How Do You Fix This?

[rojomojo]

I am scared. I am very frightened for the future of the program and I believe we are going to quickly become left behind. Look at teams like Texas State and UNLV...

[Tommy Gadberry]

37 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

I am scared. I am very frightened for the future of the program and I believe we are going to quickly become left behind. Look at teams like Texas State and UNLV...

If you can’t see improvement under Morris you need help.  We are much improved despite the record.

[greenminer]

Tired of "left behind"

Coulda said the same thing about Boise State and Fresno State.  World beaters 10-20 years ago, and now they've disappeared in the West.  I feel the same thing will happen in San Antonio when Harris and Traylor leave. 

Things just fluctuate! It's hard to sustain success at our level.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

35 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Tired of "left behind"

Coulda said the same thing about Boise State and Fresno State.  World beaters 10-20 years ago, and now they've disappeared in the West.  I feel the same thing will happen in San Antonio when Harris and Traylor leave. 

Things just fluctuate! It's hard to sustain success at our level.

With Air Force losing and Tulane probably going to drop a game, Fresno will more than likely go to NY6 if they keep playing well. In my world, that's hardly disappearing. 

[greenminer]

24 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

With Air Force losing and Tulane probably going to drop a game, Fresno will more than likely go to NY6 if they keep playing well. In my world, that's hardly disappearing. 

I'm just not in tune with the CFB world like I used to be.  Fresno fell off my radar after Hill left.  Good for them.

[Udomann]

6 hours ago, rojomojo said:

I am scared. I am very frightened for the future of the program and I believe we are going to quickly become left behind. Look at teams like Texas State and UNLV...

You don't hire a wannabe coach, you hire a proven coach. Instead we went the cheap route. 

[greenminer]

11 minutes ago, Udomann said:

You don't hire a wannabe coach, you hire a proven coach. Instead we went the cheap route. 

this is oversimplifying the hire.

We tried the proven way - McCarney - and It failed.

We went the up-and-coming way - SL - and it failed.

A while back, @BillySee58 talked about how our hires were very reactionary.  I thought it was a valid observation.  We had a run coach, so we replaced him with a pass coach (Dodge).  Todge was the young passing coach, so next we went with the old running coach, McCarney.

This is why Morris - for us - is unique.  We stayed pretty young (from SL) and we also stayed within the same coaching tree.  We've never done this before.  There should have been continuity.

But it is failing in a very bad way defensively.  All of this is very frustrating.  Not just because of our curent defense, but because of failing misfires of hires for 20 years.  Frustration that is amplified by the quick rise of those around us.  UTSA.  TxState. etc

Edited November 5, 2023 by greenminer

[keith]

 

[Udomann]

2 minutes ago, greenminer said:

this is oversimplifying the hire.  Not a good take.

What's the bad take here? His experience was limited... he doesn't have any FBS head coach experience.  It checks out. Sounds more like trying to cope with the reality rather than seeing the reality.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Udomann

[greenminer]

6 minutes ago, Udomann said:

What's the bad take here? His experience was limited... he doesn't have any FBS head coach experience.  It checks out. Sounds more like trying to cope with the reality rather than seeing the reality.

elaborated on this.  Revisit my initial reply.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 minutes ago, Udomann said:

What's the bad take here? His experience was limited... he doesn't have any FBS head coach experience.  It checks out. Sounds more like trying to cope with the reality rather than seeing the reality.

You are correct. Morris was the cheap route. The Texas State leftover route. 

As for what type of coach we need to hire, I alluded to that in another thread. We are constantly pushed around up front on both sides of the ball. We were out athleted under McCarney, but rarely pushed around. That's because he believed that winning is inside ---> out. And he's right. Seth Littrell and Eric Morris say that physicality this and physicality that, but they believe, per their offensive and defensive schemes that winning is outside ---> in. We need a coach here that believes that it starts up front.  OL/DL has to be prioritized over wide receivers and safeties in recruiting, and heavily. Not, "hey if you're 6'4" and 270 hit my DMs." That's ridiculous. Go get the highest rated OL/DL that is available at the AAC level. No excuses. Play complimentary football. Pound on people, spread people out, take your shots, pound on them some more, go tempo, slow it down, give your defense rest, take some more shots, pound on them some more. Since Seth Littrell, we have been the nail. Too many programs we face are visibly bigger than us and obviously stronger. 

Offensive philosophy doesn't win games. Players do. 

Defensive philosophy doesn't win games (unless you're sitting in a 3 man front on 3rd and 2 like a dodo bird), players do. 

[Udomann]

12 minutes ago, greenminer said:

elaborated on this.  Revisit my initial reply.

Good update. We are starting to see a ton of continuity on offense to his credit (the late starting of Rogers was a misfire, but he's a joy to watch now).

The low experience on the defense is wholly inexcusable. Bringing in Phil was a revelation vs previous DCs, should have leaned from that.

I've used up all my swear jar credits on the cowboys dropped passes today to say much more about how I feel about that decision.  Dodge hiring HS staff levels of bad.

[NTPoonKing]

Still believe in Morris.....for now.  Honestly the fix is pretty simple.

Offense is more than adequate to win games.  On defense:

*remove the DC.  Shake things up.

*Get more guys closer to the line of scrimmage. Getting destroyed up front.  Our guys look slow and small.

*Need half a dozen new defensive players through the portal. AT LEAST

Nothing would make me happier than beating SMU.  But I fear they will hang 60 on us unless we catch a few breaks.

[rojomojo]

22 hours ago, Tommy Gadberry said:

If you can’t see improvement under Morris you need help.  We are much improved despite the record.

Improve all you like but good teams know how to win... A 27-24 loss against Navy shouldn't ideally be in the same season as a last second loss to Memphis

The ultimate sign of success is winning

[untjim1995]

McCarney had the right idea with size and power. He zigged while others zagged. Unfortunately, his offensive mindset was having your qb as the bus driver. So teams could put 9 in the box and overwhelm us when we didn’t have a good QB. But our defense could hit and tackle because we had physical practices, which the Spread offense coaches won’t do. 

It’s a miracle we had Mason Fine for 4 years. Our OLine blocking led to him being crushed over and over. Once he get to his senior year, and as the OL play really deteriorated, poor Mason looked like a shell of himself. Gio Vizza was crushed so hard under Dodge’s OLine that he literally quit the sport. That’s the hard part of having a QB that can’t be protected enough and plays on a team with a defense that can’t stop anyone and forces you to have to throw a ton to come from behind all the time.
 

[SilverEagle]

We hired one of two good/best candidates for the job. The other candidate would be Cody Carthel. Morris and Carthel each have head coaching experience in TEXAS. Which means that they have (or should have) a better idea of the "challenges" of coaching football at North Texas and therefore, recruiting players to North Texas. McCarney like Bob Tyler back in 1981 both came from Big Time programs.....well...bigger than North Texas. And neither of them knew what the real challenges were here.  Tyler was the first coach that openly verbalized that challenge when he mused "what the hell is wrong with these people?" McCarney wondered the same thing, but he wasn't so willing to openly verbalize it. 

Morris is doing fine on the offensive side. He just needs to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with his DC and let him know that he expects the same level of improvement. Otherwise.........