Outside world on Morris hire

[Coach Andy Mac]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/football-world-reacts-to-north-texas-coaching-hire/ar-AA15eB4P?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=W037&cvid=fabbb8d6030543d2a4f8cbaa777b9864

[MGNation92]

4 minutes ago, Green Crazy said:

I doubt he had zero input in his development either, but Morris coached the receivers while he was at Tech, not QBs.  Also, he was offensive coordinator for an offense that was called entirely by the actual OC who was Kliff.  

So you bring the pitchforks and I'll supply the torches.

Regardless of who coached who, he's been under some of the most prominent air raid/spread minds in Leach, Sumlin, and Kingsbury. 

I think we're gonna be okay offensively

[Monkeypox]

20 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

 

I'm just saying he was the OC there for several years with Mahomes.

I can't imagine he had zero input in his development or progression as a player. He knows what a good QB looks like. I'm not gonna guarantee anything but there's a good chance he finds our next Mason Fine.

I think most coaches outside of our most recent staff know what a good QB looks like. But the fact that TT couldn't win with Mahomes and he's a top 5 QB in the NFL is more of an indictment on Coach Bro and his staff than it is a positive, IMO. 

Morris has some FCS success... with one coaching staff before he bailed. Can Morris do anything without his single great QB find or refill a staff if it gets poached? These are the areas that SL failed at, and Morris has no experience in these areas.

It's not that he CAN'T be good. All the HC candidates had warts (or they wouldn't have been available). But I don't think we'll see any bumps in excitement that you might get from many new coaching hires. Everyone is in wait-and-see mode. I'm skeptical he'll be able to recruit here. 

[Monkeypox]

1 minute ago, MGNation92 said:

So you bring the pitchforks and I'll supply the torches.

Regardless of who coached who, he's been under some of the most prominent air raid/spread minds in Leach, Sumlin, and Kingsbury. 

I think we're gonna be okay offensively

Sounds like Littrell. He was also okay offensively. We need to win football games. 

[ihavenoname]

1 hour ago, SteaminWillieBeamin said:

Reddit r/cfb is not impressed. WSU fans say they'll gladly swap Seth for Eric. They hated his offense - too many lateral passes and screen passes. I guess 7-5 doesn't really win anyone over.

Note: not my opinion. I don't have one really.

Usually Reddit is great at finding the exact wrong answer for everything, so I would consider that a win.

[MGNation92]

1 minute ago, Monkeypox said:

I think most coaches outside of our most recent staff know what a good QB looks like. But the fact that TT couldn't win with Mahomes and he's a top 5 QB in the NFL is more of an indictment on Coach Bro and his staff than it is a positive, IMO. 

Morris has some FCS success... with one coaching staff before he bailed. Can Morris do anything without his single great QB find or refill a staff if it gets poached? These are the areas that SL failed at, and Morris has no experience in these areas.

It's not that he CAN'T be good. All the HC candidates had warts (or they wouldn't have been available). But I don't think we'll see any bumps in excitement that you might get from many new coaching hires. Everyone is in wait-and-see mode. I'm skeptical he'll be able to recruit here. 

I think the biggest thing is Littrell lost Harrell and never could replicate the development or the QB room or recruiting the QB room

If Morris is successful, he's gonna lose coaches. The biggest advantage? He's a guy who's identified QB's, coached them up and been successful. Littrell never had that. He had to rely on Harrell, and after that, he was lost.

2 minutes ago, Monkeypox said:

Sounds like Littrell. He was also okay offensively. We need to win football games. 

I agree on paper. Morris has built and rebuilt a program to winning two conference titles, even at the FCS level. I have confidence in his ability to do that.

I don't think Mosley hires him without knowing that he can win, and despite setbacks, win again. FCS is a whole different ball game, but its positive regardless. I'm skeptical about the hire too. I'm worried he'll be Seth Littrell 2.0, but the winning and the QB development are the two biggest differences to me.

