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Interesting article for coaching search


MeanGreen_MBA

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29 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

Not trying to crap on your link, but the Aggies seem to think that Garrett Riley will leave TCU to be their OC.

The article also quotes known North Texas hater and UTSA alumni Mike Craven.  He was bashing the university for firing Seth Littrell on Twitter. So I won't put a lot of stock into his writing.

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55 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

Not trying to crap on your link, but the Aggies seem to think that Garrett Riley will leave TCU to be their OC.

The article also quotes known North Texas hater and UTSA alumni Mike Craven.  He was bashing the university for firing Seth Littrell on Twitter. So I won't put a lot of stock into his writing.

It is not necessarily the article and who wrote it. I just think it is a great idea to target him. Not a bad gig for him to get experience as a HC

 

if he brings us to the promise land for 2-4 seasons, he can write his own ticket anywhere he wants to go. 

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19 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

It is not necessarily the article and who wrote it. I just think it is a great idea to target him. Not a bad gig for him to get experience as a HC

 

if he brings us to the promise land for 2-4 seasons, he can write his own ticket anywhere he wants to go. 

Garrett is just too young for me. I think he's going to be a good HC one day. I know Lincoln became a HC at 34. However, it's just my personal opinion. Here is another article about Garrett Riley that you might find interesting.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/linked-by-more-than-dna-uscs-lincoln-riley-and-tcus-garrett-riley-enter-title-games-on-cusp-of-playoff-bids/

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3 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

I love how all these articles say SL lead us to all the bowl games but do mention we have not won any of them.

I think some journalists that are actually paying a little more attention are starting to understand that not only did we not win, but we were absolutely smoked in every single one

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    A look at the North Texas opening

     
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    The last three North Texas head coaches to leave Denton with a .500 or better record are Hayden Fry, Jerry Moore and Seth Littrell. Fry and Moore are in the College Football Hall of Fame, and Littrell was shown the door on Sunday.

    That juxtaposition encapsulates where North Texas finds itself today. The program has but brief periods of sustained success at the FBS level, and the Littrell regime counts as one of those periods: six bowl appearances in seven years, two trips to the Conference USA championship.

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    But Littrell's Mean Green teams consistently fell short against quality competition, especially considering the investment in the program. Littrell was among the highest-paid coaches in the conference, a new indoor practice facility opened in 2019, and yet a trip to the 2022 C-USA title game didn't obscure the program's 21-27 record over the past four seasons.

    In firing Littrell, North Texas is telling the world that what UNT football has been is not what it could, should and, if it gets this hire right, will be. 

    All the reasons why Littrell was let go -- 7-win seasons amid major investment in terms of facilities and pay in one of the nation's best recruiting markets -- is why North Texas will be an attractive job within the coaching profession. 

    The website Athletic Director U listed North Texas first among Conference USA AD jobs, and no worse than second among any of its nine categories ranging from brand perception, to donor support, to quality of life.

     
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Two major variables here: 1) North Texas does not have an AD right now after Wren Baker took the West Virginia job last week, and 2) North Texas joins the American next season.

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Littrell left North Texas better than he found it, and so the Mean Green believe they can shop at a higher price point than they did in 2015. That's not to say UNT won't eventually hire a Power 5 coordinator (Littrell was North Carolina's offensive coordinator when he took the job), but that they aren't limited to those candidates.

On that front, multiple industry sources have mentioned Justin Fuente's candidacy in Denton. 

Fuente sat out the 2022 season after he was let go for the sin of going 5-5 at Virginia Tech. He's 69-54 at Memphis and Va Tech, with an American title in 2014 and an ACC Championship appearance in 2016. A Tulsa native, Fuente also has relevant local experience with five seasons as an assistant under Gary Patterson at TCU. With 69 career victories at the FBS level, Fuente would instantly become the most accomplished hire in Mean Green history.

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That said, sources close to Fuente have indicated there's no guarantee he would take the job if offered. The 46-year-old can afford to be picky in his sabbatical, and only Fuente can say if the Mean Green check enough boxes.

Program sources indicate Graham Harrell would be a popular hire within the fan base. Harrell was Littrell's first offensive coordinator in Denton, and his three years represent the peak of the previous regime. After a 5-8 debut (the staff inherited a 1-11, pre-Portal era team) North Texas went 18-9 in 2017-18, including an 8-1 stretch in 2017 and a 6-1 start with a blowout win over Arkansas to begin the 2018 campaign. 

TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is another name that has been mentioned in industry circles. Riley is, obviously, the younger brother of Lincoln Riley and the coordinator of a College Football Playoff-bound offense. Garrett, 33, is young, even by family standards. Though Lincoln was 33 when he took over Oklahoma, he had six years of coordinator experience, three of them at OU, when he took over a turn-key operation in Norman. Taking over a different program would be a different animal altogether. However, the way Sonny Dykes built SMU and, now, TCU should be a blue print for whoever takes over at North Texas, particularly in the way Dykes and company have aggressively targeted Metroplex natives in the transfer portal.

For that matter, TCU inside receivers coach Doug Meacham was a finalist for the job the last time it opened. Meacham does not have the hot name of Riley, but he has the same qualifications that led him to be runner-up to Littrell, plus first-hand experience within the Dykes machine. Kenny Perry and Joe Gillespie, both former Texas high school coaches, could also be solid candidates in the event North Texas covets an apple from the Dykes tree. 

Speaking of Texas high school football, one name with high potential would be Texas Tech wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Emmett Jones. Jones is in his eighth year as a college coach, with experience under the Kliff Kingsbury and Joey McGuire staffs in Lubbock, sandwiched around three years at Kansas. Prior to that, Jones crafted a successful career as a high school football coach in Dallas. Jones was an assistant at three Dallas schools before taking the head coaching job at South Oak Cliff.

Astute readers will recall last December South Oak Cliff won Dallas ISD's first state championship since 1958, and the Golden Bears are currently in the semifinals to defend their 5A Division II crown. While Jones obviously did not coach those teams, the 2021 title was a transformational moment for Dallas high school football, and so the SOC brand has never been hotter.

On that front, another intriguing name would be Los Angeles Rams running backs coach Ra'Shaad Samples. Only 27, Samples would be the youngest FBS coach in the sport's modern history, but Samples is also the most connected and most accomplished 27-year-old in the game. The son of powerhouse Duncanville High School head coach Reginald Samples, Samples coached at Houston, Texas and SMU after his Oklahoma State playing career ended. He held on-field jobs at SMU as running backs coach and assistant head coach and was set to perform the same duties on Dykes's current TCU staff before taking the running backs job under Sean McVay in Los Angeles.

With no current full-time AD in place, this will be a different search than most. President Neal Smatresk made the decision to fire Littrell, and the expectation within the industry is he'll be involved in the search for Littrell's replacement more than is usually expected of a Division I president. Associate vice president/COO Jared Mosley is the interim AD and the odds-on favorite to become the full-time AD -- Mosley spent 11 years as Abilene Christian's AD, becoming the youngest AD in the country (26) at the time he got the job in 2004 -- but that decision has yet to be made as of press time.

With AD and head coaching searches running simultaneously, a conference move coming in the near future and lots of industry interest, North Texas has the potential to be a search 

 

 

I thought Mechem turned us down?

 

Edited by southsideguy
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