Head coach Jase Herl will win here

[MeanGreenZen]

I am beginning to strongly support the idea of giving this job to Jase Herl, if he is committed to  retaining the slow-pace of play, defensive identity that we have won with the last 8 years. 

Reasons:

Hurl has obviously been Hodge’s No. 1 assistant the last two seasons and is the most active of the staff during games. He was also the primary recruiter for us on Jason Edwards, and a future Dallas Maverick that he coached at one of his prior coaching stops transferred over to another school to join Herl again, which indicates that he can identify and acquire talent.  
He’s also spent his entire career learning to do more with less at our level of basketball or lower. 

Like Hodge, Herl is a former assistant of defensive guru Larry Eustachy, who Ross gives a lot of credit for his superior knowledge of X’s & O’s. 

Herl also spent five seasons on the staff at Missouri State, another school that leaned on its defense to be successful. 

Like Hodge and McCasland, Herl was a successful junior college head coach for several seasons. And that skill set really transfers to our current NIL and transfer portal situation. 

Herl was also 1-5 as interim HC at Colorado State, but that was a disaster season for that program where Eustachy was fired for abusing players and the team’s first interim was also removed. I’m not holding that against Herl, who was also only 30 years old at the time. 

Overall, this is an opportunity to keep a good thing going with a coach who knows how to win here, understands the challenges of our institution and can recruit. 

Let’s sign him up and reschedule the faculty appreciation lunch for the next few years. 

Edited Friday at 01:57 PM by MeanGreenZen

[GMGGWBG]

Let's do it.  Why not?  I am sure Hodge can take whoever he wants with him so, if we have someone who can keep this going, sign him up.

After catapulting two coaches to Big 12 in almost as many years, the spotlight will definitely be on us and whoever gets the job.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

This is where a 1v1 exit interview with Ross would pay dividends. 

[MCMLXXX]

I am on board with this choice. He is young and I am sure he is hungry for an opportunity to prove himself.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Herl will absolutely be a gamble.   He's nowhere near the slam dunk Hodge was after McCasland left.   Unless we heard of some other names in consideration, I would think Mosely didn't work very hard or hired comfortably.

1 hour ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

This is where a 1v1 exit interview with Ross would pay dividends. 

No doubt he'll give Mosely advice, and of course he'll want to talk-up his guys.

[MCMLXXX]

If he is the hire, then we should do everything we can to keep Phil Forte. Make him Associate Head Coach or something. 

Since continuity has worked in the past, perhaps I have a bias in favor of keeping existing Staff Members.

 

Edited Friday at 03:22 PM by MCMLXXX

[Matt from A700]

I would be fine with a continuity hire, just wish Ross was here 2-3 more years for one of the assistants to prove a clear case like Ross was able to under Grant.

[Green Lantern]

Ehhh. Broaden the scope. We don’t need to be terrified of change just because continuation of the current regime would be comfortable.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

28 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

Ehhh. Broaden the scope. We don’t need to be terrified of change just because continuation of the current regime would be comfortable.

Very easy thing to say. "Turn your back on the coaching tree that has created the most success ever seen in UNT athletics." 

[MrAlien]

UNT probably has the to coaching vacancy in the Mid Major level.  There are some good coaching options out there, and most of them I think would want to come here.  I do like the idea of keeping the identity this program has established as a defense first team, however is that enough to win the AAC?  

[untjim1995]

2 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Very easy thing to say. "Turn your back on the coaching tree that has created the most success ever seen in UNT athletics." 

Exactly.

We did just this when LSU hired Johnny Jones away and we decided to hire a hot recruiter named Tony Benford from Marquette.  That worked out great, as we watched our entire basketball program burn down over the next 5 years.

Look, I like Scott Cross, just because I've seen him do what we want to see the next coach do, which is win conferences and have a strong identity. But I'd be sati if we stayed in-house and hired from within. I watched Tulsa have like 4 or 5 coaches hired away in a row in the 90s because of continuity and leadership within their university. We'd love to see this happen here.

[GMGGWBG]

2 hours ago, MrAlien said:

UNT probably has the to coaching vacancy in the Mid Major level.  There are some good coaching options out there, and most of them I think would want to come here.  I do like the idea of keeping the identity this program has established as a defense first team, however is that enough to win the AAC?  

I think so.  I also think it makes the AAC better and more competitive in the long run.  If you play us twice a year, you learn a lot about playing a stifling defense, but you still have to have the endurance to play against us for 40 minutes.  There were so many games where teams figured us out but their team was sweating and just did not have the stamina in the second half to keep a lead and put the game away.  UAB is the only team to beat us by double digits this year and we finished in second place.

[Green Lantern]

2 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Very easy thing to say. "Turn your back on the coaching tree that has created the most success ever seen in UNT athletics." 

