SI's Pete Thamel: McCarney has possible shot at Illinois job

[PlummMeanGreen]

As for crowds, and given our last 9 years, you can't expect packed out large crowds after just 7 wins. It took time to get us where we are. It will take a little while for the area to catch the fever. I certainly don't blame them.

Not selling out the UH game even with their 4,000 traveling fans still hurts--not so much as to not selling out that stadium debut game but what that continued to say about our school still not doing all the right things to catch the imagination of Denton County/DFW area newcomers all but living in the shadows of Apogee Stadium.

Still staying the same with attendance with no significant season ticket sales from one year to the next; no significant large groups promotions as in (where are rows after rows of parked school buses near Apogee with groups of all ages in them on our Game Days)?

We seem content annually hanging in there with standard promotions after Summer Orientations are done like Parents Weekend, Homecoming, Senior Day, etc, etc, etc,--doesn't take much to put those promos on mailers now does it?

And then you have a similar scenario and attitude of "just accept it--this is where we will always be" with the darn fleas as described in the link below as they keep on.............well, uh, read the link is all I can recommend. It's not very long; maybe about a minute (+/-) max?

http://goal-setting-for-success.com/how-high-can-you-jump.html

GMG!

If we don't fix this attendance thing next year (since this one is all but done), it will cost us a good Mean Green Head Football Coach or 2 or 3 in due time.

Also, when conference re-alignment or re-shuffling rears its head again (and it will) and we still find ourselves sucking hind teat with annual low season ticket sales and still too low attendance averages---some even now in the new CUSA will move up but we'll stay the same as many on this very forum will (once again) wonder----------why them--not us (but we'll all know "why them--not us) ?"

Coach Mac has spoken about this attendance thing at UNT quite often so there really must be something to it when it comes to season ticket sales, having sellouts at Apogee and all of their importance to a coach, his staff and theirs/our's team, ya' think?

Edited November 22, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[Harry]

If he leaves, he leaves. Very few of us, if any know him personally enough to know what kind of money it would take to get him to leave. The thought that we could match a BCS offer at this point is delusional. We will have been left in a better place if he leaves. What's important is continuing to make hires that move the program forward. Any one have any reason to doubt we can't do that?

Mac has plenty of money -- he has two mansions already one in St Pete and another in Denton. He was prolly making around a mil a year at iowa State... and not chump change as an assistant at Florida... so it's not as much about the money for him as the opportunity to win at the highest level.

I hope he stays. I've been beating the drum about extending his contract for months now and everyone on here gets up in arms. Lynn Hickey knows that if she doesn't get the deal done with Coker it could come back to bite her. It's called being proactive versus waiting. If you think Mac's the guy to lead this program you don't wait for him to win 11 games to do a deal unless you want to pay a LOT more and risk losing both him and the assistants.

[UNT90]

Any one have any reason to doubt we can't do that?

Todd Dodge

Shanice Stephens

Tony Benford

They all have doubts, as do I.

[UNT90]

Mac has plenty of money -- he has two mansions already one in St Pete and another in Denton. He was prolly making around a mil a year at iowa State... and not chump change as an assistant at Florida... so it's not as much about the money for him as the opportunity to win at the highest level.

I hope he stays. I've been beating the drum about extending his contract for months now and everyone on here gets up in arms. Lynn Hickey knows that if she doesn't get the deal done with Coker it could come back to bite her. It's called being proactive versus waiting. If you think Mac's the guy to lead this program you don't wait for him to win 11 games to do a deal unless you want to pay a LOT more and risk losing both him and the assistants.

Assuming we make it to the CUSA championship game, this program is going to lose assistant coaches. We will most likely be looking for a new defensive coordinator at years end (sadly). That just the way college football go.

We were waiting, and rightfully so, to see how the season progressed with Mac. Now that we are bowl assured, an extension is fine, just not for more years than you are willing to buy out. Recent history shows the BOR only willing to buy out 1 year. But Mac needs an extension for recruiting purposes. The BOR should give an extension longer than they are willing to buy out. At UNT, that means 2 years.

What Mac has done this year buys him a rebuilding year next year (yes, there will be one), but he needs to win the year after.

All this can be done at the end of the year. Mac isn't stupid. He isn't going to agree to an extension when he knows he could potentially up his value with a CUSA title. Both sides must be willing to negotiate.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Some of us said Year 3 would be Coach Mac's break-through season and low and behold....but I refuse to worry about losing anyone right now as we have this "1 season winning streak" working for us right now.

Posted it earlier elsewhere, but coach's come-coach's go but if we lose a good one like Coach Mac, lets only hope we can copy the Boise State model and merely replace him with someone who gets us to a "2'nd winning season in row" and so on--so forth..

Boise lost 3-4 HFC's in the space of about 10 years and kept replacing their lost HFC with new ones who still kept the Broncos in Top 25 polls------go figure?

GMG!

[Harry]

The good news is that President Smatresk understands that to hire and keep a great coach costs money. Lon Kruger was making $1,189,763.66 at UNLV and then received roughly DOUBLE that when he took the OU job. I think he will be supportive of locking up Mac for a long time, hopefully until he retires.

[Rudy]

I think Mac wants to stay and build this thing, like he said he wanted to do. Hopefully he bleeds as much green as we believe. But, if Illinois or anybody else comes along, we have to give him something to show how much he is needed and wanted here, even IF he has no interest in that school that is calling him. As for Skladany, aren't he and Mac good friends? If so, I would think Mac would try to talk him into staying. If he were to leave, do we have an assistant DC that has learned from Skads this year to be able to translate and pass on what has been taught this year?

