Blog Article About Darrell Dickey's Move To Usu

[NT80]

gterry's SportingBlog entries tagged with KentArsenaultDarrell Dickey

Jan 26, 2007 01:15 PM

Filed under:KentArsenault

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THE DARRELL DICKEY ARTICLE, UNEDITED AND UNCUT

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The new offensive coordinator has not occupied his office in the Harris Athletic Center long enough to begin accumulating personal touches like family photos or plants yet. But there are signs that Darrell Dickey has already been at work preparing for next football season, most conspicuous being the projector and screen set up for viewing film of his new team.

The impressive hunk of bejeweled metal on Dickey's right ring finger is a constantly visible reminder of the great successes Dickey had while at North Texas: four consecutive Sun Belt titles, four Sun Belt Coach of the Year awards and two NCAA-leading rushers. Looking alert and rested, Dickey appears to be a far cry health-wise from the man who had his gal bladder removed, suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with diabetes within a nine-month span last year.

Dickey's most recent visit to Logan was in Mick Dennehy's last year here, when USU was North Texas' rival in the Sun Belt Conference. He recalled a great, back-and-forth contest with Leon Jackson III and Kevin Robinson making plays for USU. The game ultimately hinged on a Travis Cox fumble into the end zone which was returned for a touchdown.

"There was a great crowd...I was very impressed with the city, the stadium, the crowd and the program. I always have been. I'm very excited to be here," Dickey said. "Fortunately for Utah State, there are advantages that we have here. The facilities are excellent and getting better. We didn't have an indoor facility at North Texas. Our stadium wasn't really as pretty as this one."

The news of Dickey's firing from North Texas after the most recent season provoked outrage in Denton, Texas, where the university is located. Furniture magnate Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale gave the university an ultimatum when he learned Dickey had been fired: name the new practice facility McIngvale donated $1 million toward building after the recently fired coach, or the money would go toward North Texas' music program instead. The university agreed to play ball with McIngvale.

"Right's right and wrong's wrong. It's the right thing to do. I don't think firing a guy three weeks after he had a heart attack was the right thing to do, either. Even Wall Street is not that callous," McIngvale said. In this case, North Texas' loss will be USU's gain.

Dickey said USU's 1-11 record last year didn't concern him as he spoke with USU Head Coach Brent Guy before taking the offensive coordinator job.

"Probably the biggest thing we talked about wasn't 1-11 or any statistics. We talked about what are you doing to build a program. The things he is doing I strongly believe in: bringing in young guys, redshirting them, developing for the future. These are things I went through at North Texas. The first three years we struggled to win some games. Players would get into the fourth quarter and figure out how to lose a game as opposed to how to win one."

Dickey, who was a four-year starting quarterback at Kansas State, has an impressive pedigree, repeatedly associating himself with losing football programs that improved while he was there.

"They have told me I'm crazy everything I've done my whole life. I went to school at Kansas State when we were considered the laughingstock of college football," Dickey said. "When I took the North Texas job, people said there's no way on earth under the circumstances that you can win games playing four and five money games a year."

USU fans who remember the Sun Belt days recall the conference being ruled with an iron fist by North Texas; during Dickey's streak of four consecutive league titles, the Mean Green went 26-1 against Sun Belt opponents. Running backs Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas led the NCAA in rushing in back-to-back years, Cobbs with 152.7 yards per game, Thomas with 180.1 yards per game the next season after Cobbs hurt his knee. The top four rushers in university history all played under Dickey.

Dickey noted that while he has gotten most of his notoriety with a strong running game, "we didn't start winning football games until we had balance in our offense. I believe strongly that you have to be able to run the ball. But I believe to do that and to put points on the board, you've got to have a very effective passing game. Play-action off that running game is where you get your big plays and exciting plays."

Although Dickey said he will emphasize running the ball with the zone play and there may be some carryover from last year in the passing game, he will tailor his offense to fit the personnel USU has.

"We're going to finish recruiting, and I'm going to sit down with the coaches. I'm a guy who likes to have input from the rest of the coaches," Dickey said. "I have a philosophy, but I've always had to tweak it and adjust it to fit the personnel we have."

Dickey said the biggest obstacle to create a winning culture he has encountered elsewhere in his career is confidence, or a lack thereof.

"If you're dealing with 18-, 19- and 20-year-old kids that haven't had success up to this point, sometimes you've got to convince them. Give them something to hang their hat on," Dickey said. "Confidence doesn't come from statistics, and it doesn't come from your past. Next year it's a whole new ball game."

