Pellom

I think bowl game is irrelevant. You have to make the decision as soon possible. Waiting two to three weeks after the season ends would make no sense.

It seems like a good rule of thumb to me to exclude coaches who are currently front runners or at the very least interviewing for P5 jobs. Neither Deion or Tom Herman want this job. Deion’s name is up at Auburn. Herman is in the driver’s seat at Colorado it sounds like. We have to be realistic about what we are.

Joe Gillespie might be the guy.

I think we can cross Colby Carthel off the list. 😂

Yep - I think he’s gone after the next loss (bowl game not withstanding) Beat Rice and UTSA, offer an extension. Lose one of the two, interim coach for the remainder of the year.

Also, in the official UNT press release, it states the 4th OOC game will be announce soon. My guess is it’s already scheduled.

I would be surprised if we are tied to that September 9th date. Could very easily see an AAC game put in that spot.

Just wanted to follow up on this. A new podcast is out. Godfrey says for now Littrell is safe - but a lot is riding on making the conference championship game. So the team has to finish the job. Semi-related to UNT: the expectation is Tulsa and Texas State will open, and both seem to be interested in WSU OC Eric Morris and current UIW HC GJ Kinne. Kinne played QB at Tulsa. I bring this up because their names have been mentioned on this board, and they would theoretically be candidates if we have an opening.

$750k per school. That’s a nightmare.

Of course I’d rather win them than lose, but my opinion is the outcomes don’t matter because the variation on said outcomes varies so wildly. There’s no way to gauge which team is more enthused to be there, which team has players sitting out due to injury or draft stock, etc. Bowl games are good for the players because they get free swag and it’s nice to get the check for the athletic department. But I don’t think anyone outside of the crazies of x fanbase remembers which teams won and which teams lost the participation trophy bowls.

I voted yes, just because it feels like beating Rice would be a given if we beat UAB. That might end up being a foolish assumption. I am less inclined than others to make a conference championship or bowl game win mandatory. 1) UTSA is better than us so it feels anti-intellectual to feel that way but also deem it a must win. 2) Bowl game results don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

The SID staff needs to be pitching these stories to The Athletic, NYT, ESPN, etc. We should display our pride prominently.

Underachieved to what standard? He’s been much better than the two coaches that preceded him. A better W/L record than anyone since Hayden Fry. Listen, I understand wanting a new coach just for the simplicity of trying something different. But to say Seth Littrell has underachieved at North Texas, of all places, is asinine.

Despite the influx of money in recent years, I do believe it is hard to win at North Texas and even harder to change the culture both in fan support and in recruiting. We are 10-1 in our last 11 conference games. Of course, we need to see the job finished. We need to win the next two games. UAB is tough. Rice shouldn’t be. I’m sorry if you wanted something else. I’ve seen plenty of you openly root against the team to get this coach fired. But 8-4 (7-1 in conference) with a conference championship game appearance would deserve immense praise and an instant contract extension. Seth would and should be able to dictate his terms.

Do you drink in the mornings or are most of your posts remnants of the night before?

I subscribe to the Split Zone Duo Patreon so that entitles me to a couple of subscriber only podcasts per week. Steven Godfrey (the author of the initial post this thread is based on) and Richard Johnson (SEC Network and Sports Illustrated) are cohosts. 1) Godfrey starts his report on UNT by saying he assumed Littrell would be safe after drubbing WKU. Per his sources, that is not the case and they expect Littrell will be terminated at the end of the season regardless of outcome. Winning the CUSA championship might change the calculus, but he said it would likely mean Littrell gets a P5 job and would not likely be fired from UNT. Those are semantics - the end result is the same: new coach for UNT next year. 2) Godfrey’s sources inside the administration at North Texas continue to say they expect to be at the top of the G5 landscape and competing for New Year’s 6 bowl games. He said the model is the University of Houston and UNT expects to fill the gap they leave from jumping to the Big 12. (He goes on to talk about how this sounds unrealistic from UNT’s brass, which can be debated, but what’s not up for debate is expectations have risen.) 3) Both Godfrey and Johnson say, when they talk to coaches about which G5 jobs are the MOST attractive, the North Texas job is always near the top of the list. We have money and we are signaling to the coaching community that we are ready to spend it.

Interesting. I wonder if they know something we don’t.

It is very rare to see someone stick in a position like this for so long. It’s a thankless job covering G5 programs for a living. Brett is great at it.

Thank you for putting in the work. Great post. Here is something I presume to be true, but you might disagree: while our athletic budget has been very high compared to other CUSA teams, there is still a natural limitation on the kind of program - and by default, the kind of athlete - UNT can currently run in the current set-up. With the new AAC money we’re about to get, in addition to more eyeballs (games on the ESPN family of networks vs. CBS Sports and Stadium), I think it is realistic our current staff will have more resources to up their level of performance. Not a guarantee, but realistic.

Need to find a QB. Maybe I am reading too much into the limited packages provided for him, but it seems like Stone Earle has passed Gunnell on the depth chart. I don’t know if I trust either one of them to be able to throw the ball on time consistently. More talent on defense.

Aune has been fine, but the Bloesch (Briles) offense scripts guys open. He misses far more than he should given our wide splits and pace. Look at Tennessee.

Interesting wording in the report. Godfrey is a great source for this stuff. My educated guess is he has sources inside the athletic department and is not getting his info from the coaching staff. I’m definitely split on this: I think even if we lose to UAB, Seth probably deserves an extension at 7-5 (assuming we are still playing in the championship game). However, I’m not sure he would take it if another opportunity presented itself. He’s already been linked to Colorado. I could see Arizona State being in play as well: he has coached in the state before and I think it’s safe to say they are going to have a hard time hiring anyone of note due to the impending NCAA sanctions. Another remote possibility is Tulsa if they fire their coach.

Should be a very fun conference if/when USF and Memphis get their acts together I think we can definitely compete for 8-10 win seasons in the new AAC. I like our offense a lot.

How about we just shut up and let the season play out?

Big swing game here because this one feels more winnable than UAB. I think Littrell’s job security probably swings drastically at 6 wins vs. 7 wins.