Coaching changes...

[greensteve]

Here's the skinny:

It is almost a done deal...Todd Dodge will be leaving Southlake to take over the coaching reigns at SMU. This has been in the works for about 6 weeks, and I cant go into how I know, but SMU will make an offer to Dodge soon after the SMU season officially ends. They are going to pay big time for a HS coach with no College Head Coaching experience. The only thing that may hold this up is that Dodge's kid is poised to take over the QB position next year at Southlake.

This will be a big signing for SMU...they will have a pipeline from Southlake, they will run the spread offense, and have a shot of momentum as son as Dodge hits the ground.

Dodge may even out recruit Patterson...and gawd knows he will out recruit who ever NT sends down.

This is not good for us at all...

[Rudy]

And when some of us mentioned him as a new coach for NT, we were laughed at. Man I hope he doesnt go to SMUt.

[NT80]

I like Todd Dodge but there is a big difference between running an affluent one-high-school-town program and trying to repeat it at the 1-A level. NT tried it with Dennis Parker. SMUt has additional problems besides just needing a coach.

[mhow2]

We could still get Joey Florence. As far as SMU being able to run the spread I think they could. They a some good athletes. One that comes to mind is Willis(Ryan QB last year)

[PlummMeanGreen]

I think we learned our Texas HS football coach lesson with the short NT career of ex Marshall High School coach, ie, one Dennis Parker.

GOD BLESS TEXAS...

[Gator]

I think we learned our Texas HS football coach lesson with the short NT career of ex Marshall High School coach, ie, one Dennis Parker. 

GOD BLESS TEXAS...

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Difference is the $$$$ SMU can put into hiring staff and energizing the Alumns. Dodge, or anyone, will find doors opening much easier.

[GMoney]

I like Todd Dodge but there is a big difference between running an affluent one-high-school-town program and trying to repeat it at the 1-A level. NT tried it with Dennis Parker. SMUt has additional problems besides just needing a coach.

There are some major differences between Dodge and Parker. 1. Dodge played major division 1 football as a QB at Texas. 2. Dodge has coaching experience at the college level and 3. his run has been longer than a single year.

If this is true, I think Dodge will do pretty well with one stipulation. Success can breed contemptment. It's possible the way he's won may have rubbed some coaches the wrong way and that could hurt his recruiting in some circles. Long after I was gone, I heard this same problem happened with Parker. I've heard there are coaches (maybe jealous) who don't like Coach Dodge's "bravado" and didn't like Parker's "holier than thou" attitude in the past.

Just for the record, off the field, I got along fine with both of them

Edited November 18, 2005 by GMoney

[FirefightnRick]

Parker was hired mostly for what some on the committee thought would be his mythical power to recruit any Texas High School talent that he went after, simply because he won the 5A state championship the previous year and carried a recent bit of respect throughout the state at the time. Nothing but deep horse $hit! He won that championship because he squirreled out in their win over Plano that year. I was there that game and Plano couldn't have giftwrapped it for them any prettier. Not only was he over his head at NT but couldn't do anything else at the HS level later on at Cleburn, a historically strong football school that always seems to have a lot of talent.

Parker can in no way be compared to Todd Dodge's level at running a HS program. Most of us should thank our lucky stars that U of H doesn't have the chance to personally prove to us what an ex High School coach can do at the college level when done right.

Rick

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

I will be glad if SMU tries to go it with a high school coach. Can they be that stupid? It is a sad comment on NT's past that we tried it. Talk about thinking 'small time'. We must go the absolute opposite direction. Think BIG time and raise big time money. NT doesn't even TRY to raise money. That is the first thing that has to change. They think it will sort of flow in on its own.

[TIgreen01]

Say what you will about Dodge's success at Southlake, but he coached at my high school, Carrollton Newman Smith, a couple of years after I graduated. We had/have an awful football tradition, but Dodge had them playing .500 ball the first year he got there....he didn't stay long b/c Southlake swooped in and bought him soon after.

I think he'll have success wherever he goes. I also think that if the timing was different and we were in SMU's shoes, we'd be foolish not to give the guy a serious look.

Oh...and to make next year's game vs. SMU all the more "potentially" embarrassing....we'll be facing a high school coach. Poetic Justice will have it no other way....

[GangGreen]

Art Briles isn't doing so bad at Houston.

[pollock]

I know where Clint Renfro will go to college now.

[Green92]

I have a really hard time believing Dodge would go to SMU. That is not a stepping stone. Too many drawbacks and not enough upside. I'd take him in a heart beat but I don't think UNT is in his plans either. I wouldn't be surprised if he left to become offensive coordinator at some large BCS school and moved up the latter that way. I have nothing to back this up, but just my opinion.

[SouthernMustang]

What the hell? I've heard none of this... I haven't even heard this on the rumor mill. I really don't know if what I think about that move, but I'm sure he couldn't be much worse than Phil Bennett.

