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I am NOT a UNT alum, however, I have been attending UNT games, 1-2 a year for the past 6 years. Last night's game was one of the best games I have seen UNT play in a long time. There was team enthusiasm, the coach was was contantly encouraging the players, even after after big plays/scores by Troy, and the players never once, not once, gave up. How refreshing! That attitude comes from the Head Coach. Yes, your AD wants to hire a "proven" coach, a "big-name" coach. Jim Leavitt - a complete and total jerk. Dennis Franchione - brings no fire-in-the-belly attitude, and it's been proven that Patterson was the reason he was so successful. Jeff Bowers - don't know much about him, but was a successful coach that USM probably wished they hadn't fired. I can't think of any "big-name" head coaches that have come to the Sun Belt and been successful. Should Canales be the next HC? I don't know and can't answer that. In reading RV's statements, he doesn't have a chance to be hired, and that is understandable. BUT, the players have bought into his coaching and playing their butts off for him. In the future, based on what he has shown so far, he will be a successful HC somewhere, and UNT will be looking back and saying, "Wow, we should have hired him when we had the chance." Before any of you start posting replies that start off by saying, "Thanks for posting, Coach," or "Gee, Mrs. Canales, this isn't the way to get your husband a job," I can assure you that I have never met the man, his wife, and am not related in any way. I'm just an Interested Observer that has been reading this Forum for a long time and decided to register and post after what I observed last night. Carry on with your in-house bickering.

Why in the world are you on a UT fan board?

Code cracked.

Some of you are just unbelievable. Do you all really think Canales has family members posting for him on here? Really? PMG,so you are putting your support behind a disgraced ex-BCS coach that has an affinity for leaving programs for greener pastures at the drop of a hat over a qualified assistant that has extensive experience and has shown he wants to be here?

Barnum and Bailey? Isn't that how Hayden Frys' detractors described him when he was coaching at North Texas? Cooler heads? Isn't this the same BOR that approved the TD hire? Jim, you weren't at the game. I saw a bunch of beat up players who were out there punching to the very end. Last year they would have folded it up after the first Troy TD and walked through their dog whipping. Speaking of beat up players. My respect for R. Dodge has gone up significantly after last night. Playing fearlessly against a bunch of semi-pro players who came after him EVERY PLAY, and there he was wearing a cast on his recently operated on left wrist. I seem to recall that one of our favorite coaches beat Tennessee with a fourth string QB. What I saw last night in gutsy play, smart play calling, and energy from the coaching staff, you CANNOT ASSESS in an resume and/or interview. You should have been there Jim. It's been a long time since I've seen a North Texas team get into a genuine dog fight and not back down. BUT, we have three more weeks and.....we'll see.

Okay, for those of you who have been on this forum for many years, back into the mid 90's and more, you should know that I dont write much and dont write simply to get my name up n the board. Over the years I have helped, watched, listened and read the multiple formats we have used through the years, and the latest threads covering coaching could use some intel. I spoke with a rep. from the University that will remain anonymous. You simply need to know that the person speaks from years of involvement within the University system. Following the forum I felt that I knew a great deal of what was happening and have found that I really didnt know as much as previously thought. that being said, it looks like there is a definite candidate or two in mind and one that will come with name recognition. Im not going to give out more, just want to make a statement here. We have a great deal going for us at this point. Think about it. We have an interim coach who is doing very well and has our kids on the right track. You have to appreciate his effort and affect on this team. I was somewhat taken back by some of the info. I received coming in from the players and others over the coaching staff over the course of this season. I can understand keeping info. close to one's own however. Regardless, we are looking at a great deal of potential. We also have a wonderful stadium, a growing community and dare I say a growing fan base. With wins, it will grow more of course, as any school would. So, lets not bash what has happened and look towards what we Can do. I think we will be happy in the end and see results. I see it happening already. Take care and keep the faith. Hopefully I will catch some of you soon. I tend to travel a great deal so hard to make it to games, but will definitely be at some basketball this season.

