UNT head football coaching position

SilverEagle · October 15, 2021

20 hours ago, wardly said:

Guys, I would like for us to take off out green tinted glasses and determine if the head coaching position at UNT is a good job or not. The question is not whether it is a good paying job. Le'st remember that since Hayden Fry left in 1978 UNT has fired 8 of its last 9 head coaches [including soome to be terminated Littrell], and has had 12 winning seasons since his departure[43 losing] and is only averaging about 20,000 fans per game in a state of the art stadium. As a side bar, we averaged 16,700 fans per game the last 10 years at Fouts Field. Not much of a R.O.I. for a $70 million dollar investment. Please give reasons for taking one side or another. Also, the million or so UNT graduates in DFW don't count pro or con as history has proven that they don't care about out athletic program. Fire away.

Wardly, let me ask you a question. From the time you became a full time student at North Texas until you graduated. What did you perceive the expectations of the NT administration were regarding athletics and how the student body should support it?

Now, let me ask you another question. When was the first time that you became aware that the North Texas administration wanted your financial support for athletics (or anything for that matter) as an alumnus of North Texas?

Edited October 15, 2021 by SilverEagle

keith · October 15, 2021

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Y'all,
He's just answering the question. "Opportunity Game" = P5 school pays you to come play at their place.

NT Won the "Opportunity Game" at Arkansas in 2018.

In all fairness, I did not define "opportunity game," so it can be in the eye of the beholder.

We can include the 1975 win over Tennessee, the 1995 win over Oregon State, 1988, 1997, 1999 wins over Texas Tech, 2003 win over Baylor and the 2011 win over Indiana. I'm sure I missed one or two (maybe). However, the Oregon State, Baylor and Indiana wins were at home.

WanderingEagle · October 15, 2021

It is objectively a good job. We could go 0-12 for a decade straight and it would still be a good job.

Massive tier 1 university in DFW with a healthy alumni base. Proof that people care about us when we're good. Rich history in our own way. Relatively new stadium. The same things that are going to save us through this conference realignment are what make the job "good"

NorthTexasWeLove · October 15, 2021

4 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I 100% disagree with this take. Especially that last part because Texas is such a spread offense state. We need to recruit guys who are readily available to us.

Finding someone like Gary Patterson, Bill Snyder or Bobby Bowden is virtually impossible. However, if we can find that guy, I'm all for it!

IMO, we can and should build on successful hire after successful hire like what Boise St. has done:
Houston Nutt (1997)
Dirk Koetter (1998–2000)
Dan Hawkins (2001–2005)
Chris Petersen (2006–2013)
Bryan Harsin (2014–2020)
Andy Avalos (2021–present)

Many people bring up Boise as the blueprint. That's difficult to blueprint. They have a financial monopoly on the MWC, much akin to the stronghold UT has or had on the Big12. The MWC bends over backwards and throws more money at Boise to keep them at bay with threats of leaving. Due to that, they can throw their weight around. We don't have that weight. More than likely never will. As far as spread offenses in Texas...So what. You can go get lightly recruited linemen that are undersized that will run off the ball and strike and I don't give a flip what offense they played in when they were high school kids. Truth be told, the forward pass and spread offenses at the high school level is from coast to coast in 2021. Yet, there are still college programs running the flex and other variations of.

I just think the flex provides long term consistency, year over year. Instead of what we get, 1 decent year spread out over every 6-7-8-9 years.

El Paso Eagle · October 15, 2021

1 hour ago, SilverEagle said:

👍........😎

But I would amend your statement to say "competent administrative support"

I believe this is understated.

It is one thing to have an administration that publicly says it supports athletics but how do they really act behind the scenes?

TheColonyEagle · October 15, 2021

2 hours ago, greenminer said:

Disagree. We have everything in place for success, just replace the man up top, assuming it’s the right new hire, and watch this program explode.

i still believe we have incredible athletes representing the Mean Green, and the right man overseeing the entire thing (Wren).

not a major rebuild at all, IMO.

Agree

Look at our schedule next year and look at the talent we have.

Right guy

A few key transfers

This team could easily go 10-2 or better next season

wardly · October 15, 2021

In 1961 thru 1966 JC Matthews was president, Denton was segregated , and there was no emphasis on athletics , no student fee, no organized student support, and no tailgating.NTSU was primarily a cheap commuter school with cost being $5 per hour and a $2.50 lab fee. I was in ST. Louis 1968 to 1970, in Indianapolis 1972 to 1974, and move back to Dallas to start a new business with 2 infants in tow. I sent Hayden Fry $1,000 and for that received a full sized flying worm telephone helmet , a flying worm polyester blazer that should of had a "no smoking" label attached to it , and a flying worm paper weight. At that tine I realized what a poor financial position our athletic department was in and continued to make an annual donation that wouldn't get me an end zone seat at TCU. It was not until Rick became our A.D. that he and C. Dan Smith shared their vision of "where are now, where are we going, and how are we going to get there." Rick gets a rapped for a number of things but until he arrived the only dedicated athletic building on campus was a 3,000 + sq. ft. administration office. I then upped my giving based upon affordability but never to the 6 digit level. I always told Rick that at some point my level of giving would not warrant an introduction to his replacement, which has been accomplished. Because of Covid I gave up my club seats this year and although I bought a "3 Pack" season ticket package,at soon to be 79 will not be as involved as in the past on a go forward basis.

