Todd Dodge

Army of Dad · December 14, 2015

I want to see the half student at Cy Lakes

As I understand it, UIL uses a formula to normalize schools that have less than four grades (for example I think if a school is only 10-12 then they multiply by 1.33).

They also do it for new schools that don't yet have all four grades.

DougRush · December 16, 2015

"Jinks comes to Bowling Green after spending the last three seasons as the running backs coach at Texas Tech. This season he also served as the associate head coach under Kliff Kingsbury.

His path from coaching in high school in Texas and becoming a head coach at the Division I level is becoming more prominent in recent years. Jinks is the 11th active head coach at the FBS level after having previously been a high school coach in Texas, joining Baylor’s Art Briles, California’s Sonny Dykes and Tulsa’s Phillip Montgomery, among others."

I was reading about Jinks and saw this quote in the newspaper. I did not know there was 11 active head coaches that started out as high school coaches in Texas. I find that very interesting as there certainly seems to be a bias against high school coaches moving up to college ball by some fans.

oldguystudent · December 16, 2015

UNT90 · December 17, 2015

"Jinks comes to Bowling Green after spending the last three seasons as the running backs coach at Texas Tech. This season he also served as the associate head coach under Kliff Kingsbury.
His path from coaching in high school in Texas and becoming a head coach at the Division I level is becoming more prominent in recent years. Jinks is the 11th active head coach at the FBS level after having previously been a high school coach in Texas, joining Baylor’s Art Briles, California’s Sonny Dykes and Tulsa’s Phillip Montgomery, among others."
I was reading about Jinks and saw this quote in the newspaper. I did not know there was 11 active head coaches that started out as high school coaches in Texas. I find that very interesting as there certainly seems to be a bias against high school coaches moving up to college ball by some fans.

I think the bias is when they move from HS head coach directly to FBS college head coach. That doesn't work, and never has in modern college football.

No one has a problem with a Briles-esqe path of becoming a FBS assistant for multiple years before becoming THE guy. Tha is the way it should work.

DougRush · December 17, 2015

UNT-90-- I pretty much agree with that statement-- thanks

GOMG2013 · December 17, 2015

I think the bias is when they move from HS head coach directly to FBS college head coach. That doesn't work, and never has in modern college football.
No one has a problem with a Briles-esqe path of becoming a FBS assistant for multiple years before becoming THE guy. Tha is the way it should work.

it makes logicall sense that you work your way up and learn the ropes, just like MOST jobs. It was a bad idea from the start to hire a HS coach to go straight to head football coach of a D1 school.

Some say dodge would have been alright had he hired coaches with collwge experience. Well what quality college coach would go and work under a HC straight from HS? Dodge had no choice but to hire HS coaches. I guess he could have went after some FCS coaches, juco coaches, and unemployed FBS coaches, but you would be bringing in guys that know more than you and that would create all kinds of issues.

I know there are exceptions where a younger, less experienced guy has come in and led experienced vets...so it had a slim chance, but this idea was doomed from the start with hiring a coach straight from HS.

DougRush · December 17, 2015

"but you would be bringing in guys that know more than you and that would create all kinds of issues."

GoMG2013 I respectfully disagree with this as a blanket statement. If I was to become a head college baseball coach right now straight out of high school (and trust me, no one is knocking on my door) I have former minor league players, some college coaches, etc. who would love to work with me and for me. I have coached some of them and have done clinics and camps with many of them and they respect my knowledge of the game as well as anyone's. A college coach does not necessarily know more than a high school coach. Now, as for running a college program, yes. But, the nuts and bolts of that can be easily learned in a short time.

UNT90 · December 18, 2015

it makes logicall sense that you work your way up and learn the ropes, just like MOST jobs. It was a bad idea from the start to hire a HS coach to go straight to head football coach of a D1 school.
Some say dodge would have been alright had he hired coaches with collwge experience. Well what quality college coach would go and work under a HC straight from HS? Dodge had no choice but to hire HS coaches. I guess he could have went after some FCS coaches, juco coaches, and unemployed FBS coaches, but you would be bringing in guys that know more than you and that would create all kinds of issues.
I know there are exceptions where a younger, less experienced guy has come in and led experienced vets...so it had a slim chance, but this idea was doomed from the start with hiring a coach straight from HS.

Ya, go look at the end of the Army game which oldguy references quite a bit. He wasn't prepared to be a college coach, and no assistant was going to change that.

oldguystudent · December 19, 2015

Ya, go look at the end of the Army game which oldguy references quite a bit. He wasn't prepared to be a college coach, and no assistant was going to change that.

I'm near certain that something very similar happened against FAU in 2009. The recap states that UNT went 0-2 on fourth down at the end of the game. I recall at least one of those circumstances being us very confused, burning timeouts, sending the field goal unit on, then not, then on.

untjim1995 · December 19, 2015

Ya, go look at the end of the Army game which oldguy references quite a bit. He wasn't prepared to be a college coach, and no assistant was going to change that.

yeah, that Army game at home was pretty much the final nail in the coffin for me as having any hope he could turn it around here as a head coach. To me, I remember leaving to go to my car, after stealing defeat from the jaws of certain victory, and watching celebratory fireworks going off for another close UNT loss that season at home, there was no way Dodge would be back after the season. I remember calling Richard Durrett and telling him that and him clearly telling me, "Nope--Villareal has said they don't have the money to fire him with two years left on his contract." And he was exactly right, as Dodge finished off a very stellar, career-tying best 2-10 season with a loss the next week.

