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Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:

Mustangsabu wrote:I still want to know if the COC will be funding this. If not, we are going to be paying far less for a football coach.

If CoC don't wanna pay much we'll probably end up with someone like Willie Fritz.

Who knows....maybe the guy would do ok here?

I was advocating Fritz in another thread. I think we could do much, much worse than him.

He's won everywhere he's been (128-56 at Div2 and FCS level) and has taken SHSU to the past two FCS National Championship games. He's got Texas ties, and you've gotta like this from his Twitter account:

Willie Fritz ‏@coachwfritz 16 Dec 10
Sorry for no updates. We have been busy recruiting! We are really looking at some great guys for the Kats! Coaches have done a great job!

Also- here's an interview with him from this past offseason: http://www.footballscoop.com/news/8952- ... llie-fritz

i like the track record and the energy!

we could do a lot worse.

My wishlist:


Cream in my pants candidate: Chad Morriss

Quality candidate w/ realistic shot: Baylor OC

Unproven and unknown: SHSU head coach

LA_Mustang wrote:Unless we become JUCO U for a couple of years, the cupboard will be bare.

If this is true, I certainly hope the CofC has already identified a short of candidates.

I think we can relax (at least a little bit) on this subject. I've covered the Mustangs for maybe 15 years, and these kids are the most athletic we've had in that time. We're bigger, stronger, faster, deeper and that's a fact.

In my OPINION, our recruiting issues don't stem from lack of effort (every bye week you'll see a stream of coaches exiting Ford in coat and tie hitting the recruiting trail, every day June is rolling tape on recruits or opponents by 4 a.m.), it's in how we've allocated our scholarship offers to address injury and the natural turnover by position and the fact that we don't have hundreds of kids trying to walk on every year like you might at a large state school (because of SMU's high tuition, EVERY scholarship must count). And also throw in our admissions issues, which admittedly are WORLDS better now, but we're paying in 2013 for admissions decisions that were made in 2009-2011.

This year we're pretty deep (at least for SMU) at the skill positions. Where we're getting hammered is on the offensive and defensive lines. For example, we saw this one coming years ago when we weren't recruiting enough kids to replace an OLine that included LeRibeus, Beachum, Tennison, McJunkin and Brooks, who all "grew up" together and graduated together.

But if you look at where any of those guys started (with the exception of LeRibeus), you've got to be really excited about Briggs (6'5 300+ and maybe the most athletic lineman we've had since the DP), Chamagua (6'6 300+), I hear a lot of optimism about Fister, Lasecki (who as a sophomore has broken a bunch of all-time team strength records), McCarty (a true freshman who is 6'4 290 and is already getting some PT, Rice (a freaky good athlete for a big guy who earned PT as a true freshman), Jerry Saena (who is now 6'5 and skinny at 315; doesn't know what he's doing yet but is growing into a scary specimen), Weeks (6'5 300+ and is only a sophomore).

I can go on, but I point that out to demonstrate that there are no more 5'10 offensive linemen (all of whom were listed at 6'2 on the roster ). So whether it be June or someone else, from a personnel standpoint, we're light years ahead of where we've been. In fact, you could make the case that this team might even be pretty attractive to a potential coach due to the youth of some many of these players.

Webmaster wrote:

LA_Mustang wrote:Unless we become JUCO U for a couple of years, the cupboard will be bare.

If this is true, I certainly hope the CofC has already identified a short of candidates.

I think we can relax (at least a little bit) on this subject. I've covered the Mustangs for maybe 15 years, and these kids are the most athletic we've had in that time. We're bigger, stronger, faster, deeper and that's a fact.

In my OPINION, our recruiting issues don't stem from lack of effort (every bye week you'll see a stream of coaches exiting Ford in coat and tie hitting the recruiting trail, every day June is rolling tape on recruits or opponents by 4 a.m.), it's in how we've allocated our scholarship offers to address injury and the natural turnover by position and the fact that we don't have hundreds of kids trying to walk on every year like you might at a large state school (because of SMU's high tuition, EVERY scholarship must count). And also throw in our admissions issues, which admittedly are WORLDS better now, but we're paying in 2013 for admissions decisions that were made in 2009-2011.

This year we're pretty deep (at least for SMU) at the skill positions. Where we're getting hammered is on the offensive and defensive lines. For example, we saw this one coming years ago when we weren't recruiting enough kids to replace an OLine that included LeRibeus, Beachum, Tennison, McJunkin and Brooks, who all "grew up" together and graduated together.

But if you look at where any of those guys started (with the exception of LeRibeus), you've got to be really excited about Briggs (6'5 300+ and maybe the most athletic lineman we've had since the DP), Chamagua (6'6 300+), I hear a lot of optimism about Fister, Lasecki (who as a sophomore has broken a bunch of all-time team strength records), McCarty (a true freshman who is 6'4 290 and is already getting some PT, Rice (a freaky good athlete for a big guy who earned PT as a true freshman), Jerry Saena (who is now 6'5 and skinny at 315; doesn't know what he's doing yet but is growing into a scary specimen), Weeks (6'5 300+ and is only a sophomore).

I can go on, but I point that out to demonstrate that there are no more 5'10 offensive linemen (all of whom were listed at 6'2 on the roster ). So whether it be June or someone else, from a personnel standpoint, we're light years ahead of where we've been. In fact, you could make the case that this team might even be pretty attractive to a potential coach due to the youth of some many of these players.

This. Not sure why everyone thinks the sky is falling.

Also, the DLine has been an issue at times this year, but we've got Nabusoshi (6'4 260+), Minor (6'3 275), Hollie (6'4 310), Lawler (6'4 240) and Gentry (6'7 255) all in the pipeline as Freshmen or Redshirts. Webmaster- any updates on how our younger DL guys look?

Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:

Mustangsabu wrote:I still want to know if the COC will be funding this. If not, we are going to be paying far less for a football coach.

If CoC don't wanna pay much we'll probably end up with someone like Willie Fritz.

Who knows....maybe the guy would do ok here?

Funny! When I mentioned Willie Fritz. I was told too old, and an unproven head coach at the FBS level

Granted everyone knows that the Webmaster is a big time June suck up but when are we going to stop comparing SMU to SMU. That is not going to win championships. We do not have a lot off players with BCS offers (that usually indicated talent) no matter how he tries to spin it. USF has a first year coach that is killing it on the recruiting trail and we should be doing much better. We will have to give the next coach about 3 year to recruit over the what we have now.

Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:EastCoast.....I agree
if we can't get the big name "shock the world" type guy,
Willie Fritz is a guy we should have on our list.
My gut tells me Coach Fritz would fit in at SMU...
be able to deal with Turner...
run a clean program
has Texas ties
is about the right age...not too young...not too old
has been a winner at lower tier schools
I wouldn't be mad if that's who we end up with
but it won't get much more than a blip on ESPN
and some are gonna cry foul if it's not a big splash hire all over ESPN

Yeah, I mean Gary Patterson didn't make a splash on ESPN when he was hired at TCU, but he's done alright there. Lane Kiffin, on the other hand, did make a pretty big splash. The Larry Brown splash hire isnt really a counterargument because bball teams are so much easier to turn around than football teams.

I'm all for the splash hire route if there's a viable name that's willing to come here and the CoC is still writing checks. But I think we could get a solid guy like Fritz for $800k and then allocate more $ towards assistants who can RECRUIT and still be in good shape.

I don't know that the cupboard will be totally bare in relation to the teams we've had over the past few years. Just projecting here, but this is our likely starting lineup in 2014:

QB Neal Burcham (SO) - 3 star; co-MVP of Elite 11; had offer from Cincy
RB Traylon Shead (SR) - 4 star; returning starter; multiple BCS offers
WR Der'rikk Thompson (SR) - 3 star; 3 year starter
WR Darius Joseph (JR) - 3 star; 2 year starter
WR Ja'Bryce Taylor (SO) - 3 star; getting some PT as a true frosh
WR Nate Halverson (SO) - 2 star; getting some PT as a true frosh
LT Chauncey Briggs (SO) - 2 star; starting as a rs frosh
LG Sam Rice (JR) - 3 star; 2 year starter
C Taylor Lasecki (JR) 3 star; 3 year starter
RG Daniel McCarty (SO) 2 star; getting PT as a true frosh
RT Kris Weeks (JR) 3 star; 2 year starter

DE Zach Wood (JR) 3 star; multiple BCS offers; 2 year starter
NG Darrian Wright (SR) 3 star; 2 year starter
DE Beau Barnes (SR) walk on; 2 year starter
LB Stephon Sanders (SR) 3 star; multiple BCS offers; 3 year starter
LB Jonathan Yenga (JR) 3 star; multiple BCS offers; part-time starter this year
LB John Bordano (SR) 3 star; often injured; rotation player
LB Robert Seals (JR) 2 star; 2 year starter
CB J.R. Richardson (JR) 3 star; multiple BCS offers; starts in nickel
CB Horace Richardson (SO) 3 star; not much PT
FS Hayden Greenbauer (SR) 3 star; 2 year starter
SS Shakiel Randolph (JR) 3 star; part-time starter this year


In relation to the kind of talent we've had here over the last decade I'd say this team isn't terrible. What we will lack is difference makers coming in from the 2014 class. I can't see hardly anyone outside of maybe one of the QB commits (Harris probably bolts after Jones steps down) and maybe Shelby Walker the WR from Houston making much of an impact. They all look like redshirt guys to me. That said, we will be young offensively and breaking in a new QB likely in a new system. Talent-wise though I think its not terrible for SMU.

5 wins max

I think that's reasonable for a first year coach. Hell June only won a game against Texas State in his first season. We will be young at QB but we've got experience (albeit a lack of quality depth) in most every other facet.

StallionsModelT wrote:I think that's reasonable for a first year coach. Hell June only won a game against Texas State in his first season. We will be young at QB but we've got experience (albeit a lack of quality depth) in most every other facet.

Yeah, I'm going to be a lot more concerned with how New Guy is recruiting than an I am with how much he wins with June's guys (see SMU basketball).

The cupboard is SO bare. I don't know how you can spin it any other way with a straight face. As pointed out, the 2014 class is a throw away where we might not see any starters emerge by the time all is said and done. I wish we could just take a mulligan on 2014 and reserve scholarships for the future coach and 2015 (damn class limits).

Dude, we aren't playing in the SWC. Half of our schedule will be UNT, likely an FCS school, Memphis, Tulsa, Tulane, USF, and Temple. Even with our talent level we should be competitive against those programs. Yes the 2014 class looks awful, but maybe if a new coach gets in here by mid-December we can get a few kids to take a look at us.