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No coach in the country has done more with less. He has constantly had coordinators and assistants poached. But just reloads and continues to be consistent. La tech is paying Skip half what we pay Seth. We paid Reffett and Reeder $295k and $275k respectively. While our conference mates in Ruston paid their coordinators $185k and $165k. That's a difference of 220k for those keep track at home. If for some reason Seth leaves Wren first call should be to Skip. He has learned how to win at the G5 level. New Denton has gave all the resources to win. Now we just need some results.

Through the first four years- Holtz took over a 9-3 ranked team and went 31-22 (regular season) in his first four years including 22-11 in CUSA . He had one P5 win (6-6 Illinois in bowl game) and went 3-0 in bowls with one CUSA division title. Littrell took over a 1-11 team and went 27-25 in his first four years including 18-14 in CUSA. He had one P5 win (3-9 Arkansas) and went 0-3 in bowls with one CUSA division title. I don't discount the difference in bowl records but considering what both took over, the difference isn't much. Holtz hasn't had a losing season after season four and is 25-14 since that fourth season. The bowl win over Miami is his only other P5 win. Both have a few questionable losses on their records but SL has a few more. Doesn't exactly make me fall on my knees and wish for Holtz but no doubt SL needs to get back to winning ball games.

Maybe I should know, but I don't. Who is this?

Last OOC game until the NCAA tournament.

When it comes to potential, we have some sort of chronic inferiority complex. We should be looking at the FAU hires and put this BS, don't-bother-trying, attitude to rest.

We hired Todd Dodge and Tony Benford. And, it's not even the hires that bother me but how long we kept both of them, despite historic failures.

You mean like after we went 1-11 and had the worst loss in school history it took us a whopping two years to go 9-5, beat La Tech in Ruston and win CUSA West? Did you know that since 2000 we've gone to eight bowls and La Tech has gone to nine? Granted, our lows have been lower than theirs but I'm not sure anybody cared when they went 4-8 and we went 3-9. Or do you mean when they let HOFer Kim Mulkey go because they wouldn't give her a five year contract and instead hired a 23 year old who subsequently slept with one of his players? Or that they haven't been to the Men's NCAA tournament in thirty years? Look, overall they win more than us and do a lot with a little. But forgive me if i don't have any jealousy for Louisiana Tech. No thanks. Let's see what happens over the next thirty years, especially now that we have a competent AD.

Maybe they are just better at this?

This is a purchased win game. Anything less than a rout by NT over TW would be troubling. NT by the way has one of the toughest oc schedule around, so I have no problem with a couple of lesser opponents. It is easy for a team to lose focus in a game like this, but I look for a plus 15 point win and lots of non-starter play.

We are not hampered by a recruiting budget. The article says it was our recruiting expenses not our budget. I read it as we are not spending a lot on recruiting. If you can spend less and get more then go for it. It does make me wonder if we spent more, how much would our recruiting improve?

I think it primarily boils down to the fact we can recruit, Texas (DFW, West, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, East), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and even Mississippi without having to pay for flights for our coaches.

When did he coach there? Wait. I just googled it. I had just left UNT to enter active duty military service the year before his arrival and spent most of his tenure at UNT stationed in Germany. Wasn't hearing anything about UNT football in Europe. No internet readily available at that time and AFN sucked back then. Could only watch whatever football game they decided to show and UNT was not one of them.

Here's a better one for the 2019 season.

We aren't completely innocent. The guy won four straight titles, had two national rushing champions, and endured the loss of Andrew Smith. We gave him a pat on the back and RV didn't reward him with anything (much?). Meanwhile, the current generation gets a coach that gets 5 wins in his [at that point] only year of HC, and we're so enamored with an APR bowl that we feel like we need to increase his salary, bump his assistant budget, extend his contract and - oh hey! - here's one of the top indoor practice facilities in this area of the country.

DD did as much as possible to fire himself. A guy that lived on one great recruiting class, and decided to wait for the big offer. NT didn't fire him soon enough.

