rcade

Mike Leach has filed a new suit against ESPN and a public relations firm hired by Craig James, accusing them of libel and slander: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/fbc/7310120.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+houstonchronicle/topheadlines+(chron.com+-+Top+Stories)

That's a nice shot of the great Odus Mitchell.

That's a nice shot of the great Odus Mitchell.

I don't know what you've been posting on this. I just didn't think the comparison of USF experience is that useful. My main criteria for the head coach is that he have significant FBS head coaching experience and be someone the fans and media would get excited about. I didn't want to see another coach come in and have a long learning curve like Dodge. McCarney fits the first part of my criteria great. Over time, I've become somewhat excited about Canales because of the way he's fought to win the job and embraced the community, even though he has no head coaching experience yet.

That's an extremely weak argument against him. The reason half the BIg 12 members go to bowls is because the caliber of the conference has produced that many bowl-worthy teams year after year. There were around 40-46 bowl spots available in McCarney's time at Iowa State, which means his bowl teams were in the top 40-46 in the country for five years. If he produced a top 50 team at UNT for five years it would be the best job anyone has done coaching here since Hayden Fry.

That's interesting. I wonder if Hayden picked up the phone and called our AD.

McCarney has 12 years head coaching experience in the FBS. That sets him apart from Canales.

If getting to bowls is so easy, why did UNT go 41 years without reaching one?

If you want a dangerous hire, we could always go for a legendary Texas high school coach. As for me, I'm developing an appreciation for safe.

Check out the records of the other coaches who've been at Iowa State: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_State_Cyclones_football#Head_coaches Only 2 out of the 24 coaches since 1920 have had a winning record while leading the school. It is an extremely tough place to coach.

Here's the current Sagarin ratings for the teams staying in the WAC: Idaho, 80 Louisiana Tech, 83 Utah State, 115 San Jose State, 157 New Mexico State, 164 Texas State (currently 186 in FCS) UT-San Antonio (not yet playing) If you assign UTSA a 186 (the same as Texas State), these teams average 138 in the ratings. Here's the Sagarin for the Sun Belt: Florida International, 101 Troy, 122 Arkansas State, 134 Florida Atlantic, 145 Louisiana-Monroe, 154 North Texas, 159Middle Tennessee, 168 Western Kentucky, 171 Louisiana-Lafayette, 178 These teams average 148. When you consider that the WAC teams are currently benefiting from strength of schedule by being conference mates with Boise State, Nevada, Hawaii and Fresno State (all of whom are ranked higher than the left-behinds), the WAC could be lower in Sagarin rankings than the Belt. In any case, the WAC is clearly not strong enough to compensate for the increased travel time and bad TV start times that UNT would face if it joined the conference.

I'm not entirely sold on McCarney, but I think you're understating his accomplishments. His team made it to five bowl games at Iowa State and was co-division champion in 2007. That's not easy to do in the Big 12 with the resources he had available to him. He's said to be an excellent recruiter and a solid character guy. With 11 seasons under his belt as a head coach at the FBS level, there's no learning curve we would need to suffer through. I don't think he'll excite the casual football fan, but inside the game he's respected.

Don't know about that, but Gene Chizik was 5–19 (2-14 in conference) at Iowa State when Auburn hired him. He's 19-5 in his first 24 games there.

We do want better, but the WAC isn't better than the Sun Belt. And every day the WAC gets worse.

I like McCarney's 11 years as a head coach in the Big 12, his five bowl visits and his tie for first in the north division of the conference in 2007. We know more about McCarney's ability to coach at the FBS level than we do Canales. I think I'd have to give McCarney the edge.

So as school after school beats a path out of the WAC, you think North Texas would benefit from joining a conference everyone else is fleeing -- including your own school? Brilliant. We're better off in the Belt than in boarding that Titanic.

That seems nuts to me. The WAC is worse than the Sun Belt and much worse on travel. It would be the Big West all over again. The southeast is a prime football region. A Pacific/Mountain/Central conference is a TV disaster for us.

Where in the report does he state that? Absolutely. That's how these things go down. Two people see the same incident differently or they shade the truth to benefit one side. I have never said I don't want Leavitt. I'm just looking at what we know about the incident based on the investigative report and the other information that has come to light, the totality of which makes me think he grabbed Miller by the throat and slapped him.

The trooper, like other people in the room at the time, may not have been watching carefully at what happened. One player intentionally looked away from Leavitt's encounter with Miller, as he told USF's investigators. The trooper also might be downplaying what happened because he doesn't believe it was as bad as choking and slapping. It's not perjury to say he just grabbed a player's jersey if that's what you believe you saw, even if you're wrong.

Weak. The fact that something is in USF's report does not mean it's automatically true. But given the number of people who either saw Leavitt choke and slap Miller or were told by a witness that he was choked and slapped, it borders on the ridiculous to believe nothing inappropriate happened. Given the report, the most likely interpretation is that Leavitt grabbed Miller harshly and slapped him, Miller told people about it in anger, then Miller backed off his story after it became clear it would get his coach in serious trouble.

I think Leavitt would quickly build a team that destroyed the Belt. He didn't have enough time in the Big East with USF to prove how high he his teams could go. He was just starting to enjoy the recruiting that came from the school's higher profile in Florida.

Why does anyone talk to the press? He probably thought he could stay unnamed and face no consequences for telling the press. If he'd gone through official channels, he would've been held responsible for his decision to narc.

It is not easier for USF to recruit in Florida than it is for UNT to recruit in Texas. Both of the schools are giant schools with undersized alumni support and little juice in the state lege. Both of them have a bunch of in-state schools with storied histories and big names gobbling up recruits. If it's so easy to recruit here, why is UCF not experiencing the same success as USF? It's the same kind of situation as Leavitt faced in Tampa.

I don't see how you can possibly compare the success at USF under Leavitt to FAU and FIU. FIU has never had a winning season at the FBS level. FAU went 8-5 one year and 7-6 another and were co-Sun Belt champs in 2007, but that's not even in the ballpark of going 9-4, 9-4 and 8-5 in the Big East. Leavitt coached one of the most successful startups in NCAA football history. I was here in Florida when that program was just getting into I-AA. No one would have thought it possible for them to achieve what they did in so short a time.

I can't believe you're dismissing a guy building a school from no football program at all to Big East membership and a No. 2 ranking in under 15 years. At one point USF was the top program in Florida over Florida, FSU and Miami. Is there a Mean Green fan other than you who would not be ecstatic at those results?