MGB: Benford says he will be back, confident in future

[Eagle-96]

12 hours ago, Greendylan said:

Still waiting for that official statement from the AD that fully explains/justifies this decision. . . 

You will be waiting for a loooooong time

[untjim1995]

Nobody should be surprised by this. We have been trying to tell you all for months now how rancid this place is regarding revenue sports. Why anyone would spend one more penny and one more second on this place is beyond me. If you say its because it is YOUR SCHOOL, just know that the university has so many other ways that you can help, via scholarships to the general fund or to individual colleges within the university. You giving anything else to this is a waste. Only 17 people give enough to not be a waste--and they waste their money on their buddy, but hide behind facilities and scholarships for athletics that they are proudly funding, just because they think they are exactly the same as their Longhorn, Aggie, Sooner, etc...buddies that get privilege with the AD. Here's a hint--your giving here makes you a big deal to RV and the BOR for a reason. If you gave at the same level at any other university not in the SBCUSA, the AD probably wouldn't even know your name.

The UNT 17 Mean Green...so perfectly encapsulates where the athletic department currently sits.

[GrandGreen]

On March 20, 2016 at 9:16 AM, Cooley said:

I'm completely satisfied (not thrilled) with him coming back in 16-17. Wish he could tweak the roster and find a more dependable impact big man or two. No one is happy with the record(s) but this team was competitive in most games (especially at home) and could have a break out year with the right moves. Folks are still pissed about what happened (or didn't) 3 years ago that they can't move on.

In interviews with NBA officials, our top prospect admitted he didn't always give it his all.  Additionally, our top point guard didn't take care of business in the class room and subsequently quit on the team. Yes, in most cases, a new coach should capitalize on what is inherited but it could also be a challenge.

Benford continues to improve, in my view, each year. There have been no scandals and this staff deals with disciplinary actions swiftly and fairly.  The beloved JJ didn't really do much until his 6th year. Let this man finish his last contract year, stop the bashing and see what happens. This revolving door of coaches in and out every 4 years, in all major sports,  has got to stop. It was clear to me that Mccarney had to go because the recruiting was getting worse. Regardless of how he got here, we have never signed a higher prospect than Keith Frazier. There are others in the wing. The irony is that UNT, under Benford, is probably in better shape than LSU is today under JJ.  Not the end of the world

 

Hostile crowd.  I agree with some of your points and not others.  Bedford was a horrible first year coach, the worst I can remember ever seeing; so I don't buy it was a player problem at all.  

However, Bedford is a much better coach than he was, and has shown a lot of improvement.  The problem is that he has not demonstrated he is good enough to coach at this level.  Note the away record and the home loses to bad teams.  

I don't think the Frazier signing was that big.  I don't like one semester players and chances are even that he will ever see the court.   

I do think like his coaching, Benford's recruiting has got much better.  I didn't see a bust at all in his last year's class, other than the one who didn't qualify.  

In terms of next year, I think it is possible that Benford might turn things around.  He is only a player or two short of having a very talented team.  On an one year basis, the likelihood   of Benford achieving more than any coach that RV might hire is at least even.  

The question is, can Benford ever develop into a competent D1 head coach.   He has been given four years to get to that level and he has not.   Will one more make a difference?  

[EagleMBA]

12 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

The question is, can Benford ever develop into a competent D1 head coach.   He has been given four years to get to that level and he has not.   Will one more make a difference?  

Cue Bishop Bullwinkle in 3..2..1.....     

Edited March 21, 2016 by EagleMBA

[Eagle-96]

On 3/20/2016 at 10:56 AM, GreenFlag said:

I will still go to all of the home football games and the Army game, because I love football, my alma matter that much and I've never visited NYC. I will go to couple of basketball games because it's an excuse to see my daughter in Denton. 

But...I will never expect anything other than a poor product ever again.

I will only purchase one piece of Mean Green gear per year.

I will not purchase season tickets.

I will not contribute to the Mean Green Club (and I have given thousands).

I will never ever again try to be an ambassador of the program - it only makes me look silly.

I am embarrassed at how poorly this university is managed.

 

Just think of all of the fans and money that have walked away without saying a word. Remember that for every person that publicly complains, 26 others remain silent and just go away. The problem goes beyond just wins and losses. The very survival of UNT athletics is at stake and the guy driving the train is asleep at the wheel. I guess like Clayton Williams says, "We should all just lay back and enjoy it".

