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According to this: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo...s-schiano_x.htm 1 million before signing a bonus taking him to 1.5 This site has him at 2.25 but I think that includes housing benefits as well- http://coacheshotseat.com/SalariesContracts.htm Everyone should visit that last web site just to get a perspective on the cost of doing buisiness today in D1 football.

Granted but that’s the exception not the rule. This is JJ’s first year. Do you really think he is going to do worse that Bennett? Even if he fails, they will keep trying (at the tune of 2 mill a year) to hire someone that is going to win. They will eventually find a winner when they are willing to throw that type of cash around. It’s my hope that RV raises donations and is able to use the interest off of those donations to supplement the salary that the university is willing to pay. For example, assuming he raises 10 mill (at 5% for the sake of simplicity) would generate 500K a year in addition to the 350K we’re paying Dodge. Alternatively, we could follow the UTEP plan and pay the head coach 1$ for every ticket sold. That’s not a lot but that’s more than what we’re currently doing. Something needs to be done. Also – speaking of stadium costs – I hope 60 mill is enough. I love Ford stadium and would be blown away if we could have a stadium as nice as theirs. I seem to recall that Ford was built in 99-20 for a cost of just under 60 mill. Wikipedia says 42 million but that seems low. If it was 60 mill, there can no doubt that costs have gone up since then. Does anyone remember the cost of Ford? If we’re going to build a 32K seat stadium, it better be state of the art – bad a$$. I’ve never been to MTSU or Troy. I know some of you have and say their stadiums are nice. However, they look cheap to me on TV. I just don’t want an erector set stadium

That’s a very good point. I’ve (and others) have been saying for a while that we’re falling grossly behind in the salary dept. I’m all for the new stadium but in the end I don’t believe that it’s going to be what pushes us over the edge in terms of being competitive (at least not by itself). SMU built Ford and what have they done since? Keep in mind for years they were paying Bennett something like 500K a year which is more than us but nothing in the big picture. In the end, I think raising money to support a salary to get/keep a good coach is more important than a stadium. Anecdotally, I’ve noticed that programs have expanded their stadiums after they’ve developed their programs and fan bases. That usually happens when they get a good coach who wins and they’re able to keep him for a while. I assume they are able to keep their coaches and/or replace them with good coaches because they have to money to be competitive. It’s kind of the chicken or the egg argument – what comes first – the stadium or the top notch coach? We need both but let’s hope that RV is working on securing the donations needed to someday support a competitive salary.

Realistically, we should have lost this game by about 21-28 points. In person, Rice’s players looked bigger and faster. However, there’s no doubt our special teams play, interceptions and lack of adjustments in the second half all contributed this fiasco. That aside - one of the many questions I have is: How does an extremely small academic school like Rice with all of its stringent admission requirements, lack of easy programs, relatively poor paid coaching staff – out-recruit us? Where are they finding all of this academic football talent?

I had the same thought also. I thought he could have made a 1st down on that 4th and 5 by running it but instead froze-up and got sacked. It just seems like he’s hesitating when it’s decision time to pass or run.

I’d give anything to have our old uniforms back. That’s the one of two complaints I have about the Dodge tenure. We deserve all of the SLC comments with our current uniforms. Our current uniforms are pathetic. The other complaint is the number of High School coaches on our staff. I truly believe that we can turn this ship around if Dodge would just weed out some of the high school coaches. I was at the game last night. We lost the game because Rice simply better than us. You could see that the size and speed of their players was superior to ours. However, we got embarrassed in large part due to our special teams play. Special teams need to be addressed immediately. The other thing is it seems that our opponents figure out our offense in the 2nd half and adjust. I’m not sure if that’s a product of us just getting a hole and having to take higher risk chances or what but that also concerns me.

I can hear it but just see a green screen. Do you need a special viewer and/or program to see it?

She made it sound as if there was significant opposition. A fair and balanced report would have also mentioned the amount of support for the stadium.

His kids were in school (at UNT) in the early 90s also. I saw him around a few times back then. I want to say that one (maybe both) of his sons were on the team.

How about the kick-off return where the place kicker didn't even try to wrap the guy up? The coaches need to get all over this group.

Same here I had the same problem last year also. MG Premium was spotty at best.

That’s awesome

Except in the Belt – every team has to schedule 2-3 money bag games and the strength of schedule for conference games in the Belt isn’t as strong as it is the WAC. In other words, Hawaii gets more credit for beating Boise than Florida Atlantic would get for beating Troy. Nothing is going to change between the Belt and the WAC in terms of the WAC being superior unless the WAC implodes or the Belt starts generating a lot more money. I think everything in college ball is tied to money which coincides with coaching. You can have a situation where Monroe beats Alabama every once in a while or a situation where the Belt has a better Sagrins rating that Conf USA for a year – that’s what makes college ball great. However, on the whole, I believe a team’s/conference’s long term success is generally tied to money. The money of course leads to the individual schools ability to hire a good head coach and their ability to retain him and/or attract a good successor. If you go to www.coacheshotseat.com you can compare the salaries of the WAC coaches to those of the Belt. The WAC teams are so far ahead of us it isn’t even close. The average salary in the WAC is $546,555 more than double that of the belt – $264,500 ($255,111 if you add in W. Kentucky). Of course there are a few teams in the WAC that skew that average up (Hawaii, Boise, Fresno). However, the teams that skew their average down are the former Sun Belt teams. Moreover, it’s no coincidence that the teams with the best recognition/success are the teams with the highest paid coaches. I doubt very seriously, we are going to see any Belt teams running the table with a coach averaging in the 250K range a year. I also doubt that we are going to see many and/or several Belt teams increase their salaries to be competitive with the WAC when our conference as a whole fails to generate the interest/money/bowl exposure that the WAC generates. I don’t think anyone outside our conference really cares if Florida Atlantic beats Troy or vice versa. And that’s not going change anytime soon. The divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is only getting wider. One only has to look at what UH, SMU and/or Baylor are paying their coaches and/or are willing to pay to see the difference. Consequently, you have to ask yourself – what’s more likely – elevating UNT or the whole Sun Belt conference? Having said all of that, I think we were very lucky to get Dodge with the salary we are paying. I also think that we are unique in the sense that we are one of the largest universities in the State in one of the largest metro areas in the country. Consequently, I believe we have the potential/alumni base to raise the money necessary to pull ourselves up by the boot straps and elevate our selves out of this conference and into respectability. To really generate that type of support however we are going to have to find a large donor or tap into the average fan and/or potential fan. We're going to have to do better than just the hare core types on this board. We’re going to have to get the guy who attended UNT for 2 years and dropped out or the guy who graduated without ever attending a game or the family who lives in Denton. I think this would be a lot easier to do in the WAC or in Conf USA or some new variation thereof. I think it's a lot harder proposition in the Belt.

I agree - can anyone shed some light here as to what happened here?

Those schools with the exception of possibly NMSU will likely always be the doormats of any conference they are in. Idaho and USU will probably always play second fiddle to Boise and Utah respectively. We would have the advantage of being the only Texas school in the WAC located in the heart of one of the best recruiting areas in the nation. What do you think? Would it help Dodge or hurt Dodge to be in the WAC? Also - I don’t have time to check all the box scores but I did see that Idaho’s attendance for Hawaii in week 5 was greater than their average for the year. I bet the same would be true for us if we played a nationally ranked team at home. WAC schools are already tapping Texas recruiting. Case in Point, Vizza would have gone to Nevada but for Dodge. Think about that. Dodge stays at SLC and the state of Texas loses one of the best "dual threat" qbs in the state to an out of state school simply because of the conference they play in. Using your logic we should never play in a conference where we are the only Texas school. Using that logic it would be too easy for them to take our recruits away from us. Perhaps that's why we're losing all of our current recruits to the other Sunbelt teams. None of the nonBCS conferences are really stable right now. If you're not moving up you're moving down. Do you think FIU is going to make it? How about Troy? Are they going to stay in Sunbelt? I don't think we're going to lose much longer. And if so, I'd rather lose to the likes of nationally ranked programs than schools like FIU that no one has ever heard of. .

I don't think they will travel well. What I’m saying is that our fans base will grow with better competition coming into Fouts (assuming we continue to improve). And sure – they want us for La Tech and the DFW media market. I say let’s take advantage of our natural resources. As Adler points out this league could fall apart. However, the last two years have worked out great for the WAC.

You’re right. That could happen. Conversely they could keep winning BCS berths and getting their teams nationally ranked. Some people say Conference USA is going to implode but that doesn’t stop many on this board from wishing we could join that conference and elevate our program (perception wise) to a higher lever of competition. Eveything at our level is just a stepping stone to the next conference. How long before Troy starts looking to jump ship?

No one said anything about solving anything overnight. However, the WAC would increase our national visibility. Can you imagine the recruiting benefit Dodge would have if he could tell his recruits that we play in conference where we have a legitimate chance of going to a BCS game and/or competing for the Heisman? Vizza would have gong to Nevada (a WAC team) had it not been for Dodge. I’m guessing that he originally committed to Nevada simply because of the conference affiliation/caliber of program. How much better would Dodge be at recruiting if he didn’t have to overcome the handicap of the Sun-belt? Also, how many fans do the likes of Middle Tennessee and/or ASU bring to Fouts? I would argue that while we may lose some opposing fans that wouldn’t make the road trip if we joined the WAC – we would gain more North Texas fans that would want to come out to see the likes of a nationally ranked Hawaii, Boise, Fresno or Nevada. It’s pure conjecture on my part but I believe that we would more than make up the difference. Playing nationally ranked conference teams would also give us a legitimate shot a being nationally ranked ourselves. All this would generate more and more enthusiasm in the program and build pride in the student body. And the 3 WAC schools with attendance lower than 15K – you guessed it – all former Sunbelt schools poached away by the WAC.

Nobody has reported that he’s interviewing or that he’s even interested in the job. What people are saying is that the market has changed a lot from last year. Bennett was making 500K at SMU so Dodge at 300K wasn’t too far off the mark. Smart observes know that his record is not indicative of his potential. TCU may also be looking for a coach soon if Patterson leaves for another job (as rumored) . If so, add another multi-million dollar job to the list that's only 30 miles away. RV better start looking at raising his salary.

I never heard of any coach leaving after just one year but last year both Erickson (Idaho to Arizona State) and Graham (Rice to Tulsa) both did it. Money doesn’t talk – it screams. I believe Dodge has more character than to come hear and leave after one year. I have to believe that he knows it would damage his reputation severely to attempt something like that. However, he is without a shadow of doubt a very could coach. We could have easily won 5 o six games this year and that’s with his learning curve in full effect. There are a lot of dominos falling right now in the coaching world and sooner or later we could be affected. It troubles me that SMU can’t find a coach willing to take their program. The longer they search and get rebuffed, the more likely they are to start looking at a “project” coach like Dodge. When I was at the SMU game this year, a random SMU fan came up to me and said “I sure wish we had your coach”. The more opposing fans think this way – the more we are in trouble of losing him unless we can come up with some money.

SMU with its enrollment/alumni base, has enough support (theoretically) to fill its stadium. My point is that building a new stadium may temporarily improve our attendance but wins/losses and caliber of opponents is much more important. We won 4 sunbelt titles in a row with a much larger enrollment/aluni base and didnt' come close to an average attendance of 25K As for the Super Pit – it was around a lot longer than Vic Trili. I bet our basketball attendance in 89-92 (when I was in school) is very similar to our attendance in say 04-06. However, our enrollment over this time period almost doubled. Part of our problem is our conference affiliation. Having Navy, SMU or Baylor come every other year is nice but that is typically only one game a season. That’s one of the reasons I support joining the WAC. I think elevating the caliber of conference teams that come to Denton will elevate more interest in the local media and fan base.

This same talk was also very prominent on Baylorfans.com A new stadium would be nice but paying a competitive salary for a coach is more important. I keep shouting it but no one listens.

Build it and they will come? That’s what SMU said. We have a bad a$$ basketball arena and that hasn’t attracted recruits or the big conferences or the championships or the fans over the years. We’ve probably only averaged between 2K-3K in attendance over the last 20 years and have probably only won 2-3 conference championships over that time period. I think the most important ingredient for success is the coach. The facilities are obviously part of the package but the primary factor for attendance is wins/losses. And the most important factor in ensuring more wins than losses is the coach. Dodge will take us to a new level which will raise attendance and support etc. Once we get there we will have to have a new stadium and new conference to go further. I don’t have a problem with a 35K seat stadium as long as it is nice (like SMU’s) and has the ability to expand.

What about UH and Central Florida? Aren't their enrollments larger than their staduims?

Not an excuse - just the fact Numbers don’t necessarily equal dollars. "The stadium [at SMU] is named after Gerald J. Ford . . . a billionaire banker who provided most of the funding for its construction." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_J._Ford_Stadium One of the other major donors was the owner of the KC Chiefs - Lamar Hunt. When we have billionaires and NFL owners who happen to be alumni and are willing contribute to our program we will be able to move a lot faster. And since we don't have the history that SMU or many of the other big programs have in terms of being in the Southwest Conference etc - we don't have the nostalgia factor working for us that helps engender support amongst the alums. As a result, we have to shake the trees a little harder. We'll get there. It's just going to take a little more time.