Drc Youth Movement

[OldTimer]

Football: Youth Movement

New members of UNT defense stepping up

12:13 AM CST on Thursday, November 29, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Eddrick Gilmore never knew how important football was to him until last year, when a few missteps left him as nothing more than an observer on the sideline.

The former Alief Hastings standout was one of UNT's top recruits in its 2005 signing class and played as a true freshman before failing to meet NCAA eligibility requirements and missing last season. Gilmore has come back with a vengeance this fall and become a member of a core of young defensive players the Mean Green will depend in the future.

Several of those players will start Saturday when UNT (2-9) closes its season with a game at Florida International.

"It's been great," Gilmore said of playing a key role this season. "You don't know how important something is to you until it is taken away. My focus is better than ever."

That focus was evident last week when Gilmore made two key tackles late in the Mean Green's 27-26 win over Western Kentucky.

Gilmore stopped K.J. Black for a 2-yard gain after WKU had picked up a first down at the UNT 27-yard line in the final two minutes and then cut Black down after a 7-yard gain on third-and-11. The Hilltoppers were forced to attempt a 38-yard field goal that Chris James missed short following a bad snap.

Gilmore finished with six tackles in UNT's win, one that gave Mean Green head coach Todd Dodge hope that his team's defense could improve next season behind its younger players.

Gilmore, redshirt freshman linebacker Craig Robertson, sophomore cornerback Antoine Bush and sophomore safety Kartey Agbottah are all starting this season, while redshirt freshman defensive end Sam Owusu-Hemeng and freshman linebacker A.J. Penson are backups who have seen significant action.

UNT has also redshirted several potential impact players, including defensive lineman Jordan Scoggins and Steve Warren, a junior who is moving to linebacker after starting at safety earlier in his career.

"I am very optimistic about the players we have redshirted and with some of the kids we have now who are backups," Dodge said.

UNT will depend on those players to help the Mean Green build on a slight upswing late in a terrible year for the team's defense overall. Oklahoma hammered the Mean Green 79-10 in its season opener, when UNT gave up more points than in any single outing in school history. The Mean Green has allowed at least 30 points in nine of its 11 games and enters its season finale ranked last among the NCAA's Bowl Subdivision teams with an average of 45.7 points allowed per game.

The pressure will be on UNT's young players when the Mean Green begins next season without several defensive mainstays of the past several years. UNT's top four tacklers will wrap up their careers Saturday, including defensive end Jeremiah Chapman, safety Aaron Weathers and linebacker Maurice Holman.

All three have been named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team multiple times.

Gilmore is among the players UNT is depending on to replace the players in that core group.

"Eddrick is starting to string some games together where he has played really well since the Florida Atlantic game [uNT's third of the season]," Dodge said.

Gilmore received his opportunity to shine when senior defensive end Blake Burruss injured his ankle. UNT put Gilmore in the starting lineup, where he quickly found a home after a rough start to his career.

UNT recruited Gilmore as a tight end under former head coach Darrell Dickey, who used him as a defensive end and deep snapper during his freshman season. Gilmore, a prototypical defensive end at 6-5, 240, never settled into a role and struggled with the adjustment to college.

Gilmore spent last season working to regain his eligibility and develop physically.

What he never expected was to be thrown into the fray as a starter on UNT's defense this year. That opportunity came in the Mean Green's game against Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 13.

Gilmore had just two tackles while playing in two of the Mean Green's first five games before breaking out against the Warhawks with four tackles and three pass breakups.

"It has been kind of tough getting thrown right in there, but the more you play the better you get," Gilmore said. "I have been working hard in practice to keep the starting role."

That work has paid off in some impressive performances.

Gilmore had seven tackles in a loss to Troy and finished with 1.5 sacks in a win over Arkansas State. He added six tackles last week in a win over WKU and enters UNT's game against FIU with 29 tackles in eight games.

UNT is hoping Gilmore's surge late in the season is a sign he can be a force for what will be a young defense next season.

"I just want to go out there and play with whoever is out there," Gilmore said. "I want to be a guy that players like Craig and A.J. look up to because I have been here three years."

Briefly …

UNT head coach Todd Dodge said Wednesday that he expects his coaching staff to return intact next season.

Dodge hired an entirely new staff when he took over UNT's program in December. The group included four coaches who came to UNT from Texas high schools and four who were either current or former college assistants.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

[SilverEagle]

UNT head coach Todd Dodge said Wednesday that he expects his coaching staff to return intact next season.

Dodge hired an entirely new staff when he took over UNT's program in December. The group included four coaches who came to UNT from Texas high schools and four who were either current or former college assistants.

Hmmmm,....an answer to all those who have started a "fire Mendoza" thread?

[jperg2]

UNT head coach Todd Dodge said Wednesday that he expects his coaching staff to return intact next season.

Dodge hired an entirely new staff when he took over UNT's program in December. The group included four coaches who came to UNT from Texas high schools and four who were either current or former college assistants.

Hmmmm,....an answer to all those who have started a "fire Mendoza" thread?

My thoughts exactly.

[eulesseagle]

SE--

--I hope you are not part of the "lynch mob" who wants Coach Mendoza fired.

--14 of WKU's points were from freshman Vizza's INT's (one for a short field TD and another runback).

--UNT could have won the FAU game if it were not for two blocked punts by OUR endzone that led to 14 FAU points.

--Personally, Coach Mendoza is doing a fantastic job with what he has to work with. UNT has ONLY won 7 games in 3 years. Certainly that number has to turn on some lights in someone's head. Special Teams, Offense and Defense (as a team) has to take "equal" blame because football is a team sport and not just a "defensive" sport.

--Some of you "lynch mob" members will have to go back through all the games and figure out how many points the opposition made off our offensive/special team miscues instead of just looking at the "bottom box score line."

--This year has been exciting watching all our freshmen play. Why are all these freshmen playing?? Wellllllllll, I guess they are playing better than our veterans. Since the coaching staff makes that decission then they are the ones who know BEST who the BEST is and currently it appears that some of our freshmen players, recruited by Coach Dodge, et.al., play better than what was here the previous years. To me that is encouraging.

[UNTLifer]

UNT head coach Todd Dodge said Wednesday that he expects his coaching staff to return intact next season.

Dodge hired an entirely new staff when he took over UNT's program in December. The group included four coaches who came to UNT from Texas high schools and four who were either current or former college assistants.

Hmmmm,....an answer to all those who have started a "fire Mendoza" thread?

I have been highly critical of Mendoza this year and was part of the group calling for him to be replaced after this year, but I must say that I am excited with what is coming back next year and the movement of some players to other positions. Mendoza will get his second year, and I will wish him nothing but great success. His success is our success.

[SilverEagle]

SE--

--I hope you are not part of the "lynch mob" who wants Coach Mendoza fired.

--14 of WKU's points were from freshman Vizza's INT's (one for a short field TD and another runback).

--UNT could have won the FAU game if it were not for two blocked punts by OUR endzone that led to 14 FAU points.

--Personally, Coach Mendoza is doing a fantastic job with what he has to work with. UNT has ONLY won 7 games in 3 years. Certainly that number has to turn on some lights in someone's head. Special Teams, Offense and Defense (as a team) has to take "equal" blame because football is a team sport and not just a "defensive" sport.

--Some of you "lynch mob" members will have to go back through all the games and figure out how many points the opposition made off our offensive/special team miscues instead of just looking at the "bottom box score line."

--This year has been exciting watching all our freshmen play. Why are all these freshmen playing?? Wellllllllll, I guess they are playing better than our veterans. Since the coaching staff makes that decission then they are the ones who know BEST who the BEST is and currently it appears that some of our freshmen players, recruited by Coach Dodge, et.al., play better than what was here the previous years. To me that is encouraging.