Edited March 21, 2016 by Eagle-96

[UNTFan23]

55 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Hostile crowd.  I agree with some of your points and not others.  Bedford was a horrible first year coach, the worst I can remember ever seeing; so I don't buy it was a player problem at all.  

However, Bedford is a much better coach than he was, and has shown a lot of improvement.  The problem is that he has not demonstrated he is good enough to coach at this level.  Note the away record and the home loses to bad teams.  

I don't think the Frazier signing was that big.  I don't like one semester players and chances are even that he will ever see the court.   

I do think like his coaching, Benford's recruiting has got much better.  I didn't see a bust at all in his last year's class, other than the one who didn't qualify.  

In terms of next year, I think it is possible that Benford might turn things around.  He is only a player or two short of having a very talented team.  On an one year basis, the likelihood   of Benford achieving more than any coach that RV might hire is at least even.  

The question is, can Benford ever develop into a competent D1 head coach.   He has been given four years to get to that level and he has not.   Will one more make a difference?  

I believe we will be able to have Frazier in a Mean Green Uniform for 1.5 seasons. The only way he'd be a single semester player is if he decided to enter the NBA Draft after his red-shirt Junior year, where he would have only played for about half of the 2016-2017 season.

[HoustonEagle]

So lets say he does turn things around.  He wins coach of the year and we win a game in the tournament.  The guy would be gone in a heartbeat to a better job.  So we provide 5 years of on the job training for one or two good years.  That is not a long term winning formula for UNT.

Edited March 21, 2016 by HoustonEagle

[Ben Gooding]

22 hours ago, ntmeangreen11 said:

"Benford has yet to finish over .500, but has guided UNT to several memorable wins during his tenure, including a victory over Conference USA power Louisiana Tech this season. "

This made me laugh.

 

He for real wrote this? He should be ashamed of himself. This CUSA power didn't even a NIT invite. Instead, the NCAA thinks one of our "powers" matches up well with East Tennessee State Buccaneers in some BS Vegas post-season invitational. Vito has to chill. 

[BillySee58]

40 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

I believe we will be able to have Frazier in a Mean Green Uniform for 1.5 seasons. The only way he'd be a single semester player is if he decided to enter the NBA Draft after his red-shirt Junior year, where he would have only played for about half of the 2016-2017 season.

He's already going to be a true senior next season. This season he was a junior and played in too many games to be eligible for any type of redshirt. If he plays for us next season after the first semester ends then that will be the end of his eligibility.

[Eagle-96]

1 hour ago, HoustonEagle said:

So lets say he does turn things around.  He wins coach of the year and we win a game in the tournament.  The guy would be gone in a heartbeat to a better job.  So we provide 5 years of on the job training for one or two good years.  That is not a long term winning formula for UNT.

This is what we should be shooting for in the revenue sports. We hire the right kinds of coaches, they are successful, they take higher profile jobs. We are not P5 and cannot expect to compete with the big boys to keep the coaches that succeed. In football, if Littrell wins 22 games in the next 3 years(say 5, 7, 10) he will be gone and then we will have to hire the right replacement ala Boise State thus starting the cycle again. JJ was successful and moved on the greener pastures we just didn't make the right replacement decision.

[Harry]

10 minutes ago, Eagle-96 said:

This is what we should be shooting for in the revenue sports. We hire the right kinds of coaches, they are successful, they take higher profile jobs. We are not P5 and cannot expect to compete with the big boys to keep the coaches that succeed. In football, if Littrell wins 22 games in the next 3 years(say 5, 7, 10) he will be gone and then we will have to hire the right replacement ala Boise State thus starting the cycle again. JJ was successful and moved on the greener pastures we just didn't make the right replacement decision.

I agree with you on JJ but I don't want to see another Aston situation happen.  I would like to see the coach be here at least 2-3 years.

[TIgreen01]

Put me in the camp that is waiting to see if we are extending him.  Keeping him on for his last year can't be good for our recruiting---or so we've always been told.  Extending him would be a flying missile kick to the nuts.  

Are we seriously keeping Benford around just so that we can keep this 20 loss team together?  Are we keeping him around to keep Frazier from just leaving?  I don't understand.  

[Ben Gooding]

3 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

Put me in the camp that is waiting to see if we are extending him.  Keeping him on for his last year can't be good for our recruiting---or so we've always been told.  Extending him would be a flying missile kick to the nuts.  

Are we seriously keeping Benford around just so that we can keep this 20 loss team together?  Are we keeping him around to keep Frazier from just leaving?  I don't understand.  

No one does. Just a lot of dysfunction with zero explanation. 

