SCREAMING EAGLE-66

---The program has improved greatly when you look at the past 5 years compared with the previous five. It is not still what I what like to see but it is better than it was during our "dark ages" ( I-AA). Our over-all talent this year sure did not meet expectations or our hopes. I am less critical than most here but I think SOME coaching changes need to be made and I don't understand why we are so bad at making making adjustments during a game to fit the situation. I know we a need a money game but let us try to schedule something we actually have a prayer of winning...... LSU finished at #3 and we open against what could the National Champion, Texas, next year. --Things have really changed but when I went to UNT (NTSU) during the 60's the basketball games were well attended plus they were wild and crazy... We were in the best over-all basketball conf in the NCAA, the MVC. We always had more rated teams than any other conf. then. That is tough to believe now but it was true.

---I live in West Texas..... the cry to replace Dykes started after Tech lost to North Texas but cooled off somewhat until Texas blew them apart near the end of the season.

----Coaches, players, refs, and announcers, need to become deaf and blind when dealing with fans. Sometimes the fans may be right but often they are drunk or just plain stupid . It doesn't matter which... they should be ignored. If there is a real problem then security should be called to deal with the situation....... Remember Detroit Pistons and Indy Pacer game last year??????? ---I know nothing about this situation... but Dunham is the professional in this situation and should have ignored the fan.... even worse he should have had the common sense after he cooled off to have never mentioned it on the radio.

I would take a Rolls-Royce.... I can't afford one.... Rice probably wants to stay in I-A but can't afford to stay. Division I-A takes lots of money and support... Trinity in San Antonio is rated high academically.... it is not division I and is surviving pretty well.. It is Division III.. there are a lot of Division III programs in Texas if they chose that route for football

---I fully agree.... there would no difference in enrollment if they downsized or dropped football... maybe a "very few" students would decide elsewhere but Rice would accept some other students to take their place. They could go to I-AA or just drop football and keep the other sports... There are a lot of recognized colleges without football programs. Their fan potential is terrible for a D-I program in football....They only have about 4000 students and not a lot of alums to fill the stands.......I don't see how they can financially support a D-I football program.....plus the situation is not ging to change.... it is not a growing university.

----HS kids usually think the ticket to the NFL is going to a Big Name top 10 school..... look at NFL rosters.... it doesn't exactly work that way.... a lot of players are from smaller schools and non BCS D-1 schools.... It is usually better to start several years at a smaller or less known university than one year at a top-10 school.. Delhomme and Bradshaw from La went to smaller La universities not LSU. Indy; QB: Manning--Tennessee RB: James --- Miami RB: Rhodes --Midwestern (texas) WR: Harrison---- Syracuse... 1-10 this year, defeated Buffalo ....whoopee WR: Stokley--- La-lafayette WR: Wayne --Miami the first four [layers listed on yahoo Indy website are from : Rutgers, Temple, Florida and Jacksonville State....... This is the best NFL team. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/ind/roster Also look at others.... most are BCIS alums but there are alot of non BCS schools represented.

The second choice is nuts...... three posts ... and thirty words. This post is about thirty words in length. That isn't long enough to say anything meaningful or interesting about anything..............................[used up words]

First we actually need to get a few quick gorillas that can protect the QB and open a few holes.....Manning would have had a hell of time this year at NT.

----I have an interesting question about Texas HS quarterbacks..... Name any ONE that went to any University IN Texas that has made it to the NFL and started more a game or two.....since about 1970.... when Ramsey of North Texas made to to Denver and started for several years. [simms doesn't count...not a Texas kid....neither does Stoney Case from Permian who went to New Mexico and started a half a dozen games for Baltimore the year before Dilfer appeared]. Before then there were several.. Don Meredith, and several older ones about that era and before... Brees and the Detmers were Texas HS kids but left the state as has others. I can think of none... Houston may have had one or two but they were not big names. .............. waiting.......!! The last 35 years has not been that good to SWC and Big XII (Texas) QB's. Lots of RBs and WRs, DBs and linemen....few if any QBs. Joe Ferguson was from Arkansas, in the SWC but not from Texas nor did he play for a Texas college.. Maybe they should consider North Texas.... the other places haven't produced much in the way of NFL QBs. Tech will like get one sooner or later. (Graham Harrell?)

