Darrell Dickey to Memphis

All About UNT · January 16, 2012

Edit...Memphis Board

THOR · January 17, 2012

why does dickey always seem to get oc gigs? it was run run run again here...is he some genius that i don't realize???

Texas Stranger · January 17, 2012

Somebody better let Memphis fans know they need to say goodbye to the Forward Pass.

UNT Five&Dime · January 17, 2012

I haven't seen Dodge and Dickey mentioned that many times in one place since the last MeanGreenBlog I read.

Congrats to Coach Dickey.

BIG DAWG · January 17, 2012

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, buti believe everywhere he has been other than NT he has thrown the ball transfere a bit...nothing like Texas Tech used to, but not like when he was at NT either

Edited January 17, 2012 by BIG DAWG

greenminer · January 17, 2012

If we never had Booger and PC, would we have won those SB titles?

If DD never had those titles, how different would people look at him?

Interesting to think how 1 or 2 players can influence things.

BIG DAWG · January 17, 2012

It was much more than those two players during that run...

....and in Dickey's defense, take away any coach's best players and he doesn't win as many games

Mean Green Matt · January 17, 2012

I hear the shrubbery in Memphis is transfere nice.

EDIT: censorship strikes again...

Edited January 17, 2012 by All About UNT

emmitt01 · January 17, 2012

Has it ever occurred to anyone that perhaps Dickey was cooking with the groceries he had? We had a great defense, elite runners and not a glut of go-to receivers. Play good D, control the clock and occassionally go downfield to the one great receiver you've got (Quinn).

THOR · January 17, 2012

Has it ever occurred to anyone that perhaps Dickey was cooking with the groceries he had? We had a great defense, elite runners and not a glut of go-to receivers. Play good D, control the clock and occassionally go downfield to the one great receiver you've got (Quinn).

maybe, but north texas has had walkon starters at wide receiver in recent years and still threw the ball.

shaft · January 17, 2012

Let's stop the revisionist history.

Dickey's methods worked until they didn't. DD failed to change and upgrade his assistants and recruiting techniques as the team improved. DD also solely focused on coaching and was not the PR personalty needed to help rally the base for the new stadium.

It is better for us for DD to be in Memphis than at Texas State. You never want an ex-coach in the same state and recruiting pool.

UNT90 · January 17, 2012

Why do Ii think the first line in Dickey's resume is "I actually won 4 straight conference titles at the University of North Texas.... That's right, Bit(#es... At freaking U. N. T!!"

Which is followed shortly after by a job offer

Edited January 17, 2012 by UNT90

Cr1028 · January 17, 2012

UNTLifer · January 17, 2012

Good Luck Coach and may you sign an exclusive endorsement with the local Buick dealer.

hickoryhouse · January 17, 2012

Did I read that right? Is Memphis actually employing our two most recent ex head coaches? if so, that strikes me as very awkward on Memphis' part

UNTLifer · January 17, 2012

Look out Beale Street. I think it says Dodge applied for the QB Coach position, which is odd, since he was rumored to a number of Texas HS openings.

KRAM1 · January 17, 2012

Let's stop the revisionist history.
Dickey's methods worked until they didn't. DD failed to change and upgrade his assistants and recruiting techniques as the team improved. DD also solely focused on coaching and was not the PR personalty needed to help rally the base for the new stadium.

It is better for us for DD to be in Memphis than at Texas State. You never want an ex-coach in the same state and recruiting pool.

OK, is this a first for me or what? Excellent comments here from Shaft folks. I don't recall too many folks complaining about the run oriented offense when UNT was winning...Dickey, at the end, ran a very boring offense that turned me and a lot of other Mean green fans off. But, to Shaft's point, his failure was more in not continually upgrading his assistants, changing his game plan to utilize the best players and schemes available, and in doing a VERY poor recruiting job. Well, we can also mention his "love" for the fan base.

I really do think we can give Dickey a rest here, and move on. It's Mac and Company time now, and so far...so very good!

Arkstfan · January 17, 2012

Based on his time at UNT, you would think people would want him for defensive coordinator.

I hope he has two highly unsuccessful games as an assistant. Second game of this year at ASU Stadium and whenever ASU faces them in Memphis in 2013.

greenminer · January 17, 2012

I don't recall too many folks complaining about the run oriented offense when UNT was winning...

It wasn't being celebrated either.

A draw on 3rd and long on our way to a victory just meant they bit their tongues.

Edited January 17, 2012 by greenminer

El Paso Eagle · January 17, 2012

OK, is this a first for me or what? Excellent comments here from Shaft folks. I don't recall too many folks complaining about the run oriented offense when UNT was winning...Dickey, at the end, ran a very boring offense that turned me and a lot of other Mean green fans off. But, to Shaft's point, his failure was more in not continually upgrading his assistants, changing his game plan to utilize the best players and schemes available, and in doing a VERY poor recruiting job. Well, we can also mention his "love" for the fan base.