[Eagle-96]

14 minutes ago, Harry said:

I agree with you on JJ but I don't want to see another Aston situation happen.  I would like to see the coach be here at least 2-3 years.

I concur. Aston was, to me, a perfect storm. Goestenkors had success at UT but only won 1 tournament game in five years there. Unfortunately Goestenkors followed a legend and UT expected Final Fours. UT knew what Aston could do as she was a long-time assistant. They knew if she could win 15 games ay UNT then she could be successful at UT. They ponied up the cash and Aston was gone.

[HoustonEagle]

1 hour ago, Eagle-96 said:

This is what we should be shooting for in the revenue sports. We hire the right kinds of coaches, they are successful, they take higher profile jobs. We are not P5 and cannot expect to compete with the big boys to keep the coaches that succeed. In football, if Littrell wins 22 games in the next 3 years(say 5, 7, 10) he will be gone and then we will have to hire the right replacement ala Boise State thus starting the cycle again. JJ was successful and moved on the greener pastures we just didn't make the right replacement decision.

I totally agree with you.  What we should not do is hire guys and then give them 5 years to learn their craft so they can then jump ship.   Our AD seems to believe that a coach needs several years to create their team and produce wins.   It is an old tired argument that is simply not true.  You will know in the first year if you have the right guy. ..500 level teams can be created out of the players you have on hand in most sports simply with better coaching.  Every situation is different I understand.  Still this is proven in most circumstances. 

I will add to this and say if Littrell fails to win 3 games in his first season I am willing to bet he will prove to be a bust. If it takes him 5 years to build a winner it is still a bad hire no matter how great that 5th year feels.

Edited March 21, 2016 by HoustonEagle

[untjim1995]

5 minutes ago, HoustonEagle said:

I totally agree with you.  What we should not do is hire guys and then give them 5 years to learn their craft so they can then jump ship.   Our AD seems to believe that a coach needs several years to create their team and produce wins.   It is an old tired argument that is simply not true.  You will know in the first year if you have the right guy. ..500 level teams can be created out of the players you have on hand in most sports simply with better coaching.  Every situation is different I understand.  Still this is proven in most circumstances. 

I will add to this and say if Littrell fails to win 3 games in his first season I am willing to bet he will prove to be a bust. If it takes him 5 years to build a winner it is still a bad hire no matter how great that 5th year feels.

Littrell may very well be a bust, but we won't know that after this season. He just inherited the worst roster of talent in FBS, one that also quit on the university and endured the single worst loss in modern college football history, 66-7 to an FCS team on Homecoming. If he wins one game this season, he gets a pass. The only wins that we need to see out of him are in the living rooms, classrooms, and locker rooms at UNT and across the region for recruits.

If Littrell wins three games, he will have outpaced what Morris did at SMU, who took over the worst roster in FBS last season and had a MUCH harder schedule than we had or have and they won all of two games, which included us. It won't shock me a bit to see us go 1-11 or 2-10. 3 wins or better would actually make me believe that Littrell's future is as bright as the sun if we got that in 2016 with this roster and our schedule, which is ridiculously hard for where we are at currently. As I have said before, Littrell is either coaching somewhere else before his contract's 4th year here for turning this thing around like Todd Monken did at USM or he is being replaced by RV in 2020 sometime for not being able to turn things around here, like we did with Todd Dodge.

[TIgreen01]

49 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Littrell may very well be a bust, but we won't know that after this season. He just inherited the worst roster of talent in FBS, one that also quit on the university and endured the single worst loss in modern college football history, 66-7 to an FCS team on Homecoming. If he wins one game this season, he gets a pass. The only wins that we need to see out of him are in the living rooms, classrooms, and locker rooms at UNT and across the region for recruits.

If Littrell wins three games, he will have outpaced what Morris did at SMU, who took over the worst roster in FBS last season and had a MUCH harder schedule than we had or have and they won all of two games, which included us. It won't shock me a bit to see us go 1-11 or 2-10. 3 wins or better would actually make me believe that Littrell's future is as bright as the sun if we got that in 2016 with this roster and our schedule, which is ridiculously hard for where we are at currently. As I have said before, Littrell is either coaching somewhere else before his contract's 4th year here for turning this thing around like Todd Monken did at USM or he is being replaced by RV in 2020 sometime for not being able to turn things around here, like we did with Todd Dodge.

Good reference to Morris.  I totally agree.  Littrell just needs to show that he can coax some serious improvement out of an offense that was flat out horrible last year and can call a legit game here at this level with the level of talent we have on hand.  It is one thing to produce offensive numbers when your talent cupboard is overflowing, it is another entirely when you've got the situation we've got here.  If he's able to do that, recruits will come.  The defense is going to take more time and recruiting to fix.  

