North Texas Loses to FIU - How Dire is the Situation in Denton

Mike Jackson · September 10, 2023

54 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

You could, and as far as the alumni, Denton residents, local coaches, media, etc would be concerned we would be third rate. Y

Aren't we already? You are referring to a former season ticket holder who couldn't give his extra tickets away. I would literally have to drag my sons to the game. One of them actually played football and still had no interest in going. Unless I want to give away my extra tickets to stranger they would sometimes go unused. The half empty to 2/3 full stadium most games tells you we are considered third rate.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Mike Jackson

Mike Jackson · September 10, 2023

2 hours ago, greenminer said:

commissioners see our financial commitment to figuring this out. Even if the general public does not.

I think the folding of the P12 make you far more skeptical of "commissioners seeing our financial commitment to figuring this out" making a difference. If people don't watch our game and we don't have 100 million in pledge capital like SMU does our "financial commitment" is worthless because we don't generate TV revenue. We spend in an extremely stupid fashion that is often FIRST GUESSED by fans who follow the program. The only way even the Sun Belt or CUSA would want us back is for more access to the DFW market. Very hard to find programs that have done worse in G5 spending the kind of money we have.

greenminer · September 10, 2023

2 hours ago, Mike Jackson said:

I think the folding of the P12 make you far more skeptical of "commissioners seeing our financial commitment to figuring this out" making a difference. If people don't watch our game and we don't have 100 million in pledge capital like SMU does our "financial commitment" is worthless because we don't generate TV revenue. We spend in an extremely stupid fashion that is often FIRST GUESSED by fans who follow the program. The only way even the Sun Belt or CUSA would want us back is for more access to the DFW market. Very hard to find programs that have done worse in G5 spending the kind of money we have.

despite the need to move on from SL, our "hard to find worse" program is fresh off a CUSA title game appearance, and 5+ straight bowl appearances.

The losses are frustrating as hell but keep in mind, the fans on this board have a magnifying glass on our program that is not shared with others. Commissioners see things through the lense of business, and casual fans aren't nearly as emotionally attached as we are.

Our program, and our spending, was good enough for Aresco.

Edited September 11, 2023 by greenminer

El Paso Eagle · September 10, 2023

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

This was what I was kinda worried about when we fired Littrell, but went cheaper on Morris. Everyone said it was OK, because our support staff salaries went up as a result, and I must admit, that’s a good thing. But it’s certainly a gamble. There’s that old saying… “you get what you pay for.” There’s no coupons when it comes to CFB coaches.

One of my primary takeaways is that we have not learned the risk of hiring a purely offensive-minded head coach. Perhaps if Jared had more time on the job or Wren had done his job correctly when Morris presented his plan, they should have stopped it if he did not say he was bringing in an experienced defensive coordinator.

Mike Jackson · September 11, 2023

17 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Commissioners see things through the lense of business

I had to laugh at this comment. What about TV viewers and Attendance being THE BUSINESS? Oregon State spent well and wisely they have no home. (WSU didn’t spend wisely and they are in worse shape but same boat). Sure MWC and AAC want them. But the move will be financially devastating. This program brings very little value because fans are coming to see the brand or watch it on TV. Sure there is tons of POTENTIAL here but a program that just throws money at the problem the same way it always has there is no value in that.

GrayEagle · September 11, 2023

5 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

This was what I was kinda worried about when we fired Littrell, but went cheaper on Morris. Everyone said it was OK, because our support staff salaries went up as a result, and I must admit, that’s a good thing. But it’s certainly a gamble. There’s that old saying… “you get what you pay for.” There’s no coupons when it comes to CFB coaches.

Actually, I thought that Morris was offered close to what Littrell was making but he took less with the difference going to the assistants and recruiting staff.

greenminer · September 11, 2023

1 hour ago, Mike Jackson said:

I had to laugh at this comment. What about TV viewers and Attendance being THE BUSINESS? Oregon State spent well and wisely they have no home. (WSU didn’t spend wisely and they are in worse shape but same boat). Sure MWC and AAC want them. But the move will be financially devastating. This program brings very little value because fans are coming to see the brand or watch it on TV. Sure there is tons of POTENTIAL here but a program that just throws money at the problem the same way it always has there is no value in that.

Not sure what long ball you’re playing here. Are you tired of the culture? Do away with football?

SilverEagle · September 11, 2023

17 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

This was what I was kinda worried about when we fired Littrell, but went cheaper on Morris. Everyone said it was OK, because our support staff salaries went up as a result, and I must admit, that’s a good thing. But it’s certainly a gamble. There’s that old saying… “you get what you pay for.” There’s no coupons when it comes to CFB coaches.

My experience has been that that old adage was coined by some carnival barker selling you overpriced merchandise.....way overpriced merchandise. That's when the equally used old adage (that I'm most fond of) comes into play....."buyer beware".

I really don't care how much other schools paid someone to coach. What someone did (or was alleged to have done) somewhere else doesn't apply at North Texas. You can pay anyone a lot of money to come here, and if you didn't properly prepare them for the full challenge they were going to face at North Texas, then two years down the road they will be looking around and saying, "what the hell is wrong with these people?" They probably had completely different players, different facilities, and certainly a different culture where they came from. I often wonder what their sales pitch is in order to get even reasonably upper level talent to come here.

Mike Jackson · September 11, 2023

10 hours ago, greenminer said:

Not sure what long ball you’re playing here. Are you tired of the culture? Do away with football?

I’m not suggesting we do away with football. I am suggesting that we spend on the Coaching staff near the bottom of whatever conference we are in until a coach can win here. If we aren’t bringing in coaches with the resumes on par with the likes of Lane Kiffin, Skip Holtz, Howard Snellenberger, Dana Holgerson, Hugh Freeze or Larry Coker (at the times they were hired by G5 programs) there is no value in pay a penny more than the median G5 coach salary. And without down adjusted for the cost of living compared to places like metro schools in California, New York, with no state income tax paying the median is actually.

All is this to say over the years many people here took issue and/or weren’t thrilled by the hiring announcements here. Even Coach McCarney their best hire by resume at the time he was hired lacked local high school recruiting ties, and ran an offense totally different than his predecessor which made recruiting to his system all the more difficult. I liked the hire of Coach Mac because it made us look like we were trying but when you drill down to the details it was philosophical mismatch to the most efficient path towards relevance. If Mac ran a spread/Air Raid offense and had a history/connections in this state, he would have been perfect.

We should have stolen one of the successful head coaches from the FCS in Texas years ago. I can’t say Morris is a bad hire yet, but he was certainly an underwhelming one before the season started. 🤷🏽‍♂️

wardly · September 11, 2023

I used to think that Texas did the least with the most in football, although A & M looks like they have replaced them. However when I look at our ROI on $millions UNT has spent on bricks and sticks we are not far behind.