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I agree thoroughly with your comment. Never underestimate the ability of a great coach to "coach up" the talent that he inherits. The cupboard was not bare when Coach Mac arrived. A good new strength coach and coordinated position weight program will make a huge difference in linemen not to mention more 6" 4" recruits than I ever remember. The new coaches found our linemen to be mushy and blubbery. They don't want anyone whose waist is broader than his shoulders. Take a relook at some of the departing JUCOS under this standard and you'll see why even though we could get penetration on the rush we were too slow to pursue to make the sack, i.e. Atkinson,etc. We had barely escaped with one win the year before Hayden Fry took over, and Fry finished 5-5-1 in his first year and won the co-championship of the Missouri Valley Conference. Will there be rough spots such as a 'Bama blow out ? Of course, but don't underestimate the inspiration and new look that comes with the new staff. Do I wish that it could have come a year earlier? Hell yes, but the fact is it took a year to educate the BOR what a real D-1 coach and staff cost in these times. This puts us in a position to compete and win now and that's all any coach can do---put his players in a position to win. Coaches Mac and Chico guarantee that is possible now.

After suggesting that JJ may have just make a little mistake in not using his pocketed ships this year, and finding out that to many that is an extreme position. I will now ruthlessly attack a truly defenseless subject and talk women's basketball. The NT and ULM game was another great example of very questionable basketball. I wonder how often a college team has lost to an opponent that shoot something like 23% and who missed 28 straight field goal attempts in the second half. With the game on the line in the final minutes, the NT players vied to see who could hoist up the worst shoot. Of course, one of the two NT best players was out for undisclosed personal reasons, Godbolt. Not only is she the only true post player, NT has but as a sophomore probably the most important player on the team. Her being absence of course let to all those missed shots as ULM got multiple shots about every time they went down the court. The write-ups of this game referred to it being a defensive struggle, sorry missing wide open shots is not the sign of good defense. Of course, the people who care about WBB were minuscule to begin with and that has dwindled substantially with SS's record and issues. The only real reason that I am commenting on the game is that with Stephens' record of player discord, I wonder if Godbolt is the latest instance. I guess we will see. The team is actually marginally better than last year, at least most of the games are much closer. They do have some potential but SS's almost complete failure to recruit anything but guards has made it even more difficult. I do wonder how this post will be received, negative and critical to be sure, but at least it shows that someone is concerned enough to comment.

I was a bit disappointed that LSU canceled their spring game verse UNT last weekend. The tournament replaced the game with a match verse the University of Houston. Every school except LSU played two games. First, spring matches provide an opportunity for the coaching staff to tinker with formations, evaluate players and get a general feel for the squad heading into next year. Our ladies lost to Rice 1-0 but looked very sharp at times and controlled the match most of the second half. Note: Rice loan goal did not come against our starting defensive back line. In the second match UNT tied University of Houston 1-1 in a pretty evenly played match. Our goal came on a header (Kelsey Hodges) off a corner kick. Haley Newsom played really strong at keeper which was great to see as the Mean Green have big shoes to fill with the graduation of Mandy Hall this year. The terrible weather only allowed our girls a week of practice outdoors (only 3-4 days), but the girls conditioning looked pretty good. Scoring was at a minimum not only for UNT but for all the other schools as well, i.e #4 OK State 1 LSU 0; OK State 1 Rice 0; TX Tech 2 SFA 1 were a few matches I watched). Our play against Rice (3rd in C-USA) and their result against #4 in the nation OK-State should make for an interesting match this coming Saturday in Stillwater. GMG

In class 15 hours, study for 45 hours, sleep for 8 hours a night still leaves around 50 hours a week to eat, meet an attractive reason to stay in Denton for a few years, and work on basketball. Two rec games a week isn't goint to take away from study time.

I'd put it even with the coach retention. It's one thing to lose a lot of teenagers and early twentysomethings who may not like you and may not want to continue with their sport. It's another thing entirely when a lot of people who are depending on the program to earn their living decide that one year is about all they care to spend working alongside you.

pics of gtfo

I heard our make up game with UALR was going to be played at WKU.

