CUSA Coaches Poll - Best Job in the Conference

TheColonyEagle · November 30, 2018

https://watchstadium.com/news/conference-usa-basketball-coaches-rank-best-jobs-11-30-2018/

8. North Texas (69)

Where they win: “They are pouring in a ton of money into the program, and they have the best recruiting area in the league by far. So many players within a short ride, and that’s a major advantage over a lot of the other schools in the league.” – C-USA head coach

The knock: “There are one of a bunch of schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area fighting for kids, and they don’t really have any juice. Not much history to speak of, either.” – C-USA assistant coach

NorthTexan95 · November 30, 2018

15 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

https://watchstadium.com/news/conference-usa-basketball-coaches-rank-best-jobs-11-30-2018/

8. North Texas (69)

Where they win: “They are pouring in a ton of money into the program, and they have the best recruiting area in the league by far. So many players within a short ride, and that’s a major advantage over a lot of the other schools in the league.” – C-USA head coach

The knock: “There are one of a bunch of schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area fighting for kids, and they don’t really have any juice. Not much history to speak of, either.” – C-USA assistant coach

The two quotes seem to show the difference in priorities of a head coach and an assistant coach. The head coach seems to be focused on the more important factors.

TheColonyEagle · November 30, 2018

2 minutes ago, NorthTexan95 said:

The two quotes seem to show the difference in priorities of a head coach and an assistant coach. The head coach seems to be focused on the more important factors.

didn't think about it that way...interesting take

ADLER · November 30, 2018

I like their research, especially the part about how Vic Trilli took North Texas to the NCAA Tourney.

TIgreen01 · November 30, 2018

Pretty accurate list. I'd probably swap Charlotte and MTSU at the top, but the rest is hard to argue.

If we keep dumping money here we can move ourselves into that top quarter group over time.

risinggreen · November 30, 2018

If it weren't for Benny, I think we would be two slots higher with any of his HC competitors at the helm. Hard to overlook that era since it was so recent.

drex · November 30, 2018

Vic Trilli took them to the toilet bowl...nowhere else.

Harry · December 1, 2018

Good article, interesting perspective.

Danish43 · December 2, 2018

Concerning UTSA and I am no lover of the school
The knock: “Facilities are arguably the worst in the league and there’s no atmosphere for the games. They have a lot of work to do to keep up with the others in the league.”

I have gone to North Texas games at their arena off and on since 1993 and their facilities where they play games looks alright and they have good atmosphere there. They have a band that plays and entertains. Am I missing something?

BillySee58 · December 5, 2018

On 11/30/2018 at 10:59 AM, TheColonyEagle said:

https://watchstadium.com/news/conference-usa-basketball-coaches-rank-best-jobs-11-30-2018/

8. North Texas (69)

Where they win: “They are pouring in a ton of money into the program, and they have the best recruiting area in the league by far. So many players within a short ride, and that’s a major advantage over a lot of the other schools in the league.” – C-USA head coach

The knock: “There are one of a bunch of schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area fighting for kids, and they don’t really have any juice. Not much history to speak of, either.” – C-USA assistant coach

The worst argument I ever see about UNT not being a great job is that recruiting in DFW is too competitive. Maybe for people who aren’t very competitive.

Are there really people and coaches out there who would rather be in an area where there are just a handful of D1 athletes within a 50 mile radius than be in an area where there are dozens of D1 athletes?

GMG_Dallas · December 6, 2018

"12. FIU (38) – There was a single NCAA tournament appearance in 1995...

Where they win: “Beautiful campus, great location and a ton of hot girls.” – C-USA assistant"

The Knock: creepy 30-40 year old assistant coaches constantly trying to steal your girlfriends. Also, hard to throw a big party when the 30 year old assistant coaches show up trying to hit on the college girls. - die hard UNT fan.

Cerebus · December 8, 2018

On 12/6/2018 at 11:51 AM, GMG_Dallas said:

The Knock: creepy 30-40 year old assistant coaches constantly trying to steal your girlfriends. Also, hard to throw a big party when the 30 year old assistant coaches show up trying to hit on the college girls. - die hard UNT fan.

