Two More Suggestions For A New Head Coach

Side Show Joe · November 23, 2008

Regarding Turner Gill. I follow Nebraska football very closely. I can assure you guys there is no way TG will come to NT. Regardless of home ties.
A very well conected Nebraska alum/booster has stated recently Turner will be up for several high profile jobs in the next few years-including-yes-Penn St-who is very interested in him.
And yes-his interview at Nebraska was a "courtesy" interview.
I think you guys need to be more concerned with the growing posibility(albeit a small one) that North Texas will not field a football program in a few years-its that bad. These players have NO respect for him at all. I feel very strongly that Todd Dodge needs to resign immediatly-because RV will not fire him. So be prepared for more of the same next year-sorry to say. My best advice would be to contact the president and AD to make your feelings known.
These are truly desperate times for NT football gentlemen. Very sad indeed.

North Texas has fielded a team every year since 1913, except for during WWII. We will not be pushed out of football!!! :angry: Like I said before, I'll take a coordinator from TCU. Go Mean Green!!!

NT03 · November 23, 2008

Regarding Turner Gill. I follow Nebraska football very closely. I can assure you guys there is no way TG will come to NT. Regardless of home ties.
A very well conected Nebraska alum/booster has stated recently Turner will be up for several high profile jobs in the next few years-including-yes-Penn St-who is very interested in him.
And yes-his interview at Nebraska was a "courtesy" interview.
I think you guys need to be more concerned with the growing posibility(albeit a small one) that North Texas will not field a football program in a few years-its that bad. These players have NO respect for him at all. I feel very strongly that Todd Dodge needs to resign immediatly-because RV will not fire him. So be prepared for more of the same next year-sorry to say. My best advice would be to contact the president and AD to make your feelings known.
These are truly desperate times for NT football gentlemen. Very sad indeed.

I was in NEBRASKA around the same time he was being interviewed and I really think he was a little more than a courtesy interview. Most didn't think he would get the job , but thought he was well qualified for the position. Most Huskers I talked with were one , pissed that Solich was let go in the 1st place and 2 preferred Gill to Bo.

A few years ago Gill was in our league , but trust me he will NOT come here. There are several other BIG TIME gigs that he can get.

* For those who don't know Gill was a coach @ UNT for 1 year .

Green Dozer · November 23, 2008

Not necessarily. He only makes $180K base at Buffalo. I believe Nebraska was his Alma Mater, so they prob gave him a courtesy interview. With the athletic fee approved and the stadium in the works, we would be very attractive to an up and coming coach that knows how to turn around on the field performance.

90: It was only a courtesy interview, he was let go when they fired Solich, and I do not think they wanted to turn it over to a former player again. It works sometimes, but if it were such a great idea, other schools would do it.

Edited November 23, 2008 by Green Dozer

Aquila_Viridis · November 24, 2008

North Texas has fielded a team every year since 1913, except for during WWII. We will not be pushed out of football!!! Like I said before, I'll take a coordinator from TCU. Go Mean Green!!!

You maybe didn't notice, but the game has changed a LOT since 1913. There are a lot more powerful interests than you who do NOT want to see North Texas enter the football space in any significant way. Will you be happy with a Division 2 program? Because that is where we are heading.

You people better wake up and start letting your administration and legislators know that you care, and you should get all your friends in the DFW region to let them know they care too, about having a real university in their community, not in Austin or College Station or Lubbock for God's sake.

As for the ACU coach, see above regarding Division 2. This would be a watered down version of the high school experiment we are currently enduring. Hello????

As for Turner Gill, if the university is not going to get it together so they can get someone at this level, with demonstrated performance, they may as well quit. Please, one or the other. More of the same will be like looking at a friend in a coma for years.

FirefightnRick · November 24, 2008

The job that Turner Gil has done at Buffalo is short of a miracle. Buffalo has been playing some form of football since the 1880's, but didn't go "Major" until the early 1960's. Then they dropped football in '71 and brought it back in '77 but didnt get back to Div 1A until '99. Until Coach Gil led them to a 5 win season and a share of the MAC East division in only his second year('07), the Bulls had not won more than 3 games in a season in any of their previous "Major" or Div 1A seasons since 1969. And although the City of Buffalo is about half the size of Fort Worth, the metro area boasts a 1.2 Million population and the university itself shows to have a student population of a little over 28,000, and ranks as the 53rd media market in the U.S.(Dallas/Fort Worth ranks 6th). As of this weekend they are 7-4 and clinched the MAC East division and will play for the MAC championship. As of this post it's currently 33 degrees in Buffalo New York. It won't get any higher than 41 tomorrow, and stay in the 30's for a high the rest of the week and the average lows for December, January and February are 24, 18 and 19 degrees respectively. Can you imagine how hard it must be to recruit to that place? And yet, in only his third year has UB on the verge of ordering champoinship rings and going bowling.

