[Mean Green vs Memphis: Score Prediction Thread]

51-31 Memphis 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

1 hour ago, dodgefan said:

Joe Gillespie formerly out of Tulsa, new DC at TCU.

Great recommendation. 
 

I remember reading about how unique his version of the 3-3-5 defense is. 

[Athlon Sport reporting on impending yet amicable Littrell Separation]

Yeah, Steven Godfrey is really good on this stuff. 
 

I’ve said it before, there just does not appear to be an appetite on either side to extend this thing any further. 

[If A Change: “The new coach needs to be hired quickly to begin recruiting players on his own team”]

I’ll throw away a recruiting class to make the right hire. 

[9.13.22 COACHES HOT SEAT 2022]

I will personally guarantee both Harsin and Geoff Collins are fired this year. What a silly list. 

[How Many Total Wins?]

5-6 wins still feels about right. The bottom of this conference is really bad. 
 

To me it all hinges on the La Tech game. Because if we don’t win that, we’re going to lose 6 straight. UNLV already baked in as a loss, then Memphis, FAU, LA Tech, UTSA, WKU is a pretty brutal stretch for an average team. 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

Spent some time this morning going over coaches who have an overlap with Wren from his previous administrative stops. 
 

Fuente is an obvious no brainer because of their relationship and his resume. They spent three years together at Memphis. 
 

Barry Odom is another. They were at two stops together: two years at Memphis, one year at Missouri. 
 

Those two would be home run hires if Wren can make a deal. Fuente is unemployed (theoretically cashing VT checks) and Odom makes $1.8M as DC at Arkansas. It would be a tough sell to get either one of them if they think a higher paying/P5 job is on the table soon. 
 

One under the radar candidate I noticed was Ryan Walters (I think someone may have mentioned him earlier in the thread.) Three years of overlap with Wren at Memphis and then at Missouri. Not only that, but he spent a year here in 2013 as CB coach. I listen to Split Zone Duo a lot and they rave about Walters as a budding superstar in the industry. He would bring a lot of energy.

 https://fightingillini.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/ryan-walters/1466

[Aune Brightside]

Every time I read this post I think “I just can’t look, it’s killing me” 

The Killers 🤝 UNT football 

[How Far Away Is The Roster?]

DL is not good enough at all. The LBers are weak besides KD. I like our corners, but safety is mediocre. 
 

WRs, RBs and OL all seem to be AAC quality. QB isn’t. 

[Take solace in knowing the end is near]

I’ve seen a couple of folks suggest they are afraid (or hopeful) Seth and this team can do just enough to squeak by and he’ll be retained into 2023 (the last year on his deal). 
 

I don’t want to say anything is impossible, but the chances of this are slim to none. Why? Because you would have to thread the needle to extreme precision for it to happen. 
 

The fact of the matter is, FBS head coaches don’t work on one year deals. A contract negotiation will happen. This is good news because they can’t kick the can down the road to next year (like they did last season). Littrell will either be extended or he won’t be the HC here any longer. 
 

Wren is a smart guy - but he can’t be impatient or boisterous like most of us us want him to be. We have to be able to listen to the non-verbal cues:

1) Reporting from major outlets suggest Wren was ready to pull the plug last season. ESPN, SI, and others have all corroborated this story. 

2) Those same institutions have also reported last year’s results were not good enough and more is expected this season as we head into the AAC. So that establishes a 7 win floor, either with more regular season wins or a major bowl win. 
 

3) The fact the situation has gotten this far without a contract extension tells you all you need to know about what Wren intends to do - he is planning to hire a new coach this off-season. 

The wildcard here is Littrell himself. Does he want to keep the job? I am sure he loses sleep at night over the Kansas State negotiations. So let’s say a miracle happens and we win 7 or more games this season. In that world, I think we could very easily see Littrell use that momentum to find another job. 

blah blah blah, long story short: this is an average CUSA team. 5/6/7 wins ain’t gonna earn an extension. 8 wins or more earns a job elsewhere. 
 

Sucks that this is a throw away year, but it is. 

[If Bobby Petrino's Missouri State Bearcats beat Arkansas tonight, would you forgive him?]

He's a great coach. I understand why Arkansas had to move on - on top of the power dynamics at play in regards to sleeping with one of your employees, he lied to Arkansas brass about what was happening. If you or I lie to our boss, we're probably getting fired too. 

But yes, I would certainly hire him here. 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

I would not be surprised if Wren begins to kick the tires on Fuente while in Memphis this week. 

[When will we get the announcement that SL won't be retained?]

After UAB. 

[Pathetic]

The front seven is so bad - we get zero pass rush. 
 

So to mitigate that we sit back in a zone and try to bend but not break. 
 

We’ve seen how well that’s gone. 

[Fire Seth! (2022 version)]

It’s a matter of when, not if, at this point. 
 

Looking at the schedule, I would imagine he’s fired the Sunday after the UAB game. That would give the interim a bye week to try to salvage the last game. Would also give about a month before signing day to get a new staff in place. 

