WB on Tennessee AD watch list

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

49 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

So we’re just talking football? What about the amazing hire in Grant McCasland, Rodney Delong, and other assistants that were poached by P5 in FB??

.....

Maybe we should talk about the meaning of words. In this case the word "some."  I didn't not claim all or even the majority. I said "some." I also indicated that I was likely going to be talking about the money making sport of Football, since that funds all the other sports and coach salaries. 

[xyresic]

While it is a high profile job the pay is not wildly different (Fulmer's base was 900k) and taking that gig would be a career killer. The football program is in total disarray and sanctions are likely. You could clean things up, turn football around and still finish third in your division each year.

He has been offered other options, but there are only a handful he would seriously entertain and he wants the top job not to be an AD in waiting. We are compensating him well for a G5 AD, the location is close to his family and friends and the jobs he would look at don't come open every year. With your star rising, why cash in your chips now and get fired in four years when you can keep building and take a shot at your dream job down the line?

Edited January 21, 2021 by xyresic

[TheTastyGreek]

Baker is fine. If he stays, that's fine. If he goes, that's fine, too. He'll leave eventually. If he doesn't, inevitably his flaws will overwhelm his appeal and the fan base will flip focus to hammer one side while ignoring the other, complaining that he's still around and criticizing him as subpar because he never got hired away.

He hired some good coaches, but he throws money for extensions and raises around like a drunk at a strip club. Take the good with the bad. 

He's signed some good series in football, but made some baffling or outright dumb choices on that front, too (Liberty, Army). Better overall than not, but definitely not without his share of mistakes or bad choices. 

If he goes, his COO was one of the guys I'd have been thrilled to see get the job when Baker was originally hired. We have an ideal replacement, already well established in our area and at our institution, primed and ready to go with no interruption or disruption in performance. He might even do some things a little better. 

So, if he stays, swell. If he leaves, no worries. No raises just because of an interview, though. If the department is well run and well staffed, Mosley can slide over a desk and we should be in just as good shape as we are today. Maybe better. 

Interview or not, leave or stay... We'll be about as well off as we already are now. 

[UNT Mean Green]

Baker's leadership at UNT has been incredible. He has been outstanding, and his coaching hires are incredibly successful. He was a candidate in 2018 at Auburn, and is deservedly at Tennessee now. Let's give the guy the credit he deserves, and lets keep him at UNT as long as we can. 

[Wag Tag]

Baker has been outstanding and having a Prez to back you up is a huge plus. Wren knows he is in a good situation . Tennessee is going to be a nightmare. Look at the alumni in the search committee. Geez

[PlummMeanGreen]

Wren Baker said in a video pre-Fall 2020 that even with Covid-19 we would be fine financially this academic year.  Many on GMG can remember how in the history of UNT varsity athletics that would not have been the case. I’d call this a miracle of sorts.  
🦅❇️🦅 GMG! 

[untjim1995]

Tennessee has hired UCF's AD

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

4 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Tennessee has hired UCF's AD

Welcome back Wren!  

Now our fans can resume the panic about everything else football related (minus the Baylor hires).

[DentonLurker]

I think Dany White's a great hire for them. I hope his stance on G5's needing more respect on the FB NC front doesn't change. More people who believe that in high places is good for UNT.

Edited January 21, 2021 by DentonLurker

[untjim1995]

2 hours ago, DentonLurker said:

I think Dany White's a great hire for them. I hope his stance on G5's needing more respect on the FB NC front doesn't change. More people who believe that in high places is good for UNT.

He hired Scott Frost and Johnny Dawkins at UCF and he hired Bobby Hurley and Nate Oats as basketball coaches while at Buffalo. I'd say that they did fairly well with their hire...

[greenminer]

18 hours ago, SteaminWillieBeamin said:

I mean, the qb coach got dragged out of here in hand cuffs.

He grossly over paid and over contracted Kansas DC.

The OC from the season before this last year made it all of half a season before Seth took over play calling.

Not to mention, we have the highest paid coach in CUSA that can't seem to get even close to beating a real team. That highest paid title had only grown under Wren's watch.

Every athletic director in the country trusts his HC to fill his staff, right?  If we were talking about brining in guys with previous criminal/NCAA charges, I'd be on board.  Vetting is on the AD.  But this....I'm not so sure.

I agree with the part about SL's raise.

Edited January 21, 2021 by greenminer

[GrandGreen]

5 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

Tennessee has hired UCF's AD

Now we have to worry about him taking the UCF job.   

You want to have employees that other schools want.  

[NT93]

You guys remember when RV’s name was brought up every time there was an opening at a bigger school?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me either🤣🤣

[TheTastyGreek]

48 minutes ago, NT93 said:

You guys remember when RV’s name was brought up every time there was an opening at a bigger school?

 

 

Me either🤣🤣

I remember when people here thought he hung the moon.