Big 12 play has impacted Texas football. That’s why I love the sec it’s got some old school in it. peach howl proof went to the cotton bowl and Memphis played a good game. Penn state just wore them down. gmg

Side note on the Embassy Suites. i have friends that travel to Denton to see the home games. I know for a fact my friends have paid over. $300 per night. One time the rate was $500 per night. The rate varies with any booked business conference going on at the Embassy too, and with no rooms available. Weddings at Embassy Suites are huge business for the hotel. One game day weekend there were 16 weddings taking place! If there are no conferences booked or no big events going on in Denton the room rates do drop to the $100 per night rates. i do not know if the AD’s office books visiting recruits and families here or not, but one thing for sure is the place can be very expensive. My friends well stay at some of the other hotels at more reasonable rates and have very good accommodations.

There is no way talent at the top of La is way stronger than what TX rolls out. If that was the case, they would not dip into Texas as much as they do. TX has proven to always be a hotbed for recruiting and has always been rated much higher than LA (and not because we are a larger state) and that's why the P5 teams raid the state like they do.

I disagree. FAU spend more than twice what we spend, and they focus on recruiting locally in Florida, and would have few flights also. What are they doing that we are not?

I am happy that was the case. I think the team will be better in conference for it. And had NT done just a bit better, they might have actually had the opportunity to get a much better seed were they to beat the conference or even for an at large had they done much better.

Hopefully they will come in focused and not sleepwalking. These games can be dangerous, we have seen it before. Hope they end the year on a strong note heading in to conference play.

If that is our strategy then I think that is our Achilles heel. The rest of the country recruits DFW for football talent too. I'd like to know what Louisiana Tech spends on football recruiting. They seem to recruit all of Louisiana(naturally), and find talent in Texas wherever it may be. Edited

I agree. I believe we should be hiring on par with FAU. That's why I questioned the Bowen hire. My comment about Rich Rod is based on the likelihood of another P5 snatching him up.

BINGO ! We all absolutely hated that “do nothing “ athletic management at NT. Wren Baker looks like the real deal so far right now. I don’t believe he will drag his feet if football or basketball show signs of atrophy. Wren is smart, young and needs to protect his own future growth potential: McCasland needs to start winning in conference, not there yet. Littrel can’t have another boondoggle failure like this season. Wren is a pretty good AD, don’t believe he’ll drag his feet.

I think he’s gotta be in a good position for a decent P5

I've found two name that make sense to me... Gunter Brewer- WR Coach at Louisville ($350,000 current salary) Joker Phillips- WR Coach at Maryland ($375,000 current salary) Rich Rodriguez is out as the Ole Miss OC, but we probably don;t have a shot at him. Thought Police, enjoy down-voting this post.

Get Chris Petersen on the phone. In all likelihood it wouldn't happen. But give it a shot.

YES!!! 🤣

Dan Enos? Just got let go from the U. Has a long track record.

So we need to recruit 3 TE's this year? We might be good at RB but I don't think you pass on a kid like this in your own backyard.

To Silver Eagle's post, are we talking the "coaching hire culture" at North Texas, or the culture of North Texas, the University? I tend to think it's the latter. Something in the UNT air keeps good athletics from coming to Denton. Yes, we certainly get "some" talented athletes, but not near what other programs get. Remember Coach Mac's words, "it's hard to recruit to North Texas". I ask, "why" is it hard to recruit to North Texas? Maybe it's something about the University itself. OK, I've dug in for the onslaught!

I tend to look at it from another angle. Hire the people who made the decision to bring in Holtz. They obviously know how to pick a coach that works well in their system/community. You can knee-jerk-hire coaches all you want, but not all successful coaches and/or coaches on their way up, do well here at good ol' North Texas. One example would be Rod Rust. He was an assistant coach at Stanford when he was hired to replace Odus Mitchell. I assume he was well thought of at Stanford. He was a great X's & O's coach, (which is why he had such a long career after NT.....mostly in the pros), but every person who ever remembered him as HC here said the same thing.....he couldn't recruit! I suspect he couldn't fathom the culture here at North Texas either. Bob Tyler was the first coach I ever heard of that looked around toward the end of the season and said "what the hell is wrong with these people?" But I have to believe that Rod Rust must have said something very similar......only not as clean. (roll your eyes time) Hayden Fry was the only coach that came in and truly got us. Which is why he undertook the herculean task of trying to change our culture.

I don't want anything with the name Dodge to have a chance to ruin this program again.

