Mike Ekeler Mic'd Up

Tyler Maryak · April 13, 2016

Harry · April 13, 2016

Like this guy and his attitude. Players seem to respond.

MGNation92 · April 13, 2016

I like the direction Ekeler and Reffett have the defense going. Seems like we will be much more aggressive in attacking the ball, blitzing, and more aggressive coverage schemes. It seems like we'll have a multiple coverage/multiple alignment defense that has a propensity to blitz. I'm hoping to see a lot of zone blitzes to get pressure from different angles

GMG24 · April 13, 2016

16 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

I like the direction Ekeler and Reffett have the defense going. Seems like we will be much more aggressive in attacking the ball, blitzing, and more aggressive coverage schemes. It seems like we'll have a multiple coverage/multiple alignment defense that has a propensity to blitz. I'm hoping to see a lot of zone blitzes to get pressure from different angles

You'll see pressure from every side. It will be gap sound but pressure will be coming. I know this staff will get it turned around. Just hope we can hold onto them long enough $ wise to keep them here for an extended period of time.

GrandGreen · April 13, 2016

1 hour ago, GMG24 said:

You'll see pressure from every side. It will be gap sound but pressure will be coming. I know this staff will get it turned around. Just hope we can hold onto them long enough $ wise to keep them here for an extended period of time.

I have heard someone state something like this with every coaching staff. I just want them to win, I'll worry about losing them after that.

In football, there have been two coaches both over three decades ago that were hired away; Hayden Fry and Jerry Moore. To lose a successful coach would be painful, but at the same time a major accomplishment for the program.

MeanGreenTexan · April 13, 2016

2 hours ago, GMG24 said:

You'll see pressure from every side. It will be gap sound but pressure will be coming. I know this staff will get it turned around. Just hope we can hold onto them long enough $ wise to keep them here for an extended period of time.

If they're here for an extended period of time, something has gone horribly wrong. NT is a "step-stone" job right now, unless a T.Boone/Jamail-like booster shows up out of nowhere.

GMG24 · April 13, 2016

19 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

I have heard someone state something like this with every coaching staff. I just want them to win, I'll worry about losing them after that.

In football, there have been two coaches both over three decades ago that were hired away; Hayden Fry and Jerry Moore. To lose a successful coach would be painful, but at the same time a major accomplishment for the program.

No doubt, however Littrell and company will win and I think they'll win quickly. Yes the program is in a terrible position, yes people say whatever about the coaching staffs. I was here for the McCarney hiring and I wasn't a huge fan. I enjoyed the bowl run but didn't really believe in what we were doing offensively or defensively. Littrell and company are something like 12-14 scholarship players short because of the previous regimes Mis-management of the roster.

19 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

If they're here for an extended period of time, something has gone horribly wrong. NT is a "step-stone" job right now, unless a T.Boone/Jamail-like booster shows up out of nowhere.

I disagree. TCU has kept Patterson around for ages, and that job was previously seen in the same light if I'm not mistaken. Patterson took over before a bowl game in 2000 and never looked back. Granted they had some success just prior to Patterson taking over but they were not some power to be reckoned with.

Edited April 14, 2016 by GMG24

MeanGreenTexan · April 13, 2016

7 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

I disagree. TCU has kept Patterson around for ages, and that job was previously seen in the same light if I'm not mistaken. Patterson took over before a bowl game in 2000 and never looked back. Granted they had some success just prior to Patterson taking over but they were not some power to be reckoned with.

Deep down, you don't. You hope... but you are aware of UNT's situation.
Patterson is definitely an anomaly. Of course, when the serious successes started piling up, so did the donor money. He would have left too if the pockets weren't deep enough. NT does not have that kind of donor support. And Littrell has shown that he is ready to move "up the ladder" at the first opportunity.

jdennis82 · April 13, 2016

I really appreciated the moment around the 2:50 mark when Ekeler was obviously frustrated with one of the players.

"I'm going to work with you after practice...that's just...you don't get it. O..OK...that's me..."

He didn't simply point to the error as a poor job on the player's part and move on, but he took some ownership of the error himself and committed himself to working extra to correct it going forward. This level of leadership has to rub off on the players.

GMG24 · April 14, 2016

4 hours ago, jdennis82 said:

I really appreciated the moment around the 2:50 mark when Ekeler was obviously frustrated with one of the players.

"I'm going to work with you after practice...that's just...you don't get it. O..OK...that's me..."

He didn't simply point to the error as a poor job on the player's part and move on, but he took some ownership of the error himself and committed himself to working extra to correct it going forward. This level of leadership has to rub off on the players.

This was evident to me throughout this staff!

ChristopherRyanWilkes · April 14, 2016

9 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Deep down, you don't. You hope... but you are aware of UNT's situation.
Patterson is definitely an anomaly. Of course, when the serious successes started piling up, so did the donor money. He would have left too if the pockets weren't deep enough. NT does not have that kind of donor support. And Littrell has shown that he is ready to move "up the ladder" at the first opportunity.

I sincerely hope he gets the Oklahoma job when (or if) Stoops retires in a couple years. That would be amazing for our program.

GMG24 · April 14, 2016

9 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Deep down, you don't. You hope... but you are aware of UNT's situation.
Patterson is definitely an anomaly. Of course, when the serious successes started piling up, so did the donor money. He would have left too if the pockets weren't deep enough. NT does not have that kind of donor support. And Littrell has shown that he is ready to move "up the ladder" at the first opportunity.

Um, pretty sure I do. But, I do realize how far we have to go to get to that place.

