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How many sacks did LSU and Alabama have against North Texas as opposed to North Texas against LSU and Alabama?

http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205418845 Play fast and loose with a purpose. Expect great work ethic. The way he wanted to play: "to win championships you need to play defense". Goal was to be one of the best defenses in the country. Goal is to win big. "Johnny has done a great job... my job is just to take it to the next level" Goal is to win the conference tournament "which we are going to do" and win in the NCAA. "You want to take over a program where they understand how to win" Recruiting - "We are going to build it with local guys" http://sportdfw.com/2012/11/01/north-texas-coach-tony-benford-discusses-tony-mitchell-and-mean-green-basketball-at-sun-belt-media-day/ "I think the new rules for the NCAA allows us to work our guys in the summer, it was really beneficial for us as a staff coming in to a veteran group we were able to work. Like to give coach Jones (Johnny, left for LSU) a lot of credit he did a great job of getting us some really quality players, obviously he had a lot of success here. We were able to kind of put our staff on early as far as how we want to play, how hard we want to play, what we want to do offensively and defensively and our guys have been accountable. They’ve been getting better every day I like where we are at right now." "I have a great staff, a few guys on here (Rob Evans, Bart Lundy) that have won 200-300 games in their careers. Our unity, our chemistry is really good right now. I think the guys understand our system, they understand were going to win games with defense rebounding. They understand that’s our philosophy, offensively were going to try and get easy baskets and force it in transition. They are starting to understand how we want to play but more importantly how hard we have to play if we are going to have a chance to win games." "Yea it really helps when you inherit a really good group, a group that’s had some success. They obviously didn’t have the success they wanted last year but everyone talks about how much talent we have but we only had 1 guy on the all conference team so I don’t know how much talent we do have. You look at some teams middle Tennessee I think could be like Murray State this year. With the players they have back and I think they are really talented, they won 25 games last year. I’ve got a good group; I have 5 seniors and 3 really good underclassmen. We have a kid Keith Coleman who I think is a Big East center at 6’10 and 250; he’s a quality player. We added also PJ Hardwick a guard who originally signed with Mississippi State, he’s a really good possession type point guard we were fortunate to get him when we took over the job so we have some pieces. We are coming together, we have a good group and we are excited about it, were excited about we are excited about the challenge. We have a great player in tony Mitchell but like the coaches said we have talent but we don’t have the best talent because we only have one preseason all conference player." On Mitchell's progress: "Yea Tony has, as you guys know Tony obviously didn’t join the team until the second semester and that’s very difficult. I was telling a couple people the other day. Tony and I were talking about it was tough he wasn’t able to practice during the fall and had to come in and step right up into the fire so to speak. He had a great summer with us being able to work with him on a lot of fundamentals just trying to tighten his game up a little bit. He went to a couple Lebron James camps, Amare Stoudemire camp, played against some really good competition and that was really good for him. He is excited he’s been working extremely hard, he’s getting better every day and we are very fortunate to have a player of his caliber to coach." Now, let's take a look at some numbers: 2011-2012 season This Year Off. FG % 43.4 (169th nationally) 41.3 (ranked 267th nationally) Def. FG% 40.6 (42nd nationally) 41.7 (ranked 119th nationally) 3 pt FG% 32.12 28.46 PPG 70.3 (116th nationally) 68.4 (153rd nationally) Opp PPG 65.0 (106th nationally) 69.4 (241st nationally) Conf. PPG 71.9 68.5 Conf. Opp PPG 65.7 73.2 RPG 39.0 (17th nationally) 37.1 (ranked 63rd nationally) Opp RPG 34.9 (220th nationally) 36.1 (ranked 268th nationally) APG 12.0 (239th ntionally) 10.2 (ranked 317th nationally) Across the board decline from last year. With a team whose main contributors were one year older with one year of college experience under their belts.They are supposed to be getting better, not worse. A center he called Big East worthy averaged 8.4 MPG, 1.3 PPG, 1.6 RPG, and 0.8 TO per game while shooting 34.8% from the floor and 44.4% from the line. Better defense? Uh, no. Run with a purpose? Uh, no. Tighten up Tony's game? Across the boards decline in numbers. Winning games with defense and rebounding? Hardly. Take it to the next level? Yep. Well, actually a couple of levels. Down. We lose 5 seniors, including the most talented player to play here in years, go into a tougher conference, and there are actually people who expect us to be better? Amazing. And we refuse to correct this mistake.

You can do a podcast on NT basketball, but noone will listen. Except Andrew. He would have fun just listening to the show, regardless of how good it was.

