Harry

No one has jumped from North Texas to a power conference head coaching gig in nearly 40 years. With another strong year or two, Littrell will probably end that streak. You can win in Denton, but you probably won’t win for long there. When Darrell Dickey took over in 1998, it took him five years to produce a genuinely good team. He went to four straight New Orleans Bowls — the modern model for sustained success in Denton — but had already begun to slide. In his last two seasons, he went 5-18. After Dickey’s replacement, Texas high school legend Todd Dodge, crashed and burned (UNT went 8-40 in his four seasons), it was up to Dan McCarney to pick up the pieces. It took him only three years to surge to 9-4, but he couldn’t maintain the success, and in his last two seasons, UNT went 5-19. McCarney’s coaching career was basically over when he left Denton. Dodge was back in the high school ranks within a year or so of his departure. Dickey spent the last decade as a mid-major offensive coordinator or co-coordinator, which is what he was before UNT as well. You have to go back nearly four decades to find a time when someone went from North Texas head coach to something bigger. Jerry Moore went just 11-11 in 1979-80 but, combined with his success as a Tom Osborne assistant at Nebraska, managed to land the Texas Tech job in 1981. (He didn’t fare well there but, starting in 1989, became a coaching legend at Appalachian State.) Hayden Fry played things perfectly. Fired after a 7-4 season at SMU, Fry rehabilitated in Denton. He won 33 games from 1975-78 and got UNT to as high as 16th in the coaches’ poll during a brilliant 1977. He parlayed this into two decades as Iowa head coach. That Littrell took this job, then, was a bit of a risk. The draw is easy to describe — you’re barely 30 miles from Dallas (where hundreds of potential FBS prospects live), Apogee Stadium is nice and rather new, Denton has an In-N-Out Burger* — but evidence of success has been hard to come by. read more: https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/3/5/17068268/north-texas-football-2018-preview-schedule-roster

Yes I think he is a better guard but I think his height combined with Fines makes that harder. I will leave it to the coaches on here to confirm that. Want to be very careful here to state that Jordan will be close to a 4 year starter for us which is rare and should be respected.

I love Jordan and I think he has worked hard and been a good soldier for UNT. But dammit - he got beaten a lot last season at tackle and I just don’t think he has the feet to consistently defend against the better pass rushers in the conference. I hope he will continue to work and improve but we need a plan B.

I respectfully disagree.

Just FYI I put a first round win. I know that some will want more and say I am setting our goal too low. In my view that 1st win is critical. If we lose the first game it would really sting badly and hurt the attendance. I think this is a very important scenario for McCasland and the rebuild of our program.

What do we need to do to make this first season a success under Grant McCasland? Especially on basically a home court?

Gavin Bell, a left fielder at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colo., was looking for a place to play in college and stumbled upon Texas Wesleyan, an NAIA school in Fort Worth. Apparently thinking it could be a good fit, his father sent an inquiry to Rams baseball Coach Mike Jeffcoat about possibly playing for the Rams. Read more: https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fearly-lead%2Fwp%2F2018%2F03%2F01%2Fcollege-baseball-coach-just-says-no-to-colorado-recruit-over-states-marijuana-laws%2F#pt0-827451

I have two questions what is keeping them from AAC and what schools would be for and against them? Why is their budget so high? Is that derived from their student fees or what? I always wondered what caused them to have such a bigly budget.

Good news!

Sorry —- off subject I know but damn! Let my dog out to do her business and was worried she would drown. GMG

Wesley Randall, chair of UNT’s Department of Marketing, Logistics and Operations Management, who has 30 years of expertise in supply chain and logistics, has been named dean of the New College at Frisco. View Full Article

Tony Mitchell TONY MITCHELL Hapoel Galil Gilboa (Winner League) signed 25-year old American forward Tony Mitchell (203-107kg-92, college: N.Texas). He played last summer at Metros de Santiago in LNB league in Dominican Republic, but left the team in June. Mitchell managed to play in three leagues in two countries last year. In 8 LNB games he had 14.3ppg, 9.0rpg, 2.1apg, 1.3spg and 2.4bpg. The last season he played at Magnolia Hotshots in Filipino PBA where in 8 games he recorded very impressive stats: 21.3ppg, 14.4rpg, 1.8apg, 1.0spg and 2.9bpg. Mitchell also spent pre-season at Limoges CSP Elite (ProA) in French league that year. The other team he played that season for was Maccabi Haifa. In 17 Winner League games he averaged 10.7ppg, 5.5rpg, 1.6apg and 1.1bpg.In 2013 Mitchell was drafted by Detroit Pistons (NBA) in second round (37th overall). The former University of North Texas standoutis in his fifth season in pro basketball. Read more: http://www.eurobasket.com/Israel/news/523707/Galil-Gilboa-signs-Tony-Mitchell,-ex-Metros-STGO

These two guys are going to be critical for the progression of the program.

I know your question is sincere, so please don’t take offense, but can I just want to point out that Bryce English get more mentions in posts than any player other than Chief and yet he has never played a down of football for this program.

The fan base is an indication of the success of a program. It is easy to blame the fans. When your football program has one winning season in basically a decade it has an effect on the fans and their willingness to travel. Also, the timing of the NO bowl and the costs associated with going were much higher than back in the Sun Belt era when we were winning a lot. I too was disappointed with the turnout but I think there are other reasons that caused it that need to be recognized.

Good post Jim. I think many of us had underestimated how much this Shereveport game has stung the fan base and how many good fans did not make the trip to New Orleans but would have made it to Shreveport. I had a good time in New Orleans (other than the outcome) but would always rather be at a place more accessible to all of our good fans.

Interesting seems that the Rangers are putting their support behind UTA in this situation.

I don't get why people are so quick to bail on C-USA. We have only been in the conference 4 years now so that means they have been there for 3. It takes time to develop new rivalries etc. He says that C-USA is a drag on them in hoops, but goodness we may have 2 in the NCAA's this season as Muts is likely to go even if they lose the tourney. I get the regionality card he is playing, and yes in a perfect world we would be in a SWC sort of format ourselves. As a fan who weathered years in the Big West and Sun Belt, I sure like the fact that we have 3 Texas opponents and get games in Houston etc. And the attendance angle is not just a C-USA issue, it is affecting places like Texas and A&M. Technology has made it so damn easy to watch games, you have to think out of the box and figure out ways to get the students back. You can't have shitty internet signals in the stadium anymore. The games are too long. There has to been some adjustments made or the attendance will continue to decline. The gist of his article is bemoaning the loss of TV revenue when you get right down to it and the fact that ODU can no longer offset travel costs which I understand. But the conference will be as good as we all choose to make it. If we can build ourselves up attendance, and facility wise as a conference and win against the AAC and even some p5 games we could see a brighter future.