Week One lines: North Texas -1½ vs. SMU

[Charleston Pony]

I was impressed with what he was able to accomplish but at the same time I think he bailed because he realized this could be a step back year that could impact his career trajectory.

He left for the freaking SEC West. Who else thinks he should have waited? What was he going to get? Alabama? Clemson? Notre Dame? Texas? No.

I'm not singling you out, CP. I see this a lot. "He left because he was concerned the team might take a step back."

He left for a better opportunity. The first SMU coach in decades to be able to do so. Good for him. I'm glad we have Sonny.

No question about the situation he moved into. Arkansas will have every opportunity to compete for national championships as a member of the SEC West and is an upper tier P5 job. My point was that I think he had a sense of urgency about bailing on SMU, especially with a bowl game on his resume. As hard as he and his staff worked, he had to be frustrated seeing a 2/3 empty Ford week in and week out. If he had failed to make a bowl game this coming season, it was probably a pretty safe bet that any SEC West vacancies would look to someone else to fill those jobs.

[PonyPlayer4]

This is quite simple. Either Morris hit on his recruits (Young WR, OL, Moore, maturing CB/S), in which case this should be a good team that can handle UNT, or he didn't, in which case we will struggle this season. If Dykes hit on his JUCO recruits (CB, LB, OL), it is enough to push us an even further step ahead, but not enough to cover if Morris missed on those positions.

As you can tell from my other posts, I'm placing my bets that Morris hit his targets, and that Dykes hit his as well from what I saw in Spring. In that case, we are going to have a top 4 QB, WR, and OL in conference to go along with at least an average WR corp. We will have a top 4 secondary (Wyatt with Juco/Sutton/Davis/KJ at corner and Onu with Clemons/McQueen at S. Onu and Wyatt are already recognized and the others will mature and be ready). And our LB corp, which was horrible the last 2 years, will be a top 4 group (Mitchell and Moore are already recognized, and we saw Denbow make plays all spring).

Boom or bust, as they say. I'll go with boom and UNT won't be a problem.

I’m not sure why you are so optimistic Chad hit on his targets. Sonny didn’t necessarily think so.

[JasonB]

This is quite simple. Either Morris hit on his recruits (Young WR, OL, Moore, maturing CB/S), in which case this should be a good team that can handle UNT, or he didn't, in which case we will struggle this season. If Dykes hit on his JUCO recruits (CB, LB, OL), it is enough to push us an even further step ahead, but not enough to cover if Morris missed on those positions.

As you can tell from my other posts, I'm placing my bets that Morris hit his targets, and that Dykes hit his as well from what I saw in Spring. In that case, we are going to have a top 4 QB, WR, and OL in conference to go along with at least an average WR corp. We will have a top 4 secondary (Wyatt with Juco/Sutton/Davis/KJ at corner and Onu with Clemons/McQueen at S. Onu and Wyatt are already recognized and the others will mature and be ready). And our LB corp, which was horrible the last 2 years, will be a top 4 group (Mitchell and Moore are already recognized, and we saw Denbow make plays all spring).

Boom or bust, as they say. I'll go with boom and UNT won't be a problem.

I’m not sure why you are so optimistic Chad hit on his targets. Sonny didn’t necessarily think so.

Sonny said that he has more talent here than any of the post-DP coaches.

Most of Sonny's comments have been about size. If you listen to the interviews of players and staff, it becomes pretty clear that the training methods under Chad were all about speed and tempo over size and strength. The players have the frames to carry more weight, we weren't recruiting undersized players like we did under Bennett and Cavan, hoping they would grow. The new strength team will fix that before Fall camp starts.

[PonyTime]

As hard as he and his staff worked, he had to be frustrated seeing a 2/3 empty Ford week in and week out.

Perhaps scheduling Friday night 8pm starts vs. Tulsa is not a winning attendance strategy.