I understand the argument that we cann afford to gamble with this hire... but I cannot think of a single example of a lower level school (WAC, MAC, Belt, etc..) hiring a "big time" coach and doing so well that they elevated the school. What model are we wanting to follow? Schnelly at FAU? I suppose that Mike Price has done "ok" down at UTEP. And I suppose you could argue that O'Leary has seen some success at UCF. But the BEST mid-major teams find very energetic coordinators that are HUNGRY and let them work their buns off. Let's go over some success stories... Boise - they had Hawkins, Koetter, and now Peterson. None of those coaches were "big name coaches" when they were hired... they have scheduled to help the coaches and that is why they have remained sucessful (in my opinion). Look at TCU, they brought in Frnachione from New Mexico, that is what turned them around from an 0-12 season - he was not a high profile hire at the time - New Mexico was just a crappy WAC 16 school back then. Fran turned them around and he handed it off to Gary Patterson. By the way - when that handoff occurred, the TCU fans were up in arms because they wanted a "high profile coach" to replace Fran. The AD knew better. June Jones - after being a loser with the Chargers, he had success in Hawaii (his alma mater) by playing a very weak schedule (much like Boise). He also had PASSION for the school because it was his alma mater. Jones has done a good job of elevating SMU; but they were rock bottom and are far from being world beaters. After a great last year - this year they are back to struggling... They are right on the bubble for bowl eligibility - maybe they will make one, maybe not. We shall see. At $2 million a year, I think that the jury is still out on his success. I guess that the point I am making is that I do not know of a precedent for a "big name" coach to come to a school like North Texas and do exceptionally well. Some of them have had acceptable outcomes; but I can think of plenty of examples of coaches that are unknown (but solid) coaches that come in, work HARD, and elevate the programs that hired them. I keep seeing people say that we should hire either a big name coach OR hire a sucessful coordinator from an auto-bid BCS school. How about a sucessful Offensive Coordinator from the Big East? Our interim head coach coached a team that reached as high as #2 in the BCS rankings while at South Florida. Now saying that I have chosen Chico - because this is RV's choice to make, not mine. But I think it is a possibility that we have what we "need" right here already. He might be the big name hire that we want. Think about this seriously, if Chico was not at NT right now - but was still out of work (like all of these other candidates that are being tossed around - every name that I have seen are unemployed coaches) - would we consider him even more so? I think we would. I think that it is very possible that he could be the big name hire that we need.

Outside of this year, So Does Canales! Good Gosh!

He's weeding out Team Canales -- that's for sure. He's just choking the lifeforce out of everyone else in the process.

Major donors are very influentual. If we've been making these bad decisions all these years, and these big 5 donors have stood by and watched, maybe these 5 major donors are part of the problem. Why haven't they changed anything? If they've been going along with these bad decisions, why would you want the program to listen to them now? "Hey UNT, we haven't had a problem with anything you've done up until now. But now! No! You cannot hire this coach that has been in this "losing program" for all of 6 months." These big 5 donors obviously don't know what they're talking about. Maybe some of the long time donors need to go and quit holding the program back.

Because SMU's site was down.

Here is a photo of the Leach flag

What do you want out of a coach? Let's look at it in simple terms. A coach is supposed to (in addition to recruit, Xs/Os, talk to the community, etc.) get his team ready to play, get them prepared and most importantly, GET THEM TO PLAY UP TO AND (IF THEY'RE GOOD) BEYOND THEIR POTENTIAL. For me, as one that, you know, ACTUALLY SAW THE TEAM WITH MY OWN EYES on Saturday, I saw a Troy team that was bigger, faster, and stronger physically than our team. I saw a UNT team that was down to it's 3rd string at many key positions and had little reason to be motivated after what they've been through this year go toe to toe with the class of the Sunbelt the past 3-4 years. I don't understand why anyone, despite the fact that they were walking on campus before some people were a "gleam in our daddy's eye" would have a negative attitude toward Canales. I saw a team play BEYOND their potential on Saturday against a physically superior and well coached champion. That's what I want out of a coach.

Self Promoting? The T shirts say "Lock the Gate." Not "Canales for Head Coach." The Lock the gate theme purpose is to get the players, fans, and everybody something to rally behind. And from what we saw throughout this season, Injuries, Player Passing away, HC being fired, what a better time to give everybody something to rally behind. Whether you like/support Canales or not, please dont belittle his intentions and desire to give the kids something to play for by calling it self promoting. We all want the same thing and that is for the Mean Green to play hard and not give up. Go Mean Green!

I would say that the best way to get a realistic view of the situation is to talk directly to Mike Leach.

"Close the Roof" T-Shirts will be passed out this weekend.

Dear Doyoubleedgreen, Welcome to the board. I know the band works hard. Many on this board may not realize that for your many hours of rehearsal a week, you only get one credit hour. But that is the bane of existence for a music major! Your response to criticism is disappointing. If you have a thin skin or are adverse to criticism, you should look for another profession because you are going to hear lots more of it in your lifetime. Attacking your audience is not a proper response nor is justifying a sloppy performance because the audience is "drunk". You are budding professionals and should conduct yourself accordingly, no matter if your audience is a packed Fouts Field or ten pre-schoolers. On to specifics. The band did indeed learn a new show each week...even when we had back to back home games. In my four years with the band, we never repeated a show. I cannot speak for everyone on this board, but what I would like to see is: 1.A return to the great traditions the band once displayed. 2. more varied and appropriate music in the stands. 3. A more professional looking warm weather uniform. 4. Playing the alma mater at the beginning of the game rather than the end when it is normally chaos on the field and in the stands. 5. A better arrangement of the national anthem. 6. No more "Fly like an Eagle. And most importantly: 7. A return to the original Fight Song. So doyoupleedgreen, best wishes on your career . No matter if you aspire to being a professional musician or an educator, I hope you will be as proud to be an alumni of the band as I have been for the past (almost) forty years.

Your ability to sell your university short never ceases to amaze me.

Hey PMG! TCE has 1600 posts! Is he part of the Canales conspiracy also?

Best post I've read today! Spot on about PMG; the guy is just a hater. He never mentions the actual game detail, players efforts or progress they have made in the last two weeks. His entire agenda is to rag Canales. For what? Working his ass off and getting the most out of these players over the last two weeks. PMG - don't go away mad

I don't care what camp you are in it would be insane for us not to contact Leach,if we got him we need to get Tech back on the Schedule.

Hey thanks I appreciate the welcome. Your school needs a competent coach really badly and I am the right guy to do it.

Rick, what do the number of visits to Fouts have to do with one's opinion of Levitt?

Still sitting solid in Fran's corner. Canales is making a splash. Kudos to him.

I thought the Leach Jolly Roger Flag went really well thanks Bundy. There are some people here that are way too touchy about silly stuff. Being excited and passionate about a possible new coach is somehow a bad thing and some how an insult to a interim coach that knows there is a coaching search in the works. Wow people just go out of there way to be offended how sad.

Just to clarify, I mean that neither Patterson nor any of the mentioned Boise State coaches (Koetter, Hawkins, and Petersen) took over a program that was "down" in anything remotely resembling the sense that ours is. Patterson inherited a team that was 10-1 when he took the reins. He's done a hell of a job for himself since then, but he didn't take over a program that was unsuccessful at the time he got the job. At BSU, even Koetter took over a team that was just one game under .500 and only two years removed from a 7-4 record. Boise State has never had more than two losing seasons in a row, and they've only even had back-to-back losing seasons twice in program history. In fact, Boise State has only had 5 total losing seasons in 43 years of football. 1986, 1992, and 1997 (all just one game below .500), and 1993 and 1996. I'm not opposed to Canales getting this job under the right circumstances, as I've mentioned elsewhere on the forum earlier today. But the success of Patterson/Hawkins/Petersen (or even Koetter, in my opinion) doesn't have much commonality (or relevance, in my opinion) with the hiring situation we're facing right now.

TTG,with all due respect, let's look at two examples of two successful schools similar to us. Boise State and TCU were both not very successful programs. BSU had Dirk Koetter, who was an unknown, start the turnaround. He was hired away by Arizona State, I believe. Hawkins was moved up to HC and continued BSU's rise, and he was hired away by Colorado and Peterson took over and has elevated their program to where it is today. Koetter, Hawkins and Peterson were all unknowns with little to no FCS HC experience. TCU hired Fran from New Mexico. TCU's only recent success was under Wacker. Other than that, they were a struggling program. Fran started the turnaround and left for greener pastures. Patterson was elevated to HC and many were questioning the hire. Look where they are now. There is not a coach out there with HC experience, that would consider us, that excites me. Canales has taken on a downtrodden program with players that have known nothing but losing and changed that attitude in 3 weeks, has the team playing better than anyone can remember, is passionate about being here and building the program, has paid his dues as an assistant in college and the pros, has been a part of building a program from scratch, and has the fire to succeed. Who knows, he might become another Patterson and fall in love with Denton and NT and stay for the duration. To me, he is no more a risky hire than the others that have been discussed to no end on here. Fran? I am good friends with many A&M alums who have nothing good to say about the man. Plus, he has been passed over for other positions recently and is typically just in it for Fran. No thanks. Leach: Never would consider NT, ever. Plus, he is all about himself. Levitt: In a lawsuit, as is Leach, with his previous employer, and while he has built a program, is a wildcard to me. Too much baggage. If NT continues playing as they have the past two weeks, I'd be more than happy if Canales stays.

You act like it's the first time he's said this. Johnny Jones?? Occassional NCAA appearances?? EXPECT MORE!!!!1!! BOISE STATE!!!1!! HAYDEN FRY!!!1!! YOUNG GUN ALUMS!!!!!!!1!!!

I am (by no means) a football expert. I asked the question with a willingness to learn from all of you. I don't have an agenda in this, Harry summed up our situation better than i could. This is the biggest investment that NT has ever made for athletics and we have one chance to get it right. I put his opinion over most fans and tend to agree with him. I just question if Chico would be looked at differently if he didn't work for Todd Dodge for a half season. If he was just another available, out of work candidate, I think we would be having a different conversation about him.

If June Jones isn't a workable example, how about Frank Solich? George O'Leary? Hell, in our own conference, Howard Schnellenberger has done quite well for himself at FAU. Above .500 in D-1, almost 2 out of 3 in conference, and two bowl wins with a startup program. And those are just three active ones I can think of off the top of my head. I think part of the reason you can't remember many examples is that a lot of coaches decide to retire rather than drop back down the ladder. Also, it seems like the shelf life of coaches is a lot shorter than it used to be and a lot of the guys who make names for themselves still end up on a short leash our out the door entirely after one or two not-quite-stellar years. If you're Fran or Leavitt, and you're not even 60 (or 55, in Leavitt's case)... And football is something you love and desperately want to get back to, but the fifty or sixty BCS jobs are probably never going to be open for you unless you work your way back up to them... It's a different employment universe than what was out there even 10-20 years ago. And I don't think it's fair to compare rebuilding programs to situations like TCU or Boise under successor coaches where the guy was already there and building from a foundation of success.

You know what bugs me? The fact that PMG's rants have overshadowed accomplishments of players and coaching staff over the last few weeks. It's not, "I hope the trend continues against the rest of our opponents with wins," on GMG today. It's either, "Canales is lame and is self-promoting and running a dog and pony show and the accomplishments so far are worthless," and "Dude, slow down. Canales might not be our guy, how about paying him and the rest of team some respect for their work?" GMG! Beat MTSU!

Man! All I need is a "The cupboards are bare!" and I've got GMG Bingo!

Hopefully, but who knows ?

Folks.... we've reached a new level of stupidity.

The circus is for the players and it's working. You can reason all day long about why you need this kind of coach or don't need that kind of coach, but in the end it's about the players willingness to run thru walls for the HC and his ability to harness that in his game plan. I played for both kinds of coaches; great motivators and boring boneheads and the motivators win and the boneheads change jobs. With the motivators, players go to practice to see what kind of cool new stuff they're going to implement; with boneheads, players hate practice and both reactions show up in games. Funny; Dodge was supposed to be a great motivator, but I never saw that. Maybe it was that he knew his high school players since they were in the 7th grade and they couldn't wait to play for him. If we could somehow do a poll of the players, we'd find out what kind of coach they think Canales is. The poll has to include the grunts too; linemen, backups; even kickers. Maybe they can't wait to play for Canales. It's not foolproof, but its a very good indicator.

This is what worries the hell out of me. While I love what I have seen the last two weeks we cannot go on a Canales love fest and let it hinder our head coach search.

So, this is what I see in that past two weeks with this no-good, self promoting, underqualified hack: Beat up players buying into a system and playing above their normal ability Coach going out into the streets of Denton after a tough loss and thanking people wearing green An upbeat tweet thanking the fans for the support A LOT fewer mental penalties Fans and players buying into the same approach Honest assessment in the post game Will to win Clock management After giving up the big play, the team going out and continuing to take care of business Yeah, this stuff is awful. Clearly there's still work to be done, but man, what a different team this has been. I'm still not putting my full endorsement behind Canales as permanent head coach, but his stock is definitely rising. Maybe it's just that I've only seen ONE other coach at UNT, so I have no idea how great the ancients were.

