The Reasons We Hired Mccarney

MeanGreenGlory · November 28, 2010

I, like most of you, was very impressed with Chico’s coaching during his interim position. After all he has done for the program in such a short amount of time, it’s hard to not like the guy and pull for him. Following the game yesterday against a quality opponent, it’s hard to not wonder what it would be like if he was the HC here.

However, that doesn’t mean Dan McCarney is a “bad” or “boring” hire by any means. Yes, Chico is great and he will do well as a HC, but to claim that this is another botched hire before the guy even gets here and shows what he can do is absolutely ludicrous.

Think about this from an administration stand point:

1) We needed a coach with previous head coaching experience. Check.

2) We needed someone who has taken a down program and turned it around. Check.

3) We needed someone who has experience winning against elite teams so that when we play them we can properly prepare and start winning more OOC games. Check.

4) Most wanted a defense minded coach because “it all starts with defense.” Check.

5) We needed someone who can recruit. Check.

6) If Dodge didn’t work out, we needed to “clean house” and get a new coach to open the new stadium. Check.

7) We needed someone with a lot of coaching ties to bring it a fully competent and extremely effective staff. Check.

8) We needed someone who installs discipline, competition, energy, and a hard nose mentality in their teams. Check.

9) We needed someone who will build a community around the program and get involved with the city of Denton. Check (per cyrocks).

Now, the only thing that we can’t put a check mark by as far as the “things that UNT needed in a new head coach” is the splash hire demand. But quite frankly, I think that is a bogus argument.

You don’t need a name to get butts in the seats. You need a good team that produces wins! People will not show up year in and year out just to hear the coach’s name. Dodge was a splash hire, a proven name in Texas football, and created a lot of buzz. Look where that went when the team didn’t produce wins under his direction. We weren’t selling out Fouts in year 3 simply because the Dodge name was on the sideline, were we?

I really liked what Canales did and was actually hoping that he got the contract to be our next head coach. However, I think McCarney is going to be a quality hire for us.

The hire is still fresh, but for the love of Scrappy, don’t shoot the guy before he even arrives. Welcome him, support him, and show him what the Mean Green Nation is all about. The more we support him and the more he becomes a part of the Mean Green Nation, the more he will want to win for us.

Welcome Coach McCarney! We look forward to your arrival! Go Mean Green!

eulesseagle · November 28, 2010

The BEST hire that MacC could do would be to hire Coach Canales.

GoMeanGreen1999 · November 28, 2010

2) We needed someone who has taken a down program and turned it around. Check.

How exactly did he do this? I wouldn't say he "turned" around ISU. In fact I believe CG has stated that in this thread:

http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57524

And as NT03 pointed out, with at least 30 games coached at ISU, he has the third worst winning percentage in ISU history here:

http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=57562

rcade · November 28, 2010

How exactly did he do this?

He ended Iowa State's 22-year bowl drought, beat their most important rival Iowa five times, won a divisional conference co-championship and took them to five bowl games. That's how.

island eagle · November 28, 2010

He ended Iowa State's 22-year bowl drought, beat their most important rival Iowa five times, won a divisional conference co-championship and took them to five bowl games. That's how.

The only Iowa State alum that I have been able to talk to said that he was perceived by the fans there as taking a program mired in defeatism and turn it into one where they expected to win. Whatever else, he seems to have changed the culture there to the satisfaction of many.

GoMeanGreen1999 · November 28, 2010

He ended Iowa State's 22-year bowl drought, beat their most important rival Iowa five times, won a divisional conference co-championship and took them to five bowl games. That's how.

Then we should have held on to DD...because he took us to four straight bowls and did far more than anyone else had done here.

UNT90 · November 28, 2010

You don't need a name to get butts in the seats. You need a good team that produces wins! People will not show up year in and year out just to hear the coach's name. Dodge was a splash hire, a proven name in Texas football, and created a lot of buzz. Look where that went when the team didn't produce wins under his direction. We weren't selling out Fouts in year 3 simply because the Dodge name was on the sideline, were we?

The hire is still fresh, but for the love of Scrappy, don't shoot the guy before he even arrives. Welcome him, support him, and show him what the Mean Green Nation is all about. The more we support him and the more he becomes a part of the Mean Green Nation, the more he will want to win for us.

