Rome was not built in a Day

El Paso Eagle · January 28, 2016

For the longest time I have read were people will say that we need coaches who can “find the diamond-in-the-rough” or spot the “hidden talent”. I have to believe that Seth and Company have a plan on how he believes he can build the program (some mix of) –

Transfers
JUCO
High school star recruits
High school “over/under looked”

Let give the staff a little time to build something. The relationships with the Texas High School Coaches will not happen overnight (I’m guessing they want to see an ongoing presence from UNT coaches, not just the rush visits they coaches are able to take now due to the timing).

SilverEagle · January 28, 2016

For me the beginning is looking at how they assess/develop/place the players they were given. First signals that things aren't going so well, "selling-the-troops" wise would be a lot of players bailing out. I haven't heard anything about that yet.

Looking forward to spring practice.

Tyler Maryak · January 28, 2016

It's my team and I want wins NOW!

I kid, I kid. I'm excited about this upcoming season regardless.

Silent Eagle · January 28, 2016

Just now, Tyler Maryak said:

It's my team and I want wins NOW!

I kid, I kid. I'm excited about this upcoming season regardless.

I thought the dude was yelling about a coach who had won at every level without p5 resources and dealt with an oxygen-stealing AD.

Tyler Maryak · January 28, 2016

Just now, Silent Eagle said:

I thought the dude was yelling about a coach who had won at every level without p5 resources and dealt with an oxygen-stealing AD.

Oxygen-stealing...haha. I like that...

UNT Five&Dime · January 28, 2016

You'd think after years something would have been built by now and he wouldn't have to "build the program".

NTAlum09 · January 28, 2016

When people get too comfortable in their position they do not value change. Change is good, however gaining weight and being in denial is another thing overseeing athletic programs.

I'm glad Seth Littrell hasn't spoken much, it shows me that he is out there working his tail off rather than having to hear the loud guy in the room. Let's admit, the loud wannabe used car salesman is usually the weakest one in the room.

Ben Gooding · January 28, 2016

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

For the longest time I have read were people will say that we need coaches who can “find the diamond-in-the-rough” or spot the “hidden talent”. I have to believe that Seth and Company have a plan on how he believes he can build the program (some mix of) –

Transfers

JUCO

High school star recruits

High school “over/under looked”

Let give the staff a little time to build something. The relationships with the Texas High School Coaches will not happen overnight (I’m guessing they want to see an ongoing presence from UNT coaches, not just the rush visits they coaches are able to take now due to the timing).

Bull.

There are 12 month turnarounds all over the country every single year. We could be no different and I am not going to expect to suck because we always suck. None of you should either.

Quoner · January 28, 2016

Cleveland was also built over the course of many, many years.

Cerebus · January 28, 2016

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

The relationships with the Texas High School Coaches will not happen overnight

Willie Fritz seems to have hit the ground running.

NOLA: Tulane keeps momentum, grows 2016 class to 18

Quote

Tulane has made a miraculous turnaround on the trail from where they were when Coach Willie Fritz assumed the reins.

---

With that in mind, Fritz and his crew have analyzed what was in place, re-evaluated what was needed and moved on from there. They have secured 11 of the now 18 commitments since Dec. 15. That’s impressive with a new staff jumping into the recruiting game with the process well underway.

They have ten 3 star recruits, including 2 state 100s from Georgia, one from Alabama, and one from Louisiana. We currently don't have any HS 3 stars signed.

It's not time to panic yet, but I hope there is a lot of movement between now and NSD.

Censored by Laurie · January 28, 2016

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

Willie Fritz

I hate you so much

Harry · January 28, 2016

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

Willie Fritz seems to have hit the ground running.

NOLA: Tulane keeps momentum, grows 2016 class to 18

They have ten 3 star recruits, including 2 state 100s from Georgia, one from Alabama, and one from Louisiana. We currently don't have any HS 3 stars signed.

It's not time to panic yet, but I hope there is a lot of movement between now and NSD.

Got to give credit where credit is due -- Fritz is doing a helluva job so far. Keep in mind, the guy before him was a good recruiter too. May be that he had things lined up better than Mac did here.

untjim1995 · January 28, 2016

Tulane is also a well-thought of academic university in the Deep South. New Orleans has a lot of attractiveness, as well. Willie Fritz knows what he is doing as a head coach, knowing that kids that are decent in the Southeast would pick Tulane over CUSA/SBC schools, all things being relatively equal.

