Cooley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Flv4X38Hc http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/gerald_casey00.html I played basketball with his dad Rod after school daily on the playground. Went on to star at QB for Woody Hayes @ Ohio State

Isiah stated that he had followed Tony since high school where he displayed great ball handling skills; while playing on the perimeter. He went on to say that Tony's size and skill sets at the 3 provided him an advantage that he loses at the 4 in the NBA. He never mentioned North Texas but felt that the personnel of the Pistons/NBA projecting him at the 4 (with his back to the basket) is not playing to his strengths. I've followed Tony since the 9th grade. I think Isiah nailed it. Not saying moving him to the 3 will solve all his issues but provides him with a more suitable opportunity for success long term. Tony is not the player he was in high school at the 4.

UNT football recruiting has been painful to follow the last few years. Brand new stadium, a more regional conference and more money thrown at a coaching staff than at any other time in the program's history. I expected better.

I'm sure he feels that home games at College Station weren't enticing either. Did this reporter forget that this CUSA school blew out A&M on New Year's Eve by 20? We were not a good team

UNT could be even more progressive and pass out joints to everyone coming through the turnstiles. Not only would attendance increase but concession also. Oh, that was from a Colorado or Washington St message board.

Absolutely better off! Jones was dead in this offense. Of course Benford deserves a lot of the blame but the kid was not playing with confidence and was confused. His leaving supports this. Reese is Benford's guy and both have a lot to prove. The keys will be handed to J'Mychal on day 1. (If not, Benford needs to be fired) Go Mean Green!

MAJOR pickup by Benford! Wish he could sit out the entire season to possibly play with better big men in 15-16. Has been a top prospect throughout HS. Always great to get a kid off the Houston Hoops AAU squad. J'MYCHAL is a lighting quick and fast lefty guard who can flat score at anytime. He has no problem creating his shot, can blow by the defense and finish in the paint, can pull-up from 15 feet or will knock down the 3 point shot with deep range. He has an extra gear that kicks in where needed, is a crafty finisher in traffic and has a soft touch on runners and floaters. He can keep his teammates involved and is a good man-to-man defender. TexasHoops.com

It was implied that Benford's recruits were not sought after, thus not talented. It really doesn't matter how kids arrive in a program. North Texas, in general, doesn't win recruiting battles. Historically, there has always been (and will be) a kid that wants to be a big fish in a smaller pond. We have to go back to the Blakeley years to find a roster where every kid was highly touted and recruited. Vic Trilli had a number of kids with impressive offers as well. We have to get kids on the rebound. (i.e Tony Mitchell) A good number of our better recruits were transfers under JJ. (George Odufawa, Collin Dennis, Shawnson Johnson, Keith Wooden, Roger Franklin, Triston Thompson (5th year Prep School) a few others were juco guys looking for immediate playing time. Josh White was not getting the love he thought he should have (height) and was available Again, I am NOT a Tony Benford fan! There are enough valid reasons to write the guy off; other than focusing on his recruits only (without discussing offers in football) Not only do we offer a ton of kids with no other offers, we generally award 4-5 walk-ons a scholarship each year. (20-25% of the entire 85 man roster will be walk-ons at this pace). I don't rate the stuff but the media experts consistently have us ranked near the bottom in recruiting. (Especially since McCarney got here. DCTF mentions the amount of losses we need to find replacements for (most were Dodge's recruits) Where's the talented high caliber of talent McCarney has brought in? Sure we may find a 3 star guy here or there but every other team seems to bring in more. Anyway, just .02 cents to add to the conversation

There's been several signings and offers to kids with multiple and larger offers under Benford. Not trying to defend him but his offers/signings aren't any less impressive than what the McCarney staff offers out in football. In fact, most of our football offers are the first and/or only offer these kids have received. It doesn't matter that you occasionally offer ships to kids with multiple P5 offers if you don't land any. Benford's problem is getting kids in school or keeping them here. A few of his recent signings and offers: Greg White-Pittman (Tulane, Auburn) Jeremy Combs (Texas Tech, Colorado St, Murray St) DeAndre Harris (Top Juco prospect and jewel in the class with Ahmed) Maurice Aniefiok (Mississippi, Tulsa, Rider, Marshall) Carrington Ward (Fairleigh Dickinson/Md. Eastern Shore - Top 100 Juco) Vertrail Vaughns (George Mason, Colorado and Wichita St) Kelvin Gaines (Cincinati, UCONN, Georgia, Memphis, OU, Miami) Keith Coleman (Nebraska – Top 25 JC) TJ Taylor (OU, Marquette, Ariz. St, TCU, A&M, TX Tech) Greg Wesley (Arkansas, Kansas State, Texas, Texas A&M, UTA, Texas Tech, and Texas State) Mohammed Ahmed (Top Juco prospect) PJ Hartwick (Mississippi St, Texas A&M and South Florida) Arthur Casimiro (Brazil National Team) Anthony Norris (Memphis, Marquette, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Baylor, West Virginia, Penn State, Virginia and Arizona State)

Should have looked at my own damn list! Looks like Snoop played the last year of the Jimmy Gales era (which was a very bad team and recruiting class) I maintain that Snoop was recruited to play football and Gales may have had him out for hoops. This also was least watched/followed team in almost 40 years. Of Course Gales was fired immediately after the season.

