GrayEagle

Amen and amen. What I don't understand is all of the "sources" sources. If Villereal, Rawlins and Neinas are sharing how they've ranked the candidates with some outsider why won't they share them with us? By the way, Jim, Jessica didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with us but we did visit her later. She has had both knees replaced and has finally made it to rehab. I'll be there tomorrow and hope that you can make it too. I saw the first game at Fouts and can hopefully last one more day to see the last.

Can you show me another coach search at the FBS level where (even) one or more contenders have openly campaigned for the job? I like Chico too but if he had never set foot at North Texas before would he have been openly seeking this job? The other candidates, except for Kragthorpe, don't really know this university and North Texas has changed so much since Coach K was here he likely doesn't either. I don't believe that Neinas came up with all of the names on the list. Our AD furnished many of those names. Some may be pipe dreams; coaches that have no interest in the lowest conference or whose salary qualifications are beyond our budget. The ones that are left will want to be here or they wouldn't leave their name in the pot or accept the job. So who cares whether their interest is overt or covert? Suffice it to say, they want to be here. I would not object one iota if Mike Canales was chosen as the next coach but he is going up against coaches with more success as a head coach and more experience at that level. We don't know who is on Chuck Neinas' list and we may not ever know that. Discretion is one of the reasons he is chosen for coach searches. The eight that were chosen by Harry and Matt were the choices of this board.

There is little dignity where $$$ is involved. Texas may be a whore but I'd hesitate to trash the Big XII. We might some day be considered for that conference so let's not get everyone PO'ed.

True, but the first time was in the Poinsettia Bowl, not a BCS bowl.

You forgot to leave a space for USA who becomes FBS in 2012? The Big 15? I don't think that one's taken. Come to think of it why not add Texas State and UTSA. That would make the Big 17. Perhaps a little unwieldy so throw in McNeese State. We said that we'd see them later.

As long as we have 37 by halftime I'm okay with that.

Happy Birthday, Jim!!! May you live long enough to see an unbeaten season in the new stadium.

That's pretty rough. I'm hoping for 20,234 since there are a lot of alumni, former students and current students who live within 50 miles and might like to see the last football game at Fouts ever.

At least two of them get it.

Joe was a freshman during Odus Mitchell's final year (1966). His last three years were under Rod Rust. I called the uniforms emerald green but I don't know if that was correct. I just know that they were darker than our current green and not as dark as forest green.

Holmen is still in the developing stage but look at the numbers. Holmen is our third best scorer per minutes played behind Thompson (.594) and Johnson (.455). Holmen has scored .444 points for each minute played. When calculating per minute played again, he is our second best rebounder behind Odufuwa. What shocked me is that Hogans comes in a poor fourth in rebounds per minute in spite of being our best shot blocker. Holmen is only averaging about 11 minutes a game compared to our starters 30 or so meaning that you can't expect starter-like numbers. I do agree that he should be learning to play more with his back to the basket. With his speed and agility I believe that he could dominate the heavier forwards.

I have no idea of what our budget will be but I'd hope that we could have $200K available for our coordinators and $100K for the assistants (give or take a little) so that we could have a highly qualified staff.

I would think that the new coach would be available immediately. We would lose big time if it were another month before he reports. That would be especially true with recruiting, to say nothing of organizing and indoctrinating a staff. I don't remember all of the hires but I do recall Fry and Dodge being introduced. Hayden appeared before a decent crowd at the old Auditorium Building and showed a video on the Missouri Valley Conference and gladhanded everyone within arm's reach. I would hope that the new coach does the same sans video.

Fran is a head coach with an offensive mind. He might see eye-to-eye with Chico and want him as his OC. He probably couldn't do better. I love the way Canales relates to the players and the community and I hope that he can remain at North Texas for a long time.

