stebo

Sorry, I was just saying that it was a lose-lose situation. If you beat them, so what? You beat a IAA team. If you lose to them it is the end of the world. People ask why we don't play IAA (FCS) teams but we have - until this year WKU was IAA/IA transitional... Before that - FIU and FAU were IAA transitional. We have had a IAA on our schedule in some fashion for the last 5 years. It was just named "transitional" instead of FCS... Also, FCS teams have advantages, they are allowed to bring in transfers that do not sit out a year. A IAA can get up for one game like this and knock off an FBS school with more talent. It is just not a good measuring stick for the team. We are better off scheduling Rice, Houston, the MAC teams, Tulsa, etc.. those are teams that we can play and really get something out of. Besides, South Alabama is moving up to IAA (FCS) next year and will be on our schedule so there is your IAA team if you want one. They will be on our schedule anyways as they move to Div I and into the Belt. The 500 fans that Texas STate and San Marcos might or might not bring will not spend enogh money or contribute to the game atmosphere enough to outweigh the potential problems of a loss. Now - if you wanted to play Texas Southern or some other Historically Black College - I would be for that. They would bring a HUGE crowd, one of the best bands in the country, and a real show to town. Those teams would be worth the risk of a loss because we would gain monetarily from it. With TS @ San Marcos - it isn't worth the risk in my humble opinion.

I will always support the Green. My girlfriend thinks that we are all nuts but that is part of being a Mean Green fan - rain or shine, win or losss - we support our school.

Texas State at San Marcos had MISERABLE attendance this year - during their "Drive to FBS" - they didn't even get close to 15K. With a winning record, they averaged under 10K for the season. What makes you think that they would all hop in their cars and drive to Denton if they won't even stumble out of their dorm rooms to go see their home team? San Marcos cheers for UT and that is going to take a lot more than a name change to fix. They are a decade away from seriously moving up - the support is not there. Donations have dried up and construction has been completed. They threw a party and nobody showed up.

FIU has done a good job of scheduling those games but you will notice that other than the Duke game - the AWAY game is always first and much earlier than the home game. My bet - FIU doesn't get half of those contracts honored. I just do not see Texas A&M going to play at FIU, no freaking way.

Our fans like to write checks that they don't have to sign. This decision is 100% about money, nothing more - nothing less.

Didn't they get beat by The Cajuns? Was that in Lafayette or at their place?

A little suprised that Weatherbaby is out at ULM. They weren't paying him anything and I doubt that they will be able to find a comparable coach on their budget. ULM has the lowest budget in all of the Belt (around $8 million a year for the entire athletic dept). I think that Weatherbie was making right at $180K but maybe it was a little more. They had him for the first year at $1 buck because he wanted to screw over Navy. Navy had to pay him the other $999,999.00 that he was guaranteed (previous contract of a million a year). I believe that ULM gave him around $80K a year for his second year with Navy and our tax dollars covering the other $920K... and then he has gone up a little each year since his old Navy contract expired. I always thought that Dickey would do something like this but we were not competent enough to put in a clause that stated if he was let go and found another job - we will subsidize the difference of the contracts. I see that the lesson has been learned with Dodge and I am sure that Dickey is happy to have his half million in the bank as USU and UNM probably paid him enough to live off of. Back to Weatherbie - his record hasn't been that bad but their attendance is absolutely pathetic/terrible. If anyone thinks that NT is a tough place to coach at - they need to drive to Monroe, LA. Fun place to tailgate in the Grove but I think that I would want to shoot myself if I was ever forced to live there.

This is one of those decisions that makes you look good if it works and look like an idiot if it doesn't work. You can't just throw anyone in there that happened to play QB at some point in their life.... we were trying to win the game. The system is a complicated system. The only guy that was there that had taken snaps in practice and knew the plays was Thompson, period. The game was not over and you teach these kids to play to the very end. The last play should be played as hard as the first. While the fans seem to think that the season was over - these players wanted to win this game and end the season on a high note. They wanted some sort of validation for all of their hard work. And for those armchair coaches that would have done something different - tell me what you would have done? Run the "Wildcat" when the team has never even practiced it? The game was not over. We still had a chance. Thompson led us down and we scored. If we had recovered the onside kick...well, who knows... maybe he scores another TD and we end the season on a high note going into recruiting. It seems all for not now but I don't understand the venom. Say what you want about Dodge, criticize him, make fun of him, talk down to his son, whatever makes you guys feel better.... say it all. I am sure that Riley would rather be trying to figure out which BCS game his team would be going to rather than breaking his arm in Jonesboro, AR. Gee, do I want to play for a team that will be in the National Championship or do I want another dislocated shoulder? We should be thanking these players that have put it all on the line for our school, shouldn't we? I do not think that Dodge is a vengeful person. He is not out to ruin any kid's life to "get back" at anyone. We had one QB on the sidelines that had taken snaps and knew the plays... you play the QB that you have. Any other decision is throwing in the towel and there would be just as many people on this board complaining that the coach "quit" on the team with time left on the clock. It was a no-win situation for him. As for Thompson, he is on scholarship and is behind Riley, Tune, and Baine. Why is everyone so mad about him burning a year of eligibility that probably would not have even used anyway? Did he not get a full year's education, room, and board for this season? When you are a scholarship player - and the team needs you.... whether that be for 10 minutes in the beggining, middle, or end of a season... you are there to play and try to win. Thompson earned the right to get on that field tonight and you are all taking away from his efforts. You should be thanking him and excited about having another QB that could possibly start for the future. I seriously doubt that Thompson regrets burning his shirt - he just moved up the depth chart going into Spring ball. He has had a chance to shine. All of his hard work in practice paid off tonight.

