Why North Texas coach Dan McCarney is confident in offense

Harry · April 26, 2015

North Texas faced a host of challenges in spring practice from an unsettled quarterback situation to adjusting to a new defensive coordinator.

The Mean Green made progress toward meeting those challenges by the time practice wrapped up Tuesday.

What was even more encouraging for coach Dan McCarney than the headway UNT made was the way the Mean Green handled the process after a disappointing 4-8 season.

I like being around this team, McCarney said. I have been saying it all winter and spring long. There is a real renewed commitment to excellence. We want to get back to winning. No matter how tough the schedule is or where we play or who we play, lets find a way to win games in the fall.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20150424-why-north-texas-coach-dan-mccarney-is-confident-in-offense-despite-no-clear-starting-quarterback.ece

Greenrex · April 26, 2015

I wish I could feel good but this is painful to read.

Green P1 · April 26, 2015

I wish I could feel good but this is painful to read.

Yea... That was a painful read.

GreenMachine · April 26, 2015

What else is a coach to say?

Edited April 26, 2015 by GreenMachine

cogido · April 27, 2015

No doubt Andy McNulty will start against smu. Question for this team is, does DaMarcus Smith have the guns to make a change soon afterwards? Too bad he couldn't have been in spring camp to compete, McNulty was and he worked hard, so give him his shot, I would love to see him kick ass. I believe this team will make some noise in a good way before the first half of the season is done.

KingDL1 · April 27, 2015

I am confident Mike Canales should find a new job after reading that mess.

FirefightnRick · April 27, 2015

I am confident Mike Canales should find a new job after reading that mess.

I'm not entirely confident anymore that the blame sits on his shoulders?

Rick

adman · April 27, 2015

I'm not entirely confident anymore that the blame sits on his shoulders?
Rick

Quite a few "Canales guys" who have been busts. 2 Snow college guys for sure. Factor in that he hasn't developed a single QB in his time here…

SilverEagle · April 27, 2015

Quite a few "Canales guys" who have been busts. 2 Snow college guys for sure. Factor in that he hasn't developed a single QB in his time here…

When was the last time that we had a coach that actually developed a QB here? The last one I remember was Todd Dodge.

Withers940 · April 28, 2015

I'm not entirely confident anymore that the blame sits on his shoulders?
Rick

How does it not? Doesnt he call the plays on offense? Its not like Coach Mack makes the final decision on all offensive plays. Canales' play calling is atrocious and so now that they are doing an up tempo offense, we will just go 3 and out a lot quicker.

FirefightnRick · April 28, 2015

How does it not? Doesnt he call the plays on offense? Its not like Coach Mack makes the final decision on all offensive plays. Canales' play calling is atrocious and so now that they are doing an up tempo offense, we will just go 3 and out a lot quicker.

I understand, but Mac is running the show. I don't think we're seeing all of what Chico has in his magic bag of tricks.

Chico: "Let's run this"

Mac: "Naw, I don't like that"

Chico: "Then let's run this."

Mac: "Ummm, no I don't like that either"

Chico: "Ok, how about this?"

Mac: "Nope, too flashy!"

Chico: "This?"

Mac: "Too risky"

Chico: "sigh"

Rick

Edited April 28, 2015 by FirefightnRick

UNTLifer · April 29, 2015

I understand, but Mac is running the show. I don't think we're seeing all of what Chico has in his magic bag of tricks.
Chico: "Let's run this"
Mac: "Naw, I don't like that"
Chico: "Then let's run this."
Mac: "Ummm, no I don't like that either"
Chico: "Ok, how about this?"
Mac: "Nope, too flashy!"
Chico: "This?"
Mac: "Too risky"
Chico: "sigh"
Rick

Yep, there's that much time between plays. Our most effective offense recently was when Chico was the interim HC...Conroy Hines called the plays.

NM Green · April 29, 2015

I like the attitude adjustment.

I want an upside down roadrunner on every cup, towel, window flyer...Got to beat them this year!

GMG

FirefightnRick · April 29, 2015

Yep, there's that much time between plays. Our most effective offense recently was when Chico was the interim HC...Conroy Hines called the plays that Chico designed and told him to call..

FIFY

Rick

Eagle1855 · April 29, 2015

"UNT believes it is closer to reaching that goal, thanks largely to a renewed commitment."

That's all it took? Did we take 2014 off because we'd enjoyed "so much" success in 2013?

I sincerely hope McNulty comes out balling like a senior who knows exactly what he's doing.

Mean Green 93-98 · April 29, 2015

Conroy Hines called the plays.

Coach Hines and Chico called offensive plays together during that span.

Withers940 · April 29, 2015

I understand, but Mac is running the show. I don't think we're seeing all of what Chico has in his magic bag of tricks.
Chico: "Let's run the WR Screen"
Mac: "Naw, I don't like that"
Chico: "Then let's run the HB Screen."
Mac: "Ummm, no I don't like that either"
Chico: "Ok, how about a double reverse Pass?"
Mac: "Nope, too flashy!"
Chico: "Flea Flicker?"
Mac: "Too risky"
Chico: "sigh, I should of left for Sam Houston State"
Rick

Fixed it Rick

BillySee58 · April 29, 2015

I don't think Canales would be that difficult a coordinator to get an upgrade over. But I still don't think getting a new OC would really change much. Whether or not Chico was calling the individual plays as an interim, it was clearly his offense. Which is much, much different from what we do now in Mccarney's offense. Even if Mccarney doesn't call each individual play, it's his team and the offense that he wants to run. I don't think it would change much with a new OC.

As for QB developing and recruiting, every offer at QB is finalized by Mccarney. Like I've said before, he has offered two high school QBs under 6'3", and they've been JT Barrett (Ohio State signee/national prospect) and Andrew Mcnulty (son of a close friend). The thing with tall QBs is that if they're good then they'll have extensive offer lists. This staff has struggled to win recruiting battles against the schools you need to to be successful. And that becomes even harder when you're trying to convince a QB to come here, where some games we hardly throw the ball, over schools that run spread offenses.

This recruiting cycle will be interesting to watch. We've offered one QB so far in Easton Underwood from Jackson, TN (listed at 6'3" in his hudl), but his offer from us has been listed for months and I doubt we'll recruit him that hard. Outside of him, we have offered zero QBs either in the class of 2015 or 2016. Does our QB-recruiting strategy change? Do we even go after a QB this cycle? I just think any change with how our offense has been performing and the QB position starts with Mccarney, regardless of the OC.

GOMG2013 · April 29, 2015

so when the offense looks good or there are some good play calls like in 2013 ball state, UNLV, and Rice, Chico is calling the plays...when the offense looks bad, McCarney is calling the plays...

Ben Gooding · April 29, 2015

I can never honestly say the offense has looked "good" in the McCarney era. It's always a stagnant offense that leans on popping run plays and/or rushing for 200+ yards with a pass mixed in here and there for good measure. Both the UNLV/Rice games the offense did not look "good." The offense was serviceable vs UNLV and we won that Rice game in '13 because of defense and ST. The Ball St game Derek Thompson played his best game in green and he is the reason we won that game. But even then the offense didn't look good, they sputtered through the 1st half and realized that they were going to have to throw the ball to win the game. They were out of their comfort zone by a long shot. We have not had consistency out of this offense at any point in the since McCarney has been here. Outside of '13 we haven't had any consistency out of the defense either. We are constantly giving up career highs to opposing players and are lucky to break 350 yards of offense, and I mean lucky.

GOMG2013 · April 29, 2015

I can never honestly say the offense has looked "good" in the McCarney era. It's always a stagnant offense that leans on popping run plays and/or rushing for 200+ yards with a pass mixed in here and there for good measure. Both the UNLV/Rice games the offense did not look "good." The offense was serviceable vs UNLV and we won that Rice game in '13 because of defense and ST. The Ball St game Derek Thompson played his best game in green and he is the reason we won that game. But even then the offense didn't look good, they sputtered through the 1st half and realized that they were going to have to throw the ball to win the game. They were out of their comfort zone by a long shot. We have not had consistency
out of this offense at any point in the since McCarney has been here. Outside of '13 we haven't had any consistency out of the defense either. We are constantly giving up career highs to opposing players and are lucky to break 350 yards of offense, and I mean lucky.

Ball State the defense got 5 turnovers...my point is, some dont like to give mac any credit for things that are good. its tommy perry's special teams...its skladanys defense...but it's mac's offense since its trash.

mac is a defensive coach. there have been plenty of defense first coaches. there are plenty of offensive first coaches.

blaming mac for the offense is silly. he has a coordinator dedicated to that. who says Mike Leaches, Kevin Sumlins, or Art Briles defense? they hired D coordinators to run the defense, just like defensive coaches hire O co ordinators. and those defensive coaches have to work around the situations and team that is centered around high powered offenses.

if there is a gripe we should have about mac is, his DEFENSE looked bad and has no depth since that is supposed to be his specialty. offense is on canales. hes calling the plays and picking the recruits.