Simply amazing.

Rick

Edited November 24, 2008 by FirefightnRick

NT80 · November 24, 2008

Can you imagine how hard it must be to recruit to that place? And yet, in only his third year has UB on the verge of ordering champoinship rings and going bowling.
Simply amazing.
Rick

What?? No 4-year rebuild needed?? Blasphemy! :whip:

Side Show Joe · November 24, 2008

You maybe didn't notice, but the game has changed a LOT since 1913. There are a lot more powerful interests than you who do NOT want to see North Texas enter the football space in any significant way. Will you be happy with a Division 2 program? Because that is where we are heading.
You people better wake up and start letting your administration and legislators know that you care, and you should get all your friends in the DFW region to let them know they care too, about having a real university in their community, not in Austin or College Station or Lubbock for God's sake.
As for the ACU coach, see above regarding Division 2. This would be a watered down version of the high school experiment we are currently enduring. Hello????
As for Turner Gill, if the university is not going to get it together so they can get someone at this level, with demonstrated performance, they may as well quit. Please, one or the other. More of the same will be like looking at a friend in a coma for years.

I agree, we are not seeing any improvement on the field, but I don't see any way out program will be scraped, or relegated to the ranks of the former DII. The student fee, if nothing else, should keep us on life support.

Censored by Laurie · November 24, 2008

better reefer

Tap the breaks

Green Mean · November 24, 2008

I believe the key is making this job attractive. Being a school with 35K+ students, being in a top 6 media market and being in a hotbed for recruiting just does not cut it anymore because the whole nation recruits in Texas and then there is the Big 12 and several other non BCS schools in this state not to mention two of them being right in our backyard. We need to significantly increase pay. I dont mean getting a million dollar per year coach but how about 300K-500K per year? I think that is doable and something that would be passed by the BOR if it was the right guy. Remember if all goes well have the new stadium opening in 3-4 years and we dont want to be in the toilet at that time because I think it would be a severe blow to this program. Let's also better the perks. For each bowl game or 6 win season there is an increase in pay etc. This is what you have to do to get a good coach and make this program attractive. If we can do this then I do not see any reason why we cant bring in an up and coming stud coach or something to that degree.

As for the coaches, if we do what I stated above I believe Turner Gil would come here in a heartbeat. I know BCS programs are looking at him but this job would be much more attractive than Buffalo's IF we do what I suggest. I think we should look into Dennis Franchione. I know he didn't cut it at A&M but I think he is a helluva coach that would be perfect for our program. Other guys we can look at is the DC from Texas Tech (forgot his name), former Bama coach Mike Shula, former Nebraska coach Bill Callahan and Major Applewhite. These are all names that would personally intrigue me as the next NT head football coach.

cameron · November 24, 2008

The administration went the On the Job Training route with Dodge.

SMU went with the experienced D1 coach.

It will be interesting to see which program can turn itself around faster.

I happen to think that being in the Sun Belt NT has a shorter, less steep hill to the top of their conference (with the right coach).

Monkeypox · November 24, 2008

The elephant in the room being that you get rid of Dodge, do you believe that a new guy with no ties to NT and no history with DeLoach will keep him? Staffs are generally purged with new HCs, so with Dodge's exit, I believe DeLoach will be out. Not because he SHOULD be or because I want him to. That's just what happens.

Aquila_Viridis · November 25, 2008

The administration went the On the Job Training route with Dodge.
SMU went with the experienced D1 coach.
It will be interesting to see which program can turn itself around faster.
I happen to think that being in the Sun Belt NT has a shorter, less steep hill to the top of their conference (with the right coach).

Good point, on SMU. I thought June Jones was kind of a weird choice for SMU but he did have some things going for him. They have not had much success this year, but I am pretty sure they would beat our team by 40 points.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 25, 2008

Link with all 22 TDs scored between ACU and West Texas A&M

http://reporternews.com/news/2008/nov/22/scoreboard-breaker/

Also, does ACU's Johnny Knox look "Christian" or "Abilene"...I don't think so...but, whatevah...he get the job done:

Their tailback, who is about to go back-to-back 2,000 yard seasons, also goes the ghetto tatoo route...and mixes in the dreadlocks flowing form the helmet...this is Abilene Christian folks:

How did this coach sell the city of Abilene and ACU to those two guys, Knox and Scott? It wasn't the women. We need Chris Thomsen here. Note: The young lady on the far left needs to shave her chin. Question: Also, how is it that Under Armour has Abilene Christian purple spiderman shirts, but we can't get real UNT jerseys? Truly baffling.

