Have We Found Our Coach?

[shaft]

With two wins under his Belt have we found our next head coach?

[VideoEagle]

You evaluate when all the games are done, or if they want to announce at the K-State game then you wait through next week. And you interview in person or by phone everyone who is interested and meets the basic requirements of the job. That's just due diligence.

So far, I like what I see in Canales and I do think the way he turned the team around and even kept them fighting in a loss should count in his favor.

Canales is building a lead, but as Mean Green fans know all too well the game isn't over in the 3rd quarter but rather at the end of the 4th.

[NT03]

Beat Monroe & I'll fully jump on the boat

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I voted "I need to see more" simply to see if this thing keeps translating. Although, if we beat ULM, I'll be fully on board with hiring him and announcing it before the Kansas State game.

In that manner, the kids would have some stability and not have the pressure of thinking they had to win to save a coach. Plus, it would give Canales and the coaching staff the ability to call recruits that week and say, "Hey, I know it's Thanksgiving weekend, but come out and see how we've got this thing rolling. We'd like you to be a part of it next year."

I'm trying to beg out of a kid thing on Saturday so I can go to Monroe and see if it happens for Mike and the team. My two-year old has a birthday party to go to. It's putting me at odds with my wife.

My deal is, the birthday party is not for our kid, but one of her preschool classmates. It's not like they need me there to pull it off. I'm trying to get her to agree to let me take the four-year old with me to the game and come back that night - just a day trip.

If it were my kid's birthday, it would be different. But, this is someone else's kid and we're not involved in the planning of it. It's a show up at the appointed place and hang around type of thing. I'm fully confident that my wife can pull it off on her own.

[MeanGreenGlory]

I would like to see who the other top three candidates are as well as how the rest of the season plays out before making a decision. I think Canales has made it obvious that he has what it takes to be a great head coach and turn this program around. With the players buying in to what he is doing and the record he is posting as a head coach, it would be great to have some continuity between this year and next year and not have to start rebuilding the program all over again. I think he would be a great choice and a perfect fit for this position, but I would like to see what else is on the table before having him sign the dotted line.

[Green Dozer]

It is not fair to judge him based on the K-State game. But then again, if we had gone ahead and judged Dodge on OU a few years ago, we would have known he was in over his head at this level. I hope we stay close, but we won't, just don't have the depth to keep up with them. They have better athletes, like it or not. If it were just coaching, then why not let Snyder and Canales meet at midfield and arm wrestle, why play the game?

Edited November 14, 2010 by Green Dozer

[Got5onIt]

If he wins next week, his name would have to be top 3. Honestly, I would much rather have him over any of the other 100 coaching Stoops brothers. You have to go with a former HC with skins on the wall or Canales, at this point. ULM will be interesting.......

[DeepGreen]

I voted "I need to see more" simply to see if this thing keeps translating. Although, if we beat ULM, I'll be fully on board with hiring him and announcing it before the Kansas State game.

In that manner, the kids would have some stability and not have the pressure of thinking they had to win to save a coach. Plus, it would give Canales and the coaching staff the ability to call recruits that week and say, "Hey, I know it's Thanksgiving weekend, but come out and see how we've got this thing rolling. We'd like you to be a part of it next year."

I'm trying to beg out of a kid thing on Saturday so I can go to Monroe and see if it happens for Mike and the team. My two-year old has a birthday party to go to. It's putting me at odds with my wife.

My deal is, the birthday party is not for our kid, but one of her preschool classmates. It's not like they need me there to pull it off. I'm trying to get her to agree to let me take the four-year old with me to the game and come back that night - just a day trip.

If it were my kid's birthday, it would be different. But, this is someone else's kid and we're not involved in the planning of it. It's a show up at the appointed place and hang around type of thing. I'm fully confident that my wife can pull it off on her own.

You call this a problem? Get the pre-school classmate kid a UNT t-shirt for her birthday, load up the 4- yr old and head to Monroe.

[meangreendork]

I want to see how Canales handles ULM. They are a team that can be beat by his system and his players, so now we see how he'll win. It shouldn't be us waiting to see if he wins.

I'd also judge his performance against KState, but I want to be clear - I'm not expecting a win. I am expecting to see him throw all the stops out and hit Kstate with everything in the arsenal. I'm less concerned with the score (a win would be awesome and a close loss is alright, too) and more concerned with how much fire the team comes out there with. If they get bogged down then that's a bad sign. But if the team keeps fighting until 00:00 in the 4th and they have some key plays on both sides of the ball to show for it, I think Coach Canales could be it.

