DRC article "RV holds UNT's football fate"

[NT03]

11:24 PM CST on Sunday, November 26, 2006

Brett Vito/Staff Writer

Sometime in the next few days, Rick Villarreal’s legacy as athletic director at North Texas will, for all intents and purposes, be etched in stone.

The former pizza mogul has dramatically improved UNT's facilities and built enthusiasm for the program since he arrived in the spring of 2001 from Southern Miss.

When it comes down to it, though, Villarreal will be remembered largely for the moment he steps to the podium and announces that he has selected the Mean Green's next football coach who will be … South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix? … Southlake Carroll head coach and former UNT offensive coordinator Todd Dodge?

The decision is pretty much Villarreal's to make, although university president Gretchen Bataille will be involved with the pick and the board of regents must approve the hire.

Villarreal's decision could make or break a program that seems to have reached a turning point.

UNT won four straight Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-04 under former head coach Darrell Dickey, whose tenure ended Saturday in a loss to Louisiana-Monroe after nine seasons. The school dismissed Dickey on Nov. 8, midway through his second straight down year.

UNT lost some momentum over the last two years but not all of it. There is still more interest in the program now than before Dickey began his run, and there certainly is a better situation for the Mean Green's next football coach to work with.

Villarreal helped set up UNT's next coach with better facilities, including the Mean Green Athletic Center and new practice fields, additions Dickey helped make a reality by landing a $1 million donation from Houston businessman Jim McIngvale.

UNT's fan base is larger and number of donors involved with the program is greater, thanks partly to Villarreal.

Back-to-back losing football seasons didn’t stop Shirley and Al Goldfield from making a $1.5 million donation last week that ranks as the largest in the history of the Mean Green athletic program. The funds will help UNT with the early stages of a campaign for a new football stadium that will only make replacing Dickey a more attractive possibility for the right coach.

UNT's next coach could take the program and lift it past the level the Mean Green reached in the height of the Dickey era and help make the dream of a new stadium a reality by resorting enthusiasm to the program and helping establish relationships with potential donors.

Expectations are high, but for the right coach the stage seems set for what could be a quick turnaround.

Dickey said as much after he coached his last game on Saturday, when UNT finished 3-9.

“There is some very good young talent here and 19 starters returning," Dickey said. "Whoever comes in is going to inherit some very talented young men who gained some valuable experience the last two years."

UNT lost just one starter on defense after its loss to ULM in defensive lineman Sky Pruitt. The Mean Green will miss wide receiver Johnny Quinn, one of the best players in school history but returns just about everyone else on offense.

While the potential is there for a turnaround, there is also danger of UNT's slide continuing.

Dickey didn’t leave a ready-made winner. UNT’s next coach will have to find a workable quarterback situation, something Dickey wasn’t able to do in his last two seasons. He will also need to upgrade UNT’s offensive and defensive lines and replenish the Mean Green’s depleted corps of receivers.

Both are challenges that could be met by the right coach.

UNT has already contacted Nix. Dodge said he is willing to listen to Villarreal if he wants to talk after Carroll's season.

UTEP offensive coordinator Eric Price has expressed interest in the job.

Athletic directors are judged by whether they make the right decisions in situations like the one Villarreal faces.

Villarreal talked about needing a coach who could take advantage of UNT's improved facilities and location near the recruiting hotbed of Dallas-Fort Worth after announcing that Dickey would not be back next season.

Part of Villarreal's legacy will be setting up UNT's next coach with a better situation than what Dickey had to work with when he arrived in Denton in 1998.

Make the right hire and Villarreal could also be remembered as the athletic director who oversaw the construction of a new stadium and ascension of the Mean Green to ranks of mid-major football powers.

The wrong choice could extend UNT's slide of the last few years and sap enthusiasm from the athletic department in general.

The choice is Villarreal's. His legacy depends on his call.

[FirefightnRick]

Ok, between the 3, who's your favorite?

Nix

Price

Dodge

For me it's Dodge. Of course if Carthel was on that list I'd be straining between Dodge and him. It would be a coin flip for me.

What if RV is faced with that same scenario between his two favorites? Considering so much is on the line you can't afford to coin flip this. Wow, what a tough job that would be.

