Good Article on Keeler

[MGNation92]

https://www.acefootballanalytics.com/post/k-c-keeler-the-best-football-coach-you-never-heard-of

Reading more about him and becoming more interested. Not afraid to make changes when things aren't working, is lauded as a great recruiter and took advantage of transfers from FBS to FCS to get quality players. He still seems motivated at 63. He inherited a strong Sam Houston program from Fritz but continued the success. Two FCS national championships.

It would be a risk, but he was preparing for the jump to FBS anyways. The roster is in decent shape as it is and he's been in Texas long enough to build some good relationships. I wouldn't hate the move. He's a proven winner at the FCS level, just wonder how it would translate to the American. Fritz has worked well for Tulane (although it took him a while to get there). We could see similar results with Keeler

 

[ColoradoEagle]

I feel like hiring him, you’d have to have a head coach in waiting as part of the deal. If he were 20 or even 10 years younger, I’d like the hire a lot more.

[FirefightnRick]

19 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

I feel like hiring him, you’d have to have a head coach in waiting as part of the deal. If he were 20 or even 10 years younger, I’d like the hire a lot more.

I swear, if we could fire up the time machine and catapult 2003 Nick Saban here someone would claim the part in his hair was on the wrong side.

 

Rick

Edited December 12, 2022 by FirefightnRick

[gordo nation]

HELL NO TO KENNY PERRY

[GrayEagle]

7 minutes ago, gordo nation said:

HELL NO TO KENNY PERRY

He might be a good golf coach but I don't want him as a football coach.  Hell no to kenny perry!

[ColoradoEagle]

11 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

I swear, if we could fire up the time machine and catapult 2003 Nick Saban here someone would claim the part in his hair was on the wrong side.

Nick Saban was 52 in 2003.

[FirefightnRick]

6 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

Nick Saban was 52 in 2003.

Yup,….he’d never make the grade.

 

Rick

[ColoradoEagle]

2 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Yup,….he’d never make the grade.

 

Rick

Except my post literally said I’d be fine with 53.

 

ColoradoEagle

[SilverEagle]

33 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

https://www.acefootballanalytics.com/post/k-c-keeler-the-best-football-coach-you-never-heard-of

Reading more about him and becoming more interested. Not afraid to make changes when things aren't working, is lauded as a great recruiter and took advantage of transfers from FBS to FCS to get quality players. He still seems motivated at 63. He inherited a strong Sam Houston program from Fritz but continued the success. Two FCS national championships.

It would be a risk, but he was preparing for the jump to FBS anyways. The roster is in decent shape as it is and he's been in Texas long enough to build some good relationships. I wouldn't hate the move. He's a proven winner at the FCS level, just wonder how it would translate to the American. Fritz has worked well for Tulane (although it took him a while to get there). We could see similar results with Keeler

 

Keeping the momentum going with an already established program is fine....even great.

I'm a lot more impressed with someone that walked into a disaster (A$M Commerce), put his mud boots on and slogged around in the shit (like someone who has grown up on a farm had to do) and rebuilt the program to eventually win a national championship. That makes it HIS championship from top to bottom. And right now, he's in the middle of doing the same thing at SFA.

He's already demonstrated that he will put in the work, get the team motivated, and get the fan base motivated to support the team. He KNOWS Texas and most of the Texas HS coaches. Of all the other candidates mentioned he probably knows North Texas better than any of them. As a result, he would probably never do like Bob Tyler did (and many other coaches since Bob Tyler) and say "what the hell is wrong with these people?"

[FirefightnRick]

33 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

Except my post literally said I’d be fine with 53.

 

ColoradoEagle.

 

53 might be ok in your book but would bother the s#it out of someone else, trust me.

 

Rick 

Edited December 12, 2022 by FirefightnRick

[El Paso Eagle]

7 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

Except my post literally said I’d be fine with 53.

 

ColoradoEagle

So hypothetically, are you saying if a Nick Saban or Mack Brown applied you would not want them?

[El Paso Eagle]

2 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Keeping the momentum going with an already established program is fine....even great.

I'm a lot more impressed with someone that walked into a disaster (A$M Commerce), put his mud boots on and slogged around in the shit (like someone who has grown up on a farm had to do) and rebuilt the program to eventually win a national championship. That makes it HIS championship from top to bottom. And right now, he's in the middle of doing the same thing at SFA.

He's already demonstrated that he will put in the work, get the team motivated, and get the fan base motivated to support the team. He KNOWS Texas and most of the Texas HS coaches. Of all the other candidates mentioned he probably knows North Texas better than any of them. As a result, he would probably never do like Bob Tyler did (and many other coaches since Bob Tyler) and say "what the hell is wrong with these people?"

@SilverEagle Good post. Sadly we have a lot here who seem to enjoy taking shots at those who have differing views. Most don't take the time and effort to check out backgrounds and situations. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

6 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Keeping the momentum going with an already established program is fine....even great.

I'm a lot more impressed with someone that walked into a disaster (A$M Commerce), put his mud boots on and slogged around in the shit (like someone who has grown up on a farm had to do) and rebuilt the program to eventually win a national championship. That makes it HIS championship from top to bottom. And right now, he's in the middle of doing the same thing at SFA.

He's already demonstrated that he will put in the work, get the team motivated, and get the fan base motivated to support the team. He KNOWS Texas and most of the Texas HS coaches. Of all the other candidates mentioned he probably knows North Texas better than any of them. As a result, he would probably never do like Bob Tyler did (and many other coaches since Bob Tyler) and say "what the hell is wrong with these people?"

I'd much rather have the guy you're talking about (and I'm not really all that interested in him as HC) than Keeler.

[ColoradoEagle]

10 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

So hypothetically, are you saying if a Nick Saban or Mack Brown applied you would not want them?

You’re comparing two hall of fame coaches to an FCS coach. Not to belittle Keeler’s accomplishments, but it’s a little like comparing whoever is the best player in Euroleague to Lebron.

[El Paso Eagle]

6 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

You’re comparing two hall of fame coaches to an FCS coach. Not to belittle Keeler’s accomplishments, but it’s a little like comparing whoever is the best player in Euroleague to Lebron.

Your right, but I personally think it's BS when someone says because they are "X" years old they should not be considered. Look at the person and their situation and make a decision. Don't use some random one size fits all cop-out. Which of our 53 or under coaches has taken us where we would like to be?

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

45 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

Except my post literally said I’d be fine with 53.

 

ColoradoEagle

LOL 

[Mean Green 93-98]

1 hour ago, ColoradoEagle said:

I feel like hiring him, you’d have to have a head coach in waiting as part of the deal. If he were 20 or even 10 years younger, I’d like the hire a lot more.

Head coaches in waiting are always a bad idea.  Sure, hire a coordinator and groom them for greater responsibilities with the understanding that they *might* be a leading candidate for the job down the road.

[FirefightnRick]

34 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Your right, but I personally think it's BS when someone says because they are "X" years old they should not be considered. Look at the person and their situation and make a decision. Don't use some random one size fits all cop-out. Which of our 53 or under coaches has taken us where we would like to be?

At the time a conference championship was pretty high praise, and Simon and Dickey(conference & bowl championships) were in their 40’s when they accomplished that at North Texas. 

Schnellenberger was in his 70’s when he started kicking our asses at FAU, and Coker in his 60’s when he started UTSA.  Regardless, for anyone to place an age bias/limit on a coach before knowing their current status and present ability is ridiculous.

 

Rick

Edited December 12, 2022 by FirefightnRick

[ColoradoEagle]

3 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

At the time a conference championship was pretty high praise, and Simon and Dickey(conference & bowl championships) were in their 40’s when they accomplished that. 

Schnellenberger was in his 70’s when he started kicking our asses at FAU, and Coker in his 60’s when he started UTSA.  Regardless, to place an age restriction on anyone before knowing their current status and present ability is ridiculous.

Schnellenberger was 58-74 at FAU. Coker was 26-32 at UTSA. McCarney was 22-32 here. The real risk you take by hiring someone older is there’s not a lot to stop them from treating it as early retirement.

Maybe that’s not their goal when they come in, but the kind of long days and nights it would take to get this place into the top 25 will take its toll. 

We need someone who’s motivated both by what they can gain and what they can lose.

[MeanGreen4Life1998]

I like Keeler a lot and would love to have someone who has proven they can win, like him, but I’m sure UNT will look at the age and say no. In fact, I suspect that played into why Texas State passed on him as I cant think of any other legitimate reason to not hire him

[FirefightnRick]

39 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

Schnellenberger was 58-74 at FAU. Coker was 26-32 at UTSA. McCarney was 22-32 here. The real risk you take by hiring someone older is there’s not a lot to stop them from treating it as early retirement.

Maybe that’s not their goal when they come in, but the kind of long days and nights it would take to get this place into the top 25 will take its toll. 

We need someone who’s motivated both by what they can gain and what they can lose.

Schnellinberger had winning seasons in three of his first five seasons, including a conference championship and a bowl championship by his fourth year.  Yeah, he didn’t get them into the SEC by year 10 but what he did accomplish, building a program from absolutely nothing, at his age was simply remarkable and proof that you can’t judge a book by its….cov,….expiration date.

Funny thing was North Texas lost to him 6 straight years before Dodge somehow squeezed out a 4 point win in 2010.

 

Rick

Edited December 12, 2022 by FirefightnRick

[ColoradoEagle]

6 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Schnellinberger had winning seasons in two of his first four seasons including a conference championship and a bowl championship by his fourth year.  Yeah, he didn’t get them into the SEC by year 10 but what he did accomplish, building a program from absolutely nothing, at his age was simply remarkable and proof that you can’t judge a book by its….cov,….expiration date.

It took 11 years for Gary Patterson to take TCU from CUSA to Big 12. It’s a bit of apples and oranges for many many reasons, but I think even with all the money, history, and prestige we can agree that a Pat Sullivan lead TCU isn’t getting into the Big 12. 

Hiring a coach who isn’t potentially in it for the long haul is a band-aid for startup programs, not for a program looking to make the next leap up.

[TalonsUp]

30 minutes ago, MeanGreen4Life1998 said:

I like Keeler a lot and would love to have someone who has proven they can win, like him, but I’m sure UNT will look at the age and say no. In fact, I suspect that played into why Texas State passed on him as I cant think of any other legitimate reason to not hire him

I’d be real surprised if keeler put his hat in the ring. He’s content where he is, probably has invested wisely and other jobs don’t give the quality of life he desires

[FirefightnRick]

6 minutes ago, ColoradoEagle said:

It took 11 years for Gary Patterson to take TCU from CUSA to Big 12. It’s a bit of apples and oranges for many many reasons, but I think even with all the money, history, and prestige we can agree that a Pat Sullivan lead TCU isn’t getting into the Big 12. 

Hiring a coach who isn’t potentially in it for the long haul is a band-aid for startup programs, not for a program looking to make the next leap up.

We have no idea what their “in it” motive might be until we ask.  Maybe they want to Lane Kiffin it back to the red carpet, and the only way is to kick ass here.  Who knows?  
 

Rick

[UNTLifer]

I have been a fan of Keeler's since last year when the rumors swirled that SL would be replaced.  Man is a winner, knows how to win and does it.