Marty

SportsDay boys basketball player of the week: Kevin Busby-Hayden 10:48 PM CST on Sunday, February 18, 2007 By DAMON L. SAYLES / The Dallas Morning News dsayles@dallasnews.com What he did: Busby-Hayden helped Spruce capture the top seed in District 13-4A with a 19-point performance in Tuesday's 64-57 win against Lincoln. He followed that by scoring 35 points and making seven 3-pointers in a 77-68 win Saturday against Carter at the DISD Boys Postseason Classic. Kevin Busby-Hayden The stats: Busby-Hayden is averaging 15.2 points, 4.6 assists and 3.7 rebounds. He has made 83 3-pointers. Busby-Hayden made 115 3-pointers last year. Who is he? Busby-Hayden, 18, is a 6-0 guard for Spruce (24-7). He was an all-state selection last year. He said it: "I'm just glad we won the games. We're so underrated; no one expects us to win. We beat a top 5A team [Carter], so this is motivation for the playoffs." Coach said it: "He can do what he did all the time, but he's so unselfish. He dropped his scoring this year to concentrate on rebounding and assists. He's become a complete player." Lyndon Love Did you know? Busby-Hayden's father is Donnell Hayden, who was a standout guard at North Texas in the early 1990s. ... Busby-Hayden is the older brother of Lincoln girls standout Kimetria Hayden. He said the two play each other at least twice a week.

Austin College hired former Lewisville HC Ronnie Gage last spring.

Dodge’s first class has nice rings to it By Bill Spinks Herald Democrat DENTON — Todd Dodge said he and his new staff didn’t have a lot of time to put together his first recruiting class at North Texas. “It was Dec. 26 when we put our first ink on the board,” the new Mean Green head coach said Wednesday. “But we’re just a bunch of old high school coaches. We had 16 scouting reports for 16 games we just played. We just went through them and put the best names on our list. I’m not sure how scientific it was, but that’s how we did it.” However limited the time frame was, something worked. Dodge’s first Mean Green recruiting class consists of seven prep stars from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and several others who altogether won a combined 10 state championships and 47 playoff games. “That’s the flavor of this class,” Dodge said. Dodge, who led Southlake Carroll to three Class 5A state championships in four years with a 77-1 record in that span, is bringing his offense, which requires a lot of wide receivers. To that end, six of the 20 on UNT’s recruiting class are wide receivers — and all six are expected to compete for playing time. “You want to have 10 to 12 receivers going into practice, and you want to be in the top eight if you want playing time,” Dodge said. “We have six in this class, a few on campus at this time, and a few walk-ons who are on campus. A lot of people this spring are going to get a lot of reps.” Two of Dodge’s new receivers hail from one of Carroll’s rivals, Colleyville Heritage: Breece Johnson and Evan Walker. Dodge said Johnson is “a tremendous leaper” who combines speed with his jumping ability; and Walker will be what Dodge called an “A-back,” or slot player, in his offense. Two former Dragons, linebacker Justin Padron and defensive end Kyle Russo, will follow Dodge to Denton. Padron’s strength is his leadership, while Russo’s toughness is his greatest asset, Dodge said. The new UNT coach projects his two newly-signed linemen, J.J. Johnson of Plano West and Matt Tomlinson of Klein, as his future starting center and left tackle respectively, which addresses two needs immediately. With four quarterbacks already on campus, including redshirt freshman Nathan Tune of Celina, finding a new signalcaller was relatively low on UNT’s wish list. But Dodge is high on the one he signed Wednesday: Giovanni Vizza of San Antonio Alamo Heights, who accounted for 488 combined passing and rushing yards in his team’s state championship game victory. Vizza, who ran a no-huddle spread offense very similar to the one Dodge is installing at UNT, will be given an equal chance to compete for a starting job. “The four that are here ... are starting from the same level,” Dodge said. “One thing I don’t believe in is quarterback-by-committee. I think through competition, the cream will rise to the top. Through competition, we’ll have an outstanding quarterback, and he’ll know he won the job and won’t be looking over his shoulder.”

I thought Deion said he was through with this kid a couple of years ago.

He's #60 on the DaMN Area Top 100. 6'4", 280 lbs, also lists Houston, Washington, and D-II schools as his choices.

DaMN area Top 100 Nick Pozderic OL from Newman Smith list NT as one of his choices. Is he the son of former Cowboy Phil Pozderic?

Pegram, Shanklin, Cedric Hardman, and John Baker. Others?

We have 5 players from DCTF's Texas Top 300 list committed so far.

Dennis Parker Hired at Brownsville Porter Former Marshall HEad Coach and University of North Texas Head Coach Dennis Parker has been hired at Brownsville Porter. The longtime coach comes to Porter after coaching in Mesa, Arizona the past three seasons. Among the Texas stops for Parker include head-coaching positions at San Antonio Edison, Marshall High and Cleburne. Parker served as athletic director at Keller ISD and Ector County ISD, which included Odessa Permian.

A recruiting expert from Rival.com was on Sportsfan Radio 990AM this morning, he said that Dick to going to visit Houston this weekend and would probably commit there with Rice being his second choice. He also mentioned Lake Dallas RB Justin Hill, who had give Rice a verbal commit, as was now wavering on his commitment since Graham left.

Whatever happened to Denton Ryan's James Battle?

That was my thought!

Big Nate was on Brad Sham's KTCK show last night and the subject of his son (Tre') came up. I believe Brad asked him about the possibility of Tre going to UNT since Dodge was the coach now. "Not in a million years" was Nate's response, "Why" was asked, and Nate replied, "Because they don't pay enough!"

We get a commitment from the starting MLB of arguably the #1 high school program in the nation and some of you gripe about that? This kid is a "football player" no matter what his size is, along the lines of PC, Booger, and Chris Hurd.

Boys basketball: Junior leads Princeton in scoring, rebounding 08:45 PM Central Standard Time on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Chase Spruiell is one of the leaders in points and rebounds among Class 3A area players. The 6-6 junior has been a big reason Princeton's offense is one of the area's most prolific. He averages almost 22 points and nine rebounds. Princeton averages 64 points per game and leads SportsDay's Class 3A-others list. The team, No. 3 in SportsDay's 3A-others area rankings, will continue District 9-3A play tonight at Bonham. Princeton (12-4, 1-0) lost to Bryan and South Garland, two good 5A teams, in the All-Star Invitational holiday tournament in College Station. In those games, however, Spruiell averaged 21 points. He scored more than half of the team's 49 points against Bryan.

Dodge Ball’ won’t stay long By Bill Spinks Herald Democrat DENTON — North Texas’ athletic program is aglow in a euphoria not seen since the days of Hayden Fry. The Mean Green believe they have found the man that will lead them to the big time. Athletic director Rick Villarreal, possibly feeling the heat after letting the popular Darrell Dickey go, desperately needed to hit a home run in hiring Dickey’s replacement. What’s bigger than a home run? A bases-loaded, walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the ninth (I know, that’s redundant) that lands in Lake Dallas? That is what Villarreal delivered Tuesday with the hiring of Southlake Carroll’s Todd Dodge. Not only is Dodge bringing an exciting spread offense to town, but also he is injecting life into Villarreal’s quest to elevate UNT into a player on the national scene. “It’s going to be an exciting brand of football,” Dodge said. “It’ll be something we can be proud of. I want to create a tremendous college atmosphere in this town.” What Dodge has accomplished at Carroll is nothing short of astounding. With a 77-1 record in Class 5A since 2002, the Dragons have owned the state’s top classification like nobody else since Abilene in the 1950s. Carroll is on a 46-game winning streak that would go to 48 if Dodge coaches them to another 5A state title next week. The Dragons already own the state mark of 72 straight regular-season wins between 1986 and 1993, but have a 50-game regular-season streak right now. Dodge is confident the same formula that extended Bob Ledbetter’s success at Carroll to incredible heights will work at UNT. “As a ball coach, you’ve gotta believe in your heart you can win,” Dodge said. “North Texas has won, and will win. Coming from a place where you win a lot of games, you want to go to a place where you can win. I want to be a part of that at North Texas.” But how long will “Dodge Ball” last in Denton? Two possibilities exist which would spell a short tenure at UNT for the relatively young coach. First: What if, after a rough first year or two of transition, Dodge’s offense clicks and suddenly the Mean Green become a 10- or 11-game winner, shock an Oklahoma or Alabama on the road, and become a BCS bowl contender? Like with Fry years ago, the national powerhouse schools will beat a path to Dodge’s door, and one of them will snap him up quickly — and for millions. The opposite is also a possibility. What if UNT takes longer to establish than either Dodge or Villarreal expect, and one or the other loses patience? Either way, I’m not convinced Dodge will be at UNT for the long haul. The inevitable comparison to Gerry Faust comes up, but it’s a faulty one. Faust was the head coach at Cincinnati’s Moeller High — like Carroll, a national prep powerhouse in the 1970s — when he was chosen by Notre Dame to replace Dan Devine. Faust lasted four years in South Bend and had a winning 30-26-1 record — but at the Golden Dome, it’s all about national championships, and that isn’t good enough. That’s not the situation Dodge is getting into. Unlike Faust, Dodge has the college coaching experience, and he seems to be more loyal to his assistants than Faust was. And UNT, despite the demands of its win-now athletic director, is no Notre Dame. According to the Dallas Morning News, Dodge signed a five-year contract that, with incentives, could be worth as much as $1.3 million. Dodge has a clause in his contract that requires him to pay one year’s base salary — $185,000 — if he leaves before the contract ends in 2012. But that is chicken feed for your average Big 12 powerhouse, who would pay that amount without blinking. So buckle up, Mean Green fans. It’s going to be a fun ride while it lasts.

