Dan Mccarney

[Side Show Joe]

Personally, I don't have anything against the guy. Having said that, I don't think he is the right guy for this job. I just can't see McCarney generating new interest in our program. New people will show up for the new stadium, but who really cares to see a former Iowa State coach? He had a bad record like every other person who's coached at Iowa State. Yes, he had to coach against tough Big 12 teams, but I'd rather have a coach who enjoyed more success against that level of competition. Also, I can't see him selling good recruits on going to NT. They won't want to play for a coach they never heard of, and had a bad record at Iowa State.

McCarney could come in and be our next head coach, and win some Sun Belt games, but I can't see him ever taking this program higher then that. I just can't see him creating new interest in North Texas football, or selling good recruits on coming to UNT. I feel there are better options out there. If McCarney is the top choice by Nienas, then UNT should demand a refund. If we take McCarney and Texas State lands Coach Fran, I will be furious. In my opinion Fran is a much better and logical choice.

Can someone create a poll with just the top candidates on it, and lets see what the fans support?

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

Because Neinas is going to be, with Dodge as OC and Dickey as DC.

[rcade]

I'm not entirely sold on McCarney, but I think you're understating his accomplishments. His team made it to five bowl games at Iowa State and was co-division champion in 2007. That's not easy to do in the Big 12 with the resources he had available to him.

He's said to be an excellent recruiter and a solid character guy. With 11 seasons under his belt as a head coach at the FBS level, there's no learning curve we would need to suffer through.

I don't think he'll excite the casual football fan, but inside the game he's respected.

[UNT90]

Because there are better candidates out there.

[MeanGreenDan]

I'm not entirely sold on McCarney, but I think you're understating his accomplishments. His team made it to five bowl games at Iowa State and was co-division champion in 2007. That's not easy to do in the Big 12 with the resources he had available to him.

He's said to be an excellent recruiter and a solid character guy. With 11 seasons under his belt as a head coach at the FBS level, there's no learning curve we would need to suffer through.

I don't think he'll excite the casual football fan, but inside the game he's respected.

Co-Division champ ONCE in 12 seasons, tied for second ONCE in 12 seasons. And that was in 6 team a Big 12 North that was VERY weak during his tenure there. He was only ranked ONCE in those 12 seasons, at 23/25.

He also has no known recruiting ties to Texas other than the limited work he probably did while in the Big 12.

When we have options on the table who have been FAR more successful and have much greater ties to our area, I do not see this being a good decision at all.

[untjim1995]

McCarney would be just fine here. He has built a program up from nothing, got fired at Iowa State for having a losing year after all those bowl games, and he will be a huge benefit for our lines, both in coaching and recruiting. He would be a great hire.

[MeanGreenDan]

McCarney would be just fine here. He has built a program up from nothing, got fired at Iowa State for having a losing year after all those bowl games, and he will be a huge benefit for our lines, both in coaching and recruiting. He would be a great hire.

For having a losing season after all those bowl years? Am I the only one who sees it as a problem that he had ONE winning season in conference play in 12 years? Big 12 or not, a blind squirrel can usually find a nut with greater proficiency than that...

[MCMLXXX]

I was asked this morning about the hire by a group of individuals I work with (notre dame and Big 12 fans all upper 20's to early 30's) and when I said McCarney, the response was overwhelmingly positive. That is anecdotal but nonetheless interesting. His name was known and he seemed well respected by the 6 or so individuals in the room.

[meangreendork]

McCarney had 12 seasons at Iowa State while it was in the Big XII.

Years 1->5 were losing seasons. No bowl appearances, of course. This is pretty bad, BigXII Iowa State or not.

Years 5->11 were all winning seasons, with the exception of a horrible 2-10 season. 5 bowl appearances, 2 wins. This is a pretty good set of results as a whole. Too bad it took 4-5 years to get 5 years of wins.

His final season was a series of losses.

