Tony's Mom says he is still staying

[All About UNT]

Tim Mac's Twitter

"Some good news for UNT fans: Potential NBA 1st-rounder Tony Mitchell's mom says his plans to return to school haven't changed."

[Rudy]

We heart you Tony. We are relying on you and the rest of the team to carry us.

[untwillrise]

Is there a "yet" left out?

[All About UNT]

What if........she meant..........

[emmitt01]

Tim Mac's Twitter

"Some good news for UNT fans: Potential NBA 1st-rounder Tony Mitchell's mom says his plans to return to school haven't changed."

Saw that he also mentioned he's heard of the coaching search we've targeted two names and are after "proven winners and aiming high."

Please Lord let me have something to restore my faith in the way things are going in Denton

[bstnsportsfan3]

this is the most important peice of news today...i love jj but losing tony would do more harm to this program then anything else.

[UNTcrazy727]

I don't think anyone is leaving. They should understand their best bet to keep winning is to stay together no matter who's coaching them. And I doubt they want to sit out a year

[Rudy]

Saw that he also mentioned he's heard of the coaching search we've targeted two names and are after "proven winners and aiming high."

Please Lord let me have something to restore my faith in the way things are going in Denton

Please God let this be true!!!

[Green P1]

"I've heard two interesting name but promised not to mention publicly. They're targeting proven winners and aiming high."

I don't think Forrest is getting much more than a courtesy sniff.

[Rudy]

Saw that he also mentioned he's heard of the coaching search we've targeted two names and are after "proven winners and aiming high."

Maybe JJ made this such a desireable job that these potential coaches jumped and sent their resumes in the moment they heard the news.

Or maybe RV knew this was likely to happen and started the coaching search early.

[Harry]

Best news all night!!!

[NT03]

I would very much like to think both JJ & RV have kept TM in the loop this whole time

[MeanGreenHoops]

That's huge. Nice work by Tim Mac as well

[meangreenbob]

Feeling a lot better. If Tony stays regardless of who is hired to replace JJ then more than likely the rest of the players will stay as well. In that case I am all for going out and getting a proven Head Coach.

Maybe Jones explained to the team what they had going for them and not to blow it.

[MeanMag]

I would very much like to think both JJ & RV have kept TM in the loop this whole time

This is the best news out of this. It's very important that RV keep all the players in the loop.

[UNTflyer]

Like I said. This shouldn't change Tony's decision at all. His draft stock didn't rise with Johnny leaving. Transferring would set him back further.. And did anyone see his Twitter page background?

[greenminer]

Like I said. This shouldn't change Tony's decision at all. His draft stock didn't rise with Johnny leaving. Transferring would set him back further.. And did anyone see his Twitter page background?

I know it's part of the equation, but I don't believe his draft stock was the deal breaker for staying/going. Call me naive, but I think he really does love his teammates and Denton and feels responsible for helping us get beyond the 1st round.

[angel1972]

Everyone needd to calm down and see what the future holds. I know this is a big letdown for the boys and I can imagine they are on an emotional rollercoaster. I'm sad too but happy for johnny jones, but if shawn Forrest leaves I don't think things are gonna go well unless some well respected winning coach fills that spot...I'm just saying

[Dr. Seuss]

Maybe JJ made this such a desireable job that these potential coaches jumped and sent their resumes in the moment they heard the news.

Or maybe RV knew this was likely to happen and started the coaching search early.

He absolutely did, after all RV has done for JJ... There is no doubt in my mind that he notified him before, JJ is not Bobby Peterino...

[GreenMachine]

I know I am going to get blasted for posting this but with all the talent NT has had the last 7-9 years, shouldn't JJ have done much better in conference play than he did? I'm not a basketball guru but it seems he was always calling timeouts at a bad time, not calling them when he should, bad clock management, playing players out of position etc. I know he greatly improved the team and was a great ambassador for the university but I really think it's time we elevated the program and with the players we have coming back, now is the perfect time to get that coach needed to achieve that.

Blast away:)

[CMJ]

I know I am going to get blasted for posting this but with all the talent NT has had the last 7-9 years, shouldn't JJ have done much better in conference play than he did? I'm not a basketball guru but it seems he was always calling timeouts at a bad time, not calling them when he should, bad clock management, playing players out of position etc. I know he greatly improved the team and was a great ambassador for the university but I really think it's time we elevated the program and with the players we have coming back, now is the perfect time to get that coach needed to achieve that.

Blast away:)

Do I think we could have had better records? Yes - especially the 2011 team with TT, White, DJ, etc..

Do I read basically every fanbase voice these same complaints about their coach? Yes.

