GrayEagle

The AD operates on a budget and had the largest surplus of any CUSA school for the period ended July 31, 2015 (the last reporting period). They may be weak in a number of areas but creating a "profit" is not one of them. They're actually pretty good at figuring out what they can afford and what they can't to stay within their budget.

I'm much more concerned with quality rather than quantity. If we only take 18 so be it if the next nine are players that this coaching staff believes can be solid contributors in the future. I believe that we have a little better talent on this team than we realize and the new offensive system will work to their advantage. I do realize that several positions are areas of concern. We need at least one more quality quarterback; two if DaMarcus is evaluated and found wanting. I'm concerned about TE but that could be because of inexperience. We need a quality running back recruit. And, a couple of quality DBs. We can always use talented linebackers. Overall, though I believe that (barring injury) our current players and commitments will stay the course in spite of 30 seniors.

Since Seth Littrell has only been working one side of the aisle I don't see significance in the records of the teams where he was essentially the offensive coordinator. Even the yards per game wouldn't tell the whole story due to time of possession and other factors. Perhaps the most telling statistic would be yards gained per play. Here is how his output has progressed: 2010 - 5.46 (32) Arizona 2011 - 6.14 (27) Arizona 2012 - 5.67 (66) Indiana 2013 - 6.58 (15) Indiana 2014 - 5.56 (66) North Carolina 2015 - 7.28 (1) North Carolina The number in parentheses was his national rank. Another favorable factor is points scored. In his first two OC years at Arizona his average points went from 28.2 to 30.8. His next two years at Indiana his point production was 30.8 followed by 38.4. His North Carolina stop had average points of 33.2 his first year followed by 40.7. As you can see his first year was good but his second year produced improvement in all three cases. Contrast those averages with North Texas...our best year was 2013 when we averaged 31.8. Our next best was 27.2, buoyed, I believe, by our rout of Nichols State. That wouldn't have equaled Seth's worst. Last year was 15.2. What I see is improvement at each stop, both in yards per play and scoring average. And, his first years at each stop wasn't too shabby. We should see a very exciting offense on the field next year. Now, whether we can stop anyone, I don't know. But, at least the games should be a lot more entertaining.

247 Sports is showing that Keenan Johnson committed to North Texas on December 15. http://247sports.com/player/keenen-johnson-81263 He played quarterback in high school but is likely recruited as a safety; hence being listed as an athlete. Billy, can you verify this? Never mind. I just read Vito's Blog where he said he would finalize early this year.

Just a guess but I think that you will see salaries more in line with what the AAC pays.

Nooo...anything but a Dodge. We don't want any of that to rub off. The Lexus is fine with me. The 'L' makes it look personalized. It just needs a green paint job. Thank you, Jordan. This has your name all over it.

Probably on probation with CUSA. I'd like to see some sort of standards to maintain membership based on three consecutive years of poor attendance and/or record. If you didn't average at least 20,000 in one of those three years or escape being the last place team during any three year period, then you should drop down a division. The third year would be the probation year. But, that's just my opinion. I believe that it would make each conference more competitive and enhance TV contracts.

While that may be a little strong for optimistic me, there's a lot of truth in what you say. I realize that he can't improve every year, as he has in the past, but I believe that he'll have them performing a lot better next year because of 1) he will instill the attitude of a winner and 2) he'll have players playing the same style of ball that they cut their teeth on. As to being bowl eligible, that's possible. The schedule will be much more conducive next year. This year we lost to seven bowl teams and the 6th seed in the BCS playoffs. Next year, only Florida and maybe Southern Miss are certain losses. The other ten are winnable although we should be the underdog against Louisiana Tech and SMU as of now. But, we catch both at home so I'm thinking that we can beat one of them. We will likely catch the three weakest teams in the Eastern Division, which should be ODU, Charlotte and one of the F_U's. That leaves B-C, Army, Rice, UTEP and UTSA. I believe that most of those are wins. Voila! Bowl eligible. I just hope that everyone who sees this thread will be present on September 3, 2016. At least give Coach Littrell a great sendoff.

Technically, I guess that you'd have to say Jerry Moore, who went to Texas Tech from here. But, that was still 35 years ago!

Cubit became the interim coach at the beginning of the year. He received a two-year extension of that contract.

Here could be another selling point. One million would double Fritz' salary. Add about another $400K to what our assistants made last year and you could double the salary of every one of his GSU assistants. Not only that but if any of his current assistants were with him at SHSU they might also get more retirement from Texas (depending on how their contract was structured. I realize that Willie Fritz is not a household name but his success at Sam Houston State seems to indicate that he can get adequate recruits and coach them up. Plus two appearances in an FCS championship and an FBS bowl in the last five years should get some attention from some decent recruits. The more success that he has, the easier it will get. Briles has the name which would help in recruiting but what kind of staff could he put together? I fear Kendall's age will work against him; plus he's never been a head coach at any level.

It has now. But, JJ had some quality wins; I just don't remember how high they were ranked.