I wouldn't count myself amongst a lynch mob, but I've been very unimpressed with the defense. You can site all those int's and special teams mistakes, but I watched untold numbers of TD's being scored on our D all year long. The Navy game would be the best example. I honestly believe that TD pulled that onside kick trick in hopes of getting a touchdown up on Navy because he knew that our D wouldn't be able to stop them. He was also counting on their D not being able to stop us. It almost worked.

Here's what I hope will happen. Mendoza will be quietly moved to "other duties" on the defense, and our current DB coach will be the DC.

Edited November 29, 2007 by SilverEagle

[Guest 97and03]

You are all missing the most important part of that article.

Apparently, we beat Ark St!!!! Woo Hoo!!

(Impressive jounalism isn't it?)

[eulesseagle]

SE-

I saw the Navy game and personally, Navy made a lot of other college defenses look bad this year. Navy just has a "jet octane" offense.

The Navy game aside, UNT was in most of the games we played if it were not for "special team" play, both our QB's throwing INT's with the other team running them back for TD's or long run backs or throwing INT's in our endzone. Come on SE, there are other factors why the scores were why they were:

1. offensive mistakes

2. special team mistakes

3. defensive mistakes

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the two blocked punts in the FAU game that lost us the game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and blocked punt in the MTSU game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and runbacks for TD in the SMU game??

face it the defensive players UNT have are really not that good compared to other programs......7 wins in 3 years---come on.

but.........

the good news is that help is on its way with the recruits that all our coaching staff have recruited and the ones on the way. Be patient SE, I do not really think any coach could have turned around our defense this year.....living or dead.

[soccerguy59]

I wouldn't count myself amongst a lynch mob, but I've been very unimpressed with the defense. You can site all those int's and special teams mistakes, but I watched untold numbers of TD's being scored on our D all year long. The Navy game would be the best example. I honestly believe that TD pulled that onside kick trick in hopes of getting a touchdown up on Navy because he knew that our D wouldn't be able to stop them. He was also counting on their D not being able to stop us. It almost worked.

Here's what I hope will happen. Mendoza will be quietly moved to "other duties" on the defense, and our current DB coach will be the DC.

I look at the Navy game and think of all the offense UNT scored and wonder if the Navy DC was thinking, "How can this team score 62 pts on us?"

[SilverEagle]

SE-

I saw the Navy game and personally, Navy made a lot of other college defenses look bad this year. Navy just has a "jet octane" offense.

The Navy game aside, UNT was in most of the games we played if it were not for "special team" play, both our QB's throwing INT's with the other team running them back for TD's or long run backs or throwing INT's in our endzone. Come on SE, there are other factors why the scores were why they were:

1. offensive mistakes

2. special team mistakes

3. defensive mistakes

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the two blocked punts in the FAU game that lost us the game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and blocked punt in the MTSU game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and runbacks for TD in the SMU game??

face it the defensive players UNT have are really not that good compared to other programs......7 wins in 3 years---come on.

but.........

the good news is that help is on its way with the recruits that all our coaching staff have recruited and the ones on the way. Be patient SE, I do not really think any coach could have turned around our defense this year.....living or dead.

The old adage is that defense is always ahead of the offense in the beginning of the season.

I'm not willing to trivilize the talent level of the defensive players coming back from last year. If you remember, our defense was listed as our strength in the beginning of the year. They dominated the offense during spring practice, and

in the spring game. In retrospect, I guess they dominated because they knew (or the DC knew) what was coming.

The real test was how they handled (or adjusted) to what was coming from our opponents. We saw how that went.

I look at the Navy game and think of all the offense UNT scored and wonder if the Navy DC was thinking, "How can this team score 62 pts on us?"

I looked at the Navy game and thought "Damn, it's a good thing we had two weeks to prepare for this. Otherwise, it would have been REAL embarrassing"......

If you'll look at another article, you'll see that the players listed that are looked upon with a lot of promise (Warren, Sykes, Ross etc) are players that they inherited.

[filmerj]

Get ready for another disappointing season.... i really hope I am wrong.

[Green Crazy]

SE-

I saw the Navy game and personally, Navy made a lot of other college defenses look bad this year. Navy just has a "jet octane" offense.

The Navy game aside, UNT was in most of the games we played if it were not for "special team" play, both our QB's throwing INT's with the other team running them back for TD's or long run backs or throwing INT's in our endzone. Come on SE, there are other factors why the scores were why they were:

1. offensive mistakes

2. special team mistakes

3. defensive mistakes

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the two blocked punts in the FAU game that lost us the game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and blocked punt in the MTSU game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and runbacks for TD in the SMU game??

face it the defensive players UNT have are really not that good compared to other programs......7 wins in 3 years---come on.

but.........

the good news is that help is on its way with the recruits that all our coaching staff have recruited and the ones on the way. Be patient SE, I do not really think any coach could have turned around our defense this year.....living or dead.

We can't blame him for that, but what about these?

TEAM YARDS PLAYS T.O.P.

SMU

70 6 :47

71 4 1:38

FAU

74 1 :05

ULL

67 4 :57

73 1 :25

70 6 1:42

ULM

72 6 1:54

59 8 :46

TROY

63 6 1:47

52 3 :35

52 6 1:31

59 6 1:39

MTSU

51 1 :08

NAVY

78 2 :30

50 2 :11

80 3 1:08

64 3 1:02

ASU

64 5 1:28

61 9 1:46

80 10 1:18 Game Winning Drive

WKU

83 6 1:40

These are 21 scoring drives that took up less than two minutes of clock and went at least 50 yards...I didn't bother to include the field goals and you might be able to disregard the three 1 play drives and chalk them up to flukes or blame those on the db. The guy didn't do that great of a job. It's definitly not 100% his fault but what about 75%.

Edited November 29, 2007 by Green Crazy

[eulesseagle]

sounds like coach mendoza inherited kids that were a step or two too slow.

if unt's defense was that good or our offense prior to TD's arrival why was unt in the lower tier of 119 d-1 teams??

***********

coach mendoza is, IMHO, doing the best with what he has to work with....you can not put an extra step into someone's speed where there is no step.

it appear to me from what i have seen is that our "D" plays soft and still gets beat deep.....and.....when the opponents catch the ball they are 5-10 yards past our defensive personnel.......that is the fault of the player's ability and not coach mendoza's ability to coach.

IF coach mendoza inherited one of the top 25 or 50 defenses in the nation and brought us to somewhere between 100-119 i would have more concern. give the man a break....he got dealt a bad hand but we have all seen improvement throughout the year.

as far as the NAVY game......wow......win or lose that was one of the most exciting games i have seen at fouts field.....

our defense will be much much better next season with the returning freshmen and the other redshirts......

[greenminer]

sounds like coach mendoza inherited kids that were a step or two too slow.

if unt's defense was that good or our offense prior to TD's arrival why was unt in the lower tier of 119 d-1 teams??

***********

wow. where do I begin? This isn't meant to bash you or Mendoza, or say you're wrong. Okay, it is. To say you're overgeneralizing would be an understatement.

coach mendoza is, IMHO, doing the best with what he has to work with....you can not put an extra step into someone's speed where there is no step.

it appear to me from what i have seen is that our "D" plays soft and still gets beat deep.....and.....when the opponents catch the ball they are 5-10 yards past our defensive personnel.......that is the fault of the player's ability and not coach mendoza's ability to coach.

You can't teach speed, but footwork and positioning are HUGE. They also call it spacing. How long have you been a fan? How old are you?

IF coach mendoza inherited one of the top 25 or 50 defenses in the nation and brought us to somewhere between 100-119 i would have more concern. give the man a break....he got dealt a bad hand but we have all seen improvement throughout the year.

Recheck your standards? It doesn't bother you how many spots this defense actually dropped? Or that we nearly broke records for points allowed in a season (somebody help me here, can't look up those stats/rankings while at work)

our defense will be much much better next season with the returning freshmen and the other redshirts......

Kinda of the same way we returned 10 starters from last year's D? Oh I see, we have all this youth that proved themselves to the tune of worst defense in the nation. Nowhere to go but up!

[Green Crazy]

sounds like coach mendoza inherited kids that were a step or two too slow.

if unt's defense was that good or our offense prior to TD's arrival why was unt in the lower tier of 119 d-1 teams??

***********

coach mendoza is, IMHO, doing the best with what he has to work with....you can not put an extra step into someone's speed where there is no step.

it appear to me from what i have seen is that our "D" plays soft and still gets beat deep.....and.....when the opponents catch the ball they are 5-10 yards past our defensive personnel.......that is the fault of the player's ability and not coach mendoza's ability to coach.

IF coach mendoza inherited one of the top 25 or 50 defenses in the nation and brought us to somewhere between 100-119 i would have more concern. give the man a break....he got dealt a bad hand but we have all seen improvement throughout the year.

as far as the NAVY game......wow......win or lose that was one of the most exciting games i have seen at fouts field.....

our defense will be much much better next season with the returning freshmen and the other redshirts......

I believe Mendoza is doing his best, but I don't believe Mendoza is the best for this job. Others could do better and you probably wouldn't have to go outside this coaching staff to do so.

Those players aren't just getting beat because of the other players speed.

[eulesseagle]

greenminer-

dude, you can't be serious??

i have been watching games at fouts since 1966 the last year of otis michell (that man had class). how long have you been watching games gm?? since maybe 2001??

i dont know what coach mendoza has taught the defense and evidently neither do you but coach mendoza probably knows more about football than both of us put together.

gm, you tell me how many spots our defense has dropped.....!!! all i said (and you can read my post again) was that i would have more concern IF unt's defense was ranked in the top 50 and dropped somewhere between 100-119. come on gm, in the last three years how many times has unt been ranked above 100??

ok, so we returned 10 starters......those 10 starters won 2 games last year. man, if you call that the strength of our team you must have stopped along the side of the road to graze on some wild mushrooms this morning.

gm, what kind of offense did we run last year? dickey ball....run....run....draw play.......run.....run.....draw play. well guess what.....you can't throw too many interceptions with that type of lethargic offense and the final scores are lower......TD can move the ball faster down the field than DD ever did.

did you pat coach mendoza on the back after the troy game...defense caused 7 turnovers.....naw, ya just wanted mendoza fired.

did you pat coach mendoza on the back after the fau game....defense played very well....special teams played terrible....naw, ya just wanted mendoza fired.

did you pat coach mendoza after our first win against lamo.....of course not....we won.

gm, i take it that you have absolutely no point of reference to the past....and that is ok......i can sorta respect your knee jerk reaction along with some of the other "lynch mob" who are like you, sort of, with no point of reference past maybe 1995. Ya'll only know dickey ball and playstation/x-box.

be patient with coach mendoza and coach dodge along with the remainder of the staff.....these are good men who took over a bad program both on offense and defense and we should be grateful that they accepted to take this position. Usually UNT has been almost the final resting place for any coach that came through here.......with the exception of coach fry who took most all the ntsu staff with him to iowa.

gm, you may not agree with me and i may not agree with you.....that's life....i respect your opionion.....i may not agree with it but do respect it.

Edited November 29, 2007 by eulesseagle

[UNTLifer]

I believe NT's defense, last year under the direction of Fred Bleil, was ranked #61 at the end of the year. That defense lost one starter, Sky Pruitt. Our defense is now ranked 118 or 119, DEAD LAST. Dropping 40+ spots concerns me and tells me it is a coaching problem.

[GrandGreen]

SE-

I saw the Navy game and personally, Navy made a lot of other college defenses look bad this year. Navy just has a "jet octane" offense.

The Navy game aside, UNT was in most of the games we played if it were not for "special team" play, both our QB's throwing INT's with the other team running them back for TD's or long run backs or throwing INT's in our endzone. Come on SE, there are other factors why the scores were why they were:

1. offensive mistakes

2. special team mistakes

3. defensive mistakes

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the two blocked punts in the FAU game that lost us the game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and blocked punt in the MTSU game??

can you blame Coach Mendoza for the INT's and runbacks for TD in the SMU game??

face it the defensive players UNT have are really not that good compared to other programs......7 wins in 3 years---come on.

but.........

the good news is that help is on its way with the recruits that all our coaching staff have recruited and the ones on the way. Be patient SE, I do not really think any coach could have turned around our defense this year.....living or dead.

Where to start? Has it ever occurred to you that every team in the nation has turnovers, yet few are close to allowing 45 points a game? By the way if you want to use turnovers for an excuse for points scored, than you need to also adjust for games like Troy and Arkansas were NT greatly benefited by turnovers but still lost by blowout scores. Or put an astericks on NT's two victories which were largely the results of turnovers. Navy has made a lot of defenses look bad but have they come remotely close to scoring 74 points against any other team.

Has it ever occurred to you that those 5 games won in the prior two years might have something to do with having the worst offense in the nation? You keep disregarding the fact that the defense with virtually the same players was much better than it was this year and as much as you try to defuse that certainty; you can't do it.

I hope you are correct about TD being able to recruit better defensive talent. However, if you are correct in your ascertion that this defensive team is almost devoid of talent; then NT is in for years of disappointment.

Never mind that TD was able to take one of the worst offenses in the NCAA and turn it around in a year. By your logic, there must have been an abundance of offensive talent inherited by TD because the great improvement couldn't be because of coaching. The inherited offense was obviously full of very fast and skilled players.

Edited November 29, 2007 by GrandGreen

[Green Crazy]

To add to my previous post about the two minute scoring drives for our opponents. Last year we only had two that met the criteria that I used for this season and the longest pass play for a touchdown last year against the players (db's) who are too slow to keep the receivers in front of them this year was 47 yards.

I'm not in the lynch mob neither...I just think your giving Mendoza too much credit.

Edited November 30, 2007 by Green Crazy

[greenminer]

greenminer-

dude, you can't be serious??

i have been watching games at fouts since 1966 the last year of otis michell (that man had class). how long have you been watching games gm?? since maybe 2001??

mmmk, you have me beat by many years. Which baffles me even more, because you - even with your reply - don't have any argument. Is anyone else reading this? Is my argument wrong?

gm, you tell me how many spots our defense has dropped.....!!! all i said (and you can read my post again) was that i would have more concern IF unt's defense was ranked in the top 50 and dropped somewhere between 100-119. come on gm, in the last three years how many times has unt been ranked above 100??

I believe someone above says we have dropped 40 spots. That doesn't concern you, apparently. It needs to be 50+. This argument is dead, I suppose.

ok, so we returned 10 starters......those 10 starters won 2 games last year. man, if you call that the strength of our team you must have stopped along the side of the road to graze on some wild mushrooms this morning.

Excuse me, but I believe we had 22 starters lose 10 games last year. Not just D? One of the biggest indicators of improvement is returning starters. We improved on offense, but it became completely moot because the defense didn't get one. bit. better. For 8 weeks? Sure, we had the occasional bright spot...plays that were made by playmakers Things happen. Sometimes it's the players, sometimes it's the system. I'm leaning towards the former.

gm, what kind of offense did we run last year? dickey ball....run....run....draw play.......run.....run.....draw play. well guess what.....you can't throw too many interceptions with that type of lethargic offense and the final scores are lower......TD can move the ball faster down the field than DD ever did.

TD's defense allowed opponents to move the ball a LOT quicker than DD's defense. We have actually WON the TOP battle many times this year (because we got more first downs). Technically, dickey ball was more run...run...draw...punt. I really don't know if either of us can make an argument off this segment. Games are longer but - proportionate to the offense - the defense is on the field less compared to last year's D.

did you pat coach mendoza on the back after the troy game...defense caused 7 turnovers.....naw, ya just wanted mendoza fired.

did you pat coach mendoza on the back after the fau game....defense played very well....special teams played terrible....naw, ya just wanted mendoza fired.

did you pat coach mendoza after our first win against lamo.....of course not....we won.

wow. I never wanted Mendoza fired. Did I post that somewhere? Maybe I did...All I ever wanted was improvement. There was none until the ASU game. FAU was too early. And I saw straight through the LaMo win. I admit it: I was so happy for Stevensen and Green, and in complete disgust at everything else. LaMo outscored us 21-10 in the second half. Sound familiar? FAU outscored us 20-3 in the second half. Don't hold it to me for knee jerk reactions: 7 turnovers in the Troy loss was knee jerk. How can either of us base anything whatsoever off that? I sure didn't. All I saw was a great Troy team beat us handily.

gm, i take it that you have absolutely no point of reference to the past....and that is ok......i can sorta respect your knee jerk reaction along with some of the other "lynch mob" who are like you, sort of, with no point of reference past maybe 1995. Ya'll only know dickey ball and playstation/x-box.

I take it that your point of reference is clapping for wins the last 40+ years. That's awesome. We really need that. But what do you really know about football? I know enough to look at what I've seen this year and see something that goes a lot deeper than just the players suddenly being so inexplicably worse. 40 place drop!!! How can you downplay that?!!!

be patient with coach mendoza and coach dodge along with the remainder of the staff

Absolutely. As I messaged someone earlier: I'll take a young gun who's willing to learn and adapt over the 30 year coaching vet who refuses to change guns any day. I have a gut feeling Mendoza's gonna be around in some capacity because he brings to the table an incredible ability to CONNECT to players (Although, I say that blindly and HOPING that's the case). All I'm trying to convey is that I think it's okay to admit that Mendoza is way over his head right now.

I firmly believe we keep learning. It's completely wrong to assume that once Mendoza (or any coach for that matter) gets hired into college he just STOPS absorbing new things. Mendoza deserves every opportunity to learn the ropes, but he should be doing it in the locker room and at camps right now and not at the expense of 2-win teams the next 4 years.

gm, you may not agree with me and i may not agree with you.....that's life....i respect your opionion.....i may not agree with it but do respect it.

Cheers, fellow fan, to you I have my own perspective on what's going on right now and I feel pretty darn good about our future based on what's I've heard about the ASU game and what I saw at the WK game (were you there?). My wish is that Mendoza learns his ropes while coaching LBs next year. Did you know he had an all-state LB under his wing every year he was at SLC? Sounds to me like something is there to be tapped into.

-gm, happily serving knee-jerk reactions and studying the game for the last 15 years.

Edited November 30, 2007 by greenminer

[El Paso Eagle]

I really hope in a couple of years or more we do not end up like NMSU with Hal Mumme. Very good "O" but never able to play "D", or willing to change coaches to help improve.

[NT80]

UNT head coach Todd Dodge said Wednesday that he expects his coaching staff to return intact next season.

Can we at least hope for some assignment adjustments?

[UNTLifer]

i have been watching games at fouts since 1966 the last year of otis michell (that man had class). how long have you been watching games gm?? since maybe 2001??

Me too, although I was a baby at the time, and this is the worst defense I've ever seen at NT, and it is not due to the players as you will not in my post above.

did you pat coach mendoza after our first win against lamo.....of course not....we won.

FFR tried to, and Mendoza wanted to kick his a$$.

[yyz28]

Touch football in practice.

A drop to #119 with the SAME PLAYERS that were #64 last year.

2 record offensive performances that still resulted in losses.

...how much more do you need to know this guy isn't getting it done as the DC? He MAY WELL be a great guy and one hell of a positions coach. Hell, he may even be a DC once he has some experience at the D1 level behind some experienced coaches... ...but in the short term, the failure on Defense does not lie with the players, but with the coaching and defensive schemes. These failures lie at the feet of the DC.

Edited November 30, 2007 by yyz28