Hire a named recognized QB coach that is a strong recruiter if this happens.

Only wanted to run him out of town after the great four year run when he quit coaching, quit recruiting and acted like a spoiled brat.

If SL is going to be the OC, I suggest moving Langston up in the box and hiring a new OL coach since SL won't fire him.

FIFY. Todd Dodge has never won as a head coach where for various cercumstances...he was not afforded a collection of All Star talent. Not at Cameron, not at Newman,, not at Fossil Ridge, not at North Texas and not at Marble Falls. Rick

Some ideas I haven't seen yet (forgive me if I missed them being mentioned)... Keith Heckendorf Current Salary: $210,000 AState Bio: https://astateredwolves.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/keith-heckendorf/536 2019 was his first season as the Arkansas State offensive coordinator and QB coach. Before that, he spent 8 seasons in multiple roles with the North Carolina football program, including the last five as quarterbacks coach. He also served as the Tar Heels’ passing coordinator the last three years and as the recruiting coordinator in 2014 and 2015. Pluses: He has crossed paths with Seth at UNC, appears to be a QB coach with skins on the wall, and can recruit. Clay McGuire Current Salary: $175,000 Tx State Bio: https://txstatebobcats.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/clay-mcguire/1198 2019 was his first season as the offensive line coach at Texas State after spending 2018 as the running backs coach at Texas Tech. Before that, he spent six seasons as the offensive line coach at Washington State. Pluses: An OC with an OLine background might help recruiting on that front and I, for one, am open to a new voice addressing that area of consistent need.

SL's air raid prowess combined with a legit oline coach at the head of the offensive scheme? Could be interesting. We need all the oline help we can get at this point.

https://247sports.com/Player/Kirkland-Michaux-46050097/ https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2020/jake-bishop-238092 Crazy that Westlake’s QB Michaux has only one offer to Fordham. He played really good in State championship. He threw some dimes and managed the game great. He is 6’4 and 211lbs. Jake Bishop, I know he is only 5’8 but he has won 2 state championships. That’s huge. He threw the ball great and you can tell he has that “It” factor. Not sure what coaches are not seeing. As a dad that just got done with this recruiting thing, sometimes you just have to scratch your head. Not talking about our coaches, just coaches in general. Seems like they chase the same 300 kids. Coaches trust your eyes and quit waiting on other schools to offer first. Build that relationship and you won’t have to worry about decommitments even to P5 schools. That was how it was with us. Christian kept getting calls from P5 coaches to play LB, but loved the relationship he built with the coaching staff and the commits. We also had 3 P5 schools tell our coach that they thought Christian was a great athlete , but wanted to wait until after signing day to offer. Games they play!!! Just a proud dad’s 2 cents. Go Mean Green

Like Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day, Dana Hilgorsen, Gus Malzahn, Mike Norvell, Chip Kelly, Jeff Brohm, Scott Frost, Jimbo Fisher, Mike Leach, Dan Mullen or David Cutcliffe in the college game?

I have always said that the AD was the one who wasted the national buzz and momentum we were receiving from TD

A fair point. Although there are a select few, such as myself who believe he could’ve been great with a better athletic director supporting him. If anything, he had to support the athletic director which is pretty sad.

Not to mention, I think the Mean Green faithful look upon Riley much more favorably than Todd.

What about his son Riley Dodge as QB coach? Scratch that. Just saw Rick’s comment on the Dodge’s hating us.

He's hard to beat as a high school coach though. Might have done better if we had been able to afford a college staff. He was a decent OC here with less talented personnel but I doubt that he'd want to try that again.

Can we just have a coach portal, one where we can see everyone available?

Going to throw a name out there. John Kitna!

Todd Dodge may not be a bad OC. Certainly not a head coach though. LOL.

I don't think he was fully prepared to be a fbs head coach. He is an offensive and quarterback wizard, everyone knows that. The problem was he thought the high school directly to the college game and that isn't so. He learned very quickly that you can't outscheme fbs speed. He also learned that he needed to have a veteran college coach running things on the defensive side of the ball. I feel like we were poised for improvement in 2010 but the injury bug hit so hard that he never had a chance that season. You can look at the statistics and see that every year he mixed in more runs to help the defense out and it started working but it just didn't work quick enough.