Recruiting to North Texas

Brett Vito · January 13, 2015

MGB: Some thoughts based on a quote on the influence of Texas ties when it comes to recruiting in the state

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/an-interesting-take-on-the-impact-of-texas-connections-in-recruiting.html/

GOMG2013 · January 13, 2015

I wonder if Mac just didn't listen to anyone who gave him a "realistic" view of the expectations of the football program here or if he was misled into believing this was a USF/UCF starter kit just needing the right coach to take the bull by the horns. It is still so strange to me to see him go from uber positive for 3+ years to Darrell Dickey reincarnated--that is what has me rattled about him still. If he does become the 2.0 version od Dickey off the field (he already is on the field), I just wonder how many more fans are going to just turn around and go away, never to be heard from again. That, to me, is the biggest worry I have for the program right now. Coach Mac isn't going anywhere--he knows it, the admin knows it, the AD knows it, and the monied fans know it. That should be a positive, but the reality is that a negative coach really does burn bridges quickly--we saw Dickey's career go up in smoke as soon as we could afford (or chose to afford) to can him. If you know that the end of the 2017 season is the earliest point that a new coach could get in here, it makes it even more important that the current coach not bemoan and generally discredit this place.

Seems like Mac, RV, and even some fans thought that building a new stadium and one winning season would erase a history of failure. Its not that simple. That may work in another area of the country, but not in Texas.

I watched UH go from being ranked to a half full stadium in one season. Every gripe on this board can be found on the UH site, and UH has had much more sucess over the years than UNT.

Mean Green 93-98 · January 13, 2015

MGB: Some thoughts based on a quote on the influence of Texas ties when it comes to recruiting in the state

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/an-interesting-take-on-the-impact-of-texas-connections-in-recruiting.html/

Very good article. I know some will disagree strongly with it, but people need to be aware that there are those who feel this way. And that will ultimately negatively affect a coaching staff with limited Texas ties.

ntsumck · January 13, 2015

Vito's blog is very good. Why are we not on first name basis with all schools in the Metroplex? Not just Argyle? I can name 3-4 6A programs within 30 miles of Denton that a NT coach has not been on campus or even been in contact with the HC or AD in a few years. This is crazy. This staff should visit every school with 60 miles of Denton. I do not care if it is 1A or 6A. You never know when school will have a stud or a sleeper.

I get sick of kids going to La Tech, Rice or whoever, that we never even offered. I would talk to every 4 - 5 star in the Metroplex. I would let them know if things did not work out at their school of choice that they would have a home in Denton.

I just think this staff has to work harder at recruiting and building relationships. As my grandfather once told me: Sometimes "It's not watch you know, it's who you know"

BillySee58 · January 14, 2015

Yeah, good article by Brett, but there are two things I disagree with. One is that I don't think we can consider Ashton Preston a gem until he becomes a very good player. I consider Barr a gem as a recruit, because he had a good offer list and we had to beat out other schools for him. Same with guys like Tee Goree and Chad Davis. Guys who were gems in previous classes. When Preston committed to us we were his only offer, and we offered him late as he was one of the last high school recruits we offered during the evaluation period. SMU offered after he committed, but that offer was invalidated about a month later when June Jones was fired. I just don't see how you can consider a kid a gem when we're, for all intents and purposes, his only offer.

The other thing I don't agree with is that we may see the dividends of the HOD win this signing day. He said might, but still. That pitch doesn't exist anymore. We killed that momentum. That pitch should've helped with this signing class, as we were able to pitch it all throughout the evaluation period and the early commitment period (last spring and summer). But we failed to capitalize and weren't able to get any recruits with decent offer lists during that time except Sam Miller. Now, with any kids we get from now to signing day we're pitching them off a 4-8 season, not 9-4. Failing to capitalize when we had that momentum may really haunt us down the line.

Also, I don't remember the article, but I remember one that basically did a survey of what FBS schools have the best relationships with DFW high schools and high school coaches. I believe we were somewhere between 10-12 out of 12 FBS schools.

Ben Gooding · January 14, 2015

I've been shouting recruiting on this board for over a year. I was told development is the basket we put our eggs in around here. I kept analyzing the classes and kept screaming the same tune. Dan McCarney couldn't recruit a tick to a deer and that is very, very big problem. But I better shut up and go find a lawyer or doctor and tell them how to run their practice so I can validate my bitching.

