untjim1995

What was the record for that recruiting class for 2010-2014? Hint---it doesn't help your argument...

Would Tech have won a conference title if they played in any of our conferences in the last 50 years? How would we have done in the SWC or Big XII? I completely agree with you, but it just doesn't seem that hard to ask SL to consider having a practice in Frisco, especially since we have paid to sponsor the Star...

That would require effort and thought... All I know is that we have more UNT alumni outside of Denton that could come and see us in their backyard. what could it hurt to just try it?

Oh, I don't know. I mean our recruiting is just stellar right now, so... Or we can still just keep doing the same thing over and over like we have, such as having no increase in the recruiting budget and just letting TX HS coaches and parents continue to look at us as a last resort...

Even more reason why we should play a scrimmage in one of these places. A Spring practice scrimmage in Frisco could be used as a nice recruiting tool at The Star, since our name in Frisco is growing for our campus there. But, again, I thought we should have done this at Toyota Stadium in the years past--or at Clark Stadium in Plano... Its just another way that we are still about 25% behind other FBS schools when it comes to athletics. I want to believe in Wren Baker and his staff, but I fear he's gonna be nothing more than another UNT BOR stooge. Some people here want to see more action, but maybe he's doing it behind the scenes to help make things better. But Im inherently skeptical of anything UNT athletics related to be anything bigger than it has been. The culture doesn't demand it here and in many spots within the UNT community, it's completely loathed and wanted to be stopped completely.

Dickey also didn't have to compete with UTSA or Texas State as Fbs teams back then. Thats 170 kids that are playing FBS on scholarship in Texas that weren't back in the Dickey days.

We have some fans that really don't want this thing to ever get bigger than it is. I give Tech tons of credit for moving a spring game/practice around to their alumni bases. This was a very smart move by them. Those recruits in Frisco and Plano and McKinney will enjoy this a lot. But, don't worry, our recruiting is so strong that we don't need stuff like this...I mean, we own Denton area recruits, right?

I said this years ago that we should hold a spring game in frisco. And we are in a sponsorship with the Cowboys for UNT and freaking Tech comes in and gets this done. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Tech-Spring-Football-Game-To-Be-Played-At-The-Star-412510803.html#ixzz4Xa7bPewc

I love how every truthful post about the state of the program gets a -1. Most of us think the post rating is ridiculous anyway.

All I'm saying is that until proven otherwise here, this place is not somewhere that recruits will come when offered by other comparable G5s. We are beating FCS schools for recruits. And it really hasn't mattered who was coach, where we played, or the conference we have played in since 1995. Simon, Dickey, Dodge, MCCarney, Littrell, Fouts Field, Appgee Stadium, Big West, SBC, or CUSA...always the same ranking between 90 and 125.

We go thru this exercise every year, yet we always are mad that the coach here cannot change our reputation amongst the Texas HS coaches and parents overnight. We have sucked something fierce for the better part of 22 years as a FBS team again. We have 4 winning seasons in that timeframe. Our biggest wins in the last decade of play are beating Indiana, UNLV in the HoD Bowl and beating Army this past year. IOW, that doesn't move the needle around here at all. Since 2007, in the last 10 years, the FBS teams we have beaten are as follows: ULM twice, WKU 4x, Ball State twice, FAU 4x, MUTS twice, Indiana, Troy, ULL, South Alabama, Idaho, La Tech, USM twice, Rice twice, UTEP, Tulsa, UNLV, SMU, FIU, UTSA, Marshall, and Army. Against the teams we recruit against in CUSA West, we are 7-15 in the last decade, including Rice who we are 2-4 against, as well as UTEP, who we are 1-3 against in that timeframe, and they both finished below us in the recruiting rankings. Those results aren't making many kids with other FBS offers to choose us over them. And the schedule we play here doesn't give any of them any reason to give us some extra thought when compared to other regional G5s.