[AusTxPony]

I can't imagine any coach coming to SMU/Ford should be disappointed in attendance! This problem has been going on since the you know what. Only winning helps somewhat. So that's their job, winning for the kids and the fans, not whining about attendance.

[mtrout]

Here is what helps attendance:
Texas a&m
Tcu
Tech
Baylor

[ponypatrick]

Who else thinks he should have waited? He left for a better opportunity. The first SMU coach in decades to be able to do so. Good for him. I'm glad we have Sonny.

who thinks he should have stayed?
certainly not me!.....yes yes yes "good for him"
i'm thrilled he's gone.
his 3 years of "great recruiting" has us an under-dog to CUSA North Texas State
you cant have it both ways....
"oh Chad was great"...."but we suck"....which is it?

Chad sucks !!

[ender3]

Sonny said that he has more talent here than any of the post-DP coaches.

That is a bit like being the smartest kid on the short bus.

(C'mon folks, before you complain about my insensitivity, it's a joke, and a relatively common expression, no matter how offensive)

[AusTxPony]

Really ought to have Baylor, TCU and NTU on the schedule every year. I understand that UT won't play us even though the play Rice some. Throw in Tech every now and then. Ideal.

[Charleston Pony]

Who else thinks he should have waited? He left for a better opportunity. The first SMU coach in decades to be able to do so. Good for him. I'm glad we have Sonny.

who thinks he should have stayed?
certainly not me!.....yes yes yes "good for him"
i'm thrilled he's gone.
his 3 years of "great recruiting" has us an under-dog to CUSA North Texas State
you cant have it both ways....
"oh Chad was great"...."but we suck"....which is it?

Careful......Charleston Pony might soon be accusing you of 'HATRED'!

Great point.........which is it? This year will answer a lot of those questions. A loss to UNT will tell the tale.

Sorry if the "hatred" comment offended you, but have you ever said even one thing positive about Chad Morris and his staff? If not hatred, there sure seems to be plenty of Chad bashing in your posts. I suppose you feel Chad was just a bad hire. Not sure who you think Hart should have hired instead of Chad...or who would have even considered taking the job after what JJ left behind.

[ponyboy]

C'mon, we saw lots of great stuff from Chad Morris. I hate the way he left, but you're being a little dramatic.

[dr rc]

Who else thinks he should have waited? He left for a better opportunity. The first SMU coach in decades to be able to do so. Good for him. I'm glad we have Sonny.

who thinks he should have stayed?
certainly not me!.....yes yes yes "good for him"
i'm thrilled he's gone.
his 3 years of "great recruiting" has us an under-dog to CUSA North Texas State
you cant have it both ways....
"oh Chad was great"...."but we suck"....which is it?

One improving team lost it's HC replacing him w/a guy who was fired from his last gig and also lost it's two best WRs to the NFL. The other improving team did not lose it's HC and has pretty much it's entire offense, which is quite explosive, coming back. The game is at UNT. It shouldn't be all that hard to understand why UNT is a slight favorite but apparently you either can't comprehend or refuse to accept the fact that UNT has gotten a lot better right at the same time SMU was getting better.

[AusTxPony]

Re: Chad
I did not like his BS or him. He never seemed sincere to me, even in person. Too much razzle-dazzle. I do think he was a definite upgrade and good for us at the time. It was certainly a feather in the SMU hat that we landed him. So not liking Chad and thinking he was a good recruiter/coach (for the offense) can co-exist, it's NOT either/or.

[SoCal_Pony]

Yep, we stunk the year tiki left us, but I just looked at Sagarin rankings of NTSU the very same year.

Mean Green were ranked #144, just below Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo and just ahead of Montana State

chadster was paid the highest nonP5 salary in the nation, well over twice as much as NTSU paid their HC. We have the same inherent advantages over NTSU that TCU now enjoys over us.

Yet here we are still 1.5 point dogs.

No doubt NTSU got more value for their $$$ than we did.

[horsemanx]

Full tilt boogie!!!