Found this really interesting from head coach Grant McCasland this afternoon. Was asked about his perspective on non-conference scheduling and how it effects the non-power leagues, given his experience being a mid-major head coach.
Here is the quote:
"Man, this could be a rant. I'm going to stay away from the rant part, but I think about your question a lot in regards to scheduling, and I actually said this to Ross Hodge, who's the head coach at North Texas now, and they play at Minnesota next. It's difficult to get these opportunities for programs like Wyoming, and because you're trying to figure out how you can play games that you feel like help put you in position to make the NCAA tournament. And as a head coach at Texas Tech, I can tell you it's difficult because we need to play home games. We have revenue. We have opportunities to maximize
our fans opportunity to watch us play in Lubbock. But then who wants to come to Lubbock and play, and then you don't want to give up a lot of home games for that opportunity to fill this arena to go play neutral site games too much, because you miss out on the opportunity you have to have home games. And so really, especially with 20 league games this year, now you minimize those opportunities, and then you play in one tournament that we're going to go play in Brooklyn for the Legend's Classic, and now you've lost two home games. Now you're down to eight home games, and then you play a neutral game, so there is a numbers game here, we're all trying to figure out, with revenue being so important, how do you put the best schedule together, but also create revenue, and also put yourself in position of playing the NCAA tournament? I will tell you I love playing teams that we respect, and I think we need to find a better balance of playing a more competitive schedule. I've said that since I've been here, and if you win, if you went back and looked at the history of the team we had when I was the head coach of North Texas, I mean, it got dramatically more difficult the longer we were there. I do feel like the game that we had at home with Texas A&M, was really a boost in the schedule. Now we have that Big East Challenge where we play DePaul, and they're playing great. That'll be a great home game. And so, I mean to me, those are two great home games, and then add this Wyoming game, this is moving in the right direction. I would, would love to add a home at home. I think college basketball needs more. Now, I don't know if I want to go play at Wyoming. So the key to this is like, how do we keep making this an exciting opportunity for these home fans? I think that's a huge part of because I watch these games, and I know that that's going to be important moving forward. How do you create revenue, and how do you create opportunities, other than maybe the neutral site game, which I think took over there for a while. How do we get these campuses with great home games? And felt like we had that last year going into this year, but that obviously didn't work out. So we'll continue to move forward. And I feel for programs, honestly, to have the difficulty of scheduling games, but I don't feel bad enough to schedule some of them."
Really, really interesting insight on a topic that most have complained about, myself included, about Tech's non-conference schedule this season, and even last. There is a major balance of the numbers like Grant said, and I just found it interesting, thought I would share that.
I did want to also look at McCasland's tenure at UNT to see how his schedules changed throughout the tenure, to see if it's possible that things like that could make it to Lubbock, and it seemed that McCasland prioritized quality games in the state while also having the pull to play quality opponents at home, alongside going on the road as a mid-major usually does.
North Texas KenPom Strength Of Schedule under McCasland (Notable Non-Con Games):
2017-18: Overall - 153rd; Non-Con - 170th (at Nebraska, at Georgetown, at Oklahoma, at UT Arlington)
2018-19: Overall - 255th; Non-Con - 346th (at Oklahoma, at New Mexico)
2019-20: Overall - 113th; Non-Con - 28th (at VCU, at Arkansas, Jamaica Classic (Utah State), at UT Arlington, vs. Oklahoma, at Dayton)
2020-21: Overall - 109th; Non-Con - 113th (at Arkansas, at West Virginia, at Mississippi State)
2021-22: Overall - 136th; Non-Con - 41st (ESPN Events Classic (n. Kansas, n. Miami (FL), n. Drake), at Wichita State)
2022-23: Overall - 105th; Non-Con - 121st (at Saint Mary's, vs. Fresno State, n. San Jose State)
Prosper Energy Management is a mineral management company based in Dallas/Fort Worth with a Red Raider as a founding member. With over 35 years of experience in oil and gas management, Prosper provides full start-to-finish management, as well as tailored service, with the mission of serving their clients above all else. Prosper specializes in petroleum engineering, giving their clients that competitive edge when tackling the complexities of leasing, land & title, division orders, accounting, forecasting, etc
