My only concern with all this

[the real grad88]

I may ruffle some feathers here, but I have to say that I fear there is too much hoopla being made about the style of offense. I grant you that it is fun to watch and will attract some attention...especially in the beginning.

BUT, the West Coast offense is not what it used to be. Defensive Coordinators are not backing up with their heads spinning anymore. They have figured out how to slow it down and manage it...at least at the college level...where they have great athletes at every position.

Texas Tech, BYU and others have all discovered that I am afraid. Bottom line: It takes superior athletes to win. If our athletes are average, our results will be average...no matter how many people we send out on routes.

With the above said, I still believe that TD was the greatest hire we could have ever made in our situation, so I am not complaining...just trying to spin a little reality on the situation here.

[Green92]

It takes superior athletes to win.

I disagree. It takes superior execution to win. You will win more games with superior athletes, but you can certainly win with less athletic skill than your opponent if you execute well. It doesn't matter what style of offense.

[GreenEddieNT]

I may ruffle some feathers here, but I have to say that I fear there is too much hoopla being made about the style of offense. I grant you that it is fun to watch and will attract some attention...especially in the beginning.

BUT, the West Coast offense is not what it used to be. Defensive Coordinators are not backing up with their heads spinning anymore. They have figured out how to slow it down and manage it...at least at the college level...where they have great athletes at every position.

Texas Tech, BYU and others have all discovered that I am afraid. Bottom line: It takes superior athletes to win. If our athletes are average, our results will be average...no matter how many people we send out on routes.

With the above said, I still believe that TD was the greatest hire we could have ever made in our situation, so I am not complaining...just trying to spin a little reality on the situation here.

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Precisely. SLC had a lot of advantages versus the competition it played that UNT does not have against the competition it plays. Anyone who thinks he can go 77-1 at UNT like he did at his high school is in for a dose of reality. Especially considering he's going to get a very late recruiting start and he's got to sell UNT and the Sun Belt to kids who are getting better offers. The one thing he has going for him is that all the other Sun Belt schools have the same problems with lack of money, facilities, fans, tradition, negative stigma, etc.... That's why I do think it is reasonable to expect him to be competitive within the Sun Belt almost from the beginning.

Edited December 14, 2006 by GreenEddieNT

[the real grad88]

I disagree.  It takes superior execution to win.  You will win more games with superior athletes, but you can certainly win with less athletic skill than your opponent if you execute well.  It doesn't matter what style of offense.

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I think that is true especially at the high school level, but in the college level? I don't think so. Look, I think TD will win more than he loses because he is a good coach and a good teacher, but my concern is that we are expecting more than he can deliver. Against BCS schools and upper tier programs, I am afraid that it will be the same old same old.

Now, if he stays long enough to create a true legacy and ups the recruiting to the level of truly competing with the Big XII schools in that department, then anything can happen.

[emmitt01]

I think you are both half right and half wrong.

First, Todd Dodge doesn't only chunk the ball around the yard. For proof see Tre Newton's 250+ yards last week against Colleyville Heritage in SLC's win. He will do what it takes to win and we already have a stable of good backs.

Also, he doesn't have superior athletes at SLC. This is a myth that is put forward by those who don't understand his team. He has made a habit of beating teams with superior athletes, and yes speed too, by out-thinking and outcoaching the other team. Look at local, state and national top 100 teams for prooof.

That being said, at this level (1A) it's gonna take at least a handful of really good players to make things run. I just happen to think he's got the reputation and ability to bring them to Denton.

[El Paso Eagle]

Good Infor from Coach

First of all, there isn't a "spread offense".  When a team runs the spread, all they do is utilize multiple receivers to spread the defense out.  What they do from there varies greatly from coach to coach.  There are spread teams that run mostly option, spread teams that run the counter/counter read (UT last year), spread teams that pound the ball, spread teams that dink and dunk, spread teams that stretch the field, and teams that do a little of it all.

Yes it DOES matter.  It isn't the nature of a spread team to keep a defense on the field, it's the nature of a passing team.  An incomplete pass is an incomplete pass if you do it out of the wishbone or five wide.  Running plays eat clock if you do it out of a power I or four wide.

