Dodge Era

[jacksondf]

As a newcomer to this forum, I'm curious about what happened during the Dodge era? I see a lot of references to it here. We were putting up some serious points initially, but things went downhill. I'm curious as to what happened (less too much sarcasm).

It's a sign that things are looking up when Dick's Sporting Goods in Arlington has a UNT rack!

[Cerebus]

Well.....

• Todd Dodge is hired as the HC. There is some misgiving, because he has never been a college HC before, but many are convinced he is going to be a great recruiter and it will all work out.
• At his introductory press conference he states he is bringing in an all HS staff because "football is football" and it doesn't matter no one had any major college football level experience. This is the point where I begin to panic.
• We lost our first game to OU 79-10. A few more panic but most rationalize that it's OU, he doesn't have his recruits, a new system takes time, etc.
• We go 2-10 that year (2007) more people begin to panic. But it's early, surely it has to get better?
• We go 1-11 in 2008. The panic is real.
• We go 2-10 in 2009, the majority is in real panic, though a few are telling them that this will still work out, he just needs time, the hire was a good one, etc.
• We start off 1-6 in 2010, and Dodge is let go. Having learned from BlackJerseyGate, he is not allowed to finish the season.

[H-towngreen]

As a newcomer to this forum, I'm curious about what happened during the Dodge era? I see a lot of references to it here. We were putting up some serious points initially, but things went downhill. I'm curious as to what happened (less too much sarcasm).

It's a sign that things are looking up when Dick's Sporting Goods in Arlington has a UNT rack!

Lets start a timeline thread of how things went south.

1) we allowed him to stay at Southlake thru the playoffs losing valuable recruiting time

2) once on board he hired pretty much all high school coaches for his staff

[MeanGreenGlory]

Long story short:

Dodge knew how to run a high school football program. When he got to UNT he did what he knew how to do and ran a high school football program. He recruited good players, but never developed them to D-1 players. As a result, we couldn't compete with D-1 schools.

[greenminer]

what a train wreck. And to think, some people would have been okay with that if he was in year 10.

[EagleD]

I've thought about this a lot lately. Dodge made two huge errors in my opinion. The first was hiring his HS coaching staff year one. The second was recruiting his son.

Dodge clearly can evaluate talent. Many of our current top performers were Dodge recruits. But by hiring his SLC coaches he opted for coaches who knew his HS system rather than coaches who know the college game. It really set him back. He may be able to evaluate talent, but coaches? Not so much.

By getting Riley he had to continue to straddle the line of "coach" and "Dad". That might work in HS but neither of them were allowed to grow and learn in college with the other one around.

I still like Todd Dodge but I'm glad he's gone.

[oldguystudent]

Is this a bit? We are on the verge on a bowl season and we have to discuss Teflon Todd?

[forevereagle]

Here is a short visual of those years.

[UNT90]

... Sucked

[TheTastyGreek]

The greatest failure of the Dodge era was our inability to reach out to the Mexia community and expand our regional fan base.

[Stix]

The greatest failure of the Dodge era was our inability to reach out to the Mexia community and expand our regional fan base.

Must be because Mexia is part of the Wacoplex.

[emmitt01]

As a newcomer to this forum, I'm curious about what happened during the Dodge era? I see a lot of references to it here. We were putting up some serious points initially, but things went downhill. I'm curious as to what happened (less too much sarcasm).

It's a sign that things are looking up when Dick's Sporting Goods in Arlington has a UNT rack!

Take a baseball bat

Wrap it in barbed wire

Douse it in kerosene

Light it on fire

Hit yourself in the nuts with it four times (once for each year)

Tell your wife and children you're better for it

[Got5onIt]

Hiring him, period was a train wreck only a few of us saw coming . If I remember correctly, rumor was Dr. B forced RV to make a budget hire. Boy, did NT get exactly what they paid for if this rumor is indeed true.

He tried to run the NT program like Southlake North, not considering the differing peoples he would encounter at a D1 public university. His life in the Southlake bubble exposed him here. Yet, he had his defenders to the bitter end. Hence, the nickname I'm glad to take credit for, Teflon Todd. Nothing bad would stick the guy for 2.5 years.

Key players quit or transferred early, the NAACP fiasco, not hiring any coaches with college experience, Ron Mendoza's defense, no 2nd half adjustments ever.

He stunk and should have never stepped foot on NTs campus.

