MGB: UNT press conference notes (video to come)

[Brett Vito]

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/11/unt-press-conference-notes-quotes-video-to-come.html/

[Brett Vito]

Updated with video. James Jones talks about the impact John Skladany made at UNT

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/11/unt-press-conference-notes-quotes-video-to-come.html/

[edcollopy]

great news about the QB situation! Can't wait for my line of scrimmage passes that take 4 seconds to get to the wide receiver.

[akriesman]

"We are trying to get to 16-7 since we opened this stadium. That is pretty amazing considering what we stepped into."

This is the one big thing that really bothers me about Mac. We have already heard this comment about 100 times. I do not agree that he stepped into a bad situation at all compared to the rest of the Sun Belt or CUSA. Mac and his staff have good facilities and had very little pressure to succeed after the TD era. There was no place to go but up here at NT.

We wanted a real D1 college football coach and got that in Mac. And, we got a great motivator and a pretty good game day coach. The recruiting issues fall on Mac and his staff. It is true that we can't really compete against the schools in the larger conferences for premier talent. But we are in great shape for a CUSA school and Mac should be talking positively about this instead of dwelling on how bad things were when he got here.

Just MHO. I really feel that any negative talk by the coaching staff or AD, past or present, reflects negatively on the school's image as a whole in the present time.

Edited November 18, 2014 by akriesman

[untbowler]

"We are trying to get to 16-7 since we opened this stadium. That is pretty amazing considering what we stepped into."

This is the one big thing that really bothers me about Mac. We have already heard this comment about 100 times. I do not agree that he stepped into a bad situation at all compared to the rest of the Sun Belt or CUSA. Mac and his staff have good facilities and had very little pressure to succeed after the TD era. There was no place to go but up here at NT.

We wanted a real D1 college football coach and got that in Mac. And, we got a great motivator and a pretty good game day coach. The recruiting issues fall on Mac and his staff. It is true that we can't really compete against the schools in the larger conferences for premier talent. But we are in great shape for a CUSA school and Mac should be talking positively about this instead of dwelling on how bad things were when he got here.

Just MHO. I really feel that any negative talk by the coaching staff or AD, past or present, reflects negatively on the school's image as a whole in the present time.

BINGO!!

New Stadium, Bigger Budget, Better Paid Coaches... So stop bitching and do your job

[SilverEagle]

BINGO!!

New Stadium, Bigger Budget, Better Paid Coaches... So stop bitching and do your job

Every time this issue comes up, and when either coaches, or employees of the athletic department talk about "the situation here", I think of Corky Nelson. If you believe in heaven, then you have to believe that Corky is looking down and shaking his head, and basically saying the same thing.

Edited November 18, 2014 by SilverEagle

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Every time this issue comes up, and when either coaches, or employees of the athletic department talk about "the situation here", I think of Corky Nelson. If you believe in heaven, then you have to believe that Corky is looking down and shaking his head, and basically saying the same thing.

Corky coached in the Southland Conference. Let's stick to apples to apples comparisons. Our Southland opponents of the Corky Era were as poorly funded as we were.

Yet, we only made the playoffs three times in Corky's nine year tenure, and never got past the first round in the I-AA playoffs, and only once in his first four years.

During those first four years of Corky's tenure, we had only one winning season. He was 16-28-1 those first four years. Thus far, McCarney in his fourth year is 21-26, with only one winning season.

Corky coached 45 games through his first four seasons here, compiling a .367 winning percentage

Dan's first 45 games as our head coach, he compiled a winning percentage of .444.

Corky's home record through his first four seasons: 8-8 and an even .500 clip...yes, in each season 1982-85 we only had four home games.

Dan's home record through his first four seasons: 16-7, a .696 winning percentage.

So, I'm not sure why Heavenly Corky would be shaking his head. He did worse than McCarney in his first four seasons here - home and away - even while coaching in a lower division of competition.

...

[SilverEagle]

Corky coached in the Southland Conference. Let's stick to apples to apples comparisons. Our Southland opponents of the Corky Era were as poorly funded as we were.

Yet, we only made the playoffs three times in Corky's nine year tenure, and never got past the first round in the I-AA playoffs, and only once in his first four years.

During those first four years of Corky's tenure, we had only one winning season. He was 16-28-1 those first four years. Thus far, McCarney in his fourth year is 21-26, with only one winning season.

Corky coached 45 games through his first four seasons here, compiling a .367 winning percentage

Dan's first 45 games as our head coach, he compiled a winning percentage of .444.

