El Paso Eagle

Enough is enough! Or at least move it off the NORTH TEXAS FOOTBALL BOARD

Someone, 1-AA, who we will get an easy W. Go for a home game with Texas Southern.

On the thread that shows La.La.'s schedule they show 12 games for next year.

7 Conf. Games = 4-3 5 OOC Games = 1-4 Overall 5-7

MUST BEAT SMU LATECH

UTEP would go Independent first.

http://view.atdmt.com/FUL/iview/nwsntful0140000097ful/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01?click= Emory Bellard's got a bone to pick Leach aside, ex-coach says game lacks innovators By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News Emory Bellard admires Mike Leach. It's hard to imagine two offenses more different than Bellard's triple-option Wishbone and Texas Tech's pass-happy spread formations, but Bellard, the former Texas A&M head coach, sees a fundamental similarity. Innovation. "He's doing more today than any offensive coach I've watched," said Bellard, who is credited with developing the Wishbone as a Texas assistant in the late 1960s. "I really believe that. Everything he does is for a purpose. I'm very impressed with him, his line splits, all the things he does to enhance his offense." The 77-year-old Bellard, who retired in 1993, said he believes too few coaches seek to gain an edge by formulating new schemes. Better personnel, not greater creativity, is their focus, he lamented. "Ninety percent of teams today don't run an offense, they run plays," Bellard said. Even now, Bellard will be sitting in front of the TV at night, watching a football game, and pull out pen and paper and sketch a few plays. But Bellard has no regrets about this retirement, his third. He said he was done with coaching after leaving A&M in 1978 and Mississippi State in 1985, yet returned to the game each time. Soon after he departed from his last coaching job, a successful return to the high school ranks at Spring Westfield in the Houston area, Bellard's wife of 44 years died. He is now remarried and living in Georgetown, north of Austin. Bellard can look out his window and see the No. 3 green of Berry Creek Country Club. He plays at least a few holes of golf every day. A state championship-winning Texas high school football coach in the 1950s and '60s, Bellard joined Darrell Royal's staff at UT, where he would install the offense that became known as the Wishbone. "He came up with the idea and put it in, and we had tremendous success with it," Royal said. As in 30 consecutive wins and national titles in 1969 and '70. Bellard proudly recalls how the scheme swept the nation. The Wishbone's popularity has since faded, but Bellard doesn't think its effectiveness has. "The Wishbone offense, in my opinion, is the soundest offense that's ever been put together," Bellard said. "It would be just as successful today as it has been." A knock brought him back Emory Bellard was a former college coach enjoying his retirement 17 years ago in Kingwood, outside Houston, when more than a dozen football players from nearby Westfield High School showed up at his house. Bellard recalled their pitch: "Coach, we won't take a lot of your time, but if you come coach us, we promise you we'll bust our butts." "I laughed," Bellard said. "I'd been down all those roads." But he thought about it for a week, then realized, "Why not do what I want to do? "Bellard hadn't worked in the high school ranks since the mid-1960s and had spent two seasons out of coaching after being fired from Mississippi State in 1985. "I went back strictly because a bunch of kids had the gall to walk through my front yard and want to know if I wouldn't coach them," Bellard said. Westfield had won four games combined the two previous seasons. The program went 41-22-5 in six years under Bellard, reaching the Class 5A Division I quarterfinals his last two seasons. "They'd never been successful before," Bellard said. "I left with a great taste in my mouth. "So what inspired those players to come to his door? The Spring ISD athletic director was a friend, Bellard said, but "he swears he didn't put them up to it." "I'm proud of those kids," Bellard said. "They did just what they said they'd do."

This is always a very intriguing question. Yeah, coaches like Mack Brown and Pete Carroll (or you could plug in Coach K) have paid their dues and worked their ways up but how do you judge if they are “Great” coaches? They are at programs that have access to all the money and resources they need so yes they will usually get the top players. Just as important their schools have the budgets to hire the best assistants. Take a look at how Carroll did in the NFL (yes it’s a different game but for this conversation all the teams have to play somewhat within the same financial guidelines). Look at Phil Jackson; everyone talks about how great of a coach he is. Take a look at his teams minus Jordon and Shaq – looks to be an average coach. Everyone talks about how great a recruiter Mack Brown is; not to beat a dead horse but it’s not hard to sell a kid on UT Austin (even Darrel Royal has made that comment many times). Again, I’m not saying there not really good coaches, but if there ever were spending caps put in by the NCAA it would make it interesting to see how some of the “Great” coaches would do. And yes I realize there will never be a cap (in fact some of the high $$ schools would love the NCAA to try so they could break away and form their own organization).

Transfer from Houston. One of about 15 transfers on their team.

If Letterman and Oprha can get together and resolve their difference can’t we get George and Season Ticket Holder together?????

