Both Rick Villarreal and Tony Benford should be fired

[UNT90]

Tony Benford was Rick Villarreal's hire (No matter how much anyone will later try and tell you differently). It was extremely clear very early to anyone that has ever played basketball at any level that Benford was EXTREMELY out of his depth. Many of us called for a firing after the 1st year because it was evident that Benford couldn't coach. 

Rick Villarreal defended Benford. Again and again and again, always pointing to the next year as the year Benford would turn this around.

And here we sit. Year one was 12-20. Year four was 12-20. That is  the definition of zero improvement. None. Nada. Zip. 

This program was pulling in 4K a night the year before Benford. Now we inflate attendance numbers and can't even get to half that amount. This program was poised to become a highly respected mid-major with the talent on hand to do so. 

Rick Villarreal had promised fans no more inexperienced head coaches. A team loaded with talent that begged for an experienced college head coach was instead handed an experiment. A guy who had interviewed about 20 times for a head coaching job with zero success. 

For these reasons alone Rick Villarreal should be fired. Throw on top of it all the other terrible hires, the compulsive lying, and the long term losing in football, and any other FBS program would have fired him last fall. But not at UNT.

Benford has 3 losing seasons, two 20 loss seasons, and one .500 season. He has had plenty of time and has shown zero improvement.

Both should be fired, not because I "hate them," but because they haven't done their job. 

If they aren't, every single donor should walk away from this program and withhold money until that happens. I know this is an impossibility, but that is what logic would dictate. Sadly, being a sports fan has very little logic involved. 

Edited March 9, 2016 by UNT90

[EagleMBA]

Me and my posse second that emotion!

 

[Cr1028]

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

Tony Benford was Rick Villarreal's hire (No matter how much anyone will later try and tell you differently). It was extremely clear very early to anyone that has ever played basketball at any level that Benford was EXTREMELY out of his depth. Many of us called for a firing after the 1st year because it was evident that Benford couldn't coach. 

Rick Villarreal defended Benford. Again and again and again, always pointing to the next year as the year Benford would turn this around.

And here we sit. Year one was 12-20. Year four was 12-20. That is  the definition of zero improvement. None. Nada. Zip. 

This program was pulling in 4K a night the year before Benford. Now we inflate attendance numbers and can't even get to half that amount. This program was poised to become a highly respected mid-major with the talent on hand to do so. 

Rick Villarreal had promised fans no more inexperienced head coaches. A team loaded with talent that begged for an experienced college head coach was instead handed an experiment. A guy who had interviewed about 20 times for a head coaching job with zero success. 

For these reasons alone Rick Villarreal should be fired. Throw on top of it all the other terrible hires, the compulsive lying, and the long term losing in football, and any other FBS program would have fired him last fall. But not at UNT.

Benford has 3 losing seasons, two 20 loss seasons, and one .500 season. He has had plenty of time and has shown zero improvement.

Both should be fired, not because I "hate them," but because they haven't done their job. 

If they aren't, every single donor should walk away from this program and withhold money until that happens. I know this is an impossibility, but that is what logic would dictate. Sadly, being a sports fan has very little logic involved. 

All true. Logic would also dictate that you give up your club seats rather than just telling others to do so.

[UNT90]

1 minute ago, Cr1028 said:

All true. Logic would also dictate that you give up your club seats rather than just telling others to do so.

I have a plan, my friend. Is there a market? Time will tell.

You need to read the last paragraph of that post again.

[DeepGreen]

9 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

All true. Logic would also dictate that you give up your club seats rather than just telling others to do so.

Most of us are big boys and really don't need someone like UNT90 telling us what to do.  After five years, this year I have given up my 50 yard line Club Seats, "all by myself" because of what this Athletic Director has done to Athletics at UNT.

[UNT90]

^^^^^^^^

[BillySee58]

Here's RV's body of work here with big 3 sport hires.