You cited a Texas Tech game as an example that a team spreads the field and wears it's defense out in the end by not controlling the ball.  Let's compare Leach and Dodge and their offenses.  This is using total plays from this season.

SLC - 43% Pass - 57% Run

TT - 76% Pass - 24% Run

Compared to what we have seen at Fouts for years, this will be like a wild and wacky air it out attack, but please no comparisons to Leach or other pass, pass, pass offenses.  Dodge has a well rounded attack, he just spreads the field to do it.

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[Zeke]

Good stuff Coach.

[Coach]

BUT, the West Coast offense is not what it used to be.

The West Coast offense isn't really an offense, it is a form of passing style. The receivers and quarterback adjust routes according the defense and it is based on the short passing game and timing. It has nothing to do with run/pass ratio, and I had no idea that Dodge incorporated it's principals into his offense. Maybe he does, but I honestly did not know that.

You are 100% correct on one thing though, and that is about talent. If you have talent, you can make any scheme look good. The most useful class I ever took at NT was Coaching Basketball with Mr. Baker, and he always says:

When you got a horse, you ride

When you don't, you walk

I think Dodge will get some talent here, and he will devise ways to make them effective through the air or on the ground, but probably both.

[adman]

  Especially considering he's going to get a very late recruiting start and he's got to sell UNT and the Sun Belt to kids who are getting better offers. 

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Well it's not like he wasn't aware of NT's interest prior to Dec. 12. And considering how many HS games he plays a year, players he sees and coaches he knows I'm sure he has, if not on paper at least mentally, written a short list of prospects he'd like to sign. Not to mention I'd wager he's already had a few coaches call him with prospects. Couple that with one or two kids coming in with assistants as well as a few with Dodge himself and I bet we're ok with recruiting.

[Smitty]

I think Dodge will get some talent here, and he will devise ways to make them effective through the air or on the ground, but probably both.

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It's coaching and it's talent.

Remember the Cowboys in the early 90s? They didn't do anything that was unexpected. They ran Emmitt, threw to Michael, and invited anyone to try to stop them. That drive to start the second half of the second Super Bowl against Buffalo was just hand offs to Emmitt again and again and again. Pure talent was too much to stop.

However, that talent was well coached. We've all seen undisciplined teams waste talent - look at the New York Giants this year.

But when it all comes together, it is a thing of beauty. A high coach once told me precisely what an opponent was going to do against him and precisely how he was going to counter it, and he explained how that opponent would be forced to change their strategy or die. It unfolded exactly as he said it would. Nothing fancy, just great coaching making the most of his team's talent.

77-1 strongly suggests that Coach Dodge has been making the most of his talent.

[drex]

Besides athletes and coaching, it takes someone who works hard. Someone who gives a damn and is always thinking of ways to beat the opponent. We have that guy now, so let's hang on for a great two or three years.

[the real grad88]

Good Infor from Coach

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I honestly did not know that SLC ran more than it passed. I had always understood it to be a wide-open passing attack. If that is true, then I stand corrected.

[SilverEagle]

Besides athletes and coaching, it takes someone who works hard.  Someone who gives a damn and is always thinking of ways to beat the opponent.  We have that guy now, so let's hang on for a great two or three years.

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This puts me in mind of a story about another HS coaching legend Chuck Curtis. Curtis won state at Jacksboro in 1962 and then moved to Garland and won state the very next year. The QB from that Jacksboro squad told a story about riding the bus to the Decatur game in 62. He said that Coach Curtis came back and sat down with him and started talking about some strategy ideas that he had for the next week's opponent. He said that Coach Curtis was always thinking ahead.

[runt96]

Besides athletes and coaching, it takes someone who works hard.  Someone who gives a damn and is always thinking of ways to beat the opponent.  We have that guy now, so let's hang on for a great two or three years.

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That's right, and the 77-1 record of Dodge tells us one thing, HE'S A WINNER. He knows how to win with what he's got. We need to become more competitive with the MACs and CUSAs .

[SilverEagle]

That's right, and the 77-1 record of Dodge tells us one thing, HE'S A WINNER. He knows how to win with what he's got. We need to become more competitive with the MACs and CUSAs .

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That's an excellent place to start.