817Fan · January 14, 2015

Yeah, good article by Brett, but there are two things I disagree with. One is that I don't think we can consider Ashton Preston a gem until he becomes a very good player. I consider Barr a gem as a recruit, because he had a good offer list and we had to beat out other schools for him. Same with guys like Tee Goree and Chad Davis. Guys who were gems in previous classes. When Preston committed to us we were his only offer, and we offered him late as he was one of the last high school recruits we offered during the evaluation period. SMU offered after he committed, but that offer was invalidated about a month later when June Jones was fired. I just don't see how you can consider a kid a gem when we're, for all intents and purposes, his only offer.
The other thing I don't agree with is that we may see the dividends of the HOD win this signing day. He said might, but still. That pitch doesn't exist anymore. We killed that momentum. That pitch should've helped with this signing class, as we were able to pitch it all throughout the evaluation period and the early commitment period (last spring and summer). But we failed to capitalize and weren't able to get any recruits with decent offer lists during that time except Sam Miller. Now, with any kids we get from now to signing day we're pitching them off a 4-8 season, not 9-4. Failing to capitalize when we had that momentum may really haunt us down the line.
Also, I don't remember the article, but I remember one that basically did a survey of what FBS schools have the best relationships with DFW high schools and high school coaches. I believe we were somewhere between 10-12 out of 12 FBS schools.

Here's a link to the article you were referring to.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article3845204.html

ForneyGreen · January 14, 2015

Here's a link to the article you were referring to.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article3845204.html

North Texas listed #1 under "What coaches/programs have been the most difficult to deal with?" :banghead2:

TIgreen01 · January 14, 2015

It's hard to get too worked up about any of the responses in that article. Nearly every school had both good and bad comments about them. The funniest (ok, maybe not funny funny) part was that we ranked as the hardest to deal with, but then also ranked right behind TCU on the "which college is your school a pipeline into" question.

The main thing that I pulled from that article is that it really sounds like area schools WANT us to be more visible and recruit their schools more. To me, that's a positive. It almost sounds like they are pulling for us. Again, this is just more proof that if we get the right people in here, recruiting to UNT can be a tremendous strength.

UNTLifer · January 14, 2015

I thought the same thing TI. I get the feeling that the coaches give up on the Dallas ISD students because the feeling is so many want to get away from home. Same thing with Denton ISD. We should still remain visible.

The thing I don't understand is we obviously need to add depth along the DL and SOC has a young many with offers from our competitors yet we aren't in on him. With the talent coming out of SOC, Cedar Hill, Desoto, Skyline, etc... we should be checking in on those schools weekly.

MeanGreenTexan · January 14, 2015

I thought the same thing TI. I get the feeling that the coaches give up on the Dallas ISD students because the feeling is so many want to get away from home. Same thing with Denton ISD. We should still remain visible.
The thing I don't understand is we obviously need to add depth along the DL and SOC has a young many with offers from our competitors yet we aren't in on him. With the talent coming out of SOC, Cedar Hill, Desoto, Skyline, etc... we should be checking in on those schools weekly.

Ideally, we would have some semblance of consistency & winning culture around here for a while, then get a Jordan Williams-type local guy who decides he wants to come here, and recruits the heck out of his high-caliber buddies in the area to make North Texas a power.

Right now, I think the perception of losing and being 'small-time' are hurting more than anything.

Have a winning season this year and beat either Iowa (which McCarney has a propensity to do) and/or Tennessee (doubtful), and maybe we can get some heads to turn.

untjim1995 · January 14, 2015

North Texas listed #1 under "What coaches/programs have been the most difficult to deal with?"

What could possibly be the reasons for this? I mean, really, how bad would you have to be to get this kind of description? Its not like Ramon Flanigan or Darrell Dickey are recruiting here anymore to tell you how bad you are or how bad the school is becuase you work there EVERYDAY...

Sometimes I wonder if North Texas comes up in this stuff because they are always pestering thsee coaches as to why their kids keep running away from us or won't consider us--if that is the case, the only thing left to do is to win just to show these HS coaches that we really are different than before. If its for any other reason (not visbile enough, not friendly enough, etc..), from a fan's point of view, there's just nothing else we can do but just wait until it all goes up in flames (again) at the affordable time in the future.