CHUCK MILLS

SUMG · January 6, 2006

A friend and fellow poster, reminded me the other day that Chuck Mills (former LB coach) was our Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000, when we signed that unbelievably good recruiting class. (the one with 6-7 State 100s in it).

If that is correct.....why was he let go? He was let go, wasn't he? Anyone know?

I always felt Chuck was a good LB coach, as well. And if he was the Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000.....why was he let go?

Just curious.

SilverEagle · January 6, 2006

A friend and fellow poster, reminded me the other day that Chuck Mills (former LB coach) was our Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000, when we signed that unbelievably good recruiting class. (the one with 6-7 State 100s in it).
If that is correct.....why was he let go? He was let go, wasn't he? Anyone know?
I always felt Chuck was a good LB coach, as well. And if he was the Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000.....why was he let go?
Just curious.
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I'm sure it was because of a personality conflict...........Mills had one.

greenjoe · January 6, 2006

Chuch is a great guy. He was not only the recruiter during Corkey's days, he was the special teams coach. He's great fun to talk with and has wonderful NT stories. Chuck would make the coach's show so much fun, we'd probably have to sell tickets.

When Matt Simon left, I pushed him as hard as I was able to get the head job. You see what influence I have.

He was Brad Kassell's position coach (not bad) and was let go without much explaination. He told me that DD simply said, "we're going to go in a different direction."

After the loss to Monroe in '01, while I was shopping for a rope and a low hanging tree, I asked if he would be interested in the head job if in fact DD was given the axe. He was non-committal.

Chuch was working for a "astro-turf" company when I last spoke to him.

I'd love to see him get the head job here. The sooner the better.

GO MEAN GREEN

Edited January 6, 2006 by greenjoe

greenjoe · January 6, 2006

Great response Silver.

ttunt · January 6, 2006

Great response Silver.
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Stan R · January 6, 2006

I think I'm going to be pysically sick reading this. Going a different direction? Do I really need one more reason to dislike DD? I think I just got one.

bigdaddy · January 6, 2006

Chuck was fired because his attitude started to cause players to not want to play for him. There were several players (linebackers) that almost quit because of Chuck and those guys were starters. I think one name was mentioned aboved!!!

DeepGreen · January 6, 2006

A friend and fellow poster, reminded me the other day that Chuck Mills (former LB coach) was our Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000, when we signed that unbelievably good recruiting class. (the one with 6-7 State 100s in it).
If that is correct.....why was he let go? He was let go, wasn't he? Anyone know?
I always felt Chuck was a good LB coach, as well. And if he was the Recruiting Coordinator back in 2000.....why was he let go?
Just curious.
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Chuck Mills actually came down to my area of SE Texas on recruiting trips. I'd invite Chuck out to dinner (he really liked Papadeauxs) and we'd talk recruiting and North Texas football for 3-4 hours. He'd really give you some insider information on athletics at NT.

I think Mills was responsible for recruiting Bo Harrison out of Beaumont and maybe some others. He was very visable down here and gave NT a good presence. He recruited, unsuccessfully many times, the top talent down here. He never gave up despite butting heads with UT, a$m, Houston, and others.

I miss Chuck Mills representing NT in some capacity.

NT80 · January 6, 2006

Chuch was working for a "astro-turf" company when I last spoke to him.
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I believe I heard he works for the turf company NT hired to replace the Fouts turf?

Edited January 6, 2006 by NT80

SUMG · January 7, 2006

Chuck was fired because his attitude started to cause players to not want to play for him. There were several players (linebackers) that almost quit because of Chuck and those guys were starters. I think one name was mentioned aboved!!!
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Gee that's news to me. Chuck coached here for Corky, Matt Simon and during the early Dickey years. I never heard any complaints about him.

And also, bigdaddy....someone posted recently that you are one of our current assistants. If that's true....should you really be trashing a former assistant? Especially since that former assistant (Mills) also happens to be a UNT alum.

Too bad we don't still have Chuck.....and many more like him.

Edited January 7, 2006 by SUMG

PlummMeanGreen · January 7, 2006

Gee that's news to the rest of us. Chuck coached here for Corky, Matt Simon and during the early Dickey years. I never heard any complaints about him.
And also, bigdaddy....someone posted recently that you are one of our current assistants. If that's true....should you really be trashing a former assistant? Especially since that former assistant (Mills) also happens to be a UNT alum.
Too bad we don't still have Chuck.....and many more like him.
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SUMG, seems we have a gestapo-like intellect now that is (and has for the last few years) come from within certain areas within the NT Athletic Dept. Hell, I hear they even subtely threaten present Denton Record/Chronicle sportwriters if they start telling it like it really is in feature articles. Seems I heard that these threats aimed at DRC writers come by with-holding information; that is, they won't give DRC sportswriters THE BIG SCOOP if they persist in writing feature artilces that tell it like they feel many of us out here also see it, so what we get for the moment with the DRC is tantamount to Andersen's Fairy Tales, uh, Mean Green style.

At any rate, it seems we also had one very fine, talented DRC sportwriter a few short years ago who our NT campus-based gestapo-like group pretty well bullied and had run out of town because he dared to write what he saw as the cold stark truth about NT athletics, specifically football.

I think we all know that the truth cannot be suppressed forever and for Mean Green fans, all they need to do is simply read their most recent copy of an NT Football Media Guide to see which 1-AA schools we lost to even during most of our bowl years; and most of that group of schools who are now members of the Sun Belt Conference. An NT FB media guide has very much interesting information for those who will take the time to read it.

Edited January 7, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

MeanGreen61 · January 7, 2006

Gee that's news to the rest of us. Chuck coached here for Corky, Matt Simon and during the early Dickey years. I never heard any complaints about him.
And also, bigdaddy....someone posted recently that you are one of our current assistants. If that's true....should you really be trashing a former assistant? Especially since that former assistant (Mills) also happens to be a UNT alum.
Too bad we don't still have Chuck.....and many more like him.
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SUMG this did come up. True or false ? I don't know, but there was suposedly some conflict between him & players.

FirefightnRick · January 7, 2006

I played for Coach Mills in high school and I hated his guts....Because he was hard on me and my teammates. And I loved him for it afterwards. That's just football and part of young people learning disciplne.

I talked to Coach Mills at the Hall of Fame breakfast on homecoming this past year. I'd take him back at NT in a heartbeat. He looked as if he could go right now.

He was part of some of our more exciting years and we owe a debt of gratitude to the man for all of the hard work he put in for us.

Rick

meangreanmick · January 7, 2006

I can tell you that I played for him in High School (he was LB coach then our Head Coach) in between his years at North Texas. I am sure he has done some great things for NT, but I can tell you from several years of first hand interaction I don't like him much. More importantly, I don't have alot of respect for him and I will leave it at that. I will give him credit where he is due, he was a good LB coach.

Please don't make this guy some kind of hero based on some vague maybe he did this or that. You can rest assured that his attitude and personality wore many people thin and it was time for him to move on.

Ole Green Guts · January 7, 2006

Coach Mill knows his stuff, but he comes at players in the wrong way. He would verbally attack plays, their familys, and anyone else associated with them. In front of other athletes, I think to try and motivate or get somthing out of them. My freshman year he kept jumping my but and saying very bad things that I cant write here, until I told him to F*** OFF!!! From then on he treated me like a coach should. Take it for what it is worth.

T

FirefightnRick · January 7, 2006

He would verbally attack plays, their familys, and anyone else associated with them. In front of other athletes, I think to try and motivate or get somthing out of them. T
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Sounds like a match made in heaven then to me. He could be D coordinator and make a perfect set of book ends with the OC.

Rick

Baby Arm! · January 7, 2006

Not to dogpile on here but,

It seems like the posters that liked Mills never played for the guy,

And the posters that did play for him have a less than possitive opinion.

I fall into the later category. I'll just say I played for the guy, didn't like him much and I don't know of anyone that played for him that cared for the guy.... Now that it's going on 20 years ago, I give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's mellowed with age. But then again haven't we all?

PlummMeanGreen · January 7, 2006

Sounds like a match made in heaven then to me. He could be D coordinator and make a perfect set of book ends with the OC.
Rick
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HSO........

Maybe if Coach Mills had publicly (verbally) attacked one of our NT Exes in the stands, then just perhaps he could have saved his job? Did UNT officials sweep all that under the carpet just like they did the other public verbal acosting of one of our fans? My guess is that they did.

Any head coach (like some bosses) can spin anything aimed toward any employee to appear in a way that may not even be close as to the way the situation really is.

Have any of you ever heard of any football players (at any level) running off a football coach? I'd say if NT alums can't (for the time being) pull this off, then for damn sure a small group of football players can't run off an assistant coach.

Personally (as I've heard many of you make the same following comment in the past) I hope the next UNT AD will do like the last 2 (including Helwig) should have done and just clean house in the NT Athletic Department as to give us (remember us-----the NT constituency?) all a fresh start in our attempts to remove our alma mater's ".500 and below'ish" varsity athletic sports programs completely out of the muck & mire and the Land of Mediocrity.

IMO, Rick V could still do much of this except I think he has been land-locked by his silent business parter/AD Mr. Ray who would veto much of what our present AD has more vision to see what will make NT successful in athletics than any NT Board of Regent ever will. NOTE: Although, after such a (proposed) cleaning of the house by our AD, I think there may be still be a small handful who may want to re-apply for their old jobs, but not the ones who have grown barnacles (at our expen$e) and whose programs are still under .500.

<>*<> I know, such a thing as the aforementioned probably cannot legally be done at a state university (although I've seen such happen out here in the non-academic business world), but just the idea exhillerates some who can actually look beyond our SBC noses to see that there really can be better times ahead in Mean Green Country, but FWIW...............its always going to be about in demand personnel with talent and charisma who usually can pull such a thing off (at a higher profile) in a program such as ours at NORTH TEXAS.

BUT FOR THE TIME BEING.............I don't think any of our present top NT leaders have those kahonas to do any of this, so we may have to just wait for the Governor of Texas to give us such leadership who will.

Also, keep your eyes on our "unaffordable to UNT" pink elephant, ie, UNT-Dallas with the monies that will be raised for that campus (and whatever that amount) monies that should have been being raised for UNT-Denton all this time?

Someone explain to me when those monies start, uh, rolling in for UNT-Dallas why that same money (any of it) was not raised for our main campus in Denton in years past, OK?

Edited January 7, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

SilverEagle · January 7, 2006

With someone like Mills, these discussions usually fall on the opposite ends of the spectrum. People that played for him have one strong opinion, and people who interacted with him as alumni have another.

I first met him when he was the head coach at Decatur and I was completing my student teaching there. The non-football staff didn't particularly like him or trust him, as they saw him mostly as a salesman. The only thing was that he took Decatur furthur into the playoffs than they had ever been. That Decatur team (fall of 1975) was the most disciplined and tough-minded group of players that I had ever seen there. They weren't the biggest or fastest team going into the playoffs, they were just the toughest and best prepared.

The North Texas defenses during the Corky Nelson era were always tough and well prepared. I believe that Mills was the DC during that time. North Texas lost some games during that era by some fairly large scores, but I never saw them quit like the defenses that went up against Texas in 04, Baylor in 04, and Tulsa this year. We beat TCU in 1986 mainly because TCU had about 6 turnovers. Those turnovers were as a result of a North Texas defense knocking the hell out of TCU.

During the time he was an assistant coach under Corky, we had wins over New Mexico, NMSU, Kansas St., TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, and Rice.

In addition, Mills was always selling and promoting the program. It didn't seem to matter if you were a big doner or not. When he was at North Texas he was one of the most approachable people you would ever be around. One time (in early summer) I walked into the lobby of the athletic dept. to try and get a schedule. Mills was standing close to the entrance of his office and suddenly I was greeted with a "hey there! how're you doin'.... are you here to renew your season tickets?"

Go into the athletic dept. now and see if you're treated that way.

Ole Green Guts · January 7, 2006

The only thing that I liked about Mills was the last practice we had with him, it was also Jeff Rodgers last one. Rodgers, Kassell and crew took him down in the stadium. Then the cuffed his hands behind his back, taped his ancles together and then ripped his undies to the tape and left him. I know the video crew has that tape some where. That was the funniest thing that I have ever seen. Chuck put up a good fight but the youngens won in the end.

T

PlummMeanGreen · January 7, 2006

With someone like Mills, these discussions usually fall on the opposite ends of the spectrum. People that played for him have one strong opinion, and people who interacted with him as alumni have another.
I first met him when he was the head coach at Decatur and I was completing my student teaching there. The non-football staff didn't particularly like him or trust him, as they saw him mostly as a salesman. The only thing was that he took Decatur furthur into the playoffs than they had ever been. That Decatur team (fall of 1975) was the most disciplined and tough-minded group of players that I had ever seen there. They weren't the biggest or fastest team going into the playoffs, they were just the toughest and best prepared.
The North Texas defenses during the Corky Nelson era were always tough and well prepared. I believe that Mills was the DC during that time. North Texas lost some games during that era by some fairly large scores, but I never saw them quit like the defenses that went up against Texas in 04, Baylor in 04, and Tulsa this year. We beat TCU in 1986 mainly because TCU had about 6 turnovers. Those turnovers were as a result of a North Texas defense knocking the hell out of TCU.
During the time he was an assistant coach under Corky, we had wins over New Mexico, NMSU, Kansas St., TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, and Rice.
In addition, Mills was always selling and promoting the program. It didn't seem to matter if you were a big doner or not. When he was at North Texas he was one of the most approachable people you would ever be around. One time (in early summer) I walked into the lobby of the athletic dept. to try and get a schedule. Mills was standing close to the entrance of his office and suddenly I was greeted with a "hey there! how're you doin'.... are you here to renew your season tickets?"
Go into the athletic dept. now and see if you're treated that way.
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BTW, Bill, did you ever receive an "official" apology over "The Incident" yet--just curious. I'm not sure if Season Ticket Holder ever got one, either.

The thing about coaches who want to get out of their non BCS surroundings is that they (obviously) don't do it going to non BCS bowl games 4 years in a row.

I think Hayden Fry got his invite to Iowa and the Big 10 because his Mean Green football teams had beaten quite a few "some-bodies" (high profile name schools) and FWIW, he also had a known name commodity working for him when he first arrived at UNT, too, and that didn't hurt his cause at all.

If DD ever wants to one day get out of his present surroundings, all he needs to do is recruit the kind of players who can beat the traditionally known schools that show up on our OOC schedule most years. No, I don't think we expect upsets over Top 10 schools (although playing them a bit more competitively would be nice0, but beating an Air Force or Tulsa or La Tech would be quite helpful for DD (in more ways than none).

I'm probably even talking about DD beating a team ranked higher than the 4'th place CUSA team who the SBC FB champion hosts each year.

The NT coach and staff have had some good recruits on campus in the past and the even do now, but the volume of good recruits has obviously been much too low the last few recruiting years as to allow our team to even be competitive against schools like Tulsa, La Tech and SMU.

That huge record-breaking Tulsa loss at home will stick in the craw of many Mean Green/Eagles fans for years to come IMO. The results we got in that Fouts Field home opener last season were hardly expected (to say the least). In fact, I'd say most of us were shocked after the final seconds of that game ticked down to zero to be quite frank.

The TU loss also served as a pretty accurate barometer or reading for things that some of us on this board had closed our eyes to in our recruiting of the last few years; then, the La Tech loss pretty well confirmed all that we had concerned ourselves with what DD & staff had (realistically) been doing in the local and regional recruiting wars of the last 3 or so years.

Edited January 7, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

Baby Arm! · January 8, 2006

...We beat TCU in 1986 mainly because TCU had about 6 turnovers. Those turnovers were as a result of a North Texas defense knocking the hell out of TCU.
During the time he was an assistant coach under Corky, we had wins over New Mexico, NMSU, Kansas St., TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, and Rice.
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With the exception of the New Mexico win in 84, Those other wins during the Corky era weren't with Mills coached defenses.

From he 1985 thru 1990 season Mills was an assistant and head coach at Lewisville High School.

bigdaddy · January 9, 2006

Gee that's news to me. Chuck coached here for Corky, Matt Simon and during the early Dickey years. I never heard any complaints about him.
And also, bigdaddy....someone posted recently that you are one of our current assistants. If that's true....should you really be trashing a former assistant? Especially since that former assistant (Mills) also happens to be a UNT alum.
Not sure who quoted me as a coach, but I can assure you I am not. I played under Simon for 3 year and Dickey for 2. I was not a linebacker, but I was good friends with Rogers and Kassell and there was always some sort of drama going on. I was also on special teams and Mills was the special teams coach so I did play under him in that regard.
Personally, I believe Mills has great knowledge of the game as well as great ability to see potential football players. The only thing I know, is other position coaches got the best out of their players with out being disrespectful. I believe Mills had good intentions by trying to fire up his players, but the facts are there. While I was there, the linebacker position had the most complaints and players who quit or wanted to switch positions.
All I know is my position coach got the most from me and he did not have to call me a "Mother F*&k*ng No good piece of S*&t" to get me to play. Yes, he did get on my but when needed, but in a respectfull way, yes loud and usually with profantity but still respectfull, and that caused me to respond in a positive way, not by walking off the field or going out and getting wasted and saying f&*k the program as many of his linebackers did after some of Mills outbreaks. I will say this, the linebacker play was solid during my time, but I think it could have been smoother and I think we lost some good players do to his outbreaks. They also cause gossip and complaining among the whole team. This caused players be to be negative about the team, practice, working out, ect...
I do not mean to bash Mills, I do respect his knowledge. I was just posting an answer to why I believe Mills was fired. I wish Coach Mills the best.

UNTLifer · January 9, 2006

Chuck was fired because his attitude started to cause players to not want to play for him. There were several players (linebackers) that almost quit because of Chuck and those guys were starters. I think one name was mentioned aboved!!!
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The only one listed above is Kassell.