TheMeanGreenReport.com - Dodge Q&A: Self-evaluation, his boss, a hopeful future

August 2, 2010

Troy Phillips
TheMeanGreenReport.com Publisher

North Texas coach Todd Dodge's sit-down with TMGR concludes with Part IV. Today, Dodge talks about self-evaluation, his relationship with his boss, UNT's fan base and getting over a particular stumbling block - lack of confidence - to move the program forward.

Is it true that coaches are their own worst critic? People critique you. What do you think?

As we've gone through this - believe me, after three years and evaluating myself - would I have done things differently? You bet. We've won five games in three years. Dang straight, bottom line. People always put a premium on players improving through their career and through their journey. I hold myself to that as I've gone through my career. You learn from your experiences and make sure you're better as you come through it.

My biggest disappointment here in three years was the '08 season. In '07 we were completely revamping an offense. We still moved the ball pretty well, and in three years, we've got the three highest totals in school history on total offense. But we haven't scored enough points, and we turned the ball over too many times within that.

How have you gotten better?

You look at things, keep trying to improve and identify the decisions you made. As the decision-maker, you can't sit and take two weeks to make 'em. They have to be made by you, and sometimes they turn out good or not-so-good. Then you ask yourself, "What would I have done differently?" The next time it happens, you've learned from it. In the three-year journey, the '08 season was the backwards step - a big-time backwards step. Last year, we were poised to really have the breakthrough that I felt we could have.

You've mentioned the corner, but how close do you really think you are?

I tell our kids there's not going to be all that coulda-woulda-shoulda, that we're not going to play that game and always float this "19 points in five games" out there. But I have to explain that to my team to make sure they understand how close we are, in order to not just get so discouraged. When our time comes - and I think it's about to come - I want us to be ready for it and expecting it.

What kind of handle do you have on the mental state of these players? It would seem losing is hardest on them.

You kind of try to mold a team after the experiences that you've had. Just because last year was a 2-11 season?on our first day back on January 18, we're 0-0 and we start a new deal. I get asked the question a lot, "How do you get confidence in a team that's only won five games in three years?" I believe you go out and earn your confidence as a football team. Through the offseason. Through a great summer. I know there's a lot more trust around this program, player to coach and coach to player. There's caring. That's one thing as a coach, because this is our livelihood, you want to surround yourself with people you think really have a passion and care. I've got a collection of men playing and working for me right now that care a lot about this university.

Given what's been made fairly obvious, how is your relationship with Rick [Villarreal]?

I do believe Rick wants to see me be successful. He hired me, so I think it's important from that standpoint. We've seen things in different ways at times. Yes, he wants to see it get better. I always tell people - fans, administrators, this or that - you can't think you've cornered the market on wanting to win more than I do. Really, c'mon now. Do you really think that you, as the everyday fan or anybody that works in our department, wants to win more than myself and my assistant coaches and players? Of course not. We all want to and need to win. To answer the question, our relationship is fine. You learn how to work with people and who people are as you go through the journey.

I think he's done a fabulous job, along with a whole lot of people for this university. This [pointing to new stadium] right here - I've been in the Dallas area or at this university almost my entire career - I feel like I've got a really good handle on what this facility can and will do for this university, not only for our players but the whole student body. I tell them, you haven't had the opportunity to experience the college football experience like we're fixing to have.

Speaking of UNT fans, where do you think you sit with them now?

Our fan base is fickle, just like everybody else's. That's just the way things are. Once you get rolling...an example is last year. We have the big win at Ball State, which didn't turn out to be very good, but you have a 1-11 team that beat a 12-1 team the first game of the season. That was a big win for us, and that next game against Ohio, according to our ticket people, was going to be one of top two or three most-attended games in the history of this university, based on all the tickets that were being sold. The student body was fired up. Then it starts raining 48 hours before and won't stop. It ends up in double-overtime, great game?it was one of those opportunities.

We've got some opportunities over the next two years to really grab this place and give it a sense of pride. I had visions when I got here, besides winning, of things like getting hats in the stores all around the D/FW area. It would mean that the UNT alumni base can quit having to adopt other teams as their team, and have their university as their team. That's something I want to see happen. Frankly, I've been in this area my whole career, and I'd love to be the head coach at North Texas for a long, long time. I'm not na? enough to think it's going to boil down to these 12 games this year, whether or not that might happen. I don't feel a tremendous amount of pressure from that. It's more from me on getting this thing done.

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