New Contract for De Long?

[Side Show Joe]

UNT Softball has never looked better. North Texas has 34 votes in the coaches poll this week. We are just 4 places away from being ranked in the top 25. De Long is the real deal. Does anyone know if Wren is looking to renegotiate De Long and his staffs contracts?

I'd hate to see another program wrench them away from us at the end of the season. I honesty believe our current staff could elevate our program to among the elites in this sport.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Side Show Joe

[FirefightnRick]

Too soon to say but this administration has been very aggressive in regards to keeping contracts fresh & updated.

 

Rick

[Coach Andy Mac]

I can testify that we are losing recruits to the fact that other schools are telling them he won’t be here DeLong.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Coach Andy Mac

[MeanGreenTexan]

Based on the turnaround with Kee's players, I'd say he should be the highest paid coach in C-USA if we want to have a shot at keeping him around.

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

I can testify that we are losing recruits to the fact that other schools are telling them he won’t be here DeLong.

Who?  Who did we lose and to who(m)?

[agw0038]

Completely agree with everything im seeing. Softball is whoopin' butt this year! And it is very believable that competing schools are trying to use that against us in recruiting. 

Hope we can keep him. He's a really nice guy.

Wren knows what the deal is...but like just any other mid-major, If the right P5 comes calling there isnt anything we can really do.

So lets enjoy ride and hope its a long one!

[GrandGreen]

2 hours ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

I can testify that we are losing recruits to the fact that other schools are telling them he won’t be here DeLong.

Yeah, I can see that sales pitch.  Delong is not going to be at NT long, so sign with us because our coach is not going anywhere because no one wants him or her.

[UNTLifer]

Why do people act like his time here will be short lived?  The former coach at U-Lala was there for years and one of the most successful coaches in the nation.  Why can't we do the same for DeLong in Denton.  I am tired of every time we finally have some success in a sport, a thread starts about how they are about to get plucked up and move on to another "bigger" program.  Why don't we work on making our coach's situations so good here that they will want to stay and build great, nationally successful programs?

[meangreenJW]

5 hours ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

I can testify that we are losing recruits to the fact that other schools are telling them he won’t be here DeLong.

I'm not sure why you say that. We're recruiting better than every before. I'm pretty sure when Rodney was hired he was given a 5 year contract with pay in the top of the league range. If anything, the current philosophy on contracts has been too aggressive. Definitely hasn't been not being aggressive enough. I wouldn't be surprised if they extended Rodney after last season although I can't recall seeing anything on it.

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

6 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Why do people act like his time here will be short lived?  The former coach at U-Lala was there for years and one of the most successful coaches in the nation.  Why can't we do the same for DeLong in Denton.  I am tired of every time we finally have some success in a sport, a thread starts about how they are about to get plucked up and move on to another "bigger" program.  Why don't we work on making our coach's situations so good here that they will want to stay and build great, nationally successful programs?

I'm sure Wren looks forward to your DeLong Retention donation.   Until then:

[blurbeard]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Why do people act like his time here will be short lived?  The former coach at U-Lala was there for years and one of the most successful coaches in the nation.  Why can't we do the same for DeLong in Denton.  I am tired of every time we finally have some success in a sport, a thread starts about how they are about to get plucked up and move on to another "bigger" program.  Why don't we work on making our coach's situations so good here that they will want to stay and build great, nationally successful programs?

Good point! Great example would be our highly successful women's soccer program! Coach Hedlund could have moved on a long time ago but decided to stay and build his Dynasty... program is now up to 16 conference championship with eight being from CUSA.  Its not always about the money!

[MeanGreenTexan]

3 minutes ago, blurbeard said:

Good point! Great example would be our highly successful women's soccer program! Coach Hedlund could have moved on a long time ago but decided to stay and build his Dynasty... program is now up to 16 conference championship with eight being from CUSA.  Its not always about the money!

One is a guy who started his program in the 1990's.  Loyalty like his is hard to find.  I'm very appreciative of Coach Hedlund!

The other is a guy who jumped to what he perceived as a better opportunity than Austin Peay after just 1 stellar season.  By the way, Austin Peay is a D1 school in the OVC.  So it's not like he went from D2 or NAIA up to D1. 

I'm sure there's some fan forum called "GoGovernors.com" or somesuch, with a dude named "APLifer" or somesuch who said, "Why don't we work on making our coach's situations so good here that they will want to stay and build great, nationally successful programs?"   Guess that didn't work out so well for "APLifer" or the Governors.   It's just the reality of Austin Peay's place in College Softball's hierarchy.

If a big12 school comes calling with their deep pockets & prestige...  we'll soon feel like the Austin Peay fans.   Unless we can make it worth his while to stay.

[Side Show Joe]

As far as softball salaries go, most of the P5 programs don't pay exorbitant amounts of money for their coaches, and North Texas is currently better than most P5 softball programs. There are only a handful of programs like OU where their softball coach is banking big money.