Building that confidence is no easy task. It often takes several years for a new coach to build the program the way he wants and start accumulating wins. Guy knows this well, having taken his lumps in the WAC the last two years with rosters short on upper classmen. But that is precisely why Dickey said he is excited about the opportunity here, because Guy is committed to building USU's football program for the long term.

"I've seen people that take jobs and just try and patch it together and win six games and then take off to the next job and leave it a mess. Just by looking at the board and seeing what Coach Guy has done with recruiting, that's not what he's doing here. He's trying to get this thing to where once it's good it's consistently good," Dickey said.

North Texas had to buy out the remaining years on Dickey's contract when they decided to fire him. The $524,167, which will be paid out to Dickey in monthly installments, is enough money to ensure he would never have to coach again if he didn't want to. Ask him why he is a football coach, though, and dollar signs don't appear in his eyes.

"The reason I enjoy coaching is to see the look on people's face that have never done it, that doubted themselves and doubted their team, and all of a sudden good things start happening," Dickey said.

[Green to the Bone]

This blog item is four months old.

[NT80]

This blog item is four months old.

I still found it interesting on their impressions of the situation. Got anything newer to post?

Edited May 19, 2007 by NT80

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Play-action off that running game is where you get your big plays and exciting plays."

It always worked so well here. Especially when you ran on 1st and 2nd downs to set up the always exciting 3rd and 20 draw play.

[UNTFan23]

In this case, North Texas' loss will be USU's gain.

There was far more to lose if we kept Dickey as a coach. The fan base was tired of the game plan that was producing an offense that was ranked at the bottom of almost every offensive statistic kept. Donors were on the verge of jumping ship. Attendance was sliding, fast. Overall, the program seemed to be in a free fall.

Today, we have the highest number of donors in recent history in the Mean Green Club. Season ticket sales are also up. The fan base is excited about what the offense will do. We had over 5 thousand people for our Spring Game. There is talk about what our future may hold in the near term.

Sometimes to keep things moving forward, you have to shake things up. One way of doing that is bringing in new leadership.

[Travis]

I am glad they are happy with their new coach. I really am. It seems then that both schools are happy with the move and thats great. We didn't want 'em and apperently their media did.

Give 'em a few games and that attitude will change.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

There was far more to lose if we kept Dickey as a coach. The fan base was tired of the game plan that was producing an offense that was ranked at the bottom of almost every offensive statistic kept. Donors were on the verge of jumping ship. Attendance was sliding, fast. Overall, the program seemed to be in a free fall.

Today, we have the highest number of donors in recent history in the Mean Green Club. Season ticket sales are also up. The fan base is excited about what the offense will do. We had over 5 thousand people for our Spring Game. There is talk about what our future may hold in the near term.

Sometimes to keep things moving forward, you have to shake things up. One way of doing that is bringing in new leadership.

Great Post.

[FirefightnRick]

There was far more to lose if we kept Dickey as a coach. The fan base was tired of the game plan that was producing an offense that was ranked at the bottom of almost every offensive statistic kept. Donors were on the verge of jumping ship. Attendance was sliding, fast. Overall, the program seemed to be in a free fall.

Today, we have the highest number of donors in recent history in the Mean Green Club. Season ticket sales are also up. The fan base is excited about what the offense will do. We had over 5 thousand people for our Spring Game. There is talk about what our future may hold in the near term.

Sometimes to keep things moving forward, you have to shake things up. One way of doing that is bringing in new leadership.

But 23, there was so much OUTRAGE in Denton? How can that be?

Rick

[BIG DAWG]

The news of Dickey's firing from North Texas after the most recent season provoked outrage in Denton, Texas, where the university is located

Name one

[greenjoe]

Outrage that it took so long.

[Green Means Go!]

The only people I know who are missing Darrell are the fine folks at Denton Presbyterian Hospital.

He was named their 2006 "Customer of the Year."

[NorthTexan95]

The only people I know who are missing Darrell are the fine folks at Denton Presbyterian Hospital.

He was named their 2006 "Customer of the Year."

lol

[shutter]

Is that funny? I dont get it.

Dicky was done as a coach but he still is a good man who needs a new start and some GREEN grass to graze on. I wish him well. Let s get our new era started this fall and stop looking back.

Shut

[greenminer]

Is that funny? I dont get it.

Dicky was done as a coach but he still is a good man who needs a new start and some GREEN grass to graze on. I wish him well. Let s get our new era started this fall and stop looking back.

Shut

I agree I'd like to see us move on, but his shot on our facilities means I'll bite my tongue and let the bashing continue. If he's not moving on from us, I don't blame some of the posters here for continuing to lash at him.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---DD probably is/was a good person .... BUT .... he made himself a target when he suited up the team in black uniforms. He would have left here with a lot more friends at NT if he had not done that. With that action he was asking for criticism forever and burned a lot of bridges. Other coaches have been fired also but I don't remember anyone doing anything similar. In an odd way our athletic department was asking for it when he was released so early in the season but was still around to coach several games and had time come up with somewhat a parting shot. That just isn't done in corporate America... fired but still on the job (unless the job is being eliminated which is not exactly being fired for poor performance).

--- North Texas has been the only university to hire him as a head coach (and for nine years) and we did not deserve that type of classless exit. He had won only 5 of his final 23 games (21%) and the schedule was not that demanding for many of those games. ....He should not have been very surprised....besides most of those losses just weren't all those close.

Edited May 21, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[Cr1028]

---DD probably is/was a good person .... BUT .... he made himself a target when he suited up the team in black uniforms. He would have left here with a lot more friends at NT if he had not done that. With that action he was asking for criticism forever and burned a lot of bridges. Other coaches have been fired also but I don't remember anyone doing anything similar. In an odd way our athletic department was asking for it when he was released so early in the season but was still around to coach several games and had time come up with somewhat a parting shot. That just isn't done in corporate America... fired but still on the job (unless the job is being eliminated which is not exactly being fired for poor performance).

--- North Texas has been the only university to hire him as a head coach (and for nine years) and we did not deserve that type of classless exit. He had won only 5 of his final 23 games (21%) and the schedule was not that demanding for many of those games. ....He should not have been very surprised....besides most of those losses just weren't all those close.

Couldn't agree more

[Green Means Go!]

--- In an odd way our athletic department was asking for it when he was released so early in the season but was still around to coach several games and had time come up with somewhat a parting shot.

As I recall, he was fired with two games left in the season........so I wouldn't say he was released so early in the season. And there was a good reason for firing him then: The 30-day waiting period which the state requires before a job can be filled. If I'm not mistaken, we hired Todd almost exactly one month after the Dickey release. If we had waited two more weeks, and let Dickey coach the final two games and then fire him....it would have delayed recruiting, even if we had still gotten Dodge to be our head coach.

[UNTLifer]

This is a good point that many seem to have overlooked. Due to the state mandated 30 day period, it was imperative that DD was let go when he was so that it wouldn't negatively affect recruiting.

Edited May 22, 2007 by UNTLifer

[PHSCoach]

This is a good point that many seem to have overlooked. Due to the state mandated 30 day period, it was imperative that DD was let go when he was so that it wouldn't negatively affect recruiting.

The love of selective memory. DD was let go on Nov. 7th.

Dodge took over on Dec. 27th which was 30 days after the last game of the season.

[untbowler]

The love of selective memory. DD was let go on Nov. 7th.

Dodge took over on Dec. 27th which was 30 days after the last game of the season.

Yes but he was hired about 2-3 weeks prior, he waited until after SLC playoff run to officially start, if they would have lost early he would have started earlier.

[Green Means Go!]

The love of selective memory. DD was let go on Nov. 7th.

Dodge took over on Dec. 27th which was 30 days after the last game of the season.

He took over then.....because his h.s. team was still in the playoffs. And, as I recall there's a holiday which falls every year on Dec. 25.

But, he was hired on, or around December 12. We announced it, had that big press conference. If Dickey had been allowed to stay on until the end of the season, we wouldn't have been able to hire Todd until late December.

So, I think you're the one with faulty memory.

[UNTLifer]

The love of selective memory. DD was let go on Nov. 7th.

Dodge took over on Dec. 27th which was 30 days after the last game of the season.

The love of selective memory. TD was hired, as untbowler stated, 2 to 3 weeks prior, and discussions had been taking place. It was well known that TD would be leaving SLC as soon as their season was over.

[PerryG2480]

Shoot, let's get Utah St. on the schedule...make them the Homecoming game. Might be fun.

[FirefightnRick]

Yes but he was hired about 2-3 weeks prior, he waited until after SLC playoff run to officially start, if they would have lost early he would have started earlier.

Theoretically, he was hired long before that. LONG before!!!!

Rick

[greenminer]

Shoot, let's get Utah St. on the schedule...make them the Homecoming game. Might be fun.

we could roll out the all-white jerseys! And bring in the Diet Coke Boy for the coin flip