Worst hire since Dodge?

[UNTLifer]

10 hours ago, rcade said:

G.J. Kinne was hired by Texas State 11 days before Morris and had the other disadvantages you list. The Bobcats are 6-3 and have an upset win over Baylor.

Jeff Traylor was hired by UTSA on Dec. 9, 2019. They went 5-2 in conference the next season (7-5 overall).

First-year coaches hired after a season have had success. It just hasn't happened in Denton since Rod Rust in 1967.

Kinne, to me, is the most impressive to date, although Baylor has proven to be a disaster this year. 
Traylor did it with inherited players as did Rod Rust at NTSU back in the day. It will be interesting to see what Traylor does, if he is still at utsa, when his current QB finally retired, I mean, leaves. 
 

I like Morris. I like the offense, his accountability and his openness to discuss what he feels is wrong. He is a breath of fresh air compared to Littrell. I do fault him for the Caponi hire and for not attacking the portal from the get go considering who we lost/didn’t have to run this offensive defense. I miss the days of us being known as a defense that would knock your pecker in the dirt for looking at them wrong. Mr. Greene, Booger, Spencer, Casey, Jones, Buckles, etc. must be shocked at what they see now. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by UNTLifer

[GBarksdale]

11 hours ago, NT80 said:

Just need more talented players on Defense.   

FIFY

[TIgreen01]

10 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

There are only two reasons to draw comparisons to Dodge, who is quite simply the worst D1 coach I’ve ever witnessed.

1) Hyperbole 

2) Enough time has passed that the PTSD has subsided

The defense?

I’m not ready to give up on Morris.  He’s clearly leveled up the offense and special teams are at least holding steady.  I am concerned that the defense is such a disaster that it’s going to be hard to recruit to and really fix.  This offseason is make or break.  Hopefully all of these recruiters he’s hired come through.  If not, the defense will be what drags him down.

[RBP79]

If you use results as a basis for weather Morris is a bad hire.....then he's definitely a bad hire...to date.

Just another Leech Disciple who gets one or two good years out of the next 5 or 6. I'm having a Deja vu with this team.

Edited November 7, 2023 by RBP79

[MrAlien]

The AD, head coach, and most of the staff all got replaced during the fall transfer window, the prime recruiting window for college football.  What ever recruiting they had lined up left with Seth and his staff.  When Morris showed up in in December, he didnt have a recruits lined up for UNT, he didnt even have a staff, and the window had already been opened a couple weeks, so all the good players and coaches had already committed to other schools.  

The rules are different with the NIL and portal now, players are being recruited and re-recruited all year long.  Programs need to have their staffs in place prior to the transfer window opening if they want to have a chance at building a team for the following season.  

[southsideguy]

I have you ever seen the DC  give any interviews?  If I could ask coach morris question it would be what are we going to do about the defense.

[3_n_out]

1 hour ago, southsideguy said:

I have you ever seen the DC  give any interviews?  If I could ask coach morris question it would be what are we going to do about the defense.

During the presser, he said he was going to have a talk with the defensive coaches. I’m assuming he’s done this after every game, yet limited improvement overall. 
What I want to know if he allows Craponi to head the defensive meetings and game planning while EM stays on the offensive side. 

[Cooke County Kid]

Not the worst since Dodge, but our defensive coordinator sure is.  I do not know if we would have any credibility as a unit, if you keep the DC of the worst defense in the nation.

[UNT 78]

Look! Texas State’s coach brought in 46 transfers, turned the team completely around…Morris obviously doesn’t get it; he said, “I want to build from the high school ranks”. This is a bad idea; recruit, develop and  lose them to the power five schools??? He’s got two more years to win and win big or else!

[El Paso Eagle]

18 hours ago, Ibleedgreen said:

Give Morris time. I think he’s going to be good.

I believe he has a chance based on what he seems to bring to the game offensively, but it depends on his willingness to find a qualified DC who can adapt to the talent he has available to him. If he sticks with the Air Raid mentality, where it seems that little concern is given to the defense, then we will not get where most fans want us to be.