That is absolutely correct... the only exceptions are very strange ones. ...such as SMU athletes after the death penalty, Baylor basketball members after their problemsl, athletes affected by a school dropping a sport, and I am not sure but there may have been some exceptions made to some after the hurricanes this year...

Colorado comtinues to have more problems than an Algebra book... What a class school...!!! If it is not the athletic dept it is the frats, and now it is just the fans in general.

----Does burning someone at the stake count as a bon-fire???? It sounds as if some on the board are considering that option... This type of talk happens after a run of success for several years and high expectations of a season gone bad. UNT is not accustomed to be in this position.... a bunch of good years followed by a really rotten one. ---Head coaches are rarely as good as they seem or as bad. They are often at the mercy of their assistants. Obviously our offense has been a disappointment and in my opinion because of the line more than anything and the defense "just ain't want she used to be". ---A excellent head coach is very complex animal... he has to recruit well, evaluate talent well, get competant assistants, teach well, motivate, have good game plans which includes adjusting as the game progresses (we are terrible there), plus be an outgoing public relations person** as was Fry and Spike Dykes. --Some great HS coaches can some of the above but have no personality and can't recruit (don't need to in HS). That is the big thing that separates good HS from good college coaches. **-- Rich Leach is sure an exception here... has the personally of a brick but the boy has a great exciting and fun scheme to play and he wins a lot.

Spike Dykes went straight from Midland Lee HS to Texas Tech (1986) and kept the job until 2000. I think it was an assistant when his first season started but the Head Coach when it ended. The head, David McMcWilliams, went to UT and left after Thankgiving and Spike became head ..... he was the coach at season's end and did the recruiting etc. from the start. **** The talk to fire Spike started after losing to NT but calmed down some until UT killed Tech 58-7 near the end of 1999....then Leach appears.***** I think Corky Nelson came from Tyler HS to North Texas during our "dark ages, (I-AA)". He had Earl Campbell there. Spike and Todd Dodge both havehad success for several years and with several teams and not just built a repetation on the "luck" of having a good player or two.... unlike Corky..... HS coaches should considered only on long term success not just a year or two of success.. Notre Dame even hired a HS coach from Cinn (Faust) .....but without a great deal of success.... that one was too big a jump.... a private HS to Top-10 college, Holtz replaced him....but ND recruits nationally.... we don't. Quoting RUDY earlier---- (I mentioned Dodge also in earlier posts) [[And when some of us mentioned him as a new coach for NT, we were laughed at. Man I hope he doesn't go to SMUt. ]]

0-9 ???

I am optimistic---- after all there are three teams that score less points per game than we: ......Miss. St., Temple and Buffalo.......AND ...... there is even one team that gains less yards per game than we do:..... Temple. Where is the the optimism???....Here: We will do better next year!!!! ________________________________ Inside comment to TI-green...Hello El Gado.!!!

----I guess misery wants company.... SMU was cheating and paying players "with the coaches knowledge". The deal with A&M during the 90's involved a overly excited supporter who gave a some players a summer job and they did little except show up and draw a check.... It was not done with Slocum's or his staff's knowledge but A&M paid for it. Before Slocum (who appeared in 1989) was Jackie Sherrill who was there when the SMU/Bill Clements scandel hit. Sherrill (non-Texan, who went to Mississippi State later) was likely almost as crooked and not well liked in the state.. Slocum's program was considered clean.

---It is really nice to have good QB's, WR's, and RB's but if the line can't punch holes in the defense or give the QB time to throw, you have no chance of success. --- I also really respect and agree with the comments that Parcell made in his Cowboy show last week. He likes smart players with a history of good character.... [ people who can learn and will be available, and doesn't disrupt a team or you have to take time to apologize for] He doesn't want people who make bad decisions... on or off of the field. I would think this is especially true at the QB position. Bob Knight has said the same thing. His kids stay out of trouble and graduate even if he personally has a history of a bad temper.... many of those times he has been "baited" ( at press conferences) by people who know how to push his buttons.....He has behaved himself at Tech where there is less press and no-one on his back all the time as was happening at Indiana... The one incident reported was largely due to the other person's insistance to discuss an issue in public (restaurant) when he wanted to discuss it behind closed doors.... which it should have been done.