[Uniforms vs. UNLV]

Hate the pattern on the numbers. 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

Mickey Joseph should probably be added to the candidate list. He’s already getting rave reviews about the culture change at Nebraska. 
 

 

 

He’s not going to get that job no matter what Feldman says, but we might be able to capitalize on the momentum. 

[Mean Green Baseball Project]

45 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

 

So, how much did it cost to bring about women's softball? How is it that men's baseball is so much more expensive?  

Right now, I would much rather watch a women's softball game than a men's baseball game. Men's baseball is sooo slow. The women don't waste time. They get with it.

Well on top of building the facilities, my understanding is baseball equipment is very expensive in comparison to equipment for other sports (softball notwithstanding). 
 

So the calculus is simple: are we going to earmark millions of dollars to get started while also acknowledging this program has very little chance to ever generate meaningful revenue. Things like this only happen when LARGE donors explicitly state they want it to happen and will fund it by any means necessary. 
 

As I said, I love college baseball so I hope it happens, and I will throw some money to the GoFundMe just as I have toward the Light The Tower collective. But the timing isn’t stellar for baseball simply because football is in such flux - meaning we throw way more money at it than we have in the past, but more is probably necessary because we might have to buyout one coaching staff and hire another. AND they want to improve the football facilities over time. 

[Mean Green Baseball Project]

13 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

I’m a big proponent of bringing baseball to UNT. I think we would be competitive fairly quickly. The amount of baseball talent in the area is insane. 

The AD has said that it will take several million dollars to get a program up and running. I notice you have a goal of $50k.

Not being difficult but what exactly does $50k accomplish?

Probably acts as a proof of concept to show the fanbase is interested in bringing baseball back. 
 

My understanding is baseball is very expensive - the scholarships are only one piece - so the funding would likely have to come from student fees. 
 

I love college baseball so I’m all for it - and I’ll bet students could be brought on board if it accompanies the extra-curricular campus activities mentioned above. 

[Graham Harrell and Neal Brown may soon be available]

$17M to fire Brown, probably another mil or so for them to fire Harrell. 
 

it ain’t gonna happen. (I’d love to have either of them here.)

[-2.5 point Dogs in Vegas]

Got it at +3.5 and feel really good about it. 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

2 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Not anymore! I agree with you based on past history, but today it is the transfer portal and NIL money. Last years would be an example at all schools. Development of HS players is over unless you are a star.

I would say relationships matter more now than ever, because you’re going to be recruiting those kids yearly instead of once when they leave high school. High school coaches are often tasked with helping their players find their second school too. 
 

“Jimmy got caught with weed at a P5 and they kicked him out. Do you have a spot?” 
 

“Timmy is tired of sitting on the bench, can you all get him some playing time?” 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

14 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Carthel still hasn't done anything at the FCS level. If he can turn in a 10 win season this year I'd be more intrigued but relationships or not, he's a .500 coach at the FCS level.

Kinda hard to justify that, especially to big money donors. We need a winner

Oh, no doubt he would need a good season at SFA this year to justify it. 
 

If you’re Wren, you have to chase Fuente and Herman. I totally get it. But Carthel makes more sense to me than a comparable G5 coordinator. 

[-2.5 point Dogs in Vegas]

I’ll be taking the Mean Green ML. UNLV can’t stop this rushing attack. 

[2023 Head Coach Candidates]

I think I’ve posted about it before, but I wrote for MTSU’s Rivals site for about a year and, fortunately enough, the coaching staff was willing to work with me and show me their recruiting process. 
 

Having very little knowledge of how things worked at this level beforehand, the #1 thing that stuck out to me is how much of recruiting is totally dependent on a coach’s relationship with high school staffs. It seems obvious to say it out loud, but there’s a layer to it that I wasn’t totally clear on before taking the role. 
 

1) at the G5 level, coaches rarely have the time to “discover” a great prospect. The P5 schools will always be first because they have dedicated positions solely for recruiting and watching tape. 
2) For the most part, G5 coaches are dependent on the high school coach to “tip them off” on a prospect the big schools are missing. I asked about one player specifically - MTSU was his only only offer to that point, so I was curious to know how they found him - “our offensive line coach has known the head coach at his high school for 30 years. He tipped us off.” That player eventually signed at South Carolina if I remember correctly, but it shows how the system works. 
 

I say all of this to put context on why I think Colby Carthel probably makes the most sense, especially in the context of how Jeff Traylor has built his roster at UTSA, how Joey McGuire know intends to build his roster at TTU, and why it seems Seth Littrell has been unable to recruit well after Graham Harrell left. 
 

Relationships with high school coaches in the state of Texas matter more than anything. And if you follow the logic that the lower you get down the football ladder, the more those relationships matter, it makes sense that Carthel and his staff in D2 and now FCS, would have been forced to cultivate those relationships for the past 10+ years.