WBB:

- 25-67 Stephens (2008-2011)

- 15-16 Aston (2011-2012)

- 28-61 Peterson (2012-2015)

- 11-19 Jalie Mitchell (2015-2016)

79-163 total

MBB:

- 190-146 Jones (2001-2011)

- 12-20 Benford (2012-2013)

- 16-16 Benford (2013-2014)

- 14-17 Benford (2014-2015)

- 12-20 Benford (2015-2016)

244-219 total

Football:

- 6-37 Dodge (2007-2010)

- 22-32 Mccarney (2011-2015)

- 3-9 Canales (2010, 2015)*

28-69 total

*31-78 total including Canales

Combined Total:

351-451

*354-460 including Canales

106 games under .500, 8 winning seasons, 3 .500 seasons, 21 losing seasons

Obviously JJ carries the load here with more than half the wins and less than a third of the losses. Things have gotten really bad since he left, culminating with our first school year with both a 20-loss men's basketball season and 10-loss football season ever.

Edited March 9, 2016 by BillySee58

[Ben Gooding]

22 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Here's RV's body of work here with big 3 sport hires.

WBB:

- 25-67 Stephens (2008-2011)

- 15-16 Aston (2011-2012)

- 28-61 Peterson (2012-2015)

- 11-19 Jalie Mitchell (2015-2016)

79-163 total

MBB:

- 190-146 Jones (2001-2011)

- 12-20 Benford (2012-2013)

- 16-16 Benford (2013-2014)

- 14-17 Benford (2014-2015)

- 12-20 Benford (2015-2016)

244-219 total

Football:

- 6-37 Dodge (2007-2010)

- 22-32 Mccarney (2011-2015)

- 3-9 Canales (2010, 2015)*

28-69 total

*31-78 total including Canales

Combined Total:

351-451

*354-460 including Canales

106 games under .500, 8 winning seasons, 3 .500 seasons, 21 losing seasons

Obviously JJ carries the load here with more than half the wins and less than a third of the losses. Things have gotten really bad since he left, culminating with our first school year with both a 20-loss men's basketball season and 10-loss football season ever.

^

[All About UNT]

I will definitely not renew my MGC membership and will instead give to the College of A&S if Benford is retained.

Be a man and admit you made another mistake.....

[UNT90]

16 minutes ago, All About UNT said:

I will definitely not renew my MGC membership and will instead give to the College of A&S if Benford is retained.

Be a man and admit you made another mistake.....

Never happen. He hasn't admitted making one yet. It's simply not in his character.

[Army of Dad]

20 minutes ago, All About UNT said:

I will definitely not renew my MGC membership and will instead give to the College of A&S if Benford is retained.

Be a man and admit you made another mistake.....

 

3 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Never happen. He hasn't admitted making one yet. It's simply not in his character.

He doesn't have to admit the mistake to fire Benford. 

 

You know it will be spun to be someone else's fault or completely unavoidable.

[UNT90]

1 minute ago, Army of Dad said:

 

He doesn't have to admit the mistake to fire Benford. 

 

You know it will be spun to be someone else's fault or completely unavoidable.

Rawlins will probably be the target. He's gone, ya know. 

[BillySee58]

31 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

 

He doesn't have to admit the mistake to fire Benford. 

 

You know it will be spun to be someone else's fault or completely unavoidable.

Wow. Just realized, he really hasn't. Blamed Stephens on the search committee, talked about how Dodge was considered a good hire by everyone at the time and how he was financially strapped, talked about how Peterson was good everywhere else, and called Mccarney a good hire. He really thinks he's done a good job with those hirings, even though they're 150 games under .500.

[Wag Tag]

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

Tony Benford was Rick Villarreal's hire (No matter how much anyone will later try and tell you differently). It was extremely clear very early to anyone that has ever played basketball at any level that Benford was EXTREMELY out of his depth. Many of us called for a firing after the 1st year because it was evident that Benford couldn't coach. 

Rick Villarreal defended Benford. Again and again and again, always pointing to the next year as the year Benford would turn this around.

And here we sit. Year one was 12-20. Year four was 12-20. That is  the definition of zero improvement. None. Nada. Zip. 

This program was pulling in 4K a night the year before Benford. Now we inflate attendance numbers and can't even get to half that amount. This program was poised to become a highly respected mid-major with the talent on hand to do so. 

Rick Villarreal had promised fans no more inexperienced head coaches. A team loaded with talent that begged for an experienced college head coach was instead handed an experiment. A guy who had interviewed about 20 times for a head coaching job with zero success. 

For these reasons alone Rick Villarreal should be fired. Throw on top of it all the other terrible hires, the compulsive lying, and the long term losing in football, and any other FBS program would have fired him last fall. But not at UNT.

Benford has 3 losing seasons, two 20 loss seasons, and one .500 season. He has had plenty of time and has shown zero improvement.