Edited April 29, 2015 by GOMG2013

BillySee58 · April 29, 2015

Ball State the defense got 5 turnovers...my point is, some dont like to give mac any credit for things that are good. its tommy perry's special teams...its skladanys defense...but it's mac's offense since its trash.
mac is a defensive coach. there have been plenty of defense first coaches. there are plenty of offensive first coaches.
blaming mac for the offense is silly. he has a coordinator dedicated to that. who says Mike Leaches, Kevin Sumlins, or Art Briles defense? they hired D coordinators to run the defense, just like defensive coaches hire O co ordinators. and those defensive coaches have to work around the situations and team that is centered around high powered offenses.
if there is a gripe we should have about mac is, his DEFENSE looked bad and has no depth since that is supposed to be his specialty. offense is on canales. hes calling the plays and picking the recruits.

It's Mccarney's team. I understand what you're saying, and he does deserve credit and blame for the offense and the defense, and team as a whole. But as long as he's the coach it will be what he wants, from a broad perspective.

What have we heard since Cosh was hired? How similar he is to Skladany. He's mixing in a little bit of odd fronts, but Coach Mccarney has brought in a guy who is going to keep running what he wants, with the individual plays and quirks thrown in being where the DC can vary a little from if it were Mccarney himself as the DC.

As far as offense, there has been a tremendous change in philosophy from what Canales ran at USF, here with Dodge, and here as the interim to what our offense has looked like under Mccarney. It's his team. If we hired a new OC it wouldn't be a drastic change from what we have seen up to this point in the Mccarney era.

We keep hearing, and saw a little, about how this offense is going to be more spread and more up-tempo this year. There were some rumblings about Canales last year being on the hot seat, so I think he knows that. If he's in danger of losing his job then he's going to want to run more of his offense, rather than lose his job running more of someone else's offense.

And as far as QB recruiting, we've even seen a QB recruits' dad tell us explicitly on the board that Coach Mac had the final say in whether or not a QB is offered (but that was always pretty apparent). Canales had two 6'0" even QBs at USF, so I don't think he's the one who is so set on almost exclusively recruiting taller QBs. But it does limit him. That's just how I see it, at least.

Mean Green 93-98 · April 29, 2015

mac is a defensive coach.

That's probably an overstatement. He played on the offensive side of the ball in college, has coached on both sides of the ball, and he clearly has an offensive philosophy that any O.C. under him will have to follow.

UNTnewbie · April 29, 2015

Yep, there's that much time between plays. Our most effective offense recently was when Chico was the interim HC...Conroy Hines called the plays that Todd Dodge designed ...

FIFY
Rick

FIF-FFR!

GOMG2013 · April 29, 2015

And as far as QB recruiting, we've even seen a QB recruits' dad tell us explicitly on the board that Coach Mac had the final say in whether or not a QB is offered (but that was always pretty apparent). Canales had two 6'0" even QBs at USF, so I don't think he's the one who is so set on almost exclusively recruiting taller QBs. But it does limit him. That's just how I see it, at least.

we have also heard mac say he does not want a statue at QB. we heard it come straight from his mouth. but yet, we have Greer. the Florida kid issue was QB numbers. not mac evaluating his talent. Mac is not going out there looking for QBs. Canales is. Greer is on Canales, Brock was Canales, Means was Canales. i dont know about Dajon.

its up to Canales to sell his plan or idea to the head coach. i agree that Mac has final say, so he is most likely the last approver and should be held responsible too. i know theres some talent that doesnt even get seen by mac, because chico had already ruled them out. i know it for sure in 2014.

i have been to the camps and see how it works.

not just UNT either. head coaches goes around and asks the position coaches and co ordinators if they see anybody worth looking at. grant can like a wr, but if chico doesnt like him, its irrelevant. grant isnt going to go to mac and get chico overruled.

people are mad a mac for mcnulty being in there, but from what i see, mac has picked a better qb than chico has. maybe mac should be out there looking...

and its chicos fault that dajon isnt developed. it took two years to go uptempo, but better late than never. (i think skladany could have been holding that back)

if chico recruited dajon, then he should be able to come up with a system that works, and a system that makes dajon looks good enough to where mac would sign off on it. mac obviously isnt against a qb running the ball. if dajon is dumb, then scale the system down. we are all of a sudden simplifying the offense? 2 years late. chicos fault. and lets not pretend Mac is some offensive genius. he's easy to trick. he got tricked into bringing in Brock. tricked into bringing in Greer with limited JUCO film, and starting him against Texas with no D1 experience.

if chico can sell greer to mac and the fans, then he better be able to bring out all his tricks to get damarcus smith in there.