Can we hire the guy we should have hired in 2010 now?

Mean_Green09 · October 6, 2015

I don't get the love for Applewhite. He couldn't hack it with Saban and showed absolutely nothing as the OC at Texas. I see nothing about the man that would indicate to me that he would be a good HC. Also, he had an affair with a student trainer that would have had him kicked to the curb at any other school.
At the end of the day, what we really need right now is not a new HC, but a new AD. The new AD can make the call on the HC.

Hands tied behind his back at Texas. Wanted numerous player that Mack said no to. Kinda like what McCarney does here.

Applewhite wanted JT Barrett and Mack said No

Applewhite wanted Andrew Luck and Mack said No

He is a better HC candidate than OC. Dude can recruit.

We all know we need a new AD, but right after that we need a new FB HC. It has to happen in the same year and it has to happen this year.

All About UNT · October 6, 2015

He runs the triple option so they hardly ever throw. Did you check how they have 1887 yds rushing through 5 games? The guy has won everywhere he's gone and is 10-0 in Sun Belt play.

I know he runs the triple option and those rushing yards are great. It's boooorrrrring football viewing though

MeanGreenWithEnvy · October 6, 2015

As long as we are derpy derping in our athletic department, we won't be able to get the coaches that can do the above and we'll be stuck complaining about which coach can get them in here. But it's not like we can't get talent to this team. I mean, we have a handful of NFL caliber players, and there have been a good number of all-conference dudes.

Count me on the team that thinks you have to deal with the AD before you're going to get a successful football coach in Denton. We have a stink on us thanks to being sprayed by the failure skunk for so many years. It increasingly looks like we lucked our way into one memorable season before crashing back down to our under .500 ways. If this season heads south, that stink is going to be back on us and it'll be like 2013 and the Heart of Dallas Bowl never happened. We've got some evidence the players are demoralized, the head coach sounds like he's veering into dangerous territory, and 2013's hard-won fans are tuning out.

That's not going to change as long as the guy who has presided over two distinct chapters of it is making the hiring decisions.

We have a good bit of talent on this team. What we don't have is an offensive system where that talent is utilized and we don't have the coaches (or a coach?) with the mentality needed to make that change.

Iceberg warnings be damned, Mac is full steam ahead.

All About UNT · October 6, 2015

Looks like Mazahn could be on the hot seat if things don't improve at Auburn. If he (hypothetically) were fired.... do you pony up over a mill a year for a coach like that?

Either of the two OCs at TCU would do nicely as well. Harry mentioned Jake Spavital (A&M OC) as well.

ADLER · October 7, 2015

You guys must be kidding. Fritz is 4-1 this year and 9-3 last year while moving a FCS team up to FBS.
Look at last years schedule and results. GEORGIA SOUTHERN 2014 SCHEDULE
Fritz should be able to do even better with the resources that he would have at North Texas.

I would make it a package deal.

If RV were to resign I'd like to see us pursue Tom Kleinlein, the Athletic Director at Georgia Southern. He's accomplished so much with limited resources.
Unprecedented growth and accomplishments have defined Georgia Southern University Athletics since Tom Kleinlein was introduced as the Director of Athletics on November 12, 2012. The long-time administrator with a background in college football and departmental operations quickly set a course for Georgia Southern, introducing a business gameplan to achieve success and advance its aspirations.

One of Kleinlein’s first orders of business was directing the development and implementation of the Georgia Southern Athletics’ Strategic Plan, “Exceeding Expectations,” with six key objectives to guide the department toward its goals. The tenents of Athletic Distinction, Academic Distinction, Leadership Development, Serving as a Source of Pride that Unites All of “True Blue,” and Maintaining a Fiscally Responsible Department serve as a model for future plans of action and growth.

That preparation and planning was critical as Georgia Southern was ready to navigate the changing landscape of college athletics.

