Seth Littrell

outoftown · November 7, 2017

This whole thread is a good example that sometimes experience can teach people the wrong things they'd be better off forgetting, which to me is the prototypical failing when people get old. Most of these bad lessons lead to behavior involving finger pointing and believe in impending failure, which leads to not expending the energy to try, which leads to certain failure.

First of all, there is no good in assuming that perceptions will never change because they only did so incrementally in the 20 years after someones graduation. It has to be said that UNT has reached tier one recently, has tendentially moved up the rankings and has also increased its student body while simultaneously lowering its acceptance rate. That means that to many young folks getting in was worth trying and hard. That is likely to change perceptions eventually, but the speed of change may frustrate the patience of a lot of people because they fail to perceive it if it takes another 20 years.

More importantly: Why all this finger pointing at the students, what does it achieve? This is turning responsibilites around the wrong way. Seth Littrell is paid a million dollars a year to coach. The students take on loans to do so, much more than in generations past as the current generation of students gets financially hosed more than any generation prior. Would it be nice if they enjoyed showing up? Sure. But it is turning responsibilities the wrong way around. It is not the students who need to prove they are trustworthy, it is the program who will have to prove it is trustworthy good entertainement for more than one season at a time.

oldguystudent · November 7, 2017

I, for one, gravely lament the MASSIVE unemployment among UNT graduates because football sucks.

VideoEagle · November 7, 2017

9 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

I, for one, gravely lament the MASSIVE unemployment among UNT graduates because football sucks.

Yes, lots of corporate recruiters check the latest conference standings before scheduling an interview.

oldguystudent · November 7, 2017

28 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

Yes, lots of corporate recruiters check the latest conference standings before scheduling an interview.

In that case, BRB, going to spruce up the ole resume.

MeanGreenTexan · November 7, 2017

58 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

Yes, lots of corporate recruiters check the latest conference standings before scheduling an interview.

Yeah,
Every time I have an interview, I always send the link to the Women's Soccer standings instead of football. Fools 'em every time!

meangreen08 · November 7, 2017

Kliff will most likely get canned if he finishes 5-7 again, however i don't think Tech would go after Litrell and co this soon.
going after another very young coach is probably not what they want to do.

Cerebus · November 7, 2017

13 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Smatresk appears to be a nice hire in his role, elevating the AD to a VP-level admin.

Athletic Director has been a VP forever, has sat on the presidents council (all VP level) forever. This is more of a branding change, to show how important the position should be to Smatresk.

Some VP positions traditionally have other names, for example the Provost. That person is just the Provost.

ipd054 · November 7, 2017

I have personally interviewed and hired thousands of people from IT to Medical (I was a headhunter for 12 years) and I will tell you that unless you were Ivy League, the school is a non factor in the hiring decision. All I ever looked for was if there was a degree. The major was only looked at for about 30% of the hires (almost all Medical).

After your first job out of college your job stability and experience is what get you the job. I just hired someone in a six figure job and until I was writing this and looked I did not recall where she went to school (it was Oregon State) I can assure you that her 10 years of proven successful experience trumped anything the beavers have accomplished on the sports fields.

Where it helps:

1) It breaks the ice on the interview which helps you build rapport. 2) If the interviewer has good stories it will shorten your interview by 10-15 min as they reminisce. 3)Gives you a hook as a candidate, that if you are smart you will use in follow-up will help cement the decision. 4) If you played sports it can help you get the interview as sometimes you want to meet someone you watched play. UNT Rugby and Womens Soccer players will always get a second look for an interview with me. Both are team sports with a tradition of wining and putting competitive teams on the field.

GreenTexan13 · November 7, 2017

I think SL will still be around. I just think it's to early for a P5 to be making a move currently. The things I respect about SL is that he took a mess of a program and turned it around in 1 1/2 years. We went 5-8 last year. But that's coming out of a 1-11 season, AD resignation. And starting from scratch. UNT just doesn't win, and SL is making UNT win. Which is something we should all be excited about.

southsideguy · November 7, 2017

i think it would help keep a coach at UNT if we had better fan support.

MeanGreenTexan · November 7, 2017

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

Athletic Director has been a VP forever, has sat on the presidents council (all VP level) forever. This is more of a branding change, to show how important the position should be to Smatresk.

Some VP positions traditionally have other names, for example the Provost. That person is just the Provost.

Thank you for this educational post.