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If we lose....JJ is in his own doghouse...and he has to share the food bowl with Tristan....

Brett Vito wrote about the method of rebuilding the football team in his blog yesterday. http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/ It's certainly true that the process is going to be slower with high school players vs. a quick fix from JUCOs. He's also right that the 2011 edition will not be as strong on paper as the 2010 squad. The losses of Jamaal Jackson, the quarterbacks, Gill, Drake, Santiago, Robertson, Atkinson and Kelvin Jackson cannot be matched, at least immediately, by new or existing players. But there are some positions where we will be improved over last year. Power will be a great addition at tight end and could spring Dunbar open for some long runs. It will be good to have JJ Johnson back at center. The defensive backfield returns Ford and Cook and should be stronger than last year. However, there are some factors that Brett did not mention in his article. First, last year's team was notorious for its underachieving. Phil Steele evaluated that they had the third best personnel in the Sun Belt but they sure didn't play like it. It was not helped by the terrible string of injuries. Most of the starters seldom came off of the field so fatigue had to be a factor. That won't be the case this year. I think that you will see tremendous improvement in coaching, speed, and morale over last year. It's a more experienced, higher paid, better achieving staff and their focus is on speed and participation. Knowing that if you work hard you stand a very good chance of playing in each game will improve morale. And, improved morale often leads to overachieving. Vito's probably right...this doesn't appear to be a bowl team but I wouldn't totally rule it out either.

Driving through SA today I saw a random billboard for the UNT business school.

I agree incompletely.

When in doubt, go with the green team.

I like your attitude.

From the time that Canales took over, I saw a decimated team that almost totally came back to life when it was properly coached/motivated....but mostly the offense. If Coach McCarney and his (mostly) new defensive staff can do the same for the defensive side of the ball, then we have a contender for the 'Belt Championship and a trip to N.O. I don't see the loss of our two starting D-linemen as all that devastating, because I was never that impressed with them in the first place. My hope/fantasy is that McCarney and his defensive staff have looked every defensive player in the eye and extracted a commitment from each of them to step up their game and live up to their collective potentials. One of the reasons that I have this hope/fantasy is because of a brief conversation that I had after the Kansas St. game with one of the D-line players....Bradon McCoy. I came up to him and told him that I was glad that he was part of the Mean Green family. Mr. McCoy smiled and thanked me and then said "next year I promise that there will be more wins". I responded by saying that I appreciated his commitment, but that as long as he was committed to making himself a better player each year, and encouraged his teammates to do the same, the wins would naturally happen. SO! call me a pom-pom shaking optimist if you wish, but between this one motivated player, and what I assume to be a group of motivated defensive staff, I have hope that we will have a much better record than last season.

I doubt anyone in the administration or current coaching staff would be satisfied with a four year rebuilding project. I think Vito is over analyzing a bunch of coach speck that McCarney spewed in his recruiting press conference. I really did not like the tone of McCarney's talk but it is very typical of new coaches, bemoaning what talent is here and trying to lower expectations. All the better when the team turns it around or a build in excuse if they don't. The team with all their injuries and coaching disarray was not that far away from contending for the Belt last year. It is extremely rare that teams don't have big personnel loses every year. Gill, Robinson, Jackson, Jackson, Dodge and Atkinsson were all good players but none are not replaceable. Failure to sign a boatload of juco in my view is a good thing, not a white flag.

D-Line and QB play will determine the fate of this team. If there are answers at these positions, 6-8 wins is realistic. If there are no answers.......

This team will go as our D-Line play goes.

Because objective views are not welcome on gmg.com

We're in the effing Sun Belt! There aren't any traditional powers that dominate so it's a toss up every year. It surprises me that Vito doesn't seem to believe coach McCarney won't be able to get this team to edge out a few close wins, which Dodge's teams were nortorius for losing. If we can stay relatively healthy I fully expect the Mean Green to be competing for a bowl spot in the last couple weeks of the season.

Considering what we went through with the injuries last season, and the preparation and fight I saw against KState...I am excited for the next team. Especially since Canales was retained.

I'm hoping Akunne can show some of our upperclassmen How To Tackle. Incredible form.

It's almost like the SBC office has come to the conclusion that 1) The WAC isn't a viable move for us and will not happen, and 2) We're outta here 5 seconds after any offer comes from MWC or CUSA. Given those facts, why would they accommodate us at all ? Sometimes it really looks like they view us as eventually gone.

Guess we can claim ASU was a tough game for Denver.

