The real measure of Morris's success at UNT is yet to be seen

[Harry]

Eric Morris was officially named as the 20th head coach of UNT football on December 13, 2023.  That is 29 weeks or two hundred days ago.  He has yet to coach a game but that will change in a couple of months.

And yet there has still been a fair amount of analysis on how Morris has fared in terms of his short tenure, with a primary focus on recruiting.

While many UNT football recruiting fan heads have been spinning with the advent of NIL and the Portal, Morris has put together a solid recruiting team that has had its share of success along with a normal amount of disappointment that was to be expected this early.

The real tell on how good a recruiting class can be occurs years after the class is finalized.  The recruiting databases, and school offers are typically the only data points we have.  The recruiting services have never invested a lot of resources into analyzing borderline 3-star recruits and so you could argue that offer lists may be even more important.

One aspect that could differentiate Morris from his predecessor in Seth Littrell could be how many of these classes and players inside these classes stick and stay with the program or leave, commonly referred to in the business world as attrition. 

Under Littrell, it was pretty bad.  Just eyeing 2022, UNT showed twelve signees and nine transfers for a total of twenty-one.   Of that total, six have already headed to the exits or 30 percent.  Not to mention existing players who also have exited the portal, like Jyaire Shorter and Larry Nixon

That 30% seems like a lot, but in this era of portal and NIL it will become a lot more commonplace.

If Morris can keep that attrition down and lower the number of players entering the portal due to NIL, it could make a big difference for the program, but UNT will need to ramp up NIL funds to aid him in that regard. 

GMG

 

[Mean Green 93-98]

13 minutes ago, Harry said:

Under Littrell, it was pretty bad.  Just eyeing 2022, UNT showed twelve signees and nine transfers for a total of twenty-one.   Of that total, six have already headed to the exits or 30 percent.  Not to mention existing players who also have exited the portal, like Jyaire Shorter and Larry Nixon

Why is this referred to as "under Littrell"?  He was gone long before most, if not all, of these departures happened.

[Wag Tag]

It will tough for any G5 coach to keep players from P5 offers! We need to attract Transfers at the qb and dl positions and this is wear the NIL monies should be spent. 

[cousin oliver]

2 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

It will tough for any G5 coach to keep players from P5 offers! We need to attract Transfers at the qb and dl positions and this is wear the NIL monies should be spent. 

It seems like signing junior college and community college players may be a good strategy.

[meanrob]

22 minutes ago, Harry said:

Eric Morris was officially named as the 20th head coach of UNT football on December 13, 2023.  That is 29 weeks or two hundred days ago.  He has yet to coach a game but that will change in a couple of months.

 

 

And yet there has still been a fair amount of analysis on how Morris has fared in terms of his short tenure, with a primary focus on recruiting.

 

 

While many UNT football recruiting fan heads have been spinning with the advent of NIL and the Portal, Morris has put together a solid recruiting team that has had its share of success along with a normal amount of disappointment that was to be expected this early.

 

 

The real tell on how good a recruiting class can be occurs years after the class is finalized.  The recruiting databases, and school offers are typically the only data points we have.  The recruiting services have never invested a lot of resources into analyzing borderline 3-star recruits and so you could argue that offer lists may be even more important.

 

 

One aspect that could differentiate Morris from his predecessor in Seth Littrell could be how many of these classes and players inside these classes stick and stay with the program or leave, commonly referred to in the business world as attrition. 

 

 

Under Littrell, it was pretty bad.  Just eyeing 2022, UNT showed twelve signees and nine transfers for a total of twenty-one.   Of that total, six have already headed to the exits or 30 percent.  Not to mention existing players who also have exited the portal, like Jyaire Shorter and Larry Nixon

 

 

That 30% seems like a lot, but in this era of portal and NIL it will become a lot more commonplace.

 

 

If Morris can keep that attrition down and lower the number of players entering the portal due to NIL, it could make a big difference for the program, but UNT will need to ramp up NIL funds to aid him in that regard. 

 

 

GMG

 

 

 

 

 

I just don’t think recruiting is going to change +- 20% under Morris in the near future which means he’ll have to be successful in the areas that good G5s are- developing quarterbacks, winning close games, effective defense, good special teams and getting the most out of the back end of recruiting classes. Reducing coaching turnover wouldn’t hurt either. 