"I'm sure that it was his idea after a talk with Benford about his role in the program going forward" "But to say this was 100% Clarke's idea is a load of BS, in my humble opinion". That's exactly how it probably happened. Clarke made a decision to leave 100% on his own after meeting with Benford. I'm sure Benford met/lmeets with all players individually to discuss things guys need to work on. That's the way it is everywhere and should be! In the discussion, the coach couldn't assure the player that playing time would increase the following year. With that bit of info, the player decides to transfer out for more playing time. Now, did Benford tell the kid that he needed his scholarship?. No, I don't believe that. Maybe last year with Trey Norris (with a Bue Chip prospect waiting in the wings) We don't know when the Ward kid committed. I just stumbled up on it this week. Vito placed a call to his coach to confirm. We are all sweating out whether we will land a big man. The staff may have secured a commitment/agreement from a big man months ago.

Not all that bad. For a Benford team.

Same dude that made us all scratch our heads when he moved our most productive DE, Eddrick Gilmore, to DT in his first year here? Lost just about all confidence in that guy when he did that. But, Nelson is Mac's guy. He ain't going anywhere.

Because to some, the number of stars that get from Rivals and the number of other D1 schools offering is an indication of how good they will be and another reason to criticize something about NT.

Just another example of where a local kid who wanted to play here, in the end won't. See also Scotty Young.

Have you ever considered the possibility that you contradict yourself?

Sorry to see this. Clark may have decided to leave, but there were lots of hints that that should have been his decision. I know there were some on this board that questioned whether he was a Div 1 player, and by the way I respect your opinion. That said, since Clark was on the team, I think we can agree he did not get a fair chance, and really a few players on this team as well. Hell, this season was over before the half way mark, so he should have been given more opportunities. In the practices I watched, he hit everything. It is not fair to give a player 2 minutes or 1st mistake your out because most players cannot get their timing, etc that quick, especially the majority of freshmen. Basically, Benford kept Clark. as insurance in case Taylor could not make it academically. It makes me mad that Benford wasnt honest with Clark when he was hired.

Really unhappy to see this news! Clarke is a great young man with an outstanding family and support system who very much supported the program. Clarke will be an asset to whichever team he ends up playing for and I hope he already has one nailed down. It will be a team I will follow and hopefully get to see play in person. I had heard this rumor recently, and from what I can understand this is pretty much Clarke's decision. Whatever the case, I thank Clarke for the year he spent as part of the Mean green Nation, and wish him nothing but the best of success going forward. This young man has a great career in front of him both ON and OFF the court. For one, I will very much miss Clarke, the Overlander family and the "gaggle" of friends and family that always showed up for each game to support the Mean Green. Thank you Clarke...thank you to all the Overlander's. You will be missed...on and off the court. All the best with your career and know that this is one member of the Mean green nation that will be following your career and looking forward to seeing you play!

Either drugs or stupidity

Yet we have fans who will line up to bemoan that fact that local kids won't consider us. Local, or from across the nation, would you sign on to this train wreck?

We have had defensive line problems for a while. Since that problem was supposedly addressed, we have had 2 head coaches and 3 defensive coordinators. To hopefully rectify that problem, Dodge and or Deloach hired a new and supposedly seasoned defensive line coach who has served with the 2 head coaches (Dodge and Mac) and 3 defensive coordinators (Deloach, Bowen, and Skaldany) What might the common denominator be in the problem now? Hmmm.

Abbe, Boutwell(was DE), Lincoln(was DE), Orr (was DE), Sir Calvin. And we're hoping our one DT signee for 2013 qualifies but he double signed incase he doesn't which is never a good thing. If we lose Abbe or Boutwell in the fall we might be toast.

Please, please explain to me what there is to be positive about in UNT athletics right now. We won't even correct an obvious mistake that has ruined the only consistent winning program in the big 3. I'm done trying to fool myself.

I feel pretty comfortable with our OLine this year.

Since rv has made us such a heavy weight in college football we can demand that the conference do a North Texas rule (ie. think Boise St) where since we have to rely on our offense practically we can just say the rule that states "Make-it-take it" is in effect when we play.

With torches. Watch how quickly those bridges JJ built go up in flames.

Well, we have already gotten Clarke Overlander released from the Benford compound, probably with one or two more to go, so maybe the Argo theme could apply. And come on, man. In the movie, we are all bit players. Kinda like the dudes swinging by the neck from the Cranes in the original.

"Day 366, UNT basketball held hostage" has a nice ring to it.

Putting that here was such a tease. I thought we would be in there!

After reading this thread I have concluded that North Texas should give up athletics.