In short, McCarney took 5 years to produce 5 years of winning, then he coughed up another 2 losing seasons. That's 7 losing seasons to 5 winning seasons. Yes, I understand that the BigXII is tough and that Iowa State doesn't have the cash behind its football program the other BigXII schools have, but the time it took to start winning could reflect what will happen if he comes here.

I don't think we want to wait 4 more years to see winning seasons, especially after the stadium. Sure, it'll be full for 2011 and 2012, but the casual fan won't go to the stadium, fancy or not, if the home team is losing.

If it's McCarney, I'm gonna trust the consultants and RV to know a whole lot that I don't.

[Green Lantern]

Because there are better candidates out there.

This is where I struggle with McCarney. I think he's an interesting coach, given some of his success at Iowa State. Leavitt and Fran both have MUCH more impressive overall winning records than he does though. Leavitt built a program out of trailers and Fran has won everywhere he has coached.

At Iowa State, McCarney was figthing against programs that have enormous built in advantages over his own, and he made them fairly respectable. At NT, he would have access to facilities and money at the top end of the SBC comparatively going forward. Would those advantages translate into sustained success here? Don't know. He seems like a much riskier hire than Leavitt or Fran to me.

[pollock]

Because we need an energetic (young) up-and-coming coach?

[rcade]

Check out the records of the other coaches who've been at Iowa State:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_State_Cyclones_football#Head_coaches

Only 2 out of the 24 coaches since 1920 have had a winning record while leading the school. It is an extremely tough place to coach.

[Got5onIt]

Because we need an energetic (young) up-and-coming coach?

I'm thinking Rawlins has both hands all over this hire. Young and up & coming are the least of his concern, I'm sure. How could you blame him, though? Look what RV's up & comer did to our beloved football program.

[Harry]

Check out the records of the other coaches who've been at Iowa State:

http://en.wikipedia....ll#Head_coaches

Only 2 out of the 24 coaches since 1920 have had a winning record while leading the school. It is an extremely tough place to coach.

Good point rcade.

[UNT90]

Check out the records of the other coaches who've been at Iowa State:

http://en.wikipedia....ll#Head_coaches

Only 2 out of the 24 coaches since 1920 have had a winning record while leading the school. It is an extremely tough place to coach.

So is UNT. I wonder how many winning coaches we have had in the same time period?

There are better options out there. This is a very, very safe hire. I hope we don't do it..

[rcade]

There are better options out there. This is a very, very safe hire. I hope we don't do it..

If you want a dangerous hire, we could always go for a legendary Texas high school coach.

As for me, I'm developing an appreciation for safe.

[SilverEagle]

So is UNT. I wonder how many winning coaches we have had in the same time period?

There are better options out there. This is a very, very safe hire. I hope we don't do it..

I posted this link on another thread. But here is how Minnesota assesses him.

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2010/11/2/1786880/minnesota-gopher-coaching-candidate-profile-dan-mccarney

an important quote.

"Again, if anything should keep him from being our next head coach, it should be the fact that it took him six years to win."

Edited November 23, 2010 by SilverEagle

[Pen Yan Fan]

In case you didn't already know, McCarney's conference record while at Iowa State was 26 - 67. McCarney's teams didn't just lose, they lost Big.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

There are better options out there. This is a very, very safe hire. I hope we don't do it..

Saying McCarney would be a safe hire is a very good way to put it.

in contrast, here's what SDSU's then athletic director told my friend was the reason he didn't hire Dennis Erickson: "Because I couldn't have controlled him." That was the hire during which SDSU used Chuck Neinas. Might Neinas lead your AD to think the same of Franchione?

(BTW, I heard from another friend who heard it from the horse's mouth that Erickson could tell from his interview at SDSU that he wasn't going to be offered the job. The reason has to do with the kind of personal conduct issues that Neinas is known to be great at discovering because of all his contacts. Oh and I think ASU would hire anybody. Certainly it appears as though no ASU coach has ever had a problem getting a football player admitted. And yes, if you infer from that I don't have much respect for ASU as an academic institution, you've got it right.)

[TheTastyGreek]

I'm not saying that McCarney is the guy, or that he ought to be the guy, or that he's my favorite name among the guys who are still rumored to be in the hunt.

But...

When I did one of those big research deals on the "Give a coach a 4th year" to see how often a guy started like Dodge did and ever managed to post a winning record in any season at that school, we only came up with 8 real success stories. One of the eight was Dan McCarney.

The others were Barry Alvarez, Brady Hoke, Greg Schiano, Rich Brooks, Gary Barnett, Joe Novak, and Rocky Long.

The lesson seemed to be that only a very rare coach ever manages to right the ship when they start off with three straight losing seasons at a school, and that type of coach tends to be a very good one that just had to rebuild a very tough situation and/or compete over his school's head at a challenging location.

I'm not saying that McCarney is the next Barry Alvarez or Greg Schiano, but considering he's in their company as practically a statistical miracle... I'm willing to look past how long it took him to get winning at Iowa State.

If he's the guy, I like the unofficial fraternity he comes from. He did what very few coaches ever manage to do, and I think he could do well for us.

[SleepingGiantsFan]

I posted this link on another thread. But here is how Minnesota assesses him.

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2010/11/2/1786880/minnesota-gopher-coaching-candidate-profile-dan-mccarney

That's an excellent analysis.

No way is a Big Ten school which also has a brand new stadium going to have to settle for McCarney. My guess is they open up their wallet and offer Kevin Sumlin a big contract and he leaves Houston.

[SUMG]

In case you didn't already know, McCarney's conference record while at Iowa State was 26 - 67. McCarney's teams didn't just lose, they lost Big.

And if you take out his 8 wins over 1-AA (FCS) teams while he was at Iowa State---his overall record is 48-85.

[UNT90]

We have had 3 winning coaches since 1929, against far poorer competition.

UNT is also not an easy place to win.

If this is it, so be it, but what a let down.

[houstonmeangreen]

For having a losing season after all those bowl years? Am I the only one who sees it as a problem that he had ONE winning season in conference play in 12 years? Big 12 or not, a blind squirrel can usually find a nut with greater proficiency than that...

I don't think our blind squirrel "Todd dodge" found too many nuts

[SleepingGiantsFan]

I'm not saying that McCarney is the next Barry Alvarez or Greg Schiano, but considering he's in their company as practically a statistical miracle... I'm willing to look past how long it took him to get winning at Iowa State.

I'm not saying that McCarney is the guy, or that he ought to be the guy, or that he's my favorite name among the guys who are still rumored to be in the hunt.

But...

When I did one of those big research deals on the "Give a coach a 4th year" to see how often a guy started like Dodge did and ever managed to post a winning record in any season at that school, we only came up with 8 real success stories. One of the eight was Dan McCarney.

The others were Barry Alvarez, Brady Hoke, Greg Schiano, Rich Brooks, Gary Barnett, Joe Novak, and Rocky Long.

The lesson seemed to be that only a very rare coach ever manages to right the ship when they start off with three straight losing seasons at a school, and that type of coach tends to be a very good one that just had to rebuild a very tough situation and/or compete over his school's head at a challenging location.

Props to you for the work.

Note that all seven of those guys inherited a steaming pile of dog poop. The only guy that comes to my mind who inherited a team that bad and turned things around immediately was Mike Price at UTEP and that was a unique situation. Gary Nord had redshirted everybody and their brother for two consecutive seasons in anticipation of putting it all together in 2004 but was fired before he got the chance and Price was the beneficiary of Nord's sacrifices. Unless UNT has been doing the same, it can't be expected that you guys will immediately win six more games like that - although with the horrendous job Dodge did, some instant improvement is inevitable.