Honestly if we want to stay in the current regime’s coaching tree, I’d prefer us interview Grant’s top assistants.

I’m just not as terrified of a different approach. Parts of this last week have sucked (luncheon/NIT fiasco & losing Ross) but I‘m not all doom and gloom. Wren and Jared are both basketball guys. I’m also not as pessimistic as some related to Jared’s ability to hire a new coach. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

5 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

Honestly if we want to stay in the current regime’s coaching tree, I’d prefer us interview Grant’s top assistants.

I’m just not as terrified of a different approach. Parts of this last week have sucked (luncheon/NIT fiasco & losing Ross) but I‘m not all doom and gloom. Wren and Jared are both basketball guys. I’m also not as pessimistic as some related to Jared’s ability to hire a new coach. 

I just think it's imperative to maintain a meaningful identity, as I've commented on a different thread. 

[CMJ]

Many programs like ours have had a better record of sustained success by staying in house than in looking for someone outside the family.

[MeanGreenZen]

I’ve had a chance to be around the team a few times and I noticed that Ross always ate with Herl. To me, that meant that Ross confided in Herl and also valued his opinion. That’s just another indicator to me that Herl might be the right guy to keep the momentum going. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

Some of y'all are pointing to coach-torch-passing from times beyond the Wild Wild West that is unlimited transfers and NIL.    We can't stamp our feet and say PROMOTE FROM WITHIN BECAUSE IT HAS WORKED!!    We're staring a 2nd straight year of a complete rebuild unless the new coach can convince BLo, Grant, & Jasper (if he has eligibility) to stay.   Coach McCasland was able to convince Wooly, Zach, & Mo to stay, and they were incredibly instrumental in our early success!    Maybe a new guy can do the same.

Remember Coach Hodge was under McCasland pre-UNT.   That's 7+ years of tutelage under an incredible motivator.    As we're seeing now in Lubbock the past 2 years, the defensive tenacity was not necessary for McCasland to win...  He can motivate a rec team to believe they're better than the Dream Team & play like it. 
Likewise, as we've seen in Denton the past 2 years, Coach Hodge can motivate as well (likely picked up a lot of those nuances from Mac), however, the defensive mentality is HIS.

Who says Coach Herl fully-subscribes to Coach Hodge's defensive identity?    Maybe he wants to run the floor more?   Maybe he wants to play aggressive transition-style offense instead of the methodical offense we've seen over the past few years?   
Did he glean enough off of Hodge in his 2 years here (much different than Hodge's 7years under Mac!) to really keep it going?     There's no way we can know that.

[GMGGWBG]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenZen said:

I’ve had a chance to be around the team a few times and I noticed that Ross always ate with Herl. To me, that meant that Ross confided in Herl and also valued his opinion. That’s just another indicator to me that Herl might be the right guy to keep the momentum going

Maybe you can help me out, but I heard one of the assistants giving an interview on the radio and he sounded soooo much like Ross Hodge.  His speech patterns and what he was saying.  Would that be Herl or Forte?

Edited Friday at 09:26 PM by GMGGWBG

[MeanGreenTexan]

48 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I just think it's imperative to maintain a meaningful identity, as I've commented on a different thread. 

I assume you mean a meaningful DEFENSIVE identity?
This can certainly be achieved if you look at top teams on THIS LIST, and target those guys &/or their longtime staff aces.

[2020 Sucks]

1 hour ago, GMGGWBG said:

Maybe you can help me out, but I heard one of the assistants giving an interview on the radio and he sounded soooo much like Ross Hodge.  His speak patterns and what he was saying.  Would that be Herl or Forte?

Estelle did the radio interview after the OK St win.

[UNTLifer]

In house?

First Choice is Matt Braeuer with Herl, Forte and Shaw staying

2nd would be Herl with Forte and Shaw. 

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I assume you mean a meaningful DEFENSIVE identity?
This can certainly be achieved if you look at top teams on THIS LIST, and target those guys &/or their longtime staff aces.

more talk of the UC-San Diego, HC would be welcome.

[Green Lantern]

2 hours ago, greenminer said:

more talk of the UC-San Diego, HC would be welcome.

Olen is 100% someone we should be  talking to.

[greenminer]

9 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

Olen is 100% someone we should be  talking to.

He was name-dropped in the UNM convos.  Based on this tweet, however, one cannot be certain how serious it is.
 

 

[NT80]

4 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

I’ve had a chance to be around the team a few times and I noticed that Ross always ate with Herl. To me, that meant that Ross confided in Herl and also valued his opinion. That’s just another indicator to me that Herl might be the right guy to keep the momentum going. 

I would hope that Jared asks Ross: "who would you recommend" before he leaves us.   

But perhaps Ross wants all the assistants for himself at WVU?  Maybe he says "go get your own".....