In March of 2013, Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel and Kleinlein officially accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference, moving the traditional FCS powerhouse to the highest level of competition in football and securing a new league for the Eagles’ NCAA Division I athletics teams. This announcement, a catalyst for many more to come, placed Georgia Southern among new peers, both as a department and as a university.

Under Kleinlein’s leadership, the Eagles have distinguished themselves with nine conference championships won during his tenure. The most prominent championship was the Eagles 2014 Sun Belt Football title. The Eagles became the first team to go undefeated in league play while winning their conference championship in their first season at the FBS level. The Championship capitalized on the department’s successes from the previous season where the Football team won its first-ever FBS game with a victory over Florida, and the Baseball won a conference championship and defeated fifth-ranked Florida State in the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee.

Men’s Basketball continued its rise with a second place finish in the Sun Belt Regular Season by just one game. The Eagles made an appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament Championship Game, narrowly missing a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The success also continued for Georgia Southern Men’s Golf who won the Sun Belt Championship Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

No less recognizable are the achievements taking place in the classroom. During the 2014-15 academic year, Georgia Southern’s student-athletes posted one of the highest combined grade point averages in history with a 2.97 for the year. Georgia Southern Football and Men’s Basketball also posted their highest semester GPAs on record in the spring of 2015.

Grade point average is but one indicator of academic success for Georgia Southern Athletics and the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, or APR, a team-based benchmark calculation that accounts for retention and eligibility of student-athletes, is another. Nine of the department’s programs recorded a perfect single-year APR score, while 14 of the 16 programs have a multi-year APR of 950 or higher.

The objectives in Kleinlein’s Strategic Plan reinforce the department’s commitment to “rings and diplomas,” giving each student-athlete the opportunity to earn a college degree and win a championship ring. Off the fields, Eagles are engaged in campus, community and cultural activities that help them develop as citizens and leaders. Eagles also have served the community, giving more than 1,500 hours over the 2014-15 season.

Kleinlein’s emphasis on organization and leadership is evident in the assembly of the athletics department, coaches and support staff. Not only has Kleinlein executed national searches for new coaches for Men’s Basketball, Football, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Soccer, Men’s Tennis, Women’s Tennis, Volleyball and Women’s Track and Field, he has hired founding coaches for Women’s Golf and Rifle.

In addition to coaching positions, Kleinlein has created his leadership team which added positions such as; Director of Student Athlete Services, Associate AD for External Operations and Associate AD for Internal Operations. These positions are all part of the infrastructure needed in order to operate successfully at the Division I FBS level.

In providing a quality experience for Eagle student-athletes, Kleinlein has overseen renovation projects totalling more than $23 million over the past few years. The projects include a new locker room and coaches’ offices for Men’s Basketball, new locker rooms for Women’s Basketball and Volleyball, and new locker room and players’ area for Baseball, and a new tennis scoreboard.

In the 2014-15 the Eagles completed the expansion of Allen E. Paulson Stadium and christened the new Ted Smith Family Football Center on the East side of Paulson. The stadium expansion increased the stadium’s capacity by adding 6,000 new seats. The addition of the Ted Smith Family Football Operations center provided a new 50,000 square foot home for Eagle football’s day-to-day operations, including weight room, athletic training room, coaches offices and team meeting space.

Kleinlein has spearheaded an overhaul of the Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation, creating a regionally based organization. These changes have resulted in an increase in annual fund donations from $800,000 to well over $1.2 million on an annual basis. In addition, new donor programs have been created that have generated additional revenue of $2.5 million to help cover the cost of the Eagles’ move to the Sun Belt Conference.

With the move to the Sun Belt Conference, Kleinlein has worked to increase Athletic Department’s annual operating budget from $11 million to $20 million annually. He has also negotiated and signed a multi-year multimedia rights deal with Learfield Sports which is valued at over $10 million.

Over his tenure at Georgia Southern, Kleinlein has negotiated the some of the largest contracts in school history, including deals with Coca Cola and Adidas. The deal with Coke, valued at $13 million, included scholarships and contributions to both the academic and athletic foundations. The deal is the largest corporate sponsorship in the University’s history. In 2013 the Eagles signed the department’s first all-sports apparel contract with Adidas.

Kleinlein accepted his current assignment at Georgia Southern after serving in executive roles with the Kent State, Arizona State and Rutgers Athletic Departments. Prior to his career in college athletics, he served as a high school history teacher and coach in Guilford County, North Carolina.

A student-athlete at Wake Forest, Kleinlein earned four letters as a member of the Demon Deacons’ offensive line (1989-92). He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Wake Forest (1998), his masters of education in curriculum and instruction from Arizona State (2008), and started his career in athletics administration as an academic counselor at his alma mater. He moved to football operations as assistant director at Wake Forest in 2002 and continued on that career path at Rutgers as Assistant Athletic Director for Football Operations.

Originally from Inwood, New York, Kleinlein and his wife, Tara, have two sons – Austin, 16, and Mason, 13.

If there is a change at coach Georgia Southern's Fritz would be my choice. He is only 55 and has won championships at 4 separate levels as he has ascended....and we would be able to afford for him to bring any Georgia Southern assistants that he wanted to retain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Fritz

The 2014 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Willie Fritz made an immediate splash in not only his first year at the helm of the Georgia Southern Football program but the school’s first season in the Sun Belt Conference and at the FBS level of competition.

Fritz led the team to a perfect 8-0 league record and was presented the conference trophy by the league’s Commissioner Karl Benson after a 22-16 win over ULM on Nov. 29, 2014 at Allen E. Paulson Stadium.

Fritz had the Eagles’ bowl eligible with a 9-3 overall record at the season’s end but the school’s waiver claim to allow Georgia Southern to play in a bowl despite being in the second year of the NCAA’s transition period was denied.

Fritz led the Eagles to a pair of firsts in school history. The Eagles won their first game in the FBS era 83-9 over Savannah State in the home opener (9/6). GS also posted their first win over an FBS team in the FBS era and the first Sun Belt Conference win on Sept. 20 at South Alabama (28-6).

The team played on ESPNU twice on Thursday night and won both contests (Appalachian State, 34-14 and Troy, 42-10). Fritz also led the Eagles into the first meeting with budding in-state rival Georgia State at the Georgia Dome and came away with a 69-31 victory.

In non-conference play the Eagles nearly defeated N.C. State (24-23) and Georgia Tech (42-38). They lost the two games against power 5 conference teams by a combined five points and had leads in both in the final two minutes.

The Eagles dominated both sides of the ball and led the Sun Belt in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense and rushing offense.

Fritz was announced as the ninth Head Coach of Georgia Southern Football in the modern era by Director of Athletics Tom Kleinlein at Bishop Field House on January 10, 2014.

A proven winner with more than 30 years of coaching experience, Fritz joined the Eagles from Sam Houston State, where he led the team to back-to-back Southland Conference titles, NCAA FCS championship appearances in 2011 and 2012, and a third-straight playoff berth in 2013.

In 22 years as a head coach, Fritz owns a 72.5 winning percentage with a record of 185-70-1 and more than a few trophies for his accomplishments at the national, regional and conference levels.

“As we are preparing to make the transition to FBS, it was important to me to identify and evaluate candidates who would come to Georgia Southern, embrace what we are about, understand what we’re about, put his own stamp on the institution’s football program and lead us into the Sun Belt Conference with relentless expectation,” Kleinlein said at the press announcement. “Coach Fritz has won at a lot of different levels. Not only does he win, but he comes in and changes the culture, academically and socially, and he’s made young people better men when they’ve left their institutions.”

The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year at the FCS level in 2012, Fritz was recognized nationally in 2011 as the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coach of the Year. Honored as the AFCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2012, Fritz was selected by the media and his peers in the Southland Conference as the league’s Coach of the Year in 2011 after his team went a perfect 7-0 in conference play.

