UNT to take time in search

Harry · April 18, 2012

North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal has finished up one coaching search.

He won’t rush to wrap up the second.

Villarreal introduced Mike Petersen as the Mean Green’s new women’s basketball coach Monday afternoon at Apogee Stadium, filling one of the glaring holes in school’s coaching lineup that has undergone a dramatic change in the last few years.

Villarreal will now turn his attention to filling his opening for a men’s basketball coach and the rather large shoes left by Johnny Jones.

Jones was officially introduced as LSU’s new coach on Monday in Baton Rouge, La., ending his 11-year tenure at UNT that saw him take the Mean Green to two NCAA tournaments and the Sun Belt Conference tournament final in four of the last six seasons.

Jones led UNT to five straight 20-win seasons before finishing with 18 wins last season in what was widely seen as a rebuilding year.

His departure added to the turnover in a time of change at UNT.

The school lost women’s basketball coach Karen Aston to Texas after just one season this spring. Football coach Dan McCarney is entering just his second year at the school.

“I know there is some angst and concern, but what I would tell people is that we hired Johnny Jones,” Villarreal said. “We had the foresight and I had the intuition to do that. We hired Karen Aston a year ago and she did a great job. We hired Dan McCarney, who has increased our program tremendously. We are going to get that kind of person.”

Villarreal is not in a rush to find a replacement for Jones.

Assistant coach Shawn Forrest could be a candidate for the job, one Villarreal said has garnered interest from coaches across the country.

Former NBA and college head coach Reggie Theus, Marquette assistant coach Tony Benford, former Nebraska and UTEP coach Doc Sadler, Louisiana-Lafayette and former Sam Houston head coach Bob Marlin and Creighton assistant Steve Lutz are among the coaches who could become involved with the search.

Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20120418-north-texas-notebook-unt-to-take-time-in-search.ece

emmitt01 · April 18, 2012

Jones expects all of UNT’s players who have eligibility remaining to return.
“They have all told me they would stay there together,” Jones said. “They have a chance of doing something special.”

This is all I needed to hear. Proceed RV.

UNT90 · April 18, 2012

This is all I needed to hear. Proceed RV.

I'm sure JJ had a hand in soothing hurt feelings and getting some kid's heads back on straightduring and after his final meeting with the players.

Wish it was done by tomorrow, though.

hickoryhouse · April 18, 2012

This is all I needed to hear. Proceed RV.

I have to agree, best news we could have heard during this process

NT03 · April 18, 2012

I would really love a Theus & Forrest combo. I don't know if he would stay on but , let's still try to do everything we can keep SF if he's not going to be the guy.

Sadler , Marlin, Benford = no thanks

Lutz is Forrest. Great , great recruiter

I expect a name to emerge thats not on that list , Vito was pretty off when he 1st came out with a women's list. I think these are all just guesses on his part

Edited April 18, 2012 by NT03

MeanGreenTexan · April 18, 2012

This is all I needed to hear. Proceed RV.

With this news, I would maybe even lean toward Capel over Forrest... if he's interested.

TheTastyGreek · April 18, 2012

I would really love a Theus & Forrest combo. I don't know if he would stay on but , let's still try to do everything we can keep SF if he's not going to be the guy.

Sadler , Marlin, Benford = no thanks

Lutz is Forrest. Great , great recruiter

I expect a name to emerge thats not on that list , Vito was pretty off when he 1st came out with a women's list. I think these are all just guesses on his part

Apparently I like Sadler better than everyone else around here. I'm not campaigning for the guy, but I'd be satisfied with him as the hire.

Marlin is a very good coach who seems like he'd be a very bad fit here.

greenminer · April 18, 2012

Apparently I like Sadler better than everyone else around here. I'm not campaigning for the guy, but I'd be satisfied with him as the hire.

Marlin is a very good coach who seems like he'd be a very bad fit here.

I see them as similar styles. Can you elaborate on why you think Marlin would be a bad fit, yet Doc an acceptable one?

Maybe I am seeing Doc's style totally wrong?

TheTastyGreek · April 18, 2012

I see them as similar styles. Can you elaborate on why you think Marlin would be a bad fit, yet Doc an acceptable one?

Maybe I am seeing Doc's style totally wrong?

Shortest answer: High school/AAU recruiting, DFW in particular and statewide in general.

Corollary for the style similarities: Sadler did a pretty good job of using the team available to him in his first year in charge at UTEP. Whatever his personal leanings, he did have them playing a relatively fast paced and high scoring style.

You obviously had a closer view of him, and I'm not waving the banner for Coach Doc. But if we had to choose between Sadler and Marlin, it's a very easy choice to me.

curtisdaa · April 18, 2012

I would really love a Theus & Forrest combo. I don't know if he would stay on but , let's still try to do everything we can keep SF if he's not going to be the guy.