Edited November 22, 2013 by Rudy

[UNT90]

I think Mac wants to stay and build this thing, like he said he wanted to do. Hopefully he bleeds as much green as we believe. But, if Illinois or anybody else comes along, we have to give him something to show how much he is needed and wanted here, even IF he has no interest in that school that is calling him. As for Skladany, aren't he and Mac good friends? If so, I would think Mac would try to talk him into staying. If he were to leave, do we have an assistant DC that has learned from Skads this year to be able to translate and pass on what has been taught this year?

If Skladany gets an offer from a Big 5 conference team to be DC, kiss him goodbye. We can't match the money or opportunity. If he gets an offer for more money at an AAC conference school, has is probably out, also, unless we can match the money.

That's just the way it goes.

[unt37]

If skladany leaves best in house person we have would be probably Joseph or a combo of nelson and Joseph as co DCs. but i dont think joseph is ready yet.

[unt37]

I dont think Skladany leaves till he retires.

[FirefightnRick]

The good news is that President Smatresk understands that to hire and keep a great coach costs money. Lon Kruger was making $1,189,763.66 at UNLV and then received roughly DOUBLE that when he took the OU job. I think he will be supportive of locking up Mac for a long time, hopefully until he retires.

I liked the fact that he also must understand the concept of "Earning Your Keep" considering they gave their men's basketball coach his first HC job with a two/three??? year contract to start out with,.... then when he "earned his keep" in the first year,.. rewarded him with an extension.

Rick

Edited November 22, 2013 by FirefightnRick

[JesseMartin]

I liked the fact that he also must understand the concept of "Earning Your Keep" considering they gave their men's basketball coach his first HC job with a two/three??? year contract to start out with,.... then when he "earned his keep" in the first year,.. rewarded him with an extension.

Rick

See, now that makes a lot of sense. I understand how a shorter contract could hurt with recruiting, but if you went about it with the expectation for an extension with at least a decent first couple of seasons, then you could sell that idea to motivate the recruits if they want to keep the coach as well. To be stuck with a first-time HC that doesn't produce or have to pay out a fat contract is like giving him 10 years' assistant coach salary to be a crappy interim that you just can't get rid of.

Edited November 22, 2013 by JesseMartin

[GrandGreen]

Mac has plenty of money -- he has two mansions already one in St Pete and another in Denton. He was prolly making around a mil a year at iowa State... and not chump change as an assistant at Florida... so it's not as much about the money for him as the opportunity to win at the highest level.

I hope he stays. I've been beating the drum about extending his contract for months now and everyone on here gets up in arms. Lynn Hickey knows that if she doesn't get the deal done with Coker it could come back to bite her. It's called being proactive versus waiting. If you think Mac's the guy to lead this program you don't wait for him to win 11 games to do a deal unless you want to pay a LOT more and risk losing both him and the assistants.

How many coaches that want to move have ever stayed somewhere because they have a contract? They are one sided deals that are almost universally ignored by coaches that want to leave.

Last I heard McCarney has two more years on his current contract. So I guess people think that he might leave while bound by his current agreement but a longer contract will bind him closer to the University.

McCarney has no doubt turned the program around and I doubt anyone wants to lose him. I just have a problem with the way college employment contracts work. If a coach is successful than it is necessary to repay him with an even bigger pay out then the one he agreed to. However, if he is a complete disaster, the University must buy him out or live with an incompetent employee.

This has nothing to do with McCarney, but I await the time that Universities start to enforce their contracts. I would like to read University X tells Coach John Doe; you leave before your contract expires and you will see us in court.

[Mean Green 93-98]

. . . I await the time that Universities start to enforce their contracts. I would like to read University X tells Coach John Doe; you leave before your contract expires and you will see us in court.

[Harry]

How many coaches that want to move have ever stayed somewhere because they have a contract? They are one sided deals that are almost universally ignored by coaches that want to leave.

Last I heard McCarney has two more years on his current contract. So I guess people think that he might leave while bound by his current agreement but a longer contract will bind him closer to the University.

McCarney has no doubt turned the program around and I doubt anyone wants to lose him. I just have a problem with the way college employment contracts work. If a coach is successful than it is necessary to repay him with an even bigger pay out then the one he agreed to. However, if he is a complete disaster, the University must buy him out or live with an incompetent employee.

This has nothing to do with McCarney, but I await the time that Universities start to enforce their contracts. I would like to read University X tells Coach John Doe; you leave before your contract expires and you will see us in court.

I don't know why this is so hard to understand but let me try to explain it again.

D-I head football coaches sign a 5 year deal 99.9% of the time when they take new jobs. It's just the way it works.

Parents are a lot more concerned about how their kid will be taken care of and led towards getting a college degree since they know the odds of the NFL are minimal.

They also know that when a coach leaves their son could be in trouble if the new coach has a different system or just doesn't think their kid will contribute.

So have 4-5 years of contract security help tremendously in convincing a high school player and his family to sign on the dotted line.

People need to understand, Universities are like the government... they are very bureaucratic and you cannot apply true business principles to them -- it just doesn't work. It's very hard to fire anyone at a university. Until recently at UNT you couldn't fire anyone!

The only exception to these rules is when a new president hired. That creates an environment where change can occur, sometimes significant change.

[Cerebus]

People need to understand, Universities are like the government... they are very bureaucratic and you cannot apply true business principles to them -- it just doesn't work. It's very hard to fire anyone at a university. Until recently at UNT you couldn't fire anyone!

Not true. Plenty of people were fired before the employment status was changed from "for cause" to "at will."

It just had to be for a documented performance issue. You couldn't get rid of someone just because you didn't like them and wanted to replace them with your best bud.

"For cause" was one of the primary benefits of working at NT, since the pay scale will never match the outside world. A lot of talented staff have left because of this.