In 2011 and 2012, Sam Houston State posted the two highest single-season win totals in program history with marks of 14-1 (2011) and 11-4 (2012) and Bearkat players were showered with accolades. More than 50 earned All-Southland Conference honors under Fritz in the last four years, not including additional “Player of the Year,” “Offensive Player of the Year,” “Defensive Player of the Year,” and “Newcomer of the Year” awards. All-America status from national coaching and media outlets were bestowed on 11 Sam Houston State players during his tenure.

“Georgia Southern hit a home run hiring Willie Fritz,” said Dennis Hickey, longtime NFL executive and current general manager of the Miami Dolphins. “I have known Coach Fritz for over 20 years having played for him, coached with him, and scouted his players for the NFL.

“Willie is a special coach and person with a unique gift for developing and bringing out the best in young men both on and off the field. He has a track record of developing NFL-ready players at every level that he has coached. He is a “winner” who has always done it the right way and has a proven track record of success at every level at which he has coached. I’m excited to see him continue that success at such a proud program as Georgia Southern.”

Fritz comes to Georgia Southern after four years as the head coach of the Bearkats and his most recent of three total tours in Huntsville. His resume includes a wealth of experience across the board, notably as a coach with an innate ability to connect with his players, demand accountability and build winning programs.

After a highly successful tenure at Blinn College, averaging nearly 10 wins a season during his four years there, Fritz left to revitalize a Central Missouri program and guided it to 11 winning seasons. The NCAA Division II program’s ledger included two 10-win seasons with the 2001 Mule squad earning its first postseason trip in more than 30 years. In 2002, Central Missouri made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II playoffs and was the Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) co-champion a year later. A 97-47 mark in 13 seasons ranks Fritz as the winningest coach in the program’s 118-year history. He was the only coach to ever win seven or more games in eight consecutive seasons and his victory total ranked him 15th among active Division II coaches at the time.

In addition to his impressive 67.4 winning percentage with the Mules, Fritz coached his student-athletes to achieve their potential both on the field and in the classroom. More than 150 Mules were recognized with All-MIAA honors with 41 first-team selections and 24 All-Americans. Under Fritz, Central Missouri recorded a graduation rate of 84 percent with 144 MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll recipients, 14 Academic All-Region and three Academic All-Americans.

Serving as a graduate assistant for the Bearkat program during the 1984 and 1985 seasons, Fritz earned a master’s degree in kinesiology while Sam Houston State posted a 16-6 record and won the 1985 Gulf Star Conference championship. He returned to Huntsville in 1991 after spending two years at Coffeyville College in Kansas under legendary Coach Dick Foster, earning a promotion to defensive coordinator after one year. He stayed another two years to work for Coach Skip Foster and the Red Ravens.

Coach Ron Randleman brought Fritz back to the state of Texas and Sam Houston State as secondary and special teams coach in 1991, instilling an attitude of excellence on special teams that would last more than a decade. The Bearkats’ “block party” racked up 80 blocked punts, field goals and extra points beginning with Fritz in 1991 and lasting through 2004. In Fritz’s first year as a full-time assistant coach at Sam Houston State in 1991, the Bearkats won the Southland Conference. That league title and eight-win season launched SHSU to the program’s second-ever appearance in the NCAA playoffs.

“Willie was like a coach on the field for me as a four-year starter at Pittsburg State,” Coach Randleman said. “I just think the world of him and am proud that he was on my coaching staff not once, but twice. He has a tremendous work ethic, he played hard, and he coaches the same way. Willie has a great rapport with his players and they respect him.”

Fritz would leave Huntsville again, this time for an opportunity to be the head coach at Blinn College, where he would turn around a program that had only five wins in its previous three seasons. From 1993-96, Fritz and the Buccaneers would rack up 39 victories against only five losses with a tie and claim two national junior college championships. He was inducted into the NJCAA Football Hall of Fame for the environment of success he created at Blinn.

One of seven children, Fritz is the son of the late Harry Fritz, who coached the Central Missouri football team in 1952 before continuing his career as the Executive Director at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in Kansas City. The elder Fritz also served at several colleges and universities in administration as an athletics director.

