Next Head Coach?

[MeanMag]

On 9/19/2021 at 12:27 AM, Got5onIt said:

NT lacks talent, size, & speed. Same things we were saying at the end of the McCarthey era.

Seth was a good roll of the dice, unfortunately the Kstate debacle took something from him that just never came back. 
 

NT needs to continue to take shots at the young up and comers like Seth and hope one of them can actually get over the hump. 

 

I tend to agree. I wonder if we shouldn’t have just let him go and given the next up and comer a chance. Maybe Graham Harrell. See if we can get him hired by a larger program then hire the next guy.

There seems to be a lot of excitement in the 2-3 years after hiring a new coach. If we can be in that perpetual cycle of getting coaches moved up quickly, maybe we can become an even more attractive spot to be for coaches and talent and perpetuate a culture of excitement and winning beyond the length of 1 new coach.

[Monkeypox]

Kevin Kelley!

*ducking

Hey, at least people would pay attention.

[greenminer]

Graham Harrell as HC?

Hadn't thought of that until now, and immediately jumps into my T5.

[Wag Tag]

If it based on criteria Wren used for basketball then it would have to be someone that has been a head coach.  I would like to see a P-5 that has been fired that had G5 success. Sonny would be an example. If you look at the hot seats there are some coaches that had great success at the G5 level. Frost, Norvell, Brown, Brohm to name a few. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Wag Tag

[MGNation92]

It's become ever so clear that Graham Harrell and Mason fine were the two biggest reasons Seth ever had any success here.

I'd be fine giving him a shot at HC. We know our Offense/QB would be in good hands, especially if he runs a more pure version of Leach's offense.

Briles would be similar. Leading some of the most dynamic offenses the NCAA has ever seen. (don't forget he was the OC at FAU when they embarrassed us in the championship game)

Same with Yurcich and OK State. 

All of those guys arguably have more skins on the wall than Littrell when it comes to offense. 

Past those three, give me a guy that's won as an HC. At least at the FCS level. Carthel was great at TAMUCC, but we'll see how he is at SFA this season. 

Holtz would be the dream IMO. Consistently prepares his team, and is almost always in the conversation to win the division every year.

Todd Monken is a name I haven't seen mentioned. He had great teams at Southern Miss and is now the OC at Georgia.

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

With the way Penn State is playing he will probably get P5 offers

https://www.ydr.com/story/sports/college/penn-state/football/2021/01/08/penn-state-football-3-things-know-new-coach-mike-yurcich/6596553002/

Yeah very possible. Was hoping we’d get him when it looked like Seth was going to K State. At this point it is very possible he has P5 offers.

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Don't let closed-minded fans bring you down!    Baker probably thinks more like you.   Keep the search open to all candidates.

Yeah, he'd be pricey too, but I bet he'd come back down here 

But bring Henson in, who's already a fantastic recruiter, bring Walsh back & let him walk into Guyer where he's a legend... watch the Denton-area recruiting blow up.

36 minutes ago, Monkeypox said:

I mean, we kinda have to hope we're past that point, since we've failed with pretty much anybody who's ever been a coach at any level. So I agree that we have to give up on trying to find someone who fits a specific profile or ignoring someone whose profile we've hired before and not succeeded with. Otherwise, we're gonna be relegated to hiring UT's cafeteria lady or something.

At some point, I presume we'll have a master list of names. I certainly like some of the ones that people have posted, including Carthel, but at the end of the day recognize that I have NO IDEA what would work or wouldn't work (nor do I think anyone really does). 

Dennis Simmons of OU is another P5 coordinator who we should probably look at (but wouldn't under our "can't be X" criteria).

Yeah you are both likely right. This isn’t an RV operation anymore. That being said, if I had to put money on it I’d say Wren would go with someone who has been an FBS HC before.

I remember when we hired Mccasland he mentioned going into that search they knew they wanted someone who wouldn’t have to learn on the job. I could see that same outlook with the realignment landscape necessitating a sense of urgency on the football front.

[MeanGreenTeeth]

1 hour ago, Monkeypox said:

Kevin Kelley!

*ducking

Hey, at least people would pay attention.