[greenminer]

This isn't really a hot take, but I want to remind people that Todge had tons of upside, but made the mistake of bringing in a terrible staff.

Morris, IMO, is incredible but you wouldn't know it because of Caponi.  He needs to address this or his legacy will remain only as an offensive mind, not a HC.   i'm cautiously optimistic.

[Ibleedgreen]

I personally remember that Gretchen Bataille was extremely excited about the Dodge hire. Remember that he was considered a football god at the time, albeit at the high school level.

[meanJewGreen]

12 hours ago, Ibleedgreen said:

I personally remember that Gretchen Bataille was extremely excited about the Dodge hire. Remember that he was considered a football god at the time, albeit at the high school level.

I mean we got front page on the DMN when he got hired. "Enter the dragon" was the caption

then we lost to OU by 69 points

[TheReal_jayD]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:06 AM, Got5onIt said:

Yes.

Rebuilding year??????? Get outta here with the BS excuses.

  Well it probably wasn't a rebuilding year.. Until you lost Cole Brown, Varkeyes Gumm, Jake Roberts, Deshawn Gaddie, Larry Nixon, Cam Robertson, Jyaire Shorter.. Not to mention already having to replace Manase Moses and KD Davis. Then hiring a coach that missed the whole early signing period didn't help. So yes I would 110% qualify this as a rebuilding year. With a full off-season I believe we see a completely different team next fall. Not to mention they have only lost by one possession each of the last three games against 3 of the best 4 in conference. Not bad for having the absolute worst defense in the country.   

 

[bstnsportsfan3]

I was a student during the dodge era. Dodge was 100% time worse. Remember too the Sunbelt of 2007-2010 is no comparison to the AAC of 2023

[WinningCulture_UNT]

On 11/4/2023 at 8:42 PM, rcade said:

G.J. Kinne was hired by Texas State 11 days before Morris and had the other disadvantages you list. The Bobcats are 6-3 and have an upset win over Baylor.

Jeff Traylor was hired by UTSA on Dec. 9, 2019. They went 5-2 in conference the next season (7-5 overall).

First-year coaches hired after a season have had success. It just hasn't happened in Denton since Rod Rust in 1967.

You Can't compare Morris to Kinne. Kinne had half of his team from UIW transfer into T-State. How was Morris going to get WSU kids to come to UNT? Not happening, not to mention Kinne's kids from UIW were all from Morris era at UIW. Morris will figure this out. To all UNT fans, take a note from Aaron Rodgers. R-E-L-A-X.

[El Paso Eagle]

30 minutes ago, WinningCulture_UNT said:

You Can't compare Morris to Kinne. Kinne had half of his team from UIW transfer into T-State. How was Morris going to get WSU kids to come to UNT? Not happening, not to mention Kinne's kids from UIW were all from Morris era at UIW. Morris will figure this out. To all UNT fans, take a note from Aaron Rodgers. R-E-L-A-X.

I think the players and, more importantly, the staff members he brought with him from UIW have made a tremendous difference. The area that has separated the jobs they are doing this year is the Defenses. 

[El Paso Eagle]

43 minutes ago, TheReal_jayD said:

  Well it probably wasn't a rebuilding year.. Until you lost Cole Brown, Varkeyes Gumm, Jake Roberts, Deshawn Gaddie, Larry Nixon, Cam Robertson, Jyaire Shorter.. Not to mention already having to replace Manase Moses and KD Davis. Then hiring a coach that missed the whole early signing period didn't help. So yes I would 110% qualify this as a rebuilding year. With a full off-season I believe we see a completely different team next fall. Not to mention they have only lost by one possession each of the last three games against 3 of the best 4 in conference. Not bad for having the absolute worst defense in the country.   

 

Morris has a significant career make-or-break decision to make. Does an offseason and recruiting help to turn the tide on the defense? If he goes forward with Caponi and we suffer another year of being one of the worst defenses in FBS, will the damage be so bad that Morris' career at UNT is shot, not to mention we might have just loaded our team with players who might not fit the next DC's scheme? 

[rcade]

41 minutes ago, WinningCulture_UNT said:

You Can't compare Morris to Kinne. Kinne had half of his team from UIW transfer into T-State.

Only five players transferred from Incarnate Word to Texas State.

https://www.on3.com/college/texas-state-bobcats/football/2023/transfers/

According to the linked site, Kinne got 19 incoming transfers total. Morris got nine.

[GMG24]

1 hour ago, TheReal_jayD said:

  Well it probably wasn't a rebuilding year.. Until you lost Cole Brown, Varkeyes Gumm, Jake Roberts, Deshawn Gaddie, Larry Nixon, Cam Robertson, Jyaire Shorter.. Not to mention already having to replace Manase Moses and KD Davis. Then hiring a coach that missed the whole early signing period didn't help. So yes I would 110% qualify this as a rebuilding year. With a full off-season I believe we see a completely different team next fall. Not to mention they have only lost by one possession each of the last three games against 3 of the best 4 in conference. Not bad for having the absolute worst defense in the country.   

 

Our offense leads the nation in avg yards per game 🥸

[untbowler]

I am a negative Nancy generally, but EM is not Dodge at this point, I am willing to give him 2-3 yrs as long as the team shows fight, which they are, even though the losses suck, it could be an easy fix on the defensive side and this team would already be bowl eligible.

[WinningCulture_UNT]

41 minutes ago, rcade said:

Only five players transferred from Incarnate Word to Texas State.

https://www.on3.com/college/texas-state-bobcats/football/2023/transfers/

According to the linked site, Kinne got 19 incoming transfers total. Morris got nine.

Sorry, half of his starters at UIW (5 of 11), they all start at T-State. Who are all from Morris era recruiting. IMO Kinne is a great coach with great Staff that Morris hired at UIW. Do we know for a fact that Morris was allowed to bring in tons of transfers and he just didn't do a complete roster rebuild? or did he get guided by the hire-ups to recruit HS kids instead of transfer kids? I also know T-State has tons of NIL money to bring kids and was given full reign to do an over-haul with the program, Not so sure about UNT NIL.

[rcade]

1 hour ago, WinningCulture_UNT said:

Sorry, half of his starters at UIW (5 of 11), they all start at T-State.

A team has 22 starters except for Colorado, which has 21.

Even if half of Kinne's starters were actually from Incarnate Word, the idea that bringing in a bunch of Incarnate Word players was an advantage for him is far-fetched. For the love of God it's Incarnate Word! A school that small which wasn't playing even FCS football 12 years ago isn't churning out players who can win at the FBS level.

If Morris had arrived and brought in five Incarnate Word transfers we'd have thought "sweet Jesus our cupboard was bare."

Edited November 6, 2023 by rcade

[WinningCulture_UNT]

 

33 minutes ago, rcade said:

A team has 22 starters except for Colorado, which has 21.

Even if half of Kinne's starters were actually from Incarnate Word, the idea that bringing in a bunch of Incarnate Word players was an advantage for him is far-fetched. For the love of God it's Incarnate Word! A school that small which wasn't playing even FCS football 12 years ago isn't churning out players who can win at the FBS level.

If Morris had arrived and brought in five Incarnate Word transfers we'd have thought "sweet Jesus our cupboard was bare."

You are right about the numbers on UIW. I was overexaggerating to make a point about them being Morris' recruits that can play at any level. I watched every UIW game last year and those five kids would start at UNT.

I guess my main points are:

1. Morris built what Kinne walked into at UIW. So, Morris has done this before and his (Morris) first year at UIW wasn't great, but he turned them around.

2. We don't know the internal conversations from admin. at both schools.

So I don't think you can compare Kinne to Morris right now, it's just not apples to apples IMO. 

[keith]

Be honest, how many of you had Eric Morris circled as your number one target for our head coach?  How many of you knew who he was before he was announced as our head coach?  He wanted to get back to Texas and we were kind enough to pay his relocation expenses.  Regardless of how you feel about him, his hire was a big risk and with that comes the potential for huge returns.  If he flames out, he'll be gone in three years.  If he orchestrates a massive turn-around, he'll also be gone in three years.  Hopefully it's the latter and he gets hired away instead of fired away.