The Big Questions. Paging Coaches

[Mike Jackson]

We are in the last half of the 4th year of Seth's tenure.   And I really don't know what we have.  Is this guy a really good head coach or only an average who has succeed 2 awful coaches at UNT?  So I will defer to people who a deeper football knowledge than me.  What do we have?   Contrary to what history has shown us I don't believe it is that hard to win at UNT.  Seth is probably the first coach to have all the resources necessary to be a competitive recruiter here.   No conference championship and no bowl game wins.   Biggest accomplishment beating an Arkansas program in total chaos changing philosophies 180 degrees with a brand new head coach?   

Edited November 9, 2019 by Mike Jackson
grammar

[tmjerm]

I think we have a guy who is solid in offensive scheme and can recruit.  I also think he’s shown signs of how important staff is in terms of their salaries.  He’s very veiled and robotic publicly with what he says which can be frustrating as a fan but I sense his players love him.  Schematically we have come a long way on offense.  Dealing with losing two elite downfield receivers is tough.  Also, discipline has improved a lot - not as many dumb penalties (though still too many).  That said, I think we are seeing a first time head coach who had a heavy blow in having to replace GH try to navigate that while having to face probably one of his tougher decisions in what to do with Reffett (the answer is to let him go).  I also think we are also dealing with a delicate team psychology in that these players/recruits have been expecting to lose their coach and that caused all sorts of disruption.  Can’t blame him for entertaining the offers but there are consequences for all that.  NT isn’t an overnight build.  We should be farther along than we are but I’ll take the offensive output so far.  The defense has been an embarrassment.  I believe in Seth.  He’s a tough dude who knows how to run a modern offense.  Need to change defensive scheme.  I also think he needs to hire some rah rah guys who connect with the players on a deeper level as I don’t see that being his greatest personal asset.  Those things happen, I’m patient and hopeful we can continue making these strides. 

[meangreenJW]

48 minutes ago, tmjerm said:

I think we have a guy who is solid in offensive scheme and can recruit.  I also think he’s shown signs of how important staff is in terms of their salaries.  He’s very veiled and robotic publicly with what he says which can be frustrating as a fan but I sense his players love him.  Schematically we have come a long way on offense.  Dealing with losing two elite downfield receivers is tough.  Also, discipline has improved a lot - not as many dumb penalties (though still too many).  That said, I think we are seeing a first time head coach who had a heavy blow in having to replace GH try to navigate that while having to face probably one of his tougher decisions in what to do with Reffett (the answer is to let him go).  I also think we are also dealing with a delicate team psychology in that these players/recruits have been expecting to lose their coach and that caused all sorts of disruption.  Can’t blame him for entertaining the offers but there are consequences for all that.  NT isn’t an overnight build.  We should be farther along than we are but I’ll take the offensive output so far.  The defense has been an embarrassment.  I believe in Seth.  He’s a tough dude who knows how to run a modern offense.  Need to change defensive scheme.  I also think he needs to hire some rah rah guys who connect with the players on a deeper level as I don’t see that being his greatest personal asset.  Those things happen, I’m patient and hopeful we can continue making these strides. 

Pretty much agree with this. Ref's 3-3-5 relies on too much talent at individual positions for us to run right now. First of all the safeties and corners in Ref's scheme have to be legit because to effectively run it you have to be able to run man coverage. Ours can't cover man against good receivers. Secondly, the linebackers have to really fast, athletic and smart because they have to be great blitzers. No way 3 d linemen can get pressure on passing downs so they have be exceptional at being able to read, react and get to the QB or RB in runs. Third, you have to be great on the D line because occasionally you drop 7-8 in coverage and need to get some semblance of pressure with 3 d linemen. So I would argue front end, middle, back end we aren't good enough to run that scheme. Hard to see us being there next year either.  

[MeanGreenWarDaddy]

22 hours ago, tmjerm said:

I think we have a guy who is solid in offensive scheme and can recruit.  I also think he’s shown signs of how important staff is in terms of their salaries.  He’s very veiled and robotic publicly with what he says which can be frustrating as a fan but I sense his players love him.  Schematically we have come a long way on offense.  Dealing with losing two elite downfield receivers is tough.  Also, discipline has improved a lot - not as many dumb penalties (though still too many).  That said, I think we are seeing a first time head coach who had a heavy blow in having to replace GH try to navigate that while having to face probably one of his tougher decisions in what to do with Reffett (the answer is to let him go).  I also think we are also dealing with a delicate team psychology in that these players/recruits have been expecting to lose their coach and that caused all sorts of disruption.  Can’t blame him for entertaining the offers but there are consequences for all that.  NT isn’t an overnight build.  We should be farther along than we are but I’ll take the offensive output so far.  The defense has been an embarrassment.  I believe in Seth.  He’s a tough dude who knows how to run a modern offense.  Need to change defensive scheme.  I also think he needs to hire some rah rah guys who connect with the players on a deeper level as I don’t see that being his greatest personal asset.  Those things happen, I’m patient and hopeful we can continue making these strides. 

This i agree completely.
 

I may be the only one though, that feels that the GH isn’t as big as a set back that some may seem.  I think the Charlotte game proves that a little. I think the experience (confidences) at WR has been a factor along with the offensive line not giving mason much time.
 

With them using tight-end packages to add protection, the offense production has been a little better. Shorter’s confidence was through the roof last game and that showed. Don’t get me wrong offense is not where it was, but I feel like it’s more because of other factors, then the Offensive Coordinator. 

*with that being said, who know who is actually calling the plays the last couple of games (Seth or Brodie), I’m assuming it’s been Brodie

Edited October 30, 2019 by MeanGreenWarDaddy

[untjim1995]

On 10/27/2019 at 4:08 PM, Mike Jackson said:

We are in the last have of the 4th year of Seth's tenure.   And I really don't know what we have.  Is this guy a really good head coach or only an average who has succeed 2 awful coaches at UNT?  So I will defer to people who a deeper football knowledge than me.  What do we have?   Contrary to what history has shown us I don't believe it is that hard to win at UNT.  Seth is probably the first coach to have all the resources necessary to be a competitive recruiter here.   No conference championship and no bowl game wins.   Biggest accomplishment beating an Arkansas program in total chaos changing philosophies 180 degrees with a brand new head coach?   

It’s hard to win here when the schedule is tough. Maybe that changes in a few years, but SL has benefited from the past two seasons prior to this one being filled with OOC schedules of Lamar, Incarnate Word, SMU twice, Iowa, Army, Arkansas, and Liberty. We won 6 of them, with last year beating Arky and SMU as they changed coaches. We lost a tough one at Iowa, but won a tough one here over Army. 

Fast forward to this year—its ACU, SMU, Cal, and UH. We beat ACU, lost a tough one at Cal, then got prison-raped by the two Texas AAC teams. Next year will be colossally worse—SMU, at UH, and at A&M all appear to be ass-kickings in the makings. 

To me, if you want to see what kind of coach SL truly is, next year will tell us we still have a solid young coach if he goes 6-6 or better, just because of the schedule and the fact we will have to break in a new QB. This isn’t even factoring in the reality of fixing the defense, which is abysmal to say the least. I don’t see us getting above .500 next year with what I foresee. Thank God for the UT satellites or it could be real bad. I see a win over Houston baptist, UTSA, UTEP, and some combo of Rice and whoever we play in CUSA East. Anything above this will require a win over the more physical teams in CUSA West and the rest of the schedule that appears to be way better than anything I see us rolling out in 2020. I just don’t see it...