Hedlund gets extension

[MeanGreen61]

Soccer: UNT’s Hedlund agrees to extension to 2010

Mean Green to face top teams in ’06

08:33 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 23, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas coach John Hedlund received a welcome surprise recently in the form of a second contract extension in less than a year.

Hedlund said Monday that he has signed a deal that will keep him with the Mean Green until 2010, an additional two years on top of the deal he signed that took effect on Sept. 1, 2005.

Hedlund’s first extension would have kept him with the Mean Green through Dec. 31, 2007, and increased his yearly salary to $44,000. Hedlund said his new deal also included a raise.

“Rick [Villarreal] came in one day, added two more years to my contract and gave me a bit of a raise,” Hedlund said. “I felt like it was a vote of confidence for our program. The administration likes the fact that we are getting good players from in state.”

Hedlund has developed the UNT soccer program into one of the athletic department’s premier teams. The Mean Green have won 16 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons.

UNT releases 2006 schedule

Hedlund will enter the first year of his new contract facing the challenge of guiding perhaps his best team ever through what could be the Mean Green’s toughest schedule during his 12-year tenure.

UNT released its slate of games for the fall on Monday. The schedule includes five games against teams that advanced to 2005 NCAA Tournament and 10 home games at the new Mean Green Village Soccer Stadium.

UNT will face Nebraska and Southern California on the road in addition to in-state rivals SMU and Houston at home.

“This is the toughest schedule we have had,” Hedlund said. “We are coming off our best two seasons when we got to the NCAA Tournament, have all of our starters back and some nice recruits coming in, so hopefully we are ready.”

UNT finished with a 16-4-2 record last season after winning its second straight Sun Belt Conference Tournament title. The Mean Green return all 11 starters from last season’s team.

UNT’s veteran squad will open the regular season on Aug. 27 at Texas State before heading home for perhaps its two biggest non-conference games of the year.

The Mean Green will take on Houston on Aug. 31, before facing SMU on Sept. 3.

Since the 2000 season, UNT has been nearly unbeatable at home, compiling record of 46-2-4, which includes an unbeaten streak of 14 games heading into this year.

UNT had struggled to find top opponents to play at home, before moving into its new facility.

“The fact that we have a bigger field now that is closer to what the NCAA standard is helped us to get teams like SMU and OU to play us here,” Hedlund said.

UNT’s toughest road games will take place early in the year when the Mean Green travel to Lincoln, Neb., to face the Cornhuskers on Sept. 8 and USC two days later. Both Nebraska and USC were nationally ranked last season.

The Mean Green will also host cross-town rival Texas Woman’s University before beginning defense of their Sun Belt title on Sept. 22 with a road game against league newcomer Louisiana-Monroe. UNT will host league newcomer Florida Atlantic on Oct. 1

[bigrobdsp]

good job on extending the contract of a good coach. they had better start paying him though. any school in the nation could buy him if they wanted.

on a side note does anyone have pics of the new soccer facility?

Edited May 23, 2006 by bigrobdsp

[untbowler]

wow amazing work he has done with such a low salary, he is maximizing his teams output, wish other team coaches would earn their big paychecks.

Performance and community involvement.

[nortx9]

good job on extending the contract of a good  coach. they had better start paying him though. any school in the nation could buy him if they wanted.

on a side note does anyone have pics of the new soccer facility?

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I would agree, this is fantastic news. Increased pay will ward off potential suitors, particularly if you have a recruiting hotbed in your back yard. Who would want to leave? This sustains itself if we are able to promote this team through the student body, faculty and alumni and show the support in the stands. I have mentioned this before in a previous post, I do not see why this team and this school cannot begin to build a reputation very much like A & M- Tough place to play on the road, tough home crowd, tough team with good annual recruiting (better facility=better schedules to play=better recruiting), and an annual NCAA qualifier. Players are now here, coach is here, facility is here, time is now to ramp the reputation, and support at home. Marking off the days until OU !!!!

Rumor mill is they have landed another premier local club player on oral commit for 2007. And there are several others looking at UNT very hard. The returning players and the quality of the 2006 recruiting class from this year are playing a big role in the credilbility of future teams for potential 2007 and 2008 recruits. I look for this team to get better, and for recruiting to be very strong for 2007 and 2008 freshman classes.

Edited May 23, 2006 by nortx9

[LoveMG]

wow amazing work he has done with such a low salary, he is maximizing his teams output, wish other team coaches would earn their big paychecks.

Performance and community involvement.

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Can he coach Football ?

[TeachinTodd]

I'll be honest - in my 16 years since becoming part of the Mean Green Nation, soccer never really entered my mind. However, this news is encouraging, and I may have to take my son out to watch some games this upcoming season!

[nortx9]

I'll be honest - in my 16 years since becoming part of the Mean Green Nation, soccer never really entered my mind.  However, this news is encouraging, and I may have to take my son out to watch some games this upcoming season!

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Please do! This is a very exciting team, very fast, very good skills. Last year's games were very entertaining, I think this year will be even better, even against a tougher non-conf sched. Would be really great to get a bunch of first-timers such as yourself to come out and enjoy and spread the word. Hoping the pre-game tailgaters will build a pre-game BBQ tradition, or somesuch comraderie for the inaugural year at the new stadium. See you there for the OU-bashing in August! We clocked 'em good in the fall season, and I personally think our 2006 recruits are better than what OU pulled in.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

Can he coach Football ? 