----The extremely elite athletes want to go to a place that has a history of producing NFL players (Miami, Notre Dame, SoCal, etc). Of the rest (who aren't concerned about an education) what to go to a fun place where they can play and be on TV. Some want to stay near enough to home that family and friends can watch the games etc. and a few (unfortunately now) want to go to a university where they can get a good education (and future connections) because they realize a college career will be the final place they play football. Too many athletes are unrealistic and think "I am going to be a pro".... that rarely happens and only a few make it... even at UT or A&M. It is ok to hope but-- not to expect and be disappointed and be unprepared for the future. ---Nebraska does have problems recruiting out of the state when competing against "fun" places but NU does well with local athletes. I am amazed that they have done as well as they have but it helps to be in a high profile conference.. A&M should be doing much better considering the high-profile program they run with lots of money and the ability to hire about any coaches they want. Schools like NT on the other hand may get outstanding coaches at times but when this is realized, they will be gone for places with a higher salery and more prestage. Example: Our defensive coach we had a few seasons ago who coached "Booger" et al. left for UCLA. ---Texas Tech is not located in a fun place (any place worse???--no water, hills, scenery, big cities ?) but they kick rear regularly now because they have a smart coach. (with the personality of a brick) Their biggest draw is they are a Big XII school, but so are 11 others universities who usually lose to them and are located in more exciting places...( Lubbock makes Midland look exciting ) ---The criticism I have of our present group is that they seem to have a history of not adjusting their game plan very well when what they are doing is not working. I don't care how much they pass, just do what works and practice passing when possible when you have a good lead. You don't have to pass much.... just have the ability to do so when needed and do it enough to have the opponent realize that you really can pass so they respect it and don't pack the line of scimmage.

----Personally at this point, I hope we tie for the conference title but someone else gets the bowl game... We aren't that good and I don't want to see another pounding. It would likely be better for the conference to have another team win once in a while but I don't want to just give it to them.

Complex situation: ---We need better attendance to justify a new stadium ---but a new stadium would help attract teams "of greater interest" to Denton which in turn we think would increase attendance (if we can play them competitive games and actually defeat a few of them). ---Where to start: It would help if we could defeat some "high-profile" names on the road which would cause people to want to come and see us at home which in turn would create a need for a larger stadium. The problem now is we don't defeat the Big XII or other "name" teams and this year we have haven't even been all that competitive with them. We haven't held a non-conf. opponent to under 50 points yet and the Baylor and Texas big losses hurt us as well last year after we had high expectations. We need to win or be very competive in these games to gain attention which will improve attendance. ---Winning Belt-games is great but we need to be competitive against "name" schools to improve our standing.

No political party was mentioned by anyone.... It is a sports issue in the dressing room.

---The problem with this issue is that not every Christian has the same exact beliefs although some extreme Christians seem to think so. ..... We have groups that absolutely oppose drinking, dancing, smoking, divorse, and others groups are very different and tolerant and even have beer sold at church events (Catholic fair here sells beer while the Church of Christ seems to think we are going to Hell if we have one) and other groups that claim multiple wives are ok. There is the too much diversity to be uniform... Most people have no objection to a simple prayer for protection and guidance but some folks go way to far. That is the issue. Not everyone is a Baptist, Methodist, or Morman, or Moslem. I really would not want to be at Univ. of Utah and they have prayers praising Joseph Smith (Morman) in a prayer.. The ACLU... they get a little crazy at times but at times they stand up for people who are having their rights trampled on. The ACLU is both good and bad like a lot of things. I am so old I remember them being criticized for supporting a lot of things in the 60's (racial and womens rights) that we take for granted as being the right thing to do today. A century ago woman could not vote and until 1960's they did not even serve on juries even if a woman was on trial. My mother was over 6o before she served on her first jury. The ACLU was attacked for supporting womens rights then. My grandmother (who died at age 32 in the 1919 flu epidemic) was never permitted to vote.

---Sure are alot of those "random" fans...... in fact there seems to be more of them than decent ones..... Maybe that means something.

--That is not much of an endorsement for Georgia Southern, when the name of the college can't even be remembered..... . I would vote Texas State aka Southwest Texas. They are 6-2 with one loss being to A&M by 31-44. I wish we could score 31 against someone... we haven't had that many points in any two weeks combined against any two opponents, much less against A&M who is 5-3

---Flutie is still playing (or at he is least suited up. He is "43", 5-10 and weighs about 180. He also won a Heisman... Proof that size (height) is not everything. None of the tall QBs that year are still playing--and most never played one down in the NFL.