Another side to the Todd Dodge discussion

[Harry]

I stated how impressed I was about how Dodge handled what had to be an absolutely miserable situation towards the tail end of his stint as head coach at UNT.

You could draw an analogy to the bunker in the last days of the third reich.. especially in years 3 and 4. Dodge could have easily pointed at the administration, fans or lack thereof and made this an even more ugly situation...but he didn't, he took responsibility and handled it as good as anyone could. I really respected him for the way he handled this as I stated in an earlier post.

But I also think it needs to be stated for the record, part of the problem with the Dodge regime was the arrogance it displayed in from the day he arrived at North Texas.

Perhaps arrogance is too strong a word. I think it was a mixture of arrogance, naivety and contradiction. I also think he received poor advice from those closest around him.

I get the loyalty aspect of wanting to reward the assistant coaches who helped you to succeed but to think they would succeed was extremely naive. Whether that decision was driven by finances or just stubborn loyalty is a question we probably will never learn the answer to. Probably a mix of both.

Dodge chose to keep his home in Southlake. Every other UNT coach before him took up camp in Denton. Some told me there were financial reasons to keep his Southlake home. The bottom line was he never truly tried to build alliances in the City of Denton, with the students and the fans.

Dodge chose to close off access with the media. Sure, he did the press conferences, Fall barbeques etc that were required but it was the bare minimum. One of his henchmen even ran off fans who tried to witness a practice. But there was an arrogant attitude that swept through the entire athletic department when Dodge was here.

Dodge could not delegate and by the time he realized this it was too late. I'll never forget watching Dodge calling off offensive signals from the sidelines. Why this could not have been delegated to an assistant coach or a backup QB is beyond me. Watching Mac has opened my eyes to how a head coach should delegate to his assistants yet keep on top of ALL positional areas. Dodge's focus was offense and offense alone. Dickey was pretty good at that too he just had a revolving door of assistants to deal with it seemed every year.

The Dodge contradiction was in full display in that embarrassing road loss to OU. Dodge refused to delegate any of the offense yet he would allow his inept defensive coordinator free reign and a terribly flawed defensive gameplan. Then defensive coordinator Ron Mendoza was continuing to place his cornerbacks in man coverage after the Sooners has already exploited us for multiple deep touchdown passes. Rumor has it that the OU coaching staff was snickering in the press box.. It had to be one of the most embarrassing games I have ever watched as a North Texas fan.

I still will always think of Dodge as a class act in terms of how he handled his eventual firing. I just want to say for the record that there were things he did when he got here which led to his eventual demise. He needs to be held responsible for this.

I harbor no ill will towards him now, the past is the past and it is time to move forward. I wish him and his family the best at Austin Westlake.

[trud1966]

I think it's became all too easy to blame him for everything. And ultimately, it was a learning experience for everyone. And to be fair, I think there was blood on a lot of people's hands, not just Dodge. There's quite a bit he could have done to handle his errors better, but I also think UNT Athletics should have recognized the problems sooner and taken action MUCH sooner. I'll admit, when I heard he was coming here, I was on top of the world. Thought it would take time, but that it would work out long term. And if he said he was going to bring an entire HS staff with him, I trusted the guy. And I'll admit when things looked bad, I thought, just give him time...And when it went from bad to awful to embarrassing, I STILL thought, give him more time. When he was eventually let go, I thought..."Oh hell, they should've done that 2 years ago..." Everyone learned from it. Fans, AD, Dodge, and his staff, all are wiser because of it. It was a gamble that just didn't pan out.

We all spent a lot of awful games in Fouts, watching the student body completely bail out mid way in the 2nd quarter. He should've been let go earlier, nothing more.

Now I'm happy for the guy. Many of us search for years for the right "fit" in our careers, and unfortunately make some big mistakes along the way trying to find that fit. The guy is one of the kings of HS football in the entire country, and he should take pride in that. Nobody should dwell any longer about that bad term he spent at UNT.

He's off to better things and the right fit in his career. Hope to see him rule HS football again.

It's been long enough for us too. We need to let it go. UNT football is WAY too much fun the past couple of years. Keep looking forward, don't look back.

[untjim1995]

I wonder what things would be like here right now IF:

1.) We wouldn't have choked away the Ohio game, FAU game, and Army game in his third year (all at home)...I may be foregetting another close loss or two in there as well. Instead of 2-10, he goes 5-7, what happens after that, contract-wise?

2.) What if in Year 4, we don't lose Tune, DT, and Riley as starting QBs within about a month of each other? Would it have mattered? What if we win 3 games instead of 1 in our first 6 games?

