GrandGreen

Vizza's departure certainly bothers me. Not because I think Vizza was irreplaceable or even a particularly good QB, but it is just another sign of how far down the NT program is down right now. When you give a player the opportunity to start two years at QB, and then he leaves apparently without even giving the coach the courtesy of a discussion, it certainly points to a program in chaos. I wish Vizza well, he did play with a lot of desire, but I do wonder what is wrong with a player and a coaching staff that interacts everyday and yet seems to have so little communication. I don't understand why Vizza would announce his departure without first talking to the coaching staff or why the coaching staff would be so unaware of the situation that they claim surprise.

It has happened twice that I can remember at North Texas. Although technically Josh Gulley was not a starter when he transferred, he in fact tried to transfer after a very good freshman year against the hardest schedule in NT's history. Simon would not release him to play at California and he stayed another year in Simon's doghouse before transferring and never played QB after his fish year again to my knowledge. There was a freshman named Van Ness who started for Fry's first team at NT and played very well. He transferred out and started a number of years at a West Coast 1a program.

Our annual "not up to snuff" fan thread. They did at least buy tickets and come to the game. I am always amazed at these posts at a school that needs support more than anything else. Lets give some kind of litmus test to the handfuls of people that make the effort to actually attend to see if they are worthy. Instead of being concerned about the thousands that did not bother to come including 99% of the students that have already paid for the privilege. Yes, school is out and I would bet you that at least 50% of the students live closer than the hour drive its takes me to drive to the game, but they have better things to do. As some one that sit through four and a half hours of basketball, Saturday: I will try to liven it up, I wouldn't want to disappoint such an avid fan.

Awful outside shooting, but still could have won. Great game for Tremiel. Very questionable shoot selection at critical times. Good news, is that NT was at least close with horrible 3 point shooting. Good defensive effort in a very closely called game.

Good for BC. I wish somebody would make a stand and hold coaches to their agreements. Before someone brings up TD or DD, remember that colleges almost always end up honoring their contracts. DD was paid for three years as he should have been, but if he had got that dream job he would have been gone in a flash, no matter how many years he had left on that contract. Obviously, I would like NT to have coaches that someone else wants, but wouldn't it be great if coaches lived up to their contracts.

Yes, everyone is going to throw away a four year scholarship plus the ties that they have at NT, because some other player leaves. All this conjecture comes with two disastrous seasons, and no one is happy including the team, coaches, and fans. Players, parents, and fans are going to complain that is to be expected. The truth is that NT was undoubtedly the worst team in the nation last year and that is enough to worry about. I don't see the need to add speculation to the mix.

I have vastly overestimated the team in the last two years. I believed in year one, that TD would improve the offense and an experienced defense would led to a good season. Year two, I expected the offense to continue to improve and even with a depleted defense that Deloach would be a significantly positive influence. What I acutally saw, was the worst two years of NT football in my long tenure following the team. Next year, I see little hope. NT is in full panic mode scrambling for Juco help. What is particularly disturbing is that NT is desperately recruiting wrs and dbs. Positions that Dodge has given out double digit ships in his first two years. Looking at next years schedule, there is not a game that NT will be favored in. Assuming the coaching improves, I believe NT may win 3 games.

Sarcasm ignored, the cupboard was far from empty. She inherited first and second team pre-season all conference players and a team that was picked near the top. She had four starters returning although the second best player is now on indefinite suspension for whatever reason. The team did show great promise for two games, Valpo and New Mexico, and not much before or after. It is too early to give up on the team and they do play hard. It is also not guaranteed that the next year will be better. NT loses some of the best current players including Amber Jackson. On paper, SS's high school recruits are not necessarily any better than what Slinker normally signed. I do believe that the two transfers will be good players for NT and I think Stephens still has a couple of scholarships to give. Again, it is way too early to tell if Stephens is the real deal or another good talker, bad coach like Trilli. I am all for discipline, but I am concerned with the number of players who have been suspended by Stephens. Slinker did not exactly recruit a bunch of thugs. Slinker's most heralded and the only post recruit was also apparently strongly encouraged to transfer. Even though not many care about woman's basketball, RV took a big chance on Stephens. picking her over much more experienced candidates. I like the coach's passion and have high hopes she will turn this around, but I have not been encouraged by the teams play in their latest games. With NT's general apathy toward woman's sports, there is no doubt Stephens will get every opportunity to be successful.