[MGNation92]

2 minutes ago, ihavenoname said:

Usually Reddit is great at finding the exact wrong answer for everything, so I would consider that a win.

Reddit's also full of blue hair commies so it's typically good to take everything they say with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

[ihavenoname]

1 minute ago, MGNation92 said:

Reddit's also full of blue hair commies so it's typically good to take everything they say with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

I feel like you were trying to disagree with me, but you actually said what I said in a less intense way. What I'm saying is that a good rule of thumb is that it's safe to assume the inverse of a generally accepted Reddit opinion is always the correct answer. 

[MGNation92]

4 minutes ago, ihavenoname said:

I feel like you were trying to disagree with me, but you actually said what I said in a less intense way. What I'm saying is that a good rule of thumb is that it's safe to assume the inverse of a generally accepted Reddit opinion is always the correct answer. 

Totally in agreeance. The sports subreddits seem more down to earth and reasonable than most, but generally speaking, most redditors are nuckin futs

[Green Crazy]

46 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

I think the biggest thing is Littrell lost Harrell and never could replicate the development or the QB room or recruiting the QB room

If Morris is successful, he's gonna lose coaches. The biggest advantage? He's a guy who's identified QB's, coached them up and been successful. Littrell never had that. He had to rely on Harrell, and after that, he was lost.

I agree on paper. Morris has built and rebuilt a program to winning two conference titles, even at the FCS level. I have confidence in his ability to do that.

I don't think Mosley hires him without knowing that he can win, and despite setbacks, win again. FCS is a whole different ball game, but its positive regardless. I'm skeptical about the hire too. I'm worried he'll be Seth Littrell 2.0, but the winning and the QB development are the two biggest differences to me.

Again, you're going out on a limb to say he was the one who identified them. And wrong when you say he coached them up. Kliff and Leftwich did the QB coaching. 

That's like giving Seth credit for Mason.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Green Crazy

[MGNation92]

Just now, Green Crazy said:

Again, you're going out on a limb to say he was the one who identified them. And wrong when you say he coached them up. Kliff and Leftwich did the QB coaching. 

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

Was Mason Fine's success only because of Harrell or Littrell? Both had a hand in his development. 

Ward was still very solid this year at Wastington St. Was that because of Dickert or Morris?

[NorthTexasWeLove]

The fact that we're having to grasp at straws on Day 0 of our new hire should tell everyone what kind of hire this was: excessively underwhelming. 

 No one can really dispute that. 

Only Morris can prove otherwise. 

[Green Crazy]

Just now, MGNation92 said:

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one.

Was Mason Fine's success only because of Harrell or Littrell? Both had a hand in his development. 

Ward was still very solid this year at Wastington St. Was that because of Dickert or Morris?

I think Ward is just a badass and will continue to get better regardless. Ward was a fluke that fell into their laps at UIW and was the key to a majority of his success there. 

I agree, we'll have to disagree.  I hope I'm wrong about him. Now hope he brings Leftwich to be the QB coach. That will give me more confidence in the QB development. 

[97and03]

8 minutes ago, Green Crazy said:

I think Ward is just a badass and will continue to get better regardless. Ward was a fluke that fell into their laps at UIW and was the key to a majority of his success there. 

I agree, we'll have to disagree.  I hope I'm wrong about him. Now hope he brings Leftwich to be the QB coach. That will give me more confidence in the QB development. 

You should watch the video where he discussed Ward. Was an option QB and they went to his basketball games to check out his ability to read the floor. I don’t describe that as falling into their laps. I call that hard work and due diligence. 
 

Back to original point of the thread before it devolved into the usual GMG catfight/bitchfest. 
 

 

[Green Crazy]

2 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

You should watch the video where he discussed Ward. Was an option QB and they went to his basketball games to check out his ability to read the floor. I don’t describe that as falling into their laps. I call that hard work and due diligence. 
 

Back to original point of the thread before it devolved into the usual GMG catfight/bitchfest. 
 

 

So only him and Texas Southern saw the talent?

[97and03]

Just now, Green Crazy said:

So only him and Texas Southern saw the talent?

The point is that it was difficult to recruit to UIW and he did what it took to identify and then develop Ward, who is obviously good enough to play in the PAC 12. Similarly, it is difficult to recruit to NT and we have needed to polish some hidden gems, like two star Darden who plays in the NFL. This guy understands how to work hard and search for talent, then develop it. Not saying I am in love with the hire but this guy has done enough to earn a little good will before we burn him in effigy. 

[untlynchka1]

I just want to add one thing to those that always talk about Littrell not developing qb’s while he was here, which I agree with. 
 

He did happen to be the oc for Nick Folk and Mitch Trubiskey. One won a Super Bowl and the other was drafted before Eric Morris’s qb at Tech. 😜

I’m only saying that Littrell wasn’t terrible at developing qb’s at one point in his career. 
 

This hire is very much Littrell 2.0, let’s just hope we get the improvement we got out of Seth when he first got here, then not get stuck in the limbo like we did after he passed on the kstate job.  

Edited December 14, 2022 by untlynchka1

[p_phelps]

7 hours ago, Green Crazy said:

I keep seeing people say this, but to my knowledge Ward is the only good QB he's had. And Ward was given one other scholarship than UIW and that was Texas Southern. I think Ward is an extremely talented guy who fell through the cracks and has excelled at the next level regardless of the coach. Also, if I were to give credit to the person who groomed him it would be the QB coach, Leftwich. 

Patrick Mahomes ain't the best but I think he's a decent qb. Not sure if he'd start here so I know what you mean

[outoftown]

55 minutes ago, untlynchka1 said:

I just want to add one thing to those that always talk about Littrell not developing qb’s while he was here, which I agree with. 
 

He did happen to be the oc for Nick Folk and Mitch Trubiskey. One won a Super Bowl and the other was drafted before Eric Morris’s qb at Tech. 😜

I’m only saying that Littrell wasn’t terrible at developing qb’s at one point in his career. 
 

This hire is very much Littrell 2.0, let’s just hope we get the improvement we got out of Seth when he first got here, then not get stuck in the limbo like we did after he passed on the kstate job.  

QB wise maybe you have a point. there are two important differences though between those 2 hires.

1. SL had NEVER been a head coach at any level before coming to UNT, he did ok learning on the job fast, but he also never had the time to get out of the situation and reflect what he would/should do differently with the necessary distance. I could actually imagine he'll be better at the next place he'll become a HC because he will now get the time to reflect on how he could have done differently ( i think somebody will eventually give him another chance, may not even take that long). Morris has not only already had all that responsibility for a few years, he also had a year to think about what he did right and wrong and improve the plan and now gets to build anew.

2. SL had NEVER been anywhere below P5 prior to UNT. Having resources was a given for him, that was the only kind of environment he knew. He was a good talent evaluator, but at NTs level -despite massively improved recruiting resources over the last decade- you have to be somewhat creative in the way you bring folks in. Sony Dykes was at SMU, SL was not. At the FCS level you have to be even more creative. And it appears Morris was. its not a given it will translate to top tier G5, but it IS an important difference in experience to when SL was hired.

I think these are two really important differences between the two hires.

Edited December 14, 2022 by outoftown

[UNT Texas Hooligan]

3 hours ago, untlynchka1 said:

I just want to add one thing to those that always talk about Littrell not developing qb’s while he was here, which I agree with. 
 

He did happen to be the oc for Nick Folk and Mitch Trubiskey. One won a Super Bowl and the other was drafted before Eric Morris’s qb at Tech. 😜

I’m only saying that Littrell wasn’t terrible at developing qb’s at one point in his career. 
 

This hire is very much Littrell 2.0, let’s just hope we get the improvement we got out of Seth when he first got here, then not get stuck in the limbo like we did after he passed on the kstate job.  

Keeping AA on as your starting QB for 3 seasons negates any of this