Grade the Littrell Hire

[TIgreen01]

Shenanigans!  :)

[Cerebus]

Shenanigans!  :)

[Green P1]

 

 

What kind of confirmation are you expecting?  A signed affidavit from Smatresk that he undercut his own employee?  Anything else you want to the university to release that it never will?  The PIN number to the UNT endowment debit card?  How about about a blow by blow description from the athletic department about how Mac was fired?  Here it is:

"Well I for sure didn't want to fire Coach Mac in the middle of the season but at halftime of homecoming EK had me in a headlock and The Brintinator was working my kidneys over something fierce and they said they wasn't going to quit unless I for sure promised to let him go before sunlight!"

Go ahead and print that out, head on down to the athletic offices and I am sure someone there will sign it for you.  

You are never going to get that kind of story on UNT letterhead.  I can tell you that I have heard that Littrell is Smatresk's pick from more than enough insiders that I trust that interpretation.  

I think it might be too early to judge Littrell as a Smat hire. Think we should revisit this discussion down the line?

[TIgreen01]

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

 

 

What kind of confirmation are you expecting?  A signed affidavit from Smatresk that he undercut his own employee?  Anything else you want to the university to release that it never will?  The PIN number to the UNT endowment debit card?  How about about a blow by blow description from the athletic department about how Mac was fired?  Here it is:

"Well I for sure didn't want to fire Coach Mac in the middle of the season but at halftime of homecoming EK had me in a headlock and The Brintinator was working my kidneys over something fierce and they said they wasn't going to quit unless I for sure promised to let him go before sunlight!"

Go ahead and print that out, head on down to the athletic offices and I am sure someone there will sign it for you.  

You are never going to get that kind of story on UNT letterhead.  I can tell you that I have heard that Littrell is Smatresk's pick from more than enough insiders that I trust that interpretation.  

Don't need a signed affidavit (although if you can get one, please do).

I just don't believe there was a dichotomy like that.  I highly doubt NS put his foot down and said "Littrell!!", RV put his foot down and said, "Meacham!!", and Smatresk threatened him with a firing if he doesn't like it. 
They likely AGREED that Littrell was the guy.  And that may have taken a discussion.  RV may have liked Meacham a little better, but was convinced by NS, Brint/Ernie/other "17" members.  He did mention during the presser that he knew about Littrell during his coaching search for Mac.  Littrell was likely brought up as an option by RV.  
But I highly doubt anyone was told Meacham was going to be hired by RV, then RV got trumped by NS... like many were faux-reporting after Meacham wasn't announced the Monday after his interview.
I simply don't buy that at all.

[Cerebus]

I think it might be too early to judge Littrell as a Smat hire. Think we should revisit this discussion down the line?

I expected more of you.  I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

[mad dog]

What kind of confirmation are you expecting?  A signed affidavit from Smatresk that he undercut his own employee?  Anything else you want to the university to release that it never will?  The PIN number to the UNT endowment debit card?  How about about a blow by blow description from the athletic department about how Mac was fired?  

Though, in fairness, wouldn't we all like to know how well endowed North Texas is?

[Green P1]

I expected more of you.  I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.

I think you might wanna check your level of disappointment once you've had more time to reflect.  Just seems kinda silly to judge that post almost immediately.   Let's re-visit this on down the road. 

[Cerebus]

I think you might wanna check your level of disappointment once you've had more time to reflect.  Just seems kinda silly to judge that post almost immediately.   Let's re-visit this on down the road. 

You're adopted.  

[risinggreen]

As long as his best friend doesn't have an unrecruited 18 year old son who plays quarterback, I'm pretty happy with the hire and give him a B at his starting point. I do realize that cronyism is not exactly unheard of in this profession, but I really do hope that the rest of his hires have a little more post-high school football coaching mileage on them.

[Christopher Walker]

Anything else you want to the university to release that it never will?  The PIN number to the UNT endowment debit card?

How much you wanna bet it's 1 8 9 0 ?

[3XL]

I voted A- and yes...I know...I'm looking through green colored glasses while drinking a midori sour...but I really liked his OC hire Graham Harrell in week one...

Harrel & Littrell are part of the Leach coaching tree. (unrelated...but I so wanted RV to reach out to Leach when he was relieved at Tech...seriously doubt that he even bothered to put down his sandwich to dial...#thanksRV) 

So far...in the 7-8 days..we have two young coaches from this area....who know what it takes to play & win at the next big step from high school...young & hungry....works for me.

welcome to Denton coaches

[adman]

Does anyone feel like this is a Million Dollar Dodge 2.0? Fancy Schmancy offensive mind thats never had a HC college job, bringing in assistants/coordinators that have never coached their assistant/coordinator position. Granted these guys have some college experience but…I want to really really like this but part of me feels like its just a way more expensive experiment that we've already tried. Sorta.

 

I gave the hire a C grade btw. Im not sure what to think.