However, I want to see him weighed against other coaches. We have to keep in mind that just because another coach may be a "name coach" doesn't mean he'll perform. It could be any number of factors that lead to success - good assistant coaches, or coming into a program that already has great players. Those things can mask over shortcomings in a coach. If Canales can come back with a win against ULM and a strong performance against KState, we know what he can do with someone else's player and coach choices.

[Rudy]

I voted to see more. I think he and Leavitt should be top two.

Which one do you hire? What a GREAT problem to have

[KingDL1]

Are we that desperate for wins?

None of us should make this decision without seeing a candidate list. Beating a few of the worst teams in the belt and Division 1a football, what does this really mean? That Dodge was that bad? That Dodge had lost the team and Canales had not? I don't care if we win out Mike should not have anything more than his name in the hat as opposed to a clean slate. As bad as our program has been ideally you want a clean slate to bring in new blood and to excite masses in the overall fan-base we have never tapped.

[GrayEagle]

Are we that desperate for wins?

None of us should make this decision without seeing a candidate list. Beating a few of the worst teams in the belt and Division 1a football, what does this really mean? That Dodge was that bad? That Dodge had lost the team and Canales had not? I don't care if we win out Mike should not have anything more than his name in the hat as opposed to a clean slate. As bad as our program has been ideally you want a clean slate to bring in new blood and to excite masses in the overall fan-base we have never tapped.

This.

And a +1 for a little sanity among the euphoria that two wins (over two schools with losing records) has brought.

[PlummMeanGreen]

This.

And a +1 for a little sanity among the euphoria that two wins (over two schools with losing records) has brought.

The only time in the last 10 years that North Texas has had any success against Sun Belt Conference teams (even in the league's beginnings) those successses have been when the league was in its beginnings with some schools just up from 1-AA or the SBC would have been in a down mode cycle--like in this year? Some thought we had the inside advantage in the SBC's first 4 years because we had more time in NCAA D1-A (and the extra 'ships because of it) than most of the rest of the 'Belt.

Outside FIU (who is even not yet bowl elgible this season last I checked) the rest of the Sun Belt is quite down and will probably have half or more of its teams in the Bottom 25 once this season is over. I Repeat: The SBC will probably have half or more of its teams in the Bottom 25 once this season is over. (Anyone else pick up our new UNT Prez' very recent quote saying he wants to "re-position" UNT athletics)?

I know we basically have 2 groups in charge of hiring our next HFC, ie, the holy tribunal of our new President, the AD and Consultant Chuck Neinas who UNT is not paying big bucks to not listen to what the man has to say and..........I think 2 of the aforementioned 3 will have the sway vote on this hire no matter what and of course the 2'nd group in charge of hiring our next HFC is, well........ ...........but I know where most on and beyond this forum will place their money on who makes that final decision.

I still defer to how similar this scenario is to the time our Administration "suggested" to AD Helwig how we needed to let the 3 year career of our last High School football coaches hire (Dennis Parker) and his staff go so we could start out fresh as to usher in a New Athletic Era at an expanded Fouts Field and..........

.............to give us a fighting chance to sell more season tickets in history and to meet the NCAA D1-A criteria of that day which was to average 17,000 butts per home game. I remember how many doubters there were (some even on this board) who didn't think we had a chance to meet that criteria, either, but the formula of starting out this huge venture with a fresh new coach and staff which our Administration and AD Helwig insisted on having worked like a dream.

Matt Simon and his assistants were just what the doctor ordered for that most high stakes for our alma mater's year, too. The thing that got Coach Simon cross-ways with Helwig were all the money games our AD was scheduling which Simon (understandably) knew we would have little chance to win; but with all those Money Games he knew it would give him overall records that would not be conducive to his moving his career upward. My God, do yall remember the DFW radio and TV media singing his praises his first 2 or so years? Their theme was "he will not be long for North Texas" and similar things like that.

Sadly, Matt became very bitter with almost everyone at North Texas, too. I all but felt sorry for Coach Simon toward the end because he had been so affable and nice to everyone his first couple or so years. Yet.........just another hire gone bad at North Texas with North Texas creating a terrible scheduling scenerio for Matt Simon. We just have a terrible record of hiring head football coaches at North Texas with many of those hires receiving most all our initial approvals, too.