False, nobody likes it there.

Sorry. It's got to be Rudy.

Good article, but I just don't see this team producing anything less than they already have the last 6 years. There is no question that the loss of Shavod and K. Jackson is going to be huge, but listening to our new DC we're going to use the depth in our secondary to run a scheme filled with creative blitzes. I have no idea how that translates to stopping the run, esp. on short yardage, but HOW CAN WE MANAGE OUR EXPECTATIONS TO BE ANY LOWER THAN THEY ALREADY HAVE BEEN!!!?! Todd Dodge has one of the 20 (not percentile, btw) worst head coaching records of ALL TIME, and we just sat through it. Seriously, my expectations for the team are entirely wrapped around how well our QB plays. If someone steps up and is just average without being a turnover prone mess, our offense should be able to run on anyone on the schedule (outside of Bama). I realize we lost 3 good oline starters, but only one of them started in the group that absolutely demolished KSU. We add JJ back to that line, several good youngsters, and Andrew Power to TE. I expect that we'll be able to run the ball, and if not it will be a MASSIVE disappointment. Our defensive performance is going to be all over the place. I think they will turn in some good games, but also get absolutely killed in a few. Our special teams should continue to improve with Olen and Atterbury returning. So really, if we can run the ball and control the clock, we should be in more games than we're not. Whether or not we actually win them? That's another story entirely. Dodge's teams never figured it out. I expect that Mac's teams eventually will.

Today, I filed to be placed on the ballot for Denton City Council District 4. Election day is May 14. Information on my platform can be found here: http://murray4denton.com

The NCAA has lifted the ridiculous rule requiring gloves to be gray. The rule allegedly started because teams were wearing gloves the same color as their opponents to prevent holding penalties from being called. Now, schools can wear any color they choose. Since I found this story on the Oregon blog, why do I feel like Nike threw some weight around to get this changed especially considering their Pro Combat uni designs. I guess it's one of the few good things Nike has done for uniforms. OregeonLive.com

How does the sunbelt go form having two teams getting 10 to 12 seeds a few years ago to being stuck in a play off game? I know the conference is bad, but we deserve a little more respect then this. Even UTEP at least has what, a 15 seed..... Can we buy some respect here http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

The conference is getting what it deserves this year. A lot of coaches (Scott and Brady, most egregiously) admitted before the year even started that all they cared about was being ready for conference play. Isiah Thomas is so busy trying to get back to the Knicks that he can't handle Utah Valley. Brady chokes against Savannah State. Even Bob Marlin dropped a game to an NAIA before conference play started. Aside from us... Take a year of OOC mediocrity (and only 2 or 3 instances of that- WKU, FAU, UALR) to outright misery, throw in league parity and bad in-conference losses dragging down the teams that managed to get through OOC with not-awful RPI rankings... And what you get is a league where the champion is going to, at best, finish with an RPI in the 105-115 range. 2nd best RPI contender could maybe claw back up to about 125. That's 16 seed range, right there. I really thought that ASU, USA, WKU, FAU, and us would make this a banner year for Sun Belt basketball. Instead, ASU did worse than nothing, WKU and FAU went about .500, and USA joined us in a conference season meltdown. The 150 rule came along one year too late. I'm also hopeful that, with Denver leaving, we go to non-divisional play and everyone plays 20 conference games. That leaves 8-9 OOC games instead of 13 this year, allowing conference members to schedule more selectively and spend their resources on a higher percentage of OOC home games. Basically, if we go to non-divisional play, terrible teams have 1/3rd fewer chances to go out and suck, and they have to use their OOC paycheck games more selectively. FIU can still get checks to play FSU and Louisville, but 4-5 fewer OOC games means they probably don't even want to schedule UVU. 150 rule. Non-divisional conference play. Coaches who aspire to more than a fluke 3-4 game win streak in March. There's hope. But nobody in this league deserves anything higher than the worst 15 seed. Other than us and FAU, anyone who gets in the tournament will probably be in the play-in game. It's shameful, I think it's the first time anyone representing the SBC will have ever been a 16 seed... But it's totally deserved.

