North Texas athletic director Wren Baker discusses future of men’s basketball program

Skipper · March 6, 2017

While he has a few potential replacements in mind, Baker is keeping his cards close to his chest.

“There are a lot of names in mind but none I would share publicly,” Baker said. “Confidentiality is key. The candidates don’t want to be exposed. If you talk to one or two and that is out, people think you’re on your third or fourth candidate, that’s not a good situation for you. I’ve got names, and expect more to turn up.”

Benford leaves the program after failing to qualify for the Conference USA tournament this season. The Mean Green posted an 8-22 overall record and just a 2-16 mark in conference. Despite where the program stands now, Baker thinks the job is an attractive one.

Baker is unsure of when the new head coach will be announced, but he knows one thing – North Texas needs experience.

“I think we need somebody that has demonstrated experience in Division I,” Baker said. “I have a preference of getting a sitting head coach. If we can hire a sitting Division I head coach who is successful, that would be awesome, but we won’t restrict ourselves to that.”

“I get it,” Baker said. “We all want to win. But first of all, I would say it would not be accurate to paint this men’s basketball staff as a failure. We haven’t had hardly any off-the-court incidents with our kids. Don’t take that for granted. But at the end of the day, they haven’t won enough for the fans. We will go and find a coach that will make us highly competitive in this league.”

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DeepGreen · March 6, 2017

"We will go and find a coach that will make us highly competitive in this league.”

Wren, let's shoot higher than just CUSA.

Baker is committed to finding the best possible candidate and is willing to pay whatever it takes. Being the first hire of his tenure, he understands the implications it could have.

“If I have to come back and move some money or raise some money to get the right person, I would do that,” Baker said. “I believe the commitment to our university from our donors and fans is at an all-time high. This is an important, important hire at an important time for our athletic department and university.”

I think The Wren gets it! Now, go make it happen.

Edited March 6, 2017 by DeepGreen

UNT90 · March 6, 2017

Words and actions.

Words are cheap and have been used to fool this fan base time and again. Baker should be judged on actions. If that were the case, right now his grade would be a D.

GreenMachine · March 6, 2017

4 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Words and actions.

Words are cheap and have been used to fool this fan base time and again. Baker should be judged on actions. If that were the case, right now his grade would be a D.

Shtick?

UNT90 · March 6, 2017

2 minutes ago, GreenMachine said:

Shtick?

Hardly. What hard decision or big change has he made?

DeepGreen · March 6, 2017

5 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Words and actions.

Words are cheap and have been used to fool this fan base time and again. Baker should be judged on actions. If that were the case, right now his grade would be a D.

UNT90, stop with the negative waves! Don't make me come thru this screen and cursor whip you! LOL! Let's see what happens with this hire.

GreenMachine · March 6, 2017

10 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Hardly. What hard decision or big change has he made?

I don't know and neither do you. No way either of us has a clue what decisions, easy or hard, he makes on a daily basis. Anybody that claims to know is full of s**t. I wonder why you care since you are a Horned Frog now.

TreeFiddy · March 6, 2017

Sounds like we are preparing the step up with some $$'s. Will be interesting to see who we get.

UNT90 · March 6, 2017

6 minutes ago, GreenMachine said:

I don't know and neither do you. No way either of us has a clue what decisions, easy or hard, he makes on a daily basis. Anybody that claims to know is full of s**t. I wonder why you care since you are a Horned Frog now.

Well, we know he has made zero changes inside an AD that sorely needed them. We know he refused to fire a coach and was willing to let the basketball team go winless in conference to avoid doing so.

The fact that you can't name one change after 7 months is very telling. Did you read the consultants report?

Go Frogs Basketball!!!

Edited March 6, 2017 by UNT90

oldguystudent · March 6, 2017

I don't know who Jared Mosley is, but Smatresk and Ryan ain't gonna screw around.

Quote

The number of people involved in the search will be small and will include Baker; Jared Mosley, the second in command in the UNT athletic department; Neal Smatresk, UNT’s president; and Brint Ryan, the chairman of the UNT board of regents.

GreenMachine · March 6, 2017

15 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Well, we know he has made zero changes inside an AD that sorely needed them. We know he refused to fire a coach and was willing to let the basketball team go winless in conference to avoid doing so.

The fact that you can't name one change after 7 months is very telling. Did you read the consultants report?

Go Frogs Basketball!!!

What's telling is you ask me what hard decisions he has made and I respond back saying neither you nor I have a clue what decisions he has made. Your response doesn't address my statement at all. You don't have a clue what changes, major or minor, he has made. You also don't have a clue what you are talking about, just admit it and stop your senseless whining.

UNT90 · March 7, 2017

16 minutes ago, GreenMachine said:

What's telling is you ask me what hard decisions he has made and I respond back saying neither you nor I have a clue what decisions he has made. Your response doesn't address my statement at all. You don't have a clue what changes, major or minor, he has made. You also don't have a clue what you are talking about, just admit it and stop your senseless whining.

If they were major changes, we would know. They would be seen. Unless your definition of major changes is changing the AD coffee fund structure. Lol.

The fact you can't name a major change means one hasn't occurred. Is that so hard to understand?

And why are you so so so interested in shutting me up?

Edited March 7, 2017 by UNT90

GreenMachine · March 7, 2017

34 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

If they were major changes, we would know. They would be seen. Unless your definition of major changes is changing the AD coffee fund structure. Lol.

The fact you can't name a major change means one hasn't occurred. Is that so hard to understand?

And why are you so so so interested in shutting me up?

Again, not sure why you can't comprehend this, no way anybody outside the AD knows what changes have been made and what changes are in the works and what changes are pushed back to a later date. You have NO clue how an AD is run, but don't hesitate posting continously how it should be run. Not trying to shut you up, I think it's funny how consistently you are wrong. I think you are about the same as CougarQueen. Both supporters of other schools that don't have a life and have to frequent other fan boards.

cwb · March 7, 2017

Thankfully he is not holding his cards close to his vest.

GangGreen · March 7, 2017

2 hours ago, UNT90 said:

Words and actions.

Words are cheap and have been used to fool this fan base time and again. Baker should be judged on actions. If that were the case, right now his grade would be a D.

We get it. But, why every f***ing thread?

MeanGreen_MBA · March 7, 2017

2 minutes ago, GangGreen said:

We get it. But, why every f***ing thread?

+100

UNT90 · March 7, 2017

35 minutes ago, GreenMachine said:

Again, not sure why you can't comprehend this, no way anybody outside the AD knows what changes have been made and what changes are in the works and what changes are pushed back to a later date. You have NO clue how an AD is run, but don't hesitate posting continously how it should be run. Not trying to shut you up, I think it's funny how consistently you are wrong. I think you are about the same as CougarQueen. Both supporters of other schools that don't have a life and have to frequent other fan boards.

Lol. If it were up to you, RV would still be in charge. And I'm wrong? Lol.

And I think you are nothing but a shill who takes marching orders from whatever UNT official pays you a second of attention. I think winning is the last thing on your priority list and you could give a crap if UNT athletes are successful or not.

Isn't it cool to call each other names?

Major change to you happens everyday when Baker puts on a new pair of pants.

What really chaps your ass is I'm here. You want me gone so bad you can taste it. You would have UNT go 0-12 next year if it meant I abandoned the program. You want this program to stay small and unimportant.

Wag Tag · March 7, 2017

15 minutes ago, GangGreen said:

We get it. But, why every f***ing thread?

Ahhhhh the beauty of the ignore button!

GreenMachine · March 7, 2017

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

Lol. If it were up to you, RV would still be in charge. And I'm wrong? Lol.

And I think you are nothing but a shill who takes marching orders from whatever UNT official pays you a second of attention. I think winning is the last thing on your priority list and you could give a crap if UNT athletes are successful or not.

Isn't it cool to call each other names?

Major change to you happens everyday when Baker puts on a new pair of pants.

What really chaps your ass is I'm here. You want me gone so bad you can taste it. You would have UNT go 0-12 next year if it meant I abandoned the program. You want this program to stay small and unimportant.

You have been wrong on the majority of your 28.5K posts but this one takes the cake.

No, I am glad RV is not here so you are wrong there.

I am not a shill that takes marching orders from anyone in the AD. In fact, I have never met or talked to anyone in the AD, past or present so you are wrong there.

I do give a crap about the success of our athletics, wrong again.

No, I don't consider WB changing his pants a major change. Wrong again, 0-4 so far.

Mad that you are here. Wrong again. In fact, I like picking on you. Your senseless posts amuse me, you are my pet monkey that makes me laugh.

I want this program to stay small and unimportant. Wrong again. Like usual you were wrong on 100% of your entire post.

Go grab a banana and get some rest, I have a lot planned for you tomorrow.

Edited March 7, 2017 by GreenMachine

AustinFromUNT · March 7, 2017

*whispers into the void* What if we just wait to see who he hires before we continue to rip him?

Army of Dad · March 7, 2017

1 hour ago, GangGreen said:

We get it. But, why every f***ing thread?

I see this as a chicken and the egg. 90 is both called out and calling out in (nearly) every thread.

I'd be just as happy if the white knight brigade followed their own advice to 90 and knock off the wild pendulum swing in the exact opposite direction (nearly) every damn thread.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Army of Dad

UNT90 · March 7, 2017

22 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

I see this as a chicken and the egg. 90 is both called out and calling out in (nearly) every thread.

I'd be just as happy if the white knight brigade followed their own advice to 90 and knock off the wild pendulum swing in the exact opposite direction (nearly) every damn thread.

If you go back and look, I rarely, if ever, start it. There are 6 posters on this board that attack just about everything I say. The mods have refused to address it and have even joined in on one occasion (after which I really became free game).

I shouldn't be surprised. These 6 were pissed when a group of us did something that needed to be done, that they would never do. I was warned I would be vilified by a certain group, but the venom they have attacked with is pretty shocking.

i think you will find all 6 down at Rock and Roll Sushi every Friday eating that Lake Ray Roberts Sushi on the house. Lol.

UNTFan23 · March 7, 2017

How much longer before another thread gets locked? Why, because some people just can't get along with others, that's why.

AustinFromUNT · March 7, 2017

1 hour ago, AustinFromUNT said:

*whispers into the void* What if we just wait to see who he hires before we continue to rip him?

I'm surprised that saying we should see what he does is such a controversial opinion. 5 upvotes and 5 downvotes. That's kinda scary.

Edited March 7, 2017 by AustinFromUNT

UNT90 · March 7, 2017

9 hours ago, AustinFromUNT said:

I'm surprised that saying we should see what he does is such a controversial opinion. 5 upvotes and 5 downvotes. That's kinda scary.

One of the AD6 must not have read it yet. ?