I used to get very worked up about us being left behind. At this point I can live with winning most of the time regardless of who we play. For the foreseeable future there will be no running with better established programs or developing meaningful rivalries. I just want to see our administration commit to frequent winning, at whatever level they can accomplish that at. First I guess we need to have an administration though. I have to travel several hours to see North Texas play no matter where it is. Now I don't even have the easy Jonesboro trip. I won't do it if there is a high probability of losing, so continuation of the current trend will make the Mean Green irrelevant for me pretty soon.

Yesssssssssss!!!!!!

So it's a coincidence that we get a commit from a shootong guard and Clarke goes from tweeting about looking forward to practicing in the new facility to transfering and you think it was his idea? I'm sure that it was his idea after a talk with Benford about his role in the program going forward, but I don't think Clarke woke up and decided "Gee, I think I'll transfer today." I think he was told that he was being replaced. And I don't necessarily have a problem with that. But to say this was 100% Clarke's idea is a load of BS, in my humble opinion. Also, better hope Carrington can qualify, or else we are still looking for a shooting guard 3 weeks from signing day.

This diffraction of our goals should probably also be touched upon. As I'm sure we've already hit the nail on the head as far as knowing that we would all like to win more, let us not forget that there is a need for the kind of support that Andrew offers. Motivation and criticism can help drive the focus to make us better, but it is also important to know that there are people who will say, "I would really like a win. But don't worry, I'm still here, even when you're behind as the clock runs out." I don't want this to sound like the over-pacification where nobody keeps score and everybody gets a trophy, but rather the ferocity of loyalty. We don't just get excited when you're on a hot streak or everything is going according to plan...we also stand behind you when everything seems to go wrong and you can't seem to catch a break. We can think of excuses and fingers to point and people to fire every day, every year, for years on end, but if we can't be ferociously loyal, and spread that ferociousness to every corner of campus and as many alumni as possible, then athletes, students, and onlookers will always know us as a fair-weather-fan University. Good feelings and increased attention and donations and attendance when all goes well, but nothing but blame and hard feelings when the winds change. This doesn't just fit our needs in athletics, but also in academic competitions, paper presentations, new businesses, and anything else that goes on with North Texans. Looking up to see someone smiling and hoping for the best for you does a lot more than glancing over to see the face of someone who just hopes you don't screw up too badly.

I hate to see this, I thought that he would be able to develop into a quality player for us. It was unfortunate that he was thrust into the role he was so early in his career. He would have probably been better served with a RS season this year to adjust to the college game and get ready for next year.

I heave only heard of PJ. Who else?

I wish it was as easy to run off a coach.

If we lose another guy or two in the next week to ten days, this may be Benford showing he takes after his last mentor Buzz Williams, only without the success.

Assuming this really was his decision... Can't say I blame him. The writing was on the wall the second he started following FakeBenford on twitter. Benny has already changed my feelings towards those who choose to leave our athletic programs. Best of luck Clarke!

I somehow think Clarke was more encouraged to go elsewhere than decided to on his own.

Yep, that's how he looks in practice. He looks like a (somewhat) slimmer version of Antonio Johnson. This is the most physically impressive group of O-linemen I've ever seen at NT.

He chose to attend Texas Tech's junior day over ours, and is leaning towards TCU/Tech I don't think we have much of a shot.

Hate when anyone leaves the program but Clarke was a questionable signing when he committed to JJ. (My opinion). I'm as disappointed about the past season as anyone but I can't blame Tony Benford for Clarke's departure. A shooting percentage of 15% in D1, junior college or middle school isn't going to cut it. Clarke is a good kid and I'm convinced that HE made the decision that is best for him. Hopefully, JJ will find a spot for him on the roster.

Neither did the results.

Benford = Hindenburg - Giant Blimp

doesn't matter what is next...what sucks is there is always a "next"....i hate all the realignment

Happy Birthday. You got cake!

Fire up the JUCO train as Benford attempts to save his job. He will be the year 4 Dodge of UNT basketball.

Benford = Buzz Williams - wins

This happens a lotof places. Scholarships are not guaranteed. Every year the coaches bring you into the office and let you know if you will be back the next year. This happens in basketball and football every year at every school. If you did not cut it or they think they need someone better or someone with different abilities they will let you know. This does suck though because I know Clarke loved UNT and I wonder where he will go/what he will do. I am sure that this was passed down through the coaches. I wish him the best and alsohope that this move and ones that follow can somehow make us better.

I hope you're kidding.

Expect a couple more.

This really sucks. Clarke was such a huge fan and supporter before he even got here.

Clarke just got Benford'd

And we're off...

I figured this might happen. Anyone who thinks this is Clarke's decision needs only to look at his attendance as a fan at just about every game his senior HS season. I was really hoping he would be a good fit for the program, for his sake and ours .