Dodge coming back cost us an extra year of sucking when Mac got here. Thankfully, now that we have the UNT 17, Littrell's deep hole he inherited is not worse because they paid for the extension mistake by RV. It will still take years to rebuild here because of the lack of talent on the roster and the fact it was completely built on an archaic offense, but if Mac had stayed like his predecessors did, for at least two more seasons, the depth of the hole we are in might damn well be nearing the center of the earth's core...

rcade · December 19, 2015

Some say dodge would have been alright had he hired coaches with collwge experience. Well what quality college coach would go and work under a HC straight from HS? Dodge had no choice but to hire HS coaches.

I don't buy this. There are plenty of college assistants at a stage of their careers where they would have considered an offer to work under Dodge at UNT, especially if the job title was a promotion. He could've found ambitious coaches looking for their first shot to be an OC or DC in FBS, for instance.

The biggest obstacle back then for attracting coaches under Dodge wasn't him. It was the salary we could offer.

Austin Westlake has a live audio stream for the game at WestlakeNation.Com.

It's weird how professional the broadcast sounds.

Edited December 19, 2015 by rcade

GOMG2013 · December 19, 2015

I don't buy this. There are plenty of college assistants at a stage of their careers where they would have considered an offer to work under Dodge at UNT, especially if the job title was a promotion. He could've found ambitious coaches looking for their first shot to be an OC or DC in FBS, for instance.
The biggest obstacle back then for attracting coaches under Dodge wasn't him. It was the salary we could offer.

low salary would be a given hiring a high school coach as head coach though. And once again, you can most likely find a college coach to work under a high school coach, I said what QUALITY college coach would?

Edited December 19, 2015 by GOMG2013
To emphasize QUALITY

emmitt01 · December 19, 2015

" I guess he could have went after some FCS coaches, juco coaches, and unemployed FBS coaches, but you would be bringing in guys that know more than you and that would create all kinds of issues."

I saw the man coach for 3 1/2 years...we'd have been VERY hard pressed to bring in assistants that knew less

Mean Green 93-98 · December 19, 2015

Some say dodge would have been alright had he hired coaches with collwge experience. Well what quality college coach would go and work under a HC straight from HS? Dodge had no choice but to hire HS coaches.

Dodge actually had some coaches on his staff with college experience. Chuck Petersen came from a long tenure at Air Force. Carlton Buckels was on his staff, and he is now considered one of top assistants/recruiters in the whole country. Shelton Gandy, Spencer Leftwich, Butch Lecroix--all experienced college coaches. Deloach came to his staff from UCLA. At the end of Dodge's tenure, I believe his entire staff was comprised of experienced college coaches, except for himself.

Plenty of college football coaches are displaced every year. Dodge could have filled his entire staff with experienced college coaches right at the beginning if he and/or RV had determined to do so.

emmitt01 · December 19, 2015

:08 left in the first half, Westlake up 7-0

North Shore has 2nd and goal, and commits a false start

But, Dodge calls a timeout just before the penalty...saving North Shore the 5 yards and allowing them to score

7-7 tied game at half

Nice to see his use of timeouts has continued to punish his own team

oldguystudent · December 20, 2015

Austin Westlake missed the game winning field goal to close out the fourth quarter, then gave up the game winning touchdown in 2OT.

Maciah Long scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak in overtime after Zafir Murphy blocked a potential winning field goal in the final seconds of regulation and Galena Park North Shore beat Austin Westlake 21-14 to win the Class 6A Division I championship Saturday.
Sam Ehlinger, the Texas Associated Press Sports Editors player of the year, completed a 27-yard pass to Kylen Granson to put Westlake in position for the win late in the fourth quarter. But Murphy got a hand on Ryan Rees' 27-yard field goal try with 8 seconds left to force overtime.
After Long's plunge for the lead, North Shore (13-3) clinched its second state title when Granson was tackled trying to throw back to Ehlinger on fourth-and-goal from the 3.

story

TIgreen01 · December 20, 2015

Didn't we have a year where we had 10+ field goals blocked and missed nearly the same amount of extra points. That block last night came straight up the middle and reminded me of the terrible special teams units Dodge fielded here...

Rudy · December 20, 2015

And since we're on the topic, a certain Defensive Coordinator was my neighbor for several years. All of you need to get over 2007. He has, no reason you can't.

He should be over it after what he got paid for those results.

hickoryhouse · December 20, 2015

Are we so bitter that we are actually wishing bad things upon our former coach?!?! That's shameful. He wasn't great here and there are many reasons for that. But at some point don't we have to get over it?

TheTastyGreek · December 20, 2015

Are we so bitter that we are actually wishing bad things upon our former coach?!?! That's shameful. He wasn't great here and there are many reasons for that. But at some point don't we have to get over it?

I'm going to have to wait until I've had a chance to review the film to make a final determination... But I'd say that when you look at it closely, our collective reactions are grading out at a very high level.

oldguystudent · December 20, 2015

I'm going to have to wait until I've had a chance to review the film to make a final determination... But I'd say that when you look at it closely, our collective reactions are grading out at a very high level.

Would that I could go father another child right about now.

Mean Green Matt · December 20, 2015

He should be over it after what he got paid for those results.

Well McCarney made 3x as much and his only success was with Dodge recruits.

oldguystudent · December 20, 2015

Well McCarney made 3x as much and his only success was with Dodge recruits.

Compared to Dodge's stellar success with Dodge's recruits?

Mean Green Matt · December 20, 2015

Compared to Dodge's stellar success with Dodge's recruits?

Well I guess Dodge could recruit but not coach. Dan could coach ok but couldn't recruit. You need both to be successful and we paid one guy 3x as much as the other.

oldguystudent · December 20, 2015

Well I guess Dodge could recruit but not coach. Dan could coach ok but couldn't recruit. You need both to be successful and we paid one guy 3x as much as the other.

.407 vs .139. 2.92 times better results = ~ three times pay