Might as well.  It's a clown show here anyway.  He might actually win more games.. though the inevitable 150 point losses might be embarrassing. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by MeanGreenTeeth

[Monkeypox]

1 minute ago, BillySee58 said:

Yeah you are both likely right. This isn’t an RV operation anymore. That being said, if I had to put money on it I’d say Wren would go with someone who has been an FBS HC before.

I remember when we hired Mccasland he mentioned going into that search they knew they wanted someone who wouldn’t have to learn on the job. I could see that same outlook with the realignment landscape necessitating a sense of urgency on the football front.

In general, I also think that's a more reliable move (experienced HC). I'm just saying I am personally not locked into anything (not that it would matter if I were). The HC experience, particularly if they held it for any length of time, means they know the challenges of assembling/hiring/firing a staff. I mean, with regards to SL, it seems like he did alright the first time, but once defections happened, he seemed to be in over his head.

[Monkeypox]

5 minutes ago, MeanGreenTeeth said:

Might as well.  It's a clown show here anyway.  He might actually when more games.. though the inevitable 150 point losses might be embarrassing. 

Yeah, I mean he did just lose 72-0 or something like that. But we just got beat 40-6 by UAB in year 6, and they probably COULD'VE scored 70 if they wanted to.

And we'd probably have more articles about us published during his first year than we've had in the last 20 years combined.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Monkeypox

[MeanGreenTexan]

39 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

If it based on criteria Wren used for basketball then it would have to be someone that has been a head coach.  I would like to see a P-5 that has been fired that had G5 success. Sonny would be an example. If you look at the hot seats there are some coaches that had great success at the G5 level. Frost, Norvell, Brown, Brohm to name a few. 

You keep bringing up Brohm.  Do you mean Jeff at Purdue?   I don't think his seat is hot at all.  He definitely has them going in the right direction.

[keith]

Reading through this thread, it seems like we've tried about everything from a HC perspective, yet nothing seems to have worked.  Winston Churchill once said, "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."  Here's a look at our recent HC history.  I know we've been playing longer than 1953, but this is as far back as this site goes and honestly does anything really matter earlier than that or arguably anything earlier than 1995?  This site doesn't include our self-imposed 1-AA death penalty.  https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/north-texas/index.html

Not including 2021, in the past 26 seasons since returning to D1 football, we've had only 6 winning seasons (six!).  Dickey has 3 of those over 9 seasons and Littrell has 2 in his first 5.  I don't count .500 seasons as "winning."  Pre-1982 is better  with 15 winning seasons in 30 tries.

In those 26 seasons we've been in three (3) conferences and played one year as an independent.  

We've been through 5 head coaches (7 if you include 2 interim head coaching stints by Mike Canales - "Lock the Gate" or something like that).

We built and moved into a new stadium.  

We built an indoor practice facility and new practice fields.  In short, we've invested heavily in our football program. 

We've obviously been trying and we've done a lot right in an effort to build a winning program including different approaches to hiring head coaches.  So why have we been so bad historically (based on winning seasons)?  What can or should we do differently?  What's the one thing that we really haven't changed and have focused on almost exclusively during these 26 seasons?  Maybe that's what we need to change.  

This may be painful to hear, but has our singular focus over these last 26 seasons on recruiting Texas football talent almost exclusively been the problem?  I'm not saying Texas doesn't have football talent (far from it), but by the time that talent filters down to UNT after it's been picked over by out-of-state programs or other in-state programs (that are perceived to be better than us), is this where we should be casting our net?  I know, I know, we do occasionally recruit OK and LA and have recently have been dipping into other parts of the country, but I'd guess that since 1995, we are probably somewhere around 90% Texas-based talent on the roster.  That's the one thing that's been the most constant in the last 26 seasons.

Don't shoot the messenger.  I'm just pointing out facts and asking questions.  

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by keith

[TheColonyEagle]

If we have a Jim Harbaugh come through here this time.....maybe we can actually afford him unlike in 2006 when we couldn't.

[Wag Tag]

10 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

You keep bringing up Brohm.  Do you mean Jeff at Purdue?   I don't think his seat is hot at all.  He definitely has them going in the right direction.

Just looking at the hot seat post from a few days ago. I don’t follow Purdue. Someone had mentioned Norvell is from the area. Don’t know if they will do another buy out, but if Sanders says he is interested I could see it happening.