The schedule got a little messed up this year because things shifted around so the UNT @ WKU could be on national TV. We were originally scheduled to play WKU on the same trip as the MTSU game I believe. What is super messed up is that this will be the THIRD year in a row that we have to play @ WKU. EDIT: Another thing the SBC is terrible at is seeding basketball tournaments. Hopefully this year with the simplified format they can manage to follow their own rules.

8-10 minutes of Eric Tramiel would do wonders.

Boise State played a 13 game schedule in 2009, including 1 FCS school: Boise State 2009 Schedule I think the bigger problem is how hyped the Houston game has been. To add an FCS game in front of it would just be kind of a strange thing to do at this point in my opinion.

Waay overrated.

overrated *ducks*

That is a keeper! Greatness...so very cute. That video warmed this granddad's heart this morning. Emmitt, I had no idea that you could father such an adorable and talented young lady. Better keep those sidearms loaded and at the ready in a few years! Just make sure they are locked up and out of sight. Best post I have seen in a long time. When are you going to bring her to a basketball game. She would be a hit in the Mean green Room before the game!

I don't know if we have EVER out recruited anyone on our schedule in the 25 years I have been following the Mean Green. But we have OUTCOACHED and OUTPLAYED and OUTHUSTLED and whipped our share of ass on the field and I and many others have witnessed it. Which is why I'll never understand why anyone gets worked up over the recruit rating stuff. Coaching is the key to success. Always has been and always will be. The coaches pick the talent that they know they can mold. I suggest those who are really worried about it go back and reread the bio's of this coaching staff and see that we now have one of the most battled hardened staff NT has ever had. Relax! We're gonna be fine. It' All Good and All Green! Rick

This is why I have hope. Vito mentioned every subtraction from this team save one HUGE one. Todd Dodge

Your old avatar gave those messages a lot stronger feel. As for the basic question of the thread, could we use the extra scholarship now? Certainly. But hindsight is 20-20 and if a quality player had become available when we had used the scholarship on a lessor quality player then JJ would faced the same criticism. I still think it's great that 16-7 is a disappointing season but I still want 20+ wins.

The problem with Vito is that he really doesn't watch the games and I wouldn't fall into the trap of thinking he's got a handle on the nuances of football if I were you. This team can be a bowl bound team if they can fix the Defense. The Offense is fairly intact. If you look at film of the last 5 games you'll see that Dunbar broke more long runs behind the so called back-up center and left guard than any other direction. I give Drake props for even being in there most of the year because that was one hurtin player. He only played about 60% of the season. Gill was the only starting O-lineman that will be missed, but most of the other O positions will be improved upon. Now D is another story, but the anchor players are pretty good and the HC is a D "genius" we hear. We need two good D-Linemen, one good LB and another good corner. If Thompson can step in at QB, I like our chances to make a bowl game.

I think you know what he's saying, but in case you don't I'll take a stab at it. Tristan, Josh, George, and DJ have played between 600-800 minutes each thus far. that's 2781 minutes combined. Hogans and Shorter have played around 500 each. around 1000 combined. Holmen/Knox/Edwards split the next 600 minutes. 4 guys are carrying the load of the minutes, probably the ones he's referring to playing long minutes. I don't have a problem with the next 2 guys because of the defense they bring. It's not uncommon to see one or 2 players in the college game get crazy minutes, because those are your race horses. Denver and LaMo both have trios that play 32min+ per game. But, Josh White's 781 total might be a little much (34 minutes/G). Especially for a player that had a really bad night against FAU. In fact, I thought it might have been you, who pointed out at the beginning of the season that Josh might be playing a little much. It'd be great if someone from the Holmen/Knox/Edwards combo would step up to become the clear consistently better player to bring us down to a 7 man rotation and split the minutes more evenly between those 7. I hope that I've come close to TTG's mark with that explanation. Further, I'd say TTG pays very close attention to UNT basketball, college basketball and even more attention to the Sun Belt conference. He is probably one of the most basketball savvy fans we have around here. There are a few others that might be more, and you may be one of them. We are well aware that you are very close to some of the past and present players, and you may feel it's your duty to defend them on this board, because they are above posting here. I understand that perspective, since many are likely your friends. However, I don't think questioning TTGs fandom is really taken seriously. You obviously have some very valid points, good insight and make some very good posts from time to time and I'm glad you share here, but many statements sound emotionally driven from being VERY close to the situation. I think this may be one of them. You're a newcomer to the board, maybe to UNT basketball (obviously not basketball in general), and probably relatively young. The people that post here brave enough to share opinions typically aren't fair weather fans. They're typically season ticket holders and have been for a while. These are the people that put their money and time into supporting, watching and following the team. If you want to question the dedication of fans, you've picked the wrong one to question.