Hey man, just let us try to relive our "glory" years. It'll be your turn soon enough.

GMG_Dallas · December 9, 2018

6 hours ago, Cerebus said:

Hey man, just let us try to relive our "glory" years. It'll be your turn soon enough.

I can see it already...

College kid- "Hey, why is your dad always at our college parties?"

Son- "He's just reliving is glory years."

College kid- "Ok but he's taking your girlfriend upstairs."

Son- "I'm calling my mom."

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 9, 2018

On 12/4/2018 at 11:08 PM, BillySee58 said:

The worst argument I ever see about UNT not being a great job is that recruiting in DFW is too competitive. Maybe for people who aren’t very competitive.

Are there really people and coaches out there who would rather be in an area where there are just a handful of D1 athletes within a 50 mile radius than be in an area where there are dozens of D1 athletes?

I don’t know, I go back and forth on this one. Understand it’s not a bad thing in theory to be in a recruiting hotbed, but it seems like the Western Kentucky’s and LaTechs of the world consistently do better than the mid-major Texas and Florida schools. Doesn’t make sense on paper, but historically that’s how it’s been. I think it’s more the fact you’re not going to go undiscovered as a high school athlete in DFW, while you can find guys like Mason Fine in rural Oklahoma with no offers. These geographically challenged schools are forced to look for hidden jewels in BFE which they seem to hit on more than we have. But you’re right, it’s more about the coach and their evaluation skills than geography in general.

Harry · December 9, 2018

5 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I don’t know, I go back and forth on this one. Understand it’s not a bad thing in theory to be in a recruiting hotbed, but it seems like the Western Kentucky’s and LaTechs of the world consistently do better than the mid-major Texas and Florida schools. Doesn’t make sense on paper, but historically that’s how it’s been. I think it’s more the fact you’re not going to go undiscovered as a high school athlete in DFW, while you can find guys like Mason Fine in rural Oklahoma with no offers. These geographically challenged schools are forced to look for hidden jewels in BFE which they seem to hit on more than we have. But you’re right, it’s more about the coach and their evaluation skills than geography in general.

I think just being in a recruiting hotbed in itself is not enough. You have to build facilities, you have to have the support of your administration, Board or Regents, big money donors, invest in coaching salaries and most of all you need to win. I think all other things being equal North Texas has an advantage with its location. That said, we haven’t always supported the program in the other areas and La. Tech and WKU have.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 9, 2018

35 minutes ago, Harry said:

I think just being in a recruiting hotbed in itself is not enough. You have to build facilities, you have to have the support of your administration, Board or Regents, big money donors, invest in coaching salaries and most of all you need to win. I think all other things being equal North Texas has an advantage with its location. That said, we haven’t always supported the program in the other areas and La. Tech and WKU have.

I think if you take away historical success and perhaps facilities ( getting there and definitely upper half already), North Texas is the best job in CUSA. Keep winning and building facilities and the sleeping dragon will officially be awoken for a long time. I think we are definitely trending in that direction. I love the fact that Wren is attracting and retaining coaches with local ties. Our biggest advantage is that so many coaches would rather be in DFW, and likely already have family here, than Ruston or wherever the hell WKU is. Think about things like even finding housing in a desirable neighborhood in those areas and the advantage becomes clear.

BillySee58 · December 9, 2018

1 hour ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I don’t know, I go back and forth on this one. Understand it’s not a bad thing in theory to be in a recruiting hotbed, but it seems like the Western Kentucky’s and LaTechs of the world consistently do better than the mid-major Texas and Florida schools. Doesn’t make sense on paper, but historically that’s how it’s been. I think it’s more the fact you’re not going to go undiscovered as a high school athlete in DFW, while you can find guys like Mason Fine in rural Oklahoma with no offers. These geographically challenged schools are forced to look for hidden jewels in BFE which they seem to hit on more than we have. But you’re right, it’s more about the coach and their evaluation skills than geography in general.

Bingo on your last point. We’ve had terrible coaches in the recruiting website era in football, save for Dickey at the beginning of that era when we had Fouts and we’re still just coming back to 1-A football. As for basketball, Johnny Jones got us some big-time recruits, especially in 2011 right before he left. Then we had the Benford fiasco.

Now we are 9-3 in football and have the #1 class in CUSA and in basketball we’re 10-1 with the 17th ranked player in Texas as our only current commit.

WKU and La Tech have consistently had extremely committed and competent administrations to ensure they are competitive. Their success is not because of their location. Alternatively with FAU and FIU, they have awful support but are still dangerous because of their location, so long as they have the right people in place.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · December 10, 2018

6 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

Bingo on your last point. We’ve had terrible coaches in the recruiting website era in football, save for Dickey at the beginning of that era when we had Fouts and we’re still just coming back to 1-A football. As for basketball, Johnny Jones got us some big-time recruits, especially in 2011 right before he left. Then we had the Benford fiasco.

Now we are 9-3 in football and have the #1 class in CUSA and in basketball we’re 10-1 with the 17th ranked player in Texas as our only current commit.

WKU and La Tech have consistently had extremely committed and competent administrations to ensure they are competitive. Their success is not because of their location. Alternatively with FAU and FIU, they have awful support but are still dangerous because of their location, so long as they have the right people in place.

Well I guess an alternative point would be where is that disparity in support coming from? Could be that their college football teams are only show in town while we have 7 pro sports and D1 football schools in DFW alone. Also, I still don’t think competing with 11 other FBS schools in your own state helps. Always first and foremost over all of this is the coaching and administration, which we’re in agreement on. It’s just interesting looking at the root causes for lack of past success and the lack of support you mention. I tend to think that almost all teams have some disadvantages due to geography but the coaching staff is the most important factor of any team’s success.

Harry · December 10, 2018

7 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

save for Dickey at the beginning of that era when we had Fouts and we’re still just coming back to 1-A football

What Dickey was able to do in recruiting at the mid to latter years he was here was simply remarkable given all of the issues he faced. It was common knowledge that most recruits on official visits were not even driven by Fouts. Every time we had an assistant that excelled in recruiting he would get hired away for more money and we would never have the budget to fight to keep them.

They did the best they could with the resources they had. We would sweat out recruits that would visit us and then places like Houston who had just completed an amazing athletic center. We landed Jamario because we had a particular academic program that Texas Tech didn't offer. Once Dickey started winning the Belt consistently, he pretty much got the cream of the crop juco's in the conference.

Dodge landed some nice skill position players and got some guys we didn't normally get initially, but he would stockpile certain positions and leave other spots thin. As he continued to lose games, his recruiting started to suffer and his last season (which he had no reason to be coaching in) was heavy juco. Mac sort of did the same thing although he did have the bowl season where it all seemed to come together. Mac's sins were more painful because he had Apogee and higher assistant salaries than Dickey and Dodge could ever hope for.

CMJ · December 10, 2018

WKU will always be at or near the top. Kentucky schools just take basketball seriously...the fans care...so the schools do as well. Obviously Kentucky and Louisville...but also Murray State, WKU, Morehead State, etc.

Even Northern Kentucky which only moved up to D1 in 2015 has made the NCAA tournament (and won the National Title in D2). Thinking "based on location" favors us is a huge mistake. The state of Kentucky has HUGE advantages on the state of Texas in basketball. Maybe not in producing players...but in having schools where kids wanna go.

Even on this board a lot of our fans are sorta "whatever" about basketball. That's why we'll never be the top gig in the conference.

greenminer · December 10, 2018

13 hours ago, Harry said:

They did the best they could with the resources they had. We would sweat out recruits that would visit us and then places like Houston who had just completed an amazing athletic center. We landed Jamario because we had a particular academic program that Texas Tech didn't offer. Once Dickey started winning the Belt consistently, he pretty much got the cream of the crop juco's in the conference.

I'm not convinced.

My perception has been that Booger's class, with the help of some gems immediately before and after it, pretty much carried us through the 4-bowl run and things fizzled after that. There wasn't enough sustained recruiting - HS or JUCO - that could keep up with the growth of the Belt.

KRAM1 · December 10, 2018

Who cares?? Right now the Mean Green sit at 10-1 and looking pretty good. Just like football...start winning and they will come. Especially when you have a young energetic coach like Grant McCasland.