BillySee58

Jevin Murray might have been my favorite recruit from the 2019 class. I think he has the best hips of any defensive back recruit we have signed since I have been following North Texas.

Agree with a lot there. A lot of people are falsely equating our current recruiting with our current record. Our current record is tied to the recruiting of the early Littrell years. Just as our record in 2022 will much more closely be tied to our recent recruiting efforts more than our 2022 class. It absolutely is. But as someone else said, that can’t be the bar. Mccarney recruited terribly for years and the first year that we no longer had Dodge recruits was the 1-11 team. Littrell isn’t paid to be better than that. The level we are paying dictates much more expectation. I agree that the 2016 team had zero business going to a bowl. That’s why I think, and thought, his biggest mistake wasn’t burning Fine’s redshirt, but signing so many jucos and transfers early on. Off the top of my head I think about 13 of the 25 scholarship spots we were afforded in the 2016 class went to guys who had 2 or less years of eligibility. There was little expectation in years one and two and I was not a big fan of the JUCO guys because we were well short of 85 scholarship players. It’s hard to build a roster when you only get 25 a year and you’re having to replace guys you signed 2 years ago and 4 years ago instead of just of just the latter. We saw this year that Fine could only cover up so many issues. Having Fine for one more year would be great, but having an extra 10 players in their fourth year here instead of guys who have been long gone would have been nice.

I’m feeling good about the way we looked this weekend. I still don’t get why we like going back to playing hot potato on the perimeter but it does seem like we’re doing less of it. Also really liked seeing us respond when they started scoring after the slow start. So much to work on and probably some rotation tweaks, but maybe we can make this a fun season after all.

But Ekeler and Perry were not because they weren’t cutting it as coaches. Ekeler was because they weren’t doing the co-DC thing again and Littrell chose Ref, and Perry was a holdover from Mac who it was clear early on it wasn’t a match for either party. I didn’t know about Brown, but we didn’t hire Jennings until February. Not sure when Brown was let go but in the case of all three of the coaches you mentioned they were all there for the Bowl Games. For what Christopher is talking about it would need to be a quick decision for Littrell of letting them go. And it should be.

Have we fired an assistant since Seth and Wren have been here? I don’t think we have, although seems like Ekeler leaving was a mutual decision. Not for lack of effectiveness but the co-DC thing. I would be surprised to see them be so quick to pull the trigger after never having to before. Although they probably should. As for recruiting, I don’t expect decommits just because a position coach is let go, even if it’s that player’s position coach. It could happen but I wouldn’t expect a mass exodus over position coaches or even coordinators. Usually only a head coach leaving is the only coaching change that brings on a wave of decommitments.

Sure. But our overall goal is bigger and making coaching changes and recruiting are both bigger picture than the game yesterday. Not minimizing the game yesterday either. Not mutually exclusive The thing is, when it comes to recruiting we absolutely are beating those who have less to offer during the 2019 and 2020 recruiting cycles. And I think it’s going to show on the field. Any point I have made about this season has always been that a big part of the problem was that we weren’t winning those battles in 2015-2017 recruiting and it’s showing. And I have always said that’s a big part of the problem but not the only problem. I agree with most of this. The results would not be sudden, they would take time (will take time). And yes it’s not foolproof, but I think with a better line coach and a room of linemen who were highly recruited CUSA recruits, I’ll take my chances. I think that’s what we should work towards and seemingly are pretty far off from there in both aspects. That’s my point.

Why or? It’s a multiple variable situation, not an either/or situation. We haven’t had an all-CUSA linemen since 2014. Here is the offer list of that player: FIU, Houston, La Tech, Missouri, NMSU, Rice You don’t have to have that type of offer list to become an all-CUSA player. People who point that fact out miss the logic entirely. But when you consistently sign guys with zero to two other FBS offers over years, it shouldn’t be that surprising when they aren’t turning into all conference guys. Which is exactly what we’ve seen happen. Yes we need a better o-line coach to get the most out of our guys, and yes we need to get better recruits to have more talent to maximize. These are not mutually exclusive. And yes outliers happen, but years of studies and research on recruiting have showed that higher quality recruits pan out a higher rate and playing against the odds usually gets you burned, just like playing against the odds in anything in life.

I get that part. I’m talking about you mentioning trophy cases for stats in response to me saying Rice is towards the bottom of the conference in offense and their line is not something to aspire towards. No one is talking about giving trophies for stats. But being at the bottom of the conference does indicate something whether you hate stats or not. I’m talking about what needs to happen to get our team where we want it to be. Yes we could have beaten Rice with the offensive line we have. Which is why I said I’m in favor of a new offensive line coach. But just beating a 1-9 team isn’t the goal for our program. Nor is replicating their offensive line. I think we should be bringing in more high quality recruits at offensive line. Not really a hot take. If you disagree with that, cool.

Really not sure what this has to do with anything I said about us needing to land better quality offensive line recruits.

Yes. Very similar to the offensive line of the team that is second to last in the conference in points and yards per game.

Yeah, I was mainly talking about the offensive side of the ball with regards to his role. He could use some works on letting guys take him off the dribble, but he’s a good player who can be a starter on a good CUSA team imo.

I would like us to work Jackson in more and give him a shot to outplay Hamlet. Jackson is a far better passer, and he has looked like a better pick and roll ball handler but I’d like to see more to prove if that’s true. Plus Hamlet is turning it over a lot. If turnovers are why you would be hesitant to play a freshman, you might be able to throw that fear away since you’re already getting a ton of turnovers with Hamlet. Reese is fine. He’s a catch a shoot 3 guy and he has looked capable in that role. Outside of that role he hasn’t looked great, but that’s why his role shouldn’t be much outside of stretching the court

We started recruiting really well with the 2019 class. The 2020 class is really solid as well. I think we will be good again relatively soon, and will win again with this regime. I just want our administration to stop acting like our coaches can do no wrong and we could never hope to get better coaches. We don’t need to keep these coaches at all costs, but that’s the message Wren and crew have sent. Stop with the unwarranted raises, put more emphasis on how well the coaches are recruiting against their peers when evaluating them, and make sure the coaches are making the tough decisions with their staff when necessary.

Wren has been here over 3 years now and in that time we’ve seen a lot of handshakes, smiles, checks being cashed, and extensions. The easy part of the job. Time for him to prove he can do the hard part and make the tough decisions to ensure the right people are in place instead of just approving raises. Littrell hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record in 2 years and hasn’t won a bowl game, and Mccasland and Mitchell haven’t finished with a winning record in conference play in basketball in the 6 seasons between the two of them. There’s reason to believe that recruiting has improved for them, and there’s reason to believe they can win here, as they all have to some degree. But real results have to start happening before raises and this internal back patting should stop. More importantly, there needs to be a bar and there needs to be consequence for not performing at that bar. I hate talking like this, but I hate seeing this type of stuff even more. Yes I’ve said over and over that this season is mostly a result of poor roster management and recruiting early on when Littrell took the job, but I also think we’ve been out coached a lot. And paying at the top of the conference for coaches who continuously get out coached can’t keep happening.

I am perfectly fine with that. But this line is a bunch of guys who had very few, if any, other FBS offers. And we don’t exactly have stud recruits backing them up. This year we sort of picked up the o-line recruiting but those dudes are unlikely to be upgrades as true freshmen next year.

Miles did not sign with anyone yesterday. Next signing period starts 4/15

Houston did not sign with anyone yesterday. Next signing period starts 4/15

Phew. Merry Christmas

Today is the final day of the fall signing period. After today, won’t be able to sign anyone until April 15th. Jones has been off to a ridiculous start to the season so maybe he’s hesitant to sign in hopes of his recruiting taking a step forward through his senior year.

Looked pretty sharp offensively in the last 30 minutes of the game. Loved that we were actually attacking and trying to take people off the dribble, running pick and rolls, and swinging the call around quickly instead of playing hot potato until the shot clock ran out. Because that was how we started.

It was a terrible product. Mccasland’s offense has been a terrible product outside of the CBI. And yet he keeps getting unnecessary raises. If he wants to earn it he needs to change up his scheme. It is a terrible product, and we have enough talent for it to not be

Oh you’re right. Now I’m confused

I didn’t realize it until Harry brought it up but I guess Patrick Cobbs is his dad. Went over my head lol

Exactly. Plus, Chandler is an EE. I doubt Chad has an OC job by the time fall signing day rolls around. And even if he does, he’ll be looking for a new HC job a year later.

Completely agree. Was thinking the same thing. Also, there is a very real chance that Siggers and Adaway are our only two returning scholarship backs next year. Torrey, Smith, and Evan Johnson may want to spend their last season of college football getting the ball more than they would behind Siggers. I think it might be a good idea to add one more back this class for that reason.