College Football Confidential

UNT could tweak 2008 schedule

UNT's 2008 football nonconference schedule, while yet to be announced, is set...for the moment.

The 2008 opener at national champion LSU on Aug. 30 could be moving but would require string-pulling. LSU, with one open date, apparently wants to play a TV game on Aug. 30 against a better opponent than UNT. The Mean Green has a Sept. 20 open date, but LSU is playing Auburn that day.

To make this work, LSU might need UNT to move its Sept. 13 game at Rice to some other date, if possible. Currently, LSU is showing a "TBA" in its 2008 schedule on Sept. 13. As for UNT-Rice moving to Sept. 20, that wouldn't work; Rice is at Texas that day according to the Longhorns' future schedules.

Right now, UNT is scheduled to host Tulsa on Sept. 6 and play at Kansas State on Sept. 27. LSU has games against Troy and Mississippi State on those dates, respectively.

UNT has already switched 2008 openers once, completing an agreement with Miami (Fla.) to drop an Aug. 30 meeting at Dolphin Stadium, the Hurricanes' new home starting next season.

UNT should announce its 2008 schedule soon.

--Troy Phillips

It's official: DeLoach hired at UNT

Former UCLA safeties/special teams coach Gary DeLoach can expect a warm welcome at Saturday's football banquet after the season UNT's defense had.

Head coach Todd Dodge said Thursday that DeLoach is the Mean Green's new defensive coordinator, replacing Ron Mendoza, who was fired Jan. 2. DeLoach coached at UNT from 1998 to 2002, the last three as DC.

DeLoach had a few connections to UNT other than his previous experience. Current offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich, who also worked at UNT under Darrell Dickey, is a former colleague. While at UCLA, DeLoach passed through Southlake while recruiting Dodge's players at Carroll High School.

"The first person I thought about was him," Dodge said. "I checked with [coaches] I always lean on, two or three people, and asked their opinion. They mentioned Gary, who I was already thinking about. It just confirmed what I was wanting to go with."

DeLoach has 28 years of college coaching experience, 13 as a defensive coordinator. A Houston native, DeLoach has other stops at Texas A&M, Stephen F. Austin, New Mexico State, Trinity Valley Community College and the Frankfurt Galaxy of the now-defunct World League.

Despite changes at UCLA with the hiring of new coach Rick Neuheisel, DeLoach had a chance to stay at UCLA, with much of the defensive staff retained. Family ties in Houston and the chance to rebuild a UNT defense that helped win four consecutive Conference titles (2001-2004) figured into the move.

DeLoach's first day of work is Friday, Dodge said.

_ Troy Phillips

DeLoach off UCLA's books; UNT next

It's now January 22, which for UNT football fans means Gary DeLoach should be named the Mean Green's defensive coordinator any day. DeLoach, the former safeties/special teams coach at UCLA, is expected to replace Ron Mendoza, who was fired after a 2-10 season.

At UCLA, DeLoach was hired on or before January 14, 2003, meaning he has met the required five-year tenure to receive full monthly benefits from the California educator/coach retirement system. DeLoach coached at North Texas from 1998 to 2002, the last three seasons as defensive coordinator. He spent several years coaching in Texas at the high school level (one season), as well as UNT, Texas A&M, Stephen F. Austin and Trinity Valley Community College.

DeLoach, 53, could have stayed at UCLA but chose to be closer to his mother and other family in Houston. He interviewed with UNT coach Todd Dodge several weeks ago, and sources say he's been the top guy all along. Dodge still needs a cornerbacks coach after the person he targeted, former Baylor assistant Clay Jennings, accepted the same job at TCU.

_ Troy Phillips

Offseason lists

Texas Tech is No. 10 ... in SI preseason football

Oklahoma is seventh, Tech 10th, Texas 15th and TCU conference rival BYU 18th in the 2008 preseason football rankings by Stewart Mandel of SI.com, done after the NFL defections. Georgia is No. 1. Read about it at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/01/16/power.rankings/index.html.