North Texas needs to really do something different this time around and that is what our past trends in hiring seems to indicate. Most successful businesses use similar industry related (to their kind of business) trends to determine their own future chances for successes and subsequent opportunity for growth. We just need higher ranked success at UNT and I think most would agree with that--both on and off this forum.

GMG!

Edited November 15, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[GrandGreen]

Winning over losing teams is something NT hasn't been able to do in a long time. Also to downplay those wins you have to be over looking the injury situation at NT. Canales is not a shoo in at this point, but another win and he is going to be very hard to ignore. I have no idea who the other candidates are but it is going to hard to pick another candidate if Canales is 3-1 going into the KSU game. Some of you seem upset that Canales has ignited and obviously as a lot of support among the team and has moved himself into serious contention. If it comes down to Canales versus a name coach on a downward slope, or an assistant with no hc experience than Canales should have an excellent chance.

[eulesseagle]

Are we that desperate for wins?

None of us should make this decision without seeing a candidate list. Beating a few of the worst teams in the belt and Division 1a football, what does this really mean? That Dodge was that bad? That Dodge had lost the team and Canales had not? I don't care if we win out Mike should not have anything more than his name in the hat as opposed to a clean slate. As bad as our program has been ideally you want a clean slate to bring in new blood and to excite masses in the overall fan-base we have never tapped.

NT did beat one of the top teams in the Belt....FAU (4-5) and came within five points of beating the top team, Troy (5-4). Granted that is not saying much with how weak the SBC is but considering how Coach Canales has somewhat motivated the team is impressive. For me, having NT transition into next year with Coach Canales and the remaining staff is something NT has never done and with the NFL lineman (I can not remember what his name is) who is a volunteer assistant I believe that will truely help out.

Can Coach Canales recruit? Don't know. However, the way the team appears to respond to Coach Canales I think this is a positive for any recruit who speaks to any of the current players.

Can a big bucks coach recruit? Don't know.

All we do know is that there are plenty of really good players on this current team....healthy and injured. The way that the players are supporting Coach Canales I say let him run with it for the next four or five years.

[UNTflyer]

I really dislike polls that have three answers to a binary question.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Winning over losing teams is something NT hasn't been able to do in a long time. Also to downplay those wins you have to be over looking the injury situation at NT. Canales is not a shoo in at this point, but another win and he is going to be very hard to ignore. I have no idea who the other candidates are but it is going to hard to pick another candidate if Canales is 3-1 going into the KSU game. Some of you seem upset that Canales has ignited and obviously as a lot of support among the team and has moved himself into serious contention. If it comes down to Canales versus a name coach on a downward slope, or an assistant with no hc experience than Canales should have an excellent chance.

I will say the Canales group has done a good job of self promotion but still with a very small segment of the entire UNT constituency.

If President Rawlins (with his Washington State and Memphis backgound as their Prez'), Villarreal and Chuck Neinas all 3 say that our beating teams of whom most will be destined to be in or near the Bottom 25 this football season is good enough for them and a deal-maker for our next HFC at UNT, then I suppose we will all fall in line with "their" decision but......to quote Greg'go Williams: "I've Got $20 Bucks!

It might be 1 out of that 3 might need a gentle persuasion to go another complete new direction, but maybe that 1 also knows who makes his pay check possible, too. I think many would know which 2 will sway the vote this time around with the stakes so damn high with a need for smart public relations which can translate to a much more successful marketing of this New Era with a New Stadium.

If Rick V chose Chico (which I really don't think will happen) might it be wise for him to let someone else share this HFC's decison (whoever it is) because if it went south like his last one--he doesn't have to take the full brunt of another hire gone wrong.

Another win probably gets Chico on the candidate list as RV says in the quote in my signature below about this "not being a tryout for our job" but I think Prez' Rawlins and Neinas will also have much more to say about the others that are going to be on campus soon for interviews. Do we want to buy the first car we look at here?

Still Chico's problem IMHO is he was part of the Todd Dodge staff plus he was O.C on that staff during the first part of this season and calling most all the plays, too.

Someone pointed out to me a few days ago "it seems a little funny how the offense has all of a sudden opened up--pulled out all the stops much more dramatically, too, than the first part of the season." I don't know about that so much but I know UNT will not hire anyone till they've interviewed several--it would not be a state university's M.O. to hire someone on the emotions of the moment reactions of what is still the few compared to our entire UNT community.

Edited November 15, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[KingDL1]

NT did beat one of the top teams in the Belt....FAU (4-5) and came within five points of beating the top team, Troy (5-4). Granted that is not saying much with how weak the SBC is but considering how Coach Canales has somewhat motivated the team is impressive. For me, having NT transition into next year with Coach Canales and the remaining staff is something NT has never done and with the NFL lineman (I can not remember what his name is) who is a volunteer assistant I believe that will truely help out.

Can Coach Canales recruit? Don't know. However, the way the team appears to respond to Coach Canales I think this is a positive for any recruit who speaks to any of the current players.

Can a big bucks coach recruit? Don't know.

All we do know is that there are plenty of really good players on this current team....healthy and injured. The way that the players are supporting Coach Canales I say let him run with it for the next four or five years.

From what I heard the players were ready for someone new to coach last year, I don't know if it is Canales or something any decent coach could do, and no one else does either.

We don't have a clue if Canales can recruit, and back to the point that the players were ready for a change not sure that makes Canales special.

A big bucks Coach has proven they can recruit that is part of the point of getting a Coach like this.

I am not ready by a long shot to hand this team over to another experiment until I see the candidate list, why would you or anyone jump the gun on this hire. Lets see the list and get the best guy for the job.

[Green Mean]

Why isn't there more rumors and news regarding our coaching search? It seems that when news try to happen here at NT things are so hush hush. I mean who cares if it is out in the public who we are interviewing...we need news and we need buzz.

[NorthTexan95]

If we hire a former head coach then (Fran, Leach, Levitt, etc) then it would be justified no matter what Canales does from here on out. However, if we're looking at coordinators then Canales is making it hard to not hire him.

[Eagle-96]

Why isn't there more rumors and news regarding our coaching search? It seems that when news try to happen here at NT things are so hush hush. I mean who cares if it is out in the public who we are interviewing...we need news and we need buzz.

It is the fabled "stealth" hiring process. All this time and DD STILL has his hands in the NT cookie jar.

[meangreenacct]

From what I heard the players were ready for someone new to coach last year, I don't know if it is Canales or something any decent coach could do, and no one else does either.

We don't have a clue if Canales can recruit, and back to the point that the players were ready for a change not sure that makes Canales special.

A big bucks Coach has proven they can recruit that is part of the point of getting a Coach like this.

I am not ready by a long shot to hand this team over to another experiment until I see the candidate list, why would you or anyone jump the gun on this hire. Lets see the list and get the best guy for the job.

I have no idea if Canales can recruit to UNT, but I do know he can recruit.

In the 09 recruiting class per Rivals, he recruited a four star a 2 three star players. In 2008 another four star and 2 3 stars, including the #8 QB and #44 player in the country.

[NT80]

Who are the other candidates? Then I'll let you know who the coach should be. Otherwise, it's just one known candidate vs. "x" number of unknown candidates. I know I don't like fans being pressured by "people outside the program" to support someone.

[VideoEagle]

Who are the other candidates? Then I'll let you know who the coach should be. Otherwise, it's just one known candidate vs. "x" number of unknown candidates. I know I don't like fans being pressured by "people outside the program" to support someone.

Well, I don't think someone who just registered in the the last 10 months isn't going to have a major influence on most of us on this board. Hell, those posting here for year have a hard time changing each other's minds on anything.

I don't like the outsiders with a cause, but I also don't get too concerned about them.

Worrying about outside agitators went out in the 60s after after everyone saw The Graduate.

[ntmeangreen11]

Win and he's in. Simple as that, one more victory next week and the job is his, IMO.

Two things concern me though, lack of recruiting pipelines in TX, and if DeLoach is indeed leaving after this season. I'm really curious to see who he could bring in(and retain) in terms of assistant coaches. I am worried about getting a new DC and potentially changing schemes, although, with the lack of DT depth, I think we'll be switching to the 3-4 next season regardless. AK, Obi, Phillips and Prior on the outside with Orr inside sounds good to me though. We still have secondary problems to deal with, and who knows, the 3-4 might be perfect for 360 pound Abbe. Not sure how he will pan out, but with that weight alone, he'd be good to clog up the middle. We are going to have to sign 2 or 3 JUCO DT's who knows if we'll get as lucky as we got with Shavod and Kelvin. The new coach will have his hands full trying to replace those guys, sure wish we could find another Booger somewhere, the drop-off in DL talent from that time to now has been remarkable.

Hoping to sign these guys.

Tony Gillespie

Offers from WKU, UNT

Ronnell Wright

Offers from UNT, Ark. St, Wash. St

Josh Thompson

Offers from CSU, LT, UNT, Ohio, USM, Troy, UAB