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DeLoss Dodds

wardly

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wardly Veteran

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In today's DMN there is an articled referring to DeLoss Dodds and his history in hiring coaches. Dodds was the best A.,D. that U.T. ever had, and probably one of the greatest in the history of college athletics. No matter how great he was, he is still the A.D. who replaced Fred Akers with David McWilliams, fired him and hired John Mackovic, fired him and hired Mack Brown. I want to say upfront that I think Rick Villarreal is the best A.D. that North Texas has ever had. Before his arrival the only dedicated athletic building constructed since my freshman year of 1961 was the small athletic  building in the parking lot across from the Super Pit that Hayden Fry built. Please don't say that the new stadium and other athletic facilities would have been realized anyway. I have been fairly close to the Athletic Department for several decades, and if they could have been built before his arrival, they would have been built. After firing Dickey, Rick took a risk and hired Todd Dodge.It blew up in his face. He then made what appeared to be a good hire, and after 2013 I think we all were drinking the cool aid. It appears now that the cool aid was just water. My point is that while we have every right to criticize his hires that he, like DeLoss Dodds, is looking for our Mack Brown. Ward White, class of 1966.

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untbowler Grand Master

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‌@wardly, I 100% agree.  Plus, RV catches a lot of heat because of the Dodge hire but Dodge played a large role in getting Apogee built so it wasn't a total bust. He was a WAY better elbow rubber than Dickey could ever hope to be.

If RV would have allowed TD to retain some of DD's coaches he would have been much better off, but for the disastrous record TD was a great ambassador for UNT and if you look at the last 2 yrs of his tenure there were so many close games that just could not pull out

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SilverEagle Mentor

SilverEagle

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In today's DMN there is an articled referring to DeLoss Dodds and his history in hiring coaches. Dodds was the best A.,D. that U.T. ever had, and probably one of the greatest in the history of college athletics. No matter how great he was, he is still the A.D. who replaced Fred Akers with David McWilliams, fired him and hired John Mackovic, fired him and hired Mack Brown. I want to say upfront that I think Rick Villarreal is the best A.D. that North Texas has ever had. Before his arrival the only dedicated athletic building constructed since my freshman year of 1961 was the small athletic  building in the parking lot across from the Super Pit that Hayden Fry built. Please don't say that the new stadium and other athletic facilities would have been realized anyway. I have been fairly close to the Athletic Department for several decades, and if they could have been built before his arrival, they would have been built. After firing Dickey, Rick took a risk and hired Todd Dodge.It blew up in his face. He then made what appeared to be a good hire, and after 2013 I think we all were drinking the cool aid. It appears now that the cool aid was just water. My point is that while we have every right to criticize his hires that he, like DeLoss Dodds, is looking for our Mack Brown. Ward White, class of 1966.

Hayden Fry was the greatest A.D. that North Texas has ever had.

Enjoy that 5 game home schedule that your greatest AD negotiated this year. 

Edited by SilverEagle
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untjim1995 Grand Master

untjim1995

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Being the greatest AD at North Texas since the late 70's is about as good as telling someone that they are the friendliest criminal they ever met...

Since 1979, you'll be hard pressed to find an athletic department that has been run more poorly than ours. And everything you can possibly list all gets doubled or tripled in its ridiculousness by allowing your football team to get dropped to 1-aa in 1983 and to stay down for 12 years, all during the heyday of the SWC. That single decision literally infected the program with an illness that is incurable--the apathy virus. No matter what else you point to, no AD here has been able to really make a huge difference as compared to the universities we want to be peers with. RV has become the #UNTADforlife because he was "smart" enough to open up tailgating at a university in the south and by scheduling a long-term series with SMU in football, as well as overseeing facilities upgrades that had to happen or we were going to have to drop down to a lower level of football again by playing at Fouts with poor fitness centers, dorms, and locker rooms. Does he deserve credit for all of that happening on his watch? Absolutely. Does he deserve blame for having a football program go .372 in his 14+ years as the AD, as well as having an overall winning percentage in all three major revenue sports of .455? No question, but for the reasons we know are present--that the BOR and big money guys love him--that deserved blame seems to just bounce right off of him. There's not another AD in the country who could've pulled off what RV has done for 14+ years--and probably never will be, either...

 

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wardly Veteran

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I didn't mean to imply that R.V. record is spotless. However, despite our overall football record, we have been to 5 bowl games during his tenure, something even the great coach Hadyen Fry was unable to accomplish. In addition, we participated in  2 NCAA tournaments. I am only aware of 2 major revenue producing sports, football and men's basketball, as everything else operates in the red. And despite J. Jones winning record, our average home attendance was only about 3,500, which doesn't exactly make us a jumping off point for aspiring young men's basketball coaches. Life is not black or white. It, like my hair, has a lot of gray. However, I certainly respect your opinion, your passion, and the fact that you care!

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Cerebus Experienced

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 we have been to 5 bowl games during his tenure

Four of those where from a coach he didn't hire, who he tried to fire right before the the first bowl run, and who he fired 1.5 years after the last of those four, and that we have now spent 10 years trying to replace.

I don't think the AD should get full credit for those first four.  

ETA:  The FB coaches he has hired have gone 30-68.

Edited by Cerebus
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untjim1995 Grand Master

untjim1995

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I didn't mean to imply that R.V. record is spotless. However, despite our overall football record, we have been to 5 bowl games during his tenure, something even the great coach Hadyen Fry was unable to accomplish. In addition, we participated in  2 NCAA tournaments. I am only aware of 2 major revenue producing sports, football and men's basketball, as everything else operates in the red. And despite J. Jones winning record, our average home attendance was only about 3,500, which doesn't exactly make us a jumping off point for aspiring young men's basketball coaches. Life is not black or white. It, like my hair, has a lot of gray. However, I certainly respect your opinion, your passion, and the fact that you care!

There were like 12 bowls back then. Today, we have at least 35, correct?

Oh no.....another voice of reason from the totally snowed velvet rope crowd.   Welcome back ward.  See you Saturday 

You cannot be happy right now with this futility. At some point, you've got to ask yourself why all of the losing continues, hire after hire, extension after extension, season after season, Apogee after Fouts, CUSA after SBC, etc...

 

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SilverEagle Mentor

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How many home games did Fry schedule?  Neutral site games don't count.

First of all, Hayden didn't start scheduling games at Texas Stadium (which were designated home games), but he used it to it's maximum benefit. As craptabulous as everyone thought Fouts was as a D-1 venue, it was even worse back then.....and it only held 20.5K. We would not have had local games with Miss St., Okla St., Houston or SMU at Fouts. 

IF he had had a venue like Apogee on campus, I guarantee there would have been more than 5 home games......name games.

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wardly Veteran

wardly

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I promise this is my last post on this subject. In the 54 years I have followed Eagle football we have had 11 head coaches. Three of them either retired or moved on to greener pastures,all before 1981. Since then[34 years] we have fired 7 coaches in a row, with Coach Mac on the "wait list".It's a tough profession, with no apparent  fool proof guidelines when choosing someone to head up your football program. Rick is not our only A.D. that has struggled with successfully filling this position.Just saying........

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Quoner Mentor

Quoner

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There's not another AD in the country who could've pulled off what RV has done for 14+ years--and probably never will be, either...

 

Pulling this quote with no context for the unofficial RV documentary movie project "Sub Standards." Look for it on a promotional poster next summer. 

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