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Kendal Briles Age: 32 Current position: Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach - Baylor Alma Mater: Houston (Signed with UT) Current Salary: $400K with heavy incentives Kendal Briles Bio (Official Baylor Site) Kendal Briles is entering his eighth season at Baylor and his first since being promoted to offensive coordinator. Briles took over the play-calling reigns in December 2014 prior to Baylor's appearance in the 2015 Cotton Bowl. Previously Briles spent three seasons as the passing game coordinator and seven coaching the Bears' receiving corps. A talented recruiter, Briles was named the Big 12 Recruiter of the Year in both 2013 and 2014. Briles earned multiple Big 12 Recruiter of the Year awards in 2014 (Rivals, Scout, 247Sports) after Baylor signed a class ranked 22nd nationally by ESPN and 23rd by Scout. Briles mentored four All-Americans and five total NFL prospects during seven seasons as wide receivers coach. He coached two of the most prolific receivers in school history, All-Americans Kendall Wright (Tennessee Titans) and Terrance Williams (Dallas Cowboys), as well as 2013 All-American Antwan Goodley and 2014 All-American Corey Coleman. His pupils also included All-Big 12 honorees and NFL signees Lanear Sampson (Pittsburgh Steelers), Tevin Reese (San Diego Chargers) and tight end Jordan Najvar (Dallas Cowboys). As passing game coordinator, Briles helped guide a top-five ranked passing attack each of the last four seasons (No. 4 in 2014, No. 5 in 2013, No. 4 in 2012, No. 4 in 2011). The record-setting Bears offense averaged 365.9 passing yards per-game en route to the 2014 Big 12 championship. Briles' 2014 receiving corps included honorable mention All-American Coleman (1,119 yards, 11 TDs) and All-Big 12 honoree Goodley and freshman All-American KD Cannon. Briles was recognized in 2013 as the "Big 12 Recruiter of the Year" by Scout/FOXSportsNet and a national "Top 50 Recruiter" by 247Sports following Baylor's signing class that was ranked 24th by Athlon and 25th by Scout.com. Williams in 2012 broke the school record for single-season receiving yards (1,832) and set single-game marks of 17 receptions and 314 yards at West Virginia en route to being named just the sixth unanimous All-American in Baylor history. Wright left Baylor having established every major school receiving record (16 total) under Briles' tutelage. In addition to Wright, Briles also coached All-Big 12 honoree Reese, a sophomore in 2011 who totaled 877 yards and seven TDs on 51 receptions. The son of head coach Art Briles entered coaching in 2008 following a highly successful high school and collegiate playing career. A two-time Texas 4A Offensive Player of the Year and first-team all-state quarterback, Briles also played safety. He totaled 9,322 total-offense yards and 98 total touchdowns over his final two high school seasons. He spent his senior season at Wolfforth Frenship High School and earned his second Offensive Player of the Year honor after passing for 3,584 yards and 35 touchdowns while rushing for 1,074 yards and 19 scores. As a junior, playing for his father at Stephenville High School, Kendal Briles earned 1999 Texas 4A Offensive Player of the Year recognition after leading Stephenville to a 16-0 record and the 4A state title. He passed for 3,137 yards and 28 touchdowns as a junior while rushing for 1,331 yards and 16 scores. The younger Briles also earned a pair of letters in track and was an all-district basketball player. In 2014, Briles was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Following a standout prep career, Briles signed a national letter of intent with the University of Texas and redshirted as a true freshman in 2001. He played in seven games as a safety in 2002, but was slowed due to an ankle injury. In his first game on defense, Briles picked off two passes in the Longhorns' shutout of Baylor in 2002 to share player of the game honors. When his father was named Houston's head coach, the younger Briles left the Longhorn program and became a Cougar. He sat out the 2003 season due to transfer rules, then caught 25 passes for 311 yards as a junior in 2004. In his final season at Houston, Briles ranked second on the team in receptions with 45 catches for 369 yards and one touchdown. Born in Abilene, Texas, Kendal Briles worked in private business in the Houston area after graduating from the UH with a sport management degree in 2005. Kendal and his wife, the former Sarah Reimer-Lukert, are the parents of two sons, Jaytn and Kru, and one daughter, Kinley. THE BRILES FILEBornNov. 10, 1982CollegeHouston, 2005FamilyWife Sarah; sons Jaytn and Kru, daughter KinleyPLAYING EXPERIENCE2001-02Texas • Safety2003-05Houston • Wide ReceiverCOACHING EXPERIENCE2008-11Baylor • inside receivers/offensive recruiting coordinator2012-2014Baylor • passing game coordinator/receivers/offensive recruiting coordinator2015-Baylor • offensive coordinator/quarterbacksPOSTSEASON EXPERIENCEYearBowl2001Holiday Bowl (player)2002Cotton Bowl (player)2005Fort Worth Bowl (player)2006Liberty Bowl (student assistant)2010Texas Bowl (assistant coach)2011Alamo Bowl (assistant coach)2012Holiday Bowl (passing game coordinator)2014Fiesta Bowl (passing game coordinator)2015Cotton Bowl (offensive coordinator)

