the real grad88

Yes, I agree completely. Building character is 100% of what college football should be about. But we all know that winning is also required if a coach is to have that opportunity. I really, really wish Coach Dodge could have been the one to stay for 20 years. I still think he could have won had we not had so much bad luck this year (I'm really not trying to get that thread started again!). But, it was not meant to be. My two cents are: If we win but have an "outlaw" program, we have really lost and failed those young men. Here is to the thought that hopefully we can find a coach/staff that can do both.

Another thought: How many schools could actually bring their budgets into the black by cutting down on their travel costs AND building rivalries with schools so that fans could actually travel to away games, thereby increasing attendance. A conference with NT, SMU, Houston, Rice, UT-EP, Texas State(?), UT-SA(?), Tulsa, La-Tech, and maybe Tulane, I think all ships would rise from increasing attendance. What about the regional TV revenues that could come from such a conference? If it could just be tried, it would work.

I saw the post below about UC-Berkley cancelling several programs because of funds, and it got me to thinking about the cost of all of the far-flungness of so many conferences and the "new economy." I have wondered for a while how long it will be before some state governments begin to put 2 and 2 together and realize how much money is being wasted on unnecessary travel and then begin to nudge schools to make realignments based upon regional proximty (common sense). It makes no sense that Houston is playing schools way out East when they have schools a short bus ride away. Why is North Texas playing MTSU and Troy when they have much closer regional options? Someone at some point is going to start asking those questions! Not just costs...but how about the stimulation of local/state economies? How much money would be generated in TEXAS by an all-Texas (or mostly Texas/regional) conference!? A lot.

Our family has a pop-up camper, and I was wonderfing the same thing!

Yes to running the ball! This team needs to keep doing just that! We need to cram it down their throats until the opposing team likes it!

I want to see a coach that stays long enought to put his name on this team/program and the history books. Then, maybe he moves on to the true big time to finish off his career (or maybe not...maybe he just stays). I'll repeat myself... Dodge could fit that bill if he is given the chance. I will not apologize for that opinion. I can think of very few coaches who have the respect that Dodge has in Texas. We need a coach who can recruit the heck out of Texas. Dodge is the still that man. And, I believe he is going to show enough improvement (while facing GREAT odds against him) to get that chance. I personally believe that even 4 wins this season (with everything that has happened) will be enough to let him stay. RV knows his potential.

Yep. If Dodge can pull a team together that has this much going against it and win on the road, he can win when he gets/keeps all of his tools in place for an entire season! He is the man for the future, I am completely convinced. He is a great match for what this program needs at this point in time. We need stability and a coach who can build foundation for a strong program for the long-haul. Stop the coaching marry-go-round that NT has had over the years and BUILD something. Now is the time.

Oh what a feel'n..... Congratulations to the players and the coaches for a hard-fought game and win. You never quit and you never laid down until you got the job done. Good job Dodge for hanging in there when it had to be tough to see any day light at all. Wow,and to do it on the road with all of those injuries. Very impressive! TEAM: if you can win this one, there's nothing to say that you can't just keep on winning! Let's give a cheer...

I'm done with this thread and with this Board for a while. Ya'll have helped to clarify my "fan" philosophy and maybe I have helped to clarify the thinking of some of you (probably far away from my own thinking-which is fine). I think I will just keep buying my single game tickets and hotdogs for the kids, and teach them the fight song and watch them laugh and play and just have fun being Green. To each his own. Blessings.

I just know that if I were an AD and was the CEO of soliciting funds for support, I would make sure they understood one thing: When you give, you are not giving to buy a piece of this team. No one owns this program but the students who provide the vast majority of its support through their student fees. I would tell any potential donor that they are giving to support student athletes, period. They are not giving so that that they can have a say in the hiring and firing of coaches or managing the program. If the above was not good enough for any would-be donor, then don't let the door hit you on the way out. And, Fire Fighten Rick, I used to have respect for you, but no more my friend. I'll sit where I want to sit...with us common folk who don't want to listen to crap like yours.

I think the history of college football says that there are lots of coaches who are willing to throw away a player if he can no longer win games. Fortunately, we don't have one of those coaches.

When I drive 2 and a half hours to the game and spend $100-200 bucks on tickets and food and such for the kids, I am supporting those student athletes. Just because I choose not to be a part of a giving club does not mean that I do not give...Sir.

Thank you.

Agreed. Support the players no matter what. Support UNT no matter what. If the coaches and players have the same attitude of "give it 100% no matter what" (and they will), we might just win some games that many now are expecting us not to. This could be a great time to suprise some folks. Winning against all odds can be the sweatest kind of victory!

Lovely. I rest my case.

Though we have a different opinion about Dodge and the timing of it, I do like your attitude.

Yes, I go to the games. I make it a point not to sit beside the "donors" who think they have bought a piece of the team and act like classless fools making comments all throughout the game...ruining the great time I am having there. Yes, I do go to the games. If you are a "donor" and do not fit the above description, my apologies.

Yes, and Dodge is that man. Dodge can recruit in Texas like most coaches who would come to NT cannot. If I were a parent, I would rather have Dodge sitting in my living room over many, many other coaches because I know that my son is going to be treated with respect and that he will demand respect from the players. I know that he will be a true student athlete and not just used and thrown away when misfortune or injury happens. I want to see Dodge get the chance to recruit in Texas with this new football stadium. I hope he gets that chance.

Yes, a "business" of educating young men for life. Having a coach who will pull the team together (as Dodge will) after losing two QBs in as many games and facing that adversity together, will help them later in life. We always grow more from our losses that our victories. Dodge is man enough to understand that for them and to help give that understanding to them. That is what I mean when he is a class-act.

What happens in the business/corporate world is a universe away from what should happen in college athletics. The fact that so many keep trying to relate the two just continues to drive home my point.

Sir, I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

I give what I can. I am not a wealthy man and I have kids that need it more right now. Is it really any of your business? Does the fact that you give large amounts of money give you more of a voice? Does the size of your donation give you the size of your voice in the program? I hope not. Are you giving so that you can have a "winner"? Or, are you giving to support scholarships of student athletes? If I had BIG money, I would have a tough time getting my money involved with college athletics today because it is so dominated by people who have the attitude that apparently you share.

The attitude you display (and that of financial supporters of big-time college programs around the country) is the reason that college football has become a disgrace in so many circles. You really expect winning no matter what with a bunch of student athletes who have just graduated from high school? You really apply real-world business principles to college football? We are talking about scholarship program here not business.

Too funny. That's good, I have to admit that. Let me see if I can say it the way I feel it when I think of North Texas and the idea of a fan and such. A fan is someone who jumps on the bandwagon to be associated with a "winner". For me, that is most appropriate for the NFL...or for a few college teams in the national spot light. I am a "fan" of UT in the sense that I am from Texas and want them to win. North Texas is different. UNT is MY SCHOOL. It is the reason for my career and rising out of poverty and giving my children possibilities that I never had. I am proud of my school and my team. I am proud that my school (and the program) is a school of honor and integrity. I am proud that we are not a "football factory" and don't want to be. I am proud when we win, but I don't NEED a group of 18-21 year olds to win for me to know I am a winner and that my school is a winner and that those student athletes are winners. I WANT us to win on the field...but as I said earlier, it is not the MOST IMPORTANT thing.

SOME of you on this board need to understand something about yourselves. SOME of you have an inferiority complex, and you don't know it...which is a part of the complex. SOME of you really get your swagger from how your team wins...or not. Someone said on another post, "I am a winner and I only associate with winners." My response is: Go jump on the UT bandwagon then. Do some of you really get embarrassed at work if we lose? When some college football "fan" ribs me for being a North Texas grad, I just say, "I am proud do be from a school that has a coach in which the players are true student athletes and the program is conducted with class....we will be winning soon...it's only a matter of time." Some need to take a break from all of this and get a handle on things.