Now that the dust has settled.......

[untjim1995]

THIS.  With Skladany retiring, and Joseph going to Indiana, we've gone so far downhill from our tenacious D of 2012-2013.  There were times when it looked like our opponents' offenses were running away from our defenders, regardless of their relative position to the goalline (and very well they may have).  That's a far cry from last, and even moreso, this year, when they just run right over us.

 

Our defense didn't fall apart because of Skladany and Joseph leaving. It fell apart because the players we lost were replaced with much less talented guys than what we had in 2013. Our defense in 2013 was one of the best at turnovers--neither of the last two have come close to that. That's not coaching--that's a severe lack of playmakers, from the undersized DL to the slow secondary.

Its gonna take a couple of years to get the pieces together on BOTH sides of the ball to get anywhere close to our 2013 team, which along with our 2003 team, were the best squads UNT has fielded since 1978.

[MeanGreenTexan]

I'm proposing tomorrow and I am gonna use at least one snippet of his speech in my actual proposal....just deciding which part

<...nervous, mushy build-up part...>  I really love you.   Will you run a spread, no-huddle, multi-tempo offense with me for the rest of your life?

[untjim1995]

<...nervous, mushy build-up part...>  I really love you.   Will you run a spread, no-huddle, multi-tempo offense with me for the rest of your life?

I hope he uses the Littrell offensive nuptial proposal instead of the Benford approach...you know, "Hey, I can't do anything fundamentally right, and I know your talent is the best its ever been, but I plan to lazily take advantage of that and draw a paycheck for the next 4 years until you financially decide there is someone better than me that will come along. Plus, if I was really that great, my ex in Lubbock would have married me years ago anyway...Whadda ya say?"

[MeanGreenTexan]

Our defense didn't fall apart because of Skladany and Joseph leaving. It fell apart because the players we lost were replaced with much less talented guys than what we had in 2013. Our defense in 2013 was one of the best at turnovers--neither of the last two have come close to that. That's not coaching--that's a severe lack of playmakers, from the undersized DL to the slow secondary.

Its gonna take a couple of years to get the pieces together on BOTH sides of the ball to get anywhere close to our 2013 team, which along with our 2003 team, were the best squads UNT has fielded since 1978.

Yeah, no.   At least, not offensively.

Did you guys forget how dynamic the offense was in 2007?  Right off the bat, Dodge's system was killing it offensively.

I think our offensive numbers can be just as good (if not better) than 2013's right off the bat, just based on Littrell's system alone.    
Do I think next year's defense can be as good as 2013 though?    Not a chance.   Can it be better than Cosh's joke?   Without a doubt.
If he decides to retain Perry, we can expect the same solid special teams play.

[Ben Gooding]

Our defense didn't fall apart because of Skladany and Joseph leaving. It fell apart because the players we lost were replaced with much less talented guys than what we had in 2013. Our defense in 2013 was one of the best at turnovers--neither of the last two have come close to that. That's not coaching--that's a severe lack of playmakers, from the undersized DL to the slow secondary.

Its gonna take a couple of years to get the pieces together on BOTH sides of the ball to get anywhere close to our 2013 team, which along with our 2003 team, were the best squads UNT has fielded since 1978.

So we should expect to be competitive again in 2023? 

[JesseMartin]

Our defense didn't fall apart because of Skladany and Joseph leaving. It fell apart because the players we lost were replaced with much less talented guys than what we had in 2013. Our defense in 2013 was one of the best at turnovers--neither of the last two have come close to that. That's not coaching--that's a severe lack of playmakers, from the undersized DL to the slow secondary.

Its gonna take a couple of years to get the pieces together on BOTH sides of the ball to get anywhere close to our 2013 team, which along with our 2003 team, were the best squads UNT has fielded since 1978.

Maybe a little bit of both...you don't think those two coached their guys up a bit?  They were great players, for sure, but would they have been that awesome without the direction they received?

[97and03]

Yeah, no.   At least, not offensively.

Did you guys forget how dynamic the offense was in 2007?  Right off the bat, Dodge's system was killing it offensively.

I think our offensive numbers can be just as good (if not better) than 2013's right off the bat, just based on Littrell's system alone.    
Do I think next year's defense can be as good as 2013 though?    Not a chance.   Can it be better than Cosh's joke?   Without a doubt.
If he decides to retain Perry, we can expect the same solid special teams play.

Note on 2007 (and all Dodge years for that matter): lots of yards, not so much points.

[MGNation92]

Note on 2007 (and all Dodge years for that matter): lots of yards, not so much points.

