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Thread: Cajuns' basketball season may not be finished yet

  1. #61

    Default Re: Cajuns' basketball season may not be finished yet

    Quote Originally Posted by Cajunsmike View Post
    Question for Josh, why is the Ark State head coach leaving for North Texas? Is it because of pay. SBC was quite a bit ahead of CUSA this year. Also, UNT fights all the Dallas pro teams as well as SMU/TCU in the area for attention. There is none of that at Ark. State as they are the focus teams for the area. Maybe he had another connection at that school. On the other hand Texas not having an income tax may be a factor in the decision.
    Family. Money. Recruiting.

    McCasland is a native of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Both he and his wife still have family there. He made $350K at Arkansas State with state income tax, and I'm told he will make $650K at UNT without state income tax. UNT is also located in a fertile area for hoops talent, and it should be easier to keep some of those guys at home compared to getting them to Jonesboro. He also has a connection with UNT COO for Athletics Jared Mosley, who was Abilene Christian's athletic director years ago and hired McCasland there. (McCasland left four months later for an assistant job at his alma mater Baylor, where he was for several years before going to Arkansas State.)

    After getting the Arkansas State job, he convinced some good players to stay (one did end up at Texas Tech as a grad transfer) and won after adding some of his own quality recruits. I expect him to do the same at UNT, although the program is in bad shape. The Mean Green have some talent, but they never meshed under the last coach. If he can keep the roster intact, add some recruits that fit his system (versatile and athletic) and get everybody to buy in, we might see UNT have a nice turnaround season in his first year. Regardless, he won a junior college national championship at Midland College (former Cajuns guard Ryan McCoy played for him) and coached Division II Midwestern State to the Elite Eight twice before posting a 20-win season with the Red Wolves, so he clearly can coach and I'd expect him to get UNT back on track soon.

    I've known McCasland for a long time and thought Arkansas State made a great hire when they got him. Feel the same way about him taking over at UNT.

  2. #62

    Default Re: Cajuns' basketball season may not be finished yet

    Quote Originally Posted by axg8750 View Post
    That's what I was hoping for with Register. Didn't really pan out as he never found his shot in college.
    Register had a good HS career but it did not approach what Russell was able to do. Heyward's problem was his defensive struggles limited his minutes. Therefore when he got into the game he pressed offensively as he knew he would not be in long if his shot was not dropping. Note, he was not a starter this year at LSU-Alexandria. They have gone undefeated so far in NAIA games so they do have good talent on that squad. I think national NAIA tournament is later this week. How Russell performs defensively will determine his initial success. I have confidence he will have a good overall career.

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