Fritz has done everything right on the career path. Win at FCS, win at SBC school, go to AAC job that will garner much attention if he can turn it around. Next step up is a job at a southern P5 school--I wouldn't bet against him finding one in the next 4 years, either.

But, just to piss on the fire of anyone who also believes that we didn't choose Jim Harbaugh over Todd Dodge, we also didn't pick Seth Littrell over Willie Fritz. He was never going to come here for what we pay and for what he could get at schools higher up the FBS totem pole than we are. Literally, there was no chance of that ever occurring.

HarringtonFishSmeller · January 28, 2016

2 hours ago, UNT Five&Dime said:

You'd think after something would have been built by now and he wouldn't have to "build the program".

Yes.

Look, sometimes a dog will lick his own butt. We've been doing that for the better part of ... well, since we went I-AA. It would be nice to have a coach that isn't the same, old buttlicking dog as the rest of them.

However, this group of recruits looks suspiciously similar to the same ones we've had for many years...and, so...10 losing seasons out of the last 11.

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

Willie Fritz seems to have hit the ground running.

NOLA: Tulane keeps momentum, grows 2016 class to 18

They have ten 3 star recruits, including 2 state 100s from Georgia, one from Alabama, and one from Louisiana. We currently don't have any HS 3 stars signed.

It's not time to panic yet, but I hope there is a lot of movement between now and NSD.

untjim1995 · January 28, 2016

1 minute ago, HarringtonFishSmeller said:

Yes.

Look, sometimes a dog will lick his own butt. We've been doing that for the better part of ... well, since we went I-AA. It would be nice to have a coach that isn't the same, old buttlicking dog as the rest of them.

However, this group of recruits looks suspiciously similar to the same ones we've had for many years...and, so...10 losing seasons out of the last 11.

Surely you didn't think Littrell was going to come here in such a short timeframe, with no Texas HS contacts at all, having never been a head coach before, and taking over the worst program in America was going to come in here and start getting recruits to suddenly change their tune on coming to UNT, right?

If this is happening when the 2016-2017 recruiting class gets finalized, then I think we can begin to look at Littrell a bit differently. And if he still cannot turn things around by 2017-2018. then we can begin to look at his posterior licking. But he is gonna need time here, folks...years. And he may not be able to do it, either. It may just be that this thing is too rotten for a new guy with no Texas ties or head coaching experience to fix in 4 years. That's entirely possible...and in the eyes of many outside of Denton, its almost entirely expected, based on our track record of suckitude since 2005. Right now, nobody outside of UNT's most diehard fans looks at this job as anything but "avoidable". If LIttrell can fix that, he's probably head coaching somewhere else by 2019. And if he can't, 2019 will probably be the year that RV has to make yet another hire for a revenue sport again...

HarringtonFishSmeller · January 28, 2016

25 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Surely you didn't think Littrell was going to come here in such a short timeframe, with no Texas HS contacts at all, having never been a head coach before, and taking over the worst program in America was going to come in here and start getting recruits to suddenly change their tune on coming to UNT, right?

If this is happening when the 2016-2017 recruiting class gets finalized, then I think we can begin to look at Littrell a bit differently. And if he still cannot turn things around by 2017-2018. then we can begin to look at his posterior licking. But he is gonna need time here, folks...years. And he may not be able to do it, either. It may just be that this thing is too rotten for a new guy with no Texas ties or head coaching experience to fix in 4 years. That's entirely possible...and in the eyes of many outside of Denton, its almost entirely expected, based on our track record of suckitude since 2005. Right now, nobody outside of UNT's most diehard fans looks at this job as anything but "avoidable". If LIttrell can fix that, he's probably head coaching somewhere else by 2019. And if he can't, 2019 will probably be the year that RV has to make yet another hire for a revenue sport again...

Ok, look...that's not what we were told when he was hired. We were told he did have these contacts, and that was one of the primary reasons he was hired.

So, that's the beef here. We slobbered all over him because he played at OU and coached at Tech. Then, right out of the box hired two of Leach's flunkies as assistants/former players. "All of these ties to Texas and its brand new, shiny Air Raid offenses the Texas high schools run now" we heard and heard and heard again.

Well, it's not playing out that way.