Neal Smatresk, president of the University of North Texas, hit two pedestrians with his Toyota Highlander on the night of Thursday, Dec. 10, according to a police report obtained by the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Denton Fire Department took both pedestrians to Denton Regional Medical Center. Police allowed Smatresk to leave the scene in his vehicle. Neither he nor the pedestrians were charged with a traffic violation. The accident happened as Smatresk was leaving a shopping center at 1776 Teasley Lane at 9:19 p.m., according to the report. He was alone in the car. The intersection is two blocks south of Teasley’s intersection with South Interstate 35E. Smatresk, 64, was turning left onto Teasley after the light turned green at the shopping center’s private driveway. As he made the turn, he hit the two pedestrians as they were crossing Teasley Lane, the police report states. read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20151222-smatresk-involved-in-accident.ece

Man what a great game!

North Carolina offensive coordinator Seth Littrell will be named coach at North Texas, a source told ESPN. Littrell and the Tar Heels will play in their first ACC title game Saturday against Clemson. Littrell, 37, has been at UNC the past two years. Before joing the Tar Heels, Littrell was an offensive coordinator at Indiana (2012-13) and Arizona (2009-11). He also was an assistant at Texas Tech from 2005-08. Littrell is a 2001 Oklahoma graduate. Littrell was one of two finalists, along with TCU co-offensive coordinator Doug Meacham, a source said. Littrell replaces Dan McCarney, who was fired midway through this season after an 0-5 start and 22-32 record with the Mean Green. read more: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14294027/north-texas-mean-green-tabs-north-carolina-tar-heels-oc-seth-littrell-new-head-coach

Read more: http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/ncaa/subsidy-gap

Tulane made it official Saturday morning when the school fired football coach Curtis Johnson. Johnson finished 15-34 in his four seasons, culminating with a 45-34 loss to Tulsa on Friday evening. "I want to thank CJ for his hard work and his dedication to rebuilding the Green Wave football program. His efforts were rewarded in 2013 when Tulane reached its first bowl in 11 years. Since then, however, the program has not progressed to the level that we aspire to," said Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson in a press release. Tulane also indicated the hiring process for Johnson's successor will begin as soon as the school finds Dickson's replacement, which could come early this week. Dickson is retiring in June. Read more: http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2015/11/tulane_fires_football_coach_cu.html

When Mac was hire it seemed like even though we didn't know much about him we all got behind him and there was optimism. I worry that with this hire there will still be some who just will not be satisfied no matter who it is. A good aspect of a new coaching hire is that it gives the program a chance to put behind the skeletons from the past behind them and unite behind a new leader. UNT needs to have a sense of optimism again. Just two years ago we were very optimistic about our football program. I believe we can get back to that happy place again. My sincerest hope is that even if our next coach is not your first choice, you will give him and the program a fair shake. He deserves this in my opinion. Our program needs this right now. GMG.

Old Dominion added a familiar name to its football schedule Wednesday, announcing a home-and-home series with East Carolina in 2018 and 2019. The Monarchs will travel to Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 29, 2018, then host the Pirates on Sept. 28, 2019, ODU athletic director Wood Selig said. ECU is the fifth of six regional Football Bowl Subdivision schools the Monarchs have sought to add to their schedule since announcing three years ago they were moving up to FBS. ODU also has home-and-home agreements with Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. ODU hopes to add at least two games with the University of Virginia. Otherwise, the Monarchs are done with scheduling big-name opponents in the foreseeable future. “These are teams we all know, that we all follow, that we all respect for their success and accomplishments and we know our fans want to see us play,” Selig said. “We’re still working with Virginia. It remains a goal of ours to play Virginia. That is another game that would resonate well with our fan base and our community.” read more: http://www.pilotonline.com/sports/odu-adds-east-carolina-to-football-schedules/article_9b334811-0782-5f6b-8245-008da6f845eb.html