At the time time RV took over Dickey had a three-year record of 8-25. If any of us were taking an Athletic Director's position and inherited a coach with that record and didn't put a coach on notice we shouldn't be hired in the first place. Although we got into the first NO Bowl with a losing record, the following three bowl appearances were solid as a result of the best recruiting class in our history. At that, we only won one bowl during the Helwig/Dickey era...the same number that we've won since Villareal became AD. The Portland State loss is unquestionably the worst loss in our football history and RV acted by the time the players and staff were in the locker room. I agree that RV should be gone but I don't think that will happen until his contract is up in 2017. Certainly not before the new hire or it would already have happened. So, how is all of the vitriol helping? Eighty mentions (probably more) of the same failing seems unproductive to me. The first ten or twenty might help vent your/our feelings but this has gotten way past old. This is pure hate. And no, I'm not a member of of RV's 11 or 17 or whatever the number is. I don't even disagree that it's time for RV to go. But, for pete's sake, let the administration (Smatresk) handle the situation. If he doesn't understand our stance by now he never will.

A K Mago is a sharp businessman and if it makes good sense moneywise then I don't think that he'll be a deterrent. But, I'm pretty sure that he's not into sports. I'm a longtime Lion and knew A K when he was District Governor twenty years ago. He was very thorough and did a good job but he was not a rah-rah type. He is smart and should be a good regent. As a forty year resident of DFW I would definitely take him over someone from Houston or San Antonio with no ties to the university. While I do like perhaps a majority of UNT graduates, I don't see that all need to be longtime supporters. The BOR acts upon recommendations from the administration; they don't formulate such policies.

It would be hard to disagree with that. If I have reservations it would be...can we afford both Dykes and Franklin and a good DC?

I don't think that there's a soul in the coaching profession that doesn't understand that if you don't win, you don't stay. That's just ridiculing a good post by Harry that attempts to enumerate the good qualities needed in each category for success. The only category that I'd have a comment on is #6. I think that the candidate should evaluate why we have failed in the past and provide a possible solution as to how that can be improved with his tenure. Not that we need reminders of the past but that part needs to be evaluated by the coaching candidate. We all know the old adage "those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it".

You took the words right out of my mouth. Wrapups were few and far between. A friend of mine was saying this about another Texas team..."tackling is NOT a personal foul."

Greer has more experience at signalling than anyone on next year's roster.

He certainly looks the part of a top contender. Head coaching seems solid. Stints as a recruiting coordinator (including Baylor; so he has recruited in Texas). He does have the #3 offense in the country but he also has the #97 defense (hope that he can improve on that). It only took him two years at his last two HC stops, Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green, to get the program going well. I like his age...mature but still young enough for innovations and enthusiasm. Since we're not privy to interview answers, I don't know who my top choice would be but Babers would definitely be in my top 5, maybe top 3. I would definitely be happy if we could get him but if he's as good as he appears he should be gone in three years.

+100 at least

Okay, call me naive but the unwashed public doesn't know where either the interview happened and if that is a sincere response that Riley voiced. Neither do I for certain. I do understand how the game is played but that doesn't mean that I like it. To the casual fan the statement has a connotation of "nobody (of significance) wants to coach here." Things have been bad enough that we don't need more negative image. For proof, a couple of posters to this thread do believe that he is not interested and that his name should be removed from consideration. Who knows? They may be right. It is my understanding that if we want to talk to a candidate then we must get permission from the university where he is employed. However, I don't think that applies if he initiates the job interview. I just hope that whoever leaked the interview didn't violate his trust, which in turn could negate a chance to get the best candidate.

I believe that Norvell would be an excellent choice although we might have to raise the ante a little more to get him. He currently makes $800,000 so we might have to move above $1 million to get him. I don't know whether he's on any of the P5's short list or not but I expect that he soon will be. On the other hand, if Riley's statement about being a candidate is merely damage control to keep him focused on Baylor, TCU, and Okie State then the choice could become quite interesting. There are a number of good coordinators available but only a few who have been successful head coaches at the Division I level. Exciting times.

I'm pretty damn sure that RV knows better than to leak any information as long as the interviewee is currently employed and that team's season is still in progress. It hasn't been common knowledge of any interviews publicized before the selection. Most of those that I know of were revealed by the candidate himself. I hope that this is the only revelation of an interview until after the selection and only then if the candidate okays it. Maybe we should have rehired Chuck Neinas. He kept everything under wraps at the last hiring. I understand that most posters on this board totally fault RV with every bad hire but my understanding is that he hasn't had full say in at least most of the "revenue" sports hirings during his tenure. There has been coercion by administration, donors and a committee. Eventually, he must take the responsibility for failures and he likely will not be rehired when his contract is up. I realize that you are entitled to ranting about Villareal's failures while never considering the good things that he has done for this university but the point has been made and duly noted by all. If I knew how I'd insert the gif of beating a dead horse here. It seems that every thread has some posts pounding away at getting rid if Rick. I believe that you are now doing more harm than good by your continual harping. How about a moratorium (or at least a little waning) for awhile?

I don't know where you people got it that Sturm is/was their 4th string quarterback. He was their 2nd string quarterback behind Bogenshutz and was their best running quarterback and actually has the best Passing Rating as well. Bogenshutz was a more accurate passer with a 59% completion percentage but had thrown four interceptions to go with his four touchdown passes. Before playing us Sturm (55% completion rate) had thrown five touchdown passes with only two interceptions giving him the higher rating. In addition, Bogenshutz barely had enough rushing yards to cover his sack losses whereas Sturm has been a true dual threat. Only one other quarterback has played this year and he has taken only a few snaps. So, in my opinion, based on the above statistics, we faced UTSA's best quarterback last Saturday.

I don't believe that the NCAA allows a game against a NAIA team to count in their win-loss record therefore I'd tend to believe that Jarvis Christian College is an exhibition game.