Green Dozer

Good points. The reality is nobody expected the rebuilding to be this painful, even Dodge or RV. What is scary is that this is going to cost us big time in recruiting, we have lost the momentum from Dodge's hire, I believe. And if a recruit does not know how painful this rebuilding process will be, other recruiters will tell them. As for FIU's stadium, isn't it erected? If we have to go that route, I think we would be better with a face lift of Fouts. Blowouts don't show signs of progress to the casual fan. This board is not made up of casual fans, but those are the ones we need to excite, and get them to donate. They will get there football fix on Saturday in front of the tv, and call themselves Sooners, Longhorns, or whatever. Dodge did not invent the spread, and though he may have used it early on at Carroll, most kids playing on this team came from some form of it as most 5A and 4A schools use it. I hear what you are saying, but this sure is bitter medicine.

When you don't win much, guess the guy who pushes the button needs to keep in shape.

Last year, after the first home game which we loss, Dodge giving his post game interview with George Dunham, and the fireworks were shot off in the south end zone above the locker room. Dodge does not joke much, but he said that he did not know after a loss that they would be shot at.

Maybe this does not make any difference to some, but before the game, a UNT police lieutenant stopped at our tailgate for a few ribs. Not knowing, I ask him if the UNT police traveled with the team on road trips for security. He said that they used to, but it stopped under Dickey. He went on to explain that when Dickey was here, there were players who were arrested 4 and 5 times. He said with the # of students on campus, in order to keep it safe, there has to be a "zero tolerance" policy. What was interesting, he said, the arrests of players was not for open containers on Fry St. The arrests were for burglary, criminal trespass, harassment of women, assault, etc. He said Dickey turned his head, and continued to let these players play. He also said that the police department had fallen out of favor with the athletic department, so officers do not travel with the team. He said there has not been any serious issue with the football players the past couple of seasons, and that Dodge does not look the other way.

It will have to be a miraculous turn around next year.

'99, it is a big deal at other schools to have a sea of your team color in the stadium.....red at OU and NEb, orange at TN, we miss out on that. It would enhance Fouts for sure. Oh, I'm sorry to a couple of posters who follow my posts, did not mean to be negative. I love all the blue shirts with UNT on them.

Booing these kids would be a bit unfair. Though they have to bear some responsibility for their performance, I think it is obvious we have a coaching staff problem, assistants and the head man alike.

Are you going to vote "yes" for the stadium?

Thanks for the clarification. I sure hope your right, and I appreciate your good insight.

Yes, Dodge gets a lot of credit for that offense. However, Pinkel's staff met with him to integrate them a little to take advantage of Daniel's talent and experience. Wish he would copy Mizzou's use of a tight end.

I had looked at his overall record after the Rice game, so you are right on. I did not have the guts to post it. Your post is well founded. Dodge has players at Southlake who had all the tools to make an average player a step above average players Southlake played. The parents have money to send kids to the best quarterback schools, get personal trainers and nutritionists, several pro football players living in the community who worked with the program, etc. So, a lot players went on to Div. 1. However, there have been many great high school players at Southlake who could not play on any college level, but had the best training available to a high school athlete. Thanks for the post, and for hanging in here.

OK, good points. But you say that Deloach will be involved in the defensive recruiting next year. His recruits will be freshmen, right? Are they going to be that much better than the starters who leave, and good enough to replace those that are here? These recruits will be inexperienced as well. So, I don't see how we will see marked improvement next year. I mean, I think 5 wins would be a marked improvement, and unless something drastically changes, I just don't see that. I still think we are looking at 2 years. Now, I need to drink more.

First,u r putting your nose where it does not belong. Adler knows me, and I am also one of Sound Man's best friends. I am aware of what he does, as a matter of fact,I own half of the smoker he brings to the games. So, my reply to Adler was in jest. Your reply to me for this post is unwarranted.

You know there have not been that many coaches come from high school to college. However, with the exception of Pete Carroll, the pro thing never seems to work out at the college level for the long haul.

Adler, are you Soundman's only friend? Your the only one that ever replies to his post.

Did I beat your odds or what? Remember, you put me at 5:1.

Volunteers needed to hold the drum sticks for the drummers while the video plays. Does anybody in the athletic department know what our school colors are? I mean, can't any of them (i.e. Dodge in the video) wear a North Texas green shirt. Guess Mandy shops for everybody!

I would not expect RV to say anything different. One thing, as Dodge goes, so RV goes. If Dodge does not work out, North Texas won't only be looking for a new football coach, but an athletic director as well.

