Latest Vito Blog On Coach Search

[eulessismore]

This would open the door for Cannales to remain as OC. Works for me.

If that happens, I guess it would mean he has sold someone in Denton (Mike Canales) something. Hell, if he kept Canales and Gandy, it would go a little ways towards not trying to look like a know it all. Plus, if he could keep offense and special teams on the improve and breathe life into the defense, maybe he could get to a winning record in 2 or 3 years and get hired away to the big somethingorother. Of course, it depends on how you define winning.

Edited November 27, 2010 by eulessismore

[Harry]

So, are those who talk about his winning ways hoping we can ignore the fact they gave him 12 years at Iowa State to get those 54 wins? Todd Dodge talked about getting to winning within 3 years, when he was talking "realistically" shortly after being hired. Is this 5 years to get to the wins considered a better management of expectations?

He was coaching at the doormat of the Big 12. We are in the Sun Belt. There's a huge difference. McCarney wasn't my first choice but to question his credentials for our job is ludicrous.

[Harry]

This would open the door for Cannales to remain as OC. Works for me.

Well the two coached together at USF. If McCarney is hired I would be thrilled to see Canales remain as Assistant HC and OC.

[Mean Green Matt]

I learned this evening that McCarney was finalized late last week. Probably last weekend from what I am told. I won't go into details, but no other candidates were seriously considered. McCarney was the "guy" from Day 1.

This can't be true. I don't think RV would allow a guy who is 30 games under .500 to be the "guy" from day one after promising a national search.

Time will tell as more details about the process leak out, but I won't be convinced Mccarney is the new coach until I see him sitting next to RV on Tuesday.

[GMoney]

I have to say, if true, I'm completly torn on this. Does McCarney have credentials for hc of nt - yes. However, comparing him to coaches of past like some have on the board is pointless and a non factor. I'll support whoever the name is.

Is he the best available for the job? Don't know since no one really knows who the other options are except Canales. Now, is he better than Canales as an option? I always support my U, regardless of coach, because coaches come and go and things always work out in the end. But personally, between those two, I'd like to see Canales get his shot.

[PlummMeanGreen]

"All signs point to Dan McCarney getting the job, though."

Very next sentence:

"The only people who know for sure are not talking...."

Where exactly is he getting his "signs" from?

This is making me insane.

If you've followed Mean Green football for more than 15 years you are automatically already insane. I know...in fact, all 3 of my inner friends know!

Dr. Phil!

[SilverEagle]

He was coaching at the doormat of the Big 12. We are in the Sun Belt. There's a huge difference. McCarney wasn't my first choice but to question his credentials for our job is ludicrous.

There's a huge difference alright. He can't sit in recruits' living rooms and say "come to North Texas and compete in the B-12" like he was able to do at Iowa State.

Harry, he was working with at least twice the resources, and twice the credibility (recruiting to the B-12) and he has an overall record of 56-85?

Let's review the definition of "Credentials"....

cre·den·tial (kr-dnshl)

n.

1. That which entitles one to confidence, credit, or authority.

56-85 doesn't entitle him to any confidence or credit as far as I'm concerned.

[Cr1028]

Woohoo!!! Cant you just hear those suites and season tickets selling due to this "splash" hire?!!!

P.S. I dont care if he's got more skins on the wall than Buffalo Bill, nobody in DFW is gonna stand up and take notice because 99.9% of people are gonna have to be told who he even is.

Emmitt, realistically who outside of Mike Leach would really sell suites and season tickets at a school in DFW? I don't think Fran or Leavitt is going to make the immediate fan support some expect. Leach would have the suites sold out in no time for sure because he was ranked in the top 5 at a Texas school. I don't think Fran ever got the Aggies into the top 25 in his time there. Leavitt is not a Texas guy so you might not get the DFW impact that would sell out those suites and tickets.

I'm thinking they must know something we don't if they are truly going in this direction. Maybe they decided that "splash" hires don't always succeed. Who knows, I will just be glad when Tuesday gets here and this insanity is over.

[Rudy]

And don't expect Canales to stick around for long. Would you if you were in his shoes? He will be a HC soon, and we will be stuck with this hire for 2-3 years at least. The real question is, when all is said and down, how much damage will have been done.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Rudy

[MeanGreenATO]

If what that one guy said about nobody being considered except for Coach Mac, then Coach Chico definitely got the short end of the stick. When Lance Dunbar says, "I’m trying to get coach Canales his job.We all want him here, and we all believe in him. We know we have to win the rest of these games to even have [a] chance of him getting the job," I get the sense the team really likes him. Maybe I'm just reading too much into Lance's quote.

And it's not only Lance. But it's other guys on the team that really want him. I don't how the whole team would react to McCarney.

[MeanGreenDan]

This makes me want to smoke!

[emmitt01]

He was coaching at the doormat of the Big 12. We are in the Sun Belt. There's a huge difference. McCarney wasn't my first choice but to question his credentials for our job is ludicrous.

Exactly. I find it odd that nobody considers that, even though it was Iowa State, he had the Big XII to sell to recruits as opposed to the Belt. "Nobody else wanted ya kid, come to Iowa State and play against them week in and week out" sounds far better than "Nobody else wanted ya kid, enjoy playin FIU."

Mark my words, he will flounder here.

[STE]

There's a huge difference alright. He can't sit in recruits' living rooms and say "come to North Texas and compete in the B-12" like he was able to do at Iowa State.

Harry, he was working with at least twice the resources, and twice the credibility (recruiting to the B-12) and he has an overall record of 56-85?

Let's review the definition of "Credentials"....

cre·den·tial (kr-dnshl)

n.

1. That which entitles one to confidence, credit, or authority.

56-85 doesn't entitle him to any confidence or credit as far as I'm concerned.

Not to mention at least twice as many bowls (5 or 6 in the big 12) -- as someone else pointed pointed out earlier.

[PlummMeanGreen]

He was coaching at the doormat of the Big 12. We are in the Sun Belt. There's a huge difference. McCarney wasn't my first choice but to question his credentials for our job is ludicrous.

Yeah, Harry, everyone needs to lighten up on all this. If he's hired, we all need to make him feel welcome and forget about Coach Fran or Coach X or Coach Y or Coach Z.

Whoever we hire needs to be successful for the sake of the cause and the cause has not been doing well most many of our adult lives. One told me today (now yesterday) that he wasn't sure that even "Jesus" would be acceptable for this hire.

AND........in light of #2 (or #1 next week) Auburn hiring another Iowa State ex head coach with an abysmal W/L record with all the Auburn alums thinking their administration had fallen off their proverbial rockers in hiring their present coach shows that it can still be a successful kind of hire; after all, many of us will still allude to Hayden Fry's SMU career W/L record. Some schools mesh better with some coaches who had previously been put out to pasture.

I mean we all have to come up with our own spins that make us accept whatever we get at North Texas because we know life is like a box of chocolates (or something like that) because we never know what we are going to get. Last 6 hires have been fairly predictable, though, because they were all similar in their previous coaches roles and titles.

Box of Chocolates? I know, we would have some hacked because there were no chocolate-covered strawberries inside that box. Only at North Texas (as I hear more saying that of late).

Edited November 27, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[KoldBeer]

If I put his bio up against Chico's and not know who was who , I'm pretty sure I'd choose Chico's

I'd take Mac's bio in a second. Even if you ignore that he has head coaching experience, I'd take his assistant coaching background over Chico's. I like Mac's experience with Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida. Chico didn't have a lot of success at Arizona.

Now Chico might be the better coach for UNT but from experience standpoint Mac wins.

[UNT90]

I learned this evening that McCarney was finalized late last week. Probably last weekend from what I am told. I won't go into details, but no other candidates were seriously considered. McCarney was the "guy" from Day 1.

If true, what an Fing disaster of a coaching search. How the hell does McCarney rate "one and only" consideration with all the quality coaches out there.

He better win, and he better win almost immediately, or else you will see a less than half full brand new F'n stadium in 2 years.