Um, we were at a football game, not a concert. It is about being loud and involved. And as far as myself and the group around me thought, it wasn't their band that sucked

So you don't know the answer, which is understandable. And I make attacks when attacked just as everyone else does. If you don't like it, don't start throwing the F bomb around without expecting a little poo thrown back your way. You bring it upon yourself. I have no idea where your getting to about me needing to fess up to an identity? Anyone here can find me this evening at Fouts and at just about every home game and NT event fairly easily. I and many other members of the GMG.com Nation don't understand why you continue to post on a North Texas fan message board. You have made it very clear on more than one occasion that you don't care about North Texas. Even further, I don't understand why you even read the Nest board where there is going to be a political topic or two? You obviously can't handle it. I expect the libs here to make snide, sarcastic remarks and I'll point them out with some of my own. See HoustonEagle's post above for example. But your about the only poster who truly can't handle it. It might be better you not read them at all? Rick

LOL, so how much is the trip going to cost there drop out genius? Damn, you couldn't even make it at North Texas but you must know something the rest of us don't? So tell us, how much is the trip going to cost us? If it was $10 Million 12 to 15 years ago what is it in 2010? Of course they refuse to tell us. The truth is probably not far off from the original rumored price? Rick

Chill out guys... He was suggesting doing it during tail gate time. It is a fun idea if you're someone who wants Leach here. He isn't my first choice, but you know if he comes, I'll be first in line to buy a Green Pirate flag.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Oregon-s-new-arena-features-a-memorable-basketba?urn=ncaab-283060

Plumm, I ran out of -1's on all of your other stupid, and I do mean stupid rants. I'll have to remember on Monday to come back and give your stupidest rant, to date, a -1. But know your ignorance deserves many more negative marks.

Who wants to fill in this incredibly awkward blank?

Some of the best times in NT football and basketball were directed by Barnum and Bailey proteges. Hayden Fry could work magic and so could coach Blakeley. Nothing wrong with being a promoter. In fact, it might be refreshing to have a coach who can work a room again. Canales is looking better and better to me, but what do I know, I only buy season tickets, give to the Mean Green Club and have donated in the past to the stadium fund.

+1

This isn't a "Canales for Head Coach" post. This is a "stop being a jerk to the guy who's making progress post." So then, pay attention. The Lock-the-Gate thing doesn't appear to be a self-promoting act. And even if it somehow is supposed to be, if it gets the players motivated and keeps them emotionally invested in the game, then let it happen. If it produces strong performance, I don't care what it is, especially if it doesn't say "Canales for HC." It also looks like you want to ignore the sort of turnaround he's managed in just a few weeks. Prior to WKU, UNT was a team with something like half it's roster on the injured list, just coming off the injured list, and with one death in recent weeks. They've had 1 win all season, and a crushing loss to a team at home. Against FIU, the team didn't play with much heart, they played slow, and they were undisciplined. Fast-forward to last night. They've got another win under their belt, and even if it was a huge win, WKU is a very weak school, and this could've been a fluke performance. UNT goes out and trades punches with the biggest, baddest team in the conference, and short of 1 trick play that Troy used at the start of the game, UNT matched Troy and in many cases, outcoached Troy. You could see that the team may have had the same roster they did against FIU, but they didn't play like it. Against a team with players who were often stronger and faster, our team went out and played smarter, taking advantage of what they could. While they lost 35-41, they also scored pretty well against a defense that was very difficult to block and kept a very strong offense from producing a blowout win. Troy is strong of a team to go out of conference and do more than bruise teams from other conferences - they go out and beat them. Our team nearly put Troy away last night thanks to some sort of mentality change between now and a few weeks ago. I highly doubt that they would've done the same had Troy played us at homecoming. Our offense produced good numbers last night, fought hard, and showed it's dangerous in both the running and passing game. Troy coaches suspected that UNT could be dangerous based on the WKU performance. They were right. MTSU's coaches will not assume our team will be a cakewalk next Saturday. You can't sit there and tell me - and especially, tell the players that Coach Canales and his interim staff aren't doing something right on practice day. Should he be hired? His record as HC is 1-1, so at this point he shouldn't be hired. But should his efforts be respected and applauded? Of course. Should the accomplishments of the players and coaches be applauded, especially in the turnaround time given? Of course. Should you re-assess your opinion of this current coach? Without a doubt.

We don't know that. It's great that Canales and his wife are fighting hard for the job, but we can't assume that he's the only one who would do that. UNT settles too quickly in coaching hires. We have a new stadium and a not-too-distant run of success in our conference. We are in a major media market in a football-mad state. These are selling points that make us attractive to coaches. I'm OK with Canales being considered, particularly if he wins two more games, but we are not the ugly stepsister of the FBS anymore. We should weigh our options.

As many times as I've heard the Green Brigade get drowned out by opposing bands, I'm starting to wonder if it has anything to do with accoustics in Fouts. I give it one more home game and if it happens again, we should just move to a new stadium.

I thought I saw two battles tonight; their football team won by a score. Our band won by scores.