Eric Morris vs Seth Littrell

[TheColonyEagle]

I know we're just one season in....but I can't help but look at the two and think how similar they are. 

Both played at TT, (oops. I mean they both DIDN’T play at TT but Mike Leach and stuff) Air Raid guys. OC at P5 school. We knew all that coming into it. But their coaching results are fairly similar too....

Before Morris's big 4th year at IW, he was a below .500 coach in three years. He then took an all world QB and rode him to a big season. His only real success was when he had one of the top QBs in the nation. Sound familiar? Taking a step back at the whole of his career, Morris has actually only had one good year in five. Littrell had two good years in seven. So three good years in 12 between the two. Combined post season record of 1-7. (SL 0-5 in bowls, EM 1-2 in the playoffs) So there's a pretty small sample of winning that gets highlighted over an otherwise mediocre overall result.

It seems like we're once again sitting around waiting for our HC to find the next Cam Ward/Mason Fine. So again...we get transfer QB after transfer QB to hopefully be the 2nd coming (and I will give Morris credit on Chandler Rogers, he was a good find, not Cam Ward/Mason Fine level, but he was good. But like Littrell late in his tenure here, he couldn't keep a top player in Denton. Also, even with this good QB, he wasn't able to win consistently. With the SL/EM mentality, you have to have a near record breaking QB to overcome everything else)….because, as always here the past several years: "defense shmefence" The formula here seems to be try to score 40 per game and have one of the best QBs in the nation on your team so he can throw for 4500 yards. If you don't you're not going to win. 

Not sure what Morris will do differently....but this sure seems like a really important year for him. Looking at last years record, the positive is we were in most games, lost plenty by one score. So if we can get all these new players to gel, and if Chandler Morris is the guy (and stays healthy), maybe Morris breaks the trend. But to do this, he is going to have to break the other trend we've seen here since 2016, one that Littrell was a master at. He is going to have to beat some teams he is not supposed to beat. Seth Littrell pretty much NEVER did that. Eric Morris is going to HAVE to.  

Edited August 17 by TheColonyEagle

[untcampbell]

I think I would take this collective group of 49 (?) players over any of the Littrell classes, top to bottom. It takes optimism and a bit of faith (often unrewarded, I admit) to be a North Texas fan. I've gotten just enough snippets and peeks of what we have to look forward to to be green-powered with both.

And even the early results would steer me to choose Morris over Littrell. I work with one of his cousins, new to the North Texas region. I like the cut of their jib.

 

GMG

Edited August 17 by untcampbell
misspelling

[MeanGreenDan]

47 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Both played at TT

[greenminer]

Yeah, SL played at OU.

waiting for the right QB seems to be a recurring theme at our level. Unless you're a top tier brand that can consistently restock your linemen - particularly tackles - you need a big talent heading the offense.

[RBP79]

I'll hold off on Morris being the better hire...

Let's see if keeping Caponi was a smart move.

[Jonnyeagle]

6 minutes ago, RBP79 said:

I'll hold off on Morris being the better hire...

Let's see if keeping Caponi was a smart move.

No offense but not sure if they had any other choice.  Caponi got a 2 year deal so they would have paid him not to work.

[Jonnyeagle]

30 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Yeah, SL played at OU.

waiting for the right QB seems to be a recurring theme at our level. Unless you're a top tier brand that can consistently restock your linemen - particularly tackles - you need a big talent heading the offense.

UTSA seemed to figure out the QB puzzle.

[TheColonyEagle]

45 minutes ago, MeanGreenDan said:

Oops. 
OU, TT, Mike Leach 

stuff 

 

[TheColonyEagle]

5 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

UTSA seemed to figure out the QB puzzle.

I mean. They’ve had 1 QB for like 15 years……

[Mean Green 93-98]

5 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

UTSA seemed to figure out the QB puzzle.

Since Traylor's arrival, they have a program that doesn't rely all that much on the QB.  Just solid play from the position, and they'll contend for a conference championship.  We had otherworldly QB play last year, and we finished 5-7.

[TheColonyEagle]

The first game this season is so critical for Eric Morris. S Alabama is a good team. Not a great team. New HC….I would say we have better talent. So this is a game where the better coaching will win.  Looking at the rest of the schedule in his 2nd year. Every game is easily winnable from a talent perspective with the exception of TT and maybe Memphis. 

[97and03]

2 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

No offense but not sure if they had any other choice.  Caponi got a 2 year deal so they would have paid him not to work.

It’s like we are the only school that cannot afford a buyout 

Edited August 17 by 97and03

[ChiefTenBeers2015]

2 hours ago, TheColonyEagle said:

The first game this season is so critical for Eric Morris. S Alabama is a good team. Not a great team. New HC….I would say we have better talent. So this is a game where the better coaching will win.  Looking at the rest of the schedule in his 2nd year. Every game is easily winnable from a talent perspective with the exception of TT and maybe Memphis. 

Per ESPN it appears there’s only three- contests this season the Mean Green have a higher % to win - all others UNT is not projected to win. So for what it’s worth…and that might change throughout the season, but for now it appears ESPN isn’t very high on North Texas’ talent nor coaching yet…

[Cr1028]

3 hours ago, untcampbell said:

I think I would take this collective group of 49 (?) players over any of the Littrell classes, top to bottom.

You serious Clark? You may need to revisit the 2017 class.

3 hours ago, untcampbell said:

And even the early results would steer me to choose Morris over Littrell.

You can’t be serious here. Morris took a 7-5 team that played in a conference championship game and a bowl game and led them to a 5-7 season facing essentially the same schedule as the year before except for Tulane being added. He got beat by FIU for crying out loud. We beat that team 52-14 and 49-7 in the two seasons prior to Morris’ arrival. He is a worse version of Littell. 

[RBP79]

2 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

No offense but not sure if they had any other choice.  Caponi got a 2 year deal so they would have paid him not to work.

They're payIn that guy in Norman...

[wardly]

4 hours ago, TheColonyEagle said:

The first game this season is so critical for Eric Morris. S Alabama is a good team. Not a great team. New HC….I would say we have better talent. So this is a game where the better coaching will win.  Looking at the rest of the schedule in his 2nd year. Every game is easily winnable from a talent perspective with the exception of TT and maybe Memphis. 

I just don't see how you can say that UNT has better talent than everyone on our schedule than TT. What exactly is this "easily winnable" comment based upon? Certainly not out defense.

[3_n_out]

[TheColonyEagle]

1 hour ago, wardly said:

I just don't see how you can say that UNT has better talent than everyone on our schedule than TT. What exactly is this "easily winnable" comment based upon? Certainly not out defense.

I mean we’re not heavily OUT-talented in other games besides TT. 
 

[NT93]

3 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

You can’t be serious here. Morris took a 7-5 team that played in a conference championship game and a bowl game and led them to a 5-7 season facing essentially the same schedule as the year before except for Tulane being added. 

I’m not a Seth hater, but he never faced a stretch of games like Tulane, Memphis, UTSA, and SMU.  It’s not just who you play.  When and where you play them has to be taken into account.

I’ll give you the fact that the FIU loss was bad…really, really bad.  

[MeanGreenTexan]

4 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

You serious Clark? You may need to revisit the 2017 class.

You can’t be serious here. Morris took a 7-5 team that played in a conference championship game and a bowl game and led them to a 5-7 season facing essentially the same schedule as the year before except for Tulane being added. He got beat by FIU for crying out loud. We beat that team 52-14 and 49-7 in the two seasons prior to Morris’ arrival. He is a worse version of Littell. 

I was a really loud vocal critic of Seth Littrell during that last season, because I knew we could be more.

I didn't know Mosely was going to hire a Great Value brand Littrell as the replacement though.   Like, why even make the change?

[NT80]

7 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

No offense but not sure if they had any other choice.  Caponi got a 2 year deal so they would have paid him not to work.

Agree with this.   I am encouraged by the coaching staff knowing the team needed to get bigger overall and focus on tackling on defense....plus find a veteran, good QB.  They seem to have checked the boxes so far. 

Let's just see how it all jells.   And then repeat for next season all over again.  That's what I hate about NIL and portal, no building up players in your system.  Many are one and done.

[wardly]

14 hours ago, TheColonyEagle said:

I mean we’re not heavily OUT-talented in other games besides TT. 
 

Personally I don't know how to evaluate our team based upon all the new faces but deferring to those who make a living evaluating talent we are ranked 9th in the AAC with projected 4 to 5 wins. I hope you are right and they are wrong, but what really disturbs me is that Texas State and UTSA are ranked so much higher than UNT.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

13 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I was a really loud vocal critic of Seth Littrell during that last season, because I knew we could be more.

I didn't know Mosely was going to hire a Great Value brand Littrell as the replacement though.   Like, why even make the change?

Same. Not sure wth mosely was thinking. 

[jtm0097]

Morris gets a hall pass for last year. It was his first year as HC. I know, we were in the C-USA conference championship the year before. The 3-3-5 was an utter disappointment. Now, the roster is pretty much guys he recruited (I counted 10 Littrell guys on the current roster). If we don't make a bowl game this year, I will be in the "what are we doing here" camp. 

[Jonnyeagle]

2 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

Morris gets a hall pass for last year. It was his first year as HC. I know, we were in the C-USA conference championship the year before. The 3-3-5 was an utter disappointment. Now, the roster is pretty much guys he recruited (I counted 10 Littrell guys on the current roster). If we don't make a bowl game this year, I will be in the "what are we doing here" camp. 

In the era of NIL can anyone get multiple years to build anything at the G5 level.  We just don’t have that luxury.