Why does Dodge = doom???

[me@smu]

Help me out here:

- Seems SLC has had a tradition of winning well before Dodge came to town. He took a team that only a few years prior had wrapped up a 72 consecutive win streak and kept up the tradition.
- Prior to SLC, his record wasn't overly impressive at Fossil Ridge or any of the other schools he was at, he more maintained their level of play.
- I can't find any information but I don't remember being overly impressed with NTSU's offense when he ran it before.
- Finally we are all scared of his recruiting ability but is there really a record of his ability to recruit anywhere? Did NTSU get some great offensive recruits when he was OC?

I guess my question is why do we suddenly all want to jump off a building because this man is taking the NTSU job? It seems that what he is good at is maintaining a program's current level, which I must admit, I wouldn't mind NTSU staying at a 3 win team.

[Billy Joe]

I think the frustration comes from seeing Division 1 colleges across the country changing coaches when they do not win. SMU, on the other hand, has kept the same old coach when he has yet to produce a winning season / bowl game and has one season when he did not win a game. Bennett's recruiting momentum has come to a crawl while these new coaches can sell something to recruits. Bennett has a hard time selling anything when he has been at SMU for several seasons without producing a bowl game. Rice v. SMU, NTX v. SMU, Tulsa v. SMU....you choose. Which team has not produced a winning season and bowl game in the last five years?

[Mountain Mustang]

I think the frustration comes from seeing Division 1 colleges across the country changing coaches when they do not win. SMU, on the other hand, has kept the same old coach when he has yet to produce a winning season / bowl game and has one season when he did not win a game. Bennett's recruiting momentum has come to a crawl while these new coaches can sell something to recruits. Bennett has a hard time selling anything when he has been at SMU for several seasons without producing a bowl game. Rice v. SMU, NTX v. SMU, Tulsa v. SMU....you choose. Which team has not produced a winning season and bowl game in the last five years?

But hiring a coach with no proven track record? That's a gamble, not an upgrade. Why would you make a coaching change unless you had a surefire commodity to come in and instantly give the program credibility (a la big name guy like Doherty).

I know how badly we all wanted to go to a bowl game this season, and there's plenty of blame to go around as to why we didn't. The facts that are indisputible are these: the football program went from 0 wins in 2003 to 3 in '04 to 5 in '05 and 6 this season. That's progress no matter how you try to spin it. I UNDERSTAND THAT OUR SCHEDULE WAS BUILT THIS SEASON TO GO TO A BOWL GAME, and not doing that means that we fell short of our goal. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we should scrap everything and start over with a new rebuilding effort, especially with a high school coach that has no track record on this level.