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I love Brune. But I have to disagree. Seth had to do the safe hire. Not in a position to roll dice with you an inexperienced guy. Yes you could find the defensive version of Graham Harrell.... but it’s about 85% more likely you end up with Bodie Reeder

He frustrated me. He can frustrate somebody else. He had flashes of greatness, but overshadowed by drops, in my book. Hopefully he can be more consistent somewhere else for someone not on our schedule.

I would never impersonate an SMU fan. Don't insult me like that

I appreciate your views, but I think your way off on this one. A lot of your comments were relative to the NT players that Bennett will inherent. Insinuating that a younger more energetic coach will be better equip to succeed. I think just the opposite is true. You listed all the successful DC jobs that Bennett has had, yet imply he will fail here. I do not get that logic at all. You stated that Littrell made the save hire, when he should be looking for the next Graham Harold. No, he should hire the most likely candidate to succeed, not some high risk coach. You may also want to note that Nick Saban is 66, Bill Snyder was a hc at 78 and Bear Bryant was coaching at 70.

Spoke with a friend who played for SMU (under Forrest Gregg) who thinks Phil Bennett is a good DC and described him as "very passionate & a players coach". He was surprised by the Siggers transfer because he believes SMU "has a crowded backfield." When SMU does not have a home game he often comes to UNT games with me and wears green UNT gear and cheers us on.

Bizarre take. Find the next Graham Harrell? Someone SL can take under his wing and nurture? We need someone to come in and take control of the defense.

Scholarship receivers: - Deonte Simpson - Jyaire Shorter - Bryson Jackson - Damon Ward - Detraveon Brown - Caleb Johnson - Zhighlil McMillan So currently 7, counting Loronzo Thompson as a DB at the moment. Also half-expecting Khatib Lyles to get moved back to receiver should he stay. Especially with all of the depth we have at tight end.

The hogs up front. Stable of horses to run the ball. Ballhawk DBs.

I don't think that age is that much of a factor. As someone pointed out, John Skladany is probably the best DC in the last ten years and he was 64 when he came here. Bennett didn't retire because he had lost interest in the game or couldn't get a job; he retired for health reasons. That was apparently the reason that he only lasted the one year at Arizona State. He is now healthy again and ready to go to work. His best work was at Baylor where he was essentially fourth in the Big XII against a lot of formidable offenses. I'm hoping that he can get us to at least fourth in CUSA. With our offense that should be enough for some consecutive winning records.

Okay. This might be your best post yet.

@Unclementioned the pre-spring interviews. I would imagine he was still behind Shorter and Simpson and his interview indicated as such, or else I agree it wouldn’t make much sense for him to leave.

This dude would likely have been the new featured WR in an offense that just had its’ featured WR lead the country in TDs, earn All-American honors and be a high projected NFL draft pick. I don’t get it.

So it's safe to say, that next season, to go ahead and cover the comments 😈 If we do well - He was not missed - Seth had a plan If we do poor - If only Tre had not left we would have been good - Seth Sucks If Tre has a bad year - Seth had a plan and knew If Tre does well at SMU - Why did we let him go - Seth sucks

Perhaps this thread ought to be moved to Mean Green Athletics.

I really liked Siggers but no way man, Adaway has something special to him. They are the same style but Adaway has more wiggle. Would've been a nice tandem but Torrey and Adaway along with the freshman RB, we'll be fine.

This is not accurate

He didn’t just take the job for a paycheck, just like Mac Brown! He has a passion for the game and enjoys leading young men. It is a hire of a coach that has a proven track record where he has been a DC at a very high level! Get off the age thing!

Three maybes: 1. Bennett likes living in Texas 2. Needs to get back in the saddle and get rid of rust 3. Might he see a potential Head Coach job lining up here sooner rather than later. I bet Wren feels good about this hire too, I do.

That might explain the winless season in his second year. That doesn't explain the 1-11 record his sixth year.

This is one of those situations where I wonder if mommy and daddy are controlling his decisions. It wouldn't be the first time that a players parents have ruined their son's careers by overvaluing their son's talents (sans hard work). Good luck though kid.

My thoughts exactly

Year 1 Expectations Under 32pts per game (Under 27pts per game in year 2) establish an identity as the Mean Green stop the run (meaning under 160 per game and in year 2 it should be under 140) under 230 yrd per game passing 18+ turnovers NEVER EVER allow a first down on a 3rd and 15+ ALL YEAR LONG!!!!!!

This. Neither Aune nor Bean had spring training and both looked decent for their first year seeing real PT. If either improves substantially, we'll have one of the better QBs in C-USA. And if Gilmore, Keuhne, Martin, or Drummond passes them up, that could be an even better sign.

I expect all quarterbacks to be improved for 21.

Bennett needs to walk into recruit. houses and pitch his 2014 squad. Tell them stories about that run. I actually understand some of the concerns about Bennett's age. I just choose to be optimistic, because there is reason for hope. Remember, we don't need him to be an all-world guy, or even the best in CUSA. I have to think you just need a guy with the wisdom that comes with experience, give him a budget, and hope that he actually cares. I don't think CB really put his heart into our D unit last year. We have a much better record if we can get our average PPG allowed down to 25-30 in 2021.

Potential impact to our season is that it looks like Liberty Coach Freeze will probably be a top target

He may end up at Tarleton eventually

How else could he relay this information to his readers that would make you not come away with this impression?

It's all UNT is giving him to report on (and Bennett). Give a man a turd and you'll still get crap in return.

I disagree. Almost every assistant coach is on a one year contract and they all have an ego/confidence where they believe they have the ability to turn a program around. Most defensive coaches want the ability to run their own system and be a DC. Now, it could have hindered the ability to hire someone that is currently a DC at another program, but I think too much is being made about 2021 being a "make or break year" for Littrell.

Saban is 69

I will add some stats, Siggers and NT's last two games; Siggers had missed with injury nearly all of 3 games before that. Against UTEP Adaway 97 yds 3.7 ypc Siggers 120 yds 7.1 ypc Against App. St. Adaway 67 yds 4.3 ypc Siggers 96 yds 6.3 ypc I hope that Adaway and others make NT fans forget Siggers, but Adaway in his freshman year was not better than a healthy Siggers. Everybody has opinions, but if Siggers was returning to NT; I believe most would consider him the best returning back.

When I first read this I was very disappointed/concerned, but after taking time to think about it (and read some good opinions here), I’m not too concerned. I think the only way we really miss him a lot is if we have injury issues that deplete our depth.

Holding your breath on Gilmore might be a little extreme brother. Hopefully, he has a nice career here and I will certainly be rooting for him along with the others. But, he will have a lot of competition from Aune, Bean, Drummond and maybe even Martin. There is some talent, but no real standouts at QB here. Gilmore has yet to see the field in college, except for some brief action against UT Martin. This puts him basically in the same boat as true freshman Bryce Drummond. They are both similar when it comes to their 3* rankings. FWIW, Aune had a higher ranking than both Drummond and Gilmore coming out of HS/minors. Bean was a borderline 2/3* Offense is/was the least of our problems. We may not have a true #1 QB yet. But, there is some QB talent on this roster no matter who starts. Somebody will rise to the top. Getting Novil back would be a huge and unexpected bonus. I am certainly not counting on that. Hard to believe he was a 2* coming out of HS. Unlike the QB position, we are terribly thin on the DL (as is true with most G5 programs).

My 2021 player hope is that Shorter will have something close to Darden's 2020 campaign. I really thought he was due for a breakout year in 2020, before his season was cut short.

Solid hire. I hope for a drastic improvement next year, but realistically I know that may not happen. I’m not sure we have the players to be elite, but I know we can be better than last year.

He may be shocked when he lands in Denton.

A 4 man front should be very attractive to Norvil. Bennet should also be a plus. GMG

What have you seen?

Precisely. People act like they think he’s suiting up or some such.

Siggers was the best? I think you're by yourself on that island.

I don’t get the concern about sending him into retirement. He is basically retired now and is choosing to get back into coaching. If that doesn’t show you he will care about this job I’m not sure what will

Hell, someone on here mentioned Wade Phillips as DC. He’s 73.

Wasn’t our best D coordinator of the last 15 years on the verge of retirement and old?

Shout out to Jones for another quality outing yesterday. He’s starting to find his footing and coming into his own. Going to be fun watching him develop.

Coaches can enter the transfer portal? Interesting.

I am cautiously optimistic on this hire. Skladany was the oldest of NTs last three DCs and clearly the best one, so age is not all that meaningful in that regard. That said, I would assume that he will not be the carrying recruiting -traveling and social media all the time- and that this will have to be done by someone else. Still, I think it is reasonable to hope he will do better already with the talent that is here, and with where recruiting has gone in the past few seasons I would assume that NT simply is not that dependent anymore on the DC doing as much heavy lifting in recruiting. With all that said.... nobody ever really knows if this works out ahead of time, so i will be open minded in both directions.

Good point. There will definitely be less than thirty teams that have a great regular season in the worst conference in FBS football. 😉

I don't believe the sky is falling. Yes we have a lot of people leaving. But lets think about this for a second. Everyone is getting and extra year. There is going to be a back log on the roster. Some players have to leave to make room to being in more guys. Most guys that have left already had there degree.. but lets think about who has transferred so far.. Transfer so far Siggers RB - I love Siggers.. but lets be real. He was atleast 3rd on the depth chart. You have the young studs coming up Johnson, Ragsdale and the STUD Adaway. Also hearing Torrey is coming back. So he was looking at 4th on Depth Greg White and Kealon Jackson WR - This is obvious could be our deepest position. The guys saw the writing on the wall. Brian Parish T- He sat out this season and got passed. Also bringing in a transfer from OSU that is a beast while returning everyone of the best O-line we have had since 2013 Chris Thornton - Backup Bryce English- Forgot he was on the team Cam Johnson- We have brought in two transfer higher ranked then him. He saw the writing on the wall. Sanders- Gaddie and Morris already on the roster. Figure we will bring in at least one transfer. So long story short we are good. Also you don't see any movement on our side is because we are waiting on the DC hire to become official. And I like the idea. Let the chef do the grocery shopping. No excuses then. There is also alot of transfer rule we aren't aware of as fans. Some teams could be in some very big trouble come this fall in terms of transfer. SIDE NOTE the guy we had at Apogee today interviewing was a very big fish in my opinion. I have been hard on Seth this last month. But I will give him credit he is going all out on DC hire. He wants to win.. and he wants to win at North Texas. Exciting next few months ahead.