SHSU (3-10) 79 NT 72, looks like a long year

Has JJ' team every benefited from trying to run clock. With all the momentum NT goes into a semi stall and almost immediately loses a ten point lead. With an official crew calling anything close to contact, why didn't NT's quick guards just drive to the baskets as the Muts did. Without Magrum this game would have been a rout. The team played hard but missed a great number of layups and had no offensive flow. Those that discounted the loss to New Orleans should now recognize that this team is no better than mediore at this point. Throwing up three's with no inside game is not going to win a lot of games.

Most teams have players on scholarships so I guess talent is never an issue? The facts are that NT only two losses up to this point were to good teams, Houston 7-1 and Oklahoma State 8-3. New Orleans is now 5-6 with losses to Savannah State and Nicholls State. They are improving and shoot lights out for most of the game. So is it just a matter of coming up against an unusually good game by an opponent or is it another year of NT hovering just over .500 with a couple of road wins in conference hopeing for the hot streak in the tournament. To me, NT looked like a team with little urgency who was content to fire away from outside and was out hustled for most of the game. NT did turn it up a notch at the end of the game, but still could not stop NO. IF NT can't beat NO on the road, who can they expect to beat. NO was picked last in the conference and probably has less a home court advantage than any team in the Belt.

Another 10-8 conference ho hum NT team? Can JJ ever get over the hump? This team has too much talent not to play a lot better than tonight. Bad defense, pass around with no urgency until someone throws up a three offense. With all this team speed why does NT continue to play a slow half court game? NT played like they were sitting on a lead. Maybe it was the 150 rowdy fans that appeared to be there that got to the Green.

I wonder how in the world they can afford this. No attendance and no guarantee games, and yet they can finance a team. Apparently schools in other states have a great advantage over Texas teams in budgets.

I thought the replays from NT were bad, but ULL has to show every goal they score not once, but from two different angles.

Well, if you don't consider he was running against the worst kickoff defense in the nation.

A big step back after two very good games. 1 for 16 on three pointers and 31 turnovers is not going to beat anybody. Playing a much better team in front of a very hostile crowd of about 7,000 in New Mexico and NT has 14 turnovers, playing in front of one tenth that crowd at SMU commits 31 turnovers against a mediocre 3-5 Mustang team. NT just has no dependable scorer other than Jackson and does not appear to have a point guard that can consistently run the offense. The front court is extremely weak other than Jackson. This team is all Slinker recruits and with the graduation of three posts last year, SS is forced to start a very little used, before this year junior, Timms and a redshirt freshman Bailey at the post positions. This team has a fair senior class but the cupboard is almost bare in the other classes. Does anyone know why Hull is not playing? At only 5'8 she was probably NT best inside player again with the exception of Jackson.

Why should Vizza or anyone else on the team be above competition? Grittiest and determined are great attributes, but not a replacement for being a good quarterback. By the way, I don't know how many NT QB's you've seen but there have been plenty with grit. Scott Davis for example had over 150 yards against SMU running fullbacklike primarily up the middle. Steve Ramsey led NT to victory in a thunderstorm (they would never allow it now, lighting everywhere) coming back for a win from a 30 point half time deficit to Cincinnati. MIlls throw for 5 fourth quarter tds against conference champion Utah State to led NT to one of it most improbable victories. Meager, the player Vizza replaced, suffered a number of concussions and never quit. Grit is more than running hard and trying to gain every possible inch, Vizza did that his freshman year, but I think wised up some last year and better picked his battles. Vizza for whatever reason, be it his performance or the players around him, did not build on a better rookie season. Vizza has the most experience and should be the front runner for starting QB, however if a better player emerges they obviously should get the job. Being you are into speculation, I will guess that TD is not going to risk playing anybody at QB but the player that he feels is best for the team. I don't see TD risking his college career by playing favorites with his son, in fact I would imagine that he will probably lean the other way. You seem to discount the fact that the younger Dodge was a Parade All American quarterback and one of the highest rated recruits to ever sign with NT. I would be disappointed if he does not compete well against Vizza next year.