As it stands, we have an Oklahoma QB who is about my size that played in what is probably the equivalent of Texas 2A or A football. And, some kid from Florida who has no offers, but some interest from Indiana...although Indiana doesn't seem to be working all that hard to get him to commit.

I said last month, and I'll say it again...he won't do it recruiting with his "ties" or hiring a whole staff full of Mike Leach's kool-aid drinking rednecks. If we win, the recruiting will pick up. If we keep losing...it doesn't matter who many Sand Aggie flunkies he hires, he isn't going to recruit well.

What bothers me is that I figured we'd at least be competing with G5 level schools for most of these recruits. I never dreamed we be poking around with kids with no FBS offers again.

And, look...I get that this kid Littrell, isn't going to stop stomp around and say, "hell" and "damn" like McCarney, okay? I get that. But, I don't get the quiet act after a felony arrest of one of his players. That's weird to me. This whole "RV should have told the S&C coach, this and that" about the kid...is pure bullshit.

Littrell is the head coach. The S&C coach should be getting direct order from the head coach, who should be 138% involved in his players' whereabouts after a felony arrest.

This isn't rocket science.

It's worrisome...to a certain degree. I mean, one way or the other. This being a fan thing is a hobby. But, the athletic department wants us to spend money on their circus. Well, this circus doesn't look much different than the others that past through and left behind nothing more than sawdust, glitter, and elephant droppings.

Edited January 28, 2016 by HarringtonFishSmeller

VideoEagle · January 28, 2016

3 hours ago, UNT Five&Dime said:

You'd think after something would have been built by now and he wouldn't have to "build the program".

The University of Texas has a football budget larger than our entire athletic budget by several times. They have been playing football for 122 years. And they need to rebuild their program and it's going to take several years for them to do it. Name a college football team that hasn't had a coach have to come in and "build a program?"

Cr1028 · January 28, 2016

NTAlum09 · January 28, 2016

19 minutes ago, HarringtonFishSmeller said:

Ok, look...that's not what we were told when he was hired. We were told he did have these contacts, and that was one of the primary reasons he was hired.

So, that's the beef here. We slobbered all over him because he played at OU and coached at Tech. Then, right out of the box hired two of Leach's flunkies as assistants/former players. "All of these ties to Texas and its brand new, shiny Air Raid offenses the Texas high schools run now" we heard and heard and heard again.

Well, it's not playing out that way.

As it stands, we have an Oklahoma QB who is about my size that played in what is probably the equivalent of Texas 2A or A football. And, some kid from Florida who has no offers, but some interest from Indiana...although Indiana doesn't seem to be working all that hard to get him to commit.

I said last month, and I'll say it again...he won't do it recruiting with his "ties" or hiring a whole staff full of Mike Leach's kool-aid drinking rednecks. If we win, the recruiting will pick up. If we keep losing...it doesn't matter who many Sand Aggie flunkies he hires, he isn't going to recruit well.

What bothers me is that I figured we'd at least be competing with G5 level schools for most of these recruits. I never dreamed we be poking around with kids with no FBS offers again.

And, look...I get that this kid Littrell, isn't going to stop stomp around and say, "hell" and "damn" like McCarney, okay? I get that. But, I don't get the quiet act after a felony arrest of one of his players. That's weird to me. This whole "RV should have told the S&C coach, this and that" about the kid...is pure bullshit.

Littrell is the head coach. The S&C coach should be getting direct order from the head coach, who should be 138% involved in his players' whereabouts after a felony arrest.

This isn't rocket science.

It's worrisome...to a certain degree. I mean, one way or the other. This being a fan thing is a hobby. But, the athletic department wants us to spend money on their circus. Well, this circus doesn't look much different than the others that past through and left behind nothing more than sawdust, glitter, and elephant droppings.

So you want to fire the coach already? How about you take the head coach job?

Army of Dad · January 28, 2016

1 minute ago, NTAlum09 said:

So you want to fire the coach already? How about you take the head coach job?

Who said he should be fired? What I see are people commenting that the super early recruiting "results" are concerning and other people telling them they are bad fans and generally thought policing them.

NTAlum09 · January 28, 2016

Just now, Army of Dad said:

Who said he should be fired? What I see are people commenting that the super early recruiting "results" are concerning and other people telling them they are bad fans and generally thought policing them.

