DRC JJ and Slinker deserve another shot?

OldTimer · March 19, 2006

Brett Vito: Slinker, Jones deserve shot to right ship

09:43 AM CST on Sunday, March 19, 2006

Brett Vito

When it comes to college sports, it doesn’t get better than the NCAA Tournament with its upsets, Cinderella teams and obscure players who rise to celebrity status on the back of a single buzzer-beating shot.

The magic of the first two rounds are whirling by now nonstop on TV.

And once again, there isn’t a shred of North Texas Mean Green in sight.

The UNT men came nowhere near the NCAA Tournament or even the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The UNT women won the Sun Belt West Division title, but also lost their first conference tournament game.

The situation was enough to make UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal sit down and wonder what went wrong this season.

And that’s just what he should be doing.

Villarreal has maintained since he arrived in 2001 that UNT should compete for conference titles in every sport. The Mean Green have not reached that goal on a consistent basis in basketball and Villarreal wants that to change — preferably next season.

Considering UNT has a pair of veteran coaches, a great venue in the Super Pit and is sitting right on top of a huge recruiting hotbed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, success is what Villarreal and UNT’s fans should expect.

Here’s hoping a few days of reflection and meetings with his coaches will lead Villarreal to choose the best course of action, even if it is the least dramatic one. UNT needs to bring back Tina Slinker and Johnny Jones and let both coaches know that Villareal and the fans need to see progress.

A quick look at the history of both teams shows this isn’t the time to blow up the basketball program and start from scratch.

The UNT women won 19 games and knocked off in-state rivals UTEP and SMU on their way to winning a division title.

UNT also beat Sun Belt rival Middle Tennessee, the class of a league that was ranked as high as No. 9 in the Sagarin rankings late in the season.

Slinker is 31 games under .500 for her 17-year career, but over the last eight years has led UNT to at least a share of four division titles and posted a 133-95 record while graduating athletes at a rate that would put most schools to shame.

That success is something to be proud of but just won’t be good enough long term. Slinker was the first to acknowledge that point after the season.

“We want to go to the NCAA Tournament and do better in the Sun Belt, but we did accomplish some great things this year,” Slinker said.

The UNT women last made it to the NCAA Tournament in 1986, while the men earned their last bid in 1988.

To get back to the postseason, Slinker will need to find a way to catch up to Sun Belt East Division powers Western Kentucky and MTSU. UNT brought in a talented freshman class last year and must find a way to carve out a recruiting niche in a state that is pillaged on a yearly basis by in-state national powers Baylor, Texas and Texas Tech, not to mention a host of other rivals like NCAA Tournament qualifier TCU and SMU.

If anyone understands the challenge UNT faces, it’s Slinker, one of the few coaches at the school who has posted multiple championship seasons.

Jones has yet to win a title, but appeared to be on his way after a 5-2 start in the Sun Belt last season.

The Mean Green cratered shortly afterward and finished 14-14 for the second straight season under Jones, who has led his team to near the .500 mark on nearly a yearly basis.

The expectation has been that Jones would break through at some point and make the NCAA Tournament. UNT has lost a host of close games in the conference tournament under Jones and never come close to the Sun Belt title.

Jones deserves a sixth year and another shot at the title for a few reasons: namely Ben Bell, Curtis Muse and Keith Wooden.

The trio is part of what could be the Mean Green’s best recruiting class in years. Bell is one of the top junior college point guards in the country, while Wooden could be the dominant big man UNT has lacked at times the last few seasons.

When asked after the season what he needed to do to break through in the Sun Belt Tournament, Jones said the Mean Green need to bring in more talent and build a veteran team.

The jury is still out, but the players Jones needs could be on the way.

Rebuilding again on the men’s side and winning just a division title on the women’s side is not what Villarreal, or anyone else for that matter, was hoping for at NCAA Tournament time, but it’s enough to keep what UNT has in place for another year.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com

NorthTexasFan · March 19, 2006

These are good things to hear...I'm interested as to how it turnes out

NT80 · March 19, 2006

Same thing every year....give another chance. This incoming recruiting class is blah, blah, blah... same ole thing. Too many excuses allowed.

Edited March 19, 2006 by NT80

BleedGreen64 · March 19, 2006

The men's team did well until the Sturns fiasco. Will he be back? Did his dismissal cause tge let down? Did Jones lose control?

If we do not turn it around next season we need to go after a big name coach with a proven record. The only way we will get one is to find someone with "warts". I would paa on Bliss but stongly pursue Huggins (Cincinnati) if he has straightened up his act.

To replace Slimker we might need one of the high school coaches from this area like Rockwell or Mansfield.

ADLER · March 20, 2006

I think both should be kept for another year, but with a condition like the Kansas State coach had this season. KSU required that he make the NCAA tournament or his position would be terminated. He was fired immediately after his last game.

