Let The "Wrenovation" Begin!!

[UNTLifer]

With all credit due UNT 90 Grad for the above tag line, welcome Wren Baker.  Let the "Wrenovation" begin immediately!

[drex]

Yep, a serious 'Wrensing' is in order.

[NTAlum09]

There's no more AVERAGE in this program!

[Aldo]

UNT Athletics will hopefully enter a wrenaissance.

[Cerebus]

2 minutes ago, NTAlum09 said:

There's no more AVERAGE in this program!

Statistically, there is always an average.  

[LongJim]

[Stan R]

Step 1: Open toolbox

Step 2. Get out yo' Wrench

Step 3: Clean house

[UNTLifer]

[Ben Gooding]

Welllll...It's interesting to see what is in store. The next 6-8 months will be invaluable to his tenure here. He will need to seriously evaluate the further coaching of 2 coaches (Benford & Kee) as well as get momentum built up in the extension of the MGC while greasing up elbows with our bigger donors. The Cowboy partnership will definitely give him a little boost off the launching pad. So that's encouraging. 

[untjim1995]

The big thing here is that Baker just gets his staff together to reconnect with the community and alumni to try and identify ways to serve us better. I think he can easily do this, just because the guy he replaced was such a lazy guy and had absolutely nothing to show for his last 5 years on the job from a winning standpoint. Obviously, losing has been accepted here for too long, but to not give a $hit about anything related to growing the brand was just too much. That Portland State loss just was too much for anyone associated with leadership of UNT football at the time to survive. Mac was fired ASAP, Chico was let go at season's end, as was Cosh. RV was run out later. You cannot schedule that poorly, giving the school a 5-game home schedule with a bye week at the beginning of the year, with a FCS game as your only OOC game at home and set it up for Homecoming, then see the entire team quit because they literally didn't care about anything (the team, the coach, the opponent, the meaning behind Homecoming for the school,etc...)

RV's demise was that day, which is ironic. Because it SHOULD represent the complete bottoming out of everything associated with the football program. And Wren Baker, as well as Seth Littrell and Graham Harrell all represent taking advantage of an opportunity to try and make things better here, especially in the long-term. All three men will be given PLENTY of time to try and fix this--assuming its fixable here. Harrell will get 2-3 years to get this new offense installed and call plays accordingly to Littrell's wishes. Littrell will get 3-4 years to try and rebuild here, as the hole we are currently in is well-known within college football circles. And Baker will get 4-5 years to turn things around here, from a winning standpoint, as well as from a leadership standpoint for raising revenue, building or modernizing facilities, and scheduling.

In a lot of ways, this is a fun time for us to watch the program. Baker represents a fresh start, as does Littrell. Everyone just needs to look past the scoreboard this year and attendance figures--they will both suck hugely because of the past, not because of either of them. But getting the right mindset developed, both with the staffs, as well as the players and fans should pay off big time in the years ahead. It may very well be too little, too late here, but just being able to see new, fresh faces that are both excited to be here is such a breath of fresh air. And, yes I know that Dan McCarney was super excited and optimistic, too, when he got here, but he was at the end of his career and he had a completely inept AD to work under. I'll say this forever, but Mac got beat down by UNT's ways and its leadership--the guy who was here the first three years was the polar opposite of who was here in the last year and a half, when dealing with the media, fans, and recruits. To me, that had everything to do with who his boss was and how absolutely little he did to help the program. Littrell and baker should represent a complete overhaul and change from this sad history.