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So we have a pretty good idea that our new head coach will be one of two fine candidates which is great. The next phase of this hire may be just as important. The hiring of quality assistants. With all of the craziness of the coaching carousel, you have many, many qualified assistants that are out there looking for work. Obviously you are looking for good coaches who can recruit. The tempting thing could be to latch on to one who might be looking for a one year place to earn a living until something else comes along. What you NEED to do, is find quality assistant coaches who see the new coach as a way for them to further their career and move up the food chain. This will prove to be a challenge for us with so many p5 jobs with bigger budgets that will look to steal any quality guys we announce... it happened with Mac on a O-Line coach that we announced and ended up moving to Indiana for more money. Mac said it was a good sign -- that we were attracting quality coaches but it put us behind in recruiting once we brought in Mike Simmonds. Personal relationships are huge. We know from the Mac hire that there could be some who you hire who end up taking other jobs and we need to avoid that if we are able to. You also have to pay a competitive salary. Perhaps even consider some two year guaranteed deals if they are special candidates. You want to make it difficult for them to leave for another g5 or lower tier p5 job. Being in Texas is an advantage here as there is a lower cost of living and taxes etc. The other piece to this, and this to me is HUGE, is you need to bring on a recruiting champion. SMU did a similar thing when they brought in Van Malone as their defensive coordinator. Malone may well be a good defensive coach but there are probably guys with more x's and o's out there. The key is Malone is one of the best recruiters in the entire country. UNT is a job that desperately needs this position and needs it to be filled by a strong coach who has a proven track record of recruiting athletes. You can provide this person a coordinator title or perhaps even an Associate head coach title. You want this person to be in this job for a period of time if at all possible for continuity. It needs to be a guy who can relate to recruits and their families. The next piece is you hire a director of operations that is extremely organized, social media saavy and also relates very well to recruits and their families. This is tough to do because these positions usually do not pay very well. This could potentially be a high school coach with connections looking to move up.

read more: http://www.scout.com/college/north-carolina/forums/1408-tar-pit/14334566-seth-littrell-finalist-for-north-texas-hc

North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal interviewed Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley this week for the Mean Green’s open head football coaching vacancy, according to a university official. It’s unclear whether Riley was the first candidate to be interviewed, but he was the most recent from a list of candidates that is believed to include Arizona State offensive line coach Chris Thomsen, the former head coach at Abilene Christian, and Texas A&M offensive coordinator Steve Spavital. Villarreal is also expected to inquire about the interest of TCU co-offensive coordinators Doug Meacham or Sonny Cumbie. The 32-year-old Riley is in his first season with Oklahoma after spending five seasons as East Carolina’s offensive coordinator. Before that, Riley was an offensive assistant at Texas Tech. He is considered one of college football’s bright, young offensive minds. In Riley’s up-tempo spread scheme, the Sooners are averaging more than 530 yards a game and 45 points, including 60 the past three games. read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/football/article43462332.html Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/football/article43462332.html#storylink=cpy

As we head into the last 4 weeks of the season, I think it is important to note how much the perception and the overall mix of candidates can change rapidly based on the wins and losses. Take for instance Everitt Withers at JMU who name has come up as a possibility. Overall they are 7-2 but just had two weeks of consecutive close losses against good teams. JMU lost their star QB to injury and subsequently lost the net two games without him. Should this affect the perception of Withers as a good coach? It's shouldn't but it most likely does, especially at P5 programs like Va Tech, Maryland and South Carolina where his name has come up. Willie Fritz who is 6-2 at Georgia State has won games against the likes of Idaho, ULM, Texas State, The Citadel and NMSU. They don't even have to play ULL or Arky State and they lost to App State pretty handily. His team plays Georgia in a couple of weeks and that game could have a big impact on the perception of him nationally. Lincoln Riley and OU are 7-1 and have the meat of their schedule left with Baylor, Okie State and TCU left. If they finish the season 4-0 his stock will go through the roof. Stoops could tell him he is being groomed as his replacement. If they go 1-3 not so much. You could say similar things about Meacham and Cumbie at TCU or to a lessor extent even Briles at Baylor. The head coaches and assistants who are being considered as candidates will see their stock rise or fall in these next 4 weeks. Win em all and you may have a big P-5 program like South Carolina calling you. Lose some of them and you may be staying put for another year. UNT is sort of dependent on the trickle down effect from when the top spots are filled. That's why this time is so important. You have to meet and state your case with as many qualified candidates that are out there. You don't know where their mindset will be in 4 weeks, what offers they may have and where their best opportunities to advance lie. The landscape will change. There may even be some coaches who otherwise may not be thought of to be even considering UNT, who could by virtue of how their team ends the season may look at it a lot closer. So even though our season is pretty much in the tank, the outcome of other teams games could have a big impact on who we land. At least makes watching other games these final weeks more interesting.