Any coach has to be flexible but I would hit high schools on the offensive side and transfers on defense.
 

I’m not expecting miracles from Morris this year but it’s going to be interesting if he sticks to his “play offense to help the defense” take he mentioned earlier in the year. If we’re flinging it around against teams like FIU and La Tech, teams we should run against, not the greatest of signs. 
 

 

 

[UNT86]

30 minutes ago, Harry said:

Under Littrell, it was pretty bad.  Just eyeing 2022, UNT showed twelve signees and nine transfers for a total of twenty-one.   Of that total, six have already headed to the exits or 30 percent.  Not to mention existing players who also have exited the portal, like Jyaire Shorter and Larry Nixon

And how many would have stayed if Littrell would have stayed?  There is no way to know, but he did get players to stay previously because he had a good relationship with them.  Coach Morris has no relationship with them.  And some transferred after Spring ball.  Isn't that Morris' fault for not retaining them?

Littrell clearly went a different route his last year in recruiting. No way to know if it would have worked out long term, but we did play for the conference championship last year.

[UNT86]

11 minutes ago, meanrob said:

Reducing coaching turnover wouldn’t hurt either. 

This would help as much as retention of players on the roster.  Excellent point.

[Jonnyeagle]

17 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

It will tough for any G5 coach to keep players from P5 offers! We need to attract Transfers at the qb and dl positions and this is wear the NIL monies should be spent. 

If a player transfers to UNT do they have tp stay for a period of time or can they immediately leave?  I am not clear on the latest for this.

[JT Hammons]

40 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

If a player transfers to UNT do they have tp stay for a period of time or can they immediately leave?  I am not clear on the latest for this.

I believe they are only allowed one transfer without penalty.

[Mike Jackson]

1 hour ago, UNT86 said:

Littrell clearly went a different route his last year in recruiting. No way to know if it would have worked out long term, but we did play for the conference championship last year.

Glass half full?  Seth’s season were the definition of trending at mediocrity.   They improved by 1 additional conference win.  There is no reason to think he was going to do better in stronger new conference this year.

[97and03]

4 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

It seems like signing junior college and community college players may be a good strategy.

Both community colleges AND JUCO??  You are truly a visionary!!

[NT80]

2 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

Glass half full?  Seth’s season were the definition of trending at mediocrity.   They improved by 1 additional conference win.  There is no reason to think he was going to do better in stronger new conference this year.

It was time for a change.  It's been a refreshing spring with new energy.  

[NT80]

4 hours ago, meanrob said:

I’m not expecting miracles from Morris this year but it’s going to be interesting if he sticks to his “play offense to help the defense” take he mentioned earlier in the year. If we’re flinging it around against teams like FIU and La Tech, teams we should run against, not the greatest of signs. 

A good coach will tailor his playbook to his players...and his opponents. 

Passing is exciting for fans, but we do have a strong RB group.  Take what the defense gives you.

[JT Hammons]

17 minutes ago, NT80 said:

It was time for a change.

Agree but I didn't think Seth was terrible.  He was not a Todd Dodge.  He did some nice things for us early on.

[NT80]

2 hours ago, JT Hammons said:

Agree but I didn't think Seth was terrible.  He was not a Todd Dodge.  He did some nice things for us early on.

Seth was not terrible.  It was Mason Fine that did some nice things for us early on.  After that Seth could never find a QB replacement or a true direction for the team.

[Mike Jackson]

8 hours ago, NT80 said:

Seth was not terrible.  It was Mason Fine that did some nice things for us early on.  After that Seth could never find a QB replacement or a true direction for the team.

Not terrible but not good either.  The defense was always a problem.  We don’t know how much Graham Harrell as QB Coach helped the offense.  And Seth didn’t pivot to a run heavy game plans until forced.  So was he a poor recruiter or poor at developing recruits?   I think we are so used to our program underperforming we aren’t as critical of mediocrity.  Morris recruiting better than Seth team is something I put very little stock in right now.  Looking at difference Coach Dykes made unlocking the talent he inherited at TCU makes me more skeptical of recruiting evaluations below top 30 class rankings. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Mike Jackson

[meanJewGreen]

Feel like this thread qualifies as "no s***" since he hasn't played a game yet. 

We need a college spring league or something