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NT80 Grand Master

NT80

Posted
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Speaking of Helwig, remember this day? :

.............................................................................................................

Saturday, February 21, 1998

North Texas' Craig Helwig's curious lack of timing won't help football turnaround

By Kevin B. Blackistone / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS -- National Signing Day was three Wednesdays ago. The final polls came out shortly after New Year's, as always. North Texas played its last football game of the 1997 season the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Thirteen major college football head coaching jobs opened up and were filled in the meantime. North Texas athletic director Craig Helwig announced Thursday that he'd stripped Matt Simon of his head coaching duties and was in the market for a new pigskin boss.

At least he has the head-coaching market at this time of the year all to himself.

"UNT has many of the ingredients necessary to have a winning football program," Helwig said. "To lead our program to the next level -- a championship in the Big West Conference -- our new football coach also will need to have significant experience and a tradition of winning."

Good luck.

Time was when I thought North Texas was doing the right thing. The Southwest Conference collapsed. The college football market in greater Dallas-Fort Worth was up for grabs. The Eagles decided to fly the minor league coop for Division I-A and claim a share of the regional college football turf if they could.

The school expanded its little stadium. Marketed itself. Went on a campaign to get its students to turn out. Cut a deal to play a few games at Texas Stadium. Found a new home in the Big West Conference. Hired a bright young assistant, Simon, groomed by Washington's great coach Don James to steer the way.

That was then. Thursday is now. Spring practice was scheduled to start in less than three weeks (March 9). Helwig is looking for someone to run it. Hey, Fred Akers is available.

Helwig said he isn't concerned about trying to find a new coach now anymore than he would have been immediately after the season, which is when every other unsatisfied athletic director kicks off a search. Apparently, they just do things differently in Denton, which, quite frankly, was Simon's biggest complaint.

Simon wanted to do things like most every other big-league program, especially if he was going to compete against them. Helwig said he wanted the same thing, but, for example, he didn't want to spend a lot of budget trying to recruit kids from out of state. There are more than enough good Texas high school players to go around.

That is the fundamental problem at the newest elite college athletic program in the state, those that play Division I-A football. North Texas has decided that is where it wants to be, but on its own terms.

The reality is it is one of 10 Division I-A football programs in Texas. It can't, for example, sustain itself on local or even regional recruiting, even though that's a great idea. It took post-death penalty Southern Methodist University until this year to finally snare a local recruit, South Oak Cliff linebacker Marcus Moseley, that the big schools really wanted. It will take back-to-the-big-time North Texas at least that long, unless it gets really lucky. Until then, it should invest in going after the best of talent from elsewhere, too. The other Big West schools do, and most of those outside California don't have half the in-state competition North Texas does.

This is the type of issue on which Helwig and Simon fell out months ago, leaving Simon reassigned Thursday to facilities management or something like that. Helwig beefed up North Texas' non-conference schedule next season to include Arizona State, Kansas and Oklahoma in addition to Texas A&M. Simon would have preferred to play those teams in a season when he felt he had the manpower. Why, after all, would a young head coach with higher aspirations want to pile more "Ls" on his resume?

Helwig said Simon had the budget and facilities to compete in the Big West for a title. Simon begged to differ. The truth, as in all divorces, is probably somewhere in the middle. Most Big West schools spend close to $2 million on their football teams. North Texas spent $1.8 million.

Helwig was never comfortable that Simon availed himself to interviews for other jobs the past couple of seasons. Why not take that as a compliment that you hired the right guy in the first place and try to keep him?

"There are things we need to work on and improve on," Helwig allowed, "but there have been improvements. We need to keep moving forward."

Thursday looked like a North Texas two-step -- anywhere but in the right direction. In fact, it looked more like a stumble.

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TIgreen01 Veteran

TIgreen01

Posted
Posted

Speaking of Helwig, remember this day? :

.............................................................................................................

Saturday, February 21, 1998

North Texas' Craig Helwig's curious lack of timing won't help football turnaround

By Kevin B. Blackistone / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS -- National Signing Day was three Wednesdays ago. The final polls came out shortly after New Year's, as always. North Texas played its last football game of the 1997 season the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Thirteen major college football head coaching jobs opened up and were filled in the meantime. North Texas athletic director Craig Helwig announced Thursday that he'd stripped Matt Simon of his head coaching duties and was in the market for a new pigskin boss.

At least he has the head-coaching market at this time of the year all to himself.

"UNT has many of the ingredients necessary to have a winning football program," Helwig said. "To lead our program to the next level -- a championship in the Big West Conference -- our new football coach also will need to have significant experience and a tradition of winning."

Good luck.

Time was when I thought North Texas was doing the right thing. The Southwest Conference collapsed. The college football market in greater Dallas-Fort Worth was up for grabs. The Eagles decided to fly the minor league coop for Division I-A and claim a share of the regional college football turf if they could.

The school expanded its little stadium. Marketed itself. Went on a campaign to get its students to turn out. Cut a deal to play a few games at Texas Stadium. Found a new home in the Big West Conference. Hired a bright young assistant, Simon, groomed by Washington's great coach Don James to steer the way.

That was then. Thursday is now. Spring practice was scheduled to start in less than three weeks (March 9). Helwig is looking for someone to run it. Hey, Fred Akers is available.

Helwig said he isn't concerned about trying to find a new coach now anymore than he would have been immediately after the season, which is when every other unsatisfied athletic director kicks off a search. Apparently, they just do things differently in Denton, which, quite frankly, was Simon's biggest complaint.

Simon wanted to do things like most every other big-league program, especially if he was going to compete against them. Helwig said he wanted the same thing, but, for example, he didn't want to spend a lot of budget trying to recruit kids from out of state. There are more than enough good Texas high school players to go around.

That is the fundamental problem at the newest elite college athletic program in the state, those that play Division I-A football. North Texas has decided that is where it wants to be, but on its own terms.

The reality is it is one of 10 Division I-A football programs in Texas. It can't, for example, sustain itself on local or even regional recruiting, even though that's a great idea. It took post-death penalty Southern Methodist University until this year to finally snare a local recruit, South Oak Cliff linebacker Marcus Moseley, that the big schools really wanted. It will take back-to-the-big-time North Texas at least that long, unless it gets really lucky. Until then, it should invest in going after the best of talent from elsewhere, too. The other Big West schools do, and most of those outside California don't have half the in-state competition North Texas does.

This is the type of issue on which Helwig and Simon fell out months ago, leaving Simon reassigned Thursday to facilities management or something like that. Helwig beefed up North Texas' non-conference schedule next season to include Arizona State, Kansas and Oklahoma in addition to Texas A&M. Simon would have preferred to play those teams in a season when he felt he had the manpower. Why, after all, would a young head coach with higher aspirations want to pile more "Ls" on his resume?

Helwig said Simon had the budget and facilities to compete in the Big West for a title. Simon begged to differ. The truth, as in all divorces, is probably somewhere in the middle. Most Big West schools spend close to $2 million on their football teams. North Texas spent $1.8 million.

Helwig was never comfortable that Simon availed himself to interviews for other jobs the past couple of seasons. Why not take that as a compliment that you hired the right guy in the first place and try to keep him?

"There are things we need to work on and improve on," Helwig allowed, "but there have been improvements. We need to keep moving forward."

Thursday looked like a North Texas two-step -- anywhere but in the right direction. In fact, it looked more like a stumble.

Wow...I remember that article! I think it's an interesting point that he makes about SMU not being able to nab any recruits that were also coveted by Big12 schools....have we recruited a guy like this yet?....Jamario?...maybe Buckles?

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Cerebus Experienced

Cerebus

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have we recruited a guy like this yet?....Jamario?...maybe Buckles?

Off the top of my head, recruits that BCS schools took hard runs at:

JaMo: Colorado, TTech

Mike Pruitt: Kansas

Shawn Early: Clemson (not b12, but BCS)

BK: Arkansas

I think there are a few moe in there, but that is what I can remember right now.

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PlummMeanGreen Grand Master

PlummMeanGreen

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I think many need to remember (and give due credit) that it was during Helwig's AD watch that we all but averaged 20K per home game in 1994 to regain NCAA D1-A status and that is what I choose to remember most about Craig Helwig. He was not the perfect AD, but we have not always been the perfect alum$, either.

RICK VILLARREAL: In the 5 years with the NT Athletic program under Rick V's watch and in my 4 decades of following all this Mean Green business, I've not seen as many positive things happening from our AD's office at one time as is happening in this present era at NORTH TEXAS. Surely all that is happening in Denton is not solely because of Rick V but FWIW, all this is happening under his watch. We've had some AD's at NT that would have even turned off a Mattress Mac from giving a 7 figure donation to NT athletics.

Even former NT Athletic Director Hayden Fry never had as many things (projects) going on all at the same time as we do now albeit a completely different era at NT and the NCAA. There were only 40,000 living in Denton and 17,000 NT students when Fry was in Mean Green Country. Denton County had 99,000 citizens in the 1970's. It now has 560,000 citizens in our alma mater's home county. As I said, it was an entire different era when Hayden Fry was in Denton, Texas, America.

Rick V is the man with the plan (and one with the "Type A" personality to attain many of his goals). I like our athletic program today because Rick Villarreal is a part of it and I hope he plans to stay awhile and finish "ALL" projects at the Mean Green Athletic Village.

Edited by PlummMeanGreen
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Cerebus Experienced

Cerebus

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Off the top of my head, recruits that BCS schools took hard runs at:

JaMo: Colorado, TTech

Mike Pruitt: Kansas

Shawn Early: Clemson (not b12, but BCS)

BK: Arkansas

I think there are a few moe in there, but that is what I can remember right now.

Just wanted to add that Pruitt was one of the best interior Dlinemen we ever had at UNT, if BK hadn't of come right before him he would be spoken of in hushed, hallowed terms.

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