Edited March 21, 2016 by TIgreen01

[bloodstunt]

2 hours ago, Eagle-96 said:

This is what we should be shooting for in the revenue sports. We hire the right kinds of coaches, they are successful, they take higher profile jobs. We are not P5 and cannot expect to compete with the big boys to keep the coaches that succeed. In football, if Littrell wins 22 games in the next 3 years(say 5, 7, 10) he will be gone and then we will have to hire the right replacement ala Boise State thus starting the cycle again. JJ was successful and moved on the greener pastures we just didn't make the right replacement decision.

What about Gonzaga? They certainly aren't a P5 either but have been going to tourney nearly every year for the last 20 years with 3 coaches and have keep their latest coach for over 15 years. 

[CMJ]

6 hours ago, bloodstunt said:

What about Gonzaga? They certainly aren't a P5 either but have been going to tourney nearly every year for the last 20 years with 3 coaches and have keep their latest coach for over 15 years. 

They've only had two coaches in their run since '99...and all but the first year was under Few.

[Ben Gooding]

6 hours ago, bloodstunt said:

What about Gonzaga? They certainly aren't a P5 either but have been going to tourney nearly every year for the last 20 years with 3 coaches and have keep their latest coach for over 15 years. 

18 straight years to be exact. 

 

28 minutes ago, CMJ said:

They've only had two coaches in their run since '99...and all but the first year was under Few.

And? If the Zags can do it up in the NW, any one can. It takes 1 thing that prevents us though and that's a certain level of commitment from our administration. 

[EagleMBA]

8 hours ago, TIgreen01 said:

Put me in the camp that is waiting to see if we are extending him.  Keeping him on for his last year can't be good for our recruiting---or so we've always been told.  Extending him would be a flying missile kick to the nuts.  

Are we seriously keeping Benford around just so that we can keep this 20 loss team together?  Are we keeping him around to keep Frazier from just leaving?  I don't understand.  

Consider what Frazier does to team chemistry when he finally sees the court after the first semester, takes minutes from the original starter, and wants the ball to show off his NBA-level skills for the scouts. After all, this is his last hurrah.  Seems to me this could create a little turmoil in paradise at the worst time in the season...JMHO.

[CMJ]

42 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

 

And? If the Zags can do it up in the NW, any one can. It takes 1 thing that prevents us though and that's a certain level of commitment from our administration. 

It was said that they'd had three coaches.  It's been just two...and really it's been mostly one. 

 

The main thing that prevents it for us is not commitment per se.  It's getting the right coach...and then the commitment from both parties to hold on to each other.  I doubt if Few had jumped ship after 3-4 years the Gonzaga train would have kept rolling.  As much as I respect WKU and their success, they haven't had a Few, which is why they aren't Gonzaga despite their commitment to winning.  Wichita State is getting there with Greg Marshall.

 

Butler is more in the Boise State model in that they kept promoting from within to keep their success rolling, which is why their trajectory kept going up through several coaches culminating in Stevens.

 

[bloodstunt]

7 minutes ago, CMJ said:

It was said that they'd had three coaches.  It's been just two...

 

Fitzgerald, his assistant then Few. I think that's 3

3 minutes ago, bloodstunt said:

Fitzgerald, his assistant then Few. I think that's 3

Monson was his name

Edited March 22, 2016 by bloodstunt

[CMJ]

37 minutes ago, bloodstunt said:

Fitzgerald, his assistant then Few. I think that's 3

Monson was his name

Yes...Monson began his tenure in 1997...then Few took over in 2000.  My point was Gonzaga's sustained success is mostly attributed to the 1999 run.  So...it's been two coaches that that was under.  I am aware Gonzaga cracked the tourney in the mid 90's as well, but the vast majority of people don't really consider that the start of Gonzaga as we know it.

[FirefightnRick]

8 hours ago, bloodstunt said:

What about Gonzaga? They certainly aren't a P5 either but have been going to tourney nearly every year for the last 20 years with 3 coaches and have keep their latest coach for over 15 years. 

Gonzaga isn't the poor little basketball program people think they are.  They dedicate a large amount of money to men's basketball.  

They spend over $7 Million a year.

In comparison,..Texas Tech spends $5 Million, K Stste spends $6 Million, LSU spends $6 Million, Texas A&M $6.8 Million and Oklahoma spends $9 Million.

 

Rick