I hate to even remotely take up for Dickey but RV supposedly ordered the black jerseys and then "lost" them. Dickey had promised them to the team for their last game as they had been asking for them all season. When RV could not "find" them - so the legend says - Dickey bought them with his own money to honor the request. When it is written that way, it sounds very noble, doesn't it? In reality - it was a big F_U to the administration and RV. Totally unprofessional and probably a big reason why Dickey doesn't have a job. Let's see, he went from here to USU, where his offense failed miserably and the fans were calling for his head by mid season. Then onto New Mexico (I believe) and wow, did they suck. In Dickey's entire coaching career, he has been a part of 4 (maybe 5) winning seasons. That goes back to UTEP, LSU, his one winning season as OC at SMU (with a win over a non-Div I team), and all of his tenure at NT, USU, and UNM. Ouch!

Man, that sounds so freaking good. You haven't lived until you have had a dirty water weiner... oh, that sounds bad. So does eating Bundy Balls - but those are two great treats at our tent on top of the Flying Tomato slices!

Didn't he bench him after that for calling an audible? Just kidding with ya

You are too. Let's all celebrate the new beggining together and hope for the best. I will always support my school, no mater how many wins or losses. My family and the people I work with think that I am crazy sometimes because of my blind support - but that is why we are all held together by this bond. And TTG - sounds good. We have a great tailgate crew over with KingDL so maybe we will have to merge the two for one giant party. It is the only tailgate party at NT where you can still get Flying Tomato pizza because Ski is a part of our group and his wife brings the tailgating crew some home baked "Tomato" Pizza! Gotta love Saturdays in Denton in the Fall!

No Div I team is... I think that we probably know the same stories. My take is that Dickey and Flanny used the dirt against NT to almost hold the school hostage. A bad break-up was inevitable. Dodge is not blaming anyone but himself and I find that admirable. As a Div I coach, he did not succeed. I hate how this is dividing the fan base that seemed to finally be united just a year ago. Hopefully we can open up the checkbook and get someone in here to bring everyone back together again. Will there be kids acting like idiots at 19-20-21 years old? Sure... but there is a big difference between the things done during the DD time and the things done over the last three year. Its like comparing apples to oranges (or misdemeanors to felonies).

I could write a much longer list of things going on during the DD period. I won't - because it won't do any good for my school. I will say that Dodge's team was much more behaved then DD's teams. If a kid made a mistake, he didn't play the very next week and some even were asked to leave the team but got to do so without ruining the rest of their life. Dodge is a father and watched after those kids and comments that go against that are just hateful.

I think that the argument was always that it is very difficult to win 77 games out of 78... even at a place with resources like SLC. Ask the new coach how tough it has been. I don't want anyone to think that I am a Dodge apologist. I really didn't know anything about him before he got here. All that I knew was how messed up the program at NT was. We needed someone to come in here and calm things down - clean up the house, maybe winning was not the first priority for that first year. Things didn't work out. We should shake hands and move on. I will wish him luck in the future and I hope that our fans can show how we are a classy bunch and do the same.

He is a 21 year old college sophomore? That is a new one. I was 19 when I was a sophomore in college. Just assumed that most sophomores are 19.

Well, that is not going to happen. He has a family to support and the school made a commitment to him for a five year contract. Why is everyone so mad at Dodge? He was in over his head but he wasn't stubborn in my opinion. He made changes every year to try and get better. He fired best friends to try and improve the team. He brought back a DC that we all love and had missed. I know that fans are frustrated but you can't expect for him to resign. He tried down to the very end - it didn't work - but he tried. The guy never threw in the towel. He left a cush job where he was a god - a Texas football high school legend - and he laid it all on the line for NT. It didn't work and that's ok. He tried and was a class act the whole time. Hopefully our next coach will be given the adequate payroll to hire full assistants with experience.

