Green Dozer

Yes Flyer, he would then be the supervisor/whatever overseeing the "general contractor" that is building the stadium. Like Zachary of San Antonio, Brown & Root, HKS, Rodman, etc. The general contractor per se will not be on university payroll, rather under a contract that he has bid. The person overseeing the general contractor, this Construction Manager at Risk, will be on the payroll and that will be the person the general contractor works through. We are both right, but there are two entities/people involved. The Construction Manager shall publicly advertise and solicit either competitive bids or competitive sealed proposals from trade contractors or subcontractors for the performance of necessary major elements of the work other than theminor work that may be included in general conditions.

Yes, I am sure. This person will act as the general contractor now, meaning he will put plans together, costs, get them finalized, etc. Then, a bid will be put out. A firm, such as the one building the Cowboys stadium is awarded the bid. That company is the general contractor. For example, at certain points throughout construction, the general contractor will want to take a draw, or rather be paid money. Our "construction manager" will verify that the work has been done as specified, and within the financial parameters. The manager would then approve a disbursement to the general contractor. Yes, he fills the role of the general contractor in the beginning until it is time to bid and start construction. Make no mistake, this is good news and a positive step. *He will also referee RV and DR. B over what color of tile to use in the ladies' restrooms.

I like 90's definition....but as the definition says, he acts kind of like the general contractor, but gets the plans and costs together so it can be bid to a general contractor. Don't know why the risk is thrown in there, maybe it is the risk that it can't be done within the budget (like we say we have 63 mil and that is it). Still, this manager at risk is not the general contractor that will construct the stadium.

Flyer, This construction manager would be the liason between the general contractor and the university. This construction manager represents the university in its dealings with the general contractor, and works for the university. This is not a bid for the general contractor as the general contractor will not work for the university so to speak. You would not get a general contractor until you had your plans finalized so the general contractors could bid to construct it. The university's construction manager would of course work in getting plans together and facilitating this process. The general contractor actually builds the stadium.

Maybe, but also we might attract a kid who does not think he got his share of stars or mentioned on lists that thinks he can come here and play pretty quick, prove the doubters wrong. There are lots of studs from high school that become duds in college. (Quoner or Tasty might be able to explain that better). And no, for the real top recruits, we are not going to blow anybody out of the water. We had 4 conference championships in a row, and that did not matter much in our recruiting did it? The Mel Kipers are more wrong on players than right. As miner says, don't put to much into the stars.

Lifer, Good points. Derek may read this thread and wonder just what he has gotten himself into.

How many No. 1 draft picks in the NFL have gone bust? Look, those lists are great, but Mel Kiper has missed on more players than he got right. I can't believe that you, Lonnie, think we can compete with SMU and Baylor with the TOP 150 recruits. Some in the top 200 and toward the bottom (between #150 and #200), yes. But if these guys attend a game, even in Dickey's day, and they're not picking here, sorry. Unless you read the signs in the end zone in the 4th year after 3 championships, you wouldn't know that this program was a 3 time champion by the crowd and the facilities. We are not competing as for as facilities and other little perks. It comes down to the details and the dollars.

It was built not only for basketball, but for commencements, concerts, etc. My mom and dad saw Bob Hope there in the 70's. I have seen it filled to capacity in a game against SMU. Furthermore, it was built as a multi-use facility, so state funds paid for it. There were actually no athletic dollars used, such a MGC donations.

90, You are right. But he is referring to posts (and I have done it) that says TX this or OU that. We just need to realize where we are, and where we can realistically go. How about Univ. of Houston this or U of H that? Lot of similarities as for location, competition for the sports dollar, demographics, etc. And Conf USA would be fun. Unless the alumnae do a complete 360 or two, there won't be BCS here.

Ain't gonna happen.

Rick, You are right. However, its probably because they have a top notch SID like us who works getting the story out. Am I being sarcastic, yes. But, the SID should have put Gill's and Buffalo's story to every newspaper in the nation. I know you know the SID here, and he has been around Denton since at least the early 80's. He was the SID here during the championship run, and he is a big reason that the only people that really knew about our run was the 15,000 or so that regularly attended games. He has this job, and not his old job at the Record Chronicle, because of the good old boy network. He is comfy and LAZY, and I bet Buffalo's SID is some has been to.

It was just a suggestion Rick, and Nebraska did a pretty good job of finding good linemen in their hay day when they had a strong walk-on program. And you will hear commentators say this player or that player was a walk on at every position, and turns out to be a great college player. Glad you thought so much of it that you seemed to have got a good laugh. Furthermore, its not any worse and just as funny as some of the suggestions you have made for this program.

Silver, No, I certainly do not think you are that naive. But, how do you know that they are not putting in the same amount of time into recruiting a DL this year? Yea, they signed to many WR's, I agree with that. And, besides wasn't Deloach brought in here to build the defense.? Further, he has also been given "years" to build the defense, so you still have plenty of time to get those DL's here. The defense really sucked this year, and nobody really got after Deloach. Now, it looks like he won't be held responsible if a great dl is not signed come February. As for Miller, there is probably more to the story than we know. I certainly don't know.

We are in the hot bed of recruits. If you were make a law where no Texas kids were allowed to play college ball at OU, then they would not be headed to Miami for Big Game Bob's 4th National Champion ship game. I do not think it is the offensive scheme or defensive scheme, Dodge or Deloach. I believe it is the fact we cannot get the athletes in here to compete right now regardless of what system we are running. And go ahead and throw that our athletic budget is on par with other programs in our conference. No, it does come down to our lack of first class facilities, i.e. stadium, the conference we are in, other perks for our players, etc. Until those things change, a debate or at least one very synonymous like this will continue. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Craig Miller types that went to UNT and do not care what happens to this program. I do not understand why people think this thing can continue to be run with cheap ass glue holding it together.