I really do think we can give Dickey a rest here, and move on. It's Mac and Company time now, and so far...so very good!

I know this comment will tick off a lot of people, and taking nothing away from the GREAT times of winning the Conference, but we were a “good” mid major team in a very, very bad conference at the time. Look at our OOC performances and that is evident but you cannot take away the fact that the teams under DD during that period performed during conference. Sad thing is that the rest of the conference continued to improve and we somehow “Dodged” the improvement trend.

GTWT · January 18, 2012

It wasn't being celebrated either.

A draw on 3rd and long on our way to a victory just meant they bit their tongues.

Many of the fans who complained about the 'draws' Dickey called wouldn't know a 'draw' if it was run up their rear end. Not every run between the tackles, dear hearts, is a draw.

GBT

SilverEagle · January 18, 2012

OK, is this a first for me or what? Excellent comments here from Shaft folks. I don't recall too many folks complaining about the run oriented offense when UNT was winning...Dickey, at the end, ran a very boring offense that turned me and a lot of other Mean green fans off. But, to Shaft's point, his failure was more in not continually upgrading his assistants, changing his game plan to utilize the best players and schemes available, and in doing a VERY poor recruiting job. Well, we can also mention his "love" for the fan base.

I really do think we can give Dickey a rest here, and move on. It's Mac and Company time now, and so far...so very good!

Thanks Mark for the opportunity to mention (for the umpteenth time) the culture at North Texas. Dickey didn't understand the "culture" issues here when he accepted the job. I think that Dickey felt that he was doing great considering the culture here and the budget he was working with. I'm also thinking/guessing that those two factors were what caused him to comment about North Texas being one of the most difficult situations in college football. Instead of trying to find ways to reach out to the fans, he just went "bunker mentality" on the fan base.

I mentioned all this to say that I think that Coach Mac was much more aware of the challenges regarding our "culture" here. But I think some of his comments at one of his late season coaching shows indicated that he didn't fully understand how challenging it (overcoming our culture of apathy/indifference) was going to be.

If the administration is serious about turning this issue around, they need to be seriously working on the situation NOW, and not in the middle of the football season when attendance starts trailing off because of recent losses and/or weather.

I think that it's been clearly demonstrated in the last 10 years that wins alone and conference championships alone (with trips to bowl games) is not going to turn our culture around.

untjim1995 · January 19, 2012

Thanks Mark for the opportunity to mention (for the umpteenth time) the culture at North Texas. Dickey didn't understand the "culture" issues here when he accepted the job. I think that Dickey felt that he was doing great considering the culture here and the budget he was working with. I'm also thinking/guessing that those two factors were what caused him to comment about North Texas being one of the most difficult situations in college football. Instead of trying to find ways to reach out to the fans, he just went "bunker mentality" on the fan base.

I mentioned all this to say that I think that Coach Mac was much more aware of the challenges regarding our "culture" here. But I think some of his comments at one of his late season coaching shows indicated that he didn't fully understand how challenging it (overcoming our culture of apathy/indifference) was going to be.

If the administration is serious about turning this issue around, they need to be seriously working on the situation NOW, and not in the middle of the football season when attendance starts trailing off because of recent losses and/or weather.

I think that it's been clearly demonstrated in the last 10 years that wins alone and conference championships alone (with trips to bowl games) is not going to turn our culture around.

The thing about turning around apathy that has grown wild for about 100 years is that it cannot turn around on a dime unless you beat someone people care about beating. Beat Tennessee, not Middle Tennessee. Beat Louisiana State, not Louisiana-Monroe. Hell, just compete with Alabama and lose a close game, don't get blown out and then trumpet your blowout victory over South Alabama. People in this locale have been trained very well not to care a thing about North Texas athletics for a lot of reasons. What they have rarely been given is an opportunity to care about the football team. With the exception of Hayden Fry's teams, there has not been much excitement with the program, with a few exceptions that were very short-lived. Beating non-Texas non-AQ teams won't do it, nor will losing to those old SWC teams help your cause even if you win out over SBC teams.

The apathy isn't going to get turned around this year unless we compete/beat LSU, UH, or KSU. The other teams on the schedule provide absolutely nothing from an interest angle, even if Arky State has a fun new coach and a solid team, or Troy bounces back from a terrible year. People here in this area just don't care about those teams. To be honest, they didn't seem to care about those CUSA or MWC teams, either, but you could at least get the casual fan to go watch a game against Southern Miss or the Air Force Academy. To me, the only current hope that North Texas has is for the following to happen: That CUSA and/or MWC will take us in and then we start winning in that league and get to schedule and beat teams in OOC that people care about (i.e., SMU, TCU, Baylor, Tech) which leads us to being ranked. I think if we played in a better conference and finished ranked, after beating someone that people care about, then the apathy would start to go down. But if this scenario doesn't happen, I don't see any way that anything ever changes here, other than we still will have a great place to watch a game for years to come.