UNT is No. 3 ... in SN’s Terrible 20 for 2007

The Mean Green is noted for allowing 71 touchdowns in 12 games. Read the entire Terrible 20 by Sporting News’ Tom Dienhart at http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=meetthew

Applewhite's initial thoughts

Major Applewhite, Texas’ newly-hired assistant head coach/running backs coach, offered a handful of interesting insights during his introductory news conference in Austin. Applewhite, 29, acknowledged a desire to become a head football coach at the college level _ some day. But he downplayed any thoughts that he looms as the replacement-in-waiting for current Longhorns’ coach Mack Brown, 56. Such a notion, said Applewhite, is too far down the line to speculate about at this juncture. The former Texas quarterback, who holds the school’s career record for passing yards (8,353), said he’s learned the importance of making “tough decisions every day” as a college coach. Toward that end, he considers his benching as a player in favor of Chris Simms during his college career “a blip on the radar” has no negative impact on his relationship with Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis. In fact, Applewhite considers Davis his primary mentor in the coaching profession. “He always understood me, and I always felt that it was a relationship that I wanted to carry on beyond my time at Texas,” Applewhite said. Although Applewhite _ an offensive coordinator at Alabama (2007) and Rice (2006) the past two seasons _ will offer input, Davis will remain the Longhorns’ offensive play-caller during the 2008 season. Applewhite will oversee the running backs, a first-time assignment on his coaching resume. Applewhite offered the following insights on issues facing himself and the 2008 Longhorns: On replacing leading rusher Jamaal Charles, who will enter the NFL draft: “Obviously, Chris (Ogbonnaya) and Vondrell (McGee) … are going to have to step up. I’m going to meet with those guys (and establish) how we want to work at that position, the toughness that we want to exhibit mentally and physically, the effort and discipline that I want to see … on and off the field.” On coaching RBs for the first time: “The obvious part of being an offensive coordinator for the last two years is that you have to know all facets of your offense. I understand … the things we’ve been doing with the run game (at Texas).” On recruiting players to his alma mater: “As a player, guys (being recruited today) got to see me play. So it gives me a good chance to get my foot in the door and get my phone calls returned. I will be able to talk about my experiences playing at Texas … I think (his youth helps him relate to recruits). But it’s more about the continuity of the staff. A recruit is buying into a staff, into a program and into a philosophy. It’s not a four-year decision. It’s a 40-year decision that most of these guys are making. So they have to feel comfortable with the program and the leadership.” _ Jimmy Burch

TCU in process of hiring CB coach

Former Baylor cornerbacks coach Clay Jennings has been in to interview at TCU for their CB coaching position. He spent the past year at Baylor and was at Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, Sam Houston State and Southern Arkansas (and other schools) before that. Jennings went to high school in Waco, and he played college ball at North Texas (defensive lineman 1992-95).

The Frogs hope to fill the position by the middle or end of next week. Charles McMillian was the CB coach at TCU, but he left for Texas A&M last week.

-- Mercedes Mayer

OU finalizing Norvell deal

Jay Norvell, an ex-teammate of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops at Iowa, may be named later today as receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator to replace Kevin Sumlin, who left to become the head coach at Houston.

Norvell told the Lincoln Journal-Star on Wednesday that he had accepted the position, confirming rumors from late last week. but an OU source said Thursday that though confirmation could come later today or Friday, the deal was not quite done. Norvell was offensive coordinator under Bill Callahan at Nebraska for two years before moving to UCLA, where he could call his own plays.

This will actually be Norvell's second hire at OU. Stoops hired him in 2002 as receivers coach, but he left a month later to coach tight ends for Callahan with the Oakland Raiders and followed him to Nebraska. Norvell and the UCLA staff lost their jobs after a 6-6 season and he was a finalist to succeed Joe Tiller at Purdue, also reportedly interviewed with Mike Sherman for a position on his staff at Texas A&M.

He's 44 and has also coached at Iowa State, Wisconsin and the Indianapolis Colts.

