Should Matt Caponi Be Fired? My Thoughts on the Situation.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

8 minutes ago, greenb.o.g. said:

Playing defense and tackling is about "want to."

And this defense don't want to.

Get somebody to inspire the defense for god sakes.

[untjim1995]

4 hours ago, meangreenbob said:

Good leadership at the top. Something we are not familiar with. 

It all depends on your perspective. Our leadership is great at what the community and UNT Family overwhelmingly ask them to do, which is offer a great value for educating a ton of people and making sure the artistic vibe of Denton is celebrated greatly. It’s absolutely irrefutable that we have been a major success at both of these. When I went to school from 1991-1995, our enrollment was around 26k. Our music program was bringing home Grammy’s. Football was quarter-assed. We have now grown to 47K in enrollment, still have the music and arts promoted greatly, and our football program now is about half-ass compared to most other Texas FBS programs. Some things are just set in stone. It’s what the university wants. They don’t care if football wins or not—they just want it be there for the 10k people that support this place with dollars and season tickets. 

[meaniegreenie]

10 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

Fire Morris! 

Fire Caponi! 

Fire the Braswell band members who couldn't get my Mr. Pibb quickly enough on Saturday!!

Fire the bookstore staff, they didn't have the shirt I wanted in an XL!!! 

I'm tired of being the learning on the job university....WE MUST HAVE ACCOUNTABILITY!!!

Even worse, they ran out of Mr. Pibb in the 2nd half! 

[Travis]

Let me get this straight… we are advocating keeping a DC who has a team dead last in the entire division in what he is overseeing?! Am I getting this right?

[aprice]

if my employee can be fire for being 5 mins late in a 3 months span, I think we might have a case against caponi

[97and03]

On 11/7/2023 at 4:33 AM, Udomann said:

But was your DC dead last in production? Caponi can only get better... but that's also because he can't statistically be worse. 

Not true. We can’t be ranked any lower but we can certainly have worse stats by giving up even more points per game (the only stat that really matters). 

[VideoEagle]

9 hours ago, aprice said:

if my employee can be fire for being 5 mins late in a 3 months span, I think we might have a case against caponi

Do you have a really high turnover rate?  

[jtm0097]

9 hours ago, aprice said:

if my employee can be fire for being 5 mins late in a 3 months span, I think we might have a case against caponi

Sounds like a great place to work. I'm running 5 mins late right now.

[Udomann]

14 hours ago, aprice said:

if my employee can be fire for being 5 mins late in a 3 months span, I think we might have a case against caponi

I guess it depends.

5 minutes late to a taco bell cashier job? Eh...
5 minutes late to a bear attack victim? Probably not great

[southsideguy]

Like we held on Sl for one season to long we have held on to this guy to long in his first season.

[GMG93]

All for giving this D another year.  Hell that seems to be UNT’s SOP.  But the leash should be very short if the ride rolls into 2024.  

Now if there is an epic beat down in Dallas tomorrow I do predict change happens sooner.  Either way, I’m headed to the game in green with family and friends hoping for a miracle.

[NT80]

Getting ready for Season 2 for a new Head Coach must begin with an honest evaluation of where the program stands after Season 1.  

What worked, what didn't work.  Who did well at their job, who didn't (both players and coaches).  Adjust as needed.  Seek and add players to weak parts of the team.  Shake and pour....

Obviously, defense is the weak link to this point of the season. 

What caused it, how does it get fixed?

New DC, better scheme, better fundamentals (tackling), bigger ,faster, stronger players in quantity!

[MAX KOCH]

On 11/6/2023 at 6:46 PM, Meangreen Fight said:

Just another example of late half ass moves by the leadership above HC kills this program.  And when that results in having the worst defense in FBS overshadowing the 11th ranked FBS offense it is very hard to do the logical thing and be patient with a brand new scheme.  Leadership has often put coaching staffs behind the 8 ball at UNT and the first time a coach has no excuses for mediocrity here he coaches 2 additional years.  And coincidentally retained to the point to make replacing him and his staff rushed and difficult. 🤦🏽‍♂️

And let's say Caponi isn't terrible in the long run.  That would be good but not great.  I am no longer interested in waiting just be 7-5 which is what a good DC will likely help you achieve.  I want a DC so good he is hired away to be a FBS HC or an NFL assistant job.  

A great DC would minimally have a defense rank above 100 with depleted talent in his first year.  To excuse this performance so far you would have to tell me 4-6 starters on defense don't have scholarships.  

I don't think we have good option when it comes to Caponi.  Unless the want to go out a grab a DC that should already be a HC 750k or more our defense won't be great next year.  

IF we could be 7-5 I would be so excited.

[Meangreen Fight]

8 hours ago, MAX KOCH said:

IF we could be 7-5 I would be so excited.

And I don’t fault you at all for feeling that way but it is just evidence to me have inept this program has been run for over 25 years.  I don’t even count the period of time after coach Fry till the 90s because I don’t think they were really trying.  I believe they only felt obligated to have a football program not to be lumped in with UT Arlington, UT Dallas, and other public universities in the area that don’t have FBS football.    If those two schools didn’t exist as competition for local students I am not sure the program survives the 80s.  

Edited November 10, 2023 by Meangreen Fight

[meangreenfaninno]

On 11/7/2023 at 5:01 PM, untjim1995 said:

and our football program now is about half-ass compared to most other Texas FBS programs.

I would only add that we have moved up in conferences several times now and thus the competition has become much more challenging. 

[Meangreen Fight]

4 hours ago, meangreenfaninno said:

I would only add that we have moved up in conferences several times now and thus the competition has become much more challenging. 

