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residents can vote early NEWS: Denton Page 3 Red-hot soccer team heads to Arkansas SPORTS: Page 4 Todd Dodge deserved better VIEWS: Page 5
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
News 1,3 Arts & Life 2 Sports 4 Views 5 Classifieds 6 Games 6
Volume 96 | Issue 33
Cloudy 85° / 64°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Todd Dodge exits as head football coach BY BEN BABY
Senior Staff Writer Keys clacked and shutters clicked, disrupting the somber silence in the players meeting room of the Mean Green Athletic Center as athletic director Rick Villarreal announced on Wednesday that Todd Dodge would no longer be head football coach of the university. The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Offensive coordinator Mike Canales will take over as interim head coach for the final five games of the regular season. Dodge was 6-37 in three and a half years at UNT. “This is not based on the last seven games,” Villarreal said. “This is based on a body of work over the last three and a half years, and at this point in the program, I feel like we should have been much farther along.” Villarreal said the university will conduct a national search for the school’s next head coach. He insisted that Canales was not trying out for the open position, but said that the current interim head coach would be considered for the vacancy if Canales wanted the job. Dodge signed a six-year contract in 2006 that was worth $1.8 million. In his time at UNT, Dodge suffered three losing seasons, ending his tenure with the worst winning percentage of the 16 football coaches in the program’s history. As part of his severance package, Dodge could be owed as much as $440,000, depending on whether he receives another job. While he did not win many games, Dodge helped raise the football team’s Academic Progress Rate. The team’s APR was 907 when Dodge first got here and finished his tenure with a
score of 927. “Coach Dodge brought a real sense of maturity,” Villarreal said. “He had some tough circumstances when MIKE he first got CANALES here, but he is someone who has great character. I think he displayed that, even in this process.” Redshirt sophomore Riley Dodge turned down an offer from the University of Texas at Austin to join his father at UNT. Despite the dismissal of his father, the quarterback still plans on finishing his career in Denton and winning games. “I love it here, I want to play football here,” Riley Dodge said. “Everyone thinks that because my dad is gone that I’m going to tuck my tail between my ass and run away. I’m dedicated to this university and to my teammates.” Todd Dodge broke the news to his players at 2 p.m. Wednesday, 90 minutes before Villarreal’s press conference. The former head coach told his players that he was indeed fired from the position and did not voluntarily step down. “They pretty much all knew, I told them I loved them and I’m proud of the way they fought and there won’t be a bigger fan of theirs the rest of this season,” Todd Dodge said. “I look forward to the day when success happens for this program.” Riley Dodge said he had never seen his father so emotional and that his father showed quite a bit of emotion when addressing the team. “He was never going to quit, he’s not a quitter. I know how
much he wanted to be here, wanted to win here through blood, sweat and tears,” he said. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at UNT, Todd Dodge was the head coach of Southlake Carroll High School for seven seasons, leading the Dragons to three Class 5A state championships. Todd Dodge went 96-11 during his time at SCHS, and his squad was recognized as national champions by USA Today in 2004. Having been relieved of his duties, Dodge will continue to cheer on his former team. “From here on out, over the next four or five weeks, I intend on supporting Mean Green football as a father and a member of the team,” Todd Dodge said. Canales, Todd Dodge’s temporary replacement, came to UNT this summer after three years as the offensive coordinator at the University of South Florida. In 2003, Canales was the wide receiver coach for the New York Jets. The biggest downfall of Todd Dodge was the number of close games lost during his tenure. In games decided by seven points or less, the Mean Green was 1-11. “He’s getting a lot of the criticism, but a lot of it should fall on us as players. We’re the ones out there not executing on the field,” Riley Dodge said. “My dad is a great coach and a great man, and there is no doubt that he will land on his feet somewhere.” Editor-in-Chief Eric Johnson contributed to this story. To read his column on Todd Dodge, see Page 5
To read the editorial on this story, see Page 5
PHOTO BY RYAN BIBB/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
UNT director of athletics Rick Villarreal announced that Todd Dodge will be relieved of his duties as head football coach, effective immediately. A nationwide search for Dodge’s replacement will begin soon.