I don't know Football Scoop's record on getting it right but unless their "inside" source is RV I wouldn't wager above a buck on Canales vs. McCarney. Coach Fran has been my favorite fairly early. He has not only name recognition but has won at both the mid-major and AQ levels. He has been a great recruiter. He has had a winning record at every stop in either his first or second year. He also seems to do well at assembling coaching staffs. He hired Gary Patterson (who had only been a position coach at the Division I level) as his DC at New Mexico and brought him with him to TCU and the results speak for themselves. I just hope Tim is right on this one.

I have googled Chuck Neinas/agent and in 30-40 articles the only reference that I can find that Neinas is indeed an agent comes from Troy Phillips. He is referred to as a consultant, headhunter or sometimes matchmaker but never an agent. Many of the articles refer to an agent for the hiree and none have referenced Neinas. Chuck Neinas is, at the least, one of the most respected consultants in the NCAA. He seems to have an impeccable reputation and I don't believe that he could maintain that if he had his own list of clients that he was representing and recommending. According to reports he will make recommendations but prefers that the university make their own choice.

Maybe, but I think that there are a lot of coordinators that are not being taken very seriously because of people with successful head coaching experience who are reported candidates.

I wish that there was a way to drop ULM and add Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech. The first two have been in the FBS equivalent longer than North Texas and La Tech has been in the top classification for about 30 years. All three have strong basketball. I lost patience with ULM when less than 9,000 paid to see the game last Saturday. I know. I haven't been happy with the attitude of the Techsters and the Utags but both would add to the SBC overall and all are former members.

I'm not that interested in an upper limit. I would hope that he could be around in decent (physical and mental) shape for 3-5 years. If he can get this ship righted then we would be attractive to other coaches (or even top assistants).

The current WAC still has Boise, Nevada, Fresno and Hawaii. We don't have a team that can touch those. Now, if you want to talk about the WAC of 2012 (if it still exists) then you would be right on, especially in football.

Just to set the record straight, Franchione did not fail at Alabama. He took a 3-8 team to 7-5 his first year and 10-3 his last year. His last team was ineligible for the SEC championship and a bowl due to NCAA sanctions on the previous coach. He finished only two games over .500 at A&M which for him was a failure. The Aggie administration was looking for a reason to can him and the newsletter became convenient. He made a little over $30K on the inside info but little mention is made of the fact that he donated $1M toward the indoor practice facility at A&M.

It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature!

We have not been outrecruited by ULM for at least the last four years unless Rivals has no clue about the quality of players. Sure, some get overrated and others underrated but there shouldn't be a great variance overall. I looked at the last four years of recruiting for North Texas and La Monroe. I took just those athletes rated 5.4 or above with the following results: 2007 - NT 5, ULM 0 2008 - NT 11, ULM 5 2009 - NT 8, ULM 3 2010 - NT 13, ULM 5 I realize that a number of those athletes did not ever report and in North Texas' case several were injured and out for the year. But, suffice it to say, even with all of our DNRs and injuries we should have had more talent on the field than ULM Saturday. IMO, we were outcoached. The Warhawks had a lower-rated defense than us yet they disrupted many things that we intended to do and outgained us offensively by a wide margin. We have to have the talent without question but I hope that we don't get recruiters that are not excellent coaches. That's why I've been leaning toward former successful coaches. They know what it takes to succeed.

If you read them all there's plenty of lying on both sides because someone's not telling the truth. You are looking from the USF side only. They tell you what they want you to hear and suppress any information that would cloud their decision. If you've ever dealt with any government entity... federal, state or local, then you will know how they can stonewall you, suppress information detrimental to their case, and drag their feet about ever going to court. Leavitt's lawsuit would get at the truth but it could be years, if ever, before that comes to trial.

All of the SBC teams have been FCS/1-AA teams at one time except Louisiana. Only Arkansas State, Louisiana and us (that are still members) were FBS/1-A at the time of joining. FAU, FIU and Troy came directly from Division 1-AA and they seem to be working out okay. If you don't have a viable league (enough FBS members) then FCS is a stigma in that they don't count as full-fledged FBS for two years. Personally, I'd like to see them raise the attendance requirement to 20,000 and enforce it. An FCS team would have to meet that requirement to be eligible but they would be members the first year.