OU already has commitments from several top high school receivers, who may have a good shot at playing this season because of the defection of Malcolm Kelly to the NFL and Adron
Tennell's injury and offseason surgery.

-- Mike Jones

Applewhite deal done

Major Applewhite is headed back to Texas to become an assistant football coach, sources close to the situation have confirmed. Applewhite, 29, has accepted an offer from coach Mack Brown to become the Longhorns' running backs coach. An official announcement cannot be made before the close of business today (5 p.m., Wednesday). A likely scenario involves a Thursday news conference to formally present the Longhorns' latest hire.

Applewhite, who spent the 2007 season as Alabama's offensive coordinator, is a former UT quarterback who holds the school record for career passing yards (8,353).

_ Jimmy Burch

A&M coaching trends

There are two trends in new Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman's hires for his staff.

First, on the offensive side of the ball, there's a lot of NFL experience. Sherman has been gone from the college game for a long time. Offensive coordinator Nolan Cromwell came from the Seahawks and has never coached at the college level. New running backs coach Randy Jordan is a nine-year NFL veteran and then went to Nebraska in 2004 under coach Bill Callahan.

Which leads us to the second trend. Jordan is the fourth hire from Nebraska. The first hire by Sherman was Tim Cassidy, who has strong A&M ties and was brought in to be the associate athletic director for football, a similar position as he held at Nebraska. Since then, they've hired the strength and conditioning coach, the defensive line coach and the running backs coach from Nebraska. All of those coaches were under Callahan, who went to Nebraska from the NFL before he was fired after this season.

One concern about the hires is if there might be too much of an NFL flavor on the new staff. The coaches in the NFL get a lot more time to work with the players than they will in college. Callahan brought and NFL-type of offense to the Cornhuskers and one criticism of him was that it was too complicated for the players, especially given the time constraints.

It will be interesting to see how it all works in College Station.

_ John Miller

Major hire expected

All signs point toward Major Applewhite returning to Texas as he heads into today's interview with coach Mack Brown for a vacancy on the Longhorns' staff. Applewhite, 29, will be accompanied by his wife, Julie, a San Antonio native who -- like her husband -- would welcome a chance to move back to the Lone Star State.

Applewhite spent last season as Alabama's offensive coordinator. The Birmingham News reported that Applewhite's contract with the Crimson Tide would require Applewhite or his new school to pay a $50,000 buyout if he departs before completing the two-year deal, which expires after the 2008 season. Don't expect that to be a stumbling block. Applewhite earned $250,000 last season at Alabama, a figure UT could easily match or top.

Sources close to the situation suggest both parties welcome Applewhite's return to Texas, where he set the school's career passing record (8,353 yards) while serving as a Longhorns' quarterback from 1998-2001. At this juncture, the only vacancy on Brown's staff is for a running backs coach. That appears to be the position Applewhite would take for the 2008 season, although he'd clearly have the ear of Greg Davis in game-planning sessions because of their close relationship.

Play-calling duties? Those would remain with Davis, from all indications, although Applewhite's input would be welcomed.

By completing this hire, Brown will have added a young coach he considers a "star" in this business to each side of his staff: Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator and Applewhite as an offensive assistant. Brown is seeking creative ideas from younger staffers and he'll get plenty.

If, in the process, he's added his eventual successor to Texas' staff, so be it. But don't expect that to be an imminent move. Brown, 56, joked during last week's press conference to introduce Muschamp that he might not be interested in stepping down until he's 78, following in the footsteps of Florida State's Bobby Bowden. The purpose was to squash the idea that Muschamp was UT's next coach in waiting, as some have speculated.

Frankly, I wouldn't expect Brown to coach another 22 years. Probably not even another 12. But I wouldn't expect him to be stepping down in such a timely manner that Muschamp or Applewhite would project to be his successor unless one or the other is willing to spend a long apprenticeship on the UT staff.

The more likely of the two to do that would be Applewhite. And, by accepting a job as the Longhorns' RBs coach, he can get take a step in that direction. Expect that first step to become official soon. Perhaps by Wednesday, definitely by the end of the week.

_ Jimmy Burch