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Perry Carter is a hell of an upgrade. Made Kareem Jackson a serviceable CB. Straight from the NFL to here. nfl's #1 statistical defense last year, BTW.

I think if we win tomorrow night we have a chance of carrying some momentum into two of our toughest games. Just win Benny!

New coaches..http://FootballScoop.com/the-scoop

Show off. (this is actually all very interesting and informative, full of details of which I wasn't fully aware)

What religion requires sacrificing hookers?

Yup. Huge upgrade. Mac never disappoints, should've had more faith in him.

Just a victim of liberal oppression aren't you Rick?

Wow Harry, I see you are quite the realist but I am going to go down to Austin and watch the Mean Green stomp the Stronghorns. Put the mean back in the green baby! Nice write up btw!

Apologies to those involved, but I fear it's time to come clean. Here goes... "Andrew" is in fact a collaborative writing project / tontine between myself, Quoner, TheTastyGreek, Cerberus, CMJ, GreenP1, UNT90, LoveMG, TulsaFaninTexas and...remarkably...FireFightnRick, to provide us all a creative outlet for our frustrations at the current state of the basketball program and it's inept leader. The premise was simple. We'd all have access to "Andrew" to opine inane, ridiculous and often unintelligible posts in someway related to basketball. We derived a far too complicated scoring system to get into here. To make things even more interesting, we all kicked $10,000 each into a high-yield tontine to be paid to the author with the highest score once "Andrew" was deemed "dead" (read: Benford fired). The bit worked beautifully at first...raising the ire of those unaware and keeping traffic high in the basketball forum despite the lousy product on the court. It produced some memorable gems of "basketball insight" (the 2-3 zone bit? FFR's line! stroke of genius, sir). Hell, often some of us authors would argue quite literally with ourselves...writing under both "Andrew" and our usual screen names simultaneously (I'll tell you...sometimes even after you wrote as "Andrew" you were often left astounded at the words you wrote). A problem has arisen of late, though. Two authors have already been murdered and I myself can no longer log in as "Andrew". I have not as of yet determined whether this is the act of one author greedily pursuing the tontine for himself as it becomes readily apparent that Benford is not likely soon fired, or...worse...if "Andrew" has gone all HAL 9000 and has developed his own mindfulness and state of being. Either way, I fear for my life. One thing is certain...whatever Andrew writes should not be at all trusted. I mean...even more so now.

But it is a political issue. Just look at you dismissing an argument over what may or may not happen in the future. You think the science is definitive when it is far from it. And your dismissive attitude to those that disagree indicates a political belief, because that is what people do with political beliefs.

