Forget the hot takes.
Like most things, winning is the answer. Doing the little things in practice, recruiting, developing, and building relationships is how you win. This has all been documented and proven over and again.
There is a bit of luck involved, and sometimes some coaches get more luck than others and people rate them higher than others but we usually figure out who is doing the little things right and building a sustainable program.
Seth Littrell and his staff — and the administration — have done a ton right. North Texas is 7-2 and has 4 games (bowl game counted here) left to get three wins to reach the 10-win mark for the first time in school history.
Just five years ago the program reached a bowl for the first time in _ten_years. Since Littrell was hired he has reached bowl eligibility three straight years.
Where this blog was once giddy at the thought of a bowl, we are now nonplussed. Just like the players.
That is an accomplishment!
North Texas football is blasé about being bowl eligible!
I do not know what you think a “Power 5” school is like, but it is much like these G5 programs just with more TV money. “Power” means “Money” for all intents and purposes. It means there is more pressure because you are on TV each week and instead of losing a rough game on ESPN+ it will be on ESPN2 maybe.
Beyond that, not every P5 school is alike. Much as no G5 school is alike. Rutgers and Washington State are not on the same boat as Michigan and USC but yet they are in the same conference. One hired a good coach and spent the money and is ranked in the top 25 and the other spent money and hired a bad coach and is a laughing stock.
Seth Littrell learned from the one with the good record in case you were wondering.
What else are we talking about this bye week?