Really impressive interview. Craig asked him why would he leave SLC with all the support and great facilities to go to UNT and the Sun Belt conference and Dodge replied with: I wouldn't go there if I didn't think I could win and the facilities aren't as bad as you think. There's always championships to win, doesn't matter if you're in high school, college, or NFL.

Firing Dickey not an answer By Bill Spinks Herald Democrat DENTON — Even well-removed from the rough-and-tumble world of the Bowl Championship Series, college football is a cruel business. It’s a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” profession in which all it takes is one “awshoot” to wipe out a thousand “attaboys.” It’s true at Michigan State, North Carolina, Iowa State and other schools squarely in the limelight. Sadly, the same appears true at universities such as North Texas which won’t sniff a national championship. Four Sun Belt Conference championships from 2001-04, four New Orleans Bowl appearances in that time span and 26 consecutive conference victories weren’t enough to save Darrell Dickey’s job at UNT after one losing season and a not-yet-complete second one. Last Wednesday, UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal, with the blessing of new university president Dr. Gretchen Bataille, pulled the trigger, informing Dickey that he would not return in 2007. “Less than two years ago, we won a championship and were playing in a bowl game,” said UNT assistant head coach Kenny Evans, filling in for Dickey during Monday’s Sun Belt teleconference. “This was totally unforeseen ... Loyalty in this business sometimes is not two ways. That’s part of the profession, and part of your job is you have to handle that.” At Tuesday’s weekly media gathering, Dickey tried to take the high road. “All I want to talk about is our players, our teams, the previous game and the upcoming game,” Dickey said. “The kids tend to get lost in all that’s going on, and I think it’s best to devote attention to Florida Atlantic and the last game of the season. I want the focus to be on the players finishing the season as positively as possible.” But while Dickey declined to talk directly about his firing, he made his feelings about the matter clear in subtler ways. And who can blame him? On Tuesday, Dickey wore a long-sleeve T-shirt that read, “4 Time Champs Sun Belt Conference 2001 2002 2003 2004.” He also had one barb to throw toward Villarreal and Bataille, while talking about this Saturday’s contest with Florida Atlantic. “We’re 0-2 against them,” Dickey said, “but those games didn’t matter, just like apparently all our wins in the past didn’t matter.” For a coach who had just passed Hayden Fry to become UNT’s all-time leader in wins, Dickey’s firing and his lame-duck status is an undignified way to go out. But rarely do college coaches get to leave on their own terms. No matter the personal circumstances. Only 44, Dickey has had a number of health setbacks this year. In February, right around signing day, he had a gallbladder attack and had surgery to have it removed. Following the surgery, Dickey lost 40 pounds and continued to lose weight until he found out he had type-2 diabetes. Then on Oct. 13, Dickey had a mild heart attack and spent three days in the hospital. He missed the Mean Green’s game at Arkansas State, a 29-10 loss. Under those circumstances and with what Dickey has accomplished, his firing could’ve been handled much better. At the very least, Dickey’s health would’ve provided a public excuse for him to leave at the end of the season with honor, which would’ve better served the program and preserved Dickey’s legacy. Instead, “It’s time for North Texas to seek a new head coach to lead our football program to a position of prominence in the Sun Belt Conference and to a more competitive position at the national level,” Villarreal said after the firing. What short memories we all have. Dickey’s run of four conference championships did exactly what Villarreal said he was seeking: It put the Mean Green on the national map. But it was not enough to secure a membership in Conference USA, even while similar programs at SMU and Louisiana Tech were firmly grasping the brass ring. That seems to signal to me that Dickey was not the problem. At least Dickey won’t be in a soup line anytime soon. Because his contract was extended three times during those championship years, it now runs through December 2009. As a result, according to the university, Dickey will receive a $524,167 golden parachute based on their interpretation of the contract language. So, now that Dickey is on his way out, who will replace him? The Sporting News’ Tom Dienhart reported Wednesday that former Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville, now serving as defensive coordinator at Hawaii, is interested in the UNT job. Southlake Carroll’s Todd Dodge, who was offensive coordinator at UNT from 1992-93, keeps popping up in speculation. Dodge has said he’s interested in returning to coaching at the college level, but hasn’t said publicly whether he’d be interested in the head coaching position at UNT. Texas-El Paso offensive coordinator Eric Price has also expressed interest in the job. Will any of these potential coaches-in-waiting, or someone else, be able to lead North Texas to the promised land of college football? Whoever it will be, he would probably have as equal a chance as Darrell Dickey would’ve had, had he been allowed to stay.

http://www.theoldcoach.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=39477

DD said on the pregame show that he got the idea from Dean Smith.

Radio broadcast said that RF is on the sideline tonight. Maybe Andy Brewster is up in the box, don't know for sure Cody Spencer is on the sideline also.

Phillips to Fitzgerald TD again! 17 straight points.

A bunch of backups. Devin Cox is RB, Casey Fitzgerald is WR.

Why not, may add some life to the offense.