Newly hired UNT Coach Kevin Patrick brings intensity

[Harry]

He played in the UM downfall loss to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and the legendary victories over Florida State, as well as Penn State. His career spanned most of Miami's NCAA record 58-game home winning streak.

"A lot of big games against a lot of great teams," Patrick said.

So it's only natural that Patrick will be going ballistic on the sidelines when he looks across the field and sees the 2011 Hurricanes, that is, the 5-5 Hurricanes. Not his Hurricanes.

"All I'm going to say," said USF linebacker Sam Barrington, "is that I'm not going to let him go to war by himself."

All that matters to Patrick is how the USF defensive tackles like Grissom, Keith McCaskill and freshman Elkino Watson get after UM quarterback Jacory Harris and stuff running back Lamar Miller.

"He tells me he wishes he could play, but he lives his life through us right now," Grissom said.

Patrick has been driving home the same intensity to the defensive tackles he's coaching, that served him and his former defensive linemates like Rusty Meaderis and Darren Krein, back when Patrick was a part of two national championship teams at Miami.

"That's what I want our D-linemen to play like, with a passion and a little bit of an attitude," Patrick said. "Not that it was from there (Miami) or anywhere else. That's who I am and that's what I'm bringing to this game. That's what I bring to this job every day."

"He says he's going to contain himself as we get close to Miami," Grissom said. "He said, 'On game day, y'all better bring it.' "

Read more: http://tombalog.blogs.heraldtribune.com/10234/once-a-cane-usf-coach-patrick-now-a-bull/

[JesseMartin]

So now how many guys are on the staff who have either played or coached for a National Championship? Are there any besides Patrick and Mac? You can see how that would change the attitude and make it not seem so unrealistic to eventually have UNT make the leaps they're talking about. Maybe not actually winning a NC, but the fact that that's Mac's goal - and that at least 2 of the staff have actually been there - definitely sets a different tone than "have some more winning seasons and maybe win a conference championship once in a while" or something along those mediocre lines.