I Still Think Dodge Can Bring Successful Football To Unt

[eulessismore]

What books have the rest of you read lately that involve football? I've only read one lately, but I can't resist suggesting, "Sway: the Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior". I'm not suggesting you should buy it (it can be checked out at the library), or even read the whole thing (some may be put off by some of the antiwar views), but there are some concepts that, in my opinion, merit serious consideration. Since I'm part of an airlines family, and am interested in football, I found it interesting that the first 2 chapters deal with decisions made by pilots and college football coaches, which, I'm sure, seemed like good ideas at the time. Some of the ideas examined, generally speaking (and some rough sports terminology equivalents), are:

1. Loss aversion (playing not to lose).

2. Commitment (failure to make adjustments).

3. Programming for failure (believing the ratings, rather than looking at what a player is doing on the field).

4. Value attribution (assigning playing time based on the ratings).

5. Narrowing of options as the stress of losing builds up (not taking advantage of what's "given" to you by the opponent).

Let me make it clear that I'm not saying that any or all of the above is true about any of our coaches, players, or North Texas football, generally or specifically. I'm just saying that there may be something in the theories presented in this book that are worth considering to those wishing to improve airline safety, create a winning football program, or otherwise respond to a challenging situation. Anyway, I'm not giving up on Dodge, because, the only football coach I know, Steve Lineweaver of Euless Trinity, says Dodge will bring winning football to North Texas. Anything can be achieved by those who believe in themselves, and who use the mental and emotional intelligence that is given to them to achieve that goal. However, those who don't believe in themselves and what they're doing, and don't learn from experience, cannot succeed.

Edited October 27, 2008 by eulessismore

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

Our offense is easily figured out, and our defense does not create disruption. These are fundamental problems and I don't see them being unlearned. Still, if we are going to spend at the bottom end of the spectrum, that is the product we will get. If our goal is to scratch our way back to competitiveness in the Sun Belt over the next several years, the train will have left the station. Better reading would be the Texas Monthly's story on what UT athletics has done.

[DirtySavage]

Our offense is easily figured out, and our defense does not create disruption. These are fundamental problems and I don't see them being unlearned. Still, if we are going to spend at the bottom end of the spectrum, that is the product we will get. If our goal is to scratch our way back to competitiveness in the Sun Belt over the next several years, the train will have left the station. Better reading would be the Texas Monthly's story on what UT athletics has done.

I'll be sure to pick that up so I can read it while Im on the pooper. That way its easier to wipe my a$$ with that austin rag.

[eulessismore]

I'll be sure to pick that up so I can read it while Im on the pooper. That way its easier to wipe my a$$ with that austin rag.

Dude, thanks for that early morning laugh!

[Charlie NT 73]

The North Texas offense is easily figured out.

Now that is a new analysis of Coach Dodge's system.

Let's see. Coach Dodge helped install his system

at Missouri, countless other coaches call up Coach

Dodge on running the spead, and countless coaches

attend his coaches clinics.

I guess no coaches have been able to

figure out the Texas offense, the Texas Tech

offense, the Missouri offense, or the Oklahoma

offense either.

[untgeorge]

The North Texas offense is easily figured out.

Now that is a new analysis of Coach Dodge's system.

Let's see. Coach Dodge helped install his system

at Missouri, countless other coaches call up Coach

Dodge on running the spead, and countless coaches

attend his coaches clinics.

I guess no coaches have been able to

figure out the Texas offense, the Texas Tech

offense, the Missouri offense, or the Oklahoma

offense either.

Dodge did not install the system at Missouri. Pinkel did visit TD at SLC but had a passing offense from the spread for years before.

The UNT offense is nothing like the UT offense or the OU offense. It is similar to TxTech's offense but hardly identical.

All of which is irrelevant to the proposition that the UNT offense is easily figured out.

[TheTastyGreek]

The North Texas offense is easily figured out.

Now that is a new analysis of Coach Dodge's system.

Let's see. Coach Dodge helped install his system

at Missouri, countless other coaches call up Coach

Dodge on running the spead, and countless coaches

attend his coaches clinics.

I guess no coaches have been able to

figure out the Texas offense, the Texas Tech

offense, the Missouri offense, or the Oklahoma

offense either.

A one act play, inspired by what I saw repeatedly at the ULM game:

Scene: A half impressive, half crappy college football stadium. Two bottom dweller football teams are both fighting for their first D-1A win of the season.

As the North Texas offense lines up to run a play, the skill position players all turn to the sidelines for guidance and instruction.

Todd Dodge and the two players flanking him all send in complicated signals, one being the actual play, and the other two being decoys to confuse the defense.

ULM Defenders: "RUN!!" (or, sometimes, "PASS!!")

North Texas runs the sort of play the defense just identified by reading the same signal and decoys, and the play is unsuccessful.

The End (of so many things)

[Charlie NT 73]

Greek, are you saying the opponents have the signals decoded?

How do you know the ULM defense was reading the signals?

Were you on the ULM side line? Does ULM coaches have spy's?

If the ULM defense was shouting run or pass, does the ULM

defense know which way the play was going, who would get the ball,

which receiver was the hot receiver?

NT ran up 31 first downs, and 528 yds of offense on ULM.

Yes, looks like ULM had the signals decoded all right, and still

could not stop the NT offense.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Dodge did not install the system at Missouri. Pinkel did visit TD at SLC but had a passing offense from the spread for years before.

Years before?

Pinkel became intrigued by Florida Coach Urban Meyer’s success with the spread offense and defenses’ problems stopping it, and Pinkel implemented the explosive offensive attack it the year Daniel arrived. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/14/sports/n...nyt&emc=rss

Not only did Dodge convince Pinkel to offer Daniel a scholarship, Dodge taught the Tigers' coaching staff the spread offense that Daniel had been running in high school. Dodge helped the Tigers install the spread offense at a coaches clinic put on by Pinkel after the 2004 season. http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/...wn.2bc8b52.html

[TheTastyGreek]

Greek, are you saying the opponents have the signals decoded?

How do you know the ULM defense was reading the signals?

Were you on the ULM side line? Does ULM coaches have spy's?

All I'm telling you is what I saw and heard. They knew exactly what was going on with our audibles, most notably in the first half.

[PHSCoach]

When you only run 4 passing plays it not hard to pick up the signals

now the running plays could be harder as we only have 2 of those in the playbook

Edited October 27, 2008 by PHSCoach

[Smitty]

NT ran up 31 first downs, and 528 yds of offense on ULM.

Yes, looks like ULM had the signals decoded all right, and still

could not stop the NT offense.

...but scored just 23 points. 31 first downs but only 23 points, and 14 of those points came in the fourth quarter after the game was out of reach. Where was the offense in the first half when ULM was running out to a 35-3 lead? Who cares about first downs and yards if you're not scoring?

And according the meangreensports.com, UNT had 463 yards of total offense, not 528.

ULM stopped UNT from scoring when it counted, and that's all that matters.

[Green Dozer]

Greek, are you saying the opponents have the signals decoded?

How do you know the ULM defense was reading the signals?

Were you on the ULM side line? Does ULM coaches have spy's?

If the ULM defense was shouting run or pass, does the ULM

defense know which way the play was going, who would get the ball,

which receiver was the hot receiver?

NT ran up 31 first downs, and 528 yds of offense on ULM.

Yes, looks like ULM had the signals decoded all right, and still

could not stop the NT offense.

They had our signal down last year. Dodge had two players blocking the ULM bench from seeing his signals. It is my understanding that the def coordinator or a defensive assistant coached with Dodge at some point years ago. Do not know where, but they did. Anyway, I guess with this offense some of the signals do not change.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I'm starting to fell like Led Zeppelin singing "How Many More Times" when I have to post to explain that Todd Dodge didn't do a dadgum thing for Gary Pinkel. Pinkel was coaching QBs at Washington and sending them to the NFL while Dodge was still at Texas setting the school record for interceptions thrown.

Here it is in bold:

Gary Pinkel was an assistant at Pac-10 school in the 1980s when the West Coast offensive began it's boom into the college ranks. He coached QBs at Washington, some of whom went on the the NFL, under the legendary Don James. He had been a head coach for 10 years at Toledo, leading them to two 10 win seasons - one an undeafeted 1995 campaign that finished with the Rockets being ranked #24 in the nation. The 17 years prior to that he was always an assistant on the offensive side of the ball. Before his stint at Toledo, he was offensive coordinator/QB coach for Don James, whom he also played for. The man played tight end in college and coached on the offensive side of the ball exclusively for 27 years beyond that before Missouri even hired him!

The idea that Gary Pinkel was some penny-ante, run-of-the-mill college coach before he recruited Chase Daniel and had some discussions with Todd Dodge is the bigger dadgum lie on the whole, big bag of hype surrounding Dodge.

Just knock it off, please. Pinkel had nothing to learn from Dodge and never will. If anything, Todd Dodge should be begging Gary Pinkel to advise him.

Freaking ridiculous. To think that a man with 35+ years of coaching and playing on the offensive side of the football at the D-I and FBS level would be taking advice from a high school coach is just dopey. And, then, to keep repeating the same bunch of b.s. after repeatedly being told it wasn't that way....just knock it off, please. We know some of you will support Dodge even if he goes 1 and 79 with us over the next 80 games, but stop the hype.

Edited October 28, 2008 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Freaking ridiculous. To think that a man with 35+ years of coaching and playing on the offensive side of the football at the D-I and FBS level would be taking advice from a high school coach is just dopey. And, then, to keep repeating the same bunch of b.s. after repeatedly being told it wasn't that way....just knock it off, please. We know some of you will support Dodge even if he goes 1 and 79 with us over the next 80 games, but stop the hype.

What I don't get, and sure don't understand is, where does all of the Dodge hype come from at this point? I mean this team is not even close guys - we are getting blown out in epic proportions. What is Dodge doing this year, based on what we saw last year, that leads you to believe he will be able to win next year? Or the next?

[greenminer]

What I don't get, and sure don't understand is, where does all of the Dodge hype come from at this point? I mean this team is not even close guys - we are getting blown out in epic proportions. What is Dodge doing this year, based on what we saw last year, that leads you to believe he will be able to win next year? Or the next?

It comes from several places:

Parcell's interest in him for a position on the Cowboy's staff

High school records

Previous QB alumns doing well in college

Previous (early '90s) NT offenses holding now-broken offensive records.

It just appears that at some point between 1993 and now he has forgotten everything. Lost his marbles.

I see vanilla offense, micro-managing that is strangling our staff and players, and an inability to even RECOGNIZE that something ain't right in our neck of the woods.

But you know, he did "it" at some point and studies show a 100% agreement among Dodge apologists that people never lose credibility and ability.

If it works in Texas 6-5A, it must work everywhere...right?