Corky's home record through his first four seasons: 8-8 and an even .500 clip...yes, in each season 1982-85 we only had four home games.

Dan's home record through his first four seasons: 16-7, a .696 winning percentage.

So, I'm not sure why Heavenly Corky would be shaking his head. He did worse than McCarney in his first four seasons here - home and away - even while coaching in a lower division of competition.

...

You have no idea how the other Southland teams were funded or supported by their adminstration and student culture. And you don't know what the admission standards were at those Louisiana schools. If any schools played fast and loose with rules, it was Louisiana schools.

Our standards never changed from the previous D-1 days.

Heavenly Corky NEVER bitched (or in the case of Mac grumbled a bit) about his "situation". He just went about cobbling together the best team that he could out of "under the radar" players and JC players. The 83 championship team got decimated by injuries and grades the following spring. He put together what was left. Never complained, and made sure that all our opponents knew they were in a fight.

I was there those first four years and I guarantee I saw better player evaluation/assessment and coaching than any time since. And I never heard one sound of bitching or complaining from either the coach or any of the athletic department staff.

If there was any criticism of Corky's tenure it was that his teams, even the most successful ones, played so hard from day one that they were worn out by the end of the year. And didn't have as much in the bank to make a playoff run.

During this run Corky Nelson's (60 ship limit) teams had wins over....

New Mexico State (D-1 never went down to 1-AA)

New Mexico

Kansas St.

TCU

Texas Tech

Rice

SMU

The worst blow-out loss during this era was a 56-0 loss to Ark St in 1985 Our loss to Oklahoma two years later 69-14 represents the largest number of points ever scored on a Corky Nelson team....and we still scored first.

Also, during Corky Nelsons run, North Texas had it's first two sell-outs (original 20.5K seating) at Fouts field. No coach before had ever done that. Not even Hayden Fry. We obviously had better promotions people at that time as well.

Edited November 18, 2014 by SilverEagle

[Harry]

Corky had some amazing performances against some top tier programs. I would argue he came up bigger in the high profile games than any other coach in the modern era.

[SSP]

You have no idea how the other Southland teams were funded or supported by their adminstration and student culture. And you don't know what the admission standards were at those Louisiana schools. If any schools played fast and loose with rules, it was Louisiana schools.

Our standards never changed from the previous D-1 days.

Heavenly Corky NEVER bitched (or in the case of Mac grumbled a bit) about his "situation". He just went about cobbling together the best team that he could out of "under the radar" players and JC players. The 83 championship team got decimated by injuries and grades the following spring. He put together what was left. Never complained, and made sure that all our opponents knew they were in a fight.

I was there those first four years and I guarantee I saw better player evaluation/assessment and coaching than any time since. And I never heard one sound of bitching or complaining from either the coach or any of the athletic department staff.

If there was any criticism of Corky's tenure it was that his teams, even the most successful ones, played so hard from day one that they were worn out by the end of the year. And didn't have as much in the bank to make a playoff run.

During this run Corky Nelson's (60 ship limit) teams had wins over....

New Mexico State (D-1 never went down to 1-AA)

New Mexico

Kansas St.

TCU

Texas Tech

Rice

SMU

The worst blow-out loss during this era was a 56-0 loss to Ark St in 1985 Our loss to Oklahoma two years later 69-14 represents the largest number of points ever scored on a Corky Nelson team....and we still scored first.

Also, during Corky Nelsons run, North Texas had it's first two sell-outs (original 20.5K seating) at Fouts field. No coach before had ever done that. Not even Hayden Fry. We obviously had better promotions people at that time as well.

Sounds like the kind of coach COLLEGE football players want to play for.

[TheColonyEagle]

"We are trying to get to 16-7 since we opened this stadium. That is pretty amazing considering what we stepped into."

I am really sick of hearing that. What you stepped into is a BRAND NEW STADIUM.

The excuse making is driving me away from this program. I have never been as apathetic about UNT as I am now. In his 4th year, his teams are not competing with CUSA teams. Year 4.

His team looks small, slow and lost on the field. We're getting blown out by teams we blew out last year.....last year's year's team full of seniors that the guy before him that did such an awful job recruited here.

And he continuously brings up how bad it was when he got here.

I'm just about done with his BS.

It's real simple. Your job is to win football games. Period.

Win football games or get the hell out of the way.

