Brett Vito Keeping an eye on SMU

[Harry]

One of the great pastimes for UNT fans is to watch what is going on at SMU, the Mean Green’s neighbor to the south.

Morris

There are plenty of good reasons that’s the case. UNT and SMU compete for media attention, fans and, yes, recruits. There are a few SMU fans who will deny that is the case, but it has been the truth for a long time.

I bring it up because it is going to be very interesting to see how the next few weeks go in terms of recruiting, not to mention the next few seasons after SMU hired former Texas high school coach and Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/12/keeping-an-eye-on-smu.html/

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

Trying to remain positive after reading that article but the struggle is real!!!

[UNT90]

New life breathed into their program, even though they are on their way to a winless season.

New life and optimism would have been breathed into this program with the hiring of a new OC and a DMac promise to stay the F out of the offense.

Instead I feel lower than I ever have about UNT football, and that includes the Dodge years. Next season is going to be a beating, both literally and figuratively.

[JRock]

I'm the same way. Not excited at all.

[rcade]

Instead I feel lower than I ever have about UNT football, and that includes the Dodge years.

Anyone who could say that doesn't remember the Dodge years very well. Ain't no bad like high-school-coach bad.

[MeanGreenTexan]

New life breathed into their program, even though they are on their way to a winless season.

New life and optimism would have been breathed into this program with the hiring of a new OC and a DMac promise to stay the F out of the offense.

Instead I feel lower than I ever have about UNT football, and that includes the Dodge years. Next season is going to be a beating, both literally and figuratively.

You *likely* still would have seen the same type of conservative playcalling from Canales even if McCarney wasnt as assertive. It's not as if Canales is going to keep the playbook wide open when he's trotting McNulty out there to make poor throws. He probably doesn't live and die by the "protect the football" mantra like McCarney does, but he probably wants to protect the football.

[wardly]

It would be nice to find a D.C. with a successful high school Texas background. In a perfect world he would have coached in the Metroplex .

[Eagle1855]

I think he's going to do well at SMU. And by so doing, SMU will continue to separate themselves from UNT athletics. They've done it with basketball. They'll do it with football.

But we'll always have the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Of course, it's doesn't have to be that way. There's just nothing on the horizon that suggests otherwise, in football or basketball.

This is one instance where I'd love to be wrong.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Eagle1855

[Withers940]

Morris at SMU and the possible hiring of the DeSoto Coach scares the ever lovin shit out of me. He came in and less than a month very well, could of just taken over the Dallas area recruiting.

[rcade]

To the people who think pedigreed Texas high school coaches are recruiting magic at the college level, did UNT experience any of that under Todd Dodge?

I think SMU will succeed or fail based on what the new hire has done at the college level. No prospect with options is going to choose SMU because of the new coach's high school accomplishments 5-10 years ago.

[MeanGreenTexan]

To the people who think pedigreed Texas high school coaches are recruiting magic at the college level, did UNT experience any of that under Todd Dodge?

I think SMU will succeed or fail based on what the new hire has done at the college level. No prospect with options is going to choose SMU because of the new coach's high school accomplishments 5-10 years ago.

I think Dodge brought in some very nice players during his time here. Now, how he developed them into D1 players... that's a different story.

And while your assumption that no HS athlete will choose SMU because of Morris' results at Lake Travis, those athletes' coaches will likely steer them to consider SMU because they respect Morris A LOT (he was elected president of the Texas High School Coaches Association while @ LT).

[Withers940]

To the people who think pedigreed Texas high school coaches are recruiting magic at the college level, did UNT experience any of that under Todd Dodge?

I think SMU will succeed or fail based on what the new hire has done at the college level. No prospect with options is going to choose SMU because of the new coach's high school accomplishments 5-10 years ago.

I think Morris has a better resume and track record than Dodge did before taking over a D1 program

[oldguystudent]

To the people who think pedigreed Texas high school coaches are recruiting magic at the college level, did UNT experience any of that under Todd Dodge?

Somebody's gonna have to refresh my memory here, but didn't Dodge do something that really alienated high school coaches?

[UNT90]

To the people who think pedigreed Texas high school coaches are recruiting magic at the college level, did UNT experience any of that under Todd Dodge?

.

Without looking, I think it was a dichotomy.

Recruiting improved under Dodge a lot in the skill positions.

Recruiting remained the same or maybe even worse on both lines (going from memory).

The problem was he (or his assistants, more accurately) couldn't coach or develop talent.

[Eagle1855]

Without looking, I think it was a dichotomy.

Recruiting improved under Dodge a lot in the skill positions.

Recruiting remained the same or maybe even worse on both lines (going from memory).

The problem was he (or his assistants, more accurately) couldn't coach or develop talent.

The problem was also that he'd been coaching a bunch of suburban kids who were average athletes that knew a quality offensive system backwards and forwards and got punched squarely in the mouth when we rolled into Norman, admitting as much when he said he was surprised by the speed of the players.

From that point forward, it was pretty obvious he was way out of his element.

He should have been a QB coach. Then an OC. After that, he'd have had a good enough understanding of the college game to know you need to have grown-up defensive schemes in place and that you can't run a bunch of dump passes and bubble screens against LB's and safeties who are bigger and faster than your skill players.

In my opinion, Morris is a different kind of hire entirely.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Eagle1855

[SilverEagle]

. Morris is banging on every top recruit’s door in Dallas as we speak. Does West Mesquite quarterback and former Mississippi State commit Chason Virgil follow Morris to SMU? What about DeSoto? The school has served as a UNT feeder through the years, sending the Mean Green key players like Zach Orr and Antoinne Jimmerson.

