MeanGreenGlory

In a year that requires immediate improvement on the defensive side of the ball, I think pulling in an entire staff and a handful of players who already know the system and one another is likely one of the most efficient ways to do it. Looking forward to seeing if they can pull off the big defensive turnaround in 2025!

It looks like 9 defensive players from Sam Houston have entered the portal thus far. How many do you think will end up at North Texas? https://247sports.com/college/transfer-portal/season/2025-football/transferportalpositionranking/?institutionkey=24237

Yes to all of these guys—particularly the ones who have already learned Cassity's system and have produced in it. Bringing a handful of those guys over would help shorten the turnaround time significantly.

I don't disagree with you. Historically, I've preferred to bring in experienced people who have demonstrated sustained success at our level. That said, it's not black and white, and a track record of success doesn't guarantee success. Look at Tom Herman, for example. The guy goes 22-4 at Houston and then 32-18 at Texas. He should have been a guaranteed success at his next stop, right? Instead, he goes 6-16 at FAU, which has been a respectably competitive program in revenue sports over the last handful of years. What happened? Hugh Freeze went 20-5 at Lambuth, followed by 10-2 at Arkansas State. He should have been a success at his next stop, but instead, he went 12-25 at Ole Miss. People thought he was overrated and a fraud. He turned around and went 34-15 at Liberty before being poached by Auburn, where he's now 11-14. What happened? Scott Frost went 19-7 at UCF and then completely flopped as head coach at his own alma mater. Gus Malzahn went 9-3 at Arkansas State followed by 68-35 at Auburn. The guy should have been able to blow out anyone in a non-SEC conference, right? Instead, he barely squeeks out an above .500 record at UCF. All this to say, for every "successful and proven" coach that flops at their next stop there's an up-and-coming coach who absolutely thrives in their next stop at an elevated position (coordinator, HC, etc.). There are so many factors that contribute to a coach's success at any given stop, so predicting success solely on past performance isn't a perfect science. The truth of the matter for every coach at any position is that you just don't know how they'll perform until you know. Until we know for sure, let's give Cassity the benefit of the doubt and the support he deserves to succeed at UNT.

I hear you, and I appreciate that you're reading deeper than surface-level statistics. You raise good points and have valid concerns. To further add to the context of all this, I think it's worth noting that UCF was Sam Houston's second game of the year, which means it was the second game of Cassity implementing his system. Similarly, Texas State was Sam Houston's fifth game of the year, so both UCF and TxSt were within the first half of the season. While we all wish and hope for instant change, it's impossible to have a unit firing on all cylinders with a new scheme in the first half of a new coordinator's first year. When you take that into consideration, I think the important thing to look for is growth/progress/improvement throughout the season. After holding Texas State to 39, they held Western Kentucky to 31, Jacksonville State to 21, and Liberty to 18 as the season went on. WKU and Jax State are #1 and #2 in CUSA playing in the championship game, and Liberty finished the season 8-4 with a win over East Carolina (a team we lost to with an interim coach). Further, Texas State put up 28 on now 10-2 Arizona State (who's likely headed to the CFP) the week before they put up 39 on Sam Houston. An 11-point difference between a CFP team defense and Sam Houston isn't terrible in game 5 of a new coordinator. If you wipe out TxSt's defensive touchdown and consider it 32 points given up by Sam Houston's defense, that's only a 4-point difference between a CFP team defense and Sam Houston's defense. I know this isn't all an apples-to-apples comparison, and I agree that his decline from year 1 to year 2 at ACU is concerning. However, I think there are some arguments to suggest Cassity's defensive unit did pretty well in year one of implementation and showed respectable growth over the course of the season, which makes me skeptically optimistic.

Has anyone heard names of candidates being considered for our DC position?

Bumping because his name keeps getting thrown into the hat. Can someone please explain the appeal of Carthel for DC and exclude any “coach in waiting” argument?

You lost me at “half not.”

What's the appeal of Carthel? Honest question. I don't follow FCS closely, but it seems like every time a position opens up at UNT people on the board want Carthel to fill it. I see he won the NCAA Division II championship in 2017 and has an overall record of 89–48 which are both impressive. However, his run at SFA from a W/L perspective looks similar to Seth's at UNT in that he built up the program in a few years, but he seems to be plateauing over the past few years. I'd love to hear more about what the advocates see in him and why he'd be a good fit for UNT specifically.

Agree. Basketball and has been the better product at UNT for many years now. All eyes/support should be on basketball until Mosley figures out how to field a respectable football program.

Yeah, I still haven’t heard what the new president’s stance is on athletics, but I imagine this kind of stuff starts to land on Mosley’s shoulders if the president cares at all. Four straight losses on four straight national broadcasts is not good for the university.

Great road win. This team is scrappy and does not let off the gas. Love to see it.

Could have/Should have won the Memphis and Tulane games as well. Zero games on our schedule this year have been out of reach aside from Texas Tech.

The defense definitely did their part. Shocked that North Texas has a game this year with a “3” next to our name given how things have been going on offense.