[CMJ]

[TheTastyGreek]

Take a baseball bat

Wrap it in barbed wire

Douse it in kerosene

Light it on fire

This is exactly how the KingDL1 moderator initiation is going to start.

GET OUT OF MY BRAIN.

[UNT90]

Hiring him, period was a train wreck only a few of us saw coming . If I remember correctly, rumor was Dr. B forced RV to make a budget hire. Boy, did NT get exactly what they paid for if this rumor is indeed true.

I'm sure RV would love for all of us to believe this is true.

If RV can't persuade a president not to make a bad football hire, he shouldn't be AD. Plain and simple

So tired of Ricochet Rick never being accountable for a bad hire.

[Got5onIt]

I'm sure RV would love for all of us to believe this is true.

If RV can't persuade a president not to make a bad football hire, he shouldn't be AD. Plain and simple

So tired of Ricochet Rick never being accountable for a bad hire.

LOL!!!!

Dodge's end was in plain sight when I first heard this. It very well may have been an attempt to cover ones ass. How can you blame anyone to try and cover up the ridiculousness Dodge's tenure was? He literally made the history books with his abysmal record. People forget, it was that freakin' bad...

[Cooley]

We had such a shoe string budget that limited our search to a successful Texas High School football coach or college assistants. The great Darrell Dickey had never been a head coach (prior to and after UNT). We also played in the worst stadium in America in the weakest conference in America. The only difference between Darrell Dickey and Todd Dodge is that Dickey coached the first few years of a start up league while Dodge coached when it was much better.

The current coaching staff continues to benefiting with a much greater commitment to football. (Head coach's salary is almost double that of Dodge & Dickey combined, playing in a brand new stadium that most folks never thought would happen and in a better conference. The new staff is also benefitting from many of Dodge's last recruiting class.

Dodge continues to take too much flack in my opinion based on the cards he was dealt. Reverse roles and it would be interesting to see a higher powered offense in Apogee; than what we get now. Not saying he would have us undefeated like his Carroll teams but I think we would have a similar record or better.

[MeanGreenGlory]

Just going to leave this here...

[oldguystudent]

When she was seven years old, my daughter, watching a UNT game, said of Todd Dodge, "He's worse than cafeteria food!"

Today, she has a regional audition at a South lake middle school right outside Dragon Stadium. She said, "I'm going to spit on the ground there today."

I'm raising such a young lady.

[oldguystudent]

Dodge knew how to run a high school football program.

1994 Cameron Yoe 3-7

1995 Cameron Yoe 5-5

1996 Carrollton Newman Smith 4-6

1997 Carrollton Newman Smith 5-5

1998 Keller Fossil Ridge 2-7

1999 Keller Fossil Ridge 5-5

2012 Marble Falls 4-6

2013* Marble Falls 2-5

Total record outside Southlake: 30-46 = winning percentage of .395

*Season still in progress

Southlake titles before Todd Dodge -- 1988, 1992, 1993

Southlake title after Todd Dodge -- 2011

[Got5onIt]

Southlake had a winning tradition before Teflon Todd and will continue to do so with its vast availability of resources . He gets too much credit for winning there and a deserved amount of flack here, IMO.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Got5onIt

[emmitt01]

1994 Cameron Yoe 3-7

1995 Cameron Yoe 5-5

1996 Carrollton Newman Smith 4-6

1997 Carrollton Newman Smith 5-5

1998 Keller Fossil Ridge 2-7

1999 Keller Fossil Ridge 5-5

2012 Marble Falls 4-6

2013* Marble Falls 2-5

Total record outside Southlake: 30-46 = winning percentage of .395

*Season still in progress

Southlake titles before Todd Dodge -- 1988, 1992, 1993

Southlake title after Todd Dodge -- 2011

He won 39% of his high school games outside of SLC? Wow!

I mean, wow, that's WAY better than his NT winning percentage of 13.

[oldguystudent]

He won 39% of his high school games outside of SLC? Wow!

I mean, wow, that's WAY better than his NT winning percentage of 13.

It's a 184% improvement of husbands and fathers!

[eulessismore]

One of my stepsons married an Iowa girl. Her dad has been Hayden Fry's golfing partner, and her mother was Dan McCarney's high school English teacher, so I guess she's been around coaching talk. When they came to town to visit, we informed the new bride, Amy, of all these dramas surrounding the recently ended Dodge experiment. Her reaction: "what would make him think he could just step into that situation (from high school coaching)?"

Yet so many of us, myself included, thought he could.

Edited October 23, 2013 by eulessismore