CaribbeanGreen

Yeah, agreed. Seems like a large percentage of this board had declared repeatedly what a failure Dickey was, how the SBC titles meant nothing, how the whole 9 years were a step back, etc., and now seem to be changing their tune. Let's just chalk it up to emotion in the light of recent losses that were tough to swallow.

Wonderful post. Thanks, Harry.

amen. History will remember the coach fondly.

Ramone was at NT during the late Simon/Early DD Big West days.. was a starter on the DD team that won @ Lubbock. Great night! As for the new coach, if you're going to do it, do it all the way. Let him clean house if he sees fit. No restrictions, no sacred cows. If you're going to start fresh, start fresh.

Normally, I'd agree... but I also thought (and heard) we couldn't afford to cut ties with DD.

Just announced on the Ticket. It's official.

I don't know what it is, but I've never had much luck with SC and rolled up people playing with them... I think it just goes with your strengths... I haven't played a ton of '07, but for me, the gold standard was the mobile QB... ... In '06, I ran over everybody with Texas A&M, because I could just go out of a shotgun, roll McNeal out to the wide side of the field and either hit someone open deep or take off for a decent gain every time. VaTech was similar with Marcus Vick, though I liked playing with the Aggies more. I know personnel has changed for '07, but what I'm saying is I would find the mobile QB. That being said, everyone is completely different. I have one friend who likes nothing more than pounding it up the gut over and over again, and another who agrees that Texas Tech or Hawaii can't be touched.

I agree 100% that it reflects on the coaching staff. That's what my contention has been all along -- i'm not pro staff--- I just think the biggest failure has been in recruiting, bar none.

Not necessarily... you have to have total faith in what would be brought in as a replacement to say that...

..and what i don't understand is the recent article posted here with travel costs that showed LaTech had lower overall costs than NT. That just didn't seem right to me, and would totally piss all over the reasoning for turning down the offer... I believe TheTastyGreek posted the link and had the same questions, which went unanswered in the other thread... does anyone have that link or some numbers?

I thought 4 years of Scott Hall went pretty well. I think what we saw (and would have potentially seen last year) of Andrew Smith went pretty well. Maybe this group just can't play, or maybe the line is just so bad that no one could play behind it? Either way (repeat refrain), recruiting seems to be a bigger problem than the same offense and staff that had Hall and Smith.

Yep. That's the point... Petrino is anything but "fiery".. neither is Tressel, Tuberville, Fulmer, Richt, Bowden, or a number of others, for that matter... A good coach is a good coach is a good coach.

Watching Bobby Petrino do a lot of glassy-eyed staring, I find myself wondering if we as football fans tend to overrate the "fiery" guy on the sidelines.. I can think of a pretty equal number of great successes and failures from both extremes, and really wonder if it has much influence if any on a team... I think each style can wear thin over time, and I think the overall makeup of a staff has more to do with it than anything, but i think that this attribute is something that a lot of us tend to overrate the heck out of. A guy can coach or he can't - and even more importantly (IMHO), a guy can recruit or he can't... the rest is just gravy.

More on JLS... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2645774

As of this moment, not clear whether he resigned or was fired... press conference this afternoon. This guy was one of the hottest coaches around when leaving Louisville a few years ago, with an innovative offense no one could stop.... I wonder where this leaves him after the meltdown at MSU?? As a coordinator at a big time BCS school or possibly a HC on a mid major level? Thoughts?

Yep. If you didn't know it already, you sure do now...

Great post. Every time I can get into town, I wouldn't miss being in the stands for just about anything, regardless of record or opponent. I would think most of the die-hards here are just blowing off steam as well... can't imagine any have really "quit"... you can't be a quitter and a NT fan at the same time.... not with our history. We need to make this job as attractive as possible, and hurting the school because we don't like the direction of a coaching staff is either very misguided or self-important.

When I lived in DFW (and when I come back to visit), pretty constantly on The Ticket. I flip over to 102.9, 102.1, or 100.3 on commercials.

I know that over on the Frog board they go through weeks of HATING this guy... I've read about 500 posts calling for his head over the years... I wonder what they would think about the guy if asked? It DOES seem to be a more similar attack to what we run now (heavy run based, etc.)... which makes me lean toward Sonny Dykes.

We run a trick play, the RB just goes brain dead and runs it out of bounds 14 yards deep. We call a deep pass, have it wide open and the QB makes a terrible throw. We've run inside, we've run outside, we've run option. We've thrown play-action, thrown WR screens, thrown deep, thrown mid-level. Maybe our offensive talent just ain't really that talented.

Were you on campus during the Helwig days?

This is why I still feel like the biggest failure of this staff has come in recruiting. The offense generated points and rushing champions when it had the horses. And as for the dominating defense thing, there are NINE games there where we gave up 20+ and STILL won. Can you even fathom that with the current team? Somewhere along the line, some major miscalculations were made in recruiting.

Maybe I have a nice little Saturday planned...? I just hope we have the time!

That's my concern, Plumm. Honestly, based on your experience, looking at it as objectively as you can, if we DO make a change after the season, what kind of coach do you think this regime will go for, bearing in mind it will be their first football hire? THIS is what troubles me.

and you know all this..... how? Also, CUSA looked at other sports besides football, you know. You know, the ones we aren't very good at....