Could we learn from the SMU model?

Harry · October 31, 2017

Love or hate em - as most of us do - you have to be impressed with what SMU has been able to accomplish this season. They have won 6 games and clenched their 1st bowl bid in awhile. Will they win their division or the entire AAC remains to be seen. I did notice something about their model which I think we could learn from.

Back in 2014 Chad Morris had a blueprint for how he was going to turn a morbid SMU program around. First off, SMU had to lure Morris away from Clemson. Not sure if you noticed that SMU was listed as paying the highest head coaching salary in G5 a couple of days ago at $2,095,793. So with the disclaimer that it doesn't hurt to have big pockets let me focus in on a particular assistant coaching model that Morris implemented.

Morris hired a lot of young up and coming assistants that SMU didn't have to pay too much for. Hungry guys that were looking to move up the food chain and believed that Morris was the guy to ride up the ladder. One of those assistant hires was extremely key to their success. Interestingly enough this hire was their DC Van Malone.

Malone was at UNT for one year in 2005. I remember Coach Dickey and many other on the staff who raved about his ability as a recruiter. He played college ball at Texas and played 4 years in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. I remember feeling sad that we didn't even really try to keep him on the staff when he was lured away to coach at Tulsa for way more money.

My point is every staff needs that one guy who can swing it out of the park as a recruiter. I am sure he is a fine coach and you certainly have seen the results of his and Morris' recruiting efforts on the Hilltop over the past several years. Please don't read this as an indictment of our current staff as it is not. We have some outstanding recruiters on this staff and have landed some great players.

We may well have this type of guy on the staff now. Or maybe not. My point is with recruiting being the lifeblood of any program, perhaps we should be using a model that allows for a coach with a specific recruiting resume and history of success to be a big part. You are going to have to compensate this person at a very high level and offer them a pathway to future success. My point is, if the system requires this type of person to boost your recruiting efforts perhaps you need to address it in terms of staffing.

We are already seeing this type of thing happening with other teams in C-USA. Frank Wilson hired Bo Davis from Alabama as a defensive line coach. Scout.com’s 2016 national recruiter of the year. He also had some NCAA baggage which allowed UTSA to get him at a good price. But you get my drift.

MeanGreenTexan · October 31, 2017

We were told Marty Biagi is a recruiting ace.

anyone heard about his targets?

UNTLifer · October 31, 2017

28 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

We were told Marty Biagi is a recruiting ace.

anyone heard about his targets?

Heard the same thing, but I would prefer he focus on Special Teams at this point.

DeepGreen · October 31, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Heard the same thing, but I would prefer he focus on Special Teams at this point.

This whole thread just hit a nerve. Actually those two kickoff returns by ODU hit a nerve too. And we had the right guy for the job. At UNT. Damnit, what the f... happened?

Tommy Perry

Wag Tag · October 31, 2017

The way UNT is going they should match the success of the 3rd year of SMU.

We were in such a hole with Mac on recruiting it has taken some time to dig out. I hope 2018 shows a nice turn around.

I would always like to have some young hungry coaches on the staff.

Adding the IPF will also help. There is no reason we can't be in the 80s as far as ranking.

MeanGreen13 · October 31, 2017

4 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

The way UNT is going they should match the success of the 3rd year of SMU.

We were in such a hole with Mac on recruiting it has taken some time to dig out. I hope 2018 shows a nice turn around.

I would always like to have some young hungry coaches on the staff.

Adding the IPF will also help. There is no reason we can't be in the 80s as far as ranking.

What FAU and ODU showed me is that we are recruiting good players but we will never have dominant players on this level until the recruiting steps up. im think particularly of the defensive and offensive lines. we have undersized players who consistently over achieve. we need bigger guys who will over achieve also!

GrandGreen · November 1, 2017

The problem with SMU as a model is the two programs other than location have little in common. SMU is a private institution where money whether used legally or not has always been a weapon. They have fell a long ways but have always been in a better conference than NT.

I can't remember the last time NT won a recruiting battle with SMU.

If you are going to emulate a program that doesn't match either look at TCU. They came from the same place as SMU, but have been able to reinstate themselves as a top level p5 team. Their key is finding the right coach and keeping him and moving up and winning higher level conferences.

I think better models exist for NT to emulate like state universities such as Central and South Florida, old conference mates that NT use to own in football like Louisville and Cincinnati.

However, in reality NT doesn't need to model after any particular institution. Everyone knows what has to be done, invest more, find the right coaches, and win the majority of recruiting battles with peer schools.

Edited November 2, 2017 by GrandGreen