SLCoutsider

Yes, I'm getting lots of static.

Lighten up Francis!

Defense went back to the Ron Mendoza system that didn't work 4 years ago because it was too advanced for the players at the time.

It won't be live on TV, but the game will be on TXA-21 at 3PM. The live radio broadcast is on 1630 KKGM, online at http://www.kkgmam.com/

Last week, parking was only $5. This should be a great game. The last time these teams met was in the 2005 regional semi-finals. Both teams had perfect records. Abiliene had a hot offense with Taylor Potts at QB and it was supposed to be their year to go all the way. But SLC walked away with a 52-0 shutout. As I recall, Mendoza started both Russo and Padron in that game. Abilene will be looking for revenge and they are supposed to be really good this year.

Written by an amateur blogger that has nothing to do with SportingNews other than having a free membership on the website. He's got a total of three blog entries, all written today. Somehow the "Just saw this on sporting news" note from the TXFOOSBALL guy is supposed to make it more credible?

YYZ28, my post was harsh and shouldn't have been directed at you. You're right about the website. I shouldn't have brought that up since it had already been taken down. Anyway, I've removed my post and the reference to the website. Nobody else really sticks up for Mendoza around here so sometimes I feel obligated to present the other perspective. I don't know the guy, but I really feel sorry for him. I think this season has been more about bad luck for him rather than being in over his head. I've met some SLC players that he coached and you would think that he's Vince Lombardi the way they talk. They absolutely loved playing for this guy and had total confidence in him. UNT has landed the top defensive players from Carroll's '07 and '08 classes (Padron, Russo, and Tomlin) in large part because they want to play for Mendoza. These kids were recruited by the likes of Standford, Vanderbuilt, Rice, SMU, A&M, Iowa State, Baylor, West Point, Annapolis, etc... yet they signed with UNT to play for Mendoza. Say all you want about the quality of those football programs, but for a kid who will likely end his football career after graduation, turning down a full ride at those schools is a big deal. I'm not saying that Mendoza deserves special treatment because of his past success and rapport with players, but you've got to take it into consideration when trying to make sense of this season's meltdown. Was he in over his head? Did he try to implement new schemes too quickly? Did he overestimate the ability of some players, putting them into positions to fail? Were there unpublicized attitude/discipline problems that forced him to change lineups? Was he trying to keep the defensive schemes simple for a good reason? There's a bunch of possible factors that the statistics don't capture. As for the incident, I've never called anyone a liar or expressed doubt that something happened. The problem is that nobody really knows exactly what happened or how bad it was. Obviously it was enough to insult somebody that is a good friend to many on this board. But that person seems content to forget about it, at least in this public forum. My problem is with folks that weren't there (and no, 50+ yards away in the stands doesn't count) yet they still bring it up as a reason to vilify the guy. This whole thing is probably getting old for most folks around here. I apologize and I'll try to lay off on jumping to Mendoza's rescue all the time. I think in another life I was a defense attorney representing rapist and serial killers because they had nobody else to speak out for them. And, not to further hijack this thread, but I'd like to clarify something about myself. I'm not from Southlake and didn't go to school there. SLCoutsider is a name I chose on the Texas 5A Football forums because, I consider myself a Southlake outsider who follows their program. Now, I'm just as much a UNT fan. I've attended more UNT games this year than Southlake games. I probably should have picked a better name when registering on GMG. Maybe UNToutsider.

I thought the defense played very well against WKU. Let's hope they continue and end the season on a good note!

Now we have eye witnesses other than the parties directly involved? Why didn't these eye witnesses speak up in the original thread? In case anyone needs a review, here is the original thread... http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.ph...hl=price+I+paid So what EXACTLY did Mendoza do? The description was rather vague. It sounded like he basically gave someone a dirty look and chose not to shake their hand. If that's the case, then I agree it was poor form and he should be more gracious. But everyone has bad moments here and there. Let's give him a break on this one and hold off judgement until it happens again.

There you go trying to be the level-headed voice of reason again. Don't you see that we need villains like you to make our own existence better? We need somebody to hate. We've already got Mendoza and Mandy, but that's not enough. We need an entire team, coaching staff, mascott, and fan-base to hate. Better yet, we need to hate your entire state. Even though our coach seems content to let it go and attributed the incident to high emotions, chest thumping, and "bowing up" on both sides, we still need you to be the bad guys because we have so much hate to go around. Please keep posting so that we can continue to hate on you. It makes us feel so much better.

The problem with analogies is thay they can be crafted to back up any argument. They are like statistics and numerology in that regard. For example, let's do the accounting firm analogy a different way that supports my perspective. Your firm is already in the bottom 10 percentile among accounting firms and next year's forecast looks even more bleak. You clean house and hire 3 new accountants. One of them has a bad year, worse than expected. Do you fire him? Or do you give him a chance because maybe you knew the accounts he was assigned to weren't going to do much business with your firm anyway. Maybe you knew that he wasn't going to get much help from a disgruntled staff that had been hired by the previous guy. Maybe you give him a chance to bring in some new business since he has good relationships with potential clients and a proven track record at his previous firm. Maybe you don't want your firm to develop a bad reputation among accounting professionals by firing him before he had a chance to build his organization. Seems like a no brainer to me. But it does require a level-head which some around here seem to lack. Also, for some folks, it's just not as fun or satisfying as joining in the fray and calling for his head. I see two related and sad attitudes at play around here. 1) The mob mentality that enjoys joining in with others for the sake of kicking people who are down, especially when they are perceived to "make more money". 2) The witch hunt mentality that needs to blame all problems, no matter how interwoven and complex, on a single bad guy.