If so, they need to keep their basketball coach as far away as possible...

This is the second to last attendance report. The teams in red have no more games in that category (I highlighted the wrong teams for the away attendance). WKU remains in the lead overall, and it looks like they will probably hold on. They have less than a 300/game advantage over ULL, but it is not as easy to overcome as you may think. ULL moved into second place, and MTSU rounds out the top three. UNT dropped to 4th despite a good crowd of 4000 over the weekend. ULL now leads the SBC conference game attendance with a couple of good crowds over the weekend. They will probably hold onto that lead as well through the final weekend. North Texas and Denver round out the top 3 in that category. ULM of all people lead the away attendance, with FIU in second. ULM is done for the year in that category, and FIU has a game @WKU that will decide it. Once the season is over I will find out the "true" away attendance winner. Since I made the highlighting mistake, the teams with no more away games are: ULM, ASU, USA, and MTSU. Enjoy! Here are the current top 10 crowds of the year: 1. Western Kentucky (Louisville) - 7326 2. North Texas (Texas Tech) - 7105 3. Louisiana-Lafayette (Western Kentucky) - 7071 4. Middle Tennessee (Vanderbilt) - 6820 5. Denver (FIU) - 6244 6. Western Kentucky (South Carolina) - 6012 7. Louisiana-Lafayette (ULM) - 5624 8. Denver (CS-Northridge) - 5450 9. South Alabama (FIU) - 5431 10. Louisiana-Lafayette (Arkansas State) - 5304

So, our season goes the way Lance Dunbar goes? Eggs in one basket, huh? What happens if Lance gets injured??

Good points ..... guys...why does everyone forget about Indiana and how 1.) They sucked last year... 2.) They are rebuilding with a new HC as well 3.) They are playing in our house...and it will draw a crowd This is our strongest chance of winning an ooc game in 2011

Usually, it takes at least two years to get a program turned around. Now, SMU was able to do it quicker with June Jones in 2009, as was Dennis Franchione when he went to TCU back in 1997, but generally it takes a while. Cristobal had to build up his program at FIU and now they are bowl winners. I just think that this year's record is kind of a mulligan. Just like Cristobal at FIU, McCarney is having to take over an absolutely beaten down program and its gonna take time just to convince them that they can be winners here. That sounds like we aren't raising expectations, but I do believe that year 2 is when we should expect a winning record and to compete for a bowl berth. Coach Mac is going to have to find and develop a QB and entire defensive front. Other than the OLine, those other two areas on your team are the hardest to build. Its gonna take some time. My guess is that we will probably go 0-fer in OOC again, but we will be able to win 4-5 SBC games. Right now, ULL, WKU, and Ark State are games I think we win, and I think we will win at least another game against the next tier up in the SBC (FAU, MTSU, ULM). I think games at Troy and at FIU are probably out of reach right now, but, just as I want to see in the OOC games (sans Bama) is being able to compete. We might get beat by UH and Tulsa in OOC, but hopefully we can be competitive. At this juncture, I think that will help recruiting just as much as moving up a tier in the SBC would.

Well the current coach is probably more suited to the HS level. I wonder if we can just trade them straight up or if we would need to send some supplies along with Shanice...maybe a folder or two...

Probably won't happen as that means RV has to own up to another bad, bad HC hire. Guess he only took a fleeting look at her binder. To bad Donna Capps might have done so much, now she is out in Mesquite coaching a HS team.

All I have EVER expected from my North Texas teams is that they ALWAYS show up with an ATTITUDE and their "I DIDN'T COME HERE TO LOSE" t-shirts on under their uni's. The win/loss record will take care of itself after that. It is MY EXPECTATION that we never, ever, have a head coach who says to a group of fans "I hope that when Dr. B looks up at the scoreboard tomorrow she remembers how much we're getting paid for this game".