UNT ranked as a top school for veterans Trot for the Troops to help soldiers BY BERENICE QUIRINO Staff Photographer
UNT was named the sixthbest school in the nation for veterans by Military Times EDGE magazine in its Best for Vets: Colleges 2010 list this month. Out of a pool of more than 4,000 universities in the country, 101 were selected using the criteria of financial assistance, academic flexibility, campus culture and support services, according to militarytimesedge. com. UNT received four and a half out of five stars in three of the categories and three and a half in campus culture. “We’re well deserved, there’s a lot of people who put tireless efforts into making this institution a veteran-friendly campus,” said Kristopher Khastehdel, veteran and vice president of the Student Veterans Association and peer mentor at the Veterans Center. UNT was also ranked first against the best veteran universities in the state, with Texas A&M coming in a close second as seventh-best in the nation, and UT Austin third in the state. This semester, there are 1,200 veterans using benefits, up from 1,000 in the previous year. UNT has many resources ava i lable for vetera ns on campus, one being the Veterans Center on the third floor of the University Union.
Veterans Center “I think it’s great, especially
BY K ATE COPELAND Contributing Writer
PHOTO BY BERENICE QUIRINO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
U.S. veterans are offered a variety of resources across campus. The Veterans Center, located on the third floor of the University Union, assists in finding programs and special financial aid for students. since the Veterans Center is new as of fall 2009,” said Ashlee Andersen, veteran and president of the Student Veterans Association and peer mentor at the Veterans Center. “So from just last year we’ve [gone] from having nothing to being the best school in Texas.” The center offers resources on and off campus. It works with other centers, like the Student Money Management Center, to get special scholarships and financial aid for veterans. It also offers counseling, but if veterans feel uncomfortable speaking with a campus counselor, the Veterans Center has special veteran-specific counselors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area they can speak with instead, Andersen said.
“It’s very important to have a center like this,” Andersen said. “The civilian world is way different from the military world. A lot of veterans think that since they were able to ha nd le t he st ress of the militar y world, they c a n ha nd le t he st ress of t he student world, but it’s different and they are unable to cope, so by having a center like this it gives the veterans a chance to centralize.” The center is operated by veterans as well. “It builds a comfort level with student veterans,” said Dantrayl Smith, coordinator of student activities. T he c enter a l so work s with the Office of Disability A c c om mo d a t ion t o he lp
veterans feel as comfortable as possible while at UNT.
Of f ice of Disabi l it y Accommodation The of f ice most ly works with veterans who suffer traumatic head injuries or posttraumatic stress disorder, said Ron Venable, director of the ODA. Some veterans may have f lashbacks or struggle with memor y loss, so the office helps them in dealing with those issues and contacting professors to let them know if veterans need special accommodations in the classroom or during testing, Venable said.
See ASSOCIATION on Page 3
Army combat engineer Gregory Precht was in Ramadi, Iraq, on Sept. 11, 2006. He and his fellow soldiers were driving on a dark road one night doing a route clearance. During an inspection of an area, their squad vehicle drove over artillery shells, and it only took a split second for the shells to explode under their engine. “I don’t remember it, but from what I heard, it blew us as high as the light pole and flipped us over,” Precht said. “We couldn’t get out, so they had to take windows off to get us.” Precht said he is lucky to be alive, but he didn’t walk out scratch-free. “The blow broke my back, left foot, right ankle, my jaw, 12 teeth and I had class 2 concussions,” he said. Precht was taken immediately to Landstuhl, Germany, where he had two of his four initial surgeries. His wife, father and stepmother were able to stay in Germany to be closer to Precht while he was in the hospital. His family stayed in a Fisher House next to the hospital, which provides a home away from home for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury, according to its website. There are 45 houses on 18
military installations. Neither Precht nor his family said they had heard of Fisher House before his injuries, but after his hospital experience, Precht thought the organization was a great thing. “You are a block away from family, which is nice because they can come over whenever,” he said. Precht’s family was able to stay there as long as he was in the hospital, free of charge. His wife, Rudra Precht, said she was pleased with their accommodations. “They did everything and took really good care of us,” she said. “They have a kitchen there. It’s like a hotel.” A f ter t wo week s i n Germany, Precht was moved to Washington D.C.’s Walter Reed Medical Center. While he was there, his mother was able to stay at a Fisher House to be near her son. Denton and UNT will host their first Trot for the Troops 5K on Saturday at North Lakes Park. All proceeds and donations will go to the Fisher House Foundation. Trot for the Troops co-founder Andrew Rusinko, a criminal justice senior and inactive reservist in the Air Force, said he wanted he and his fellow ROTC members to do something to help the military.
See FUNDRAISER on Page 3