As college coaches, they are in different universes. But Dodge, alone, got us Giovanni Vizza from Alamo Heights (San Antonio's version of Southlake Carroll) when he got hired here, as he switched over from Nevada to us. He also got us kids from SLC, who quickly realized that we had worse facilities and support than they had in HS at SLC. But make no mistake, Dodge's reputation opened those doors by himself when he got here. To me, Kiffin's reputation gets him in front of talent in Florida and the Southeast that his predecessors couldn't do, but if he sucks as a head coach there, they will leave, just like our kids did when they realized how bad things were here under Dodge. OTOH, if he has a winning season this year, and someone higher up the foodchain calls, he will be gone, ala Bobby Petrino. They are both cut from the same cloth...

Last year, Frank Wilson took over for UTSA rather late in the recruiting season. Just sayin'...that's why they finished 11th last year. People know who Lane Kiffin is--not the same, but when we hired Dodge, his name created serious buzz and we got some really solid HS talent here. But Dodge sucked, so it didn't really matter and didn't last. Kiffin may very well be the same, plus he may be gone quickly if he does have a winning team--that dude has no loyalty to anyone but himself. FIU, with Davis, has ALOT more upside than FAU does, IMO.

Seriously, the WRs we had here were recruited to play in McCarney's archaic offense. I mean they might have thrown downfield more than 10 yards about 5 times a game. Andrew McNulty and Josh Greer threw bubble screens and two yard throws to the tight end when not handing the ball off. Those receivers that are still here are either going to improve after last season's indoctrination into a modern offensive scheme or they will be easily replaceable by WRs who actually played in the spread in HS. The disappointment was that the OL, which was supposed to be Mac's MO for developing, has been subpar or worse for 3 years now.

That's not gonna change our reputation with TX HS Coaches and parents. Only winning will do that, just like it did with Johnny Jones. Seth Littrell is basically a no-name to a lot of people in this state. He's going to need time to build this thing into something that recruits will be interested in. If you are a kid in Texas playing HS Football and you can choose between playing at UNT and our schedule, which features OOC home games against SMU, Army, and FCS spares, or UTSA, which features games against P5s and other notable G5 opponents in OOC play every year, the choice isn't gonna go our way very often. Plus, UTSA's coaches can easily sell kids on the possibility of being able to move up the conference ladder before we ever will, just because of their TV market not being shared with anyone else. Now, when we compare ourselves against UTEP or Texas State, that's a different story--we shouldn't ever lose a recruiting battle against either of those schools, because of remoteness for UTEP and conference affiliation without any major achievements for Texas State. People have got to stop getting pissed about UTSA zooming by us. What were they supposed to do? Not hire smartly or take advantage of their location? I mean, seriously, give UTSA decades of suckitude like we have seen, then we can start asking why they are still killing us in recruiting. They have played at home since moving into CUSA, Oklahoma State, Houston, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas State, Colorado State, and Arizona State. In the next 2 years, they will host UH (again) and Baylor. That's 5 P5s and 3 high G5s at their place since 2013. In that same span, we have played in Denton these OOC powerhouses: Idaho, Ball State, SMU, Nicholls State, Portland State, SMU (again), and Butt Cookman, with games to follow in the next 2 years at home in Denton for OOC games to be Army, Lamar, SMU (again), and Incarnate Word. Don't forget even future games scheduled at home to include Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, and Rhode Island, which means we have scheduled for games in Denton for fans and recruits to consider attending: 0 P5s, 2 G5s that most would consider above us in SMU and Army, 2 low level G5s in Idaho and Ball State, and 8 FCS opponents. To put it another way, if you are talking to a recruit today that is considering us or UTSA, he can look at the same conference games, but gets to play UH, Baylor, Texas State, and whoever else they schedule to play in San Antonio in a climate controlled atmosphere ot he can come here and play CUSA games, plus games outdoors against SMU, Army, and a whole plethora of FCS spares. I don't care how much it stings or how many negative 1s I get, its the truth...they have major advantages that we don't have, whether its because of their location and history or because of our location and history.

