This is the guy for the job.

[i10pony]

Ramon Flanigan

Ramon Flanigan is beginning his fifth season on the North Texas staff and his second as the offensive coordinator. Although the youngest coordinator in Div. IA at 28 years of age, he has earned merit well beyond his years.

In three years as the quarterbacks coach Ramon has been responsible for the development of two starting quarterbacks, both of whom will suit up for North Texas in 2003. Scott Hall became a starter as a true freshman in 2000 and under Flanigan’s management, improved to lead the Mean Green to its first bowl game in 42 years. When Hall was injured in 2002, Flanigan’s ability was tested again as he was charged with guiding redshirt freshman Andrew Smith through a grueling 12-game schedule and the successful defense of a Sun Belt championship and a New Orleans Bowl victory. With his success in the development of two young quarterbacks, he has brought upon himself the challenge of deciding which one will be the primary signal caller in 2003.

In his first season of directing the offense, Flanigan helped the Mean Green amass 3,699 yards, which was the highest total since 1994. His help with Smith’s development was evident each week as the young quarterback’s progress culminated in the regular season finale at Middle Tennessee when he completed 14 of his 19 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

Flanigan was a 1997 graduate of SMU where he led the Mustangs to a 6-5 record, the school’s first winning season since 1986. He concluded his SMU career as the school’s career leader in total offense with 7,427 yards and as the school’s fourth all-time leading passer with 6,640 yards. He is the only player in SMU history to pass for 5,500 or more yards and rush for at least 1,500 yards. He had 30 career passing touchdowns and 27 career-rushing touchdowns for a school record 57 touchdowns produced. He also led the Southwest Conference in total offense in 1994.

Ramon graduated from Rider High School in Wichita Falls in 1992 after leading Rider to consecutive city championships.

He made his collegiate debut as a true freshman in 1992, but received a red-shirt after partially tearing a thumb ligament against North Texas and missing the final nine games of the season. In 1994, Flanigan was one of 11 players in the country selected to the CFA Good-Works All-America team. He was selected as the Southwest Conference “Player of the Week” by the Dallas Morning News after wins over TCU and Navy (148 yards rushing) in 1993. In 1994 he was named SWC “Player of the Week” by the Houston Post after leading SMU to a 21-21 tie with #7 ranked Texas A&M, snapping the Aggies 26-game SWC winning streak. He was a second team all-SWC pick that season after finishing 13th in the nation in total offense (237.1 yards per game). In 1996 he was named WAC Mountain Division “Player of the Week” after a 23-10 win over Arkansas.

[Mike Damone]

I respect Ramon a lot and loved him as a Mustang, but I don't think this is the answer. We currently have a guy who was a coordinator at some of the absolute top programs in the nation for 20 years and you want to replace him with a guy who has been a coordinator at UNT for a few years. Not a good swap.

[i10pony]

The young guys are always the hungry ones. Bennett may have coached at prominent programs but he's not head coach material by the way he has manged this team. If not Ramon how bout his boss.


Darrell Dickey

With each new football season under Darrell Dickey comes higher expectations. After just five years as the head coach at North Texas, Dickey’s accomplishments mount up, while he has developed an attitude of success and established a precedence of winning.

Dickey is the only Coach of the Year the Sun Belt Conference has ever known. Entering just its third year of football, the Sun Belt’s annual award to its top coach has been bestowed upon Dickey in each of the previous two seasons. The two-time Coach of the Year has led North Texas to 11-straight Sun Belt victories, which is the second longest current conference winning streak in the nation.

In 2002, Dickey accomplished what seven coaches in 55 seasons of North Texas football before him had not… a bowl victory. The Mean Green’s 24-19 victory over Cincinnati in the New Orleans Bowl was only the second bowl win in school history and the first since 1946. It was also the first time since 1967 that North Texas had completed its conference schedule undefeated.

After leading North Texas to Sun Belt Conference crowns in both 2001 and 2002, Dickey became the first North Texas coach since Odus Mitchell in 1958 and 1959 to win back-to-back league titles. He is also one of only three Div. IA coaches nationally to win consecutive conference titles the last two years.