Even if it's Ronald McDonald I'm behind him 110%.

Rick

Edited November 27, 2006 by FirefightnRick

[NT80]

Ok, between the 3, who's your favorite?

Nix

Price

Dodge

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I gotta go with Dodge. He IS a head coach. He IS an offensive mind. He IS known in the metroplex and state-wide by fans and by recruits. All things we NEED NOW!

[LongJim]

The good thing about this situation is that RV is going to have several EXCELLENT candidates to choose from.

I know there's a lot of Todd Dodge love on this board, and I don't disagree with it, but as long as RV doesn't pull the next coach out of his butt, UNT will have a very intriguing head coach next year, regardless.

From my perspective, and looking back on several decisions RV has made, as well as in his communications to the fans, he has pretty much followed through with everything he has said he would do, and I think he will make a good decision.

There's a lot of upside with Dodge, but if he's hired and falls on his face, RV will take a lot of heat for hiring a HS coach, and the people anointing TD as the UNT savior will disappear. If RV makes a "safer" hire from the college ranks, and that guy tanks, we will see no end to the "should have hired TD" posts.

Still, it's a great situation for UNT to be in.

[SilverEagle]

There are a lot of coaches being fired these days, and some coaches moving up to take their place. The most recent is the North Carolina coach. The Rumor mill also puts the Cincy coach at Mich.St., and the Louisville coach being hired away.

If Nix is the hot prospect that some people seem to think he is, any of the above mentioned openings would be more attractive to him than coming to Texas.

And of the coaches mentioned in the article, my choices would be Dodge, Price, and Nix, in that order.

[untbowler]

There are a lot of coaches being fired these days, and some coaches moving up to take their place. The most recent is the North Carolina coach. The Rumor mill also puts the Cincy coach at Mich.St., and the Louisville coach being hired away.

If Nix is the hot prospect that some people seem to think he is, any of the above mentioned openings would be more attractive to him than coming to Texas.

And of the coaches mentioned in the article, my choices would be Dodge, Price, and Nix, in that order.

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Shula (Bama) is now available, Amato (NCSU)

Iowa State job is now filled, Looks like Cincy coach is heading to MSU.

AZ State is open

[PlummMeanGreen]

I'm just glad the UNT Athletic Director is not from the state of Rhode Island.

In light of the Helwig/Dickey crony hire, this may be the worst possible time for Rick V to hire anyone from Misissssissipppppppiiiiiiiiii, hellsbells, even their governor or Jerry Clower (whoops! sorrry, he is no longer among us)!

Seriously, any hire at this juncture of our school's football history that would be considered a crony hire (although it eventually could even turn out to be a decent hire) still might be as hard a sell in MG Country in light of the last crony hire.

We are in the entertainment business to satisfy the masses, folks; we are not in the business of satisfying only 1 or 2 employed on the UNT campus who may not always be around to see the end results. At 15K per home game averages, it seems the UNT masses have yet to be appeased?

Craig Helwig hired one whose bowl teams would never even smell or come close to Top 25 rankings for a hint of how hiring a crony can backfire on our school and keep us in the Bottom 25 even during "supposed" successful seasons. Also, notice that Craig Helwig was not around on the UNT payroll most the time to hear all those radio broadcasted jabs at UNT and us, ie, the NT Exes nor was he around to see...............all those black "unmarked" jerseys, either

S M U**will trump us once again if they fire Bennett today or whenever; hide, watch and see! Hey, we have a 25 year tradition of screwing up our head football coaches hiring to maintain in Denton, would we want to screw that up now?

As has been posted already, no way SMU is going to allow UNT to hire Todd Dodge; hell, they already know many, many, many of us want him. SMU'ers? This time around, though, will yall please bring the vaseline!

PS: How many fans from South Lake Carroll (whose colors also just happen to be green and white) would Todd Dodge turn into Mean Green fans; especially if he recruited his Texas blue chip QB son next year?

HE WHO HESITATES LOSES! (And at UNT, we also specialize in that, too)

HIRE TODD DODGE ASAP!

Edited November 27, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[football fan]

Firefightin Rick, I like your school spirit and vocal support regardless of who RV selects as HC. You are a classy fan all the way!!

Being from Texas and having lived in the DFW area for 20+ years, I am certainly partial to coaching prospects with DFW/Texas connections. Do not know anything about Nix and very little about Carthel but can say without question that I personally think Dodge or Applewhite would be hugely successful at UNT. Am a UT grad and bleed orange so am very familiar with both. Either could and would, get the job done in my mind no question!!

Since I have a son on the team, my allegiance has obviously shifted to UNT. Still a Horn fan and always will be except when UNT plays them. My dream is to see UNT get to a point where we could beat my beloved Horns. Like 1976 or was it 1977 when Earl had to rally the Horns late in fourth quarter to salvage a win against UNT. That's where we need to be!! I believe that is very easily possible with the right coach and staff. With improved, competitive facilities and sitting on the perimeter of one of the best HS football talent pools in the nation (DFW), UNT has incredible potential!! Let's just do it!

[pollock]

11:24 PM CST on Sunday, November 26, 2006

Brett Vito/Staff Writer

Villarreal talked about needing a coach who could take advantage of UNT's improved facilities and location near the recruiting hotbed of Dallas-Fort Worth after announcing that Dickey would not be back next season.

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Of those 3, Dodge is my favorite, hands down. And the above statement makes me think he would be RV's frontrunner as well.

There is not another realistic candidate out there that could capitalize on DFW recruiting like Dodge.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Firefightin Rick, I like your school spirit and vocal support regardless of who RV selects as HC.  You are a classy fan all the way!!

Being from Texas and having lived in the DFW area for 20+ years, I am certainly partial to coaching prospects with DFW/Texas connections.  Do not know anything about Nix and very little about Carthel but can say without question that I personally think Dodge or Applewhite would be hugely successful at UNT.  Am a UT grad and bleed orange so am very familiar with both.  Either could and would, get the job done in my mind no question!!

Since I have a son on the team, my allegiance has obviously shifted to UNT.  Still a Horn fan and always will be except when UNT plays them.  My dream is to see UNT get to a point where we could beat my beloved Horns.  Like 1976 or was it 1977 when Earl had to rally the Horns late in fourth quarter to salvage a win against UNT.  That's where we need to be!!  I believe that is very easily possible with the right coach and staff.  With improved, competitive facilities and sitting on the perimeter of one of the best HS football talent pools in the nation (DFW), UNT has incredible potential!!  Let's just do it!

←

That was 1976 and some of us on this board were students and at that game when the Tyler Rose had to make that long run to beat the Mean Green. Of course, we had a big time coach during that era and were not a "projects coach" factory that promoted SBC wins as something very special. Some of us even still think a win over Tennessee has been more important for this progarm than a win over Middle Tennessee--imagine that? None of us can help the fact that UNT officials have continually dropped the ball in hiring HFC's since Hayden Fry left and I think any football media guide would prove our point.

Some of us other fans have been waiting a long time to get back to the days you speak of, football fan; in fact, some of us have been waiting for well over 25 plus years for this to happen again.

FWIW, few of us don't even care who gets the job done at UNT anymore--but its just a matter now of we just want the job to get done.

Edited November 27, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[Eagle-96]

Even if it's Ronald McDonald I'm behind him 110%.

Rick

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Rick, I like Ronald but I think NT needs to stay away from scandal. Who can forget the rumors of McDonald sending McD-L-T's to recruits or when he was caught accepting half-price special sauce from boosters. NT needs a coach with a great offensive mind and we all know that Grimmace is the right man for the job. He runs a wide open offense and always has a positive upbeat attitude. If we don't get him then I think we need to go after the Noid at Domino's as a 2nd option.

[buff64]

RV will hire the best coach available that is interested in the position. After all his job depends on it. If the coach has Southern Miss. ties and no experience in Texas ,so be it. I would certainly hope the coach would have Texas tie ins, but I feel certain that would be a major concern when the staff is assembled. I know of programs that when the old coach cleaned out his office all of the recruiting files,notes, etc. were tossed also. Signing day is not that far away and many kids have already made their choice,let's hope a few will reconsider . This , of course depends on the new staff and the expectations of the program. If a vacancy at SMU scares you, well, you know the saying "If you can't stand the fire get out of the kitchen."