#‎CUSAFB‬ Players of the Week are here! Offense: Anthony Wales, WKU Athletics Defense: Kishawn McClain, Mean Green Football Special Teams: Chad Davis, Mean Green Football

Link: http://www.dentonrc.com/business-tech/denton-business-headlines/20151024-kim-phillips-gamedays-at-unt-becoming-big-draw.ece Everyone is talking about it. Not enough touchdowns. A head coach change midseason. It has looked to laymen like an unusual flurry of activity in what is obviously not the University of North Texas Mean Green’s most stellar season. I’ll be honest: I don’t know the whys about all that. I can talk with authority about how things appear to laymen because I am the ultimate when it comes to football. I don’t really even qualify as an armchair fan, much less quarterback. I understand the game; I just don’t relish watching the details unfold. What I do love, though, is gameday. Regardless of the season’s scores, winning or not, I’m at the games wearing my green and having a blast. Our youngest son, Chris, graduated from Texas A&M University in August. When his (and our) Aggie journey began in 2011, we were unprepared for the vortex that swallowed us whole. Aggie football was at the heart of the giant sucking sound. From our first gameday experience, we were hooked. I was envious of our College Station Convention and Visitors Bureau colleagues. Every home game, hotels are full and restaurants are packed. Gameday pumps millions into their economy. Because Chris was a member of the Corps of Cadets, Tim and I were among the thousands who traveled to every home game during his college career, sometimes without a ticket to the game. We went for the Aggie Game Day experience, something that, over time, spawned the concept for Denton’s Mean Green Game Day. Mean Green athletics and the Denton CVB joined forces to merge the Apogee Stadium and downtown experiences into one major event during home games. Our goal is building Mean Green football attendance while teaching the art of Dentoning at the same time. And even in an off year football-wise, this is winning. read more:

North Texas While the Mean Green are located in the excellent recruiting grounds of the Dallas-For Worth area, there is obviously a ton of competition, with 11 other FBS schools calling Texas home -- and many others attempting to find recruits in the Lone Star State. North Texas is near the bottom of the pecking order, especially when it does things like lose to Portland State by 59 points. McCarney was fired quickly after the game. In the last five years, North Texas' best recruiting class, according to 247Sports, ranked 97thnationally. The Mean Green went to a bowl game in 2013, but the last decade has otherwise been a disaster as they shuffled from the end of the Darrell Dickey era (he won four Sun Belt titles from 2001-04) to high school coach Todd Dodge to McCarney, the ex-Iowa State head coach. Dodge and McCarney represent two of the routes schools like this can go: the outside-the-box risk, and the known quantity former power conference head coach. What's next? "Proven assistant coach with ties to Texas" sounds about right. In an ideal world, that would be someone like one of TCU's co-offensive coordinators, Sonny Cumbie or Doug Meacham, or maybe even Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. But North Texas can be a risky head coaching job to take, given its history, and it's likely that none of them would leave a stable position for a head coaching job like this, when other more appealing options could present themselves in the next few years. For reference, McCarney's salary was $720,000, according to USA Today. read more: http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/154329628/college-football-coaching-changes-hot-seat

Here are the main names being mentioned at this time. Here is an 8 page thread of discussion on the candidates. I can't mention every one but tried to go with the most popular. Let us know who you prefer and feel free to provide write in candidates in this thread.

Name and title Annual salary 1. Dan McCarney, football coach $600,000 2. Neal Smatresk, president $505,000 3. Tony Benford, men’s basketball coach $374,850 4. Finley Graves, provost $314,650 5. Constantinos Tsatsoulis, dean of engineering $295,840 6. Richard Villarreal, athletic director $279,125 7. Richard Dixon, biology professor $268,811 8. Victor Prybutok, associate dean of business $266,357 9. David Wolf, vice president for advancement $265,000 10. Marilyn Wiley, dean of business $265,000 11. Robert Brown, vice president for finance $260,004 12. Thomas McCoy, vice president for research $260,000 13. Shannon Goodman, vice president for enrollment $245,000 14. Yong Xin Tao, engineering department chair $242,378 15. Carol Frost, accounting professor $237,015 16. Lewis Taylor, management department chair $228,924 17. Art Goven, biology department chair $223,250 18. Mary Curtis, accounting professor $222,636 19. Elizabeth With, vice president of student development $219,128 20. Warren Burggren, biology professor $211,500 Source: DRC http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20151010-top-20-unt-salaries.ece