Well, this is not a pro-Dickey thread. It was my attempt just to say "what if" a hypothesis. Dickey is, and rightfully so, taking a lot of blame for our problems. However, if "his recruits" were performing well, would we be as quick to give credit as we are to criticize. Again, THIS IS NOT A PRO DICKEY THREAD! We are much better off with Dodge here, even with this record.

Everybody has had their opinion the last few days concerning Dodge and the present state of this team. And there have been plenty of comments about Dickey again, and rightfully so. It made wonder, if Dodge had gone 5 and 6 last year, and was 2-2 this year, what would we be saying? Of course we would be exalting Dodge as a great coach, but would anybody (with the exception of one or two) take time to give Dickey any credit? Just couldn't help wonder what if.........? Just something to think about to break the monotony of the week.

I am one of those that said Dodge gets a pass. I still see Dickey blamed in posts, Mendoza from last year, yet all that is said about Coach Dodge is for him to get players for "his system" and a new stadium. Then, Promise Land, here we come. We say he did not have enough time to recruit for his system. or it is the difference in the speed of the game from high school to college, stadium, or whatever. By the way, those are all valid reasons given the state of our program, but he is the man. But how do you explain going from giving up 41 points in Baton Rouge and then 77 against Rice? This team laid down, and for that I do blame the coach. They did not look prepared. Look at what Rice had to deal with for 2 weeks before the game. And, though some of you may not admit it, but i have heard you say they did not look prepared in several games over these two seasons. Even Coach Dodge said Monday that regardless who recruited these players, they are his and he is their coach. One other thing is the spread offense is nothing new. Most of these kids ran some form of it in high school. It is just still hard to believe that there is that much disparity in talent/ability between our players and the players on Rice, Tulsa, and other teams even in the Sun Belt. Don't like the butt kickings from OU, LSU, KSTATE, but know for now I have to live with it. We need for Coach Dodge to be successful. We could not have hired anybody else and got the type of instant credibility that he brought to our program at the time. But, I have a couple of more concerns. He needs to turn it around quickly, because I believe he has lost a lot of momentum since his hiring. Things have not exactly fell into place like he or even the folks on this board thought or hoped it would. I think we need to win at least 3 games this year, and hopefully we can win 5 to 6 next year. Otherwise, recruiting is going to be a tough sell because in a couple of years you are going to be recruiting kids who don't know Todd Dodge by his record at Southlake, and you can bet if there is not improvement other recruiters will point out all our problems. There is going to have to be some success on the field, no matter what field it is. One more thing, I think the athletic department should have had a big banner with a picture of the new stadium behind him. That would have shown a lot of committment on the administration's part I think. I think that would have said ,along with Coach Dodge's hiring, of our expectations for this program. And it should have been the message everytime he and RV spoke in public. It should not have had to come from Coach Dodge as a reminder of a promise made to him. I believe Coach needs to take a hard look at himself, and perhaps take some time to make adjustments in how he runs this team. That may mean bringing assistants with college experience (THIS MAYBE THE HARDEST FOR COACH DODGE,, IT WOULD BE FOR ANY COACH WHO IS CONFIDENT IN HIS ABILITY), the way assistants might be dealing with players, and also how he is handling the players themselves. When he is interviewed at the coach's show, he is as technical as any coach I have heard. I am not saying he is not friendly, because he has stopped at my table a couple of questions and listened to our intelligent questions. He has rightfully made negative comments about Fouts, but is a great ambassador for the University of North Texas. Maybe he just needs to be more approachable to his players, just loosen up. He is serious about his job, and I have no doubt he wants to succeed. A new coach could not do any better at this point. Besides, who are you going to hire given our present budget? These problems are correctable, but it is time to straighten the learning curve. GO MEAN GREEN!

He would be a good offense coach in the college ranks. However, if he fails here, his only head coaching opportunity will be back in high school.

We are in agreement, you have an allie.

'99, I do not know how this program is going to pay for a new stadium, and fund the program as it needs to be funded to be competitive on a yearly basis. I am talking about from the jocks, to academic advisers/tutors, strength coaches, equipment, technical stuff, etc. If Dodge is successful, he will certainly go somewhere else. If he is not, we are going to have to make a big time hire to keep the wheels turning, stadium or no stadium. We are on slippery ground in my opinion.

Maybe its the coach. Why isn't Dodge held accountable? Maybe this coaching staff and the team are not on the same page. There sure is a lot of smoke in this program for there not to be deeper issues. It better get fixed quicked, and a new stadium, sorry to say, is not going to fix everything.