Lama pursuing new opportunites

[GrandGreen]

Per NT official site

Anyone see a trend here?

 

[untbowler]

Like Lama but was time, had not done anything worth note in 10 years, very similar to his stint at ILL, started well but the last half was middle of the pack, then add in losing players every year to transfer portal does not help, when you only have a roster of 8

[Zeleny' Orel]

It is obvious that the bar had been raised for all sports, the latest being golf and tennis.  Coach Lama definitely improved  UNT Womens Tennis, but there has not been much recent success.  I appreciated his empahsis on academics and the character of his players.  Hopefully a new coach can keep up these standards as well as raise the level of play.  GMG

[El Paso Eagle]

I guess when some of these coaches see JM heading in their direction, they get nervous.

[El Paso Eagle]

3 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Per NT official site

Anyone see a trend here?

 

I see a continued trend that Wren did not do his job.

[Jonnyeagle]

Wren never fired anyone!

[GrandGreen]

56 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

I see a continued trend that Wren did not do his job.

 

47 minutes ago, Jonnyeagle said:

Wren never fired anyone!

I didn't like losing Wren at the time, but it is looking like it is going to be very positive for NT sports. 

Win or be gone, odds on the swimming coach being here next year. 

Softball and soccer have winning histories, so those coaches are going to be safe.

New or 1 year coaches in football, WBB, MBB, Volleyball, Track and field, tennis, men golf next year. 

I just wonder how many teams have ever had that much head coach turnover.  

[NT80]

On 5/25/2023 at 8:51 PM, Jonnyeagle said:

Wren never fired anyone!

https://www.si.com/college/2023/05/10/bob-huggins-west-virginia-university-basketball-mild-punishment-hate-speech

[GrandGreen]

12 hours ago, NT80 said:

https://www.si.com/college/2023/05/10/bob-huggins-west-virginia-university-basketball-mild-punishment-hate-speech

Obviously, Baker would be fired before he would be able to fire Huggins. 

I wonder if Baker was pressured by NT to move on.  

[untbowler]

Hope they hire a coach soon.

Already lost #1 Adams, now #3 Alogo transferring to SDSU.

Need a coach to stabilize the roster and hopefully pick up a player for January

[outoftown]

The timing seems less than ideal, particularly if they still haven't replaced him. And Lama did A LOT for this team (belongs in the UNT hall of fame I guess), but like others said, the last few years were a continuous slide. He won 3 Sun Belt championships and initially was an annual contender in C-USA (but never won it), but slid into to C-USA middle to below average with few signs of it picking back up to serious championship contension.

Had this firing come two years ago, i would have said be careful what you wish for, the replacement might be considerably worse. Now the team might go through a rough rebuilding year or two, but it feels like that was unavoidable anyway.

Edited June 16 by outoftown

[Tommy Gadberry]

6 hours ago, outoftown said:

The timing seems less than ideal, particularly if they still haven't replaced him. And Lama did A LOT for this team (belongs in the UNT hall of fame I guess), but like others said, the last few years were a continuous slide. He won 3 Sun Belt championships and initially was an annual contender in C-USA (but never won it), but slid into to C-USA middle to below average with few signs of it picking back up to serious championship contension.

Had this firing come two years ago, i would have said be careful what you wish for, the replacement might be considerably worse. Now the team might go through a rough rebuilding year or two, but it feels like that was unavoidable anyway.

I guess I question what constitutes doing a LOT... the guy had some decent years in a lower conference but never did anything on a national scale.  And as you correctly pointed out he was looking very mediocre lately.

People don't seem to understand, these jobs have a shelf life and if you aren't getting better job offers you probably need to go.  Mosley isn't messing around like Wren was.  Wren got the big win with McCasland early and it allowed him to coast with non revenue sports to our detriment. 

[untbowler]

Lama put in a solid 17 yrs, but look at his bio and it was eerily similar to his tenure at ILL, really good early years then stagnant. Add in transfers out every year and was not good for winning stability, while allowing teams FIU, Charlotte, La Tech to pass UNT in Tennis, while never competing with Rice. 

Solid coach for years, yes. HoF - Sorry but no, thank you for the time and the early Sun Belt Titles, but no wins at NCAA Tourney that would warrant consideration, but then again the bar is very low at UNT

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, untbowler said:

Lama put in a solid 17 yrs, but look at his bio and it was eerily similar to his tenure at ILL, really good early years then stagnant. Add in transfers out every year and was not good for winning stability, while allowing teams FIU, Charlotte, La Tech to pass UNT in Tennis, while never competing with Rice. 

Solid coach for years, yes. HoF - Sorry but no, thank you for the time and the early Sun Belt Titles, but no wins at NCAA Tourney that would warrant consideration, but then again the bar is very low at UNT

You seem well versed in collegiate tennis.  Any coaches you would recommend?  I am clueless.

[untbowler]

12 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

You seem well versed in collegiate tennis.  Any coaches you would recommend?  I am clueless.

Jeff Hammond at Liberty would be #1, but he has everything there right now for a mid-major

Ryan Haymond - Associate HC at Memphis, but they are finishing off a new 24 ct Outdoor and 12 ct Indoor Facility, plus he has been there for almost 10 yrs

Courtney Steinbock former UA HC, but she may still need a few years out of sight before any AD takes her back

Lauren Longbotham-Meisner former Auburn HC, she did well at Auburn in a tough SEC and also did very well at SMU. She has been out of coaching for a few years now, so not sure she would have interest, although family is from Texas

Amanda Stone HC La Tech; just won ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, she has also done a tremendous job getting community backing in Ruston, doubtful she would leave small town for DFW Area, also did extremely well at Northeastern St prior to La Tech. 