The Vikings went into the North Dakota game having relied heavily on the run and without having showed a lot in the passing game — and not much changed. PSU had trouble throwing the ball, other than Kuresa’s 76-yard TD slant pass-and-run to fleet Grant High graduate Paris Penn on the team’s first play from scrimmage. North Dakota was playing to stop the run first, which led to PSU gaining only 97 yards on 30 carries. “When that’s happening, we need to throw the football better,” Barnum says. “When there’s eight or nine (defenders) in the box, two more than us, we have to distribute to our receivers until we loosen you up.” By loading up defensively near the line of scrimmage, North Dakota was locked into playing man-to-man coverage on Portland State’s receivers, and the Vikings couldn’t make them pay for it. “If someone’s going to go man against us consistenly, we’ve got to throw the football and get them back into zone,” Barnum says. “This game is simple: If they’re in man, throw it. In zone, run it. That’s football 101. I’ve talked to (offensive coordinator) Steve Cooper about how we have to improve that part of our game.” Overall, when it comes to run-pass, “we need to get to 50-50,” Barnum says. Through four games, the Vikings are at 75 percent run, 25 percent pass. The Vikings suffered one key injury in the North Dakota game, losing standout cornerback Aaron Sibley to a pulled hamstring. Sibley, also a key contributor on special teams, has had problems with that in the past, and the Vikings went into the week waiting to see if scar tissue was the issue this time and could be treated enough for him to get back on the field at North Texas. North Texas quarterback Andrew McNulty is a 6-1, 210-pound senior from Iowa City, Iowa (North Texas coach Dan McCarney is an Iowa graduate who used to coach there and at Iowa State). McNulty has completed 60 of 126 passes (47.6 percent) for 699 yards and three touchdowns in the Mean Green’s 0-4 start, with four interceptions. View full article

USM - MSU rematch in HoD Bowl Could their walk through the wilderness be near an end?

President and chancellors from Sun Belt Conference schools will meet Sunday in Dallas to vote on extending a possible membership invitation, it’s been learned. It’s known that Coastal Carolina and Eastern Kentucky have been under consideration, and that current football-only member New Mexico State remains a candidate for full-fledged membership. All three schools were paid on-campus visits by Sun Belt reps at some point earlier this year, including two this month. Seventy-five percent approval is required to issue an invite, however, so it’s also possible that no bid will go out. What criteria are considered could impact any favorable vote. Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson said when the league held its annual football Media Day last month in New Orleans that the membership matter is “no longer a football issue.” It once was, as prior focus for some had been on getting to 12 teams for football so that the conference could stage a revenue-generating football title game. “As we now go forward, and expecting that the NCAA will roll back the policy that requires 12 teams to do a conference football championship game,” Benson said, “we are no longer driven by a football championship game when it comes to our future membership. We now need to focus on what is in the best interest of our other sports.” Basketball and other SBC programs do not currently play balanced schedules. read more: http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/ul/2015/08/28/sbc-schools-vote-extending-membership-invitation/71349570/ Sun Belt identifies Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky for expansionThe Sun Belt Conference has enough internal support to add a 12th member and has focused its search on current Football Championship Subdivision members Coastal Carolina and Eastern Kentucky, a person with knowledge of the conversations told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is supposed to be private. A decision on which school to add and formal vote should come within the next few weeks, if not days. The Sun Belt's current plan is to add one of the two, but not both. "They have enough votes," the person said. "They have already visited the campuses. read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sunbelt/2015/08/28/conference-expansion-coastal-carolina-eastern-kentucky/71322494/

A writer for Making Music magazine wrote that in Denton “Every other person you meet is a musician, and those that aren’t, have a love and respect for music that borders on obsession.” With a population just over 110,000, Denton has over 100 active bands, and because of its small size, musicians here have less ego and more soul. In 2008, Paste Magazine named the city’s music scene the best in the country and according to Citylab, the town’s growing music scene has led to a citywide boom. But unlike other towns, Denton has intentionally built its music scene collaboratively, through projects like DentonRadio.com. When the internet radio station launched, Denton businesses and organizations rallied alongside musicians to financially support the endeavor. Now the station is a unique online platform for local musicians to expose their work, collaborate, and network. Artists with city tiesPat Boone, Don Henley, and Norah Jones passed through in the start of their careers. It also served as the temporary home of bands like Midlake, Bowling for Soup, Eli Young Band, Neon Indian, and Sarah Jaffe. The local polka band, Brave Combo, has won two Grammy Awards (but more importantly, they’ve appeared on The Simpsons). VenuesThere’s 25 venues within walking distance of the town square, and a couple hundred more nearby. But the city’s known for hosting concerts even in donut shops and fast food stops. Dan’s Silverleaf was voted best music venue in 2014. The Abby Underground features free live music and a large selection of beers. FestivalEach year the city hosts up to 20 large festivals and more than 100 smaller ones, but it’s 35 Denton — the town’s response to nearby Austin’s SXSW — that beats them all. The volunteer-driven festival showcases over 200 hundred bands — almost half from Denton — and attracts 10,000+ people. read more: http://matadornetwork.com/trips/10-underrated-american-cities-live-music/?utm_source=Traverse&utm_campaign=7205d588e4-Thursday_Traverse_August_27_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c4e20459d5-7205d588e4-80220449