Edited November 18, 2014 by TheColonyEagle

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

You have no idea how the other Southland teams were funded or supported by their adminstration and student culture. And you don't know what the admission standards were at those Louisiana schools. If any schools played fast and loose with rules, it was Louisiana schools.

Our standards never changed from the previous D-1 days.

Heavenly Corky NEVER bitched (or in the case of Mac grumbled a bit) about his "situation". He just went about cobbling together the best team that he could out of "under the radar" players and JC players. The 83 championship team got decimated by injuries and grades the following spring. He put together what was left. Never complained, and made sure that all our opponents knew they were in a fight.

I was there those first four years and I guarantee I saw better player evaluation/assessment and coaching than any time since. And I never heard one sound of bitching or complaining from either the coach or any of the athletic department staff.

If there was any criticism of Corky's tenure it was that his teams, even the most successful ones, played so hard from day one that they were worn out by the end of the year. And didn't have as much in the bank to make a playoff run.

During this run Corky Nelson's (60 ship limit) teams had wins over....

New Mexico State (D-1 never went down to 1-AA)

New Mexico

Kansas St.

TCU

Texas Tech

Rice

SMU

The worst blow-out loss during this era was a 56-0 loss to Ark St in 1985 Our loss to Oklahoma two years later 69-14 represents the largest number of points ever scored on a Corky Nelson team....and we still scored first.

Also, during Corky Nelsons run, North Texas had it's first two sell-outs (original 20.5K seating) at Fouts field. No coach before had ever done that. Not even Hayden Fry. We obviously had better promotions people at that time as well.

And, in those first four seasons, Corky was 3-1 versus UTA, a school that dropped its program follow 1985. He was also 2-1 against Lamar, who dropped their football program in 1989.

So, one-third of Corky's 16 wins in his first four seasons came against competition well on its way to extinction.

The bar to do better than Corky isn't a high bar. Mix in that late in his career, they were scheduling series against DII Abilene Christian and the bar gets even lower.

Anyway, my first year at UNT was 1990, Corky's last season. 6-5 with one win over DII Abilene Christian. Not impressive. That was his ninth season, and sixth without making the I-AA playoffs. 6-5 with a win over ACU was the result of nine years of building. Hooray.

Corky had some good moments, most in 1988. But, people here make way more of his tenure than it was. McCarney has done better in his first four seasons...and, if he gets to nine, he'll have a far better record that Corky Nelson compiled.

[UNT90]

"We are trying to get to 16-7 since we opened this stadium. That is pretty amazing considering what we stepped into."

This is the one big thing that really bothers me about Mac. We have already heard this comment about 100 times. I do not agree that he stepped into a bad situation at all compared to the rest of the Sun Belt or CUSA. Mac and his staff have good facilities and had very little pressure to succeed after the TD era. There was no place to go but up here at NT.

We wanted a real D1 college football coach and got that in Mac. And, we got a great motivator and a pretty good game day coach. The recruiting issues fall on Mac and his staff. It is true that we can't really compete against the schools in the larger conferences for premier talent. But we are in great shape for a CUSA school and Mac should be talking positively about this instead of dwelling on how bad things were when he got here.

Just MHO. I really feel that any negative talk by the coaching staff or AD, past or present, reflects negatively on the school's image as a whole in the present time.

It's coach speak excuse making, or an attempt at it. Except to hear A LOT of these comments from Mac this off-season as he attempts to point to anything to take the focus off the turd that is this football season.

Also expect to hear about national titles at UF and the resurrection of Iowa St. A LOT this off-season.

Distraction techniques at their finest.

Edited November 18, 2014 by UNT90

[FirefightnRick]

And, in those first four seasons, Corky was 3-1 versus UTA, a school that dropped its program follow 1985. He was also 2-1 against Lamar, who dropped their football program in 1989.

So, one-third of Corky's 16 wins in his first four seasons came against competition well on its way to extinction.

The bar to do better than Corky isn't a high bar. Mix in that late in his career, they were scheduling series against DII Abilene Christian and the bar gets even lower.

Anyway, my first year at UNT was 1990, Corky's last season. 6-5 with one win over DII Abilene Christian. Not impressive. That was his ninth season, and sixth without making the I-AA playoffs. 6-5 with a win over ACU was the result of nine years of building. Hooray.

Corky had some good moments, most in 1988. But, people here make way more of his tenure than it was. McCarney has done better in his first four seasons...and, if he gets to nine, he'll have a far better record that Corky Nelson compiled.

Were you there?

Rick