Man, I have not missed a year of NT basketball. I do not remember Snoop! Certainly someone with 10 assists. Thanks ghost of Smith Hall

Again, I stand to be corrected but Snoop never played basketball at North Texas. We signed him to play football (WR) but I don't remember him making the field. One of the issues the new DISD Superintendent had was that high school coaches had to have a degree. Snoop did not. He also didn't teach at Kimball. Not sure what was done for him to coach last year. Point of clarification: Snoop was not fired for recruiting. Instead, for a twitter message (viewed as threatening, as a result of his brother and father's firing) Snoop was disciplined for picking up George Odufawa in Cedar Hill to attend Kimball. Of course, All-Staters were showing up on the roster year after year.

I could be wrong but I don't remember Snoop playing at all at UNT. Help me out Ghost of Smith Hall.

I think Coleman was probably better than we were able to see if he had just gotten about 30 minutes a game (every game)This team actually needs someone of his size that can rebound and block shots from the center position. (Still wished we could have kept John Odoh instead) I'll certainly follow him in Shreveport

Justin Patton started out there Correction: Southern of Shreveport

Chris Orr is no where near the player Zach Orr is/was. Wisconsin is probably up to 20 offers to Dallas area kids. Most have been head scratchers. Good luck to the young man. I've never seen this many high major offers ever to so many area kids. The state typically averages about 350 D1 signees annually with DFW leading the pact. We should shatter the average this year.

I have never defended Benford. I just don't understand why you, (mostly) and others, continue to bash the guy to death when clearly he will not be renewed. We just have to ride this out. This school has already taken a PR hit with the misappropriation of millions and we now expect the school to eat another $300k annually on a basketball coach. Sure, I enjoy the men's game more but women's basketball has grown to a point where it is almost as important. Where are those complaints? Many smaller schools in Texas, and other places, got on the map with a strong women's program. Why not UNT? I've seen bad coaches (hires) come and go since I started following this program in the mid 70's. Never have I'm seen so much animosity directed toward any prior coach. Of course, message boards weren't always around back in my day; which was probably a good thing. Again, not defending Benford. I actually had the pleasure of visiting with Fran Fraschilla during an AAU event in Frisco and have briefly talked to him twice since then. He was my preference but remains very happy @ESPN for only 4-5 months out of the year. Go Mean Green!

I have no problem with Chris Jones moving on. Quite frankly, he was painful to watch many times at the point. We conveniently forget how he let the guys down due to academics, now up and quits on the team. Where's the senior leadership from your starting point guard? When faced with some adversity, he quits. Please review the number of players that have left the women's program (under Mike Peterson and Shanice Stephens) Why is Tony Benford always the fall guy? Was this team expected to do anything this year? (with Chris Jones) Best of luck to the kid with his future plans. Kids, like women, come and go. This coach did not recruit him and you can't expect the new guy to continue to pet players recruited by a prior staff. (See Tony Mitchell) Chris, based on twitter, has been unhappy since JJ left. Stuff happens. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10927797/lsu-grants-releases-anthony-hickey-malik-morgan-shane-hammink

“Not many people knew about us when I got here" Classic Dan McCarney

"First he raved about Jeremy Combs from Dallas and he thanked a Kimbell high school coach (whose name I didn't catch but nicknamed Snoops??) who was a former UNT player who helped him in his recruiting efforts". Royce "Snoop" Johnson was a football recruit back in the 80's. Father "Goree", is the Asst AD of DISD. Brother "Roderick" is 1st year coach at Dallas Madison. Snoop is also Brett Shipp's favorite DISD coach to target. Snoop & Chris Davis, (brother of Erven Davis - Dallas Showtyme AAU) are cousins.

http://louisville.247sports.com/Bolt/Louisville-offers-10-players-from-one-school-28676393

Yeah, and JJ can't keep players http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lsu-grants-releases-3-basketball-204759673--ncaab.html

Follow the UIL State Track Meet (Results only) (Real Time) http://www2.uil.utexas.edu/tournament-results/track-field/index.htm 2:00PM (3A) 400 Meters Finals Saturday, May 10th

Harry, the thread from year 4 of the Johnny Jones era, that I recently brought back up, was locked. There was no difference in how most folks felt about him and Benford. Jones did inherit sufficient talent left over from Vic Trilli and wasn't getting it done. As I pointed out then, recruiting was very disappointing. This was not a Top 16 program that Benford took over and Tony Mitchell underachieved (see the Detroit Pistons) the short time he was here; for someone with his physical talents. I'm still stunned by that 29 point loss to UTA. LSU fans seem satisfied with his recruiting but question the coaching. We know that Benford will not be renewed. (at this time) At what point do we move on from the relentless bashing/assaults. How are things working out with the Pederson hire? After finally firing Tina Slinker, after about 20 years (of .500 ball) I expected more. As it turned out, I think the Karen Aston hire was horrible since it set us back to the time other coaches only used this program as a stepping stone. It also reinforced to everyone that UNT was/is 2nd rate. Lastly, I also am not totally on the Dan McCarney band wagon, as most appear to be. We lucked out with Derek Thompson not performing as poorly as he did in the past. In the mean time, why can't we recruit a good quarterback?(or d-linemen) When will overall recruiting improve? The so called experts rated us near the bottom of the league in February. We are still waiting for a good prospect to tell us yes.

Kid can really jump. Is a tweaner (big guard/small forward @ 6-2)