't have anything to do with drafting Andre Tippett (and took some heat from position coaches about the way he was sometimes using Tippett in coverage rather than rushing the passer). I'm still thinking that, whether he did anything right, he must not have been a complete failure, to have coached players like Greene and Tippett. Maybe he just coasted on Mitchell's recruiting class for 3 years at North Texas, and eventually got promoted above his level of competence with the Patriots. Still, made a career out of coaching, mostly at the pro level, with at least some success, serving as DC when the Patriots went to the Superbowl in 1985.