Adam..is this your birthday? If so...happy Birthday to a great Mean Green fan! I realize the weather is bad, but maybe you can get out and throw some snowballs at SMU grads or something fun like that to celebrate. have a great day...it's your day...you own...it. Happy Birthday. By the way...I agree 100% with your comments about George! GO MEAN GREEN!

The event will be at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites .....1434 Centre Place Drive. The phone number is 940-383-4100. This is the Holiday Inn Express behind Johnny Carino's on I-35 E. Take the Teasley exit.....go North on the Service Road......(heading toward campus). When you get to the road where Johnny Carino's is....turn right. It's about 1/3 mile in the back. The event will be on Signing Date....February 2nd. As to the event......registration starts at 6:00, the reception begins at 6:30. There will be food and a cash bar. (Have no idea what food means---hors doeuvers? meal?)...just telling you what my e-mail says. And now the other news....this year they are charging for this event. It's $10 for Mean Green Club Members and guests of Mean Green Club representatives. It's $20 for the General Public. Don't shoot the messenger....

well it is obvious you don't know history.

She did have a nice rack.

Sounds like "Dodge Syndrome" has spread.

It really looks like the lb's we signed today have some speed and are accomplished athletics. Some of them were being recruited by the mountain west conference so..... this is a way to "beat them" and gain some of their interest. Now that we trust Dan & Chico, I really am looking forward to see what can happen with these athlete's on the def side of the ball.Then maybe, we will get more interest from other conferences (CUSA)& more importantly win some games in September. Secondarly, we will see immediate gains lot's faster with Dan's coaches out there recruiting for next year's crop too. This summer will be fun to see some movement concerning recruits & in commitments (hopefully) based entirely on what they did in such shore time this winter. What do u think? GMG

man, jub jub is such a great ambassador for the university. North Texas hoodie on radio row, talking up Abner Haynes, Mccarney, Mean Joe, etc, if only we had 20 other people that were high profile like him doingthis in DFW during the super bowl. GMG

The scoreboard is hard to read in the black and white photo of former Mean Green Coach Hayden Fry being hoisted on his North Texas football player's shoulders following probably still the greatest win in North Texas football history. Had the Mean Joe Greene North Texas team in 1968 beat Frank Broyle's national championship contending Razorbacks (as was said to have actually been the case other than one of the worst homer calls in history) that game would have been our greatest all time win since a few weeks later the Hogs would host in Fayettville Darrell Royal's Texas Longhorn's for the NCAA National Championship game in what back then was called "the Game of the Century." Amazing how close North Texas came to beating one of the Top 2 ranked schools of that season. Back To Knoxville & the Mean Green: The Southeast Conference University of Tennessee Volunteers had a 6 & 5 record the year our Mean Green beat them in Knoxville on their homecoming with a late 90(?) plus yard kick-off return for a touchdown by North Texas' Sears Woods. Remember This On That Day, Too? ABC TV college football broadcaster Keith Jackson on the game he was covering the day we played the Vols kept going back to "that Hayden Fry's scrappy Mean Green team" score several times as I recall and then announced to the entire NCAA college football world that the mighty Mean Green had pulled off the upset. Of course, had there been as many bowls back during the year of our huge upset win, the Vols would have been (at 6 & 5) a much coveted bowl team especially with their history of traveling fans; of course with more bowls back then North Texas would have had its first bowl since the 1959 Sun Bowl game during NT's Abner Hayne's era. Tennessee with their 6 & 5 record the year we beat them were hardly considered a chopped liver of a team by any means. Question: To you at that game or who listened to Bill Mercer call that game, do you have any ancedotes to add to that Big Day in North Texas athletic's history? Or even some tidbits about our near upset of #1 ranked Arkansas the day we had that one stolen from us from one SWC ref? Another Question: And, uh (clear throat)...where was TCU during all this time during our Mean Joe Greene & Hayden Fry eras at UNT? Answer: Strangely & amazingly enough, they were not to be seen on the UNT Mean Green football schedule for either of those 2 decades, that's where they, uh, weren't. GMG!

And hopefully we will not schedule the same kind of OOC schools at our new stadium as we did at Fouts. I think that would create a groundswell of attitudes such as: "Why did we spend $80,000,000 if we bring to Denton the same type of schools we did at Fouts Field?" Moral of post: Wouldn't it be nice to see us have such huge wins at home for a change?

I base it on his stories. They're almost like he talks to some coaches and players and writes what they say. I have seen so many mistakes in his columns about little things like naming players in games that are not playing in that game. Also, he doesn't watch anyone but the QB & RB, maybe a little WR; no defense. Very weak reporting if you ask me!