Sorry for dropping the ball in this thread, root canals are the devil. Good question. First of all whether or not a country can survive with deep ethnic/religious/cultural differences usually comes down to the strength of its national institutions. A country with weak institutions, Like the Sudan, will need a very homogeneous population in order to survive intact. Sudan didn't happen to have that, so now there is a South Sudan. A country like the US with very strong institutions can have a very, very diverse population. Now people may complain about institutions in the US, but those complains are of the "I think judges are influenced by donors and some cops are on a power trip" variety, and not the "I know judges are puppets and will order me to be be killed by death squads, which are made up of cops" variety. Also, people hate Congress, but because of our election system, the can hate congress but love their local congressman (90% re-election rate). So all in all, Americans grumble about the system, but no one is really to the "set riot cops on fire" stage. The Ukraine on the surface looks like it would be a homogeneous culture. 80% of the country is ethnic Ukrainian, the majority of the remaining being ethnic Russian. These are closely related, belonging to the East Slavic group of ethnicity. Ukrainian and Russian languages are also closely related, being of the Eastern Slavic language subgroup. However, once you add in a colonial history, things get complicated. Russian has dominated the Ukrainian region for centuries. For most of that time, the Ukrainian language was looked down upon, and government institutions were forbidden from using it. The local elites quickly learned that being seen as Ukrainian was bad for their careers, and started playing up their "Russian ethnicity." They even began to call themselves the "Malorussy", or Little Russians. In effect, they were denying being Ukrainian and identified as Russians, even though ethnically they were as Ukrainian as anyone else in the country. *This is pretty similar to how elite New Mexicans behaved in New Mexico and claimed "Spanish" descent. The US Congressional debate over New Mexico's statehood application largely hinged on the fact that a "mongrel race" (Mexicans) was the majority population and held most position of power in the government. The elites responded by saying "No, no, the lower classes are Mexicans, but us elites are of European Spanish descent, and we are the ones in charge." New Mexican was suddenly a state. The Language of Blood is a pretty good book about this. Back to the Ukraine: Russian domination, especially the recent Soviet period, has created a great deal of resentment towards Russia in the Ukraine. People are sensitive to what appears to be Russia trying to dominate the Ukraine again, this time through economic pressures. This sense of them vs us is also made worse by the fact that while almost 20% of the country is ethnically Russian, they are concentrated in the eastern part of the country. While Ukrainian is the official language of the country, in the eastern region most people speak Russian, and sometimes Russian is used instead of Ukrainian by certain governments. The recently deposed PM is an ethnic Russian, was from the eastern part of the country, and was the one accused of taking back door bribes to align the Ukraine with Russia. So why does Russian need the Ukraine. First, Russia has a long history of being invaded, and the countries culture believes it needs buffer zones between its' heartland and the outside. "Ukraine" in fact means "borderland." Second, the Ukraine is the bread basket of the region, and grows much of the grain Russia uses. It also has very large freshwater supplies than many Russians survive on. Third, Russia needs the Black Sea Fleet to insure it's trade networks. It happens to be HQ'ed and have most of its re-supply and repair operations at Sevastopol in the Ukraine. The other ports the fleet could use, like Krasnador Krai, Russia are inferior. All this means Russian wants to keep the Ukraine tightly within its sphere of control, forget influence. The majority of the Ukrainian population, especially the non Russian speaking majority, want to align with the EU. I can clearly see where there is enough stress to tear the country apart. Invading the Ukraine is a whole different ball of wax than invading Georgia, so a direct military option is off the table. Funding parties who whip up Russian speaking partisan fury? Believable. At that point, a civil war is pretty believable, and who will rush in and get to shape the country? The EU itself has no forces, and most of the entire continent except France rely on the Americans to provide their military power. Will the French want to step in? Will the Americans as part of some NATO force? I know the Russians would be chomping at the bit.

Is this a bit?

One thing that I think is getting underrated through all of this, is that this is Mac's 4th year here. We all love to praise Coach Wintrich and the job he has done developing the players physically, and he deserves it, but don't underestimate the job Coach Mac and his staff have done with teaching these kids the game of football. The players on our roster have either played only under Coach Mac here, or are entering their 4th season playing and learning from Coach Mac. We were right up there with Rice last year as far as being the most technically sound team in CUSA last year. Coach Mac is a great teacher of the game, and he has made sure that his staff has been as well. Southern Miss was a team made up of much more highly regarded recruits out of high school, and we drummed them by 41 points at their place. You test those guys physical measurables (i.e. 40s, cone drill, bench max, squat max, etc) and they'd come a heck of a lot closer to our team than they would on a football field. And that has more to do with coaching, but coaching is the main reason for that. Not to mention how well we play at home under Coach Mac, and how our road play is starting to translate into wins, and we'll be fine. We won't have as many senior starters as last year, but the coaches will make sure that whoever they put on the field they can trust. Whether they started last year or didn't play at all.

Craig James was clearly discriminated against. He was asked about his view on homosexuals, and he basically passed on the question by saying, "God will judge them," as God will indeed do to all people.

Coach Mac do you know how much we love you????? GMG

My father works with his wife, he has had nothing but great things to say about him and his family. Glad to have him on board.

I think Vito's is making a lot of good points. However, has he ever been optimistic about NT football? I guess back in his idols coaching days but since Dickey left, not often.

Please explain this claim. I thought that title was earned by Seahawk? Good hire, either way.

Perry Carter (Houston Texans) & LaMarcus Hicks (Concordia - Ann Arbor) joining the North Texas staff per source http://t.co/BM6rIrXi39 — FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) February 26, 2014 This post has been promoted to an article

Must be hard for him to live in Texas.