[untbowler]

I know of programs that when the old coach cleaned out his office all of the recruiting files,notes, etc. were tossed also.

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I could see DD doing this with a big bonfire right outside of RV's window at the AC

[UNTflyer]

If a vacancy at SMU scares you, well, you know the saying "If you can't stand the fire get out of the kitchen."

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Yikes! If there was a fire in it, I'd RUN out of the kitchen.

[ntsumgspe]

I could see DD doing this with a big bonfire right outside of RV's window at the AC 

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I'd like to be there for that.

[FirefightnRick]

Yikes!  If there was a fire in it, I'd RUN out of the kitchen.

←

Not me.

football fan

Firefightin Rick, I like your school spirit and vocal support regardless of who RV selects as HC. You are a classy fan all the way!!

Thank you. By the way, if you happen to talk with NT over the holidays let him know we are excited to see what he's got come spring.

It's All Green, and All Good!

Rick

[PlummMeanGreen]

RV will hire the best coach available that is interested in the position. After all his job depends on it. If the coach has Southern Miss. ties and no experience in Texas ,so be it. I would certainly hope the coach would have Texas tie ins, but I feel certain that would be a major concern when the staff is assembled. I know of programs that when the old coach cleaned out his office all of the recruiting files,notes, etc. were tossed also. Signing day is not that far away and many kids have already made their choice,let's hope a few will reconsider . This , of course depends on the new staff and the expectations of the program. If a vacancy at SMU scares you, well, you know the saying "If you can't stand the fire get out of the kitchen."

←

buff64, I don't think its a matter of the SMU vacancy scaring anyone, I think its more of a matter of the concern of many that UNT will sit on its haunches (like we've basically done in the past that's probably even kept us out of getting in a better conference?) and letting what could be another golden opportunity slip away for our program.

It's also a case that many of us are getting tired of so many non-Texans/non-UNT'ers defining who we would be as a university in our own native state of Texas with their (sometimes) selfish and self-serving agendas that has rarely helped our alma mater's athletic program move upward or forward from what most of us have seen the last 25 plus years. Craig Helwig certainly defined it all for us at UNT now didn't he?

PS

As a reminder: But 5 minutes off the UNT payroll for some of those who would define who we are at UNT and MG Country, yet some of that group will never look back to see what they've left for the rest of us to live with for what can sometimes turn into close to a decade.

Edited November 27, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[football fan]

That was 1976 and some of us on this board were students and at that game when the Tyler Rose had to make that long run to beat the Mean Green.

I was there also PMG rootin for the Horns. Was not happy that NTSU (at the time) came in as big underdogs and just about left town with a W. Heck of a team that year.

[Danish42]

Ok, between the 3, who's your favorite?

Nix

Price

Dodge

For me it's Dodge.  Of course if Carthel was on that list I'd be straining between Dodge and him.  It would be a coin flip for me. 

What if RV is faced with that same scenario between his two favorites?  Considering so much is on the line you can't afford to coin flip this.  Wow, what a tough job that would be.

Even if it's Ronald McDonald I'm behind him 110%.

Rick

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The Rickster has spoken

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

Rick, I like Ronald but I think NT needs to stay away from scandal. Who can forget the rumors of McDonald sending McD-L-T's to recruits or when he was caught accepting half-price special sauce from boosters. NT needs a coach with a great offensive mind and we all know that Grimmace is the right man for the job. He runs a wide open offense and always has a positive upbeat attitude. If we don't get him then I think we need to go after the Noid at Domino's as a 2nd option.

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Now that was funny. I second the nomination of Grimace, but with the stipulations that he must allow himself to be painted green, and give unlimited licensing rights to use his new image as the new Mean Green mascot.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I was there also PMG rootin for the Horns.  Was not happy that NTSU (at the time) came in as big underdogs and just about left town with a W.  Heck of a team that year.

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It was what many of us thought would be the kind of thing our school would build on.

I guess anyone who would have been an NT student at that time would have probably felt the same way--even 30 years later.

Many of us still are holding out hope that that kind of MG football history will repeat itself.

Glad to have both you and your son in the program, football fan.