Well, there is no use in crying over spilt milk. Thompson might have the case for being a frontrunner in the Spring now. I think that TTG summed it up well, this could have been fixed with an Interim. It sounds to me like Dodge was saying goodbye in the post game interview. He whole heartedly thanked Jub Jub for the pleasue of working with him the last few years. To Bob - if Vizza really wanted to play ball - he would be playing somewhere else right now. As far as we know, he didn't even try out for the aTm team. Plus - there were other variables with Vizza (and a handful of other players) that I am not going to dredge up on the message board. Some kids want to enjoy college life for what it is rather than be football players. That includes making the same dumb mistakes that many of us made in college. If Vizza was off at another school playing or even trying to play - I might buy your argument but he is not. I think that the decision of Vizza leaving was a terrible one on his part but when I was his age, I didn't really care what others thought either.

It sounds like we will soon be saying goodbye. There was just something about how he answered those questions at the end of the interview - he seemed to be saying goodbye to team and the final answer seemed to be a goodbye to Jub Jub. I would like to say thank you for trying. Your teams frustrated the hell out of me for the last two years but I never stopped watching. Your offense is certainly exciting but the discipline was just god awful. I know that you would never do something detrimental to the program, you are a good - god fearing Christian that would not be vengeful or spiteful. I appreciate you going out with pride and dignity. You never said a bad word about my school and I want to thank you for that. The last few coaches that came through here felt the need to tear NT down on their way out the door. I hope that Riley will be back but if not, I hope that he gets better to enjoy his life at age 19. He broke his arm for us today and he dislocated a shoulder for us earlier this season. People seem to forget about the BLOOD, SWEAT, and TEARS that these kids go through. Riley - I hope that you stick around. You are a scrappy guy and we need more hard working players like you. If not, please don't go play for that blowhard at tU - he is a real a-hole To RV - I hope that you keep DeLoach around and seriously consider him for the head coaching position. If not, I hope that you have already lined someone up. There is a lot of talent on this team and we will be succesful for years to come with a new coaching direction (and a new kicker )

He can redshirt next year. Also - he would have been behind two QB's for at least 2 more years so he was never going to get to play 4 years. He is not the starter, in fact he was third string. I am sure that there are LOTS of players that would like all four years but red shirts get pulled all the time. Ask yourself this - if this was a kicker's shirt being pulled because all other options had been injured - would you be crying foul? What about any other position? Linebacker? How about a wide receiver? How about a running back? Just because the kid is a QB, people seem to put more emphasis on the decision being a bad one. A coach tries to win. The D was told, if you make a stop - I will give you a QB. The D made a stop, he gave them a QB. Maybe not the brightest decision but not a vengeful decision - they guy is just not a hurtful person like that.

Dodge burned his own son't redshirt last year in an effort to win. Coaches do that. It got reversed by an injury, but you deal with the players left on the sidelines. It sounds (from the post game interview) that Dodge will not be back next year. It sounds very much that way, he seemed to be saying goodbye.... please do not turn him into a Dickey. The man has not seen success but has been a CLASS ACT the entire time. Do not make this out to be a revenge thing. That is the anger and emotions of a fan dealing with another loss being redirected to a man that would never hurt a young man's future (ever). Todd Dodge is a lot of things but he is not a vengeful person. He has those kids backs and most of them appreciate that. They do not appreciate losing - but they appreciate that he cares for them.

Yup, he was fighting to save his job and it almost worked. Looks like we might have another QB for next year already. Are you guys sure that the shirt is burned? Isn't there a rule about playing a certain amount of plays in order to burn the redshirt? I guess that it doesn't matter. Dodge fought hard to the very end, losing by 4 once again. Our fifth game to lose by 4 or more... We lost a 6th game by 7. I know that everyone is mad but this team improved this year. We were a touchdown or less away from being 8-4. The kicking team killed up in those games. Absolutely killed us. The kicking game killed us tonight once again.

Got it - check your messages and thanks man.

Oh get a life... It is insulting that you do not come to games or donate to the program yet claim to be a fan. We all know that you have a boner for DD, take a valium and chill out.

Is that an official Jostens ring? Also - it is different than the one in your avatar.... I guess that you have two? Thanks for the help everyone. I think that I will go with the XL. Now that we have an "official" ring, they do not let you deviate too much from it. Rick - how did you get the Interlocked NT on yours? Was yours made before the official ring rolled out? And I like how you guys did not do the antique thing - I am going to stay away from that, too. 91, is there a way to make your white gold picture any bigger? I am terrible with the whole resizing thing...