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He is coaching football.

[FlatFoot]

Rumor mill is they have landed another premier local club player on oral commit for 2007. And there are several others looking at UNT very hard. The returning players and the quality of the 2006 recruiting class from this year are playing a big role in the credilbility of future teams for potential 2007 and 2008 recruits. I look for this team to get better, and for recruiting to be very strong for 2007 and 2008 freshman classes.

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Edited June 27, 2006 by FlatFoot

[nortx9]

Rumor mill is they have landed another premier local club player on oral commit for 2007. And there are several others looking at UNT very hard. The returning players and the quality of the 2006 recruiting class from this year are playing a big role in the credilbility of future teams for potential 2007 and 2008 recruits. I look for this team to get better, and for recruiting to be very strong for 2007 and 2008 freshman classes.

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Are the players from Solar for 2007? What club is the oral commit from?

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[bdan2002]

I was looking at the NCAA salary report, and the average womens soccer coach makes $46,200. So Coach Hedlund is right up there in coaches salaries

[nortx9]

Rumor mill is they have landed another premier local club player on oral commit for 2007. And there are several others looking at UNT very hard. The returning players and the quality of the 2006 recruiting class from this year are playing a big role in the credilbility of future teams for potential 2007 and 2008 recruits. I look for this team to get better, and for recruiting to be very strong for 2007 and 2008 freshman classes.

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Are the players from Solar for 2007? What club is the oral commit from?

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[Harry]

Is it better to land club players or high school players? I have always wondered what the story was on this.

BTW I have a daughter who plays soccer pretty seriously and that also is why I am interested.

[nortx9]

Is it better to land club players or high school players?  I have always wondered what the story was on this.

BTW I have a daughter who plays soccer pretty seriously and that also is why I am interested.

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The college coaches focus on club and USA national team training pools moreso due to the advanced level of competition, they are playing with advanced talent teammates, and the fact players are playing year round and stay fit. More recently, many such as MTSU are aggressively recruiting international team players. They are also looking for style of play and chemistry mix of recruit vs. team. Professional club and USA team coaches teach more effectively the strategic and tactical subtleties of the game that are required at the collegiate level. Generally speaking, the high school coach is not as qualified as most club coaches, although many pull double duty and coach HS and club. Most club players do play for their HS, but the varying degrees of talent and ages typically do not produce real good teams or effective team styles of play. Coverage of High school team results and player statistics are generally more widespread available than club due to local press coverage, but the individual stats and team records must be weighed against the class level (5A v 4A) competition, district quality, and level of competition. Many players are every bit as good in club as their stats indicate in high school, but many are not as good at the club level in spite of their inflated high school stats. Club soccer division levels are determined through quaification tournaments, and team focus in club recruiting and training is to achieve a place in the highest club divisions. This provides for a higher, consistent competitive level of play and more evenly matched division level competition, and players develop more rapidly. Teams can be ranked on a National scale, and can test those ranking through National tournament competition. Provides for a much better demonstration of the players competence level, and players can be assessed throughout the year by coaches who attend the tournaments. In a more simpler sense, for those players capable of going to the collegiate level, these tournaments enable the elite players to come to the coaches, for those limited to high school only, there are fewer opportunities to impress if you are depending on the coach to travel to you.

In my post yesterday regarding recruiting rankings, the criteria for determining a successful recruiting preseason ranking in soccer is primarily based on the state, national, or international recruit's player ranking and the level of play the player has maintained, such as US National pool, Regional pool, State Pool, club team ranking, conference competition level, etc. Does not mean they will play well together of course. UNT, based on a more regional recruiting selection process obviously will not attract much attention for the recruiting class quality according to the "experts", but the local and regional talent has been more than adequate enough to enable Hedlund to rank in the top 15 winningest active coaches.. I personally think style of play in conference, player style and skill level, and how well they fit into offensive and defensive schemes with the returning players will determine the success of the team, more so than the introduction of players of higher reputation. But, those higher reputation players obviously can help your future recruiting effort. Winning, and NCAA appearances does too, and that is why I'm encouraged for this team, and I believe the 2006 class will prove to be much better over time than many of those ranked ahead of UNT in the preseason recruiting rankings.

[FlatFoot]

Are the players from Solar for 2007? What club is the oral commit from?

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Rumor mill update: There ARE two players from Solar 89 that have given oral commitments to UNT for class of 2007. Supposed to be good player additions. The players that are rumored to be orally committed to UNT to date are very solid club players.

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[nortx9]

Rumor mill update: There ARE two players from Solar 89 that have given oral commitments to UNT for class of 2007. Supposed to be good player additions. The players that are rumored to be orally committed to UNT to date are very solid club players.

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That's what I had heard. Wasn't there also a Solar / UNT coach connection there somewhere?

Also, regarding the 06 class... I agree with your assessment that these girls will exceed the recruiting rank that UNT was given. I've got to believe that the new additions will exceed all expectations. And watch out for 07's... Great things ahead for this team.

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[res1dg16]

Is it better to land club players or high school players?  I have always wondered what the story was on this.

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I doubt Hedlund has ever been to a high school game

[nortx9]

I doubt Hedlund has ever been to a high school game

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Actually saw him at a few..... Marcus and Creekview matchups last few years, he was there.