A Thanks to Everyone who made Saturday

[Harry]

First off, if you didn't make it you missed a great event Saturday at the Mean Green Barbecue and Recruiting Recap. We had a blast. I have so many people to thank - so I apologize in advance if I miss someone here:

Soundman Eric - As usual, Eric comes through in the clutch. We didn't have much lead in time for this event but Eric had it all under control and cooked some awesome brisket for the players, their parents, the coaches, trainers and Mean Green Fans. Eric you were the MVP of Saturday! You did a great job and I really appreciate your efforts.

The Mean Green Chopping Crew - I know I am going to miss some names here but about a half dozen loyal Mean Greeners joined me in chopping up the brisket for the event. Zeke, Silver, Med Pilot, Marshall (aka Diet Coke Boy), Illuvius, Sean Hiatt, and a couple of others were key contributors in making this happen. I have a whole new appreciation for the "choppers" as it is a labor intensive job as my back will attest to today.

Parks and Rec Rick - the desserts were awesome! You came through as always.

Adler - As always we appreciate your help and leadership in running the show.

Firefighten Rick - Thank you buddy for the plasticware and your efforts to make things happen as usual. THanks for the Mean Green Smoker that was your labor of love. It shined a bright green on Saturday buddy. You should be proud.

The servers - there were several people that helped us to serve. I know that Old Timer was out there, Adler and several others doing a great job. I'm sorry I didn't get all oftheir names because we were so busy, if someone else can put their names on here please do.

Huff - Huff your generous donation made it all possible. Thanks for all that you have done and continue to do for this program.

Players parents - I again am going to come up short on the names here but I know that there were several parents who made large donations and offered their time. Thank you so much.

Emmitt - Your humor and help made the hard work fun.

Coach Barela and Coach Evans - Thanks so much for helping us coordinate the event and your support of the recruiting review over the years. It is a neat event and we truly appreciate it.

Coach Dickey - Thank you for taking the time to particpate in this event. I really appreciated your candor and support on Saturday. The review was a hit and I really enjoyed the video and the Q&A session. For those not there, Coach Dickey was so appreciative and probably told me and others volunteering thanks at least a half dozen times.

The players, coaches and support staff - It seems like half the team came up and thanked either me or one of the volunteers for our efforts. It is so worth it to everyone involved when the time and money spent is appreciated and the players were extremely gracious to all of us and thankful for the effort put into the meal.

Denny and Connie Kalk - As usual Denny and Connie there when we need them even if they can't be there in person (they live in San Antonio). Thank you Denny.

Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Ray and Jim Grandy - Thanks for taking the time to support our events. We really appreciated seeing you there.

Board donations - to all that gave their support via donations thank you. I promise you it was money well spent. Just to see the expressions of the players as they headed to the barbecue after a long scrimmage would make your heart swell with pride. It meant a lot to them. The Mean Green smoker was strategically placed right on the pathway to their locker/lounge area. I know they enjoyed seeing it there and I hope that we can do these types of functions in the future.

Also a shout out to Eric Capper, Brett Vito of the DRC and several others who helped us to coordinate and promote the event.

It was a great event and I really appreciate everyone's help in making it happen. Again I apologize in advance for anyone that I have left off this list. GMG!

[FirefightnRick]

Soundman Eric - As usual, Eric comes through in the clutch.  We didn't have much lead in time for this event but Eric had it all under control and cooked some awesome brisket for the players, their parents, the coaches, trainers and Mean Green Fans.  Eric you were the MVP of Saturday!  You did a great job and I really appreciate your efforts.

←

Can't say enough about Eric for taking this up with such short notice. Few know this but Eric even had to go and wrangle with the county fire marshall to get special permission last Thursday in order to cook with the pit. A very rare allowance at this time with the drought and all. So this was really an amazing thing for him to get accomplished and we appreciate it.

I especially want to thank Eric for allowing me off the hook this time around so that I could go and enjoy the scrimmage. I missed the entire thing last August because I stayed with the pit, so I truly appreciate it.

Rick

Edited March 6, 2006 by FirefightnRick

[medpilot21]

Yes, we had a great time chopping brisket and serving the players and coaches. I got several pictures with my son and some players. I also got most of you, and will send those pics to you.

Thanks Eric, and all the gang. It was another great day of Mean Green!!!

GMG!!!

[Zeke]

A good writeup Harry. I took a nice sunburn away from the day.

I helped move a few buns around 8 and it appeared Eric had been out there for a good while. It really is appreciated Eric. (for anyone that listens to The Ticket: I 'preciate ya.......I really appreciate ya)

Attached are a few pictures I took from early on in the day. Notice Ransom coming over on one of them to thank everyone for doing this.

Photos

I loved the Q and A given during the recruiting video session. Nothing earth shattering was revealed, but it was good to know that some things were being worked on that bothered us all.

Coach Dickey showed his gratitude time and time again for the event.

[Double Eagle]

Do you suppose Coach Dickey has come to realize that the fans are an asset to the football program and shouldn't be bashed? It will be interesting to listen to the post-game interviews this year and see if this new approach continues!

[KingDL1]

Do you suppose Coach Dickey has come to realize that the fans are an asset to the football program and shouldn't be bashed?  It will be interesting to listen to the post-game interviews this year and see if this new approach continues!

←

NO

[mad dog]

Well, I'm sure everyone who was there got the same impression we got. He definitely came off more positive than he used to. But, you know what? I've never seen Coach Dickey shy away from a question that he can answer. If he's asked a question, he will answer it, provided that it doesn't violate any confidentialy requirements. What really amazed me was how candidly he answered on Saturday. He answered questions about delay of game penalties and personal fouls very directly and to the point (I don't know about the other guys, but I felt kinda bad when I heard why they had some problems relating to delay of game). He was very gracious and thanked us at every turn for being fans and giving up our Saturday to do something nice for the guys.

He looks, sounds, and acts like a different guy. Maybe we can get more people out there next time to hear him, especially those who wanted him gone three months ago. Who knows? If you had a chance to talk to him and voice your displeasure, maybe he could have answered a few questions for you.

Edited March 6, 2006 by illuvius32

[Travis]

He answered questions about delay of game penalties and personal fouls very directly and to the point (I don't know about the other guys, but I felt kinda bad when I heard why they had some problems relating to delay of game).  He was very gracious and thanked us at every turn for being fans and giving up our Saturday to do something nice for the guys.

←

Could you share some info on those answers of such questions for the ones not there?

[mad dog]

Could you share some info on those answers of such questions for the ones not there?

←

I'm probably not going to address the delay of game thing in cyberspace until I know that it is alright to do so. Suffice to say it could be potentially embarassing and has nothing to do with the coaches.

There are two types of personal fouls to Coach Dickey. There are the kinds which occur during or immediately after the whistle due to aggressive play (a lot of these, relatively, were called. They are judgement calls and can therefore fluctuate a lot). Coach Dickey teaches his guys to play up to point where they hear a whistle. If it is one of those deals where they're so close when the whistle blows that they can't pull up, he said that he can live with those, and, personally, I probably can too. If you regulate much more than that, you risk guys playing not to get penalized, and that puts a dent in how well you can play.

The other type is the type where a DB loses his head after getting beat deep, or a young quarterback arguing with officials. These, Coach Dickey says, are the kinds he can't live with. Case in point: LB Ryan Davenport kicked a guy's helmet when he was down on the ground after getting blown up by a blocker. Coach Dickey asked who it was, and then told him to get his ass off the field. He sat for a long time after that, only getting back into the practice near the end.

Edited March 6, 2006 by illuvius32

[UNTLifer]

The other type is the type where a DB loses his head after getting beat deep, or a young quarterback arguing with officials.  These, Coach Dickey says, are the kinds he can't live with.  Case in point:  LB Ryan Davenport kicked a guy's helmet when he was down on the ground after getting blown up by a blocker.  Coach Dickey asked who it was, and then told him to get his ass off the field.  He sat for a long time after that, only getting back into the practice near the end.

←

So, he gets after them in practice when the play doesn't penalize the team, but his DB coach pats a DB on the head after it occurs during a game?

[mad dog]

So, he gets after them in practice when the play doesn't penalize the team, but his DB coach pats a DB on the head after it occurs during a game?

←

You saw Coach Bliel do that?

[UNTLifer]

Referring to last season during a real game, not practice.

[medpilot21]

Thanks for the pics, Zeke. I will post mine tonight. Some really good shots this year.. Took a couple of my son with a player or two. (Blake Burruss is one big, QB killing dude at 6-7, but he was really cool with Chris..)