Silver, I here you. But you know, some years there are only so many players at so many positions to go around. You just cannot go out and order a player up out of a catalog. Now one thing they could do is invite a bunch of DL's to walk on if they do not want to take a chance on handing out scholarships. And you know, as many schools as there are within just 50 to 100 miles of UNT, a strong walk on program would be great.

What? Several thousand alumni in DFW who don't care, so you think the City of Denton should pick up the tab? I am a tax payer here, and no way I support that. Denton certainly does not owe UNT anything like a football stadium. Again, go to the square on a gameday here, and ask ten people to tell you who North Texas is playing. If you think one, I think you are overestimating the impact of UNT football on this city. They would not know, and nine of them would not know there was a game in town. Restraunts nor hotels have any noticeable increase in business when there is a game in town, even homecoming weekend. Got news for you, a new stadium is not going to change that. Here is an idea, why don't we (the alumni) quit waiting for a hand-out, have some pride, and do it ourselves. Then, maybe people (corporate sponsors, the city, etc.) will see we are helping ourselves, then will help. This includes attending games and donating, which a million dollars to the MGC for a school this size is laughable. The next thing is somebody will suggest that we go to Washington for a bail out.

Yes, I agree, either you have speed or you don't. But, I do not think you can say these skill players don't have to adjust to the speed of everybody else (linebackers, db's, even the timing of the throws "if" from a college level qb, db's adjusting to the speed of receivers. In high school, the speed of these guys could help them recover from a mistake pretty quick, but not so much at this level. So, there is some form of development.

Walk-ons passing up recruits on the depth chart is not a bad thing. Worked pretty good for a little school in Lincoln, NE for a couple of decades. When Callahan stopped it, there program went down from there.

Lonnie, Then how do you know what the guys on the bench are capable of? And finally, what do you realistically think the win/loss record should be at this point for the past two seasons. By the way, sorry I did not make myself clear.

What is funny is how ESPN and some of the other media guys dismiss Tech's ability, dollar wise, to compete with Washington and Auburn. Kind of like judging a book by its cover because of Lubbock. I don't think Leach would be a good fit at Auburn. The spread was not exactly embraced there when they brought Franklin in, and I would imagine that has something to do with the current roster to. With Saban at Bama, Richt w/ Georgia, and Saban at Bama I am not sure Auburn can take a chance on Leach. There competition is stronger than it has been in a long time. They owned Alabama for 9 years. A couple of factors would be his quirky personality, and a couple of 6-5 seasons to get things going. Harrell and Crabtree won't go with him, and I don't think Kingsbury has any eligibility left. I think he would be a much better fit at Washington. I know he was at Kentucky one time, but he was not the focal point of the program.

Miner/P1 Couldn't resist, just stirring the pot a little. I know its not valid

Bingo. Finally bringing in a real DC sure paid huge dividends this year.

I think the power of the Big 6 is being underestimated. Basketball is a little different, not as big a risk of serious injuries. The Big 6 is going to argue, that talent wise, they are superior to the smaller schools and will point to the many blow outs we witness every year. I.E., do you think OU would want to risk injury to Sam Bradford against say Ball St. Of course not, and why should they. Nobody will tune in because most fans will realize more than likely it won't be a game, and a game against a team like that will not have an impact on recruiting. OU will argue that it is a waste of money for travel, as the only guarantee to them of a sizable crowd would be if the game were in Norman. I don't think the NCAA knows who really carries college football. No, I think if there is a playoff system, the Big 6 will break away, and maybe the NCAA want give it publicly, they will have the NCAA's blessing.

Your right, for that day I did say to change HC. But if you look at my posts up to that point, and since, I have been a Dodge banger as some of the other Div. 1 coaches and athletic directors like yourself on this board call us. Promise of a stadium is not going to bring the recruits here in droves. Dickey was told he would get a stadium, even promised it to some recruits in '02 I think. Dodge does not have any access to athletic fee yet, does not go into effect for a few more years. We could not argue for a better conference even with Dickey here, and those 4 championships runs. I think Dickey thought after the 3 rd conference championship he was headed to a better job. Shows you how we are viewed in the world of college football outside of Denton, Texas. The weight room matches other mid majors, but I smell comparing to OU/TX, please can we get realistic of where we really are. It does not match those. I would argue even the rec center fields are better than a lot of the kids practiced on at their high schools, not everybody is from Plano. And I do not think it is a miracle that he kept his job. 17 other men have tried, most failed (70% of them), trying the quick fix with this generous alumnae we have, and the unlimited amount of resources they have at their disposal. Oh, the next guy might have had 4 wins last year, and 5 or 6 this season, then he would throw his hands up to. I have not sensed any quit in Todd Dodge. Dickey laid down. Why can't we just give somebody a chance, and 2 or 3 years is not a realistic for a strong foundation to be built. Yea, I flipped for about 24 hours, so.

I know for a fact RV did not think Dodge would turn it around right away. I personally asked him. He knew the cupboard was bare, he worked here with Dickey, remember? Again, this program is being built from nothing, starting from scratch. Unlike some who have recently built programs, and not fielded teams the first couple of years into it, we are. And by the way, nobody has said anything about an extension on this board. But we don't have anything to lose by seeing this to the end of the contract. We were at the bottom when he started. Funny how you, Lonnie, and Shaft seemed to be resident experts. How many Div. 1 programs have you built lately?