rcade

Since we're psychoanalyzing, you have a pollyanna complex. Good things don't happen just because we wish really, really hard for them. It's never "only a matter of time" until you win in college football. There are plenty of examples of coaches who could not lead teams to a winning record. I don't hang my self-esteem on whether North Texas wins or loses. But I didn't put my money and time into the new stadium referendum so that UNT would have a showplace for lousy football. That degree you're so proud of would be more valuable if UNT had a great football team bringing more national attention to the school. Prospective employers and clients would be talking to you about your alma mater. The media would pay more attention to the university. So all things considered, I feel pretty strongly that we should start not sucking as soon as possible. I hope it begins next weekend against FAU.

Several people have said lately that when Todd Dodge was hired, everyone on GoMeanGreen loved the move. That's not true, as you can see from a topic posted on Dec. 12, 2006, when his hiring was confirmed by The Ticket: http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31103 A majority of members were excited about the hire, but there were several outspoken exceptions: "It's a sad day when fans of a Div 1A program get excited about hiring a HIGH SCHOOL COACH! Sad, sad, sad." -- meanfbfan "Its not that anyone disputes Dodge's success at the higschool level. Its the fact that we are a D-1 program and had a couple good candidates that were already head coaches or had spent a considerable amount of time as an assistant to big time programs that had shown interest." -- Eagle1855 "Our hiring of a high school coach proves we've only got I-AA money." -- The Fake Lonnie Finch "I feel bad for the university for 2 reasons. #1 you will be the laughing stock of the country for a couple of days because no one really know who Dodge is outside of Texas. They will see that you hired some slappy high school coach from the state. Even though we all know he is a good coach, they don't. It will hurt recruiting I PROMISE YOU." -- meanfbfan " ... we just hired a high school coach to lead a Division I-A program. You don't have to live in Dallas to understand the finincial straightjacket it took to pull that off." -- The Fake Lonnie Finch "Whoopee - a high school coach. Let's win state!" -- greeneagle11 " ... many of the posters here believe (wrongly) that people outside of Southlake believe this guy is Jesus. He wasn't Jesus at Yoe or Newman Smith...when he wasn't at a money school. Now, he's at the ultimate in non-money schools in Division I-A." -- The Fake Lonnie Finch "no more comments from me now that I know they are commical. They are commical to me TOO, because I know whats about to happen to our program and it kills me to see how blind everyone is on this board. Best of luck to you all." -- meanfbfan --- This was my take at the time:

We started the second half down 14-0 and the D had played well, aside from the first touchdown drive. The second was set up by a Dodge fumble. Army's running back was injured. That was a point our D could have given us a chance by stepping up and keeping Army out of the end zone. They did well on the first drive, but on the second Army moved all the way down the field and scored another TD. Our D also could have helped us by getting turnovers to shorten the field. Instead, the D got manhandled, got no turnovers, and the patchwork offense had no chance.

It would be a miracle if Dodge stayed healthy all season, given his health and our O line.

I knew someone would play this card. Dodge was hired by UNT because he won games. He has been given four years to win games. You may be feeling sorry for him, but I can't imagine he's feeling sorry for himself. He had a chance to deliver and it hasn't worked out for him. When a player isn't good enough, do you think Dodge keeps him around because we're a family and families stick together? Hell no! Dodge knows that he was brought here to win games and if he didn't, he'd be shown the door.

Get real? What's laughable is thinking a 5-34 coach should get another three years to prove himself! You don't have to be an upper-tier D-I program not to suck. There are plenty of teams with UNT's resources -- or less -- that are not as consistently awful as UNT has been under Dodge. Barring some miraculous run through the Sun Belt that starts next weekend, Dodge is compiling a record of futility that future UNT coaches will have trouble meeting. He has been historically bad.

Which explains why you are one of the last people on the Dodge bandwagon. This is Dodge's fourth year. Winning is the only thing that matters. If he can't do that, he needs to go.

Using "head coach rumors" and playing on the road to justify poor play *are* excuses. Really weak ones, too.

Even if we wanted to sit the seniors, with 10 major injuries in three games, we couldn't. We have no depth.

The inconsistency at QB is Dodge's fault. Vizza quit (after throwing 5,146 yards and 32 touchdowns no less) because "the program is just not what I expected." Riley Dodge turned out to be the wrong choice for QB. Dodge has only been snakebit this year, but even then, Riley's his Plan C?

Even if he didn't do those things, he'd still be one of UNT football's best assets. He's great at calling games -- one of the best play-by-play announcers in all of college football.

He was in DD's corner too. It's not in his nature to be critical of the current regime.

Army hasn't had a winning record since 1996.

UNT will probably beat Western Kentucky and at least one other Sun Belt scrub. Beyond that, I am not optimistic.

How do you give your star running back only 5 carries in a half where your third-string quarterback is playing?

A little more gloom, despair and agony for the Mean Green Nation: North Texas is 0-3 to Florida Atlantic under Dickey and 0-3 under Dodge: 2004: Lost 20-132005: Lost 26-232006: Lost 17-162007: Lost 30-202008: Lost 46-132009: Lost 44-40 Despite the fact that Florida Atlantic was in Division I-A for the first time in 2004, UNT has never managed to beat them.

RV has been successful in basketball and we're in the process of building a stadium. It's not the time to fire an AD, even though he deserves it for hiring a high school coach.

"Very gradual" is putting it mildly. Perhaps in another 20 years Dodge can get his first winning season at UNT. Riley Dodge's son will be quarterback. It will be awesome.

Only two schools have hired a high school football coach since 1980. North Texas did it twice. Most non-BCS schools have never hired a coach directly from high school.

Playing Rice was a bad time? On the radio it sounded like the crowd in Denton was fired up and loving the game against a Texas team. I don't think we're beaten down to prefer playing more Texas schools soon, even if they're UTSA and Texas State. The Sun Belt is where we are. We might as well enjoy it until/unless a bigger conference comes calling.

I'd love to see us in a conference with UTSA and Teas State. Just not at the price of being in another Big West. They should join the Belt.

The only thing the WAC has going for it is a historic name. The current teams are no better than the Sun Belt.

Sheesh. I don't think we will win the last 9. But a winning season in conference play is the minimum level of success to get me on board keeping Dodge for another year.

I never said he would win 9 games. I just said it's theoretically possible, so firing him would be premature.

Coaches who don't get the job done deserve the same amount of consideration they give players who don't get the job done. Dodge is a big boy. He doesn't need to be coddled if he isn't getting the job done. As for him doing "a lot of good" for the program, you gotta be kidding. A football coach who doesn't win has accomplished nothing.