Coaches Caravan looks forward after historic year of North Texas sports

Jonnyeagle · July 9, 2021

With the 2020-21 sports seasons complete, North Texas Athletics held a virtual “Coaches Caravan” to reflect on history made and look toward the future.

Head coaches and players from football, and the men’s and women’s basketball teams reflected on their respective seasons and recent changes before the event was capped off by Director of Athletics Wren Baker.

Among his comments, Baker notably announced plans to return to full capacity at Apogee Stadium for fall football games.

“We’re planning on 100 percent, we’re planning on the full gameday experience,” Baker said. “I think we’ll obviously watch the trend lines and make sure things are headed to a good place, but if you look at the cases in Texas, you look at the cases nationally, you look at vaccination rates increasing, I feel really good that we’re going to have the full gameday experience and I can’t wait for it.”

As far as vaccination rates are concerned, 57.45 percent of Texans over 12 have received at least one dose and 49.29 percent are fully vaccinated as of June 29, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

In Denton County specifically, 60.08 percent of residents over 12 have received at least one dose and 52.68 percent are fully vaccinated as of June 29, also according to the DSHS.

To open the Caravan, men’s basketball head coach Grant McCasland reflected on winning a Conference USA title and tallying the team’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. He also spoke about the tragic loss of Nelson Haggerty (Director of Basketball Strategy and Operations) in an April car accident.

“Not a day goes by that we don’t remember a great championship, but honestly the heart behind it is who Coach Hagg was every day,” McCasland said. “That is part of our journey moving forward and who we want to be is to honor him in what we do and how we do it.”

Read more: https://www.ntdaily.com/coaches-caravan-looks-forward-after-historic-year-of-north-texas-sports/