Sadler , Marlin, Benford = no thanks

Lutz is Forrest. Great , great recruiter

I expect a name to emerge thats not on that list , Vito was pretty off when he 1st came out with a women's list. I think these are all just guesses on his part

I'm not trying to start a fight, but what makes Lutz a great recruiter? Who did he recruit to SMU that was good? I have not kept up with him for a couple of years. What have I missed?

TheTastyGreek · April 18, 2012

I'm not trying to start a fight, but what makes Lutz a great recruiter? Who did he recruit to SMU that was good? I have not kept up with him for a couple of years. What have I missed?

SMU actually does have a very nice roster of talent, but that's not the best illustration of Lutz's skill as a recruiter.

Lutz's recruiting value is most obvious when you look at the talent Creighton hauled in from the Metroplex in the year after they brought him on staff. Geoff Groselle and Austin Chatman in the 2011 class (and Nevin Johnson from Spring, TX... All 3-stars). Creighton only had 2 ships to give this year, and they gave them to other players besides the Houston and DFW targets Lutz was working. But Lutz was recruiting a 4-star from College Station (I think) who wound up with A&M.

Before Lutz came on staff, Creighton hadn't pulled a commit from a Texas high school kid with their previous 25 scholarships. In his first year, they land three 3-star Texas high school prospects, two of them from the Metroplex.

You can also make a case that the best talent Danny Kaspar has ever been able to bring in was when Lutz was with him as an assistant.

GrandGreen · April 18, 2012

Shortest answer: High school/AAU recruiting, DFW in particular and statewide in general.

Corollary for the style similarities: Sadler did a pretty good job of using the team available to him in his first year in charge at UTEP. Whatever his personal leanings, he did have them playing a relatively fast paced and high scoring style.

You obviously had a closer view of him, and I'm not waving the banner for Coach Doc. But if we had to choose between Sadler and Marlin, it's a very easy choice to me.

Off topic a little, I have thought Marlin would be a great coach at NT; but he seems to have a lot of player problems at ULL. It may be just getting rid of some bad eggs but it does create the wrong signals.

JJ was so good at keeping players, which I think helped the program. Before Jones; Trilli and Jank were in the Belt mode, with big turnovers ever year. Of course, a lot of that was due to bad recruiting; getting players that couldn't play or just didn't fit.

TheTastyGreek · April 18, 2012

Off topic a little, I have thought Marlin would be a great coach at NT; but he seems to have a lot of player problems at ULL. It may be just getting rid of some bad eggs but it does create the wrong signals.

JJ was so good at keeping players, which I think helped the program. Before Jones; Trilli and Jank were in the Belt mode, with big turnovers ever year. Of course, a lot of that was due to bad recruiting; getting players that couldn't play or just didn't fit.

The other thing that would make me very, very anxious about Bob Marlin as a head coach here is his heavy reliance on JUCOs.

There's a couple of really good articles on ESPN about NCAA eligibility rule changes that will be implemented between 2013 and 2015. One of the big changes to JUCOs is coming within the next year- instead of a 2.0, JUCO prospects have to have a 2.5 to be eligible for D-1 basketball.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/58001/ncaa-reform-will-have-big-effect-on-jc-level

Again: Bob Marlin = Good Coach. But- When you're talking about a guy who has, in 14 years as a head coach, recruited a grand total of 3 high school players out of the Metroplex... 2 of whom didn't finish their eligibility with him at SHSU... A guy who has always been very reliant on a pool of JUCO talent that will start drying up significantly within the next calendar year... And a guy who not only lost some of the most talented players at ULL when he took over the job (Gradnigo and Bureau? Outlaw? Help me out, CBL), but has also lost the best player he's recruited in JJ Thomas due to some sort of personal friction... Hiring Bob Marlin here, now, would make me nervous as hell.

He doesn't have the connections to our traditional (and particularly our recently fertile) recruiting areas. Whatever his virtues, his most recent move has shown that his style can push guys away. And he may lose his strongest resource for incoming talent due to NCAA rule changes. Despite his experience, Marlin would be pretty far down on my list.

curtisdaa · April 18, 2012

SMU actually does have a very nice roster of talent, but that's not the best illustration of Lutz's skill as a recruiter.

Lutz's recruiting value is most obvious when you look at the talent Creighton hauled in from the Metroplex in the year after they brought him on staff. Geoff Groselle and Austin Chatman in the 2011 class (and Nevin Johnson from Spring, TX... All 3-stars). Creighton only had 2 ships to give this year, and they gave them to other players besides the Houston and DFW targets Lutz was working. But Lutz was recruiting a 4-star from College Station (I think) who wound up with A&M.

Before Lutz came on staff, Creighton hadn't pulled a commit from a Texas high school kid with their previous 25 scholarships. In his first year, they land three 3-star Texas high school prospects, two of them from the Metroplex.

You can also make a case that the best talent Danny Kaspar has ever been able to bring in was when Lutz was with him as an assistant.

Thanks. I first met Lutz when he was at IWC. Guess I still view him as a drinking buddy and camp coach. Any one that can talk an 18 year old into going to Creighton must have something going for him.

Edited April 18, 2012 by curtisdaa