Both should be fired, not because I "hate them," but because they haven't done their job. 

If they aren't, every single donor should walk away from this program and withhold money until that happens. I know this is an impossibility, but that is what logic would dictate. Sadly, being a sports fan has very little logic involved. 

What is the upside to retain Benford? You are going to keep him because he might have a winning season next year out of 5! We had court seats for 5 years with 3 being with Johnny and it was great. We had 2 with Benford and needless to say we gave them up and have not been to a game since! I will be shocked if B is not gone!

[Army of Dad]

26 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Wow. Just realized, he really hasn't. Blamed Stephens on the search committee, talked about how Dodge was considered a good hire by everyone at the time and how he was financially strapped, talked about how Peterson was good everywhere else, and called Mccarney a good hire. He really thinks he's done a good job with those hirings, even though they're 150 games under .500.

It's not just coaching hires. There is a reason there's a running joke on here about Tulsa and Northern Arizona...

[GMG24]

I'll drop this little nugget here for your viewing pleasure. 

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Joseph_Duarte/status/707676649802731521

 

 

Getting pissed... Why do the Twitter links work half the time??

Edited March 10, 2016 by GMG24

[southsideguy]

I would think he would be graded by attendance at the games............basketball has been pathetic

[BillySee58]

15 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

It's not just coaching hires. There is a reason there's a running joke on here about Tulsa and Northern Arizona...

For sure. Oh, and let's not forget when he told Sidway that our attendance drop was due in part to declining college basketball ttendance across the country. To which Sidway pointed out that attendance across the country was up and was one of the highest nation-wide attendance seasons in NCAA history. And we could go on.

Edited March 10, 2016 by BillySee58

[Ben Gooding]

10 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

For sure. Oh, and let's not forget when he told Sidway that our attendance drop was due in part to declining college basketball ttendance across the country. To which Sidway pointed out that attendance across the country was up and was one of the highest nation-wide attendance seasons in NCAA history. And we could go on.

We really could go on. When do we start to hold Smastrek accountable for letting the beat go on and on and on and on.... (?) We will eventually need to climb that ladder. 

[Side Show Joe]

The president and BOR should have cleaned house when they fired Mac. We all knew how this basketball season would end. Right now, we could be one season into a rebuilding project, instead of talking about the future employment of our basketball coach and possibly others within the athletic department. I'm tired of excuses and tired of watching us stink at the most prominent sports.

Somebody in the UNT administration, please do your job.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Side Show Joe

[EagleMBA]

40 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

We really could go on. When do we start to hold Smastrek accountable for letting the beat go on and on and on and on.... (?) We will eventually need to climb that ladder. 

I don't get it either. Smatty is, by all accounts, a very savvy guy. How can he continue to put up with the incompetence in the athletic department? I give him credit for knowing that this reflects poorly on his executive abilities.

[UNT90]

1 hour ago, Army of Dad said:

It's not just coaching hires. There is a reason there's a running joke on here about Tulsa and Northern Arizona...

You won't say it. I will. The man will lie instead of taking accountability for his failures. Always a lie/excuse. ALWAYS. 

How long will Smatresk put up with this? 

[Hunter Green]

4 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

Most of us are big boys and really don't need someone like UNT90 telling us what to do.  After five years, this year I have given up my 50 yard line Club Seats, "all by myself" because of what this Athletic Director has done to Athletics at UNT.

This.

[Green Lantern]

3 hours ago, UNT90 said:

Never happen. He hasn't admitted making one yet. It's simply not in his character.

Honestly, at this point, I don't care about anyone accepting blame for the situation. For the record, I agree with your assessment of mens basketball and have for years now.

Just hire someone new now.  Seriously , the fans of this program deserve hope just like football does. I know it's hard for some football fans to believe, but there is a good group of Mean Green fans who are actually basketball fans first, football second...gasp!!! As you've pointed out many times, we were on such a great trajectory in JJ's last 5 years. It can be accomplished here. Easier than football - real talk.

Time for an fn change. Lots of qualified coaches to go get. Get one!!!

Edited March 10, 2016 by Green Lantern

[Mike Jackson]

So I smell a poll here.  How many GMG members think RV and Benford will be fired before the spring scrimmage?  I believe RV gets to stay till the end of the 2016 football season at the very least.