Thanks again to everyone..this year was a lot more fun!!!

GMG!!!

[mad dog]

Referring to last season during a real game, not practice.

←

Oh, ok. Gotcha. I was about to say... I didn't see anything like that. In fact, Coach Bliel seems to let his players know (usually a little more quietly, person to person) when they would have been flagged for pass interference.

[Monkeypox]

There are two types of personal fouls to Coach Dickey.  There are the kinds which occur during or immediately after the whistle due to aggressive play (a lot of these, relatively, were called.  They are judgement calls and can therefore fluctuate a lot).  Coach Dickey teaches his guys to play up to point where they hear a whistle.  If it is one of those deals where they're so close when the whistle blows that they can't pull up, he said that he can live with those, and, personally, I probably can too.  If you regulate much more than that, you risk guys playing not to get penalized, and that puts a dent in how well you can play.

Given that our penalties only seem to fluctuate between "way too many" and "absurd," I don't really care how Dickey chooses to differentiate between the penalties we get, or rather, what rationalizations he has for them.

[mad dog]

Given that our penalties only seem to fluctuate between "way too many" and "absurd," I don't really care how Dickey chooses to differentiate between the penalties we get, or rather, what rationalizations he has for them.

←

Well, you certainly have a point that there are a lot of penalties. If you are disregarding the reasons, you have a strong argument to make.

Over the past four years, we average 100 penalties a year (puts us roughly at 19th place during that time frame) and about 9.3 yards a penalty, which might actually be the better measurement for what you're talking about.

In 2002, the most penalized team was Louisville, but they only had about 8.7 yards a penalty. UCLA, the 77th most penalized team, had two full yards per penalty more at 10.7. Theoretically, any score approaching (and certainly over) 10 yards per penalty should be a red flag, because that indicates a greater number of personal foul type penalties than the five yard false start or offside variety.

In 2005, we had 9.1 yards per penalty. This was by far our "best" year at 31st with 90 penalties for 817 yards. The most penalized team had 8.8 yards per penalty (Colorado), but, ironically, Air Force, tied for 113th, had 10.5 ypp.

[Monkeypox]

Well, you certainly have a point that there are a lot of penalties.  If you are disregarding the reasons, you have a strong argument to make.

Over the past four years, we average 100 penalties a year (puts us roughly at 19th place during that time frame) and about 9.3 yards a penalty, which might actually be the better measurement for what you're talking about.

In 2002, the most penalized team was Louisville, but they only had about 8.7 yards a penalty.  UCLA, the 77th most penalized team, had two full yards per penalty more at 10.7.  Theoretically, any score approaching (and certainly over) 10 yards per penalty should be a red flag, because that indicates a greater number of personal foul type penalties than the five yard false start or offside variety.

In 2005, we had 9.1 yards per penalty.  This was by far our "best" year at 31st with 90 penalties for 817 yards.  The most penalized team had 8.8 yards per penalty (Colorado), but, ironically, Air Force, tied for 113th, had 10.5 ypp.

←

I don't think having average in yards is necessarily the best measurement. It might be the most costly, but also the easiest to fix. I would rather my team earned 3 penalties a game for say 35 yards than 6 penalties a game for 35. You can curtail a couple of personal foul type breakdowns if you decide that discipline is important (which hasn't been done at NT). On the other hand, if you've got a team consistently racking up false starts and holds and illegal motion, then your team isn't even fundamentally sound and shouldn't be on the field in the first place, and there's a definite coaching breakdown. One problem is related to attitude, the other to the fundamentals of football.

My point was that I've never heard Dickey admit to penalties even being a problem. In fact, before the bowl game against Memphis, I actually heard him reply that he wasn't concerned with them. Now he gives an explanation of the two types of penalties. And? Is this a new and revolutionary idea to any of us? Yeah, I can live with a few where somebody can't pull up in time when the whistle blows, but I have a problem with our abnormal amount of athletes who can't pull up in time. Heck, I also don't usually get too bent out of shape for a WR getting called for a hold. It means the WR actually was out there blocking and I consider it a ticky-tack call from the refs. We all know there are penalties that you can live with and those you can't. I wanna know what he's doing about the fact that penalties is the only category we're ranked in.

[mad dog]

I wanna know what he's doing about the fact that penalties is the only category we're ranked in.

←

Cool... next time we get to do a question and answer, you should come out and ask.