SMU considering Littrell among others

[xyresic]

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

If SMU is a “lateral move,” why is Morris coaching at Arkansas while Littrell didn’t get a sniff of that job? 

SMU is a higher profile file program in a better, higher profile file conference. 

If you were Littrell, would you rather coach the players Morris recruited the last 2 years or the players that Littrell recruited the last 2 years?

For a million dollars plus more a year. 

No brainer. If Littrell gets the offer.

While you are looking through their "profile files" can you tell me how many more years Morris has been coaching than Seth? (hint avg. SEC coaches age at the start of the season was 49 and Chad Morris is drum roll please...49).

Since you are the resident Nostradamus here - where in your profile file did you predict Mason Fine as Offensive POY with 28 tds? Or the file where you pegged us at 9 wins?

This online persona you put out is a shame since in person you are well spoken and likeable.

Edited December 7, 2017 by xyresic

[TreeFiddy]

Would SMU even think of hiring papa Briles?  Small, private school kind of insulated away from other things.  Would allow SMU to play well above its fighting weight and would allow Briles a chance to rebuild some reputation.  SMU is just the type of place that is willing to sell its soul to try and remain relevant.  It would not be surprised to find out his name has come up during internal discussions.

[VideoEagle]

46 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

Would SMU even think of hiring papa Briles?

No.  Their Presdent and board would never go for it. In a fan poll Briles isn't even mentioned. Believe it or not SMU has some standards.  

[UNT90]

11 hours ago, xyresic said:

While you are looking through their "profile files" can you tell me how many more years Morris has been coaching than Seth? (hint avg. SEC coaches age at the start of the season was 49 and Chad Morris is drum roll please...49).

Since you are the resident Nostradamus here - where in your profile file did you predict Mason Fine as Offensive POY with 28 tds? Or the file where you pegged us at 9 wins?

This online persona you put out is a shame since in person you are well spoken and likeable.

High school and college aren’t the same sport. You think our fans would have learned that with Dodge. Take away Morris’s high school coaching years, and Littrell may even have more experience. 

Morris does have a better P5 assistant resume than Littrell, but he has also done less at SMU, so those kinda balance out. 

Fine figured it out in his second year like some of us prayed that he would. Something clicked after the Iowa game, and that’s awesome. I don’t think anyone predicted Fine as 1st team or POTY this year beside that relative that posts. Littrell showed guts by staying with Fine in the Iowa game, and he was proven right. 

SMU is just a more respected, higher profile program than UNT, and UNT fans just can’t stand to hear that truth because they falsely perceive some rivalry with SMU exists. You can hate them, but realize that hate flows only one way. They just rarely even think about UNT.

The facts are what the facts are. This board just NEVER wants to hear them, and actively discourages decenting opinions.

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by UNT90

[UNT90]

18 hours ago, GMG24 said:

not going to.  look at the schools that came open, do some research. 

Ya, ok. Guess what. I got P5 offers, also. If I say it, it must be true, right? 

[Aldo]

3 hours ago, UNT90 said:

SMU is just a more respected, higher profile program than UNT

And it blows my mind. 

Our W-L has been practically even since the mid 90s. 

SMU is both bad AND boujee

[Quoner]

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

The facts are what the facts are. This board just NEVER wants to hear them, and actively discourages decenting opinions.

REAL POINT: I would agree 100% that this board actively discourages decent opinions (see what I did there?) Your presence is also missed and I wish you knew how to make points more efficiently and calmly because that's probably the biggest reason you end up feeling so attacked.

FAKE POINT: You're a snowflake who needs a safe space on the internet without all these mean ol' meanies. 

Edited December 8, 2017 by Quoner

[xyresic]

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

High school and college aren’t the same sport. You think our fans would have learned that with Dodge. Take away Morris’s high school coaching years, and Littrell may even have more experience. 

Morris does have a better P5 assistant resume than Littrell, but he has also done less at SMU, so those kinda balance out. 

Fine figured it out in his second year like some of us prayed that he would. Something clicked after the Iowa game, and that’s awesome. I don’t think anyone predicted Fine as 1st team or POTY this year beside that relative that posts. Littrell showed guts by staying with Fine in the Iowa game, and he was proven right. 

SMU is just a more respected, higher profile program than UNT, and UNT fans just can’t stand to hear that truth because they falsely perceive some rivalry with SMU exists. You can hate them, but realize that hate flows only one way. They just rarely even think about UNT.

The facts are what the facts are. This board just NEVER wants to hear them, and actively discourages decenting opinions.

 

Facts are facts. The board does not discourage dissenting opinions but it should discourage people from stating opinions and masquerading them as facts. More FBS coaches start out in the HS ranks than any other level besides FBS. That includes FCS, D2 & D3, Juco, NFL, CFL you name it. This year 27 FBS head coaches started their careers coaching in the HS ranks. Guys like Briles, Malzahn and many P5 coaches. I would say that qualifies it as a training ground for future FBS coaches, and that yes in fact it is the same sport.

Following your logic Briles HS head coaching experience was not applicable and he was hired as Houston's head coach based on two years of coaching running backs at Tech. I think it stands to reason that Morris gained valuable things from his HS head coaching years: recruiting ties, creative playcalling, experience running a show and experience speaking to fans & media etc. Seth is getting more polished over time, but Morris has a clear advantage over Seth in this area. Some of it is personality and some of it is experience being the head guy. 

Coaches do not get hired based on the profile of the school they are leaving. They  get hired based on what they did to improve the school. PJ Fleck didn't get hired because Western Michigan was a titan. He was hired by a P5 because he took a MAC team that hadn't won their conference since 2000 and went 13-1 in 2016.

By the way, Arkansas wanted Malzahn (coached HS from 1991-2005) and ended up with Morris (coached HS 1994-2009). Interesting facts there.

[MGNation92]

4 hours ago, UNT90 said:

Ya, ok. Guess what. I got P5 offers, also. If I say it, it must be true, right? 

Just because you don't know the info, doesn't mean it didn't happen. If you asked the right questions to the right people and weren't such a meanie face, you might know a little more.

[UNT90]

2 minutes ago, xyresic said:

Facts are facts. The board does not discourage dissenting opinions but it should discourage people from stating opinions and masquerading them as facts. More FBS coaches start out in the HS ranks than any other level besides FBS. That includes FCS, D2 & D3, Juco, NFL, CFL you name it. This year 27 FBS head coaches started their careers coaching in the HS ranks. Guys like Briles, Malzahn and many P5 coaches. I would say that qualifies it as a training ground for future FBS coaches, and that yes in fact it is the same sport.

Following your logic Briles HS head coaching experience was not applicable and he was hired as Houston's head coach based on two years of coaching running backs at Tech. I think it stands to reason that Morris gained valuable things from his HS head coaching years: recruiting ties, creative playcalling, experience running a show and experience speaking to fans & media etc. Seth is getting more polished over time, but Morris has a clear advantage over Seth in this area. Some of it is personality and some of it is experience being the head guy. 

Coaches do not get hired based on the profile of the school they are leaving. They  get hired based on what they did to improve the school. PJ Fleck didn't get hired because Western Michigan was a titan. He was hired by a P5 because he took a MAC team that hadn't won their conference since 2000 and went 13-1 in 2016.

By the way, Arkansas wanted Malzahn (coached HS from 1991-2005) and ended up with Morris (coached HS 1994-2009). Interesting facts there.

UNT fans will go to great lengths to convince themselves of certain things. This is a fine example. 

If High School was an equivalent to college experience, why aren’t more high school head coaches hired straight in to be head coach at major universities? Hell, members of this fan base, maybe even you, bitch and moan constantly about high school Todd Dodge being allowed to take over here.

How many head coaches that went straight from high school to head coaching at the FBS level have been successful? I mean, only a handful have been given the oportunity. If your logic applies, why weren’t there more, and why weren’t they succcessful?

Again, you are thinking with your mean green heart and not your brain. But that’s what this board does nowadays.

Oh, and the student vote? So so so so UNT.

[xyresic]

I do maintain that it is clearly a viable formula to take a winning HS head coach, give him a few years of seasoning as a position coach or Coordinator and then let him coach a FBS team. The numbers show this to be true.

This is vintage UNT90 at work, arguing when the guy you are arguing about (Morris) even has an article on football scoop disputing what you are saying.

http://footballscoop.com/news/chad-morris-explains-rapid-rise-high-school-head-coaches-fbs-head-jobs/

Apologies to the board, every few months I forget that he will never actually read what I am writing to try to understand it. I'll hang up and listen.

 

[VideoEagle]

Bringing the thread back on topic, does anyone have anything that suggests Seth is an actual candidate at SMU? On PonyFans they are suggesting pulling his name out of their poll to be replaced by "actual candidates." 

By the way, no mention at all of DD on PonyFans. DD was the OC at SMU the year before we hired him. 

I continue to think Seth will stay at NT. He's getting multiple mentions of "keep an eye on" and "someone to watch" from the reporters who follow coaching changes. Another year with 8 or more wins will show he can build a program from downtrodden to winning.

Frankly, that will also help remove the "no one can win at North Texas" stigma as someone will have just accomplished it. 

[UNT90]

4 hours ago, VideoEagle said:

Bringing the thread back on topic, does anyone have anything that suggests Seth is an actual candidate at SMU? On PonyFans they are suggesting pulling his name out of their poll to be replaced by "actual candidates." 

By the way, no mention at all of DD on PonyFans. DD was the OC at SMU the year before we hired him. 

I continue to think Seth will stay at NT. He's getting multiple mentions of "keep an eye on" and "someone to watch" from the reporters who follow coaching changes. Another year with 8 or more wins will show he can build a program from downtrodden to winning.

Frankly, that will also help remove the "no one can win at North Texas" stigma as someone will have just accomplished it. 

Wow, Seth isn’t even worthy of one of the worst jobs in FBS (according to Chad Morris and pushed by GMG24)?...

[SMU2006]

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department.

-Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes.  All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed.  A decision is expected Monday at the latest.

- Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason.  SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again.

- SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree.  Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas.  Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out.

- Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters.  He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas.  He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff.  Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M.  If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse.  

- Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him.  He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris.  The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards.  Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year.  Formal interview likely tomorrow.

- Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris.  Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson.  He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience.  He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick.  Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt.

- Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive.  He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal.  He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year.  I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point.

-IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms.  Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris.  He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year.  Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor.  The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic.  Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it.  

A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know.  If I had to make a guess I'd say:

Traylor - 50%
Littrell - 35%
Anderson - 10%
Dykes - 5%

Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!

 

 

[pastorgrant]

24 minutes ago, SMU2006 said:

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department.

-Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes.  All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed.  A decision is expected Monday at the latest.

- Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason.  SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again.

- SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree.  Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas.  Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out.

- Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters.  He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas.  He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff.  Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M.  If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse.  

- Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him.  He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris.  The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards.  Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year.  Formal interview likely tomorrow.

- Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris.  Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson.  He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience.  He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick.  Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt.

- Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive.  He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal.  He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year.  I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point.

-IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms.  Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris.  He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year.  Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor.  The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic.  Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it.  

A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know.  If I had to make a guess I'd say:

Traylor - 50%
Littrell - 35%
Anderson - 10%
Dykes - 5%

Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!

 

 

Please no.

[MGNation92]

Formal interview of our HC during a massive recruiting weekend? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I'd be absolutely shocked if he was offered/takes it.

Wren and Co should be working on a pay raise/extension as we speak

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Formal interview of our HC during a massive recruiting weekend? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I'd be absolutely shocked if he was offered/takes it.

Wren and Co should be working on a pay raise/extension as we speak

Tis the season for coaching moves.   Of course it makes sense.

I wouldn't be shocked.   ...I'd be sad, but not shocked.

And, that's exactly what Littrell & his agent are hoping for!

[SMU2006]

Short distance to go for a face to face with the SMU brass.  These things come together quickly but he's definitely in the mix and expressed interest.

Traylor is definitely the front runner.  SMU feels that keeping the continuity of the Morris regime offensively is vital.  Traylor would be getting around 1.5M as HC with an additional 2M war chest on top of what was previously being spent on assistants to assemble a veteran coaching staff to offset his relative lack of experience.  Anderson is kind of the wild card b/c apparently he has a pretty sizable buyout at Ark State and I'm not sure SMU has a lot of interest in that.

Edited December 8, 2017 by SMU2006

[TreeFiddy]

I could see it happening, but hope it doesn't. Either way, I think we likely have only one more year with Littrell unless things go unexpectedly badly next season.

Sounds like it could be an interesting 10 days.  From what I have read, it sounds like Traylor is definitely the front runner and is supposed to coach the bowl game.  

If this came to pass, smoo would be on the hook for 40% of Littrell's remaining salary/incentives which should be ~4.5 years at $1m per so $1.6M - $1.8M.  Not too shabby.  If smoo is scared off from Blake Anderson's $2M buyout at Arky State, not sure if they are going to have an appetite for Littrell's buyout when they have Traylor sitting right there for free.

[Cr1028]

1 hour ago, SMU2006 said:

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department.

-Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes.  All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed.  A decision is expected Monday at the latest.

- Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason.  SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again.

- SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree.  Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas.  Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out.

- Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters.  He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas.  He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff.  Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M.  If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse.  

- Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him.  He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris.  The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards.  Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year.  Formal interview likely tomorrow.

- Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris.  Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson.  He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience.  He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick.  Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt.

- Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive.  He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal.  He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year.  I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point.

-IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms.  Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris.  He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year.  Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor.  The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic.  Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it.  

A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know.  If I had to make a guess I'd say:

Traylor - 50%
Littrell - 35%
Anderson - 10%
Dykes - 5%

Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!

 

 

@TheReal_jayD, are you about to blow that life savings?? WTF is this trash.

[TheReal_jayD]

8 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

@TheReal_jayD, are you about to blow that life savings?? WTF is this trash.

I'm pretty confident in my statement. And that hasn't waivered. I may completly wiff on this. But I will say Seth Littrell will Not be the next coach at SMU. I would double down and say extension with UNT wil be announced in coming day

[TreeFiddy]

Would not be shocking to know that Littrell or his agent threw his hat in the ring, but it certainly does not seem reasonable that he would want his name leaked out.  It is just as likely that smoo is trying to spread the rumor to keep their recruits confused and to potentially damage UNT recruiting. 

It would be very smoo of smoo to leak currently sitting head coach's names out there.  Not cool.

[Wag Tag]

1 hour ago, SMU2006 said:

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department.

-Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes.  All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed.  A decision is expected Monday at the latest.

- Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason.  SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again.

- SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree.  Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas.  Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out.

- Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters.  He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas.  He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff.  Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M.  If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse.  

- Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him.  He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris.  The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards.  Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year.  Formal interview likely tomorrow.

- Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris.  Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson.  He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience.  He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick.  Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt.

- Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive.  He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal.  He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year.  I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point.

-IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms.  Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris.  He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year.  Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor.  The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic.  Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it.  

A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know.  If I had to make a guess I'd say:

Traylor - 50%
Littrell - 35%
Anderson - 10%
Dykes - 5%

Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!

 

 

This sounds like a bunch of crap! Seth is going to interview on a recruiting weekend and he will bring Harrel if he gets the job? Would he really burn UNT that badly? Don’t see it!

[TheReal_jayD]

1 hour ago, SMU2006 said:

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department.

-Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes.  All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed.  A decision is expected Monday at the latest.

- Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason.  SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again.

- SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree.  Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas.  Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out.

- Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters.  He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas.  He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff.  Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M.  If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse.  

- Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him.  He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris.  The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards.  Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year.  Formal interview likely tomorrow.

- Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris.  Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson.  He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience.  He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick.  Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt.

- Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive.  He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal.  He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year.  I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point.

-IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms.  Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris.  He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year.  Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor.  The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic.  Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it.  

A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know.  If I had to make a guess I'd say:

Traylor - 50%
Littrell - 35%
Anderson - 10%
Dykes - 5%

Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!

 

 

Update: Seth is not a candidate/interested in SMU. This report is false. He will be in NewDenton tomorrow hosting Official visits. He has already turned down bigger than jobs than SMU since he got to UNT. So relax people! 

[TreeFiddy]

I still can't get over how, in his into speech to the piggies, that Morris said MANY people were asking him why he would take one of the worst jobs in FBS football (smu)?  That is such greatness.