FWST article on Coach Mac

Marty · August 14, 2011

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/13/3289006/north-texas-new-home-could-be.html

SilverEagle · August 14, 2011

"McCarney has two pictures on the wall in his office at the newly named Apogee Stadium. One is Fry on the sidelines as North Texas' coach.

"He's looking over my shoulder, and every day I come in I want to make him proud here at North Texas," said McCarney, who hopes to get Fry back on campus for the stadium unveiling Sept. 10 against Houston.

McCarney, 58, remembers pouring over tapes of the Mean Green defense those first few months with Fry at Iowa. The style, technique and fundamental quality of those teams still resonate with McCarney today".

Hmmm, I wonder if all you guys who used to hammer us Fry era alums for bring up Fry's name, are going to go up to McCarney and tell him to quit talking about Fry.............................anyone?..........

UNT Mean Green · August 14, 2011

I believe McCarney can accomplish whatever he wants. In reading about and listening to Urban Meyer (built Bowling Green and Utah, and improved Florida) he says the success of a program does not have to do with an offense or a defensive system, but it's about the plans and vision and direction of the head coach. He talks about Brian Kelly, Chip Kelly, and Kyle Whittingham and how that's why they are so successful.

I'd bet he advised that to Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong, and last time I checked, those two were doing very well. Coach Mac will have the same immediate impact here, and he is more experienced than those two.

Mean Green 93-98 · August 14, 2011

I'd bet he advised that to Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong, and last time I checked, those two were doing very well. Coach Mac will have the same immediate impact here, and he is more experienced than those two.

The jury's still out on Charlie Strong as HC. He went 3-4 in the Big Least, which is better than Louisville had done in a couple of years, but it's still 3-4 in probably the weakest AQ conference. I expect good things in the future, but I don't think he has done "very well" quite yet.

UNT Mean Green · August 14, 2011

The jury's still out on Charlie Strong as HC. He went 3-4 in the Big Least, which is better than Louisville had done in a couple of years, but it's still 3-4 in probably the weakest AQ conference. I expect good things in the future, but I don't think he has done "very well" quite yet.

We all have our idividual views and opinions on it. If Coach Mac comes in and goes 3-4 in the Sun Belt are people not going to see that he is doing "very well" here? If you look at the big picture (culture change, recruiting, discipline, etc) Strong is doing very well as is Coach Mac; rather than looking at it like the armchair QB who glances at the records and makes an assumption.

I'm not calling Charlie Strong the next Vince Lombardi or anything; but the point was that the coaches who learned under Urban Meyer (Wittingham, Mullen, Strong) are successful; and I would not call McCarney a Meyer protege', but he certainly has brought a lot of the Florida stuff to Denton, and we all believe he is going to be successful in building this program.

emmitt01 · August 14, 2011

"McCarney has two pictures on the wall in his office at the newly named Apogee Stadium. One is Fry on the sidelines as North Texas' coach.
"He's looking over my shoulder, and every day I come in I want to make him proud here at North Texas," said McCarney, who hopes to get Fry back on campus for the stadium unveiling Sept. 10 against Houston.
McCarney, 58, remembers pouring over tapes of the Mean Green defense those first few months with Fry at Iowa. The style, technique and fundamental quality of those teams still resonate with McCarney today".

Hmmm, I wonder if all you guys who used to hammer us Fry era alums for bring up Fry's name, are going to go up to McCarney and tell him to quit talking about Fry.............................anyone?..........

Only if he brings up coach Fry for the umpteenth time.

SilverEagle · August 14, 2011

Only if he brings up coach Fry for the umpteenth time.

Well, then you better not listen to anymore of his speeches/pep-talks. Because every time he opens his mouth to talk to a crowd (and gets them worked up), he will be channeling Hayden Fry.

Oh, and before any of you out there start hammering Coach McCarney on this board for going on and on about the team being undersized....it's called "poor mouthing". It lull's the opposition into a false sense of superiority. It's an old coaching technique.....which Hayden Fry loved to use..........

emmitt01 · August 14, 2011

Well, then you better not listen to anymore of his speeches/pep-talks. Because every time he opens his mouth to talk to a crowd (and gets them worked up), he will be channeling Hayden Fry.

Oh, and before any of you out there start hammering Coach McCarney on this board for going on and on about the team being undersized....it's called "poor mouthing". It lull's the opposition into a false sense of superiority. It's an old coaching technique.....which Hayden Fry loved to use..........

No different in my eyes than using the bunker mentality. I know a guy who took us to 4 bowl games with this approach...of course that guy was the devil, right?

SilverEagle · August 14, 2011

No different in my eyes than using the bunker mentality. I know a guy who took us to 4 bowl games with this approach...of course that guy was the devil, right?

No, the "bunker mentality" didn't take us to four bowl games. We got there in spite of it. And we might have won MORE of those bowl games if it hadn't been in existence....not to mention more out of conference games.

I guarantee you that you'll never hear coach McCarney get up at a gathering of North Texas fans, right before an away game, with Lane Rawlings present, and say "well, I hope that when President Rawlings looks up at the score board at the end of the game, he remembers how much we are making on this game".

Yeah, THAT was inspirational.

greenminer · August 14, 2011

DMac is doing the right thing: he is using all his resources to get fans in the seats. This means not only putting a good product on the field, but also attaching himself to the proud history of his employer.

It is no different than any bball hire I've seen in El Paso, in regards to Don Haskins.

No, the "bunker mentality" didn't take us to four bowl games. We got there in spite of it.

Not entirely true. A few years ago I remember a player coming onto the board and explaining that they embraced the "us against the world" mentality. In a way, isn't that similar to the underdog mentality?, a mantra I know you love. It is unfortunate that it permeated towards the fans, too.

