Does Coach Dodge Get Mulligan?

[Rudy]

I couldn't disagree with this more. Vizza saw someone coming in with all kinds of accolades, got scared, cut & run. The guy is a tiddy-sucker and I'm glad he's gone. Vizza was not "run off" by anyone but his own cowardice.

[KingDL1]

I still contend that if Andrew Smith doesn't die, OR Joey Byerly does his homework, OR Daniel Meager gets healthy fast enough to actually participate in practice and use his full arm strength in his freshman season... We never go off the cliff and none of the past 6 years of misery ever happens.

If it hadn't been for the series of tragedy/stupidity/disaster at QB, we wouldn't have collapsed. We probably wouldn't have gone undefeated again, but we damn sure wouldn't have dropped to 9 losses.

As Don Meredith, former SMU and Dallas Cowboys quarterback and Monday Night Football announcer would say, "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas”.

Don Meredith

seemed to fit

[MeanGreenTexan]

Ridiculous. He threw for 5,000 yards in two seasons and decided he didn't want to warm the bench behind Riley Dodge. Looking at the product we've put on the field, who can blame him?

I think you just made my point for me?

Riley was already here for a season (redshirted) before Vizza up & quit. If coach Dodge's nepotism was so high, why wouldn't he just insert Riley play 1, year 1?

Vizza was the starter, saw a threat, didn't want to even attempt to prove himself as superior (even though looking back now, he clearly was), and left at the worst possible time.

Did coach Dodge or anyone else ever come out and say, "Riley Dodge is going to be the starter for 2009"? No.

I know the "quitter" tag is kind of a running joke, and I enjoy that joke alot, but Vizza definitely fits that bill.

Hindsight is 20/20 for sure and now we're seeing a Riley Dodge that no one expected, so it's easy to wish for Vizza to still be here. But the fact is, the guy tucked his tail, quit and he hurt our program big time because 2 years of investments were put in him, for nothing. There's no way around that.

By the way... to answer the thread question: No way. This is the luck of the draw. Sorry coach Dodge, but you've got to make lemonade out of lemons sir. No more mulligans, just start winning.

[rcade]

But the fact is, the guy tucked his tail, quit and he hurt our program big time because 2 years of investments were put in him, for nothing. There's no way around that.

Coaches leave all the time for greener pastures. I don't fault a student athlete for leaving a program because he thought he had better opportunities elsewhere. Though in Vizza's case, it doesn't appear to have worked out. He's not on the Texas A&M roster at all this year, as far as I can tell.