King, please shoot me in the head also.

[Rudy]

If true, what an Fing disaster of a coaching search. How the hell does McCarney rate "one and only" consideration with all the quality coaches out there.

He better win, and he better win almost immediately, or else you will see a less than half full brand new F'n stadium in 2 years.

King, please shoot me in the head also.

You give it 2 years?

[MeanGreenDan]

We should have all known. This is UNT, and if there is one thing we know how to do, its how to flub up a coaching search.

We don't have much football history, but one thing we have consistently done is miss on head coaching hires.

Another round of big names that would probably be successful being thrown around, and another time that none of them are picked.

Let's set a date, everyone. Same place, three years from now?

P.S. we want a $40,000 refund. I wonder what the return policy is...

[Cr1028]

Who would have ever thought 4 years ago that we would be in a position to say the Assistant Head Coach of the Florida Gators was not good enough to coach our team.

[Cr1028]

Also, what if the Athletic Dept consulted with Hayden Fry himself? What if Hayden said "You want to win championships? Hire this guy."?

[untcampbell]

If God was rumored to be our next coach, some of you would complain that He can't win in Denton or is under-qualified or shouldn't be considered because he allowed Katrina to occur.

Iowa State was historically a door mat in the B8/B12. It is the second-best (of two, for all practical purposes) state school in Iowa.

He inherited a 0-10-1 team, took a few years to change the culture and put his teams into a number of bowl games. His 2000 team won 9 games, something that had not been done at ISU for 94 years.

The guy has recruited in a number of different markets.

His Hayden Fry affiliation alone should move the sports pants of any North Texas fan pre-1978.

He has won 50 more college games than the last guy RV hired.

At least some ISU fans thought enough of a guy that stepped down four years ago to provide a ringing endorsement on the guy's behalf.

His coaching skins come on the defensive side of the ball. A good defense, in this conference especially, wins.

In my mind, he is at least as qualified to coach this team as anyone else mentioned.

And by the way, none of us know who was interviewed, who wanted to coach here (other than Canales), what money was offered...we know nothing. And that is probably the way it should be.

Let's see who the coach is and give him the obligatory one-week honeymoon before we start ripping his guts out.

GMG

[Rudy]

We should have all known. This is UNT, and if there is one thing we know how to do, its how to flub up a coaching search.

We don't have much football history, but one thing we have consistently done is miss on head coaching hires.

Another round of big names that would probably be successful being thrown around, and another time that none of them are picked.

Let's set a date, everyone. Same place, three years from now?

P.S. we want a $40,000 refund. I wonder what the return policy is...

I think deep down, we all knew it would be effed up somehow. We all held out hope, but in the end, the norm prevails. I think the reason we don't have as much of a football history is because we do things like this. I had the feeling that we'd get taken for a ride when it was announced that Neinas was hired. I know, I know, alot of big schools use consultants. However, this is the same guy who we all critisized months ago for a ridiculous report on "what we need to do" to achieve success.

Words can not describe how pissed I am right now.

[MeanGreenDan]

Also, what if the Athletic Dept consulted with Hayden Fry himself? What if Hayden said "You want to win championships? Hire this guy."?

Then we should have saved the $40,000 we gave Neinas

[SilverEagle]

Who would have ever thought 4 years ago that we would be in a position to say the Assistant Head Coach of the Florida Gators was not good enough to coach our team.

Not good enough is incorrect. Not a good match (or even close IMHO) is more like it.

[Cr1028]

We should have all known. This is UNT, and if there is one thing we know how to do, its how to flub up a coaching search.

We don't have much football history, but one thing we have consistently done is miss on head coaching hires.

Another round of big names that would probably be successful being thrown around, and another time that none of them are picked.

Let's set a date, everyone. Same place, three years from now?

P.S. we want a $40,000 refund. I wonder what the return policy is...

You don't know they screwed anything up until the new coach is fired for losing. If they wanted to screw up like the last several years, they would have hired Hal Wasson, or the OC from Utah State or some other underperforming mid-major.