Latest Vito Blog On Coach Search

[MeanGreenDan]

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.

If you had given us the choice 4 years ago of a UF assistant or a USF assistant, we probably would have all said Florida.

Lucky for us, we had the chance to make the different decision 4 years later...and we failed (IMHO).

[Travis]

i love how people say ISU was the doormat of the big 12/8 so that is why it took so long. What about being the doormat of the sun belt?! How much harder is it to raise to the level of respectability being one of the worst teams in the worst conference when he couldn't do it with a team that had so much more than we do now. I think this isn't a good hire either. sad day.

[PlummMeanGreen]

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

One of the great phenomenas of our school (and we've had a couple) is how we seemed to never consult with Fry on these kinds of things, ie, the hiring of a new head coach of which we've floundered most of the latter part of last century and into the new one.

With all of Fry's other assistants who moved up to my knowledge we never checked with him on even 1 or 2 of those we probably should have hired at the time. Look at all the ones we picked instead? Well, we do have a great College of Music we can always point to until we get back on track in other areas long unattended.

GMG!

Edited November 27, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[meanrob]

I guess I'm one of the few on board with a McCarney hire.

Barnburner going on in Reno. But Boise just about to get beat. Maybe. I sound like Vito.

[meanrob]

I guess I'm one of the few on board with a McCarney hire.

Barnburner going on in Reno. But Boise just about to get beat. Maybe. I sound like Vito.

Wow, Boise just lost after missing two late easy kicks.

Ok, back to the McCarney bashing!

[SilverEagle]

One of the great phenomenas of our school (and we've had a couple) is how we seemed to never consult with Fry on these kinds of things, ie, the hiring of a new head coach of which we've floundered most of the latter part of last century and into the new one.

With all of Fry's other assistants who moved up to my knowledge we never checked with him on even 1 or 2 of those we probably should have hired at the time. Look at all the ones we picked instead?

Totally agree. Why wouldn't you consult with one of the most successful coaches in the recent history of NT. Not to mention the most powerful culture-changer EVER at NT.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Totally agree. Why wouldn't you consult with one of the most successful coaches in the recent history of NT. Not to mention the most powerful culture-changer EVER at NT.

And Hayden would have probably done it for free since it was North Texas!

The guy still loves our school and makes no bones about it, but we did play a very important role in giving him a 2'nd chance.

[Cr1028]

I guess I'm one of the few on board with a McCarney hire.

Barnburner going on in Reno. But Boise just about to get beat. Maybe. I sound like Vito.

I'm on board. I like the idea of having a defensive head coach.

[DeepGreen]

I guess I'm one of the few on board with a McCarney hire.

Barnburner going on in Reno. But Boise just about to get beat. Maybe. I sound like Vito.

Great game! Congrats to Nevada. About time someone knocked off Boise.

[Cr1028]

Great game! Congrats to Nevada. About time someone knocked off Boise.

Booooooo!!! Haha, j/k. I guess we don't have to worry about a BCS kiddie table this year with Boise and TCU playing for a 3rd straight year. I just hope TCU handles their business later today.

[meangreen]

It puzzles me how everyone has already declared McCarney a bad hire and that he will not be successful here. That is completely insane! You can never really tell if a coach will be successful the day he is hired. I think we all believed that Todd Dodge would win at UNT and look how that turned out! We have to at least give McCarney a shot. The Sun Belt is no Big 12. Not even close. So, let's all take a deep breath and just take a glance at McCarney's credentials and experience. I think anyone would be impressed! He definitely has the ability to win in the Sun Belt and at UNT. Now will he? Only time will tell, but lets hope he does! GMG

[PlummMeanGreen]

It puzzles me how everyone has already declared McCarney a bad hire and that he will not be successful here. That is completely insane! You can never really tell if a coach will be successful the day he is hired. I think we all believed that Todd Dodge would win at UNT and look how that turned out! We have to at least give McCarney a shot. The Sun Belt is no Big 12. Not even close. So, let's all take a deep breath and just take a glance at McCarney's credentials and experience. I think anyone would be impressed! He definitely has the ability to win in the Sun Belt and at UNT. Now will he? Only time will tell, but lets hope he does! GMG

All of us were for someone else other than McCarney and if he is the one all of us will support him after we take that deep breath you mention in your post. I don't know how with our past failed coach hires how any of us are suddenley experts here as it is? Hellsbells! I pushed for the hiring of Todd Dodge (who I think will rebound elsewhere and be successful--but not as a FBS HFC, I don't think).

