MGB: Initial signing day thoughts

Brett Vito · February 1, 2017

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2017/02/early-signing-day-notes-thoughts.html/

untbowler · February 1, 2017

God Vito is channeling DMac and DD, oh woe is UNT, it is such a hard sell. Give me a flippin break. We have better facilities than most in the conference. We are better than La Tech location, UTSA, Juarez North, etc... Time for the excuse of a hard sell to be thrown away. Lots of money has been thrown out their. Time to change the poor ole UNT cultural and get the fricking job done.

UNT Mean Green · February 1, 2017

1 hour ago, Brett Vito said:

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2017/02/early-signing-day-notes-thoughts.html/

Joke.

untjim1995 · February 1, 2017

1 hour ago, untbowler said:

God Vito is channeling DMac and DD, oh woe is UNT, it is such a hard sell. Give me a flippin break. We have better facilities than most in the conference. We are better than La Tech location, UTSA, Juarez North, etc... Time for the excuse of a hard sell to be thrown away. Lots of money has been thrown out their. Time to change the poor ole UNT cultural and get the fricking job done.

That's not gonna change our reputation with TX HS Coaches and parents. Only winning will do that, just like it did with Johnny Jones.

Seth Littrell is basically a no-name to a lot of people in this state. He's going to need time to build this thing into something that recruits will be interested in. If you are a kid in Texas playing HS Football and you can choose between playing at UNT and our schedule, which features OOC home games against SMU, Army, and FCS spares, or UTSA, which features games against P5s and other notable G5 opponents in OOC play every year, the choice isn't gonna go our way very often. Plus, UTSA's coaches can easily sell kids on the possibility of being able to move up the conference ladder before we ever will, just because of their TV market not being shared with anyone else.

Now, when we compare ourselves against UTEP or Texas State, that's a different story--we shouldn't ever lose a recruiting battle against either of those schools, because of remoteness for UTEP and conference affiliation without any major achievements for Texas State.

People have got to stop getting pissed about UTSA zooming by us. What were they supposed to do? Not hire smartly or take advantage of their location? I mean, seriously, give UTSA decades of suckitude like we have seen, then we can start asking why they are still killing us in recruiting. They have played at home since moving into CUSA, Oklahoma State, Houston, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas State, Colorado State, and Arizona State. In the next 2 years, they will host UH (again) and Baylor. That's 5 P5s and 3 high G5s at their place since 2013. In that same span, we have played in Denton these OOC powerhouses: Idaho, Ball State, SMU, Nicholls State, Portland State, SMU (again), and Butt Cookman, with games to follow in the next 2 years at home in Denton for OOC games to be Army, Lamar, SMU (again), and Incarnate Word. Don't forget even future games scheduled at home to include Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, and Rhode Island, which means we have scheduled for games in Denton for fans and recruits to consider attending: 0 P5s, 2 G5s that most would consider above us in SMU and Army, 2 low level G5s in Idaho and Ball State, and 8 FCS opponents. To put it another way, if you are talking to a recruit today that is considering us or UTSA, he can look at the same conference games, but gets to play UH, Baylor, Texas State, and whoever else they schedule to play in San Antonio in a climate controlled atmosphere ot he can come here and play CUSA games, plus games outdoors against SMU, Army, and a whole plethora of FCS spares.

I don't care how much it stings or how many negative 1s I get, its the truth...they have major advantages that we don't have, whether its because of their location and history or because of our location and history.

brooks91 · February 1, 2017

UNT is only a hard sell if you're a bad salesman.

I expected better this recruiting season. I still think Litrell and staff have done an impressive job but we cant keep floating around 100 in recruiting ranks if we want to be a championship caliber team.

Edited February 1, 2017 by brooks91

All About UNT · February 1, 2017

24 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

That's not gonna change our reputation with TX HS Coaches and parents. Only winning will do that, just like it did with Johnny Jones.

Seth Littrell is basically a no-name to a lot of people in this state. He's going to need time to build this thing into something that recruits will be interested in. If you are a kid in Texas playing HS Football and you can choose between playing at UNT and our schedule, which features OOC home games against SMU, Army, and FCS spares, or UTSA, which features games against P5s and other notable G5 opponents in OOC play every year, the choice isn't gonna go our way very often. Plus, UTSA's coaches can easily sell kids on the possibility of being able to move up the conference ladder before we ever will, just because of their TV market not being shared with anyone else.

Now, when we compare ourselves against UTEP or Texas State, that's a different story--we shouldn't ever lose a recruiting battle against either of those schools, because of remoteness for UTEP and conference affiliation without any major achievements for Texas State.

People have got to stop getting pissed about UTSA zooming by us. What were they supposed to do? Not hire smartly or take advantage of their location? I mean, seriously, give UTSA decades of suckitude like we have seen, then we can start asking why they are still killing us in recruiting. They have played at home since moving into CUSA, Oklahoma State, Houston, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas State, Colorado State, and Arizona State. In the next 2 years, they will host UH (again) and Baylor. That's 5 P5s and 3 high G5s at their place since 2013. In that same span, we have played in Denton these OOC powerhouses: Idaho, Ball State, SMU, Nicholls State, Portland State, SMU (again), and Butt Cookman, with games to follow in the next 2 years at home in Denton for OOC games to be Army, Lamar, SMU (again), and Incarnate Word. Don't forget even future games scheduled at home to include Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, and Rhode Island, which means we have scheduled for games in Denton for fans and recruits to consider attending: 0 P5s, 2 G5s that most would consider above us in SMU and Army, 2 low level G5s in Idaho and Ball State, and 8 FCS opponents. To put it another way, if you are talking to a recruit today that is considering us or UTSA, he can look at the same conference games, but gets to play UH, Baylor, Texas State, and whoever else they schedule to play in San Antonio in a climate controlled atmosphere ot he can come here and play CUSA games, plus games outdoors against SMU, Army, and a whole plethora of FCS spares.

I don't care how much it stings or how many negative 1s I get, its the truth...they have major advantages that we don't have, whether its because of their location and history or because of our location and history.

well I bet a whole lot of UTSA recruits must have just realized that UTSA plays big teams at home and that their city is behind them because they just went from 11th in CUSA to 2nd in recruiting in one year. It must be that awesome campus and facilities they have..... and loving the 45 min drive to their stadium with air conditioning that they really got on board with.

OR....

They hired a guy who is a Recruiter.......who then also hired other known good recruiters.

We hired a guy not known for recruiting who hired a lot of guys not known for recruiting (few exceptions on the staff). Our OC was not even a position coach at WSU before coming here and from what I read was in on recruiting just one guy.

Oh and let's look at FAU........ while Lane Kiffin is a POS and known scumbag..... HE CAME IN AND RECRUITED THE #1 CLASS IN CUSA IN UNDER 2 MONTHS! What's that like? It must be their history of winning and having awesome facilities.

BS....... we went with X's and O's guys who let others recruit their talent for them and utilized the recruits once they got on campus. Some of you old farts (not you in particular Jim) think that social media and pandering to athletes with imagenary images of them wearing green jerseys and having "hype videos" made is a waste of time. It's not.

When a coach stands there and tells us that it's not about rankings as we just came in at 12 out of F'in 14 Teams in CUSA I have to say don't spit in my face. We aren't stupid. We are the fanbase of a team that has one winning season in a decade. We are able to see the correlation between recruiting and results on the field. Just own it and tell us how you will do a better f'in job of it next year. Don't tell us it doesn't matter and that imply that fans aren't coaches so we wouldn't know. We saw it with Mac. We saw it with Dodge and we saw it with DD. Don't go down that same road of making excuses. If you need more budget.... ask for it. If you need more staff to draw up images of players wearing our gear.... ask for it. Just make it happen or you too will find yourself saying things like "oh you can't win at North Texas" for the same reasons that most of the previous staffs made those ludicrous claims.

untjim1995 · February 1, 2017

1 minute ago, All About UNT said:

well I bet a whole lot of UTSA recruits must have just realized that UTSA plays big teams at home and that their city is behind them because they just went from 11th in CUSA to 2nd in recruiting in one year. It must be that awesome campus and facilities they have..... and loving the 45 min drive to their stadium with air conditioning that they really got on board with.

OR....

They hired a guy who is a Recruiter.......who then also hired other known good recruiters.

We hired a guy not known for recruiting who hired a lot of guys not known for recruiting (few exceptions on the staff). Our OC was not even a position coach at WSU before coming here and from what I read was in on recruiting just one guy.

Oh and let's look at FAU........ while Lane Kiffin is a POS and known scumbag..... HE CAME IN AND RECRUITED THE #1 CLASS IN CUSA IN UNDER 2 MONTHS! What's that like? It must be their history of winning and having awesome facilities.

BS....... we went with X's and O's guys who let others recruit their talent for them and utilized the recruits once they got on campus. Some of you old farts (not you in particular Jim) think that social media and pandering to athletes with imagenary images of them wearing green jerseys and having "hype videos" made is a waste of time. It's not.

When a coach stands there and tells us that it's not about rankings as we just came in at 12 out of F'in 14 Teams in CUSA I have to say don't spit in my face. We aren't stupid. We are the fanbase of a team that has one winning season in a decade. We are able to see the correlation between recruiting and results on the field. Just own it and tell us how you will do a better f'in job of it next year. Don't tell us it doesn't matter and that imply that fans aren't coaches so we wouldn't know. We saw it with Mac. We saw it with Dodge and we saw it with DD. Don't go down that same road of making excuses. If you need more budget.... ask for it. If you need more staff to draw up images of players wearing our gear.... ask for it. Just make it happen or you too will find yourself saying things like "oh you can't win at North Texas" for the same reasons that most of the previous staffs made those ludicrous claims.

Last year, Frank Wilson took over for UTSA rather late in the recruiting season. Just sayin'...that's why they finished 11th last year.

People know who Lane Kiffin is--not the same, but when we hired Dodge, his name created serious buzz and we got some really solid HS talent here. But Dodge sucked, so it didn't really matter and didn't last. Kiffin may very well be the same, plus he may be gone quickly if he does have a winning team--that dude has no loyalty to anyone but himself. FIU, with Davis, has ALOT more upside than FAU does, IMO.

All About UNT · February 1, 2017

Just now, untjim1995 said:

Last year, Frank Wilson took over for UTSA rather late in the recruiting season. Just sayin'...that's why they finished 11th last year.

People know who Lane Kiffin is--not the same, but when we hired Dodge, his name created serious buzz and we got some really solid HS talent here. But Dodge sucked, so it didn't really matter and didn't last. Kiffin may very well be the same, plus he may be gone quickly if he does have a winning team--that dude has no loyalty to anyone but himself. FIU, with Davis, has ALOT more upside than FAU does, IMO.

ummm.....Dodge and Kiffin are not even on the same playing field. Dodge only made a buzz in DFW and for morbid curiosity to those who might wonder what a HS Football Coach with 1 yr of college coaching exp would do at a DIV 1 program.

untjim1995 · February 1, 2017

Just now, All About UNT said:

ummm.....Dodge and Kiffin are not even on the same playing field. Dodge only made a buzz in DFW and for morbid curiosity to those who might wonder what a HS Football Coach with 1 yr of college coaching exp would do at a DIV 1 program.

As college coaches, they are in different universes. But Dodge, alone, got us Giovanni Vizza from Alamo Heights (San Antonio's version of Southlake Carroll) when he got hired here, as he switched over from Nevada to us. He also got us kids from SLC, who quickly realized that we had worse facilities and support than they had in HS at SLC. But make no mistake, Dodge's reputation opened those doors by himself when he got here.

To me, Kiffin's reputation gets him in front of talent in Florida and the Southeast that his predecessors couldn't do, but if he sucks as a head coach there, they will leave, just like our kids did when they realized how bad things were here under Dodge. OTOH, if he has a winning season this year, and someone higher up the foodchain calls, he will be gone, ala Bobby Petrino. They are both cut from the same cloth...

Moobs · February 1, 2017

We're still a team with a losing record, bowl game appearance or not. If we can put up a winning season or two with what we have, you'll see better recruits. And I believe we have the coaching talent here that can take what we have and make a put a few winning seasons together to get those recruits. All in all, I'm not too upset about this recruiting class.

wardly · February 1, 2017

UTSA,FAU,FIU,Texas State ,SMU,all had losing records last year, just to name a few who out recruited us.

DeepGreen · February 1, 2017

This says all you need to know-

"UNT won a head-to-head battle with Abilene Christian for Abilene defensive lineman Dion Novil." WTF!

Edited February 1, 2017 by DeepGreen

Monkeypox · February 1, 2017

3 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

This says all you need to know-

"UNT won a head-to-head battle with Abilene Christian for Abilene defensive lineman Dion Novil." WTF!

I know. VOMIT.

Side Show Joe · February 1, 2017

12 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

This says all you need to know-

"UNT won a head-to-head battle with Abilene Christian for Abilene defensive lineman Dion Novil." WTF!

I agree. If Brett wanted to take a swipe at Littrell for lowering the recruiting bar, then he should have just came out and done it. No need to place that demeaning quote into the article.

UNT90 · February 2, 2017

6 hours ago, Brett Vito said:

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2017/02/early-signing-day-notes-thoughts.html/

"UNT won a recruiting battle with Abilene Christian."

Seriously, @Brett Vito, when you have to highlight that as a good event in recruiting, the recruiting class sucks.

I don't know if you are on the AD's payroll or if they have paid enough attention to you and provided you enough perks where you feel indebted to them (the old RV trick), but anyone who knows anything about college football would classify this recruiting class as a major, major disappointment.

But, hey, why hold anyone accountable, right?

FirefightnRick · February 2, 2017

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

"UNT won a recruiting battle with Abilene Christian."

Seriously, @Brett Vito, when you have to highlight that as a good event in recruiting, the recruiting class sucks.

I don't know if you are on the AD's payroll or if they have paid enough attention to you and provided you enough perks where you feel indebted to them (the old RV trick), but anyone who knows anything about college football would classify this recruiting class as a major, major disappointment.

But, hey, why hold anyone accountable, right?

I think your taking that incorrectly. Brett asked 3 times in the press conference about the low rankings of the class and us losing players...etc. It's not a protection comment. It's a swipe to highlight of the low ranking.

Rick

All About UNT · February 2, 2017

2 hours ago, Side Show Joe said:

I agree. If Brett wanted to take a swipe at Littrell for lowering the recruiting bar, then he should have just came out and done it. No need to place that demeaning quote into the article.

Wouldn't categorize it as demeaning. We literally were in a battle with FCS schools for at least half of our 3* commits.