Fritz played on two conference title teams and was a four-starter at defensive back for Coach Randleman at Pittsburg State and remained at his alma mater as a student assistant coach for his alma mater in 1982. Early coaching stops included a year at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School (Kansas) in 1983 and Willis High School (Texas) in 1986, with his return to Sam Houston State for graduate school in between those years.

Fritz and his wife Susan have three children, Wesley, Lainie and Brooke. Wesley is a the Director of Player Personnel for the football program, and Lainie is a Sports Anchor at WCBD News 2 in Charleston, S.C. and Brooke begins 2015 as a freshman honors student at the University of Georgia.

FirefightnRick · October 7, 2015

The OC at Oklahoma...Lincoln Riley.

He wants to move up and knows he must win to do so.

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=209847157

One of the brightest young coaches in college football was named OU’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach on Jan. 12, 2015.

Joined the Sooners after a highly-successful five-year stint working under head coach Ruffin McNeill at East Carolina from 2010-14.

Installed and directed a new up-tempo spread offensive scheme that made an immediate impact at ECU as the Pirates set over 50 team or individual school offensive records in his five seasons with the program. His five squads own the top five passing seasons in school history and the top four positions for total offense in a season.

Spent his final season with the Pirates serving in the role of assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2014 as East Carolina ranked third in the nation in passing offense (371.9 ypg) and was fifth in total offense (533.0 ypg).

The Pirates set a single-season school record with 6,929 yards of total offense in 2014 and averaged 35.8 ppg to rank second in the American Athletic Conference.

His East Carolina offensive units routinely earned national top 10 rankings in major statistical categories such as passing offense (third in 2014, eighth in 2010), scoring offense (fifth in 2014, eighth in 2013), third-down percentage (seventh in 2013) and Red Zone scoring efficiency (third in 2012, fifth in 2010).

Tranformed East Carolina walk-on WR Justin Hardy into the most productive pass catcher in FBS history with 387 career catches, breaking the NCAA career record previously held by Oklahoma’s Ryan Broyles (349).

Hardy’s 4,541 career receiving yards rank third all-time in FBS annals. He flourished in Riley’s offense, registering three 1,000-yard seasons at ECU, culminating with a 121-catch, 1,494-yard season as a senior in 2014.

Also mentored East Carolina WR Dwayne Harris, who enjoyed a prolifc senior campaign in 2010 with 101 catches for 1,123 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Developed a pair of dynamic quarterbacks in Dominique Davis and Shane Carden. Davis, selected as Conference USA’s Newcomer of the Year in 2011, left ECU with career marks for completions and touchdown passes despite playing only two seasons.

Davis ranked second among FBS signal callers with 393 completions and 46 total touchdowns in 2010. He set an NCAA record with a stretch of 36 straight completions in 2011.

Carden then took over the job in 2012 and went on to break the majority of Davis’ records, becoming the first 4,000-yard passer in program history and setting single-season standards for completion percentage (70.5 in 2013) and passing yards (4,736 in 2014).

Carden earned Conference USA MVP honors in 2013 and was the American Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2014. He led all FBS passers with 392 completions in 2014.

During his seven seasons on Texas Tech staff, Riley was part of seven bowl appearances and five bowl wins. During that span, Red Raiders quarterbacks won NCAA passing titles in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Subsquently immersed himself in Mike Leach’s offense and worked his way into a full-time position on his staff, eventually calling plays for Texas Tech as interim coordinator in the 2010 Alamo Bowl. The Red Raiders racked up 579 yards in a 41-31 victory over Michigan State, marking a phenomenal start to his career as a play caller.

Under his guidance in 2007, WR Michael Crabtree won the Biletnikoff Award after smashing Big 12 records and NCAA freshman records with 134 receptions for 1,962 yards. Crabtree also accumulated 22 touchdown catches that season, a figure that was later surpassed by West Virginia’s Stedman Bailey (25 in 2012).