TheWestie · April 14, 2016

33 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I sincerely hope he gets the Oklahoma job when (or if) Stoops retires in a couple years. That would be amazing for our program.

I think that's what we all kinda hope for with Littrell. A Johnny Jones type situation.

He'll bust his ass here and do good by us, lead the way to places we haven't been before, and stay here, holding out for his dream job, which he will be ideal for after his run here. And I'm cool with that.

MeanGreenTexan · April 14, 2016

8 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I sincerely hope he gets the Oklahoma job when (or if) Stoops retires in a couple years. That would be amazing for our program.

Bowling Green agrees with you, but Meyer had another stop at Utah before he made it to Florida.
Same with Hoke @ Ball St. to SDSU before landing at Michigan.

We can only hope Littrell elevates our program to the level Meyer got Bowling Green & Hoke got Ball St to before they left when he leaves... Then, we must pray that the next coaching hire isn't abysmal like it was for both of those schools.

GOMG2013 · April 14, 2016

19 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Bowling Green agrees with you, but Meyer had another stop at Utah before he made it to Florida.
Same with Hoke @ Ball St. to SDSU before landing at Michigan.

We can only hope Littrell elevates our program to the level Meyer got Bowling Green & Hoke got Ball St to before they left when he leaves... Then, we must pray that the next coaching hire isn't abysmal like it was for both of those schools.

Graham Harrell should be next in line, but with some success, he will become a target real quick.

meangreendork · April 14, 2016

I'm hearing a lot of talk about detailed stuff from Ek. Telling the guys to do it with technique, not to arm tackle, that sorta thing.

Edited April 14, 2016 by meangreendork

UNT Mean Green · April 14, 2016

Ekler and Reffett are awesome. Impressive hires by Littrell!

UNT90 · April 16, 2016

On April 14, 2016 at 8:07 AM, GOMG2013 said:

Graham Harrell should be next in line, but with some success, he will become a target real quick.

Graham Harrell has exactly one year experience of on the field coaching in college football. No one else was looking at him as a coordinator, and no one will be looking at him as a head coach even if UNT is wildly successful.

Under the HIGHLY unlikely scenerio that Littrell is successful and takes a better job, and UNT did then offer the job to Harrell, it would be his only FBS head coaching job offer.

I'll blame your post on spring pollen clogging your head, along with spring optimism that ALWAYS leads to fall disappointment at UNT.

GOMG2013 · April 16, 2016

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

Graham Harrell has exactly one year experience of on the field coaching in college football. No one else was looking at him as a coordinator, and no one will be looking at him as a head coach even if UNT is wildly successful.

Under the HIGHLY unlikely scenerio that Littrell is successful and takes a better job, and UNT did then offer the job to Harrell, it would be his only FBS head coaching job offer.

I'll blame your post on spring pollen clogging your head, along with spring optimism that ALWAYS leads to fall disappointment at UNT.

I agree.

But it won't take a head coaching vacancy for Harrell to leave.

If UNT is successful, a big school can target Harrell as coordinator. With 2 years success, he could be gone from UNT where he could make more money.

UNT90 · April 16, 2016

1 hour ago, GOMG2013 said:

I agree.

But it won't take a head coaching vacancy for Harrell to leave.

If UNT is successful, a big school can target Harrell as coordinator. With 2 years success, he could be gone from UNT where he could make more money.

Concur. It seemed like you were talking head coach. That's a huge if. And that huge if isn't Harrell's fault.

All About UNT · April 16, 2016

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

Graham Harrell has exactly one year experience of on the field coaching in college football. No one else was looking at him as a coordinator, and no one will be looking at him as a head coach even if UNT is wildly successful.

Under the HIGHLY unlikely scenerio that Littrell is successful and takes a better job, and UNT did then offer the job to Harrell, it would be his only FBS head coaching job offer.

I'll blame your post on spring pollen clogging your head, along with spring optimism that ALWAYS leads to fall disappointment at UNT.

Except you don't know what you're talking about

UNT90 · April 16, 2016

2 minutes ago, All About UNT said:

Except you don't know what you're talking about

Really? Who? What offers?

There weren't any at the FBS level.

All About UNT · April 16, 2016

Just now, UNT90 said:

Really? Who? What offers?

There weren't any at the FBS level.

Just because the coach's didn't CC you on the email of interest doesn't mean other FBS coach's weren't interested in Leach's Potential #1 Student being an OC at somewhere else.

UNT90 · April 16, 2016

3 hours ago, All About UNT said:

Just because the coach's didn't CC you on the email of interest doesn't mean other FBS coach's weren't interested in Leach's Potential #1 Student being an OC at somewhere else.

If other programs were interested, he wouldn't be working at UNT right now. Don't forget where we are on the hierarchy of FBS football: the very bottom, a place where coaching careers go to die. Don't think Harrell and Littrell don't know that. Neither had any other offer for the position they were offered at UNT or else they would be coaching somewhere else.Don't kid yourself.

Its unfortunate UNT has been put in this position by the Hattiesburg Hustler and the culture that lets him keep collecting a paycheck.

All we can hope for is for UNT to get lucky with the latest Rick Villarreal hire, and that hire's subsequent hires.

I mean. What could go wrong?

Edited April 16, 2016 by UNT90

Mean Green 93-98 · April 16, 2016

44 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

If other programs were interested, he wouldn't be working at UNT right now. Don't forget where we are on the hierarchy of FBS football: the very bottom, a place where coaching careers go to die. Don't think Harrell and Littrell don't know that. Neither had any other offer for the position they were offered at UNT or else they would be coaching somewhere else.Don't kid yourself.

So how do you hire a decent A.D. at a place like that?