5 Things Canales Can Do To Become A Better Candidate

[MeanGreen61]

OK it's the Bleacher Report.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/501103-unt-football-5-things-mike-canales-can-do-to-become-a-better-candidate

[eulesseagle]

Sounds reasonable enough for me. Personally, IMHO, Canales would do an excellent job with the current staff and players. But then I did vote to keep Canales on the poll.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

If he wins two and applies for the position, he should be in the running. Given what has happened this year with injuries on the offensive side of the ball, matching Dodge's season win total high mark of two within five games would be a good sign.

If he wins three of the last five, which I'd say is highly improbable, I don't see how he isn't the front runner.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Firstly, the thing Canales should do would be to become Chuck Neinas' new best friend.

Some might want to step back from all this "who do we hire" chatter and sincerely ask themselves: How high would Canales actually show on Neinas' radar of coaches with a legitimate chance of becoming UNT's new Head Football Coach; especially in light of our opening a new football stadium which many on this board have expressed numerous times needs an attention-getting name coach for this new stadium to make its most maximum impact for marketing and ticket sales for the 2011 football season which has (for all practical purposes) already begun.

Secondly: The thing a hardy handful of loyalists might also want to consider is to not get too emotionally involved with UNT coaches since that could influence one's opinion and/or bias and then (subsequently) hiring "good ol boys" which could create for UNT another 30 plus years of a (non-nationally recognized) college football program that has the roar of a.......kitty cat.

I'd almost bet that Neinas has few of the coaches many of us have listed on this forum on his list; maybe even those who have received many votes on GMG.com polls, too. I like Coach Fran but I don't know if Coach Fran is the Man with a Mean Green Plan, but I'd bet Nenias would know with all his connections if we should pursue him.

Smart move for UNT powers that be to delegate much of this multi-decade dilemma of "who the hell do we hire this time around as our next HFC" to Neinas. I applaud those who sealed the deal on Chuck Neinas making a return visit to UNT to help us make (probably) our most important hire in UNT's modern era of NCAA college football.

We don't want to have a superb facility a la the SuperPit and then start having a whole string of terrible basketball coach hires post the late great Bill Blakely (rest in peace, coach) up to our present great hire of Coach JJ. There has been a great void in all those years between Blakely and Jones for certain.

GMG!

Edited October 28, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[GrandGreen]

Canales is obviously a candidate but he must finish strong. The problem with Canales is that he is not a name in Texas and his association with the current debacle does not help him. We should get a good idea of his ability to coach over the rest of the season, but it will not tell us what is recruiting ability will be. Also his hire would not convey the message that NT is a lot more serious about football. He would be viewed as just another "cheap" assistant coach hire for NT and would not make the type of statement that a more renowned coach would.

I believe Canales is a long shot and will need a great finish to be a serious candidate, but if he wins a couple of games and plays the rest close he will be difficult to ignore.

[greenjoe]

Coach Canales biggest problem is that his last name isn't Leach or Francione.

If he can win 3 of the last 5 his last name may be enough.

[sports1]

The former South Florida defensive coordinator that coached with Canales at USF could be a good addition to the

UNT staff if Canales is named HC. That is if he is still available.

[UNT90]

The 5 things he needs to do to win the job:

1). WIN at WKU

2) WIN at home against Troy.

3) WIN at ULM

4) WIN at MTSU

5) WIN at home against K St.

Do that, and you prove you are a proven head coach at the college football level, which is what this university has to have in it's next head coach

[All About UNT]

I'm sorry but it's not gonna happen. I have allot of respect for the man but we have to have a name in here and he doesn't have one. Not for HC anyway. Pair him up with Leavitt again and those two could work magic together and when Leavitt uses us as a springboard to the bigger and better then if Mike is still with us we can give deep consideration to his chances.

[eulesseagle]

The 5 things he needs to do to win the job:

1). WIN at WKU

2) WIN at home against Troy.

3) WIN at ULM

4) WIN at MTSU

5) WIN at home against K St.

Do that, and you prove you are a proven head coach at the college football level, which is what this university has to have in it's next head coach

With all the injuries that NT currently has do you think that win five is realistic? Beat WKU and ULM and hope to stay DD close in the fourth to pull out maybe one of three....TU, MTSU or KSU. I would be satisfied with that and pray that RD does not get injured again.

[UNT90]

With all the injuries that NT currently has do you think that win five is realistic? Beat WKU and ULM and hope to stay DD close in the fourth to pull out maybe one of three....TU, MTSU or KSU. I would be satisfied with that and pray that RD does not get injured again.

No.... But I also don't think it is realistic that he is a head coaching candidate.

[VideoEagle]

I like the guy, but I don't think keeping Canales shows the rest of the world NT is really interesting in rebuilding the program. We need to convince potential fans we are serious about changes, not just looking for a course correction. If he wins a lot of games, maybe but only maybe.

[G123unt]

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=13113

[untgirl04]

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=13113

You know, you can't help but like the guy after an article like that.

[Eagle1855]

No.... But I also don't think it is realistic that he is a head coaching candidate.

Then again, I thought a high school candidate was unrealistic. Shows what I know.

[UNT90]

I like the guy, but I don't think keeping Canales shows the rest of the world NT is really interesting in rebuilding the program. We need to convince potential fans we are serious about changes, not just looking for a course correction. If he wins a lot of games, maybe but only maybe.

More importantly, we need to convince recruits. Like it or not, Canales was a part of this last recruiting class, which was less than steller. Sure, he had the 7 win ultimatum around his neck, but the class should have been better.

I see people praising Canales and I just shake my head and wonder why. What has he done here? What has he done here that rates a look-see for the head coaching job? To be fair, he really hasn't had that much time and has had to deal with a lot of injuries, but I just dont understand the blind adulation for a guy that has accomplished nothing as a UNT assistant.

[UNT90]

You know, you can't help but like the guy after an article like that.

We are talking about Canales, and not Todd Dodge, right?

Then again, I thought a high school candidate was unrealistic. Shows what I know.

+ 1 for you, sir. I'd give you a +10 if I could.

[MeanGreenHoops]

I see people praising Canales and I just shake my head and wonder why. What has he done here? What has he done here that rates a look-see for the head coaching job? To be fair, he really hasn't had that much time and has had to deal with a lot of injuries, but I just don't understand the blind adulation for a guy that has accomplished nothing as a UNT assistant.

This is pretty easy. We have the most diverse and unpredictable offense since sometime in the 90's? And he has constantly adjusted to losing a starting quarterback. I don't care what anyone says, when you are down to a 4th QB and still in a game, you are a miracle worker. Canales deserves a shot if he wants it.

That's one of the reason I like Leavitt, because I hope he will keep Canales. I expect an overreaction from the athletic director to his gamble by hiring someoe who has been a head coach before no matter what. So if that is the case, Leavitt and hopefully keeping Canales are a good bet.

And to those saying we have to have a name in here to convince people to get on with it, who are you talking about? UNT alums, displaced UT fans, Nascar guy, Denton resident? For most all of them the only thing that would get them to games would be if we were in the Big 12. We have a base of fans now. We still get 15-20K at games and we haven't won in years.

Two things are going to bring people, that new stadium, I've heard it from people who I never thought would go to games, and winning. We just need a coach that can win.

[Ibleedgreen]

How can Canales win with 15 starters injured??? He's probably a good coach, but I doubt that he's Oral Roberts.

[PlummMeanGreen]

How can Canales win with 15 starters injured??? He's probably a good coach, but I doubt that he's Oral Roberts.

Humor is still many times the best medicine...Funny, Ibleedgreen.

GMG!

[UNT90]

How can Canales win with 15 starters injured??? He's probably a good coach, but I doubt that he's Oral Roberts.

How do we know he can win with 15 healthy starters at UNT?

He has coached here for 6 games. That is my point.

[shaft]

What? Win games? I thought all it took to be UNT Head Coach was to be a heck of a guy.

[Side Show Joe]

I like Canales. I think he is a good guy. So far this season our offense is averaging about 18 points a game. That's bad. I'm not going to put all the blame on Canales because of all the injuries, and he was modifying the Dodge offense. Lets see what he does now that he has the freedom to design his own playbook. I don't know if he can really redesign the playbook and teach it to the offense in a by-week, but I'm willing to bet the offense will be changed some .

The fact is, if he wants to be a serious candidate for the head coaching job, this team needs to be scoring more then 18 points a game. Look for North Texas to run it up on WKU if we get the chance.

For Canales to get the head coaching job I think he needs to win 4 of the 5 games left in the season, or win 3, if one of the wins is over Kansas State.

Just my take on it.

[UNT Mean Green]

Nice article from the NT Daily on Canales. I hope he does well for himself and these players in this "tryout". He seems like a stand up guy all the way.

[PlummMeanGreen]

What? Win games? I thought all it took to be UNT Head Coach was to be a heck of a guy.

shaft, we just have a hardy handful (and numerically that would be what it would be,ie, a hardy handful) who are in lockstep with "their favorite UNT assistant football coach" to push forward this go around. We have this each time we are going to hire a coach.

The Canales choice is probably as absurd as my own personal favorite, ie, Coach Fran yet on the complete other end of the 180 degree spectrum. I don't think he would be interested in our job, but one can still hope, right?

I STILL REPEAT: UNT did not rehire Chuck Neinas and pay the money they will pay him to go out and find a new UNT HFC who is already on Todd Dodge's staff. Is that so difficult a concept to understand?

Canales would probably be a good choice (albeit another project hire at UNT and largely an unknown commodity since he's never been HFC at the FBS level) in any other era when Fouts Field would still be our stadium and it would make whoever we hired a non-matter since the stadium would keep us "bareful and pregnant" with a hopeless futue.....

..........but this is not the case because of what is happening in a most grandiose way between those 2 Texas interstates. Come on people, quit receommending those who might say "hello" to you, go out and have a drink with you or just be another good ol' boy but think about the future of our school's football program as it will be attempting to market the hell out of next football season to the maximum in light of the debut of our new football stadium.

Of course, this board so very much promoted getting our present Def. Coord. back on board which happened (but not because of this board), but what happened to all his luster as to why he is not being pushed as the next UNT HFC? He's been an assistant coach favorite on GMG.com much longer than Canales. Anyone? (And no, he would not be the answer this go around, either).

Look beyond Denton, Texas, folks, because who we need is presently not a citizen of "Do It In Denton" or "the Top of the Golden Triange" and all those other Chamber of Commerce bumper sticker catch phrases so cleverly made up decades ago to promote the town that has 2 major universities.

Moral of Story: "NO" school promotes "ANY" assistant coach from a losing staff unless they've lost their ever-lovin' freakin' mind due to a stroke or general lack of oxygen in the cognitive or thinking with reason areas of their brains. (If only you of this hardy handful gang had been a student walking around on campus in the Fall of 1975 and you listened to your school getting national kudos and raves from Keith Jackson on ABC TV bragging about "that Hayden Fry" at North Texas beating Tennessee, you, too, would be thinking way, way, way outside Denton county line and well beyond our present football staff for our next hire.

Has there ever been any school in the NCAA to hire an assistant from a program that had 1 win? Do we want to be true, bonafide trailblazers and be the first to do that, too?

Yes, and even winning a couple more in the Sun Belt this season is not going to sell out luxury suites or create record season ticket sales in 2011 with what the rest of the Mean Green community "outside this forum" would perceive as "just more of the same of what we always get" if they hired anyone from Todd Dodge's present staff. In our case, familiarity would be breeding a ver dangerous gamble that we just don't need to make this time around. (I think Canales would be a good consideration or addition to a new staff, though, but just not to be the main guy at this time).

GMG!

Edited October 29, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen