Maintaining success at North Texas is hard, but Seth Littrell’s doing just that

[Harry]

No one has jumped from North Texas to a power conference head coaching gig in nearly 40 years. With another strong year or two, Littrell will probably end that streak.

You can win in Denton, but you probably won’t win for long there.

• When Darrell Dickey took over in 1998, it took him five years to produce a genuinely good team. He went to four straight New Orleans Bowls — the modern model for sustained success in Denton — but had already begun to slide. In his last two seasons, he went 5-18.
• After Dickey’s replacement, Texas high school legend Todd Dodge, crashed and burned (UNT went 8-40 in his four seasons), it was up to Dan McCarney to pick up the pieces. It took him only three years to surge to 9-4, but he couldn’t maintain the success, and in his last two seasons, UNT went 5-19.

McCarney’s coaching career was basically over when he left Denton. Dodge was back in the high school ranks within a year or so of his departure. Dickey spent the last decade as a mid-major offensive coordinator or co-coordinator, which is what he was before UNT as well.

You have to go back nearly four decades to find a time when someone went from North Texas head coach to something bigger.

• Jerry Moore went just 11-11 in 1979-80 but, combined with his success as a Tom Osborne assistant at Nebraska, managed to land the Texas Tech job in 1981. (He didn’t fare well there but, starting in 1989, became a coaching legend at Appalachian State.)
• Hayden Fry played things perfectly. Fired after a 7-4 season at SMU, Fry rehabilitated in Denton. He won 33 games from 1975-78 and got UNT to as high as 16th in the coaches’ poll during a brilliant 1977. He parlayed this into two decades as Iowa head coach.

That Littrell took this job, then, was a bit of a risk. The draw is easy to describe — you’re barely 30 miles from Dallas (where hundreds of potential FBS prospects live), Apogee Stadium is nice and rather new, Denton has an In-N-Out Burger* — but evidence of success has been hard to come by.

read more:  https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/3/5/17068268/north-texas-football-2018-preview-schedule-roster

 

[TheColonyEagle]

Dang....that's an in depth article. And I think pretty right on in its analysis.

Well done SBNation

 

[UNTLifer]

Did the author really reference "In-N-Out-Burger" when stating why Denton/UNT is a good draw?  And then later claims In-N-Out is no Shake Shack!  MF'er lost me right there.

Edited March 5, 2018 by UNTLifer

[NorthTexan95]

The author is very high on Michael Lawrence. 

[UNTLifer]

Good article.  He dug deep to find positives for the defense.

Based on his win probability, and taking the win for SMU, we would finish 8-4, but I have to admit I just don't see the fascination with UAB.

[MeanGreenTexan]

9 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Good article.  He dug deep to find positives for the defense.

Based on his win probability, and taking the win for SMU, we would finish 8-4, but I have to admit I just don't see the fascination with UAB.

Well, it's fairly obvious.

UAB finished second in C-USA West with an 8-4 record, and returns 17 of 22 starters from last year.  

Clark is a FANTASTIC coach.   

They will be formidable, if not win the west.   We have to play them in Birmingham this year.

[oldguystudent]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

Texas high school legend Todd Dodge, crashed and burned (UNT went 8-40 6-37 in his four seasons)

 

I am never, ever, under any circumstance, not even under the threat of tortuous death ascribing the 2010 WKU or MTSU wins to Dodge.  

[DeepGreen]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Did the author really reference "In-N-Out-Burger" when stating why Denton/UNT is a good draw?  And then later claims In-N-Out is no Shake Shack!  MF'er lost me right there.

 

One can get kicked out of Texas for dissing What-A-Burger.  Damn near treason.

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Well, it's fairly obvious.

UAB finished second in C-USA West with an 8-4 record, and returns 17 of 22 starters from last year.  

Clark is a FANTASTIC coach.   

They will be formidable, if not win the west.   We have to play them in Birmingham this year.

Sorry, but people were worried about them this year and I didn't think they were impressive.  I don't get it.  Yes, Clark is a good coach but they looked horrible against an average Ohio team in their bowl loss.

[AustinFromUNT]

“Lawrence is one of the best possession men in the country. Of the 92 FBS players targeted at least 85 times last year, his plus-24.5 percent marginal efficiency was the best.” Amazing!

[MeanGreenTexan]

33 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Sorry, but people were worried about them this year and I didn't think they were impressive.  I don't get it.  Yes, Clark is a good coach but they looked horrible against an average Ohio team in their bowl loss.

Hey, I don't think WE looked to swell in our bowl game either.   I bet UAB feels like they can win the division... and I think they can too.   The game against them, in Birmingham, is going to be a very important one for both teams.

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Sorry, but people were worried about them this year and I didn't think they were impressive.  I don't get it.  Yes, Clark is a good coach but they looked horrible against an average Ohio team in their bowl loss.

to quote @MeanGreenTexan we looked like hot doo doo as well.  I will say this their team dwarfed us on the field.  They looked more like a division 1 program than we did when it comes to athlete sizes.  Obviously that ended up not mattering but still they are a force to be dealt with.

[jdennis82]

I think an area were we may see noteworthy improvement is in our turnover margin (#121 in the nation in 2017). 

Another year of seasoning for Fine and ball carriers who may protect the ball better than Wilson did.  I also expect that the coaching staff continuity this off-season compared to 2017 could really help our defense play faster - hopefully resulting in more takeaways.

[NorthTexan95]

18 minutes ago, jdennis82 said:

I think an area were we may see noteworthy improvement is in our turnover margin (#121 in the nation in 2017). 

Another year of seasoning for Fine and ball carriers who may protect the ball better than Wilson did.  I also expect that the coaching staff continuity this off-season compared to 2017 could really help our defense play faster - hopefully resulting in more takeaways.

I would hope having the so many key offensive players back for another year would help not only with turnovers but also help us keep a more consistent offense.  Last year we would exploded for a few drives and then go quiet for a few drives.   A more consistent offense would help to protect the defense more. 

[Mean Green 93-98]

5 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

to quote @MeanGreenTexan we looked like hot doo doo as well.  I will say this their team dwarfed us on the field.  They looked more like a division 1 program than we did when it comes to athlete sizes.  Obviously that ended up not mattering but still they are a force to be dealt with.

And I'm glad we played UAB early in the season.  They continued to improve as the season went on.

[UNTLifer]

8 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

to quote @MeanGreenTexan we looked like hot doo doo as well.  I will say this their team dwarfed us on the field.  They looked more like a division 1 program than we did when it comes to athlete sizes.  Obviously that ended up not mattering but still they are a force to be dealt with.

I would be comfortable in stating we would have played much better against Ohio, probably beat them.  You answered your comment about their size...it didn't matter.