DRC NT notebook..can't believe DD's comments

OldTimer · September 20, 2006

UNT notebook

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 20, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Player of the week

Sophomore middle blocker Catherine Coffey continued her recent surge when she was named the MVP of the Illinois-Chicago Tournament over the weekend.

Coffey finished with 33 kills, in 12 games and added 11 blocks in just two matches. The former Allen standout’s performance helped the Mean Green sweep three matches in the tournament and improve to 9-6 heading into their Sun Belt Conference opener at Arkansas State on Friday.

“Catherine controlled the net and the tempo of the game,” UNT coach Cassie Headrick said.

Coffey now ranks third among UNT players with 142 kills and leads the team with 57 blocks.

Coffey had her best match of the weekend when she finished with 18 kills in a five-game win over Illinois-Chicago.

For her performance in the tournament, Coffey is the Denton Record-Chronicle UNT Player of the Week.

Football

UNT needs to adjust to Wilson’s strengths

Woody Wilson will start at quarterback for a second straight week on Saturday when North Texas faces Akron.

Wilson started for the first time against Tulsa last week when the Mean Green continued to adjust to the former Coffeyville (Kan.) Community standout. Sophomore Matt Phillips started the first two games of the season before giving way to Wilson each time.

“Woody didn’t do poorly against Tulsa,” UNT head coach Darrell Dickey said. “He only forced one ball and made good decisions. He is our best option at quarterback. We need to get better at running what he is good at.”

Wilson has shown that he is at his best when he is able to get outside of the pocket and either throw the ball on the run or pull it down and scramble up field.

Wilson posted a 33-yard touchdown run against SMU and also threw several accurate passes on the run.

Those plays have helped Wilson complete 17 of 21 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown with just one interception. He has also run for 52 yards and a touchdown, despite having a tough game against Tulsa in which he lost 17 yards on eight carries.

Wilson will take the majority of the snaps in practice with the first team this week after splitting time in practice earlier in the season with Phillips and sophomore Daniel Meager.

Meager started every game last season, but missed the Mean Green’s first two games with a concussion. Phillips did not play against the Golden Hurricane.

“Woody can make plays and throw the ball,” Dickey said. “His decision-making has been good and he’s a good runner. We have to turn him loose.”

UNT backs not seeing holes in running game

The problems in UNT’s running game are based in a variety of areas, including running backs missing holes that are there to be exploited, head coach Darrell Dickey said Tuesday.

UNT returns a veteran running back in junior Jamario Thomas and a redshirt freshman with a year in the system in Evan Robertson.

Both are running behind an offensive line that is struggling and providing fewer opportunities than the Mean Green would like. UNT’s backs are not helping the problem by missing a few of the openings that are there to be exploited.

“We are seeing that there are a few holes there,” Dickey said. “That means that our tailbacks, Jamario and Evan, need more practice time at each particular play. We might need to water down the number of plays because it is very important to know where the holes will be. In the past all of our backs, including Jamario, found those holes a high percentage of the time. There were times when they were there and we didn’t see them. We might be pressing too much.”

Dickey said that he is still confident UNT has the right combination of backs and offensive linemen to run the zone-read running play between the tackles effectively. The play has been a staple of the Mean Green’s offense during his tenure.

Dickey: UNT must deal better with adversity

UNT head coach Darrell Dickey said Tuesday that he was not happy with the way the Mean Green dealt with adversity during their game against Tulsa on Saturday.

UNT actually led for most of the first half before giving up a 96-yard touchdown drive just before halftime.

UNT never seemed to recover in a 28-3 loss.

“We felt like we played well enough defensively in the first half,” Dickey said. “For a young team like ours to have felt like we played well enough to be in the lead, it was tough. You have to learn to deal with those things. … We didn’t handle it real well. Hopefully we will learn from it.”

UNT to visit Hall of Fame

UNT will take time out during its trip to Akron this weekend to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

The Mean Green’s hotel in Akron is located less than a half an hour from the museum.

Volleyball

UNT has big weekend in Chicago

The Mean Green posted one of their best weekends of the season last week at the Illinois-Chicago Tournament.

UNT won all three of its matches in the tournament, including a pair of five-game wins.

Mean Green head coach Cassie Headrick said she was happy with the weekend overall and a win over Western Michigan specifically.

The Broncos were ranked among the top 50 teams in the country last season and are off to a 10-4 start this year.