I guarantee you that you'll never hear coach McCarney get up at a gathering of North Texas fans, right before an away game, with Lane Rawlings present, and say "well, I hope that when President Rawlings looks up at the score board at the end of the game, he remembers how much we are making on this game".

Yeah, that's pretty terrible.

Mean Green 93-98 · August 14, 2011

We all have our idividual views and opinions on it. If Coach Mac comes in and goes 3-4 in the Sun Belt are people not going to see that he is doing "very well" here? If you look at the big picture (culture change, recruiting, discipline, etc) Strong is doing very well as is Coach Mac; rather than looking at it like the armchair QB who glances at the records and makes an assumption.

I'm not calling Charlie Strong the next Vince Lombardi or anything; but the point was that the coaches who learned under Urban Meyer (Wittingham, Mullen, Strong) are successful; and I would not call McCarney a Meyer protege', but he certainly has brought a lot of the Florida stuff to Denton, and we all believe he is going to be successful in building this program.

I don't think many people would call going 3-4 in the Belt doing "very well"--perhaps "promising." Todd Dodge did some "good things" at UNT that no one who goes by records alone would notice, but no one could say he ever did very well. And our expectations are not Louisville's expectations. Petrino set a pretty high bar at Louisville--12-1 and a BCS bowl win just 5 years ago. Louisville should be rolling through the Big East with no more than 2 conference losses per year. I agree that Strong's a good bet to get them there, but he hasn't yet.

I'm nitpicking though. Your general point is a good one.

Edited August 14, 2011 by Mean Green 93-98

UNTLifer · August 14, 2011

Coach Mac is his own man/coach. Sure, his style was molded by Coach Fry, but also other coaches he worked with and for including Urban Meyer. I'm just fine with Coach Mac being Coach Mac. Oh, and I was in the stands during the Fry era.

MCMLXXX · August 15, 2011

Everytime I see Coach Mac in those glasses I think of Roy Orbison. The Ath Dept should put together a video to play at the stadium of Mac singing "Pretty Woman" as pictures of the stadium are shown in the background.

All About UNT · August 15, 2011

Everytime I see Coach Mac in those glasses I think of Roy Orbison. The Ath Dept should put together a video to play at the stadium of Mac singing "Pretty Woman" as pictures of the stadium are shown in the background.

Coach Mac may not know that song.....but he has made it apparent that he knows this one.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · August 15, 2011

We won three in the Belt last year with injury and coaching change turmoil. Surely, with this coaching staff we can do better than three wins in the Belt.

McCarney's first Iowa State team played in a Big 8 Conference that fielded four schools that finished in the Top 10:

Nebraska #1, 12-0 (Tom Osborn, head coach)

Colorado #5, 10-2 (Rick Neuheisel, head coach)

Kansas State #7, 10-2 (Bill Snyder, head coach; Bob Stoops & Jim Leavitt, co-defensive coordinators...wow!)

Kansas #9, 10-2 (Glen Mason, head coach)

Oklahoma went 5-5-1, coach by Howard Schnellenberger. Oklahoma State went 4-8. Iowa State and Mizzou, both 3-8.

I don't care how far along some think the Sun Belt has come. There is no way it is near the level McCarney broke into in his first year at Iowa State.

His few detractors talk about McCarney not winning immediately at Iowa State, but you look at that 1995 Big 8 and see what he was up against. Then, in his second year, you add nationally ranked Texas and Texas A&M into the mix. The guy jumped into the deep end of the pool when he took the Iowa State job in 1995.

The Sun Belt conference is not the deep end of the pool. The snidest commentators might even suggest it's the kiddie pool of the FBS conferences. Nonetheless, McCarney and his coaching staff alone should be worth four wins in this conference.

I guess the odd piece of trivia is that in both of his head coaching jobs, McCarney will have faced schools coached by Schnellenberger in his first season.

meanrob · August 15, 2011

We won three in the Belt last year with injury and coaching change turmoil. Surely, with this coaching staff we can do better than three wins in the Belt.

McCarney's first Iowa State team played in a Big 8 Conference that fielded four schools that finished in the Top 10:
Nebraska #1, 12-0 (Tom Osborn, head coach)
Colorado #5, 10-2 (Rick Neuheisel, head coach)
Kansas State #7, 10-2 (Bill Snyder, head coach; Bob Stoops & Jim Leavitt, co-defensive coordinators...wow!)
Kansas #9, 10-2 (Glen Mason, head coach)

Oklahoma went 5-5-1, coach by Howard Schnellenberger. Oklahoma State went 4-8. Iowa State and Mizzou, both 3-8.

I don't care how far along some think the Sun Belt has come. There is no way it is near the level McCarney broke into in his first year at Iowa State.

His few detractors talk about McCarney not winning immediately at Iowa State, but you look at that 1995 Big 8 and see what he was up against. Then, in his second year, you add nationally ranked Texas and Texas A&M into the mix. The guy jumped into the deep end of the pool when he took the Iowa State job in 1995.

The Sun Belt conference is not the deep end of the pool. The snidest commentators might even suggest it's the kiddie pool of the FBS conferences. Nonetheless, McCarney and his coaching staff alone should be worth four wins in this conference.

I guess the odd piece of trivia is that in both of his head coaching jobs, McCarney will have faced schools coached by Schnellenberger in his first season.

I don't think people realise how tough of a situation Iowa State was when McCarney got there. Then he won, raised the expectations, and got fired because he didn't meet the expectations he had at the minimun helped create. Tough spot to be.

Glen Mason? Won at Kansas and Minnesota and then fell off the map. Sort of the same boat as McCarney.