Debatable with all the realignment.  A lot of teams have come with us.  Only the absolute worst at the time stayed in the Sun Belt when we left and the same thing happened when we upgraded to AAC.   And we are 1-1 this year against CUSA right and could have easily lost both games.   Beyond that I would be willing to bet that we aren’t favored on a neutral field against Liberty, Jax State, and NM State the top 3 of CUSA this season.  Similarly if we are favored against any of the top 4 in the Sun Belt it is by 3 points or less.   
 

These conference upgrades are more about media coverage money than competition.  Because no way should Big 10 be the highest paid conference if were based on the quality of the football teams beyond the top 3.  

Edited November 10, 2023 by Meangreen Fight

[TIgreen01]

Coming back to this.  We’ve seen 10 games from this bunch.  It’s enough.  Time to move on.

I could get behind the idea that we need to give them time to bring in players to fit their scheme IF they mixed in schemes that allowed us to use our current players strengths and adjusted to obvious gaps.  A good coach, in my opinion, reviews his roster every year and every game, then devises a plan that plays to his team’s strengths while attacking the opponent’s weaknesses.  A good coach does not force his team to play a style that it cannot.  Once you recruit and bring in players to play the scheme you want, then you can play more of it.  But for goodness sakes, have some situational awareness and adjust your philosophy so we can WIN TODAY. NOT TOMORROW.

[GMG_Dallas]

If we give Caponi another year, we're only delaying the process of transitioning to another system if that ends up being the direction. Better to do it now before too much damage is done by way of recruiting players for the 335 or we'll have no choice but to hire another 335 coach. If we keep Caponi, the next DC will likely also run a 335 which tells me what type of defense we need to be prepared to see for the next few years.

I'd be all down for giving the 335 and Caponi another year if it weren't for the fact that the defense is performing so poorly, even in the passing game. We may not be giving a bunch of passing yards per game but that's only because the run defense is so poor and we played NAVY plus Temple with a backup running QB. Just terrible all around and I feel bad the players are wasting their eligibility with this guy.

Edited November 11, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

[Professor Lambeau]

8 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

If we give Caponi another year, we're only delaying the process of transitioning to another system if that ends up being the direction. Better to do it now before too much damage is done by way of recruiting players for the 335 or we'll have no choice but to hire another 335 coach. If we keep Caponi, the next DC will likely also run a 335 which tells me what type of defense we need to be prepared to see for the next few years.

I'd be all down for giving the 335 and Caponi another year if it weren't for the fact that the defense is performing so poorly, even in the passing game. We may not be giving a bunch of passing yards per game but that's only because the run defense is so poor and we played NAVY plus Temple with a backup running QB. Just terrible all around and I feel bad the players are wasting their eligibility with this guy.

“I feel bad the players are wasting their eligibility with this guy.”
^
This point cannot be emphasized enough!

 

[MrAlien]

If they are going to make a change then they need to do it now.  The transfer window opens in a couple weeks, players are already looking around at other options.  They need someone that can keep the players here, as well as recruit transfers.  

[Side.Show.Joe]

Caponi is what he is. Though 10 games this season, Caponi's defense has allowed a 100-yard rusher in every game (last night against SMU we allowed 2). 

I'm dumbfounded that some people around here are actually serious about wanting him back next season. We have the worst defense in the FBS, and that's good enough for some of our fans. Unbelievable. 

[jtm0097]

I'm not defending Caponi, but our defense was pretty depleted this year.  We didn't have any starters over 6'2. Rod Brown did a great job at NT for us. However, we got manhandled on the DL all year. Our LBs are slow and not great at tackling. The secondary is super young. We played so many true freshman this year. Buddy Ryan could have been running the 46 Bear Defensive scheme and we still wouldn't have stopped anyone. We didn't have the personnel to run the 4-2-5 either. Our front 7 have not been good this year.

Observations throughout the season:

Small DL(Richards playing out of place, DL get manhandledby bigger OL)

Slow LBs (We had 2 walk ons and a redshirt freshman playing at LB. Terrible tackling all season.)

Young secondary (4-5 freshman and redshirt freshman playing)

[Glory to the Green]

The defense has been terrible in spots and decent in others.  Unless Morris has a home run hire, I think Caponi is likely to get another year, though.  See what Caponi can do in the TP and what Kegans can do with the off-season.  There’s no way it’s worse next season… 

[GreenEggs&Ham™]

The worst rushing defense I have ever seen at the college level. Stone could have audibled the running plays as in "we are running Knighton up the middle" and this defense still couldn't have stopped SMU.

SMU's size and athleticism were a notch or two better at every position on the defensive and offensive lines. SMU ran the ball and milked the clock in the 4th quarter which made the score seem closer. But I am still amazed the game was ever close and it was at the half.

How can this defense be fixed? My gosh, we need 15 to 20 new players at least.

[Venson]

I have seen enough of Caponi to know he isn't the guy. I get he is a 3-3-5 guy, but  a good DC should have a good mix of knowledge of different schemes so that he can adapt to what he has and not just what he wants. I am not the smartest guy in the room and do not claim to be, but Caponi sucks at his job. He needs to go. Morris may as well fire him now because the last two games are meaningless as far as getting to the post season. All they are good for now is getting in work and getting people some experience to build on. At least show the players, fans, and fans who donate that you are serious about winning and that you are willing to make moves towards that end. If not, I feel you run the risk of guys bailing for what they see as greener pastures. You run the risk of losing potential recruits because they are seeing the worst defense in the country and have no desire to be a part of that. Plus, you run the risk of donating fans alienating the program because they don't want to continue to waste their money on a bad product that they do not think will get better with Caponi as the DC.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Venson