As I think back, I can now remember talking to an old timer at the old Winchells Donuts which was near what was Selby's Flower Shop and this right after Fry was first hired. I remember how that "expert" predicted doom in Denton from what he said something to the effect of "that SMU coach who didn't do that much over in Dallas and he was fired for some reason."

I was mostly happy that UNT had not dropped football and seemed to be showing with the Fry hire that they wanted to try something different than they ever had in Denton. It turned out to be a marriage made in................UNT President Jitter Nolen's office.

Coach Mac (if hired) deserves a honeymoon period and for the sake of recruiting and potential recruits who might read this board, we all need to act like we're unified; and if that doesn't happen, then we have more problems than just who our new UNT head football coach is.

GMG!

Edited November 27, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[ColoradoEagle]

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?

Are you being serious? The Big 12 carries no weight in that area of the country. Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois are Big Ten states. As hard as it is to believe, the Big 12 may as well be the Sun Belt in Iowa, except for without the recruiting territory. Who do you think Iowa State is going to out-recruit given their location in corn fields? Iowa? Minnesota? Nebraska?

I don't know if McCarney will be the guy to get NT to the top 25, but those of you thinking that Iowa State carries the same weight up there as even Oklahoma State here are out of your minds.

[El Paso Eagle]

It puzzles me how everyone has already declared McCarney a bad hire and that he will not be successful here. That is completely insane! You can never really tell if a coach will be successful the day he is hired. I think we all believed that Todd Dodge would win at UNT and look how that turned out! We have to at least give McCarney a shot. The Sun Belt is no Big 12. Not even close. So, let's all take a deep breath and just take a glance at McCarney's credentials and experience. I think anyone would be impressed! He definitely has the ability to win in the Sun Belt and at UNT. Now will he? Only time will tell, but lets hope he does! GMG

Keep in mind that there are a lot on this board who really think they could be an AD. It’s easy to bitch and moan up front and sit back and say “I told you so”. However, these are the same people who will be the greatest fan of “Coach X” if he wins.

[rcade]

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?

McCarney was brought in to beat Iowa, an in-state rivalry so intense that 15,000 Iowa State fans showed up just on the chance they might get scalped tickets to one of their games:

http://www.usatoday....e-rivalry_x.htm

He ended a 15-year drought against Iowa and beat them five times.

That says more about the kind of coach he is than the school's overall record against the bigger, better-funded schools in the Big 12.

Edited November 27, 2010 by rcade

[rcade]

i love how people say ISU was the doormat of the big 12/8 so that is why it took so long. What about being the doormat of the sun belt?!

North Texas isn't the doormat of the Sun Belt. We won four straight conference championships and had a record-setting conference winning streak. With our size and our new stadium, we should be one of the strongest teams in the conference -- and I think we will be under the right hire.

[rcade]

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.

If it's McCarney, in what way is hiring him the norm? He has coached 12 years in the FBS and has five bowl trips. We've never hired a coach with that much experience as the top guy before.

[UNT90]

McCarney was brought in to beat Iowa, an in-state rivalry so intense that 15,000 Iowa State fans showed up just on the chance they might get scalped tickets to one of their games:

http://www.usatoday....e-rivalry_x.htm

He ended a 15-year drought against Iowa and beat them five times.

That says more about the kind of coach he is than the school's overall record against the bigger, better-funded schools in the Big 12.

Your right, thank God we can finally beat our biggest rival, Oh wait, we don't have one....

He will be an OK coach. I just think we could have done much, much better.

Edited November 27, 2010 by UNT90

[rcade]

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

If McCarney gets the job, I would be surprised if Canales had a better option available to him than being a top assistant at UNT. We have to be one of the only schools that is high on this guy, outside of USF. He did not distinguish himself here until *after* Dodge was fired, and even then his results have been mixed.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

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.

Agreed. The year he took over at Iowa State - Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas State, and (Glen Mason-led) Kansas all had 10 win seasons and all finished in the Top 10 that year - Nebraska #1, Colorado #5, Kansas State #7, and Kansas #9.

The Big 8 then absorbed Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor from the failed SWC. Iowa State went to the North Division.