www.prosperenergymgmt.com
@Zacbash10
Here is the quote:
"Man, this could be a rant. I'm going to stay away from the rant part, but I think about your question a lot in regards to scheduling, and I actually said this to Ross Hodge, who's the head coach at North Texas now, and they play at Minnesota next. It's difficult to get these opportunities for programs like Wyoming, and because you're trying to figure out how you can play games that you feel like help put you in position to make the NCAA tournament. And as a head coach at Texas Tech, I can tell you it's difficult because we need to play home games. We have revenue. We have opportunities to maximize
our fans opportunity to watch us play in Lubbock. But then who wants to come to Lubbock and play, and then you don't want to give up a lot of home games for that opportunity to fill this arena to go play neutral site games too much, because you miss out on the opportunity you have to have home games. And so really, especially with 20 league games this year, now you minimize those opportunities, and then you play in one tournament that we're going to go play in Brooklyn for the Legend's Classic, and now you've lost two home games. Now you're down to eight home games, and then you play a neutral game, so there is a numbers game here, we're all trying to figure out, with revenue being so important, how do you put the best schedule together, but also create revenue, and also put yourself in position of playing the NCAA tournament? I will tell you I love playing teams that we respect, and I think we need to find a better balance of playing a more competitive schedule. I've said that since I've been here, and if you win, if you went back and looked at the history of the team we had when I was the head coach of North Texas, I mean, it got dramatically more difficult the longer we were there. I do feel like the game that we had at home with Texas A&M, was really a boost in the schedule. Now we have that Big East Challenge where we play DePaul, and they're playing great. That'll be a great home game. And so, I mean to me, those are two great home games, and then add this Wyoming game, this is moving in the right direction. I would, would love to add a home at home. I think college basketball needs more. Now, I don't know if I want to go play at Wyoming. So the key to this is like, how do we keep making this an exciting opportunity for these home fans? I think that's a huge part of because I watch these games, and I know that that's going to be important moving forward. How do you create revenue, and how do you create opportunities, other than maybe the neutral site game, which I think took over there for a while. How do we get these campuses with great home games? And felt like we had that last year going into this year, but that obviously didn't work out. So we'll continue to move forward. And I feel for programs, honestly, to have the difficulty of scheduling games, but I don't feel bad enough to schedule some of them."
Really, really interesting insight on a topic that most have complained about, myself included, about Tech's non-conference schedule this season, and even last. There is a major balance of the numbers like Grant said, and I just found it interesting, thought I would share that.
I did want to also look at McCasland's tenure at UNT to see how his schedules changed throughout the tenure, to see if it's possible that things like that could make it to Lubbock, and it seemed that McCasland prioritized quality games in the state while also having the pull to play quality opponents at home, alongside going on the road as a mid-major usually does.
North Texas KenPom Strength Of Schedule under McCasland (Notable Non-Con Games):
2017-18: Overall - 153rd; Non-Con - 170th (at Nebraska, at Georgetown, at Oklahoma, at UT Arlington)
2018-19: Overall - 255th; Non-Con - 346th (at Oklahoma, at New Mexico)
2019-20: Overall - 113th; Non-Con - 28th (at VCU, at Arkansas, Jamaica Classic (Utah State), at UT Arlington, vs. Oklahoma, at Dayton)
2020-21: Overall - 109th; Non-Con - 113th (at Arkansas, at West Virginia, at Mississippi State)
2021-22: Overall - 136th; Non-Con - 41st (ESPN Events Classic (n. Kansas, n. Miami (FL), n. Drake), at Wichita State)
2022-23: Overall - 105th; Non-Con - 121st (at Saint Mary's, vs. Fresno State, n. San Jose State)
Prosper Energy Management is a mineral management company based in Dallas/Fort Worth with a Red Raider as a founding member. With over 35 years of experience in oil and gas management, Prosper provides full start-to-finish management, as well as tailored service, with the mission of serving their clients above all else. Prosper specializes in petroleum engineering, giving their clients that competitive edge when tackling the complexities of leasing, land & title, division orders, accounting, forecasting, etc
www.prosperenergymgmt.com
@Zacbash10