Coach Jones wasn't Wooden, or Dean Smith, or Krzyzewski. I am not sure even his biggest fans would say he didn't have his problems. Every coach has doubters. Go to a Carolina board right and some people complain about Roy Williams not capitalizing on talent like he should. But I think JJ was pretty dang good, and turned us into a solid program.

Edited April 14, 2012 by CMJ

[foutsrouts]

I know I am going to get blasted for posting this but with all the talent NT has had the last 7-9 years, shouldn't JJ have done much better in conference play than he did? I'm not a basketball guru but it seems he was always calling timeouts at a bad time, not calling them when he should, bad clock management, playing players out of position etc. I know he greatly improved the team and was a great ambassador for the university but I really think it's time we elevated the program and with the players we have coming back, now is the perfect time to get that coach needed to achieve that.

Blast away:)

I have to admit that I have questioned certain aspects of his coaching style over the years myself, but I'm not so sure that the timing of this thing could have been worse. After next season maybe, but not before the upcoming season where we hope to have all of the pieces in place to really make some noise. All we can do at this point is hope that RV finds the right guy, and that the players are all happy here and eligible for the upcoming season. We shall see how it shakes out.

[MeanMag]

I've heard the Strength of Schedule argument for a while from Coach Jones detractors. Even LSU JJ haters brought it up on their board when pointing to our records.

The response was this from one of their fans:

2012: LSU #236 (11-6); North Texas #281 (9-7)

2011: LSU #336 (out of 345) (8-8); North Texas #300 (14-3)

2010: LSU #242 (9-6); North Texas #189 (11-4)

2009: LSU #252 (14-4); North Texas #204 (9-5)

Now, I'm not going to debate that our strength of schedule has been bad, but if we were to make up for the in conference schedule with our out of conference schedule, we'd have gotten murdered. As it was, we held our own when compared to LSU.

This shows how LSU schedules and what being in a decent basketball conference does for you. You can play real good RPI teams on our home floor, and they can't dodge it.

It also shows just how far LSU had fallen, and how our success, JJ's success, however you want to diminish it wasn't a mirage. It also runs contrary to the belief that JJ only cared about Hot Springs. And, it certainly isn't meant to be an excuse for being just above .500 in conference many seasons. We've all been disappointed with conference stretches the past couple of years, simply because we know these athletes are better and can do better than the records indicated.

We've set fairly high expectations on this program going forward that weren't there before, and it's because of JJ, not in spite of him. Our next coach needs to be a person that can continue and push past where we're at now.

[TheTastyGreek]

Another thing that drives me nuts about the SOS argument is that ours is lower than many if not most of our conference mates because we insist upon scheduling in a way that has proven to be critical in achieving success and building a consistent winner: HOME GAMES.

Year after year, the highest non-conference RPI goes to SWAC teams. Because several of them play 13 road games against BCS schools to generate the revenue that finances their entire athletics programs.

If we have years where we can't bring in higher RPI opponents (like the season where we didn't have a single marquee home game), that's the tradeoff for insisting on building and exploiting your home court advantage. I don't care that ULM has a higher non-conference RPI than we do, because the stat is irrelevant if it comes from them selling 5 road games to power conference teams. FAU, the preseason favorite, played a whopping TWO home games against D1 opponents (and one against a non-D1). They were one of the most talented teams in the league, and they went 4-10 in non-conference play. Louisiana-Lafayette scheduled a murderer's row of Southland and worse OOC opponents, and Mighty Bob Marlin went 5-10 against them.

Fun research project for everyone who likes to rail on our scheduling and call JJ a paper tiger while praising the genius of Bob Marlin: Can you guess how many non-D1 opponents Bob Marlin scheduled in the most recent of his 2 NCAA tournament appearances in 12 years at Sam Houston State? [Please feel free to gasp in amazement that a coach could be SO TERRIBLE as to make only 2 NCAA appearances in a dozen years at a school, and to NEVER WIN A GAME THERE!! Luckily, Bob Marlin is undefeated in NIT games.]

Spoiler alert: Four. Le Tourneau, Texas College, Mid-America Christian, and Ecclesia.

Second spoiler alert: None of those Shit-On-A-Coach Game facts mean Bob Marlin isn't a damn good coach.

Given that we've proven willing to do home and homes with pretty much anyone, I give our guys the benefit of the doubt in trying to book our schedule. For instance... ULM scheduled a home-and-home same year with an Indiana State team apparently desperate to fill their non-conference schedule. Why come we didn't? Are we scared of them? Well... Given that we swept them home and away in a series from 3-4 years ago... I don't think so.

Given that we've scheduled (and beaten) A-10, MVC, CUSA... Any mid-major conference with a team willing to come here... It should be pretty obvious that it's not a lack of willingness on our part. Having heard what we went through trying to assemble last year's schedule... I'm amazed we still manage to get 7-8 games at home against anyone we aren't paying to show up.