SMU BB beat reporter (for last night’s game) covers UNT Coach GMac & the 2021 CUSA NCAA Tournament Champions.

[PlummMeanGreen]

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/unt-mean-green/2021/03/14/grant-mccasland-took-over-one-of-the-worst-teams-in-the-country-4-years-ago-now-north-texas-basketball-is-a-champion/?outputType=amp

[UNTLifer]

Wonder if there is any way to purchase a copy of this photo?

[Venson]

4 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Wonder if there is any way to purchase a copy of this photo?

You could probably just go to the article, where the picture is bigger and better, and save it to your computer and then print it on photo quality paper. It will turn out pretty good depending on your printer. That's just an option if you can't purchase it.  

[untjim1995]

I want people to realize just how far we have come back. When JJ left to go to LSU, he had us on the cusp of being a Top 25 team. We had a player with NBA talent in Tony Mitchell. And a strong supporting cast. The future was bright...if we made the right hire. And that’s when the realization was in front of us that RV would be hiring another coach. The same one who hired Todd Dodge and Shanice Stephens, the two worst Performing coaches in those two sport’s history at UNT.

We had a lot of interest. But really, the best play looking back would’ve been to hire from within to keep the continuity moving forward. Instead, we hired a recruiter that was an alumnus of Texas Tech who wanted to come back to this area, Tony Benford. It was a failed idea from the start. Because Tech was in a bad way as a program and had an interim head coach. If Benford had shown ANY capability to be a successful head coach, Tech was ready to swoop in and hire him. Fairly prominent Tech fans behind the scenes even acknowledged as much. But RV went forward and hired him. 
 

Well, from the start, Benford showed an amazing lack of ability to cohesively lead a roster of players at this level. He used a hockey line change mentality by switching out large numbers of people often. Cohesiveness was quickly lost. And so were games—the second game of his regime told us all we needed to know. We lost to Alabama...Huntsville, a D2 outlet. We hadn’t lost to a D2 opponent since the early 80s. But Benford had a 5-year contract worth $325k annually. And under RV and the administration of the day, there was no way he was gonna get bought out that soon. Long story short, Benford never got any better, but got all 5 years of his contract because we wouldn’t/couldn’t buy him out, as we had to pay over $2 million to buyout Dan McCarney and whatever it cost to finally buyout RV, an AD who got 15 years to accomplish so very, very little here. 
 

So as you enjoy this team, please give thanks to the BOR for actually caring about sports more, for hiring a capable AD in Wren Baker, who saw a lot in Grant McCasland to hire him away from Arkansas State by buying out part of his contract there and paying him a nice amount to be here. He’s now won a CBI championship here, a CUSA regular season championship, and now a CUSA Tournament Championship to earn a NCAA  berth.  So enjoy this ride as far as it takes us. And pray this is where the program gets lifted to new heights going forward. 

Edited March 15, 2021 by untjim1995

[greenminer]

We won the CBI, not the CIT

[Wag Tag]

28 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

I want people to realize just how far we have come back. When JJ left to go to LSU, he had us on the cusp of being a Top 25 team. We had a player with NBA talent in Tony Mitchell. And a strong supporting cast. The future was bright...if we made the right hire. And that’s when the realization was in front of that RV would be hiring another coach. The same one who hired Todd Dodge and Shanice Stephens, the two worst Performing coaches in those two sport’s history at UNT.

We had a lot of interest. But really, the best play looking back would’ve been to hire from within to keep the continuity moving forward. Instead, we hired a recruiter that was an alumnus of Texas Tech who wanted to come back to this area, Tony Benford. It was a failed idea from the start. Because Tech was in a bad way as a program and had an interim head coach. If Benford had shown ANY capability to be a successful head coach, Tech was ready to swoop in and hire him. Fairly prominent Tech fans behind the scenes even acknowledged as much. But RV went forward and hired him. 
 

Well, from the start, Benford showed an amazing lack of ability to cohesively lead a roster of players at this level. He used a hockey line change mentality by switching out large numbers of people often. Cohesiveness was quickly lost. And so were games—the second game of his regime told us all we needed to know. We lost to Alabama...Huntsville, a D2 outlet. We hadn’t lost to a D2 opponent since the early 80s. But Benford had a 5-year contract worth $325k annually. And under RV and the administration of the day, there was no way he was gonna get bought out that soon. Long story short, Benford never got any better, but got all 5 years of his contract because we wouldn’t/couldn’t buy him out, as we had to pay over $2 million to buyout Dan McCarney and whatever it cost to finally buyout RV, and AD who got 15 years to accomplish so very, very little here. 
 

So as you enjoy this team, please give thanks to the BOR for actually caring about sports more, for hiring a capable AD in Wren Baker, who saw a lot in Grant McCasland to hire him away from Arkansas State by buying out part of his contract there and paying him a nice amount to be here. He’s now won a CIT championship here, a CUSA regular season championship, and now a CUSA Tournament Championship to earn a NCAA  berth.  So enjoy this ride as far as it takes us. And pray this is where the program gets lifted to new heights going forward. 

Why has Mc had such success and Seth has struggled? I think the key was having head coaching experience. I hope we can keep Mc for a few more years, but I could also teams coming after him. He is a great coach and person! GMG

[untjim1995]

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Why has Mc had such success and Seth has struggled? I think the key was having head coaching experience. I hope we can keep Mc for a few more years, but I could also teams coming after him. He is a great coach and person! GMG

SL did have success--until Graham Harrell left as the OC and Mason Fine lost his health and then his eligibility.

McCasland has shown an ability to find and coach hard-nosed kids, which shows why defense win. SL is the polar opposite--the ultimate Leach, 7-on-7, offensive-minded coach who just wants to outscore you. That style can win games in football, but it rarely wins a championship of any major note.