ThatMeanGreen

Not y’all celebrating the promotion of the biggest yes man in college athletics to AD, then getting mad when the mattress money is calling the shots on the coaching hire…

Let’s break this down: 1. Attendance will improve with wins. The average UNT fan, or potential fan, will not care in the slightest who the coach is. 2. It’s absolutely not the coach’s job to (directly) keep attendance up. It’s the coach’s job to run a successful program, which, sure, will drive attendance, but that shouldn’t be on the coach’s mind. 3. I don’t know what you mean by your recruiting point. Recruitment hasn’t been the biggest issue, retention, development and scheme fit have been. 4. No one is asking anyone to “fall in line.” I agree that Seth is likely not the answer moving forward. But to say that we have minimal ammunition moving forward if we retain Seth, and therefore (presumably) most of his assistants and eligible players that are, again, playing for a conference championship today, is an absurd statement to make.

Sure, but who is going to make the right strategic moves? There’s no AD, and almost certainly won’t be one until January, and good luck making a good coaching hire after the calendar turns. Then you’re looking at no time to recruit, guys naturally leaving in the turnover, and making assistant hires. Maybe you get an excitement boost from potential coaches based on the AD hire, but that’s a big gamble when we’re also facing the uncertainty of navigating a new conference. I’m by no means a Littrell lover, but it doesn’t make sense to let him go at this juncture. A new AD, conference and head coach are a recipe for disaster — let’s sort out the first two before moving into the third.

And you think a new coach will magically produce more than 7 wins next season?

Make no mistake, I think some wiggle room in the first year is fair. Expectations should absolutely be higher, but planning for growing pains is reasonable — unless the new AD is looking for an excuse to pull the trigger anyway, which is also fair.

AD: I’d like to see an external hire. I think Mosley is better served as an AD at the high FCS level or “lower tier” G5 level which we’re clearly distancing ourselves from. That’s not a knock on him or his abilities, different people are just suited for different roles. I believe Peck is similar to Wren in that he’s very advancement-oriented and I’m not sure he will be around much longer regardless of role. Coach: Realistically I think the Littrell hate is a bit overblown. I know we all expect better results, but I absolutely understand the hesitancy of firing a “good” coach and take the risk of getting someone who could tank the program just as soon as elevate it. I think it’s unreasonable to expect anything much higher than 6/7 wins and making a bowl in the next two seasons — the AAC is still a somewhat sizable jump in talent, and expectations should be measured as such as we transition. New AD should understand this and make it clear, but also have Seth on a short leash if we’re getting the doors blown off every game. Edit: I’ll also add that if what I’ve heard about Smatresk planning his retirement within the next year is true, that could add an interesting wrinkle in the AD, and therefore coaching search.

I should clarify that I don’t believe that he was interviewing because he was actively looking to leave Denton. He’s an ambitious and highly sought after administrator and, to my knowledge, was able to be picky. A handful of “higher profile” G5 roles (pre-AAC announcement) and other P5 jobs didn’t work out for whatever reason. Maybe he turned them down, maybe they didn’t get offered, who knows.

I have no issues with him, I genuinely wish him and his family nothing but the best in future endeavors. He’s played the game well and got his and continues to rise — as someone else said in either this thread or the announcement thread, that’s what any one of us would’ve done. I’ve just heard some things from those that are currently in or have recently been involved with the department about how they and their positions are/were treated that make me question some of his leadership tactics from an internal standpoint. No doubt he’s got the external and academic pieces down pat, but stepping on people to get to the top won’t make you friends for long, especially in an industry that’s seeing a lot of upheaval at the mid and entry-level ranks.

Just a well-connected fan.

Please, indulge us.

Will be interested to see how this plays out. Wren’s been interviewing for other jobs for years now and the writing has been on the wall for quite some time, so there’s no way this comes as a shock to his “Big Three.” Right now the department is split between “Wren’s people” and those that were there before Wren that he’s tried to oust (to some success) in his time at UNT. I’d expect a bit of a power grab situation from Mosley/Peck/Witty — IF it ends up being Mosley (a big if) I’d expect to see the other two exit pretty quickly, along with the few hangers-on. If it ends up being an outside hire, I’d expect to see that trio leave and the old guard to wait it out to see what happens. What I’m most curious about are Wren’s more recent hires (Bryan, Gardner, McDonald). Wouldn’t be totally shocked if Wren brings one or two of his team with him to West Virginia, assuming that there’s space in a department that is significantly larger than UNT’s. He freed up some futures when he got to UNT, he may very well do the same at WVU to make space for his people.

Because he was only ever in it for himself and his yes men. The hero worship of Wren on this board is weird.