Pretty much--they are eerily similar.

Worst coach--Benford--had a tournament team in talent and completely wasted it...plus he earns bonus points for losing to Alabama-Huntsville. Worst Loss--Trilli team lost a heartbreaker at Maryland by 75 points Worst Season--Jimmy Gales last season was god awful and he knew wasn't getting his contract renewed, so everyone basically quit.

RV was the perfect guy for the BOR for a decade...he came in under budget, never caused a stink publically, and he glad-handed the BOR on a regular basis. Then, after hiring Todd Dodge, Dodge started losing badly, but he also kept reminding everyone that he was promised a new stadium. That stadium, due to the leadership of UNTFlyer, miraculously passed and the fee was set up, albeit at the much lower rate than others were charging in the state at public G5 schools. Then, RV, sensing the need for more insulation, with all of the colossal losing going on, got 17 people to pay for stuff and keep him protected. And it worked, until Portland State showed up and massacred us. The 17 bought out MCCarney immediately, but also began the process of tying the rope that would go over RV's neck. He swindled this place for years and was extended by that BOR for absolutely no other reason than staying in budget. These numbers aren't surprising. He couldn't fundraise, he couldn't hire good coaches for revenue sports, and he couldn't schedule for crap. At any other place in America, he would have been there as the AD for 3-4 years, tops. But here, he got 12. And it's damn near amazing that he isn't still here now--it's the FIRST time that I've seen this place put some effort toward athletics and I've only been around here since 1990...

The hardest part about finding defensive front seven players that can play is that Texas HS has gone to being very soft because of the spread and this fascination with 7 on 7. That's as big a reason as any as to why Texas college football is in terrible shape.

Until the UNT 17 told RV the were buying out DMac, this point above was dead-on for decades. We basically went from quarter-assing it until we started to half-ass it by building a new stadium and increase funding for the program. After the DMac firing and subsequent releasing of RV, I think we are about 3/4s of the way towards running a real FBS AD--which means we are still lacking 25% of being where other G5s are in this region. Littrell is a solid x's and o's coach. Great offensive mind. But what we have never known is if a guy who has been coaching only at P5s could really make a dent with TX HS coaches and parents here at UNT, a place where a local HS coach recently told a client of mine, "UNT is still UNT--the kids want to go somewhere that is known for more than just losing and nobody really caring." That is a gut-punch to alums like me, but I get it. Like it or not, kids know about SMU and Rice, from their history to their degree value in the state. Kids know about UH and La Tech being solid programs at the G5 level. They know UTSA plays big name opponents in San Antonio EVERY YEAR and are sold on building something there in the Alamo City, a place that hasn't been beaten down by their local team losing and being considered a joke. So, basically, that leaves us, Texas State, and UTEP to go after the rest. I know that everyone hates that we are rated so low, but nobody cares about a new stadium if you aren't any good when playing in it. People will play in Monroe, Louisiana or Ruston, Louisiana only because they believe that they will be a part of a winner--of which, both schools have completely surpassed us in the last decade or so. Nobody cares if you are close to home if it means you are playing in front of 5000 real people on a cold Saturday in November against Directional Airport University between two bad teams. Our ONLY path forward is simply to hope and pray Littrell can do the Johnny Jones Plan in football--win with lower rated players and transfer players, string a couple of winning season together, then see if the TX HS coaches and parents will start considering UNT more seriously for their recruits. Otherwise, we ain't getting any better than what we just saw, a 5 win season that by UNT standards is great, since it represents only the 8th time in 22 FBS seasons where we won 5 or more games, but it just illustrates the absolute suckitude we have managed to build up since then, which has shown an exact total of 4 winning seasons during that timframe, since 1995. UTSA doesn't deal with that kind of anvil around the neck that we carry every day. Again, we have to depend completely on Littrell and Company, like we eventually saw for just a season or two with Darrell Dickey, to produce results, because if they cannot, it continues to perpetuate the reality that this place is damn near impossible to recruit to unless you have a name coach that TX HS coaches have hear of and somewhat trust, as we saw with Todd Dodge. Frank Wilson was the lead recruiter for LSU--he is known at every high school in Texas...when UTSA hired him, of course they gave him the time of day. We didn't do that--we did the exact opposite, actually, in hiring a guy in Littrell with no ties to Texas HS coaches, but a great offensive mind. Nobody should even remotely be surprised that Wilson and staff are recruiting kids at a high level to a place with a solid G5 following, that lures attractive opponents to town for games, and has no losing and apathy to get out from underneath. Littrell isn't so fortunate, but I'm gonna assume he knew this when he took the job, unlike DMac, who looked at us as a USF starter kit because of our location, only to see that his positivity about North Texas wasn't getting bought by anyone at Texas HS locker rooms when being compared to most of our peers. Littrell knows the apathy, the history, the losing, the lack of respect, etc...and he knows that he has to change this over time, even if it means that he is starting from behind again when going out on the recruiting trail. SOme of you guys are just flat out expecting him to make this major reputational transformation with the college football world for our alma mater. It doesn't work that way--and it never has.