Also, I think North Texas has one very big advantage over most other softball programs... De Long is from Lawton, Oklahoma. North Texas is the only major softball program within a 3 hour drive of his family, that isn't ranked in the top 25 (#5OU, #15OK State, or #25Texas Tech), so there is no regional competition for his services. If North Texas paid him in the same ballpark as the average Big12 softball coach, I'd think we could keep him as long as he wanted to coach. Remember TCU and SMU don't sponsor softball. In my opinion, softball should be a top priority among our women's sports.

[Venson]

On 2/26/2020 at 8:53 PM, Side Show Joe said:

As far as softball salaries go, most of the P5 programs don't pay exorbitant amounts of money for their coaches, and North Texas is currently better than most P5 softball programs. There are only a handful of programs like OU where their softball coach is banking big money.

Also, I think North Texas has one very big advantage over most other softball programs... De Long is from Lawton, Oklahoma. North Texas is the only major softball program within a 3 hour drive of his family, that isn't ranked in the top 25 (#5OU, #15OK State, or #25Texas Tech), so there is no regional competition for his services. If North Texas paid him in the same ballpark as the average Big12 softball coach, I'd think we could keep him as long as he wanted to coach. Remember TCU and SMU don't sponsor softball. In my opinion, softball should be a top priority among our women's sports.

I agree with all that you say. I just want to add my two cents. As I read his bio, something else stands out to me. Him being from Lawton, there is a 95% chance that he is an Army brat. He has mainly stayed around the Lawton area from college through coaching with the exception of what seems like a year at Ga Tech and one at Austin Peay. Looking at the Austin Peay gig, I can see him taking it for a couple of reasons. One it gives him the chance to be the head man at a D1 program and two Austin Peay is in Clarksville, TN which also happens to be the home of the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, KY. Maybe he feels comfortable around Army since he most likely grew up around it his entire life. North Texas gives him a chance to get close to Lawton and he can continue to coach at the D1 level. Although Denton is not Army, people in the DFW area are pretty patriotic for the most part. I mean we can spitball all day about what may be in his mind or what may keep him here or get him to leave. I choose to believe he stays and just want to enjoy the ride.

[Side Show Joe]

11 hours ago, Venson said:

I agree with all that you say. I just want to add my two cents. As I read his bio, something else stands out to me. Him being from Lawton, there is a 95% chance that he is an Army brat. He has mainly stayed around the Lawton area from college through coaching with the exception of what seems like a year at Ga Tech and one at Austin Peay. Looking at the Austin Peay gig, I can see him taking it for a couple of reasons. One it gives him the chance to be the head man at a D1 program and two Austin Peay is in Clarksville, TN which also happens to be the home of the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, KY. Maybe he feels comfortable around Army since he most likely grew up around it his entire life. North Texas gives him a chance to get close to Lawton and he can continue to coach at the D1 level. Although Denton is not Army, people in the DFW area are pretty patriotic for the most part. I mean we can spitball all day about what may be in his mind or what may keep him here or get him to leave. I choose to believe he stays and just want to enjoy the ride.

As it turns out my brother-in-law played baseball with De Long at MacArthur in Lawton, and he had nothing but good things to say about him. I don't know about the Army angle, but I will ask. My brother-in-law did say that he thinks De Long wants to rise as high as he can in the sport. Which makes sense. Everyone wants to be the best they can. Our job at North Texas is to make the UNT job the equal of any other job (more money & better facilities ) so no one pries him away. OU has a great softball complex, but their fans were complaining about it. They want a new stadium. We are doing some major renovating to Lovelace, so that is good. Now we need to get more fans to the games and open up the wallet. I hope we don't neglect the momentum we have built in softball. I see no reason UNT can't become a perennial power like ULL. P5/G5 means almost nothing in softball.

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

11 hours ago, Venson said:

I agree with all that you say. I just want to add my two cents. As I read his bio, something else stands out to me. Him being from Lawton, there is a 95% chance that he is an Army brat. He has mainly stayed around the Lawton area from college through coaching with the exception of what seems like a year at Ga Tech and one at Austin Peay. Looking at the Austin Peay gig, I can see him taking it for a couple of reasons. One it gives him the chance to be the head man at a D1 program and two Austin Peay is in Clarksville, TN which also happens to be the home of the Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, KY. Maybe he feels comfortable around Army since he most likely grew up around it his entire life. North Texas gives him a chance to get close to Lawton and he can continue to coach at the D1 level. Although Denton is not Army, people in the DFW area are pretty patriotic for the most part. I mean we can spitball all day about what may be in his mind or what may keep him here or get him to leave. I choose to believe he stays and just want to enjoy the ride.

He's for sure earning his money after this game. They've beat 2 top 10 teams already. This program has a chance to be the 2020 decade Women's soccer!

[Side Show Joe]

23 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

He's for sure earning his money after this game. They've beat 2 top 10 teams already. This program has a chance to be the 2020 decade Women's soccer!

I think this win proves De Long deserves a raise. In my opinion this win over #5 OU is much bigger than the win over #8 ULL. Our win today in Norman is the first regular season home loss Oklahoma has suffered since 2016. They just don't lose at home. Our team is very good, and we need to keep it that way.