9-3 is very doable. Every whines about the front 7 for this up coming season. What was every one whining about this time last year outside of Zach Orr? Our front 7. Coaches develop and recruit and do their best to put a good product on the field. I expect 9-3, I'm not hoping for it. I wouldn't be surprised to see 10-2. I would however be surprised and disappointed at 6-6.

good write up Harry. I see it the same way....SMU being the biggest wildcard. If we lost to SMU but beat Indiana and still finished 9-3, would everybody be cool with that???

Need a boost up on that cross you just made for yourself?

You know Him?

CJK5H

Former Houston Texan coach Perry Carter Former Detroit Lion player Lemarcus Hicks

Pro experience as a DB in the US and Canada, plus years coaching at the NFL level. It sounds good.

Well, if he's from Southern Miss he must be good...isn't that where all the good ones on our athletic staff are from?

Former CFB analyst, Senate candidate Craig James files complaint with state alleging religious discrimination http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20140225-former-cfb-analyst-senate-candidate-craig-james-files-complaint-with-state-alleging-religious-discrimination.ece

And he has a S. Miss background. If the safeties coach thing doesn't work out RV will make him MGC director.

Marcus Trice ‏@BlackSheep_8 1h One of the new DB coaches UNT just hired played at Iowa State... Y'all can't say Coach Mac doesn't take care of his guys! #GreatCoach

Well if an ATH is at QB he will adjust accordingly or he will lose. I think he doesn't want 3 losing seasons in 4 years, so he will adjust to fit the player.

Me.

Hicks is a Iowa State alum.

What gives me confidence in the D is the return of the secondary and 2 LB in Akunne and Wallace that know how to clean up. We just have to get a tackle that is explosive enough or big enough to take on double teams so opposing offensive linemen can't get on top of our LB's. If we can find that the D will hold it's own, and I think the coaching staff will find that D tackle to do just that. It'd be great if they could find 2. The O will be improved as I have been saying for months. Yes we lost Byrd, but we have very capable guys. Yes we lost DT, but he is not irreplaceable by any means whatsoever. We lost top 2 WR's, but we have Kidsy and Harris coming back and capable freshman coming in to contribute if only a little. Most importantly we have a veteran laden offensive line that I am sure will have the full intent on banging heads in the fall.

Great for Texas and for us during our first game in Austin next season. I hope UNT doesn't continue to make excuses as to how hard it is to obtain beer for our sporting events. Nor do I want to hear they are considering the issue. I don't want to hear about the perils of navigating the bureaucracy of the TABC, politics, or how sales should discriminate against certain parts of the stadium. People in DFW expect beer, I agree with them too, and not just on the Club Level. It's not merely a football issue either. We need butts in seats in a competitive market in every sport. Whatever your opinion on the issue is, I didn't hear a peep about beer in the Cotton Bowl ruining the HOD Bowl gameday experience. There were a lot of excited Mean Green fans partaking too. We aren't facing an impending Cleveland "Ten Cent Beer Night" in Denton, Texas either. The University needs to get this done.

Something something but but illegal in Texas or on college campuses or on public college campuses or bad for children or too expensive or some such other thing.

We will beat SMU at home--and I think it won't be close, either. Just my opinion--and I'm not exactly considered the eternal optimist around here...

You've conducted decades of research to come to your conclusions? Or are you just repeating what you are told?

I thought this post included their 0-15 Big 12 basketball conference record. I know they love that Big XII dough but this has not been a fun past 12 months in Frogland. We sure have been there before. Kind of weird to see them after all of those USC, Rose Bowl, BCS, top 10 glory days. It truly is cyclical. Mean Green maximize YOUR time! GMG

well at least Capper got back to tweeting actual news versus attacking the fanbase as being unreasonable.

Do you two need to meet in the Octagon? Or is it Octomom?

We now have a program and I am confident we will reload.

No one cares. It was just something for us to laugh at.

What I've always wondered is, unless you graduated from High Park HS, or some comparable upper income area HS, what could you possibly have in common with most of the general student population at $MU?

I could see how that might have been confusing. I wasn't saying WKU's addition changes the conference championship game; I was just pointing out that not adding them doesn't force us to lose the championship game, ie. we would still have a championship game in 2014 with or without WKU. Basically, to sum up: adding WKU in 2014 adds nothing additional - ie, we jumped the gun when we could've waited. ^ what Billy said above, plus we would already have the 2014 schedule and divisions

They took over the stadium. Credit to 'em. UNT just bent over for them.