Meanwhile....Back At 90 Feet of Heat II Fieldhouse..

oldguystudent · March 9, 2015

Correct, but from what I gather, you can't get told no if you don't even bothering asking.

There is a valid point to be made there, and I don't know what actually happens. Do they post the position and see who shows up or do the post the position to meet state requirements, then start making phone calls to get in touch with the names on the wish list?

GreenMachine · March 9, 2015

There is a valid point to be made there, and I don't know what actually happens. Do they post the position and see who shows up or do the post the position to meet state requirements, then start making phone calls to get in touch with the names on the wish list?

I believe the latter

CMJ · March 9, 2015

For the record, I was excited about the possibility of Capps coming here. Kaspar I wasn't sure about at the time (hiring an alum is a double edged sword to me....sure he wants to succeed, but I also think as fellow alums we'd be much more willing to forgive....if Kaspar had the exact same record as Benford he'd have a lot more folks in his corner than Tony does, which would make axing him even more impossible), but in retrospect he couldn't have been any worse than what we got.

Edited March 9, 2015 by CMJ

UNT90 · March 9, 2015

Here's the thing, hiring an "experienced head coach" at UNT is usually not a good idea. If a head coach is having success at another D1 then North Texas is probably not the step up they're looking for. So if we get an experienced head coach then that's probably because they were fired or weren't retained by their last school.
Tony Benford has not been a good hire, but it's not because he was a career assistant. He just wasn't a good hire. Brad Underwood was a career assistant and he's been a home-run hire for SFA. Todd Dodge was not a good hire, but it's not because he was a high school coach. He just wasn't ready to be a D1 head coach.
The answer to getting a good coach to come to UNT is not getting a guy who has "X" amount of years as a head coach, or "X" amount of experience at a school from a certain conference. It's about having an AD who is good at evaluating candidates and how well they will translate to coaching at the D1 and CUSA level.

The jury is still out on Underwodd, as he has done it with players left over from Kaspar. That said, I think he will turn out to be a great hire for SFA.

We can hire head coaches from other programs. Kaspar's interest showed us this. We aren't talking about hiring away La. Tech's head coach here. We are talking about a coach from a lesser conference, like the Southland.

Not saying we shouldn't hire assistants, but the 2012 team needed an experienced head coach. They were given a head coach who had no idea what he was doing. That's just bad decision making by the AD.

And I disagree with CMJ. If Kaspar had taken over the 2012 team and ran it into the ground like Benford did, he would have received the exact same treatment as Benford. Thing is, I think Kaspar would have won 20 plus games with that team.

UNTLifer · March 9, 2015

I think hiring the assistant known as a super recruiter is dicey. We've hired Trilli and Benford that fit that description. JJ was also known as a good recruiter, but I don't recall that being the focal point of his resume. Trilli and Benford both struggled with the X's and O's of the game. I really don't know how coaches structure their staffs, but it appears that these two were more focused on recruiting in their previous positions, acquiring the talent for the other coaches to develop. If that is their gift, so be it, but I am tired of hiring this type of coach. Give me the "up and comer" that has succeeded at a lower level, or the assistant mentored under a successful coach that is heavily involved in the coaching aspect of the game.

UNTLifer · March 9, 2015

A coach I would like to see us contact, should an opening arise, is Tim Duryea. He graduated from Denton High, was a captain of the 88' NT team and has been a good assistant for years, spending the last 14 at Utah State. I don't know if we are the place to give him his shot, but he has always intrigued me.