Constant bitching over and over. There is a beauty salon down the street if you want to do that.

untjim1995 · January 28, 2016

33 minutes ago, HarringtonFishSmeller said:

Ok, look...that's not what we were told when he was hired. We were told he did have these contacts, and that was one of the primary reasons he was hired.

So, that's the beef here. We slobbered all over him because he played at OU and coached at Tech. Then, right out of the box hired two of Leach's flunkies as assistants/former players. "All of these ties to Texas and its brand new, shiny Air Raid offenses the Texas high schools run now" we heard and heard and heard again.

Well, it's not playing out that way.

As it stands, we have an Oklahoma QB who is about my size that played in what is probably the equivalent of Texas 2A or A football. And, some kid from Florida who has no offers, but some interest from Indiana...although Indiana doesn't seem to be working all that hard to get him to commit.

I said last month, and I'll say it again...he won't do it recruiting with his "ties" or hiring a whole staff full of Mike Leach's kool-aid drinking rednecks. If we win, the recruiting will pick up. If we keep losing...it doesn't matter who many Sand Aggie flunkies he hires, he isn't going to recruit well.

What bothers me is that I figured we'd at least be competing with G5 level schools for most of these recruits. I never dreamed we be poking around with kids with no FBS offers again.

And, look...I get that this kid Littrell, isn't going to stop stomp around and say, "hell" and "damn" like McCarney, okay? I get that. But, I don't get the quiet act after a felony arrest of one of his players. That's weird to me. This whole "RV should have told the S&C coach, this and that" about the kid...is pure bullshit.

Littrell is the head coach. The S&C coach should be getting direct order from the head coach, who should be 138% involved in his players' whereabouts after a felony arrest.

This isn't rocket science.

It's worrisome...to a certain degree. I mean, one way or the other. This being a fan thing is a hobby. But, the athletic department wants us to spend money on their circus. Well, this circus doesn't look much different than the others that past through and left behind nothing more than sawdust, glitter, and elephant droppings.

Well, Littrell is showing the signs of being a brand new coach--that Kidsy was working out is just ridiculous. I hope Littrell learns from this, but that is what we have here--Smatresk and RV hired a newbie to lift up the Titanic. Can he do it? We will see, but its gonna take a while.

For those people that were telling all of us that Littrell's OU and Tech ties were really going to show up around here ASAP, I'm not sure how anyone could possibly have believed that. He hasn't coached in Texas in a long time. Harrell has never coached here in this state, nor has Filani...their playing days at Tech are what we remember them by, but that doesn't mean squat on the recruiting trail if your team massively sucks when you start out on the recruiting trail. It will take time for any of those kids to want to play here. My guess is that 2016 will see some traction with HS recruits, but nothing great, so the JUCOs will get hit hard. I think its gonna be necessary, along with continuing to get transfers. HS kids don't want to come here over other schools not in the SBC or FCS. All of the losing, all of the apathy has caused this. The hope is that Littrell can coach up kids, get JUCOs and transfers to come here and contribute right away, and see if we get a win or two this year, 3 or 4 in the next year, and get to .500 or better by year 3.

But the key point of your post is the circus. The current ringleader, RV, doesn't really know how to find anyone that can turn this into a winner. And his bosses only ask him to turn a profit. So instead, we get promised these great trapeze artists, but we get there and see dudes falling down into the safety nets over and over, while watching these guys that are supposed to be lion-tamers turn into glorified cage cleaners. But all the owners of the circus look at is how much money came in and how much went out the door. Instead of offering up promotions to get people here or hiring acts that people have heard of around here that might cost more, all they come back to is the rising costs of running a circus and how awesome it is that we provide a value to the customers, many of whom prefer much better entertainment options, including people who grew up working at the circus itself, never to be heard from again.

Edited January 28, 2016 by untjim1995

Army of Dad · January 28, 2016

4 minutes ago, NTAlum09 said:

Constant bitching over and over. There is a beauty salon down the street if you want to do that.

And constant bitching about bitching.

You ARE aware you are on a fan message board, right? Bitching is a significant percentage of what happens on those...

Edited January 28, 2016 by Army of Dad

NTAlum09 · January 28, 2016

Just now, Army of Dad said:

And constant bitching about bitching.

You ARE aware you are on a fan message board. Bitching is a significant percentage of what happens on those...

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