Billy Clyde · October 15, 2021

3 minutes ago, wardly said:

In 1961 thru 1966 JC Matthews was president, Denton was segregated , and there was no emphasis on athletics , no student fee, no organized student support, and no tailgating.NTSU was primarily a cheap commuter school with cost being $5 per hour and a $2.50 lab fee. I was in ST. Louis 1968 to 1970, in Indianapolis 1972 to 1974, and move back to Dallas to start a new business with 2 infants in tow. I sent Hayden Fry $1,000 and for that received a full sized flying worm telephone helmet , a flying worm polyester blazer that should of had a "no smoking" label attached to it , and a flying worm paper weight. At that tine I realized what a poor financial position our athletic department was in and continued to make an annual donation that wouldn't get me an end zone seat at TCU. It was not until Rick became our A.D. that he and C. Dan Smith shared their vision of "where are now, where are we going, and how are we going to get there." Rick gets a rapped for a number of things but until he arrived the only dedicated athletic building on campus was a 3,000 + sq. ft. administration office. I then upped my giving based upon affordability but never to the 6 digit level. I always told Rick that at some point my level of giving would not warrant an introduction to his replacement, which has been accomplished. Because of Covid I gave up my club seats this year and although I bought a "3 Pack" season ticket package,at soon to be 79 will not be as involved as in the past on a go forward basis.

Thank you for your past and current support. I appreciate your story; this gives us all perspective on how far we’ve come in a (relatively) short amount of time.

PS - Do you still have the blazer?

Jonnyeagle · October 15, 2021

7 minutes ago, wardly said:

In 1961 thru 1966 JC Matthews was president, Denton was segregated , and there was no emphasis on athletics , no student fee, no organized student support, and no tailgating.NTSU was primarily a cheap commuter school with cost being $5 per hour and a $2.50 lab fee. I was in ST. Louis 1968 to 1970, in Indianapolis 1972 to 1974, and move back to Dallas to start a new business with 2 infants in tow. I sent Hayden Fry $1,000 and for that received a full sized flying worm telephone helmet , a flying worm polyester blazer that should of had a "no smoking" label attached to it , and a flying worm paper weight. At that tine I realized what a poor financial position our athletic department was in and continued to make an annual donation that wouldn't get me an end zone seat at TCU. It was not until Rick became our A.D. that he and C. Dan Smith shared their vision of "where are now, where are we going, and how are we going to get there." Rick gets a rapped for a number of things but until he arrived the only dedicated athletic building on campus was a 3,000 + sq. ft. administration office. I then upped my giving based upon affordability but never to the 6 digit level. I always told Rick that at some point my level of giving would not warrant an introduction to his replacement, which has been accomplished. Because of Covid I gave up my club seats this year and although I bought a "3 Pack" season ticket package,at soon to be 79 will not be as involved as in the past on a go forward basis.

You are a class act and we appreciate you so much for your support of our Alma mater over many years. I also find you to be one of the best and informative posters in this community. Go Mean Green!

wardly · October 15, 2021

4 hours ago, Billy Clyde said:

Thank you for your past and current support. I appreciate your story; this gives us all perspective on how far we’ve come in a (relatively) short amount of time.

PS - Do you still have the blazer?

I have a slime green jeep LATITUDE as daily driver with UNT personalized plates "SLIMED". I also have a 1932 ford roadster as a toy which I probably need to sell. Personalized plates on my wife's car are "N. TEX." I am just an old man trying to have some harmless fun. GO EAGLES ! [ I can't help it guys. I have never been a fan of MEAN GREEN except for our defense. At my age old habits are hard to break] . Thanks for your kind words!

Green Mean · October 25, 2021

Has anyone mentioned Chris Petersen anywhere? I get he might be a reach and I don't know if he would even be interested coming to a place like this but he's 57 and I think we need someone like him that can build a program and coach his players up. That's really what we need. Recruiting is vital I get that but program building and the ability to coach up the roster you have is what I think we really need.

I think getting a guy like Peterson would really be great and I could care less if they have previous Texas ties or not. Everybody recruits and has recruited this state as it is but if they don't have that then that's fine, they'll come here and start building relationships immediately because he is a known name and commodity.

Jonnyeagle · October 25, 2021

4 minutes ago, Green Mean said:

Has anyone mentioned Chris Petersen anywhere? I get he might be a reach and I don't know if he would even be interested coming to a place like this but he's 57 and I think we need someone like him that can build a program and coach his players up. That's really what we need. Recruiting is vital I get that but program building and the ability to coach up the roster you have is what I think we really need.

I think getting a guy like Peterson would really be great and I could care less if they have previous Texas ties or not. Everybody recruits and has recruited this state as it is but if they don't have that then that's fine, they'll come here and start building relationships immediately because he is a known name and commodity.

If Petersen had one inking of interest we should sign him on the spot. Proven winner.