3.) After Dodge finally got canned, Chico came in and really galvanized the team. What if we had run the table with Chico as HFC, instead of going 2-3? Would he have gotten the gig?

I think the university got off very easy, when they kept Dodge for a 4th year and then he failed miserably (again), leading to his firing. If he had gotten 5 wins (I know, stop laughing so hard!!) somehow that last year, I'm still convinced we would have kept him here--and probably extended him. Think about that for a second...

Edited May 6, 2014 by untjim1995

[Harry]

I think it's became all too easy to blame him for everything. And ultimately, it was a learning experience for everyone. And to be fair, I think there was blood on a lot of people's hands, not just Dodge. There's quite a bit he could have done to handle his errors better, but I also think UNT Athletics should have recognized the problems sooner and taken action MUCH sooner. I'll admit, when I heard he was coming here, I was on top of the world. Thought it would take time, but that it would work out long term. And if he said he was going to bring an entire HS staff with him, I trusted the guy. And I'll admit when things looked bad, I thought, just give him time...And when it went from bad to awful to embarrassing, I STILL thought, give him more time. When he was eventually let go, I thought..."Oh hell, they should've done that 2 years ago..." Everyone learned from it. Fans, AD, Dodge, and his staff, all are wiser because of it. It was a gamble that just didn't pan out.

We all spent a lot of awful games in Fouts, watching the student body completely bail out mid way in the 2nd quarter. He should've been let go earlier, nothing more.

Now I'm happy for the guy. Many of us search for years for the right "fit" in our careers, and unfortunately make some big mistakes along the way trying to find that fit. The guy is one of the kings of HS football in the entire country, and he should take pride in that. Nobody should dwell any longer about that bad term he spent at UNT.

He's off to better things and the right fit in his career. Hope to see him rule HS football again.

It's been long enough for us too. We need to let it go. UNT football is WAY too much fun the past couple of years. Keep looking forward, don't look back.

Good post Trud.

[UNT90]

I think it's became all too easy to blame him for everything. And ultimately, it was a learning experience for everyone. And to be fair, I think there was blood on a lot of people's hands, not just Dodge. There's quite a bit he could have done to handle his errors better, but I also think UNT Athletics should have recognized the problems sooner and taken action MUCH sooner. I'll admit, when I heard he was coming here, I was on top of the world. Thought it would take time, but that it would work out long term. And if he said he was going to bring an entire HS staff with him, I trusted the guy. And I'll admit when things looked bad, I thought, just give him time...And when it went from bad to awful to embarrassing, I STILL thought, give him more time. When he was eventually let go, I thought..."Oh hell, they should've done that 2 years ago..." Everyone learned from it. Fans, AD, Dodge, and his staff, all are wiser because of it. It was a gamble that just didn't pan out.

We all spent a lot of awful games in Fouts, watching the student body completely bail out mid way in the 2nd quarter. He should've been let go earlier, nothing more.

Now I'm happy for the guy. Many of us search for years for the right "fit" in our careers, and unfortunately make some big mistakes along the way trying to find that fit. The guy is one of the kings of HS football in the entire country, and he should take pride in that. Nobody should dwell any longer about that bad term he spent at UNT.

He's off to better things and the right fit in his career. Hope to see him rule HS football again.

It's been long enough for us too. We need to let it go. UNT football is WAY too much fun the past couple of years. Keep looking forward, don't look back.

Learned from it?

Benford would indicate otherwise.

[emmitt01]

The man openly espoused the idea that he failed " bacause it's lil' ol' North Texas and it ruined his legacy" to his Southlake neighbors. To say his ego got in the way would be an understatement.

And that OU game you referenced Harry...that was the game where Malcolm Kelly (after taking two screen passes to the house) looked at Sam Bradford, pointed to our cornerback, and shook his head. Bradford threw him the ball THAT EXACT PLAY and he tore off a 60 yarder. Oh yeah, and this was in the second half after Dodge "adjusted".

[MeanMag]

Oh yeah, and this was in the second half after Dodge "adjusted".

I don't debate any other point in your story. This one is false. I don't know if they even passed once in the 2nd half. Worst game I've ever been to.

Coach Mac and his staff certainly have been refreshing. It's nice to have a commitment to someone who knows wtf is going on.

[NM Green]

Geez that ou game sounded tough to stomach. I thought rice was painful. My worst roadie watch.

GMG

[DirtySavage]

Todge is gone and good riddance.....

I'm happy he is back somewhere he can be happy.

I don't hate him, just what he did to the program.

May the years of the North Lake Mean Dragon Eagles for ever rest in peace, infamy, and shame.

Good Luck to Todge in his future endeavors and please never come back.

Lets all take a moment of silence for all the college players wasted under his reign and for all of his state championship rings.

[GrandGreen]

Dodge wasn't the answer, but he did not hire himself or even worse approve an almost all high school coaching staff. He was definitely a high risk type of hire that backfired. I do think Dodge took the high road and that was a welcome relief after the Dickey years.

[LongJim]

He was set up for, and set himself up for failure. This horse is waaaay dead guys. Way dead. TD don't work here no more.

[VideoEagle]

When people suggest trying a "high risk/high reward" strategy, I always think of the Todd Dodge experiment. "High risk" means you are most likely to fail and need to be ready to deal with failure.

The best coaches are both good coaches AND good people. A coach can get by being an good at one and alright at the other. But you can't be bad at either as it will come back to bite the program. Just ask anyone from Penn State how Jerry Sandusky - great defensive coach who was a dirt bag person - worked out for them.

[untjim1995]

Geez that ou game sounded tough to stomach. I thought rice was painful. My worst roadie watch.

GMG

That OU game was embarrasing, but its OU--their were the Big XII champs IIRC that year. Them killing us 79-10, albeit awful, wasn't too hard to understand.

A year later, going to Houston to play freaking Rice and losing 77-20 with them basically not trying in the entire 4th quarter (knowing they could have easily scored over 100 points) is the lowpoint of this program's FBS history since coming back from the dead in 1995. Its not even close, either...

[UNT90]

I was at the OU game. They could have scored 120.

With their second team.

It WAS that bad.

[untjim1995]

I was at the OU game. They could have scored 120.

With their second team.

It WAS that bad.

So could've Rice...who recruits kids that are more likely to attend UNT? OU or Rice? That's the lowpoint, sir...

[UNT90]

So could've Rice...who recruits kids that are more likely to attend UNT? OU or Rice? That's the lowpoint, sir...

Oh, I agree about Rice, lets just not downplay how bad OU was.

Their fans felt bad for us after the 1st qtr.

[untjim1995]

Oh, I agree about Rice, lets just not downplay how bad OU was.

Their fans felt bad for us after the 1st qtr.

I do remember before that OU bloodbath that Galloway had Dodge on his show and how he wanted us to really bring it to Zero-U...and I remember George Riba attending that game for WFAA here in DFW. What I don't remember is any coverage for us after that from the DFW media...funny how that works when we get crushed by name-your-AQ-Power in the opening game of the season, when we play someone that those guys actually care about, only to see that the best news for us from the bodybag game is that we got paid and the check didn't bounce...

Georgia was different last year--probably because it was our 4th OOC game, we actually competed a little better. Here's to hoping that Texas will be, too, this year, even though we are playing them in the season opener instead of later in the year.

[TheTastyGreek]

Todge is gone and good riddance.....

I'm happy he is back somewhere he can be happy.

I don't hate him, just what he did to the program.

May the years of the North Lake Mean Dragon Eagles for ever rest in peace, infamy, and shame.

Good Luck to Todge in his future endeavors and please never come back.

Lets all take a moment of silence for all the college players wasted under his reign and for all of his state championship rings.

This guy gets it.

[MeanMag]

This guy gets it.

Yes, but he's not the one worrying with off season click traffic?

[North Texas Shep]

Dodge was a huge mistake and step back for our program. Those dark ages are gone. Let the age of enlightenment under Mac continue and prosper for years to come.

[GrandGreen]

That OU game was embarrasing, but its OU--their were the Big XII champs IIRC that year. Them killing us 79-10, albeit awful, wasn't too hard to understand.

A year later, going to Houston to play freaking Rice and losing 77-20 with them basically not trying in the entire 4th quarter (knowing they could have easily scored over 100 points) is the lowpoint of this program's FBS history since coming back from the dead in 1995. Its not even close, either...

Yes, but I think a large part of the Rice embarrassment was due to the effects of Dodge/RV drug testing the entire team aftermath. Surely, one of the stupidest moves a hc could make. The team was bad, but I think it was better than the Rice game indicated.

The OU game pitted a very good team against a very poor one coached by a bunch of high school defensive coaches, who didn't have a clue and didn't deserve to coach at any college.

[GrandGreen]

He was set up for, and set himself up for failure. This horse is waaaay dead guys. Way dead. TD don't work here no more.

Well if you can't talk about sports history, there is going to be a big reduction in sports conversation.

[LongJim]

Well if you can't talk about sports history, there is going to be a big reduction in sports conversation.

I don't disagree regarding talking about history, but to me this falls more into the category of self-flagellation. There's too much of that in this program and fan base, IMO--but to each his own.