The women's program has fallen off the cliff.

I'd buy it on Blueray.

I told that kraut a **** thousand times....

Is that what you call it?

It's now official. If you don't vote for Necessary Roughness you hate America! Why don't you support the troops people?

It is hard to expect competent decisions out of the Sun Belt when Wright Waters (competent or not) seemingly does absolutely nothing except for attending 10th Anniversary SBC football games and improperly seeding basketball tournaments.

I believe a DNA test is in order.

Hate to break this to you, but your neice is a liar.

Disappointed.

For crying out loud, whatever your real choice, vote for Necessary Roughness. Always vote for the home team. Go Texas State Armadillos.

I'm not as hostile as other Mustangs due to the fact that I went to UTD for my undergrad and have been doing my grad work at SMU. So I find a lot of the bickering between UNTers and SMUers very funny.

That really depends on your personal optimism level...mine was too high.

Good thoughts. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm not concerned about the record the next year or two, because recruits may not be as understanding. And if we just feed to ball to Lance, with some good Chico change-ups on offense, we ought to be able to go 4-4 in conference easily.

Well, Devonta Abron, who would have been an absolutely enormous pickup specificallly mentioned football in his decision to commit to Arkansas. I'll try and find the quote and put it here with an edit. Edit: It was posted on this board from another article. "Abron is an example of where one sport at the UA can help the other. The atmosphere at the football game was a definite influence on Abron"

My opinion, and I may be way wrong here... Our team is TIRED. SPENT. GASSED. POOPED. Going into the season, we knew Tramiel was gone and so was Mangrum, but that was OK, because we got Dom back as well as 3 other seniors who are some of the best players ever to suit up in Mean Green. The injured guy was Spencer, and he'll be back before conference starts, right? At least we still have some good depth with Shorter, and hey, Holmen is supposed to step up now! They started off on fire this season. The intensity the team showed in OOC was awesome (minus the only true "slip-up" game of the season this year at SHSU). Some of us saw McGhee fail and Alzee injured and began to worry. This left us a little short on the bench. We go out and take it to Texas Tech in one of my favorite all-time moments in the Super Pit, then we put a whipping on LSU in Baton Rouge, the likes of which they had not felt in quite some time (even against their SEC competition). This awesome start to the season had to be extremely taxing. I'm not sure what was going on in the guys' minds when conference season started... maybe they were in cruise control? Maybe they were still locked-in, but something changed physically? All that time without McGhee and Alzee began taking its toll, and by the way, where's Spencer? He could certainly be used to spell big George a little... We start seeing closer games, and poorer defensive effort from the team. Starting at MT and Troy, we see the guys not playing well on the road. Then, we get to Denver and get thrashed. The guys are apparently tired, but we chalk it up to travel issues and the altitude (which were certainly contributing factors). To me, where the guys really lost it was the pounding we took at home against FAU. Josh, Tristan, George and Dom usually step up in this type of game. We had a huge home win streak going. We trailed basically the whole game and our leader, Josh White scores 1 point! Then, we start hearing that Spencer will not return. What we see is what we get. Draw the line in the sand Col. Travis, you have no reinforcements coming. It continues until this weekend where the guys come out flat defensively against the worst team in the Belt and give up over 80 to them! This same team in January beat ULM by almost 20, and would have beaten them by 30 in November. It's so painful to watch the deterioration of this team during conference when we were at one point ranked in the top 10 in the mid-major poll. I really think the season has worn these guys out. It has nothing to do with coaching. It has nothing to do with effort (although Johhny disagreed at some point with Tristan's effort). I think the guys are just flat-out tired. I'm a pessimist, because I like to be prepared for the worst and pleasantly surprised at the better, but I'm expecting this team to maybe win 1 or 2 more games this season and possibly win 1 in the conf. tourney. Like I said, it's not a question of effort. I believe our guys WANT to win and are TRYING to win. I don't think there needs to be a "fire" lit under them, I don't think Johnny needs to run them ragged or anything either (as a matter of fact, that would be counter-productive). I just think they're tired, and that's too bad. Hats off to them. Josh, Tristan, George, Dom, and Shannon have been very fun to watch over their careers here. Again, maybe I'm totally wrong... I've been wrong before.