Fresno drops 3 straight. The Liberty Bowl’s only hope might be to invite Memphis

Seems if we should be following Harry suggestion, and your basically telling STH he lied you should use your real name also. Here’s your chance. Respectfully, Knox Johnson

OK who broke into Euless’s home and signed on to his computer?

Were the hell else but North Texas is the Head Coach not held accountable for the recruiting? Here are some thoughts – If you have a business that’s not doing well you can either shut the doors or be creative and try and find a way to bring people to you. College programs are in the entertainment business. Blaming fans for not showing up to see what they consider to be a low/non value event is the same as blaming the people who go to movies when a big-budget movie flops. Also here’s another thought. Is there a chance to change coaching philosophy a bit so that we might excite and motivate additional recruits? I’m not saying DD needs to go as extreme as Tech, but do you think Tech would get the same caliber of athletes if they ran a “traditional” scheme?

Good Stuff

At UTEP Mike Price has coaches and staff members go around on a daily basis checking the classrooms players are suppose to be in to make sure they are there.

Looks like the last show was scheduled for 11-21

The problem is that this year was not a reload; it was more of where the hell did everything/one go. Then for DD to come out with we need to get together and find out what went wrong???? If our staff had no idea things had fallen so far, do they really have the means to put corrective actions in place? I hope the answer is yes.

For me we need to put a competitive, disciplined team on the field. Do I expect us to beat or hang with Texas –no, but every other OOC game should be competitive? In the Belt – 1st or 2nd place. My biggest issue with DD is his arrogance towards the fans. I don’t expect him to be as fan friendly as say a Mike Price, but please make the effort.

The First 3 seem to be – Texas – Ouch, they might even be better next year than they are this year. Tulsa – CUSA-West champs. A team that seems to be improving and getting better SMU – Has Bennet turned the corner? There is a very good chance we will be 0-3 to start the year. Can this program survive if this happens? If we are not at least competitive with Tulsa (under 10) and SMU comes to Denton and leaves with a “W”, is NT going to be able to recover?

ONE WORD - OWNERSHIP This is just my opinion but I’m not sure why he has to go back and look at what happened at this point. Isn’t it his job and his staff to be aware of the issues and adjust during the season? I would have felt a lot better about DD if he had just come out and flat said – I did a poor job of preparing the team this year. My staff and I did not recognize the potential problems after last season well enough to make the necessary changes. Once we did recognize the problems we did not react as we should have. I also did not do my job in regards to the on the field discipline of this team. I have always challenged our players to push it to the edge, but to also play smart and know the difference between aggressive and out of control. Look, even if you don’t like DD you have to give him the benefit of the doubt and realize that he does not like to lose and will do what he can to turn things around. I think this will also be a test of the Administration, AD, and BOR to support the program and Dickey and allow him to make changes at the assistant level and give him the funding to upgrade his new hires whenever he makes them. The fact is DD is not leaving. So now many of us have a choice to make. Continue to spend 100% of the off season not supporting DD and finding negative in every thing he and his staff do, or spend another few days or so venting and then turn our efforts into looking for the positives. This does not mean that we act like nothing bad ever happened, but it will probably help the off season to be more bearable. Again, just my opinion.

Yeah, but if they knew they would be pulled out and have to sit for a while maybe they would think a little more.

OK, now I know some of you have gone over the edge when it comes to your idolization of DD. Anyone that is seriously trying to justify that Dickey is on the same coaching level as Hayden Fry is grasping at straws. Here’s a general overview of Coach Fry’s career - Coached SMU to Southwest Conference championship in 1966... Four-time Texas college coach of the year... coach of the year in both Southwest Conference and Missouri Valley Conferences... Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1981, 1990 and 1991... Coached his teams to 14 bowl games... 1985 national Coach of the Year by Golden Helmet Club for Seattle... 1985 James Arneberg Award for distinguished service to college football... on American Football Coaches Association board of trustees. Coached in Japan Bowl and East-West Shrine all-star games... President of AFCA in 1993-94... Coach Fry was inducted into Texas H.S. Football Hall of Fame in 1997. If some of you want to continue to praise DD for the work he has accomplished in the Sun Belt (which to this point in its existence has been the worst 1-A conference in NCAA history) while giving him a free-pass on the teams O.O.C. performance go right ahead. But please stop trying to place DD and Fry on the same level and save some semblance of credibility.

From the San Deigo AD - The current NCAA rule regarding bowl eligibility requires 6 wins for an 11 game season and a winning record, so if a team plays 12 games, it needs 7 wins. Starting next year, under the new 12 game season, a team will still only need 6 wins, so as it stands now, a team can go 6-6 next year and be eligible for a bowl game. That rule is the subject of much debate these days, and it could be changed to require 7 wins.