Texas Tech boasted a duo of 100-catch, 1,000-yard receivers with Riley on staff in 2007 as WR Danny Amendola hauled in 109 passes for 1,245 yards.

PROMINENT PUPILS
Justin Hardy (East Carolina), Falcons
Burlsworth Trophy
All-Conference USA First Team
All-AAC First Team
Shane Carden (East Carolina), Bears
Conference USA MVP
AAC Offensive Player of the Year
Dominique Davis (East Carolina)
Conference USA Newcomer of the Year
Dwayne Harris (East Carolina), Giants
All-Conference USA First Team
Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), 49ers
Biletnikoff Award
All-America First Team
All-Big 12 First Team
Danny Amendola (Texas Tech), Patriots
Graham Harrell (Texas Tech)
All-Big 12 Second Team
Gator Bowl MVP

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS A PLAYER
Part of the Texas Tech squad that played in the 2002 Tangerine Bowl.

Rick

Edited October 7, 2015 by FirefightnRick

untjim1995 · October 7, 2015

Major Applewhite and Lincoln Riley would be in for a huge culture shock if they came here, seeing the budget issues, the lack of fans, and a total lack of respect from the Texas HS coaches and recruits for this place. Besides that, both will be head coaches somewhere else higher on the foodchain than here, if for no other reason than we aren't making any changes anytime soon at HFC.

When the time comes, its gonna take someone from the SBC, FCS, or Division 2 that knows Texas HS coaches, has experienced winning at places with even less support than we have both financially and fan-wise, and has the early-years persona that Mac showed us before he became Dickey 2.0 towards this place.

When the 2017 season finally ends, I will bet that a few names we have never heard of or barely know about will become strong, viable candidates. And whichever one carries a binder full of impressive files with him into the interview with RV, that will probably be our coach for the 2018 season.

MeanGreenTexan · October 7, 2015

Major Applewhite and Lincoln Riley would be in for a huge culture shock if they came here, seeing the budget issues, the lack of fans, and a total lack of respect from the Texas HS coaches and recruits for this place. Besides that, both will be head coaches somewhere else higher on the foodchain than here, if for no other reason than we aren't making any changes anytime soon at HFC.
When the time comes, its gonna take someone from the SBC, FCS, or Division 2 that knows Texas HS coaches, has experienced winning at places with even less support than we have both financially and fan-wise, and has the early-years persona that Mac showed us before he became Dickey 2.0 towards this place.
When the 2017 season finally ends, I will bet that a few names we have never heard of or barely know about will become strong, viable candidates. And whichever one carries a binder full of impressive files with him into the interview with RV, that will probably be our coach for the 2018 season.

Major, yes.
Riley... I'm not so sure. Riley has experience at a G5 formerly in our own conference. ECU obviously has much more financial support, and he stepped into a nice situation there after Skip Holtz made ECU a consistent winner, but I think he would get it. My qualm with Riley is that the dude is VERY YOUNG. It would be a huge gamble.

As for being HCs elsewhere, I think a G5 team will poach one or both of them before they get a shot at a P5 anywhere.
Now, a guy like Jake Spavital, he's likely waiting out a P5 offer.

Mean_Green09 · October 7, 2015

Major Applewhite and Lincoln Riley would be in for a huge culture shock if they came here, seeing the budget issues, the lack of fans, and a total lack of respect from the Texas HS coaches and recruits for this place. Besides that, both will be head coaches somewhere else higher on the foodchain than here, if for no other reason than we aren't making any changes anytime soon at HFC.
When the time comes, its gonna take someone from the SBC, FCS, or Division 2 that knows Texas HS coaches, has experienced winning at places with even less support than we have both financially and fan-wise, and has the early-years persona that Mac showed us before he became Dickey 2.0 towards this place.

Those two guys would carry their own respect with Texas HS coaches and do just fine. Not many Texas HS coaches respected June Jones and SMU was down. Chad Morris came in and now all of a sudden they respect the program again. It has more to do with the staff and their relationships now a days then the name on the jersey.

Major knows more Texas HS coaches than Riley does, and probably more than an FCS hire would.

MeanGreenHoops · October 7, 2015

Major Applewhite and Lincoln Riley would be in for a huge culture shock if they came here, seeing the budget issues, the lack of fans, and a total lack of respect from the Texas HS coaches and recruits for this place. Besides that, both will be head coaches somewhere else higher on the foodchain than here, if for no other reason than we aren't making any changes anytime soon at HFC.

I don't agree with the lack of fans part at all. We have 20K that will show up at the beginning of a season when everyone already thinks we are terrible. I imagine that if we had an exciting recruiting class and coach things would be much better and closer to a sell out. Things are different now, the school and fanbase are ready to support it. Just got to give them a reason.

SilverEagle · October 7, 2015

This may have already been stated, but it's far more different (and often a lot more easy) to start a new program than to resuscitate a program with a history of losing and a "challenging" culture.

Harry · October 7, 2015

I don't agree with the lack of fans part at all. We have 20K that will show up at the beginning of a season when everyone already thinks we are terrible. I imagine that if we had an exciting recruiting class and coach things would be much better and closer to a sell out. Things are different now, the school and fanbase are ready to support it. Just got to give them a reason.

I think the crowd we had for SMU supports this.

edcollopy · October 7, 2015

our school will support some success...look at how many have traveled to our last 5 bowl games...it's just so difficult to get them engaged after so many horrible years. Look at how long it took the pirates, royals, and astros to get their fan bases engaged again after long dry spells. Continued, consistent success will bring much better numbers that the athletic budget can't count on year after year.

foutsrouts · October 7, 2015

I don't agree with the lack of fans part at all. We have 20K that will show up at the beginning of a season when everyone already thinks we are terrible. I imagine that if we had an exciting recruiting class and coach things would be much better and closer to a sell out. Things are different now, the school and fanbase are ready to support it. Just got to give them a reason.

I agree. Strangely enough, the positive culture change seemed to begin for a large part early in the Dodge era. Although our N.O. Bowl appearances did show some pretty impressive fan support. We've got to win soon before we regress back in the other direction.

Cr1028 · October 7, 2015

I agree. Strangely enough, the positive culture change seemed to begin for a large part early in the Dodge era. Although our N.O. Bowl appearances did show some pretty impressive fan support. We've got to win soon before we regress back in the other direction.

Dodge was very good with the fans and like it or not, he played a rather large role in getting that beautiful stadium built that he never got to coach in.

Would Bill Clark be worth a look? He has got to be sick of the UAB mess by now.

MeanGreenHoops · October 7, 2015

I agree. Strangely enough, the positive culture change seemed to begin for a large part early in the Dodge era. Although our N.O. Bowl appearances did show some pretty impressive fan support. We've got to win soon before we regress back in the other direction.

Actually I think the Dodge hire did a lot to increase the fan interest. He had been so successful. It kind of seemed like we were serious. It gave the fans optimism, a lot more than the McCarney hire did. Too bad the Dodge hire flopped because it was the kind of hire a program like ours needed to go right.

Rudy · October 8, 2015

In not completely opposed to a coach and AD from an FCS or the Belt, but am I the only one that thinks we should set our sights higher?

DeepGreen · October 8, 2015

Actually I think the Dodge hire did a lot to increase the fan interest. He had been so successful. It kind of seemed like we were serious. It gave the fans optimism, a lot more than the McCarney hire did. Too bad the Dodge hire flopped because it was the kind of hire a program like ours needed to go right.

The 5500+ fans that turned out for Dodge's first spring game certainly backs your statement.

greenminer · October 8, 2015

In not completely opposed to a coach and AD from an FCS or the Belt, but am I the only one that thinks we should set our sights higher?

I want a guy who understands our budget. I don't' think that necessarily means FCS or Belt but I believe we should avoid a guy who has spent his entire coaching career in the P5.