Breakdown of the Added Staff Resources for North Texas

KingDL1 · December 29, 2022

On 12/27/2022 at 1:49 PM, Jonnyeagle said:

Would like to see y’all get an update from RV on the NIL.

I doubt RV knows how to update anything.

GrandGreen · December 29, 2022

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

You're illustrating my point. I was being somewhat sarcastic, and could have elaborated to make that more obvious.

I've been following this program long enough (not as long as you, GG!) to see people water down the idea of "laying a foundation." It usually gets tossed around when there is new blood, and I suppose it's only natural. With the new blood comes a renewed sense of excitement, and with this renewed excitement naturally comes a desire to be grateful. Seems like every time we can breathe a little with a new coach/commitment/era, some one wants to give thanks to something. Not sure why, but it's there.

SL was not laying a foundation. He had a better record than the previous coach. We've had some coaches that bested their previous coach. That doesn't mean they laid a foundation. SL wasn't even the first coach we had with our increased budget/spending. Todge was that, right? It was after we got rid of DD that the program said, "Okay, let's at least look like we're getting our act together."

I don't want to discredit SL. I really, really wanted him to be the guy. I don't like flash and pomp from my HC. not necessary, IMO. Just recruit and win games. That's what will sell the program and grow your fanbase.

We can appreciate the things that SL did - such as giving us generational talent at a few positions. Giving us a couple years that helped us heal to some degree from the end of the McCarney era. But we can also acknowledge that he was a beneficiary. He benefited from being one or two coaches into our renewed devotion to football from our administration.

I don't say "lay a foundation". This sports program has been up and down since long before I was born. I just look at things like, how much money are we spending right now? And, did we make a good hire?

Thanks, your points are well made.

ntmeangreen11 · December 29, 2022

I was told SMU has offered a substantial amount in NIL to a P5 player in the transfer portal who would absolutely start here. There's a long time between now and signing day and I know we're in on him too but we're going to have to "pony up" to even have a chance.

Recruiting in 2023 is out of control.

UNTLifer · December 29, 2022

1 hour ago, ntmeangreen11 said:

I was told SMU has offered a substantial amount in NIL to a P5 player in the transfer portal who would absolutely start here. There's a long time between now and signing day and I know we're in on him too but we're going to have to "pony up" to even have a chance.

Recruiting in 2023 is out of control.

Who?

ExADofficeIntern · December 29, 2022

5 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Littrell was the epitome of an average coach. Dodge was horrible, McCarney had various health issues.

Yes, someone had to be coach before but just holding a job is not setting a foundation. Did Shanice Stephens set a foundation for women's basketball or Dickey build up a solid football program?

Littrell was not a disaster, but to imply he build a solid foundation for the football program is at best problematic. He coached for a long time in football years at NT, however he did not elevate the program.

Fry elevated the program, Blakeley elevated the program, McCasland certainly elevated the program as did Delong in softball. Hedlund didn't elevate the program, he build it from nothing.

SL lifted this program from the flaming dumpster fire that it was after the Portland State season into a job that other national media views as one of the top G5 jobs.. yes his coaching performance leveled off, because of his own doings, but the school also did not help at times either. We see EM taking less salary to add to assistant pool, was SL ever offered this (who knows)… is the funding for football increasing because of the move up into the American (mostly likely)… SL has left EM a much better program amenities, roster, and just overall view from fans… when SL was hired we all would have taken him producing maybe the 2 best QBs in program history, 6 bowls, 2 championship appearances, and a move up to the American (even if it was blind lucky).

4 hours ago, NT80 said:

Yes. Seth was 9-5 then 9-4 his second and third seasons, but he couldn't maintain that or improve after Mason Fine left and several staff changes. His teams then regressed and the lack of Championships and Bowl wins doomed him.

We can all agree that SL shot himself in the foot with some of his hires, but the program is vastly better condition today than it was when he got hired.. EM has likely gotten a boost as well moving into the American that SL didn’t fully get, but I will say this again… we all day 1 would have taken what SL did in a heartbeat

GrandGreen · December 29, 2022

3 hours ago, ExADofficeIntern said:

SL lifted this program from the flaming dumpster fire that it was after the Portland State season into a job that other national media views as one of the top G5 jobs.. yes his coaching performance leveled off, because of his own doings, but the school also did not help at times either. We see EM taking less salary to add to assistant pool, was SL ever offered this (who knows)… is the funding for football increasing because of the move up into the American (mostly likely)… SL has left EM a much better program amenities, roster, and just overall view from fans… when SL was hired we all would have taken him producing maybe the 2 best QBs in program history, 6 bowls, 2 championship appearances, and a move up to the American (even if it was blind lucky).

We can all agree that SL shot himself in the foot with some of his hires, but the program is vastly better condition today than it was when he got hired.. EM has likely gotten a boost as well moving into the American that SL didn’t fully get, but I will say this again… we all day 1 would have taken what SL did in a heartbeat

So you think it was a significant achievement to elevate the team from the one that lost to Portland St. It would be almost impossible to not do that.

If you want to make a point about financing than you have to compare what SL had versus other CUSA teams. I don't think NT was ever at a disadvantage compared to most other league teams.

I am not attempting to belittle Littrell, but he was exactly a .500 coach, although he was significantly better against CUSA teams. Did he have the resources equal to SMU or TCU, no not close.

There are different ways to judge performance, you chose in this case against his most immediate predecessors. Yes, he compared well against Dickey and Mac.

I think a better way is to benchmark is against what an average coach would have done in the same situation. It obviously is not as fact based, but I think it is more meaningful. With the resources, Littrell had; I think NT should have been better than a .500 squad. It is not even as much the winning percentage as it was that for most of the oc games against D1 competition; NT was not very competitive.

shaft · December 31, 2022

On 12/29/2022 at 4:54 AM, GrandGreen said:

So you think it was a significant achievement to elevate the team from the one that lost to Portland St. It would be almost impossible to not do that.

....

I am not attempting to belittle Littrell, but...

Yes, turning around this program is a big achievement.

And yes you are.

GrandGreen · December 31, 2022

1 hour ago, shaft said:

Yes, turning around this program is a big achievement.

And yes you are.

Not often do you have a reader who knows more than the writer about his comments.

Edited December 31, 2022 by GrandGreen

97and03 · December 31, 2022

On 12/27/2022 at 11:30 AM, TheReal_jayD said:

Last year Not counting the three strength staff they had 10 assistants and 8 support staff.

North Texas added $500k to assistant pool and $600k to support staff.

Not sure how many new positions Eric will create, but guessing between 7-8 new support staff in recruiting, player development, ops, creative, etc.

This will be huge for North Texas as they make the jump to the American Conference.

Just curious about this now that hires have been announced. Why are almost all of the assistant hires relatively inexperienced if we added so much extra to the assistant money? This post made me think that they planned to add very experienced people to fill these positions but most have not been that at all. Why did we need to spend so much more to hire people less experienced than the staff we let go?

Jonnyeagle · December 31, 2022

11 hours ago, 97and03 said:

Just curious about this now that hires have been announced. Why are almost all of the assistant hires relatively inexperienced if we added so much extra to the assistant money? This post made me think that they planned to add very experienced people to fill these positions but most have not been that at all. Why did we need to spend so much more to hire people less experienced than the staff we let go?

There are a lot more support positions that that didn't exist in the prior regime. Some are recruiting, analyst and others academic support etc. This will be announced later on as they start making the hires.

NT80 · December 31, 2022

2 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

There are a lot more support positions that that didn't exist in the prior regime. Some are recruiting, analyst and others academic support etc. This will be announced later on as they start making the hires.

Agree. Also, the assistant coaches coming from a P5 still want a raise to change jobs. The coach at Iowa State promoted to be our DC was probably making what PB made as their DB coach.

If we wanted to go the cheap route we could have done like Texas State and GJ Kinne bringing a majority of his FCS UIW assistants. It was mentioned that's why Morris balked at that job was because of the assistant's pool was shallow...lol.