More Next Coach

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

I wanted to get some discussion on some coaches that would probably be great for North Texas. Most have been brought up and a few are new.

Hayden Fry

Currently: Retired Iowa HC and living in Surprise, NV

Record as Div. 1 Head Coach: 232-178-10

Career SAPG: 21.2 PAPG: 18.2

Comments: I don't know that Hayden's health would allow his return to coaching even for a couple of years but he's a Hall of Fame coach and we all know what he can do. He's in his late 70s but he's still not as old as Joe Pa. Age would not be a detriment but health might be.

R.C. Slocum

Currently: Retired Texas A&M HC

Record as Div. 1 Head Coach: 123-47-2 (no losing seasons)

Career SAPG: 29.2 PAPG: 16.9

Comments: Some think that RC's style of play wasn't all that exciting but look at his Scoring Average Per Game. He also had very good defenses. He is easily the best known 'name' that might be availagle. He would be a tremendous asset in both recruiting and possibly even fund raising.

Mickey Matthews

Currently: James Madison U HC

Record as Div. 1 Head Coach: 47-37

Career SAPG: 24.9 PAPG: 20.2

Comments: Took a bedraggled JMU team and built them into two time national 1-AA champions. Native Texan (Andrews) and a graduate of West Texas A&M but he hasn't coached much in Texas and nothing recently.

Gary Barnett

Currently: ? (probably living off of his $3 million settlement)

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 85-82

Career SAPG: 24.1 PAPG: 26.2

Comments: He did a great job at Northwestern but never found a groove at Colorado. IMO he never did have great defenses. I included him here because some had suggested he might be what we needed but I think that there are many others who would be better.

Rick Neuheusel

Currently: I believe that he is a QB coach in the pros

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 66-30

Career SAPG: 29.9 PAPG: 23.9

Comments: An outstanding coach that was linked to gambling but did not involve his team and Washington received no sanctions from the NCAA. He was equally successful at Colorado and Washington. No ties to Texas but his name would draw attention.

Jim Donnan

Currently: ESPN Commentator

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 104-40

Career SAPG: 30.9 PAPG: 17.8

Comments: Doubt that he'd want to leave his job unless he's developed an itch to get back to coaching. A lot of his high scoring average (and points against) were achieved while he was at Marshall and played a rather weak schedule but he had good success at Georgia as well. Probably not a household name in Texas but the word would get around fast.

David Cutliffe

Curently: OC at the University of Tennessee

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 44-29

Career SAPG: 28.9 PAPG: 24.4

Comments: It would probably take another SEC head coaching job to lure him away from Tennessee but he'd be a dandy. I'll never understand why Ole Miss got rid of him. He was largely responsible for developing Eli Manning and is outstanding at Tennessee.

Rob Spence

Currently: OC at Clemson

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 0-0

Career SAPG: N/A PAPG: N/A

Comments: While he's never been a head coach in Div. 1 he has built some terrific offenses at Clemson. Clemson's Scoring Average is #2.

Don Carthal

Currently: West Texas A&M HC

Record as a Div. 1 HC: 0-0 but he has a 54-38-2 record in Div. 2

Career SAPG: Unknown PAPG: Unknown

Comments: He took an ENMU team that had done nothing to a Lone Star Conference championship, retired to farming while he raised his family, and just recently returned to coaching. He had outstanding success with the Amarillo Arena League team and was nemed head coach at WTAMU last year. His first year he was 10-2. He hasn't coached at a high level yet but he looks capable.

Bob Biggs

Currently: Cal-Davis HC

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 108-48-1 (includes mostly Div. 2)

Career SAPG: 32.4 PAPG: 20.8

Comments: Played and coached only at Cal-Davis so I don't know that he would want to go anywhere but he often had the top Div. 2 team and has been in the Top 20 since the program went to 1-AA. One heckuva coach.

Sonny Dykes

Currently: Texas Tech Co-OC

Record as Div. 1 Head Coach: 0-0

Career SAPG: N/A PAPG: N/A

Comments: Another who is outstanding at the Coordinator level but has never been a head coach. He's the son of former TT head coach Spike Dykes. We all know what the Tech offensive machine is now and he's been a major architect.

Paul Petrino

Currently: Louisville OC

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 0-0

Career SAPG: N/A PAPG: N/A

Comments: Coordinator for the #1 scoring offense in the country. Problem is that his brother Bobby is the head coach and he might not want to leave. May want a higher profile university when he finally goes on his own.