UNT had at least three players who finished with double-figure kills in all three matches, which continued a season-long trend that has seen the Mean Green develop better balance offensively.

“There is no question we have better balance this year than we did last season,” Headrick said. “We are not getting the consistency we need from all of our hitters yet, but when we do, we will be an even more dangerous team.”

Hulsebosch named Sun Belt POW

Jessica Hulsebosch was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for her performance in the Illinois-Chicago Tournament over the weekend.

The junior libero finished with 92 digs and averaged 6.57 digs a game.

Hulsebosch’s performance helped UNT improve to 9-6 on the season. UNT did not post its ninth win until it had played 24 matches last season.

Maddox steps in for Bass

Freshman Heather Maddox stepped in for junior starter Ashley Bass at setter for UNT in the Chicago-Illinois tournament over the weekend.

Bass missed the tournament with a broken rib that has hampered her the last few weeks.

“Ashley is still tender and we want to make sure that she heals before we bring her back,” UNT head coach Cassie Headrick said.

The Mean Green didn’t miss Bass, thanks to Maddox.

The former Boerne standout finished with 46 assists in each of UNT’s first two matches before coming up with 62 in a four-game match against Western Illinois. Maddox’s total against WIU was a season high for UNT, despite the fact the match just lasted just four games.

Maddox’s 46 assists against Western Illinois and Illinois-Chicago are tied for UNT’s season high for a five-game match.

Maddox has led UNT to a 7-1 record as a starter, which has caused Headrick to consider continuing giving her time when Bass comes back.

“Right now I don’t know when Ashley will come back,” Headrick said. “We have two really good setters and need to make sure we have the right person or persons on the court. My biggest concern right now is Ashley’s health.”

Soccer

Hedlund expects SBC to be challenge

Defending the Sun Belt Conference championship will be a challenge, UNT head coach John Hedlund said on Tuesday, just days before the Mean Green’s league opener at Louisiana-Monroe on Friday.

UNT has won the conference title and played in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons.

“Conference will be a challenge,” Hedlund said. “Denver is ranked in front of us, Florida Atlantic only lost to Florida State, 2-1, and Middle Tennessee took Vanderbilt to overtime. Our conference is much stronger than it has been.”

That strength is reflected in Soccer Buzz magazine’s Central Region Rankings. Denver is ranked 10th and UNT 15th while MTSU is one of two teams that are receiving votes, but are not in the poll.

Hedlund said the Sun Belt could send multiple teams to the NCAA tournament this season because of the strength of the conference, which should be more competitive.

The league will only take eight of the 12 teams in the league to the conference tournament this season.

Hedlund: Day trip to Grambling a mistake

If UNT head coach John Hedlund had it to do over again, he wouldn’t have taken a day trip to Grambling State for a game last week.

The Mean Green traveled to the game on Sunday, came out flat and ended up with a 1-1 tie that dropped their record to 4-2-2.

UNT fired 39 shots, the third most in school history, but managed just one goal.

“The surprise last week was Grambling,” Hedlund said. “I could have prepared better. They are a good team when they play at home and we came in the morning of the game.”

chrisfisher · September 20, 2006

(1) “Woody can make plays and throw the ball,” Dickey said. “His decision-making has been good and he’s a good runner. We have to turn him loose.”
(2) We might need to water down the number of plays because it is very important to know where the holes will be.... We might be pressing too much.”
(3) Wilson will take the majority of the snaps in practice with the first team this week after splitting time in practice earlier in the season with Phillips and sophomore Daniel Meager.
(4) Dickey said that he is still confident UNT has the right combination of backs and offensive linemen to run the zone-read running play between the tackles effectively. The play has been a staple of the Mean Green’s offense during his tenure.
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Positive: This is a change from what he has been saying so hopefully we'll see more (1) and (3). But....Darrell "KEEP 8 IN THE BOX" Dickey takes one step forward (1), two steps back (2), one step forward (3), and two steps back (4). I can't count the number of times that I complained about (3) being one reason why our offensive is out of sync. Our starter should have been doing this in Aug practice, not 4 games into the season! You know, as wacky as we get on this board, D-K8ITB-D confirms many posts I've read recently. Finally, I hope that Ramon "I KEEP ALL THE OFFENSIVE PLAYS ON MY 10 DIGITS" Flannigan ignores (2) and (4) and does more (1). Lastly, I like that “up the middle has been the staple of his offensive during his tenure” comment.

Edited September 20, 2006 by chrisfisher