 |
| MEAN GREEN PROGRAM LOOKING TO TURN CORNER |
OG5 (original G5 News and Issues content)
"WE NEED TO DO BETTER"
In October of 2010, North Texas Mean Green AD Rick Villarreal had seen enough. It was time to admit that the experiment with former Texas High School coach Todd Dodge had failed and failed in striking fashion. Dodge's most recent loss had come in the form a 34-10 thrashing to the FIU Panthers. A little over 14,000 Mean Green fans watched from their seats at Fouts Field, as their home team delivered yet another anemic performance. A performance that dropped North Texas to a paltry 1-6 on the season. Villarreal knew , as well as the rest of the fan base and most likely Todd Dodge himself , that it was all over. The never pleasant task of firing a head coach would not wait until the end of the season. Dodge after all , had compiled a staggeringly bad 6-37 record during his 2007-2010 tenure with the program. So AD Rick Villarreal, rather than dragging out the inevitable and waiting for the season to end, fired Todd Dodge after the FIU game.
Speaking to ESPN shortly after his sacking of Dodge, Villarreal told the reporter that , "We(North Texas) need to do better". Beyond that however, Villarreal had little to offer in the way of an explanation as to why things had gone so badly for Todd Dodge and the Mean Green program under his leadership.
Just four short years earlier, the same Rick Villarreal had hailed the hiring of Todd Dodge as someone who could in Villarreal's words,"elevate the North Texas football program". By most logical standards the glowing prediction Rick Villarreal had made about his new head coach seemed within the realm of possibility. After all, Dodge had experience where it counted most, both on the collegiate level of play and in the hollowed grounds of Texas High School football.
It was Dodge's High School coaching career however , that had garnered the most attention from the Mean Green Program . At the start of 2006 season, Todd Dodge was simply one of the best High School coaches in Texas. Dodge's teams at South Lake Carrol High School had captured 3 State Championships, and had earned an exemplary 98-11 record over the course of his 7 yrs as head of the program. On the surface Dodge appeared to be just what the North Texas program needed, a coach with good connections to Texas High school athletes and a someone who knew how to win at a competitive level.
In the end , Todd Dodge was unable to revamp a North Texas program that was in desperate need of a major overhaul. Under Todd Dodge, the Mean Green program struggled in much the same way it had for the years prior to Dodge's hiring. If North Texas, a proud football program that fielded its very first team in 1913, was ever going to turn the corner someone or something was going to have to change the culture and identity of the program.
NEW ORLEANS BOWL IS NICE IN DECEMBER
The North Texas program has not been without its fair share of shinning moments. Coaching legend Hayden Fry for example, took over the Mean Green program in 1973. Six years latter he had earned a very respectable 40-23-3 record. Fry left the program in 1978 for greener pastures and an easier path to Bowl Games, something he was unable achieve during his tenure at North Texas.
Success for North Texas struck again in the early 2000's. This time it came via head coach, Darrell Dickey. Dickey lead the Mean Green program to four straight Sun Belt titles. He also lead North Texas to four straight appearances in the New Orleans Bowl. Dickey's ability to get the Mean Green to the New Orleans Bowl four years in row, lead many within the program to view the December Bowl game as a pseudo rite of passage.
Darrell Dickey's success did not last as long as the Mean Green faithful might have hoped. Dickey was fired in 2006 after two losing seasons in a row. These two losing seasons coupled with Dickey's first four seasons at North Texas, also losing seasons, ultimately cost the head coach his job. Darrell Dickey's time at North Texas also fit the pattern that had become all to familiar to the North Texas fan base. A pattern in which a short period of success would inevitably followed by an even longer period of failure. A pattern that needed to end if North Texas was ever going to live into its full potential as a vibrant , successful FBS program.
AN EXCELLENT HIRE
In the fall of 2010 Athletic Director Rick Villarreal, after dealing with the disappointment and firing of Todd Dodge , stepped to the microphone and announced the hiring of yet another head coach for North Texas. Villarreal announced to Mean Green fans everywhere, that former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney had been chosen to take over the program. This time, however, Rick Villarreal believed that he had finally found the right person to lead the North Texas program.
Very few within the program, especially the fan base knew what to expect going forward with McCarney. If the fan base was unsure of what direction the program was heading in, Villarreal was not. He seemed to be crystal clear in his own assessment of what the beleaguered football program needed as he challenged the North Texas team to start acting like in his exact words, a "big time program".
Coach Dan McCarney had developed a reputation as an excellent motivator and football coach. McCarney was also wise enough to know the North Texas program needed a significant culture change both in the locker room and on the field. McCarney understood from the very beginning that the best way to change a programs culture is to recruit High School players who were willing to be part of the vision that Coach McCarney had laid out for the program.
McCarney pressed for time and support from the Mean Green faithful. McCarney also asked for patience as he implemented his own vision for the team and recruited the right players for the Mean Green program. The fan base it turns out, needed the patience their head coach had requested from them , as McCarney's first two seasons were losing efforts.
Then, last year, the North Texas program experienced something it had not experienced in over a decade, a winning season. Not only had McCarney lead North Texas to a winning season , he also lead them to their first bowl game, The Heart of Dallas Bowl, in as many years . McCarney had taken a program from the depths of despair and given it a shot of life and hope. He had also allowed the Mean Green nation to begin to dream of bigger and better things to come.
MAJOR UPSIDE
There is a measurable excitement among North Texas fan base at the moment. An excitement that had been largely absent during the prior decade. To be clear, however, one season does not make an empire nor does it mean that North Texas has officially turned the corner. It's har to look at the Mean Green football program and not get excited about its potential and upside.
Part of this potential and upside was captured in the building of a new 30,000 seat, state of the art stadium later named Apogee. A stadium that in many ways reflects the new and improved state of affairs that is North Texas football. It's also captured in the coaching staff, especially in the leadership and talent of Head Coach Dan McCarney.
McCarney has become a true believer in North Texas football. He also believes that North Texas is sitting on a goldmine of recruiting opportunities and potential McCarney has become a believer in the Mean Green fan base as well. A fan base that has potential to become very large and very vocal. Finally, North Texas now has a decent television platform and more money to work with thanks to the invite from Conference USA. Although Conference USA is not the conference North Texas would have liked to have joined several years ago, it still represents some very good opportunities for them going forward.
TOP 15 G5 SCHOOL
North Texas fans tend to be a loyal, hardy bunch. The good news is that they now have a coach in Coach McCarney who is both a superb motivator and someone who also believes in the Mean Green program. A program that finds itself in the midst of some very fertile recruiting grounds and one that has the facilities in place to attract the talent that is already in their back yard.
Fortunately for Mean Green fans their program has everything in place now to win on a regular basis. It also has everything it needs for North Texas to become a top 15 G5 program every year . If neither of these reachable goals ever materialize , then North Texas will have no one else to blame but themselves. There is little doubt however, that Coach McCarney will do everything in his power to make both of these important goals a reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment