Off-Season Observations- R-E-L-A-X

[jtm0097]

What a strange off-season it has been. After a 5-7 record with multiple close losses, our morale appears to have hit rock bottom. Last year around this time, we had just fired Seth Littrell. Our biggest complaint with Seth was that his teams were uncompetitive in the big games. While we had a couple of 9 win seasons, his teams struggled in the bowl games, and conference championships. 

Now, we are under the guidance of Eric Morris. Similar to Seth, he is an offensive guru. Eric tried to implement a 3-3-5 defense with a guy that never coordinated a defense, a roster made up of walk ons, JUCO players, transfers, and a couple of guys that were back ups on the Phil Bennett defenses. While our defense was a disaster last year (ranked dead last), we were more competitive in big games. Yes, we all know there were a couple of bad losses (FIU, Navy, and Memphis). Here is the silver lining, we have a full off-season to revamp this roster. One of our biggest complaints with Eric Morris was his handling of the transfer portal. He decided that we not going to be as aggressive in it since we had Seth's guys on the roster. It was a bold strategy, and as a result we probably lost more games than we should have.

Am I happy that we lost our best QB, RB, WR, G, and C on offense? Absolutely not.

Am I happy that we had the worst defense in the country last year? Absolutely not.

Am I happy that we are going to finally test the portal and revamp this roster? Hell yeah!

It is looking like we are going to have around 40 spots open this year. That's almost half of the roster. One problem Morris and Co had last year was the buy in with the players. Well guess what, most of the guys that are leaving are former players that Seth recruited here. I know Chandler, Miner, and Cleveland are the exceptions, but the rest are holdovers from the old staff. Morris is rebuilding the roster and establishing a new culture. I know we have been very down on the program over the years, but this could be the one time we are starting with a clean slate to rebuild it.

The majority of the staff have great connections throughout the state. I know some of the guys visiting this week have ties to the staff from other stops, and a lot are local kids. Before we just crap on the staff, let's give them time these next few months to rebuild the roster. It is encouraging to see them hitting the road going after new players. I have been impressed by the number of new transfer offers floating around on Twitter. 

Final thoughts, people are going to complain to regardless of what happens. Give the staff some time this off-season to find new players. Let's see what they do before we have a public freak out session. I am not thrilled to lose some of the guys on offense, but I can't wait to see what this roster looks like next year. My sentiment could be a lot different next year in December, but we can all agree the next few months are going to be interesting. R-E-L-A-X there is a lot of time left before next season gets here. #GMG

Edited December 8, 2023 by jtm0097

[Cr1028]

Did you know in 2009 we were 24 points away from being 8-4 instead of 2-10? We were only 17 points from being 7-5. We were 13 points from bowl eligibility. 

Todd Dodge was fired in the middle of 2010 with a 1-6 record. Two of those losses were by a single point. A 3rd loss was by 5 points while being forced to play a walkon wide receiver at quarterback due to injuries. He was a mere 7 points from a winning record and being 4-3 at the time of his firing despite his team being eviscerated by injuries.

Close games and moral victories mean nothing. I am not impressed with this staff thus far and they have shown me nothing that says they can take this team higher than the guy we fired.

[jtm0097]

7 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Did you know in 2009 we were 24 points away from being 8-4 instead of 2-10? We were only 17 points from being 7-5. We were 13 points from bowl eligibility. 

Todd Dodge was fired in the middle of 2010 with a 1-6 record. Two of those losses were by a single point. A 3rd loss was by 5 points while being forced to play a walkon wide receiver at quarterback due to injuries. He was a mere 7 points from a winning record and being 4-3 at the time of his firing despite his team being eviscerated by injuries.

Close games and moral victories mean nothing. I am not impressed with this staff thus far and they have shown me nothing that says they can take this team higher than the guy we fired.

Yeah, I had friends on the team and I was finishing up my degree in 2009.

We could go down this rabbit hole all day if you wanted. Seth was a .500 coach, 0-2 in conference championships, and 0-5 in bowl games. He also won 5 games his first year at North Texas.