As a nationally-respected recruiter, Dickey has established North Texas’ success by building a foundation from the abundant talent pool of Texas and Oklahoma high school football. Less than 10 percent of the 2002 roster was made up of players from outside the two-state area. Of the 22 starters on the 2002 New Orleans Bowl championship team, only two were not from either Oklahoma or Texas.

Under his guidance, more North Texas players than ever before have earned individual postseason honors. In 2002 the Mean Green placed a school-record 16 players on the Sun Belt all-conference first and second teams, including 10 on the first team. The Mean Green has also featured the Sun Belt’s Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons and Brandon Kennedy was named the overall Player of the Year in 2002.

The progress has been steady under Dickey’s leadership. In his first year North Texas finished second in the Big West Conference, the best finish in the school’s five years in the league. In 1999 the Mean Green beat two teams that went to bowl games – Texas Tech and Boise State. In 2000 the Mean Green came within a few minutes of six wins, losing late in the fourth quarter to Utah State, Idaho and Texas Tech. In 2001 North Texas won its first Div. IA conference title since 1973 and played in its first bowl game in 42 years. Dickey’s merit was epitomized that season when, after starting 0-5, he led the team to five consecutive wins. It was only the second time in NCAA history that a team had won five straight after dropping the first five. In 2002 the Mean Green claimed the most conference victories since 1947 and won its first bowl game since 1946.

Dickey’s success at North Texas has not come easy, as he has faced some of the most grueling schedules of any up-and-coming football program in the nation. In four of his five years at the helm, Dickey and the Mean Green have faced at least one opponent ranked in the top 20. In each of the last three years, Dickey has coached against a team ranked No. 4 or higher.

Dickey has also proven to be a master when it comes to utilizing his team’s talent. His ability to move players to unfamiliar positions with exceptional success is well documented. In his first season he moved tight end Brian Waters and running back Ramone Archie to defense. Each earned first team all-Big West Conference recognition at their new positions. In 2001 he repositioned running back Ja’Mel Branch to wide receiver, where he became the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year. Perhaps Dickey’s most instrumental change was moving all-state quarterback Brad Kassell to linebacker, where he became a two-time conference Defensive Player of the Year and finished his career as the Mean Green’s third all-time leading tackler. No less than 11 players on the 2003 projected two-deep are penciled in at positions other than where they played in high school.

Dickey was named head coach at the University of North Texas on February 25, 1998. He is the son of a successful college and high school football coach, the younger brother of yet another football coach and a man who has more than etched out his own corner in the Dickey household trophy case. The 41-year-old Texas native was an outstanding quarterback at Kansas State, leading the Wildcats to their first bowl appearance in school history, the 1982 Independence Bowl.

Dickey became an NCAA Division I-A offensive coordinator at the ripe old age of 28 when he took over the reigns of the University of Memphis offense. He later became the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at UTEP (1994-96) and in 1997 helped SMU to an outstanding season in his first year as head of the Mustangs’ offense.

In 1997, Dickey helped the Mustangs to their first winning season (6-5) since 1986 and the school’s longest winning streak (5 games) since the end of the 1984 and the beginning of the 1985 seasons. For the season, SMU averaged 309 yards per game and ranked 26th in the nation in rushing offense. The Mustangs were tied for sixth in the nation in turnover margin at +13, turned the ball over just 14 times, allowed just 13 quarterback sacks and averaged 22.5 points per game, the most for an SMU team since 1985.

While at UTEP, he served as offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. During that time he coached running back Toraino Singleton, who became the first player in school history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

He was tight ends coach at LSU from 1991 to 1993 and helped develop David LaFleur, the Dallas Cowboys first round draft pick in 1997 and Harold Bishop, a third-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1994. LSU earned a win over No. 1-ranked Alabama in 1993, breaking the Crimson Tide’s 31-game unbeaten streak.

Dickey also served as offensive backs coach at Mississippi State University in 1990, was an assistant coach at the University of Memphis (1986-89) and started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M in 1985.

While at Memphis, Dickey served as tight ends coach in 1986, running backs coach in 1987 and offensive coordinator from1988 to 1989. During his tenure at Memphis, the Tigers posted upset victories over 16th-ranked Alabama (13-10, 1987) and at No. 17 Florida (17-11, 1988). The 1988 squad posted a 6-5 record, just the school’s second winning season since 1977.