In 1996, Nebraska and Colorado from that division finished in the Top 10 and Kansas State in the Top 20.

in 1997, Nebraska and Kansas State finished in the Top 10 and Missouri in the Top 25.

In 1998, Kansas State State finished in the Top 10, and Missouri and Nebraska in the Top 25.

In 1999, Nebraska and Kansas State finished in the Top 10

In 2000, Nebraska and Kansas State finished in the Top 10...and McCarney's Iowa State Cyclones finished in the Top 25.

I'm not even including the rankings of the Big 12 South schools. During those seasons, Texas A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma all finished in the Top 10 in one or more seasons. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State also had Top 25 finishes. McCarney was coaching in the toughest conference during its zenith.

McCarney did an excellent job building Iowa State. Anyone who doesn't acknowledge that is simply willfully blind. He took of a team that had gone 0-10-1 the year before he arrived. The program hadn't won more than four games in six season, and had only three six win season in the prior 15 seasons (1981, 1986, and 1989).

McCarney's out of conference record, which I've already documented (29-17 with a 6-6 record over Big Ten, state-rival Iowa), was stellar. He's an excellent coach. And, in the Sun Belt, will have us winning out of the gate, if he's the choice.

He's a proven nationwide recruiter who hit all parts of Texas with Iowa State. He may not "excite" the fan base; but, with our schizophrenic, score-boarding fan base, that's probably a plus. High school coaches across the state and country know him and have trusted his players to him.

It's a big pick up for us, if McCarney's the guy. To me, the microcosm of his work as a DL coach, as well, is the Florida-Oklahoma national title game two years ago when the Gators made two goal line stands in the first half that probably cost the Sooners the game. I'll take that DL coach leading our program. The game is still won and lost in the trenches; and, McCarney knows all about winning those line battles against the best in the country.

Edited November 27, 2010 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[NT91]

I don't know who he is!

[NT91]

but I soon will.

[ParksAndRecRick]

Like Harry and Plumm, if Coach Mac is the choice then it is important to come together. There are lots of important football people out their who think the world of this guy. I have spent lots of time reading about the Coach. Many people consider what he did at Iowa State incredible. A dormat to five Bowl games in the Big 12. We can't say he hasn't beaten some big teams in his career. It also has been noted that his players really seem to love him. That comes from Florida and Iowa State.

Someone posted a story about him "....he stalks the sideline with passion...and his players follow his lead." Not exact quote, but same meaning...

I told a GoMeanGreen.com Member I respect very much, that I was for Coach Fran or Coach Chico. I didn't like Alabama players left behind by Coach Fran, but we never know the truly story. Coach Chico just had some bad timing. He will become a head Coach and is already listed as a possible candidate at Ball State. However, this may be another win, with Coach Mac keeping him at UNT as Asst. Head Coach---Offensive Coordinator. (I think that is possible...but, we need it to be Coach Mac's decision).

Finally, in lisetening to his post-game interviews. He speaks fast and polished in interviews. I think he may get more people excited than we all may think.

If he is the choice, let's all give him a GRAND welcome! And, in true Mean Green fasion, I know we all will.

Without facilities and funding, this has been a hard job. The task is not over....but, is improving yearly. Coach Mac has been in those situations. Let's go back to the top of the pack in the Sun Belt. Our Conference USA bid gets closer aqnnually. Let's get TCU to the Big East and then have Mountain West pick SMU for Dallas Fort Worth marketing...and then we fit nicely for Conference USA for Dallas/Fort Worth presence.

Welcome Coach Coach Mac! Hope ya stay Coach Chico! Let's beat Kansas State and send the ole gal out in style!

[wardly]

North Texas isn't the doormat of the Sun Belt. We won four straight conference championships and had a record-setting conference winning streak. With our size and our new stadium, we should be one of the strongest teams in the conference -- and I think we will be under the right hire.

if we are not the doormat, you could have fooled me. overall, we have lost more conference games that won in a 10 year period. you are right. we should and i think will be at the top again in the net 3 to 5 years.

[Travis]

if we are not the doormat, you could have fooled me. overall, we have lost more conference games that won in a 10 year period. you are right. we should and i think will be at the top again in the net 3 to 5 years.

Yes, we could easily be at the top with the right coach. But, we, along with WKU, have been the doormat of the conference the past 5 years. We should give an honest assessment of how bad we really look right now.