Right now is the time for this staff to impress the fan base. They are rebuilding the roster. If we fail next year, it is on them. The roster will have their finger prints on it. Changes are coming as a result of their actions. I certainly hope they're good changes.

[Travis]

22 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Did you know in 2009 we were 24 points away from being 8-4 instead of 2-10? We were only 17 points from being 7-5. We were 13 points from bowl eligibility. 

Todd Dodge was fired in the middle of 2010 with a 1-6 record. Two of those losses were by a single point. A 3rd loss was by 5 points while being forced to play a walkon wide receiver at quarterback due to injuries. He was a mere 7 points from a winning record and being 4-3 at the time of his firing despite his team being eviscerated by injuries.

Close games and moral victories mean nothing. I am not impressed with this staff thus far and they have shown me nothing that says they can take this team higher than the guy we fired.

This!  We were also 13 points this year from being 2-10. 

[RBP79]

This is the same story line every coach NT has had. Right now "I" feel Morris (other G5 HFC's) are in a world of hurt. Guess this time next year we'll find out if Morris can navigate the "New" college football land scape...a re-build every year unless changes are made or have plenty of cash.

Edited December 8, 2023 by RBP79

[emmitt01]

4 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

Did you know in 2009 we were 24 points away from being 8-4 instead of 2-10? We were only 17 points from being 7-5. We were 13 points from bowl eligibility. 

Todd Dodge was fired in the middle of 2010 with a 1-6 record. Two of those losses were by a single point. A 3rd loss was by 5 points while being forced to play a walkon wide receiver at quarterback due to injuries. He was a mere 7 points from a winning record and being 4-3 at the time of his firing despite his team being eviscerated by injuries.

Close games and moral victories mean nothing. I am not impressed with this staff thus far and they have shown me nothing that says they can take this team higher than the guy we fired.

I've seen you make this same argument several times now.   

 

I'm curious, when you've broken up with a girlfriend did you break up because it was time to move on from the relationship or did you say "I don't feel like this is working, but I'll reserve judgement on how badly things are broken until I'm into my next relationship"?   

[rcade]

There is one thing I am hanging my hat on as a Mean Green fan: Morris delivered a fantastic offense in his first season. Give me more of that with even an average defense next year and we're looking good Mr. Kotter.

[Cr1028]

27 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

I've seen you make this same argument several times now.   

 

I'm curious, when you've broken up with a girlfriend did you break up because it was time to move on from the relationship or did you say "I don't feel like this is working, but I'll reserve judgement on how badly things are broken until I'm into my next relationship"?   

Haha Emmitt I will answer with this.

 

[keith]

Will the excuse next year be that he's only had "his players" for less than a year?  They need time in "his system" to jell, then we will really start to see improvement.  

[Cr1028]

Bowl game should be a mandatory next year and conference title hunt in year 3 or we are wasting our time.

[Mean Green 93-98]

31 minutes ago, rcade said:

There is one thing I am hanging my hat on as a Mean Green fan: Morris delivered a fantastic offense in his first season. Give me more of that with even an average defense next year and we're looking good Mr. Kotter.

I'm not sure I can hang my hat on that without Chandler Rogers.  I think the offense will be *good*, but it's going to be hard to match 3,383 yards (not even starting the whole season!) and 29 TDs against 5 picks.

[emmitt01]

17 minutes ago, keith said:

Will the excuse next year be that he's only had "his players" for less than a year?  They need time in "his system" to jell, then we will really start to see improvement.  

No, because due to the current state of college football he won't have many of "his players" after next year*

 

 

*Well, I mean he'll have a brand-new batch of "his players" but not the same "his players" that he will have next year and definitely different from "his players" that he will have in two years.  

[NM Green]

The hardest thing for me to adjust to as a fan is that every year is a crapshoot. I remember driving to Denton for the Cal game with friends saying, I have no idea what to expect. New quarterback new coach…that is every year now.

Just need to see what shows up have some fun and hope for the best. Hold accountable if they don’t deliver but the days of having an idea of what to expect Labor Day weekend seem long gone. 

GMG