Todd Dodge

Currently: Southlake Carroll High School HC

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach: 0-0

Career SAPG: N/A PAPG: N/A

Comments: Normally I wouldn't even include a high school coach but Todd is something really special. A Texas High School HOFamer as a quarterback, I think that he's an offensive genius. His only college coaching experience is right here at North Texas where he was the OC. Becoming head coach under these circumstances for a high school coach would be risky (since we don't know his recruiting capabilities) but he might be worth the gamble.

[untbowler]

I would take Carthal or Biggs (UC-Davis). Hell I would take the SJSU coach, he has done well considering the joke that they were.

Carthal though seems firmly rooted in the Panhandle, do not see him leaving for the big-little city.

[Cr1028]

I'd take RC strictly because of the name recognition in the Texas recruiting area.

[DeepGreen]

I still think Rick Neuheusel is the ticket. He'd diffinitely create a stir on the national scene for North Texas.

[gksmith]

Asumeing any of these would take the job. I would love to get Dodge but he has close ties with tu.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Asumeing any of these would take the job. I would love to get Dodge but he has close ties with tu.

←

So??? Is he waiting to replace Mack Brown?

It's true though that we stand little chance of getting most of those listed, but you never know. We really can't afford to fail on the next selection or we lose even more fan interest. We barely have a solid 15,000 now; a mistake would eventually kill the 1-A program.

[FirefightnRick]

Good suggestions on the list.

I havea question about WTexas A&M's Don Carthal. A WTA&M alumn told me a story about one of their coaches, not sure if it was Carthal or not?, that came in and several players got cross with him immediately upon arrival because they didn't like his way. So he dismissed them all. Any truth to this story?

I too think Carthal would be a good choice.

Rick

[Texas Stranger]

Given that our three biggest needs the next few years will be Recruiting, Butts-in-Seats, and Checks Written, this hire will need to be a "name". RC and Dodge are the two biggest out there from our perspective. The good news is that it will not be a total rebuilding project, there's plenty to work with already, especially at the skill positions.

[shaft]

Coach Fran is on the outs with A&M.

[NorthTexasFan]

Bob Biggs

Currently:  Cal-Davis HC

Record as a Div. 1 Head Coach:  108-48-1 (includes mostly Div. 2)

Career SAPG:  32.4  PAPG:  20.8

Comments:  Played and coached only at Cal-Davis so I don't know that he would want to go anywhere but he often had the top Div. 2 team and has been in the Top 20 since the program went to 1-AA.  One heckuva coach.

←

This guy is great friends with Gary Patterson at TCU...one of the main reasons TCU and UC-Davis hooked up earlier in the year. Maybe if we get this guy, he'll renew UNT vs. TCU!

[SilverEagle]

The next coach at North Texas needs to be someone that understands what he is getting himself into (in our past history that was Hayden Fry and Corky Nelson).

He would also need to be someone who is one hell of a speaker/motivator....like Hayden.

[TIgreen01]

I have a question about Southlake Carrol and Todd Dodge. Does anyone know the names of the coaches that preceeded Dodge and there whereabouts? I ask b/c Southlake was ridiculously successful even before Dodge, but no one seems to remember that. Also, is there anyone who remembers what their offense was before Dodge got there? So really, is it Dodge or is it the program at Southlake?

[SilverEagle]

The last coach before Dodge was I believe a guy named Ledbetter. And you're right, they were very successful before Dodge took over. Dodge kept the momentum going, and made them successful in 4-A and 5-A.

[flyonthewall]

I think that Ledbetter is still the AD at Southlake.

[LongJim]

I have a question about Southlake Carrol and Todd Dodge.  Does anyone know the names of the coaches that preceeded Dodge and there whereabouts?  I ask b/c Southlake was ridiculously successful even before Dodge, but no one seems to remember that.  Also, is there anyone who remembers what their offense was before Dodge got there?  So really, is it Dodge or is it the program at Southlake?

←

It's the program--which was pretty much built by Ledbetter. We played SLC a few times in the late 70's, early 80's, when they were (IIRC) 2A. We expected them to be pretty much a gimme victory in those games and quickly found out that they were very well-coached, and extremely fundamentally sound.

They didn't have big, fast players, but they could all run, block, and tackle extremely well. The games I remember playing against them, I believe we split the series. They were a power running team that could throw, as I recall, and IIRC, they ran mostly I-formation stuff.

Dodge definitely didn't start the tradition.

[MrStrange62]

these are great names and all. really, im not trying to be the usual pessimist on a thread, but there are a couple of problems i see with finding a quality head coach.

one: who is going to want to put the work in needed to turn this program around?

two: who is going to do the job for the probably low salary (compared to other big time D-1A coaches) that we would have to offer?

those are two things that i worry about when thinking about us getting a quality head coach, like the ones listed here.