Edited June 16 by untbowler

[meanJewGreen]

28 minutes ago, untbowler said:

Jeff Hammond at Liberty would be #1, but he has everything there right now for a mid-major

Ryan Haymond - Associate HC at Memphis, but they are finishing off a new 24 ct Outdoor and 12 ct Indoor Facility, plus he has been there for almost 10 yrs

Courtney Steinbock former UA HC, but she may still need a few years out of sight before any AD takes her back

Lauren Longbotham-Meisner former Auburn HC, she did well at Auburn in a tough SEC and also did very well at SMU. She has been out of coaching for a few years now, so not sure she would have interest, although family is from Texas

Amanda Stone HC La Tech; just won ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, she has also done a tremendous job getting community backing in Ruston, doubtful she would leave small town for DFW Area, also did extremely well at Northeastern St prior to La Tech. 

Random and not at all relevant, Meisners ex used to be SID at conference USA 

[El Paso Eagle]

1 hour ago, untbowler said:

Courtney Steinbock former UA HC, but she may still need a few years out of sight before any AD takes her back

Thank you for your insights. Put me in the camp of not knowing anything about how tennis coaching works.

What got her in hot water?

Based on recent hires anyone you can think of from lower-division schools in Texas? Also, do coaches mostly stay with either men's or women's teams, or could someone currently coaching men's take over?

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Thank you for your insights. Put me in the camp of not knowing anything about how tennis coaching works.

What got her in hot water?

Based on recent hires anyone you can think of from lower-division schools in Texas? Also, do coaches mostly stay with either men's or women's teams, or could someone currently coaching men's take over?

Yes, thank you @untbowler .  What is the story on Steinbock?  

[Zeleny' Orel]

5 hours ago, untbowler said:

Jeff Hammond at Liberty would be #1, but he has everything there right now for a mid-major

Ryan Haymond - Associate HC at Memphis, but they are finishing off a new 24 ct Outdoor and 12 ct Indoor Facility, plus he has been there for almost 10 yrs

Courtney Steinbock former UA HC, but she may still need a few years out of sight before any AD takes her back

Lauren Longbotham-Meisner former Auburn HC, she did well at Auburn in a tough SEC and also did very well at SMU. She has been out of coaching for a few years now, so not sure she would have interest, although family is from Texas

Amanda Stone HC La Tech; just won ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, she has also done a tremendous job getting community backing in Ruston, doubtful she would leave small town for DFW Area, also did extremely well at Northeastern St prior to La Tech. 

Did you mean Jeff Maren at Liberty or did he leave?  I know he and Jeff Hammond were both assistants for UNT tennis but thought Coach Maren was still at LIberty.  

[untbowler]

On 6/16/2023 at 8:41 PM, Zeleny' Orel said:

Did you mean Jeff Maren at Liberty or did he leave?  I know he and Jeff Hammond were both assistants for UNT tennis but thought Coach Maren was still at LIberty.  

you are correct, Jeff Maren, thanks for the correction

BTW another transfer out

Tennis Transfer Portal Report

 

@10SPortalReport

·

Jun 18

 

North Texas transfer Matilde Morais has committed to Michigan State, per source.

[UNTLifer]

I looked at tennisscoop.com and 247's tennis section but couldn't find anything on our coaching search.

[El Paso Eagle]

Would rater Jared take the time to get the right person rather than hurry to fill the slot. No disrespect to the ones leaving, but we haven't actually been tearing it up in CUSA

[Zeleny' Orel]

3 hours ago, untbowler said:

you are correct, Jeff Maren, thanks for the correction

BTW another transfer out

Tennis Transfer Portal Report

 

@10SPortalReport

·

Jun 18

 

North Texas transfer Matilde Morais has committed to Michigan State, per source.

I agree on Jeff Maren.  He would be a great get but I think he is where he wants to be.  You seem to have a more national tennis perspective than I do.  How attractive is the UNT tennis coaching job to potential candidates?  I think our facilities are lacking (no indoor facilities) but am not sure about salary, resources, AD support, etc.  Moving to the AAC is probably a plus but so much is dependent on the ability to recruit internationally.  Looks like we will have a complete rebuild of the program.

[untbowler]

14 hours ago, Zeleny' Orel said:

I agree on Jeff Maren.  He would be a great get but I think he is where he wants to be.  You seem to have a more national tennis perspective than I do.  How attractive is the UNT tennis coaching job to potential candidates?  I think our facilities are lacking (no indoor facilities) but am not sure about salary, resources, AD support, etc.  Moving to the AAC is probably a plus but so much is dependent on the ability to recruit internationally.  Looks like we will have a complete rebuild of the program.

unfortunately it is looking like a rebuilding year.

The job is attractive, big market, very good conference. I have no idea the salary, but assume Coach Lama had quite the raise from the previous 2 coaches who were only in the 40k range. Also add in Lama had a full-time assistant coach, so budget has improved obviously. 

Hope the next coach can recruit and keep talent at UNT, that appears to be the problem at end of Lama tenure was a revolving door of players, that needs to stabilize.

[UNTLifer]

Here is some background on Steinbock.  She is a Lubbock native, so maybe she is ready to come home to TX.

https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/coache/courtney-steinbock/

Looks like she went out "Huggins'" style.

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/may/27/after-public-intoxication-arrest-arkansas-tennis/

 

 

Edited June 21 by UNTLifer
Corrected the 2nd link