North Texas should also require either an NCAA berth or at least one WIN in the NIT next season. Anything less, and you could say the coaches have had more than their share of opportunities, and that it's time to look elsewhere.

MeanGreenBuzz · March 20, 2006

For Slinker she had more than enough chances after her first 5 possibly 10 years and then somehow managed to get a team to the NIT 2 times. She had a shot at it this year but the team which was mostly lead by young talent fell apart at the end and definately deserves a shot at next year. As for JJ remember the mess VT left the program in. You can't take a program that was leveled and rebuild it over night, though I will say with the amount of talent they had this year they should have finished better than 14-14 and that is a reflection on the coaching. Many of the teams we lost to in conference did not have the caliber of players that aTm and UofH had and we played them very well. JJ has more than enough talent next year that he should win 20 games and atleast make the NIT. Anything less shouldn't be tolerated. Remember also that Yemi of Denver and Bo at UNO are both gone, Winchester and Wilborn for WKU are gone, Mitchell and Southall gone for ULL. Heck even USA is losing its top 2 players from this years squad. With most of the Belt powers rebuilding NT could and should be in the SBC championship finals. The only traditional SB power team not losing major star power (for the Sun Belt atleast) is MTSU. We lose Hines (Brown replaces comfortably if he stops using the pump fake every time he touches the ball) Simpson (I'm very comfortable with Wooden replacing him) and Barnett (I think Howerton showed he could replace Barnett and play with more intensity). Also remember we have the kid coming up from high school that was scoring 60-70% of his teams points until he got injured. To not do anything next year with the talent that the program has should be seen as a mark against JJs coaching ability. No one has ever really questioned his ability as a recruiter, but being a great recruiter and a bad coach is not what we need to build a successful program.

BlueRaiderPride · March 20, 2006

Many of the teams we lost to in conference did not have the caliber of players that aTm and UofH had and we played them very well.

Well, North Texas did beat us, and we handed Houston their worst loss of the season and probably the largest margin of defeat in the history of their program.

With most of the Belt powers rebuilding NT could and should be in the SBC championship finals. The only traditional SB power team not losing major star power (for the Sun Belt atleast) is MTSU.
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Not only that we are bringing in a class that currently ranks 13th in the country on top of a class this year that ranked #10 in all the land. We've got a JUCO from California who has improved drastically academically who have given us a solid verbal. Middle Tennessee will definitely be a powerful force in the Sun Belt next year. We're only losing one starter to graduation, Tia Stovall, and we still have two 1,000-point shooters in Chrissy Givens and Krystle Horton.

ADLER · March 20, 2006

Well, North Texas did beat us, and we handed Houston their worst loss of the season and probably the largest margin of defeat in the history of their program.
Not only that we are bringing in a class that currently ranks 13th in the country on top of a class this year that ranked #10 in all the land. We've got a JUCO from California who has improved drastically academically who have given us a solid verbal. Middle Tennessee will definitely be a powerful force in the Sun Belt next year. We're only losing one starter to graduation, Tia Stovall, and we still have two 1,000-point shooters in Chrissy Givens and Krystle Horton.
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Scott,

I think he was referring to Men's basketball.

On the Women's side, I didn't even know MTSU played Houston. What was the score of that game?

BlueRaiderPride · March 21, 2006

Scott,
I think he was referring to Men's basketball.
On the Women's side, I didn't even know MTSU played Houston. What was the score of that game?
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Middle Tennessee 62

Houston 35

ADLER · March 21, 2006

Middle Tennessee 62
Houston 35
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Ouch, that one would hurt.

MeanGreen61 · March 21, 2006

Ouch, that one would hurt.
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Not surprising. Lady Cogs were one of the worst teams in CUSA.

BlueRaiderPride · March 21, 2006

Not surprising. Lady Cogs were one of the worst teams in CUSA.
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Yeah, they were, weren't they? They must've lost a crapload of good players. Last year they won the CUSA title and was seeded around #5 or 6 in the NCAA Tournament.

BlueRaiderPride · March 21, 2006

Not surprising. Lady Cogs were one of the worst teams in CUSA.
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Yeah, they were, weren't they? They must've lost a crapload of good players. Last year they won the CUSA title and was seeded around #5 or 6 in the NCAA Tournament.

BlueRaiderPride · March 21, 2006

Not surprising. Lady Cogs were one of the worst teams in CUSA.
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Yeah, they were, weren't they? They must've lost a crapload of good players. Last year they won the CUSA title and was seeded around #5 or 6 in the NCAA Tournament.

BlueRaiderPride · March 21, 2006

Uhhh. Sorry about the quadruple posts. I kept getting an error everytime I tried to post and I didn't think it was posting. Edited March 21, 2006 by BlueRaiderPride