NT's overall success ratio has not been great with jucos, but there have been a few that have heavily contributed. Bense who started every year in the offensive line. Galbreath, conference mvp, who was a record breaking running back before Cobbs and Thomas. Daniels a very good defensive end that started at least two years (first team all conference). Pruitt who was a mainstay in the defensive line. Weathers a very solid player in the secondary. Jucos are recruited generally for a specific need and if they don't play major minutes, I wouldn't say that they were total busts but they did not meet basic expectations . Jucos signed since 2002 that may have never played or played less than anticipated: Brandon Hooks ol, Dupree Jones de, Arthur McNac lb, Eli Hutchinson de, Lonnie Chambers ol, Jimmy Chaney te, Brian Carlson te-ol, Gary Oubre, Trent Stanley ol, Chase Pistole dl, Justin Edwards db, and Alonzo Horton de. I would also add Willie Ransom to that list although he might have started a few games, he did not get consistent play and I don't think he even played his senior year. Jucos from the same recruiting periods that significantly contributed: Koree Wyatt a starting LB, Roy Covington usually not a fan favorite but he did start the majority of his career, Roy Loren started in the defensive backfield, Woody Wilson only played one year, and Michael Pruitt who along with Weathers have had the best careers in this time period. It is too early to deterimine the full effect of last years class but Hill and Hollovay started most of the year. Adams started in several games and Knott was the kicker. Nate Jenkins was redshirted I assume and very well may contribute but I didn't include him in the following. So in my imperfect rating system based on recruiting from 2002 to 2008 indicates that 10 Juco recruits met expectations and 13 who did not. Not a very good outcome as it is less than what I would expect from high school recruits. It should also be noted that based on this sample, TD, even after losing two heavily counted on transfers in the 2008 class, has still done better with jucos than the previous staff.

Lot of doubt for a 6-2 team who has greatly improved the toughness of their non-conference schedule with only one bad game thus far. I wonder about all these leadership questions, not really disputing that NT has a problem; but I do wonder how anyone not on the team would really know. Of course most are just speculating based on what they have seen, the one area I think NT is having difficulty with is just deciding who gets the minutes. This team may not have the most talented starting lineup in the Belt, but I can't imagine any team that is deeper. Not starting right now are Dennis, a pre-season second team all belt; McCoy, probably most athletic and best 3 point shooter thus far, and Tremial, agruably NT's most complete front court player. I think Howerton and Stewart are best used as spot players and Magrum is an unkown at this point, but you could make a case for any of the other players as being starters. Three point shooting is not a problem. NT is hitting 36.3% which is 102 out of 330 teams. This is off from last years team which were number 12 in the nation shooting 39.8%. White is definitely in a shooting slump and Dennis and Thompson started off slow but have came on strong in the last few games. Statistically, the problem is defense were NT ranks 306th. This is partially due to the schedule, but it does point to an area that needs improvement. I think part of the defensive issue is due to playing a lot of small guard lineups and NT not having a real strong defensive presense in the paint to keep opponent's taller guards from driving to the basket. NT doesn't have a real around the basket scoring threat like Wooden when he was healthy, but Hogans and Tremial are coming on. Odufawa is leading the Belt in rebounding despite having two off games in a row. Stewart is a tenacious defender and Howerton is effective against bigger slower posts. I think this front court will be much better than last year when Wooden only had a handful of games when in shape and healthy. As far as the point guard, it is easy based on White's play the last few games, to ague that he does not deserve the minutes he is getting. White has only hit 6 of 27 from the field in the last three games, and Johnson has clearly been the better player. However, teams remain focused on White, and that opens up other players and eventually White will get his shoot back. IMO, White must get minutes and as good as Johnson has been: I can't find fault with JJ's rotation. He has played both White and Johnson at point and played them together for extended minutes, similar to how he used Bell and White last year. With Johnson and White both in the game, NT is giving up a lot of height but gain a lot of quickness. I think this works well for limited minutes but most teams quickly adjust and have been able to take advantage on NT's defensive end.

Running a 3 man defensive front is usually done if teams have a very strong nose-tackle and good linebacker depth. Not sure NT has either. Assuming jucos are going to come in and make an immediate impact is always suspect. Don't get caught up in their ratings, Jucos are always over rated in my opinion based on the belief that they have more experience than high school athletes. The problem is that they are much more likely to be academic risks and not necessarily anymore likely to contribute than a high school player.

So close, this could have been the biggest oc victory in years. IMO, Slinker would have lost this game by 30. Just could not finish the deal, but great effort tonight before over 7800. How you get this close shooting 30% is a tribute too how hard they must have played. NT with only 13 turnovers, a great improvement especially considering the venue.

NT leads at half, 32-30; great game so far.

Are you kidding? Just out of curiosity about your question I looked up four local universities that changed coaches the same year as NT. Based on last posted lineups on their official websites for the 22 starting players excluding special teams, the lineups included: SMU started 9 freshmen and 2 sophomores for a total of 11 La Tech started 3 freshmen and 6 sophomores for a total of 9 Tulane started 5 freshmen and 5 sophomores for a total of 10 Rice started 2 freshmen and 6 sophomores for a total of 8 North Texas started 3 freshmen; Johnson, Freely, and Williams 5 sophomores Gill, Santiago, Vizza, Robertson, Penson for a total of 8 The North Texas could vary one or two based on what lineup actually started versus what was reported. However, it should be obvious that the number of underclassmen starting is not at all unusual. I don't really understand your second point, FCS teams have a maximum scholarship level of 63. The total scholarship players at other schools would be very difficult to obtain, however I would guess that there are many with similar numbers as NT at 77. To prove my point the following schools were also santioned by the NCAA and could not have scholarships above these levels ( also including 2008 records): Akron 80 5-7 Idaho 77 2-10 San Diego State 79 2-10 San Jose State 67 6-6 Temple 81 5-7 Toledo 79 3-9 UAB 76 4-8 Washington 77 0-12 UNT 80 1-11

Geez, why not compare NT football attendance with OU or UT. I find all these attendance woe threads a little tedious. Blame Denton, Alums, Staff and Faculty or the students; take your pick. In my mind, it is difficult to blame someone for not attending something that they obviously don't care enough about to attend. Believe it or not, the majority of people are not big sports fans. Second, the largest number that are sports fans are sheep that go for the most visible and successful teams to follow. The Pro teams and the pro-like college teams such as UT that have almost unlimited resources are what most sports fans chose to follow. The problem is that they can follow those teams via tv with a lot less cost and effort than it takes to actually go to a game. NT has not done a good job during its history of building that fan base and certainly need to improve. NT basketball, both teams, are offering a good product and deserve better attendance, but that is only going to be achieved by consistently winning and better promotion of the games. Support for basketball is building although at a snail's pace and that is at least promising.

There was some good news in that article assuming it is correct, that is that NT will have 82 scholarships available. That is only 3 under the maximum and 2 better than last year. Defensive lineman are a priority for every team, there not a lot of them out there and the competition is heavy. As far as the number of players, It seems to me that playing with 77 ship players is far from being catastrophic. I think you will find that there a number of programs that ended the season with similar numbers. When a number of 1aa programs with many less ships than NT are more competitive than NT, playing with a handful less ships than average doesn't seem that pertinent. I don't think many believe that DD left the program in good shape and obviously both the quantity and quality of the last year's junior and senior classes is greatly lacking. Does anyone have a guess at what the writer is talking about when he stated it would cost $495,000 in monthly base salary to terminate Dodge? Obviously, it is not per month; that would make Dodge's pay the highest for a head coach n the USA. I assume it refers to the total buyout of the remainder of his contract and that seems rather low to me. TD is going to get at least one more year, and hopefully he can turn the program around. But to suggest as this article does that the last two season results were primarily a result of TD inheriting a very poor team and had little to do with very questionable coaching is overly slanted. I can buy that the win-loss record is due to a talent gap, however I do believe that being totally non-competitive in the majority of games has as much to do with coaching as the players. Frankly after the debacle in Tennessee, were a team with two weeks to prepare was totally blown out in the first half by the second worst offensive team in the Belt; I had little hope for this coaching staff. However, the Arkansas State did provide a bit of optimism for the program and hopefully is a harbinger for progress to come.