I think the main difference is Littrell is a former FB, was an RB coach, worked with stud running backs like Tevin Coleman. Make no mistake we will sling it with his offense, but he will definitely run it when needed. Something Dodge apparently couldn't do. Note he keeps saying "multi-tempo". I think if the gameplan dictates we run the ball 40 times in a game, I wouldn't be surprised to see Littrell do it

[MeanGreenTexan]

Note on 2007 (and all Dodge years for that matter): lots of yards, not so much points.

Lots of yards, and lots of points when playing teams on our level (OU & AR held us to 10pts or less).   Remember, this was the same year we played Navy to 62-74.   I'm sorry, but when you score 62pts, you should win every time.  The only team that shut it down was Troy.

[southsideguy]

so when will we start seeing the asst coaches being hired, i don't remember how long that part takes? 

[EagleMBA]

so when will we start seeing the asst coaches being hired, i don't remember how long that part takes? 

Do those positions have to be posted like other positions? If so, it could be a month...unless the assistant positions have already been posted and are open to apply. Has anyone checked?

[ColoradoEagle]

Took about a week and a half for McCarney to hire Clint Bowen.

[greenminer]

Note on 2007 (and all Dodge years for that matter): lots of yards, not so much points.

Bingo.  Spread offenses and shotgun QBs are less effective when there is less field to spread across, i.e. Red Zone.

[97and03]

Lots of yards, and lots of points when playing teams on our level (OU & AR held us to 10pts or less).   Remember, this was the same year we played Navy to 62-74.   I'm sorry, but when you score 62pts, you should win every time.  The only team that shut it down was Troy.

Oh you misremember my friend. Other than Navy, that offense only scored more than 30 twice. I know that our offense has been bad the last few years, but don't confused Dodge's mediocre scoring with actually high-scoring offenses.

007-2008 SCHEDULE Overall 2-10   Conf. 1-6   Home 2-4   Away 0-6

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
09/01/07	at Oklahoma	Norman, OK	L, 79-10
09/08/07	at SMU	Dallas, TX	L, 45-31
09/22/07	vs. Florida Atlantic *	Denton, TX	L, 30-20
09/29/07	vs. Arkansas	Denton, TX	L, 38-29
10/06/07	at Louisiana-Lafayette *	Lafayette, LA	L, 38-29
10/13/07	vs. Louisiana-Monroe *	Denton, TX	W, 31-21
10/20/07	at Troy *	Troy, AL	L, 45-7
10/27/07	vs. Middle Tennesee *	Denton, TX	L, 48-28
11/10/07	vs. Navy	Denton, TX	L, 74-62
11/15/07	at Arkansas State *	Jonesboro, AR	L, 31-27
11/24/07	vs. Western Kentucky	Denton, TX	W, 27-26
12/01/07	at Florida International *	Miami, FL	L, 38-19

Ranking 79, ppg 24.8

79

North Texas

4901

408

3476

289.7

1425

118.8

298

24.8

Edited December 9, 2015 by 97and03
facts

[untjim1995]

So we should expect to be competitive again in 2023? 

You should expect to see effort improvement in 2016. You should competitive improvement in 2017. You should see a team that hopefully can contend by 2018 for at least a CUSA West Division Championship.

If it happens faster than that, tip your cap to Littrell. If it doesn't, the hole that he has to dig out of was just too deep to recover from in three years and he will probably either get fired or have a 4th chance to prove he can make this team into a winner. I'm of the belief that you have absolutely bottom-of-the-barrel talent here overall, full of guys who have no idea how to play a spread offense in college, nor do we have a QB. Add in a small defensive front seven and a slow defensive backfield and combine it with a very short recruiting period where Texas HS Coaches are saying they haven't seen our coaches in years, its gonna be real tough in 2016. My expectation for next year is to win 2 games. If its better than that, I'll be amazed. Then, in 2017, let's see continued improvement and get to 4 or 5 wins. And finally, by 2018, get to 7+ wins.

This isn't Mac taking over Dodge's talented recruit and using actual college coaches to get them to achieve a good season. This is a brand new head coach taking over a team with less talent than what Dodge took over in 2007 from Dickey. Mac didn't leave the cupboard empty, he basically hammered the thing into pieces. Hopefully, Canales built the cupboard again and it will be usable to begin stockpiling players here. That speaks to the character and attitude of this roster that quit on the university on Homecoming. Littrell's first job in the coming months is to just see who has leadership skills and eager attitudes and who doesn't. And then use the spring to see if there is a QB around here that can work in his offense or if he is just better off bringing in someone brand new and just rolling with the new guy from a high school or JUCO.