I don't know any of the coaching staff personally. I just don't understand wanting to fire a guy after his first season. As for the ass kicking, there are a few people here that deserve it but I doubt that Mendoza would do it on the field.

Jesus, it's like a freaking witch hunt around here. Some folks just aren't happy unless they have someone to burn at the stake. All the defensive meltdowns this season are Mendoza's fault. He just can't coach at this level, can't make adjustments, can't motivate the D1 athelete. Everything was his freaking fault. And now that the defense finally had a decent game, Mendoza had nothing to do with it. Too bad we can't also blame him for the problems in Blue parking.

Check out the videos on YouTube. He even said that he told the team he would be disappointed if they didn't get an excessive celebration penalty after the first touchdown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7X8aoBaqDQ I'm not saying it's right, but I can understand.

Isn't the grenade celebration similar to what Georgia did against Florida this year? Lots of folks, including media analysts, were praising Georgia head coach Mark Richt for orchestrating the excessive celebration. It was credited for infusing the team with passion that they were lacking in previous games. Folks might be saying the same thing about WKU if they had won. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I just don't think it was a big deal and certainly not a "dis" worth getting into a brawl over. The weather was miserable, they were a long way from home, no band, no chearleaders, and only about 20 fans in the stands. I can understand them wanting to create some spark. Heck, it even perked me up a little bit.

The Outsider was there for all 4 qtrs. But who can blame anyone for staying home? The new stadium needs to be a dome.

In all fairness, and I'm not trying to defend anyone's actions here, perhaps the WKU coach said this after the initial altercation and he just wanted both teams to get off the field to avoid further escalation. I heard one of the WKU coaches screaming at his players to "get back to the f**king locker room". He seemed to be trying to do the right thing under the circumstances.

I'd feel a little better if it was Bomar who scored the final touchdown against our D.

I think the person you spoke with doesn't really know how it works and probably didn't want to make any guarantees about having the game. I confirmed the following while ordering a one week subscription to GamePlan through my cable TV provider. GamePlan is a multi-channel PPV package that you buy on a season, half-season, or per-week basis. There is no concept of paying for a single game. Once you subscribe to the package, you get access to all 6 GamePlan channels until your subscription runs out. Tonight, there is only 1 game on Gameplan, so only one of the channels will have programming. On weekends, multiple channels (up to 6) will have programming depending on the game schedules as listed at http://proxy.espn.go.com/ncf/gameplan/index. I asked if there were ever cases where there was a per-game PPV charge on top of the Gameplan subscription, and the rep said no. Once you buy the subscription, you get all the games.

According to this... http://proxy.espn.go.com/ncf/gameplan/index ESPN Gameplan is purchased on a season or per-week basis. In other words, you don't pay for individual games. So if Varsity Club already has a season pass for ESPN Gameplan, then they should have the game. I'm seriously considering buying a 1 week subscription for $21.95 so I can watch the game tonight. Either that or head over to the Varsity Club.

UNTLifer, you're one of my favorite people on this board. I've had a long day and that was just what the doctor ordered!

I shouldn't have quoted your post in my reply. I was just speaking out against the whole notion that statistical analysis is a waste of time. Regarding the bronze statue, the question isn't IF it's going to happen, but will it be a life-size figure or a bust. I think it's got to be a bust because you'll need room under the statue to list all his defensive coordinator of the year and hall of fame accolades.

It still amazes me how some folks are totally reluctant to give coach any benefit of a doubt. Some of the posts in this thread are so ridiculous that they must be trolls. The argument boils down to "the coaching staff is overanalyzing the stats, which are misleading in the first place, so they should just find a way to win". The following phrases can be substituted for "find a way to win".... "Get 'er done" "Move the chains" "Make the plays" "Convert" "Wrap 'em up" "Bow up" "Take it to 'em" "Bring it" It's so absurd to believe that anyone would really prefer this type of baloney that I feel foolish for taking any of this seriously.

Not sure what point is being made here. It's all about one's role in the project. The management teams of the companies he buys certainly employ the practice of breaking things down into smaller sub-goals as you move down the employee hierarchy. It's a basic practice of any company with more than 5 employees. Same concept works in military, sports, engineering, or any other group effort. Of course not. By the time they were winning Super Bowls, those problems were already fixed. They were at a different stage of the journey. I bet they were examing those small details during that first season. So what? Would it really make you feel better if Dodge fell back on the meaningless, nebulous "we gotta find a way to win" instead of pointing out tangible, measureable areas for improvement? I like a coach that shares his analytic breakdown of a performance rather than some meaningless answer that just allows him to move on to the next question.

The ultimate goal, and the only goal that matters in the end, is to win the game. But you have to break it down into smaller, tangible goals that individual players, units, and staff can focus on, be measured against, and be held accountable for. The measurement and accountability is really important. There's a saying in management that "what gets measured gets done". Sure, wins and losses can be measured, but if you don't break the big goal down into smaller goals, then nobody is truly accountable for their piece of the overall success or failure.