 

 

[Ben Gooding]

Does anyone feel like this is a Million Dollar Dodge 2.0? Fancy Schmancy offensive mind thats never had a HC college job, bringing in assistants/coordinators that have never coached their assistant/coordinator position. Granted these guys have some college experience but…I want to really really like this but part of me feels like its just a way more expensive experiment that we've already tried. Sorta.

 

I gave the hire a C grade btw. Im not sure what to think.

 

 

In a weird way, yes. 

[greenminer]

I like the hire.  I was pleasantly surprised, actually; I did not know about him until his name was leaked. I would have been okay with Meacham, Fritz or others people have discussed.  I think it was a pretty good time to bring in new blood.

I still have concerns how this guy will handle a program with our budget.  But he seems to have a good vibe: will work hard and try to solve the riddle that is athletics under RV.

Here's hoping he can recruit and find a good DC.

 

And if you really want to hear a reach from this Miner fan, Don Haskins was from OK.  I hope he follows the same path: legendary numbers, transformed the game, and doesn't care to move to another school.

Current status: A

3 people voted F.  I wonder what that is about.

Edited December 16, 2015 by greenminer

[UNT90]

Don't need a signed affidavit (although if you can get one, please do).
I just don't believe there was a dichotomy like that.  I highly doubt NS put his foot down and said "Littrell!!", RV put his foot down and said, "Meacham!!", and Smatresk threatened him with a firing if he doesn't like it. 
They likely AGREED that Littrell was the guy.  And that may have taken a discussion.  RV may have liked Meacham a little better, but was convinced by NS, Brint/Ernie/other "17" members.  He did mention during the presser that he knew about Littrell during his coaching search for Mac.  Littrell was likely brought up as an option by RV.  
But I highly doubt anyone was told Meacham was going to be hired by RV, then RV got trumped by NS... like many were faux-reporting after Meacham wasn't announced the Monday after his interview.
I simply don't buy that at all.

Of course RV agreed. RV ALWAYS does whatever is necessary to keep his paycheck at UNT. That is his first priority. That doesn't mean he didn't fight for Meacham behind the scenes. I have also heard from reliable sources that RV and Smatresk wanted different people. 

Smatresk recently refused to give RV a vote of confidence and made sure the media knew about it. If you think it's impossible this was Smatresk's decision, you simply aren't paying attention. 

Lets all cross our fingers and hope RV is gone by February. 

[oldguystudent]

I still have concerns how this guy will handle a program with our budget.  

I don't know that relative to our CUSA peers, budget is all that much of a concern anymore.  I'm actually concerned the other direction that we've just thrown millions of dollars on the craps table hoping for hard eight on the hop.  

I like what I've heard from him so far.  I'm not too concerned that we're gonna go out there and run nothing but rich white kid high school schemes on offense behind a line in shoddy shoes and a string of QBs who get smashed like so many unprotected pancakes.  I'm not concerned that we take three timeouts and kick a field goal on 4th and inches from the five yard line with one minute left in the game when we're down by 5 points.

I am, however, concerned that every game is going to be a 77-63 shootout.  I am concerned that defense doesn't improve because it's not a priority.  I am concerned that maybe Littrell has never even worked with a defense before so he's got to put blind faith in whatever positions coach he ultimately hires as DC.

I am cautiously optimistic, but with heavy reservations.  

But I am not one bit concerned with budget.  That issue has significantly resolved since the days of paying our coordinators minimum wage.

[untjim1995]

I think he's a great hire--he is a great representative of the university by his pedigree, success, and his family.

But now he has to recruit kids here. Now he has to deal with the worst AD in the country who isn't going anywhere soon. Now he has to deal with apathy that has never existed at one school he has been a part of before. And now he has to deal with limited resources compared to the places he has been before.

I think he is a coach who will be here for a 3 or 4 years--either as a humongous success to be hired away or as another coach who just couldn't get things going here because of the institutional issues above him and/or the job of being a head football coach at a college is just too much for him. Basically, those two reasons sum up every coach we have hired and fired since Hayden Fry left.

Maybe Littrell is different and he turns this thing around faster than anyone could imagine. But a lot of us are just skeptical.

[greenminer]

I don't know that relative to our CUSA peers, budget is all that much of a concern anymore.  I'm actually concerned the other direction that we've just thrown millions of dollars on the craps table hoping for hard eight on the hop.  

I like what I've heard from him so far.  I'm not too concerned that we're gonna go out there and run nothing but rich white kid high school schemes on offense behind a line in shoddy shoes and a string of QBs who get smashed like so many unprotected pancakes.  I'm not concerned that we take three timeouts and kick a field goal on 4th and inches from the five yard line with one minute left in the game when we're down by 5 points.

I am, however, concerned that every game is going to be a 77-63 shootout.  I am concerned that defense doesn't improve because it's not a priority.  I am concerned that maybe Littrell has never even worked with a defense before so he's got to put blind faith in whatever positions coach he ultimately hires as DC.

I am cautiously optimistic, but with heavy reservations.  

But I am not one bit concerned with budget.  That issue has significantly resolved since the days of paying our coordinators minimum wage.

I'm right there with you, actually.  I think you just articulated things much better than I did.

