Todd Dodge To Tulsa? . . .

[Mean Green 93-98]

Brett Vito is reporting that Todd Dodge is likely heading to Tulsa. Thing is, Tulsa HC Todd Graham is reported taking the HC job at Pitt--if so, does he take Todd Dodge with him?

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Ho-lee crap!

Conference USA would be a perfect fit for Todd Dodge. TU's G.J. Kinne was night and day better this year with former Lake Travis HC coaching him. Todd Dodge would be great as well for Kinne.

If you can say one thing about Tulsa's Todd Graham, it's that he isn't afraid to hire former high school coaches - and the most successful ones at that: Gus Malzahn (Springdale, AR), Bill Blankenship (Tulsa Union), Chad Morris (Lake Travis).

Throwing Todd Dodge into the mix would be great. Malzahn and Morris have moved on to Auburn and Clemson after short stints with TU.

It's unlikely Blankenship will ever leave because he's been in Tulsa his whole life as a player (former TU QB), and coach (Sapulpa and Tulsa Union, TU). He briefly coached in Edmond (OKC suburb) and his hometown, Spiro. Two of his son played football at TU and a third played for former TU OL Denver Johnson at Eastern Illinois.

For whatever reason, high school coaches seem to do well with Todd Graham. As a graduate of both UNT and TU, I'd be very happy to see Todd Dodge hired as Chad Morris' replacement. On the whole, Dodge's high school career was better than both Malzahn's and Morris, and somewhat better than Blankenships. All won state titles or multiple titles and were in the hunt every year.

I truly believe Dodge has a ton of upside, but needed to be an assistant first. How crazy would this hire be? Todd Dodge helping coach against UNT the year after he's fired!

[UNTflyer]

Who??

[Censored by Laurie]

Who??

Watch-maker, I think...

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Todd Graham to Pitt tonight:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/

Won't be shocked if Gus Mahlzan takes the head coaching job at Tulsa.

[Cerebus]

Won't be shocked if Gus Mahlzan takes the head coaching job at Tulsa.

I'd be shocked, he is THE hot coordinator this year and can have almost any open job.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Todd Graham to Pitt tonight:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/

Won't be shocked if Gus Mahlzan takes the head coaching job at Tulsa.

My guess would be for Krags to come back home.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

I'd be shocked, he is THE hot coordinator this year and can have almost any open job.

Could be...

[shaft]

Good news for UNT. Every dollar Dodge makes somewhere else is one less we have to pay him as better of his buyout.

[UNTLifer]

Good news for UNT. Every dollar Dodge makes somewhere else is one less we have to pay him as better of his buyout.

Unless he signs a $5 deal similar to what Weatherbie did at ULM and we get stuck with the majority of his salary.

[pollock]

I'd be shocked, he is THE hot coordinator this year and can have almost any open job.

To me, that's the shocking part..... When Arkansas hired him the rumor was it was just so they could get Mitch Mustain at QB. Not that it worked out. Sure worked out for Malzahn. He has coached some killer offenses.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I'll be the first to go on record and say that Graham will be in over his head at Pitt. What shocks me most is that Tulsa was paying him $1.3 million and Pitt initially passed him over because of that! Now, they're going to have to pay him more!

As for Tulsa, I'd be surprised if Kragthorpe or Malzahn aren't Graham's replacement. My money would be on Kragthorpe since he's already living in Tulsa. He's had a taste of AQ level BCS football. Malzahn hasn't. My guess is Malzahn holds out another year and waits to catch a BCS conference opening.

And...I'd still be pleased if either hire Todd Dodge. Although, if the scuttlebutt was already Dodge to Tulsa with Graham, I don't see why it wouldn't be Dodge to Pitt with Graham.

The other thing that is shocking me is the number of BCS schools taking chances with non-BCS coaches. Maybe they didn't see Kragthorpe struggle at Louisville? But, you've got Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois to Minnesota, Brady Hoke from San Diego State to Michigan, Todd Graham from Tulsa to Pitt...and Texas hiring Harsin from Boise to lead their offense and Diaz, who had only one season as a BCS-level DC, to lead their defense.

Few are taking the "hot coordinator" from a BCS-level school route this year - Florida taking Texas' Will Muschamp, Indiana taking OU's Kevin Wilson, and Maryland taking UConn head coach Randy Edsall.

I'll argue that the only sane hirings I've seen are Muschamp to Florida and us hiring Dan McCarney. I think OU's Kevin Wilson is a dicey hire because he won't draw as many OU-type recruits to Indiana to run his type of offense which thrives on speed. And, Edsall is the perpetual 7-8 win coach...not much different than Ralph Friedgen who was kicked to the curb.

Edited January 11, 2011 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[Harry]

Graham has proven to be an outstanding recruiter and I expect that will continue at Pitt. If you can recruit you can win anywhere.

[UNT90]

I'll argue that the only sane hirings I've seen are Muschamp to Florida and us hiring Dan McCarney.

Kinda bold statement. Funny thing is, if Kragthorpe gets the Tulsa gig, all 3 finalist for the UNT job will be head coaches of programs that battle for the same recruits in the same recruiting territory. Krags and Mac will be coaching on basically the same level, while Fran will be trying to build a transitional Texas St.

All right in our own backyard for comparison.

So, seeing whether your opinion pans out or not is going to be very easy.

Get busy, Coach Mac, we're watching.

[SUMG]

The San Diego State job is now open....as Brady Hoke is bolting for Michigan.

[jtm0097]

It is cold outside, but hell has not frozen over.

[UNTMike81]

UNT90...your throwing this statement around very loosely "Krags and Mac will be coaching on basically the same level". Based on the state of UNT football Tulsa has been like the national champions compared to UNT football recently. I'm a UNT FB homer (not as much as in years past), but I've had to put down the green Kool-aid a bit.

[UNT90]

UNT90...your throwing this statement around very loosely "Krags and Mac will be coaching on basically the same level". Based on the state of UNT football Tulsa has been like the national champions compared to UNT football recently. I'm a UNT FB homer (not as much as in years past), but I've had to put down the green Kool-aid a bit.

They will both be coaching in non-auto qualifier conferences that often compete for the same talent in recruiting.

The record of the program does not matter. You hire a coach to improve your record. If we are not a better football team than Tulsa (especially now that they are going through a coaching change) in 2 years, I will be very disappointed in the direction of this program (yet again).

It's called expectations, folks. It's about time we had some around here.