MeanGreenZen

D Rob too obvious. I am calling him: Dr. Ob.

I am not saying he is worth more than our entire NIL budget, I am just saying that plenty of richer programs are going to be willing to pay him that much.

I would go to WV over Michigan if I were him. Ross featured him. Dusty May barely played him. This is a tough loss because not only is he a great player, but he is also a very happy, friendly positive influence in the locker room. We had no chance to keep him though as he will easily command more money than our entire NIL budget.

An NIT championship would have been the most outstanding bullet point on Hodge’s resume so far and he did have a moral obligation to his players to finish out the season. And if he HAD quit before the end of the tournament, that could have been used against him in recruiting at West Virginia by other coaches. “You want to play for Ross Hodge? He has a history of quitting on his players before the end of their season.” All that said, Ross left this place better than he found it and he got offered so much more money than we could pay him that he really didn’t have a choice.

Doesn’t matter what you drive. Can you get there? Getting there for UK, Ark, A&M is probably Sweet 16 or better. For us, getting there is 20 wins, Top 4 conference regular season, advancing a few rounds in conference championship and making a postseason tournament. Every few years those schools expect to contend for a national title. Every few years I expect our team to make the NCAAs (and maybe win a game or two). We will all be delighted if the new coach can deliver that.

Yeah but he left. Arkansas and Kentucky lost their head coaches last season too. My point is that no matter where you are on the college basketball revenue hierarchy, you are going to lose your coach sometimes. Good programs keep winning. Are we a good program now? I’m still buying season tickets and making my small monthly donation to NIL so I hope so.

I’m more interested in grabbing experienced college players out of the portal. Let’s enter a Horizon League ALL STAR team into the American Conference next season.

If Texas A&M (which has as much or more $ than any college in the country) can lose their coach, then any school can lose their coach. Losing coaches is part of being a big-time basketball program. Just wait until Grant McCasland gets offered a top tier SEC or Big 10 job. It is going to happen and when it does, he will be riding the next dirt storm out of Lubbock. The coaches and players will come and go, but can the program sustain winning?

I still haven’t seen what Hodge’s buyout was. Anyone know?

If they can produce in the Horizon League then they can play in the American. Production transfers UP.

I would guess that Ross takes everyone on the staff and roster that he wants.

I thought the other team was just better. The fatal flaw of our team was the lack of a dynamic scorer. Wright could shoot but couldn’t get to the basket or create his own shot. Floyd can get to the basket but didn’t take enough 3’s. Lorient was a turnover any time he had to take more than three dribbles. Fun season overall. Good luck to all the coaches and players at their next school. Looking forward to the roster rebuild and next season.

If that is true then he will be gone by the bowl game.

People at Tech disliked the McCasland hire. WVU is disappointed to hire Ross. People here don’t like this guy. It will all sort itself out. If this dude wins 20 games, has us competing for the regular season championship, deep conference tournament run and can make noise in the CBI/NIT then this is a great hire. Those are my expectations and there is no reason to doubt this guy will do that. And I am not demanding that we make the NCAA tournament. That mf’er is rigged against us.

And the way things are going, this was unthinkable at one time, but eligibility rules are going to go away in college sports. You will also have guys bouncing between the NBA and college basketball. Guy plays one year for Duke, three years for the Lakers then a year for Baylor. Ridiculous but it is coming.

Yaxel was the difference against us in the tournament semifinal. We just didn’t have a dude like that. He may be the highest paid player in college basketball next season.

I trust this new coach to hire his own coaches and buy his own groceries. The only reason to go out of your way to keep a current assistant would be if they were a package deal with Lorient or Floyd and that ain’t happening.

But once that Rice option quarterback has massive success he is just going to transfer to… Army?…Navy?…Air Force?… oh they don’t do that. So Rice just gets to keep their good experienced quarterback instead of losing him every season to some P5?

It is not a joke. And it is not ALL concession items. Just popcorn, nachos, hotdogs, soda and water. The stuff the school can buy really cheap at quantity. I am guessing that they will still sell alcohol. Their stands are going to be full this season. And a full stadium makes everything else about a program better. If this works for them, we should do it too. This is how you beat the pro sports teams for attendance in DFW (and by beating them I mean just significantly increasing our current attendance). Pay $1,500 to take a family of four to Jerry World or pay $100 to take the family to an all you can eat Mean Green game? The value is there.

Very interesting move here. Attendance will skyrocket, especially young families. Can the ticket prices and additional advertising sales (justified from the higher attendance) offset the cost of materials (minimal) and lost concessions sales? Really outside the box thinking. I am impressed. With all the competition for entertainment dollars in DFW, this would be a way to set us apart. Risky, but I bet it would work here.

Latrell Jossell and Grant Newell are both from Chicago. College basketball recruiting has gone national. It is not like the old days, or even football. It would not even be too surprising if our roster didn’t have any guys from Texas on it. As long as this dude has connections at places that produce players and can continue to build relationships, we will be in a good spot.

I would guess that Lorient and Floyd both go with him. Everyone else leaves too, but not with Ross.

No need to wait on the end of the season for the announcement. Ross already announced he is gone and I bet we have 100% roster turnover (unless it is an internal candidate) so we need to get the new staff working the portal. Do it now. And about the portal: the first players to move will be the guys out of our price range. Most of our shopping will be in the bargain aisle. Finding guys who didn’t get the deal they wanted or need to prove themselves to get the next paycheck. Those guys will still be in the portal after the NIT is over.

The NBA is a long shot, but this dude is gonna go to the highest bidder in college basketball every season and will make some real money. He also probably gets another year of eligibility because of the whole JUCO deal that his current classmate started. I could see Hodge opening up his new wallet for him.

I get it, but in our situation within college basketball right now, in a one bid conference, having a chance to win the NIT is about as good as it can get for our program. So we should really enjoy this. To force them to let us in the NCAA tournament, we’d either have to win almost 30 games or win our conference tournament. Neither of those things are going to happen often. So if you are going to be a North Texas basketball fan, and I REALLY enjoy being one. You better be happy with and appreciate the NIT. And yes, they are going to take our coach and take our players (and I was crying about it more than anyone when all this started) but they can’t take our TEAM away: the Mean Green basketball squad that represents our university. And as long as we have a team, we can get a new coach to root for with new players. And we can still beat teams like Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Washington State. And if they won’t let us in to the NCAAs, we can win the damn NIT. There is something punk and underdog and rebellious about us and that is fun. F it all, we can still compete and we can still win. And we are going to keep doing it.