DeSoto coach Claude Mathis told me multiple times over the years about how UNT was a good fit for a lot of DeSoto players*. Now it appears he could be set to join SMU’s staff.

*My translation. The players of color have a much better social atmosphere at North Texas than other schools in the metroplex. At the risk of sounding....well racially out of bounds, I have always wondered what the hell any player of color sees in SMU. After they finish their eligibility they will never be part of the core SMU family. So what's the attraction?

If this is offensive to anyone on the board. Please let me know and I will delete the post.

[ColoradoEagle]

It would only be offensive in that it assumes all black people are alike. Not all white people are alike. I'm white and I would've never attended SMU, because I can't stand the culture over there. That's from someone who grew up in a nice part of Richardson and was accepted to Rice, UTD, and UT-Austin.

[UNT90]

I think it is wishful thinking to think UNT has the corner on black athletes in the metroplex and that we have the "best environment" for them.

That all depends on the individual that is coming to UNT. What if the particular athlete wants a degree in business? They may opt for the Cox School of Business at SMU and the connections (as or more important than a piece of paper in the business world) that it brings than a "diverse" enoviroment at UNT.

Pigeonholing people of color into only wanting to be around other people of color above any future goals they may have for themselves is a HUGE mistake.

As is suggesting TCU and SMU alumni are all white and the black grads that play athletics there won't "fit in" as alumni. Just blatantly not true.

[TIgreen01]

It's pretty simple. Until SMU starts seriously paying players again, they are going to struggle. I don't care who they hire.

Also, let them hire a bunch of high school position coaches. If they are too dumb to learn from our mistakes, then let it burn them.

[SilverEagle]

I think it is wishful thinking to think UNT has the corner on black athletes in the metroplex and that we have the "best environment" for them.

That all depends on the individual that is coming to UNT. What if the particular athlete wants a degree in business? They may opt for the Cox School of Business at SMU and the connections (as or more important than a piece of paper in the business world) that it brings than a "diverse" enoviroment at UNT.

Pigeonholing people of color into only wanting to be around other people of color above any future goals they may have for themselves is a HUGE mistake.

As is suggesting TCU and SMU alumni are all white and the black grads that play athletics there won't "fit in" as alumni. Just blatantly not true.

Keep telling yourself that and you can insulate yourself from feeling any sort of uneasiness and/or discomfort about how people of color are viewed by southern and southwestern society. I'm not pigeonholing people of color......Texas does that. I just observe it.

Before we go any further, for over 30 years part of job with the state was assessing families who applied to be foster/adoptive parents. Families of color were a good portion of that. I've had many an honest conversation with those families about their parenting experiences, which included how they prepared their own children to deal with mostly white society. If they had sons, they told me about the "conversation" that all families of color had about hanging out with their friends and how that was (fair or not) a threat to some people......including the police. The families of color were very much like any middle class white family that I also assessed. Except that they had to have some "realistic" conversations that white families didn't have to experience.

[UNT90]

Keep telling yourself that and you can insulate yourself from feeling any sort of uneasiness and/or discomfort about how people of color are viewed by southern and southwestern society. I'm not pigeonholing people of color......Texas does that. I just observe it.

Before we go any further, for over 30 years part of job with the state was assessing families who applied to be foster/adoptive parents. Families of color were a good portion of that. I've had many an honest conversation with those families about their parenting experiences, which included how they prepared their own children to deal with mostly white society. If they had sons, they told me about the "conversation" that all families of color had about hanging out with their friends and how that was (fair or not) a threat to some people......including the police. The families of color were very much like any middle class white family that I also assessed. Except that they had to have some "realistic" conversations that white families didn't have to experience.

Getting way off topic here, but the last time I looked both TCU and SMU were in the South. Like only 30 miles from UNT south.

And EVERY parent, REGARDLESS OF RACE, should have a conversation with their children about how to act when interacting with the police. One of the areas covered should be to never physically resist the police. Ever. Because you can't win. If they are going to arrest you, let it happen and fight the battle in court, where it should be fought. If parents OF ALL RACES did this, we wouldn't be facing the current events unfolding in this country.

If ALL parents did this, REGARDLESS OF RACE, society would be a lot safer for everyone. Instead, children are being taught to burn and loot currently. They are watching as people scream nasty names, taunt, and attack police with rocks and bottles. They are told by many in their community and many in the press that this action is ok. That doesn't bode well for them or police officers later in their life.

This is a societal issue, not a race issue.

Edited December 5, 2014 by UNT90

[NT03]

New SMU football coach Chad Morris is already winning some major in-state recruiting battles http://t.co/yibxVF9DxN pic.twitter.com/2ZEZI1jpnd

— SportsDayDFW (@SportsDayDFW)

January 25, 2015

[drex]

The six thousand fans at SMU basketball games is about the number of fans at their football games. The demographics just aren't on SMU's side. They will never be embraced by the average fan in Dallas. They may go bowling and have some decent won-loss records, but they will never again be much of a factor at the turn stiles. Of course, they will get local media priority attention. When all the dust settles a few years down the line, they will be in no better position than June Jones had them in the last few years.

[GrandGreen]

NT has a lot more worries than downtrodden SMU. The key for NT is to elevate the NT program to at least be highly competitive at the G5 level, something that seems very far away at this time.

[FirefightnRick]

Don't kid yourselves, Money and the right hire and wins turned TCU around and it can certainly do the same for SMU.

Rick