Dickey was born in Galveston, Texas, on December 6, 1959, graduated from Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1978, and he received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Kansas State in 1984.

While at Kansas State, Dickey started all four seasons at quarterback (1979-82), throwing for 4,098 yards and 23 touchdowns and finishing with 4,526 yards of total offense. He is the only player to lead Kansas State in total offense and passing offense all four years. He was named the team’s Most Valuable Player in 1982, was named the team’s Outstanding Freshman in 1979, and played in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game in 1982. His father was named the Big 8 Coach of the Year, just the second Wildcat coach to earn that honor.

Darrell played college football for his father, Jim Dickey Sr., and his older brother, Jim Dickey, Jr., is currently the head coach at Crosby High School in Houston. Jim Dickey, Jr., was an assistant coach at the University of North Texas from 1981 to 1982.

Darrell’s father was an assista

[Mike Damone]

Let me ask you this. Why in the world would he take the job? Basically we'd be saying that SMU has had one winning season since the death penalty and if he doesn't win within two years we will fire him. I think I'd rather stay at UNT where I'm a god and wait on another program to call that might give me some time to turn it around rather than demand the quick fix.

[i10pony]

Whats wrong with demanding a quick fix? Dave Maggard the AD at UH told Art Briles we need a winning season now. Not next year. NOW! Briles told his team "We're not rebuilding we want to win now." And thats what he and the Coogs are doing. The Coogs also have a very young team almost as youn as young as the Mustangs.

[i10pony]

Oh yeah I forgot Flanigan has more coaching experience at the collegiate level than Art Briles.

[Hoop Fan]

Well, Ramon is not head coach material yet, but offensive coordinator, yes. We have 3 things going for us:

-SMU pays our coordinators better than UNT.
-SMU will be in Conference USA
-SMU is Ramon's alma mater

Maybe its enough to sway him, maybe not. But it sure would be nice to have a Mustang on the staff. And don't ya think Ramon might be able to teach Chris Phillips a thing or two about being a running qb?

[i10pony]

Thats a great idea. Bennett needs to fire Edmonson and hire Ramon.

[Mike Damone]

I'm all for that. I just haven't lost faith in Bennett, yet.

[ALEX LIFESON]

you guy's need to take a second, and think about how much damage you are doing.

[Mike Damone]

So...now that the three of us have approved this-- is there much more that needs to be done to finalize it?

[i10pony]

What damgage am I causing? I know there might be coaches,players, and recruits reading this board. But this is an open forum. It was set up to talk about SMU. I'm not trying to bring anybody down. I' m just stating my opinion. As a concerned alum I feel that I have a right to give my opinion about the state of this football program. And everything I'm saying is because I am so frustated with the situation at SMU. Read my earlier post "The Truth" and you will read why I feel the way I do.

[PonyFan]

Originally posted by i10pony:
What damgage am I causing? I know there might be coaches,players, and recruits reading this board. But this is an open forum. It was set up to talk about SMU. I'm not trying to bring anybody down. I' m just stating my opinion. As a concerned alum I feel that I have a right to give my opinion about the state of this football program. And everything I'm saying is because I am so frustated with the situation at SMU. Read my earlier post "The Truth" and you will read why I feel the way I do.

"What damage are you doing?" "Not trying to bring anyone down?" You're talking about replacing the coach! That doesn't help him, the players, the fans or the recruits. If you have a proposal you'd like to suggest, take it to Copeland's office. Too many people read this board who might not know all the specifics of the situation and might jump to inaccurate conclusions.

[Stallion]

there is really no comparison in the talent level at SMU and Houston right now. They went from 0 wins in 2002 to 5 wins in 2003 for a reason. Dana Dimel had some nice recruiting years and they are starting to see the results 3 years later. It really isn't as simple as most of you would like to make it. It starts with recruiting and with maturity you get the improvement.

[Hoop Fan]

Hey, I would agree that ranting on Bennett is counterproductive. The coordinators are open season though. They come and go pretty commonly in college football, so lets not be too sensitive. Another strategy is for Bennett to take over defensive responsibilities and increase the budget to get a higher profile offensive guy. Sorry, but a small shakeup in the staff seems inevitable right now for production and chemistry reasons.