I don't think he WANTS that drop to happen. I think he's saying that when it does, it's not the same as when we VOLUNTARILY stayed down at a lower classification when we didn't have to for 12 freaking years, causing us to play podunk schools that very few people cared about in Texas, while the SWC and Big Eight were at the top of the NCAA totem pole during our coma. Just to be clear, I don't want to drop, either. I want us to be as great as we can and play in a conference with teams that can bring fans and media attention to our program. But without wins over teams that people care about across the country, no conference above us wants us. Yes, a lot of that is due to our ineptitude, but a lot is due to being considered the low guy on the DFW ladder. That I-aa fiasco cemented that fact for many other conferences above ours, so without winning against teams that people care about, we are just stuck below SMU and TCU. So, without your colossal "the small guys beat the big guys in a court ruling", the Big XII's demise in 2025 (if not before), will cause a massive realignment that I believe will cause the Power Teams to pull away for good. When that happens, the SBCUSA schools will have to realign geographically, like the MAC has done. So unless, we get into the MWC and the AAC, which will just wait until the Big xii falls apart, allowing them to add in TCU, Baylor, ISU, and KSU if they want, we are left out. And I just don't see how that ends well for us or any other CUSA school. Doesn't mean i want it, but it seems like the very likely scenario that I see happening. The hard part to know is what it will do to our fan support--if it will just drop suddenly because we aren't FBS anymore or if we will still get the same support because we are playing schools people recognize and teams that are close enough to bring fans to Denton.

What a load of BS!...Littrell should get an A+. He took the worst team in America and turned them into a team that went to a bowl game and took their bowl opponent to OT before losing. Again, the year before, our team suffered a loss that was so humiliating that it registered as the worst loss in modern college football history and we had the worst offense in the country. In one year, the new coach got us 5 wins, with a bowl game that easily could've gone our way, as well. All of that doesn't equal B- in most people's minds.

This is awesome--great post!!

OSU would be an awesome and very probable opponent we could get. They've played at FAU, at Troy, at ULL, at UTSA, and at Central Michigan in the past. UNT would be a much better OOC game for them than any of those other teams. But they wouldn't be replacing the body bag opponent. That revenue loss isn't ever happening. They would replace Army or SMU someday, or, as I suggested yesterday, to replace the FCS game. Imagine this: SMU, @ body bag, @Army, Okie Lite @SMU, @bodybag, Army, @OSU The extra revenue from hosting OSU for a home game would easily aid the AD, instead of paying for the FCS spare that costs us money. We, like most G5s, aren't giving up the easy revenue from the body bag game.

How many UH, Army, and IU grads do you know or that live here in DFW? Now compare that number to Tech alumni and the number that live here in the Metroplex...