The fact is that you are judged on who signed not who you recruited. As far as one or two ships being open, what difference does that make when you didn't fill either one. To argue that the coaching staff was depending on an obvious academic risk does not strengthen your position. I assume that signing Edwards was also not a gamble based on his 7 pt and 3 rb juco year and obvious health issues. JJ has had a great, by NT standards, four year run and has signed an amazing class for next year that might even get better. I guess those factors override that this year's performance has thus far been a big disappointment and that last year recruiting class, no matter why, was a disaster. I have no idea to what extent the lack of depth on the team has contributed to the late collaspe of the team. I suspect there is more involved then that, however it certainly hasn't helped.

First, I am grateful that I made it up to Denton and back safely. But more than that I am grateful for all the guys who practice hard, study hard and play the game of basketball for UNT. I am proud of each and everyone of you. I know this season hasn't turned out the way any of us were expecting. I am sure no one is more disappointed then you guys. But it's not over. All of you have brought fun and excitement to the Pit along with some very good basketball. You have been to the Big Dance twice in four years and I will never forget that! You are my team and I am very proud of all of you! Hold your heads up high! You have nothing to be ashamed of!! Go Mean Green!

I took the point of the original post be more that Bob was gonna remember this as our winningest Senior class in history (well at least Josh and Tristan - though the other guys have been around for much of it) -- not as the team that hit the skids in their final month as college players.

Dude, a lot of us here don't get what your big deal is.

I think we're skirting the real issue. My sympathies go out to the biggest victims: The Keebler Elves. This is like September 11th for them. Never Fudge-get, people.

Constables should be limited to serving civil papers.(As they once were).

And they both may work at agencies that don't pressure their officers. Let me be very clear. You were asking them about quotas. No police administration is ever stupid enough to bring that term into a discussion. A better question would have been if theey, or anyone they work with, had ever been counseled about their lack of traffic enforcement. Ask them if they have the performance board and if the officers with the most tickets aren't the highest rated on the board. I want to make it very clear that I am not talking about traffic officers (motorcyle police). There job is by definition to write tickets, and if they don't, they would and should either be reassigned or disciplined (most of these guys want to be a motorcycle cop because they like to ride and for the days off, not because they enjoy writing tickets). I am talking about pressure on the average beat officer who answers calls for service. We agree on the whole speed trap thing, especially for larger cities. That said, drive slow going through Keene, Texas on highway 67.

Come on man. It's just a 4 hour drive.

No doubt. Unfortunately, it doesn't make it any less true.

REASONED RESPONSES, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH HISTORICAL EVIDENCE, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!! Please stick to the "if it aint BCS it aint real" line of thinking.

Show me the BYU QBs that did it before Ty Detmer. And if you can't find one, go steal the Heisman back from Houston QB Andre Ware.

Sometimes it actually does hurt people, in a financial sort of way to have someone steal, intellectual property. At the "think tank" our authors actually do quite a bit of work in the area of intellectual property and intellectual property rights. You just might be amazed at what the financial impact is when it comes to "pirating" anything. It is starting to cause some serious damage to some very big industries and has led to lay-offs, reduced incomes, etc. This really is a big issue and one that faces the economies of the entire world. I don't know about the site in question, but if, indeed, it is a pirated site, one probably ought not bother with it. Or not........

As to the team being tired.....because of the postponed UALR game....as of last Saturday---their last four games were: Feb. 3, Feb. 12, Feb. 17, and then finally Feb. 19. So they shouldn't be spent.....with that much time off from Feb. 3-19. Anyway, if they can't handle that stretch.....I don't see how they're going to win 4 games in 4 days in Hot Springs.