What Happened in 2005?

[badnewspears]

I was there and I suppose it's just been blurred through time but after four New Orleans Bowls and seeming to have a strong grasp in the Sun Belt with Dickey in his 8th year, how on earth did the bottom drop out and we go 2-9 that year?

[BillySee58]

My theory? @aztecskinenrolled that semester and that sealed our fate.

[untjim1995]

The rest of the SBC just caught up to us. They were mostly newer or less recognizable programs that were well behind our program when we got to the SBC in 2001. By 2005, we had no solid QB play, no defensive pressure like we had, and no jump in recruiting from our SBC run. It all added up to a storm of crap that took years to unwind.

[NT96]

Team leaders and some of the best players in team history graduated. Had some good recruits coming up, but without leadership from fellow players sometimes entitlement sets in. Complacency from coaches might have set in as well. My theory anyways.

[GrandGreen]

DD's one good recruiting class were all gone.  I think it was more of NT got real bad, than the rest of the conference got a lot better.  

[H-towngreen]

23 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

DD's one good recruiting class were all gone.  I think it was more of NT got real bad, than the rest of the conference got a lot better.  

This....DD lived off of one great class.

[Big E]

I recall overall recruiting dropped way off and we had some busts in recruits as well.  It was a shame to see the bottom fall out like it did.

[UNTLifer]

28 minutes ago, H-towngreen said:

This....DD lived off of one great class.

Yep.  Actually the 2000 and 2001 classes were pretty good.  After that, the coaches got complacent, but I also think they bought in to RV's vision and started to realize he wasn't going to deliver.

[keith]

We had to lose eventually.   I mean keeping that winning streak alive forever just was never in the cards.  I think we didn't stay focused or aggressive on the recruiting front.

[Felozano]

I vaguely remember hearing DD’s big push to recruits was playing time, but since he couldn’t promise that to new recruits, his one trick didn’t work anymore.  I’m basing this off of a vague memory from 13-ish years ago. 

[TIgreen01]

I still tend to think that had Andrew Smith been around for the 2005 season we wouldn't have seen such a huge drop off that year.  Then we also lost Byerly and had to force Meager into action too early. 

Granted, we were losing coaches right and left and weren't committing to increasing salaries or facilities.  Eventually we were going to have to have that bottoming out to wake up our administration to the fact that we couldn't just keep winning on pennies.

[CMJ]

10 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

The rest of the SBC just caught up to us. They were mostly newer or less recognizable programs that were well behind our program when we got to the SBC in 2001. By 2005, we had no solid QB play, no defensive pressure like we had, and no jump in recruiting from our SBC run. It all added up to a storm of crap that took years to unwind.

That is a myth that still gets perpetuated.  The only brand new team to D1 was MTSU - and they were our biggest competition.

[shaft]

A couple of things;

DD never upgraded his coaching staff or recruiting practices.

The rest of the conference caught up and added Troy.

Dead quarterback left a big hole in the team.

People graduated and there was no depth.

The decline happened the season before, but the Sun Belt was so bad the record didn’t show.

The rumblings for the high school coach had already begun and “we” quit investing in the current product.

Diet Cokeboy got cocky and didn’t try as hard.

[aztecskin]

10 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

My theory? @aztecskinenrolled that semester and that sealed our fate.

The very first game I saw at Fouts was the largest margin of defeat in NT vs Tulsa history. I am ready to admit my faults.

[FirefightnRick]

In a nutshell: Friendship/Loyalty > Accountability.

 

Rick

[Got5onIt]

I don’t know the behind the scenes mess but I do remember DD struggling mightily in recruiting his last few years. 

[drex]

Dickey health issues, too.

[Cr1028]

14 hours ago, badnewspears said:

I was there and I suppose it's just been blurred through time but after four New Orleans Bowls and seeming to have a strong grasp in the Sun Belt with Dickey in his 8th year, how on earth did the bottom drop out and we go 2-9 that year?

Troy and FAU took the place of USU, NMSU, and Idaho. That’s what happened. Plus we had an inexperienced quarterback taking the helm with a depleted O-line. Lost a NFL defense end too.

[golfingomez]

this year we won 6 home games..

we won a grand total of 5 home games between the 2005 - 2010 seasons... 

[KingDL1]

11 hours ago, TIgreen01 said:

I still tend to think that had Andrew Smith been around for the 2005 season we wouldn't have seen such a huge drop off that year.  Then we also lost Byerly and had to force Meager into action too early. 

Granted, we were losing coaches right and left and weren't committing to increasing salaries or facilities.  Eventually we were going to have to have that bottoming out to wake up our administration to the fact that we couldn't . just keep winning on pennies.

Andrew Smith killing himself was the biggest problem 2005 and I think it took Dickey down. Point the finger beyond that we did not build on our success the way we should of have. RV was a failure at that from the begining. 

[Cr1028]

23 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

Andrew Smith killing himself was the biggest problem 2005 and I think it took Dickey down. Point the finger beyond that we did not build on our success the way we should of have. RV was a failure at that from the begining. 

My recollection was that Smith died in 04 and was not the starter when he died. I recall Byerly or Ieans being the qb people pointed the finger at in ‘05. I don’t remember which.

[untjim1995]

2 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

My recollection was that Smith died in 04 and was not the starter when he died. I recall Byerly or Ieans being the qb people pointed the finger at in ‘05. I don’t remember which.

It was supposed to be Joey Byerly, but his grades were bad and he couldn’t gain eligibility for the 2005 season, so we had to go with freshman Danny Meager, who was basically thrown to the wolves, not to mention he had Ramon flanigan coaching him (supposedly)...

[KingDL1]

3 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

My recollection was that Smith died in 04 and was not the starter when he died. I recall Byerly or Ieans being the qb people pointed the finger at in ‘05. I don’t remember which.

Andrew did but that was the beginning of the end, and it really showed in 2005, I heard that DD was drinking more than ever and the DD stealth recruiting started  down the drain 2004. 

[greensleeves]

Interesting thread and very informative.  I've also wondered what the heck happened two years ago during Mac's last year. 

[Cr1028]

40 minutes ago, greensleeves said:

Interesting thread and very informative.  I've also wondered what the heck happened two years ago during Mac's last year. 

DT, Brelan, Trice, and many other key players graduated and the replacements weren’t quite as good.