And I DO remember when he had interviews elsewhere, supposedly as a finalist at East Carolina and New Mexico, and including when it looked like he might take the same job at Louisiana-Lafayette and this place melted down like the #4 reactor at Chernobyl. 

I can't find that thread (I think it got VERY heated and probably memory-holed permanently), but here's some choice quotes from a few threads right after, and a follow up when the DRC wrote an article quelling those rumors: 

 

On 12/2/2005 at 11:03 PM, NT80 said:

I still remember the Helwig years. RV is a hero in comparison. More improvments have been done for Athletics under his 4 years than the previous 25 years.

 

On 12/3/2005 at 10:23 AM, GreenN'walinsVet said:

Like you are saying this all starts from the top and at the top we have the best AD this University has seen since the days of Hayden Fry and im not so sure that RV isnt the best weve had EVER!!!!

 

On 1/18/2006 at 11:26 AM, Eagle1855 said:

What emerging program wouldnt want RV? He has been successful at So Miss and now look at all that is going on around NT. I would think a place like UL laff would love to have RV, as would many others in the belt and other mid major conferences

 

On 1/18/2006 at 12:47 PM, stebo said:

RV has gotten more accomplished in the last 4 years then any AD has ever actually pulled off. Even Fry can't compete with what RV has done - facilities wise. Of course he is going to be in high demand - and every Sun Belt, WAC, and CUSA school is going to take a look at him when they need a new AD.

All of those quotes are from just after Year 5 of RV's tenure here. Not a comprehensive sample, but a snapshot from the two threads I found while looking for the ULL interest thread and coming up empty. 

Wren Baker has been here 4 and a half years. The honeymoon phase is always nice. But when the new wears off and the bills and consequences of some of the less awesome choices and decisions start to hit... I suspect you'll see the tone shift the same way some of the people quoted above started talking about RV a few years later on in his tenure. 

[GrandGreen]

3 hours ago, TheTastyGreek said:

I remember when people here thought he hung the moon.

And I DO remember when he had interviews elsewhere, supposedly as a finalist at East Carolina and New Mexico, and including when it looked like he might take the same job at Louisiana-Lafayette and this place melted down like the #4 reactor at Chernobyl. 

I can't find that thread (I think it got VERY heated and probably memory-holed permanently), but here's some choice quotes from a few threads right after, and a follow up when the DRC wrote an article quelling those rumors: 

 

 

 

 

All of those quotes are from just after Year 5 of RV's tenure here. Not a comprehensive sample, but a snapshot from the two threads I found while looking for the ULL interest thread and coming up empty. 

Wren Baker has been here 4 and a half years. The honeymoon phase is always nice. But when the new wears off and the bills and consequences of some of the less awesome choices and decisions start to hit... I suspect you'll see the tone shift the same way some of the people quoted above started talking about RV a few years later on in his tenure. 

Similar reactions from some fans, but there were plenty of fans that quickly (after a couple years) knew that RV was unqualified. 

Baker has made a lot of mistakes, all AD's do.   However, I don't get any comparison between RV and Baker.  Other than both were better than their predecessors.   

In RV case, RV was only the second AD that was not a former NT coach or player.  The other was Steve Tyler for a couple of years.  Giving the AD title to a head football coach to give him more money was the norm. 

Anyway RV arrives after a series of interim AD's.  I never understood how RV kept the job for as long as he did.

Other than signing Littrell to a too long contract, I don't see many big errors made by Baker. He has spend a lot of money, but he has also raised a lot. 

 

 

[jtm0097]

8 hours ago, NT93 said:

You guys remember when RV’s name was brought up every time there was an opening at a bigger school?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me either🤣🤣

Yeah I hear Benihana is looking for someone with sushi management experience. RV is the leading candidate.

[MGNation92]

1 hour ago, jtm0097 said:

Yeah I hear Benihana is looking for someone with sushi management experience. RV is the leading candidate.

Something tells me Benihana has nothing on Rock n Roll Sushi in terms of quality and experience.

Would be a massive step down IMO

[UNTLifer]

@stebo, man, whatever happened to him?

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

5 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

@stebo, man, whatever happened to him?

He's alive and well. Still follows the green guys from the outside. Children, wife, good job... living the dream. 

[UNTLifer]

4 minutes ago, SteaminWillieBeamin said:

He's alive and well. Still follows the green guys from the outside. Children, wife, good job... living the dream. 

Thanks for the update.

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

On 1/20/2021 at 9:22 PM, Daddy Dumpsalot said:

"Wren Baker enters the transfer portal."

Prophetic...

[TheColonyEagle]

On 1/21/2021 at 12:30 PM, untjim1995 said:

Tennessee has hired UCF's AD

Well I hope we have the same trajectory they had after that AD hire and subsequent football coach hire....they seemed to have turned it around