Oops. Spoke to soon...cross on the wristband...and on the bicep...he's got Jesus with him. We need a coach who can get players who throw down a love of Jesus and a ghetto look. These aren't your father's Abilene Christian University Wildcats, folks:

Green Dozer · November 25, 2008

Lonnie,

Good post about Abilene Christian. There are also two other colleges (albeit very small like themselves, but they have football teams) in Abilene as well, plus unlike Denton, their high schools have a strong following from the entire town. Abilene Cooper is a pretty storied program in its own right. So as you point out, something is being done the right way.

It is ironic that they are getting the coverage this close to Thanksgiving. An alumnus of theirs, Clint Longley, engineered one of the greatest Cowboy comebacks against the Redskins on Thanksgiving. I remember everybody thought he should be the new quarterback after that, replacing Staubach. But that was his moment, as he and Staubach got into a fight at training camp the following year. Don't think Landry was fond of a quarterback whose hobbies included hunting rattlesnakes, nor anybody who would hit Staubach, so that ended the quarterback controversy.

UNT Mean Green · November 25, 2008

Nice observations TFLF. We do need someone who can mix ghetto and Christian into our team. That way you have the best of both worlds!

Green to the Bone · November 25, 2008

There are a lot more powerful interests than you who do NOT want to see North Texas enter the football space in any significant way.

Who are they, and says who?

NT91 · November 26, 2008

We do not need to give up on Todd !!!

GoMeanGreen1999 · November 26, 2008

We do not need to give up on Todd !!!

Fear not, there are still some in your group.

Quoner · November 26, 2008

Nice observations TFLF. We do need someone who can mix ghetto and Christian into our team. That way you have the best of both worlds!

Mid 90's DC Talk?

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 26, 2008

Hal Wasson punted for ACU during their last national title run in 1977. Wasson replaced Todd Dodge at Southlake.

If Chris Thomsen replaces Dodge here, does Wasson bolt from Southlake to lead his alma mater?

And, Colt McCoy's dad played at ACU. And, Jordan Shipley's dad, too.

And, Clay Mansker's brother.

And, Jeff Pyburn's dad was the defensive coordinator there after he left Vince Dooley's staff at Georgia.

And, John Layfield played there before he became Johnny Hawk, then Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, then one of The New Blackjacks, then one of the Acolytes Protection Agency, then Bradshaw, then JBL...then...financial analyst with FOXNEWS and conservative talk show radio host.

And, Randall "Tex" Cobb played there before Larry Holmes played pat-a-cake on his face back in the days of real boxing where you had to go 15 rounds...and do so on regular, genuine television stations.

And, Granbury's Greatest, Johnny Perkins played there.

And, the Montgomery Boys - Wilbert and Cleotha - played there.

What a wacky school. Something's in the water in Abilene...probably the runoff of cattle poop...but, something besides the cattle poop runoff from all the ranching. Something. We need some of it here.

NT80 · November 26, 2008

Good post about Abilene Christian. ............It is ironic that they are getting the coverage this close to Thanksgiving.

Coverage? ACU (11-0) won a playoff game over WTA&M last Saturday 93-67 and the only coverage in the DMN was a tiny blurb (3 lines) in the Sunday sports small-college section. Other Texas' small colleges had the same-length game summaries. No pics, no box score, few names mentioned. NT gets minimal coverage being 30 miles from Dallas but Abilene get next to nothing for 90 miles away. If you're not in the Big12, you're nothing to the DMN.

Edited November 26, 2008 by NT80

Green Dozer · November 26, 2008

Coverage? ACU (11-0) won a playoff game over WTA&M last Saturday 93-67 and the only coverage in the DMN was a tiny blurb (3 lines) in the Sunday sports small-college section. Other Texas' small colleges had the same-length game summaries. No pics, no box score, few names mentioned. NT gets minimal coverage being 30 miles from Dallas but Abilene get next to nothing for 90 miles away. If you're not in the Big12, you're nothing to the DMN.

Reference to my post about coverage was the Star Telegram. Story on page 1 of their Monday sports section, and mentioned Clint Longley, who played there, and the Cowboys Redskins game in '74 when he engineered that come back. That was my reference to coverage, I did not see Monday's Morning News.

Rudy · November 26, 2008

We do need someone who can mix ghetto and Christian into our team.

That guy from Pulp Fiction is available. Preach to you then blow your head off!

Seriously, IF I were crying like a little baby for a new coach, Id say go after an assistant from South Florida, Boise State, or Utah. Someone who comes from a young winning program and who can build the program. I still say give Dodge another year, or at least part of next year to see if he can turn it around. If not, then we can start talking.