So what are your thoughts on our turnout?

There was some pretty big news on the UNT athletics front, and it had nothing to do with football practice. It looks like UNT is on the verge of bumping up its student athletic fee. The school’s students are currently paying $10 a semester credit hour, or about $300 a year. Getting that fee through back in 2008 was an epic battle that might have saved UNT’s football program as a viable FBS operation. That fee hasn’t budged since, but UNT’s regents will consider bumping it up $1 a credit hour. That might not sound like much, and it isn’t — at least not on the basis of an individual student. It’s $30 a year, ballpark. That makes a big difference, though, at a school like UNT that has a massive student population of 36,000. It’s about a million dollars. UTSA is charging a whole lot more, but at least UNT is making a move. read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/08/follow-up-thoughts-on-unts-proposed-athletic-fee-increase.html/

And speaking of UNT, the Mean Green weren’t mentioned in ESPN’s early preview. The Mean Green enter the 2015-16 season looking for their first winning campaign under Benford in his fourth season. UNT has some key players back, including Jeremy Combs and Maurice Anifiok and add Texas A&M transfer point guard J-Mychal Reese. The Mean Green have some talented players to work with, but will be a dark horse in the league race after finishing 14-17 last season. read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/07/national-site-publishes-early-look-at-c-usa-hoops-league.html/

In the next step to a possible invitation into college football's elite fraternity, the University of Houston will open the checkbook and pay a record amount in assistant coaching salaries this season. The nine full-time assistants on new coach Tom Herman's staff will earn $2.113 million, a 17 percent increase from 2014, according to contracts obtained by the Houston Chronicle through an open-records request. The total - nearly $300,000 more than the $1.82 million from last season - puts UH ahead of a handful of schools from the Power 5 conferences based on the most recent salary-pool figures for last season. Herman called UH "a sleeping giant in college football," with the recent shift in resources and upgrades aimed to make the school a more attractive option for the next round of conference realignment. Along with allowing assistant coaches to be paid more, UH opened $128 million TDECU Stadium last September and has plans for a $20 million football-only indoor practice facility. More InformationStaff salaries A look at the annual salaries for the nine full-time assistant football coaches on the University of Houston staff: Coach Position Years Value Todd Orlando Defensive coordinator/linebackers 2 $501,000 Major Applewhite Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks 2 $301,000 Craig Naivar Asst. head coach/co-defensive coordinator/safeties 1 $301,000 Derek Warehime Offensive line 1 $205,000 Oscar Giles Assistant head coach/defensive line 1 $201,000 Jason Washington Special teams coordinator/cornerbacks 1 $176,000 Corby Meekins Tight ends/fullbacks 1 $161,000 Kenith Pope Running backs 1 $151,000 Drew Mehringer Wide receivers 1 $116,000 Source: University of Houston Where they stand in SEC and Big 12 A look at where the University of Houston's $2.113 million would rank in assistant coach salary pool in select Power 5 conferences. Note: Figures for schools, other than UH, are for 2014 and do not include private universities: SEC (in millions of dollars) LSU $5.499 Alabama $5.213 Auburn $4.370 Texas A&M $3.484 South Carolina $3.333 Georgia $3.327 Tennessee $3.265 Florida $3.225 Arkansas $3.218 Missouri $3.169 Kentucky $2.715 Mississippi State $2.682 Mississippi $2.596 Houston $2.113 Big 12 (in millions of dollars) Oklahoma $4.077 Texas $3.841 West Virginia $2.884 Oklahoma State $2.837 Kansas State $2.813 Texas Tech $2.155 Houston $2.113 Iowa State $2.110 Kansas $2.105 Source: USA Today, Houston Chronicle research "I think it's no mistake that at some point we aspire to be in a Power 5 conference," Herman said this week to a group of UH supporters at the Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon. read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Football-coaching-staff-s-pay-part-of-UH-s-6416369.php I like this quote: