Really? Y not JJ?

[Wag Tag]

He was a proven winner and recruiter at UNT. He knows the local market. No buy out will be required and you should be able to hire at budget. He has 2 yrs left on a $1.5 contract with LSU. When you look at his resume I don't see anybody that would be a better fit. 

How many of us were glad to see him go?

Why would he want the job? He could view it as a homecoming and he knows what he has here with some improvements.

[Eagle-96]

JJ was great for UNT at the time and brought us out of the wilderness. We can do better. Let's go money-whip Scott Cross.

[EagleMBA]

As I posted weeks ago, I have no quarrel with Cross. I DO have a very uneasy feeling about him, in that he has never been anywhere else than UTA. Played there, immediately an assistant coach (est 8 years), then head coach (11 years and counting). Has settled in, with a wife and three children. I do not see him as the prototypical, ambitious hard-charger...he is apparently just a good floor coach and can recruit the players he needs to win in the SunBelt. Hats off to him for his success at UTA...I think he's found his niche. JMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Cross_(basketball)

 

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

20 minutes ago, Eagle-96 said:

JJ was great for UNT at the time and brought us out of the wilderness. We can do better. Let's go money-whip Scott Cross.

Some may say @Eagle-96 is a dreamer, but he's not the only one.

 

It's not happening y'all.

[GrandGreen]

Does anyone think that Baker, a new division 1 AD, is going to make his first coach hire, a rv retread?  

Edited March 9, 2017 by GrandGreen

[TheTastyGreek]

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

Does anyone think that Baker, a new division AD, is going to make his first coach hire, a rv retread?  

Nope. 

[BTG_Fan1]

2 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

He was a proven winner and recruiter at UNT. He knows the local market. No buy out will be required and you should be able to hire at budget. He has 2 yrs left on a $1.5 contract with LSU. When you look at his resume I don't see anybody that would be a better fit. 

How many of us were glad to see him go?

Why would he want the job? He could view it as a homecoming and he knows what he has here with some improvements.

It would be interesting with LSU paying him a buyout, would/ could lead to UNT being able to offer more to JJ in terms of recruiting or assistant pool or something else. 

[Green P1]

Does anyone think JJ will still be available after Wren shutters the program for a year to better evaluate his next coaching hire?

[TheTastyGreek]

Johnny is not coming back. There's no way that Wren Baker will make his first hire the same one that was Rick's first hire. Whether or not anyone thinks it makes sense, whether or not anyone happens to think we can "do better"... I can't imagine it even being a consideration. 

Peering into the crystal ball, here's what I suspect happens with JJ. I think he probably takes a year away from coaching, unless someone in the CUSA/Sun Belt/Southland footprint (ideally, somewhere in Louisiana or east/central/south Texas) loses a coach up the ladder and he gets a chance to take over a program that isn't in a rebuilding phase. 

I think next year, he may go after an opening in his geographic footprint, either a rebuild or a replacement, depending on who gets fired or poached (Southern Miss? USA? Texas State?). And if he wants to stay in coaching but doesn't find the right fit by the end of the 2018 coaching carousel, he probably goes to Lamar and helps out Tic Price the same way Tic Price worked here before getting back into the head coach world. 

[UNT90]

Because he is in his mid 50s, just lost his dream job, and would view this as a retirement gig.

This fan base. ?????

[MCMLXXX]

2 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

I think next year, he may go after an opening in his geographic footprint, either a rebuild or a replacement, depending on who gets fired or poached (Southern Miss? USA? Texas State?). And if he wants to stay in coaching but doesn't find the right fit by the end of the 2018 coaching carousel, he probably goes to Lamar and helps out Tic Price the same way Tic Price worked here before getting back into the head coach world. 

You left out the most likely location. Jacksonville State.

[untbowler]

I would prefer someone who can get UNT higher than #107 RPI.

[CMJ]

15 minutes ago, untbowler said:

I would prefer someone who can get UNT higher than #107 RPI.

According to realtimerpi - we ended 2010 at 104.  

[TheTastyGreek]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

According to realtimerpi - we ended 2010 at 104.  

And we started the SBC tournament in the 80s, watching our rpi drop after every win except possibly Troy (not 100% sure about them). 

[CMJ]

34 minutes ago, TheTastyGreek said:

And we started the SBC tournament in the 80s, watching our rpi drop after every win except possibly Troy (not 100% sure about them). 

Heheh yeah I was being just a stickler for details.  When you quote a ranking, be sure you have the right one.  

[CMJ]

Also, little known fact....before this year the best RPI that Scott Cross had in his career at UTA was.....105.

[UNTFan23]

3 hours ago, untbowler said:

I would prefer someone who can get UNT higher than #107 RPI.

In the grand scheme of things, your ending RPI means very little unless you are looking for a shot of an at-large bid to something like the NCAA tournament. A team's RPI is just one of many factors the selection committee considers.

[untbowler]

1 hour ago, UNTFan23 said:

In the grand scheme of things, your ending RPI means very little unless you are looking for a shot of an at-large bid to something like the NCAA tournament. A team's RPI is just one of many factors the selection committee considers.

So why would we not want to get into the 30-40 range like many other mid-majors have done. Screw only having to win the Conference Tourney to get a bid. Win some big OOC games, not from the SWAC, and have higher standards to at least get into the bubble range.

[shootermcgavin44]

1 hour ago, UNTFan23 said:

In the grand scheme of things, your ending RPI means very little unless you are looking for a shot of an at-large bid to something like the NCAA tournament. A team's RPI is just one of many factors the selection committee considers.

Why would you not want to be at a level where RPI would play a factor in getting a tourny bid? #olddenton

[UNTFan23]

1 minute ago, untbowler said:

So why would we not want to get into the 30-40 range like many other mid-majors have done. Screw only having to win the Conference Tourney to get a bid. Win some big OOC games, not from the SWAC, and have higher standards to at least get into the bubble range.

 

7 minutes ago, shootermcgavin44 said:

Why would you not want to be at a level where RPI would play a factor in getting a tourny bid? #olddenton

Before we start scheduling the better teams (RPI 100 or better), perhaps beating marginally better teams than us should happen first.

[Got5onIt]

I really like JJ and appreciate what he's done here, but I think it's an era that's been put behind UNT. Time to move forward......

[UNT90]

3 hours ago, shootermcgavin44 said:

Why would you not want to be at a level where RPI would play a factor in getting a tourny bid? #olddenton

To people like that, UNT will never be possible of being anything other than what it was when they were in college. And they are fine with it. When you ask for or demand improvement, they will call you crazy, unreasonable, or worse. 

It's the greatness of UNT fan culture. RV didn't happen by accident.

[VideoEagle]

2 hours ago, Got5onIt said:

I really like JJ and appreciate what he's done here, but I think it's an era that's been put behind UNT. Time to move forward......

I think a lot of us agree with that sentiment.

[UNT90]

2 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

I think a lot of us agree with that sentiment.

See, we can agree on things.

[shootermcgavin44]

6 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

 

Before we start scheduling the better teams (RPI 100 or better), perhaps beating marginally better teams than us should happen first.

80	Fresno State	.5488	17-11	130	76	284	62	84	0-1	2-0	4-4	8-4	109	2.0	1.4	3.4
RK	TEAM	RPI	D1 W-L	SOS	NCRP	NCSS	CFRP	CFSS	1-25	26-50	51-100	L12	LRPI	OFFQ	DEFQ	ASM
81	New Mexico	.5477	17-13	49	107	37	90	79	0-2	0-4	5-3	7-5	64	2.7	0.1	2.8
82	Syracuse	.5468	18-14	58	101	218	32	31	3-4	3-4	2-1	7-5	62	4.9	3.2	8.1
83	Texas A&M	.5467	16-14	37	90	27	101	70	0-6	2-6	2-1	6-6	52	-1.8	7.9	6.1
84	CSU Bakersfield	.5466	18-8	223	176	189	66	248	0-2	0-0	2-2	10-2	115	-5.7	10.2	4.5
85	Richmond	.5465	19-11	108	149	247	33	78	0-4	1-1	3-1	8-4	96	3.1	0.8	3.8
86	Ohio State	.5442	17-15	36	54	106	91	37	1-6	3-2	4-5	5-7	63	3.1	2.9	5.9
87	Alabama	.5426	17-13	80	125	90	79	106	0-4	3-2	1-4	6-6	98	-4.4	9.7	5.2
88	St Bonaventure	.5411	19-11	133	115	166	77	130	0-4	0-2	0-2	7-5	126	4.8	0.3	5.1
89	Florida Gulf Coast	.5409	23-7	260	164	97	130	308	0-2	1-1	0-0	11-1	74	0.4	4.2	4.6
90	Northern Kentucky	.5404	22-10	222	109	173	116	239	0-1	0-0	1-2	10-2	143	-0.3	2.1	1.8
RK	TEAM	RPI	D1 W-L	SOS	NCRP	NCSS	CFRP	CFSS	1-25	26-50	51-100	L12	LRPI	OFFQ	DEFQ	ASM
91	Penn State	.5401	15-17	27	65	58	114	47	2-5	1-2	4-7	4-8	90	2.6	0.6	3.2
92	Stanford	.5399	13-17	8	81	3	156	60	0-8	1-2	3-4	3-9	79	-1.2	3.1	1.9
93	Towson	.5393	19-13	103	139	67	95	149	0-1	0-3	2-2	8-4	107	0.9	2.4	3.4
94	San Francisco	.5382	19-12	109	102	130	99	120	0-4	1-0	1-2	7-5	103	0.5	4.2	4.6
95	Colorado	.5380	18-13	121	56	211	138	109	1-4	1-1	3-5	9-3	122	3.3	1.9	5.3
96	Iona	.5375	22-12	170	78	141	146	195	0-1	1-3	0-1	8-4	120	6.2	-2.6	3.6
97	George Washington	.5368	18-13	98	95	194	82	82	1-3	0-3	2-3	8-4	86	-0.2	1.2	1.0
98	UNC Greensboro	.5342	22-9	240	157	257	80	230	0-1	0-1	3-1	9-3	105	-1.3	3.1	1.8
	Nebraska	.5342	11-19	3	153	1	111	42	3-3	0-7	4-7	3-9	88	-0.4	1.3	0.9
100	Lehigh	.5

 

I would take scheduling any of these teams over freaking Texas College or directional A&M Oklahoma State Technical Institute.