Welcome Coach McCarney! We look forward to your arrival! Go Mean Green!

You are absolutely right. We may have gotten an initial boost in season ticket sales with Coach Fran, but if you don't win, the novelty wears off and fans stop coming.

The problem is Coach Mac brings 0 boost to season ticket sales. ZERO. That is not an issue if he wins immediately, which is what I expect of him. 7 wins (including a win over Houston in the season opener) is the standard I personally have for him (like that makes 2 $*its). If he starts out 0-3, look for a half empty new stadium next year.

Don't worry, all will be on board by the time of the press conference Tuesday. But, we damn sure get today and tomorrow to morn our personal coaching candidate's UNT death.

Edited November 28, 2010 by UNT90

rcade · November 28, 2010

Then we should have held on to DD...because he took us to four straight bowls and did far more than anyone else had done here.

If DD had a better attitude, he would've had longer to right the ship. The four straight bowls and winning streak had bought him some goodwill.

But what he did at UNT isn't as good as what McCarney did at Iowa State. Them beating Iowa was huge for that program.

MeanGreenGlory · November 28, 2010

You are absolutely right. We may have gotten an initial boost in season ticket sales with Coach Fran, but if you don't win, the novelty wears off and fans stop coming.

The problem is Coach Mac brings 0 boost to season ticket sales. ZERO. That is not an issue if he wins immediately, which is what I expect of him. 7 wins (including a win over Houston in the season opener) is the standard I persopnally have for him (like that makes 2 $*its). If he starts out 0-3, look for a half empty new stadium next year.

I understand what you're saying. But at the same time, I think the massive structure across I-35 that opens next year will compensate for some of that "boost." Yes, it will be a short lived boost of interest, but I think the new stadium will bring about as much boost and buzz as the name of any coach. Therefore I think if he wins a couple of games in the beginning and harnesses all of the momentum being built up (literally), we will be just fine.

Let's face it, the AD saw a huge reset button in all of this. They made a firm fist and hit the button hard. It's a great opportunity and one that we desperately need after our recent history.

VideoEagle · November 28, 2010

Let's face it, the AD saw a huge reset button in all of this. They made a firm fist and hit the button hard. It's a great opportunity and one that we desperately need after our recent history.

I think wanting to hit the reset button was what hurt coach Canales more than anything. If he was hired, to casual fans NT would have just been tweaking the system instead of making a clean break.

cyrocksmypants · November 28, 2010

Mac will sell seats. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that by the season starts he will have sold more seats than Fran or Leavitt could (obviously there's never a way of knowing for sure). He's one of the best salesman I've seen. And remember, while some of you may be hesitant about him, as messageboards go, you're more fanatical then your average fan. When he hits the trails and starts marketing the team and what his aspirations are, he's going to sell a LOT of people.

And on turning the program aroud, he took as much of a definitive cellar-dwellar as you could get at Iowa State and turned us into a respectable program, at one point being ranked as high as number 9 in the country. He raised our expectations enough that we went from being happy just to be able to watch really good athletes kick the crap out of us to expecting a minimum of a bowl appearance every single year.

untStein · November 28, 2010

I think wanting to hit the reset button was what hurt coach Canales more than anything. If he was hired, to casual fans NT would have just been tweaking the system instead of making a clean break.

And while I like Canales, at this point who's to say that we don't need a clean break?

Travis · November 28, 2010

And while I like Canales, at this point who's to say that we don't need a clean break?

I don't know about you... but i saw improvement during with Canales. I saw us hang close to a K-state team in which we have NEVER done before. I saw clear empirical signs that we didn't need a clean break. How much more obvious could we have possible made it?!

Green92 · November 28, 2010

Clean break.

MeanGreenGlory · November 28, 2010

I don't know about you... but i saw improvement during with Canales. I saw us hang close to a K-state team in which we have NEVER done before. I saw clear empirical signs that we didn't need a clean break. How much more obvious could we have possible made it?!

There is no doubt that Canales did a superb job and improved the team in a short amount of time. Sometimes it's best to tear down and rebuild a burnt house instead of trying to renovate a charred structure.

Edited November 28, 2010 by MeanGreenGlory