[foutsrouts]

I think he's a great hire--he is a great representative of the university by his pedigree, success, and his family.

But now he has to recruit kids here. Now he has to deal with the worst AD in the country who isn't going anywhere soon. Now he has to deal with apathy that has never existed at one school he has been a part of before. And now he has to deal with limited resources compared to the places he has been before.

I think he is a coach who will be here for a 3 or 4 years--either as a humongous success to be hired away or as another coach who just couldn't get things going here because of the institutional issues above him and/or the job of being a head football coach at a college is just too much for him. Basically, those two reasons sum up every coach we have hired and fired since Hayden Fry left.

Maybe Littrell is different and he turns this thing around faster than anyone could imagine. But a lot of us are just skeptical.

Yes, and barring an unexpectedly fantastic recruiting class, the frustrating thing is that we aren't going to know much of anything for another 9-10 months. It's going to be a very long off season. Especially since we already pretty much know what we've got in men's basketball.

[UNT90]

Does anyone feel like this is a Million Dollar Dodge 2.0? Fancy Schmancy offensive mind thats never had a HC college job, bringing in assistants/coordinators that have never coached their assistant/coordinator position. Granted these guys have some college experience but…I want to really really like this but part of me feels like its just a way more expensive experiment that we've already tried. Sorta.

 

I gave the hire a C grade btw. Im not sure what to think.

 

 

This is about where I am at.

[Cerebus]

Does anyone feel like this is a Million Dollar Dodge 2.0?

No and let me tell you why:

1. TD had one year of college exp (QB coach) /  SL has 10+ years, with six of those being an OC.
2. TD had no real experience recruiting FBS players / Recruiting is a major strength of SL.
3. TD had no OC exp / SL has had a Top 25 passing offense or total offense team the last 5/6 years.
4. TD brought up (forced) his HS staff / SL was building a promising college staff before he was even hired.
5. The first person who hired TD to a college staff was Dennis Parker / The first person to hire SL was Mike Leach (He has a pretty good eye for finding CFB coaching talent).
6. Perhaps most importantly to me, and IMHO:  TD thought he was going to succeed here because he was TD / SL thinks he can succeed here because he is going to work his ass off, and will demand everyone involved in the program to do the same.

 

Everyone knows I preferred Willie Fritz and still to this day I wish we had landed him.  However the more I looked at Littrell the more I began to think he is the right kind of coach to turn this around.  

[GreenTexan13]

Does anyone feel like this is a Million Dollar Dodge 2.0? Fancy Schmancy offensive mind thats never had a HC college job, bringing in assistants/coordinators that have never coached their assistant/coordinator position. Granted these guys have some college experience but…I want to really really like this but part of me feels like its just a way more expensive experiment that we've already tried. Sorta.

 

I gave the hire a C grade btw. Im not sure what to think.

 

 

Does bringing in a guy who has experience as HC before, really prove that the are the right fit for the job? Besides one year here, Coach Mac proved that a guy with the fancy championship rings and the track record of bringing back a downed Big 12 team doesn't mean jack squat in the grand scheme of things..... He went out the North Texas exit just like Todd Dodge.

I don't think Littrell should be labeled in the experience category like Dodge. Just look at Cerebus' post for proof. The assistants all come from good backgrounds, like our OC playing backup for the Green Bay Packers super bowl team not to long ago. And these guys have all coached/played at the collegiate level together in their past.

This is all to early to grade this hire, we need to give it 2 years... But I do see a lot of differences with Littrell.
 

[UNT90]

No and let me tell you why:

1. TD had one year of college exp (QB coach) /  SL has 10+ years, with six of those being an OC.
2. TD had no real experience recruiting FBS players / Recruiting is a major strength of SL.
3. TD had no OC exp / SL has had a Top 25 passing offense or total offense team the last 5/6 years.
4. TD brought up (forced) his HS staff / SL was building a promising college staff before he was even hired.
5. The first person who hired TD to a college staff was Dennis Parker / The first person to hire SL was Mike Leach (He has a pretty good eye for finding CFB coaching talent).
6. Perhaps most importantly to me, and IMHO:  TD thought he was going to succeed here because he was TD / SL thinks he can succeed here because he is going to work his ass off, and will demand everyone involved in the program to do the same.

 

Everyone knows I preferred Willie Fritz and still to this day I wish we had landed him.  However the more I looked at Littrell the more I began to think he is the right kind of coach to turn this around.  

I don't see a lot of difference between Littrell and every other Coordinator that has been promoted to head coach. All were successful coordinators, only some are successful head coaches. And most of those are hired at historically far better programs that don't have the albatross of the worst AD in college football hung around their neck. 

If he is successful, it will be a major miracle, and a historically successful  P5 should snap him up in a heart beat. I truly don't believe he realizes what he has gotten himself into. 

[UNTpolitico]

I hope we don't keep him.. I always have that UNT devil on my shoulder saying that this won't work out. I hope it does. I hope he turns this program around and we are hemorrhaging assistants and trying to keep our head coach at all costs. Because if that is happening its because we are winnings,