My worst fear is that Copeland will get fired (that's not the bad part) and Turner will want to be reunited with Pete Boone (Ole Miss' current AD who is in hot water)...

If SMU rids of Bennett, my Christmas list is: Cutcliffe, Neuheisel, Charlie Waters.

[Stan R]

I have a really hard time believing Dodge would go to SMU.  That is not a stepping stone.  Too many drawbacks and not enough upside. 

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Don't agree. It IS a HUGE stepping stone. He's not coming into the Sun Belt where it is next to impossible to have a winning season without everyone saying "well it is just the sun belt". He's coming in with plenty of funding, a decent league to compete and win against and AWESOME facilities including a new stadium. A perfect spring board in the same way that TCU was for Franchione.

[LongJim]

There are rumors that have Dodge going to other schools besides SCHMOO in some capacity, but they're definitely RUMORS at this point.

[Stan R]

WHAT! You mean something posted on a bulletin board ISN'T FACT? I'm appalled.

[NT80]

What the hell? I've heard none of this... I haven't even heard this on the rumor mill. I really don't know if what I think about that move, but I'm sure he couldn't be much worse than Phil Bennett.

My worst fear is that Copeland will get fired (that's not the bad part) and Turner will want to be reunited with Pete Boone (Ole Miss' current AD who is in hot water)...

If SMU rids of Bennett, my Christmas list is: Cutcliffe, Neuheisel, Charlie Waters.

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What are the rumors on the Pony boards? Is Bennett in real danger of being gone after this season? Do fans want Copeland gone first? A new AD "usually" wants to name his own coach in the $ sports, since it affects his success too.

[LongJim]

WHAT! You mean something posted on a bulletin board ISN'T FACT? I'm appalled.   

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Heh! No kidding. Last week, UT fans had to sweat through a Friday night "QB breaks hand in fight" rumor.

[shaft]

Something tells be that when an SMU coach gets a win over TCU they get to keep their job for one more season.

[Coffee and TV]

I didn't know Bennet was in trouble of being fired considering his circumstances. I guess 3 years is supposed to be long enough to save the sinking ship that is SMU football.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Briles didn't go straight from Stephenville to U of H, folks. He was at Texas Tech from 2000-2002.

[SouthernMustang]

What are the rumors on the Pony boards?  Is Bennett in real danger of being gone after this season?  Do fans want Copeland gone first?  A new AD "usually" wants to name his own coach in the $ sports, since it affects his success too.

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There's all sorts of rumors. Slocum, Neuheisel, and a bunch of Cowboy's Assistants and stuff. People throw around Charlie Waters' name. It's the same group of names that get thrown around on this board, Rice's board, etc.

I think Bennett is safe this year. He beat TCU and UAB on the road. Our only bad losses were to Tulane (31-10) and A&M (66-8...). I think had we played Tulane later in the season, we'd have beaten them. But nothing you can do about that now.

We also beat a team we should have handily (Rice, 27-7) and we've had close losses to Baylor (28-23), Marshall (16-13 OT), ECU (24-17), Tulsa (20-13). Those games have all been a few plays here and there away from being wins. We could just as easily be sitting at 6-3 at this point rather than 3-6 if it weren't for QB turnovers. I can't wait for Phillips and/or Willis to play next year.

We were much better than the blow outs to teams like Rice (44-10) and Louisiana Tech (41-10) we received last year. If we lose the last 2 in awful fashion, he might get some heat -- but otherwise I think he has until next year. But I think we're a better team than our record indicates.

Also, I think Bennett can win 7-8 next year with the schedule. OOC is Arkansas State, SHSU, y'all, and Tech. We get Marshall, UAB, Tulsa, and UH at home. The road slate is also favorable for a few wins with @ ECU, @ Rice, and @ Tulane, and then @ UTEP.

It takes 5 years to turn around a program, and there has been progress. Albeit not as quickly as I'd like, and definitely more frustrating b/c they have been so close this year. But I think once you step back and look at 2 years ago when we hit rock bottom (which we were going to hit no matter who was coaching), they're a ton better. The players are a lot better athletes, and aside the 2 bad-games -- they've been in every single game physically. That's HUGE progress right there.

Fans want Copeland gone, but I don't know if that's a good thing. I'd like to think we could catch "lightning in a bottle" with a young AD, but I have this bad feeling we'd wind up with Pete Boone. He's on hotter water with Ole Miss fans, and I think Turner would love to be back working with him. That would spell the death of SMU Athletics.

I think the SMU/UNT game will be a huge marker for how much longer Bennett & Copeland stay on the Hilltop.

[VideoEagle]

I think the SMU/UNT game will be a huge marker for how much longer Bennett & Copeland stay on the Hilltop.

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I think the NT/SMU game is going to be exactly the game coaches hate - the kind of game that gets the loser fired no matter which side he is one!

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Briles didn't go straight from Stephenville to U of H, folks.  He was at Texas Tech from 2000-2002.

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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. ]]

Edited November 18, 2005 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66