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1. Buyout Poncho's 2. Add chain sports bar 3. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Awesome. Why have I been ignoring this thread?

I would pay to watch a live roundtable of everyone in this thread talking about these issues in real life. Perhaps that could be the new event to replace the FW Caravan?

I made it out for awhile. During the circle drills coach Mac lit into some of his players. Telling them to get excited for their teammates or GTFO! I agree with BV, Hubbard looks like a good player.I expect some production out of him this this season Rollins was back & in full pads. Looks likes he was just about fully recovered It looked like McKinney was running with the 1st team OL at G. They changed it up a bit, but he was there the most from what I saw Means, Greer & DW all look huge. I hope we are able to red shirt Means. I think he could contend for a starting job in a few years During ST I think it was Marshall drove A.Wallace out of bounds and kinda late... Marshall ran back & Wallace went after him and knocked his ass down. Nothing happened, no fighting.Just 2 kids going hard who respect 1 another. That's all I got. Hope to make it out Thursday as well

This is what I found starting in 2014 Bahamas Bowl: A C-USA team will play a Mid American Conference team in 2015, a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2018 and a Sun Belt Conference team in 2019. Beef O Brady's Bowl: A C-USA team will play an American Athletic Conference team annually until 2019. Boca Raton Bowl: A C-USA team will play a MAC team in 2014, and play an American Athletic Conference team if selected for later bowl games. C-USA will play in at least four Boca Raton Bowls. New Mexico Bowl: A C-USA team will play a Mountain West team annually in the Heisenbowl. Heart of Dallas Bowl: A C-USA team will play an opponent from the Big Ten or Big 12 annually. Miami Beach Bowl: A C-USA team will play against an AAC team in 2014 and 2015. New Orleans Bowl: A C-USA team will be selected to play in three of the next six years. Hawaii Bowl: A C-USA team will play a MWC team in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Advocare V100 Bowl: A C-USA team will only go to Shreveport if the ACC or SEC (hahaha, good one) does not produce enough bowl eligible teams.

Only 2 1/2 minutes but good stuff on the QB's: This post has been promoted to an article

I don't know you and vice versa. But this post says a lot about your character, flyonthewall. I, too, have had instances where I said things in haste that I regretted. Taking the time to walk those comments back, even as hard as it can be for our pride sometimes, is very telling. I bet its why you have a successful business. I agree on everything you say in this post, except for kinda blaming Mitchell, although I felt the exact same way you did about his lack of trying under Benford versus JJ, but losing does that people, both in sports and in life. We want our athletes to have the Michael Jordan attitude when it comes to losing, that you hate it so much that you just won't ever allow yourself or your teammates to get mired in it. But, truthfully, as we witness with the Cowboys every year in December, used to see with the Mavs in playoff time, and now see in the Rangers in September, once losing in the clutch time starts, its awfully hard to stop. And this is with paid pro athletes, not scholarship college kids. They hear the media ask them over and over about losing in the clutch times, even when it was in the past and your record YTD is really good. The fans respond with the negativity and the atheltes and the coaches feel that extra pressure, which leads to teh Cowboys sucking every December, the Rangers falling apart in September, and when the Mavs would have a great team int he regular season, only to get bounced in the first round by some team that really wasn't as good as them. It takes a very special team that gets over that hump (See Mavs of 2011). Otherwise, you get the Cowboys of the last 8 years or so and the Rangers of the last few years. UNT will always have a harder road to pave, just because of the culture and history here, which is not good. So when winning actually shows up, as it did with Fry in the 70s, Dickey in the early 00s, and JJs teams in the last 5 years of his tenure, the hardcore UNT fans are fired up because they feel like this is FINALLY our time, especially as we watch other lukewarm-at-best fans get interested in our team instead of name your AQ school that has not ties to them. But once losing comes back into the fold, at a place like UNT, it isn't a slow fade, its been a cliff dive. And the players know it, especially a guy like Tony Mitchell that knew that playing out the string was better for him since he was going to get paid soon. Again, that falls on the coach and the AD to fight that off, but it becomes harder as you go from 4000 people watching your SBC game to having 2000 watching your SBC game. Losing does that--and as previously stated, the AD and the BOR need to address this quickly or it becomes an avalanche here in Denton because of that culture and history we carry with us. Its not hard to blame college kids for giving less than the effort they should, but we know that pro players do it everyday, and they are supposedly more mature since they are older. I just find that when the AD of your school blames the kids for a huge dropoff instead of his hire, which was approved by the BOR, that he has a year to be proven right or else that AD should have major responsibility for blaming the kids instead of his hire. This year, the record may have improved, but anyone wathcing knows that the team's performance isn't inspiring anyone to back Benford any further. That falls at the feet of the AD at almost every other school in America, unless they don't care about that sport or are trying to save money. Neither option tells your fanbase anything good. BTW, our friends in College Station are dealing with this now, with the obvious retainment of Billy Kennedy as their head BB coach, despite coaching them from being a regular in the NCAA Tournament down to being a dying program in a bad basketball league. And they have no excuse with all the money that they have in Aggieland for accepting this. And it will hurt their program significantly. But, again, they will always have money to go buy a decent head coach when they are ready, which we don't have. It stinks when you realistically expect more for your school's revenue teams than they are willing to do to make that happen. You mentioned Todd Dodge in your earlier post, so I want to say something there about him. I, too, felt he was a great hire at the time. You have someone who was affordable for our situation (with Fouts as your stadium, you had very limited resources), had great name recognition, had coached here before, and had lots of in-roads with Texas HS coaches. Plus, he was a great guy for the alumni to be around and get in front of a TV, unlike his predecessor. But, just like with Vic Trilli, who was everything that Dodge was with the fans and with the media, once it was obvious that this was just not gonna work, you have to pull the trigger and move on. Not doing that, in both cases, cost us so much more than the buyouts of that extra year ended up costing the bottom line. As a successful businessman, you know that sometimes ventures or purchases just don't work out. It stinks, too. No one likes it when it happens. But you move on as fast as possible. You don't tell your business partners or shareholders that we will just have to keep that manufacturing equipment for another few years, even though we have lost several contracts and potential new business because its not any good. If you do that, you are rightfully setting yourself up to be fired or to suffer greatly. That is where I am with Tony Benford. Look, if he has to come back, I get it--I understand the financial realities here, too. But if I am the AD, I am making it really well known that if he cannot get significant improvement this next year--as in top 4 in the league--we will cut bait this year. I don't go on to various media outlets and make it sound like we are improving and you are happy. I'm saying,"Although I see improvement, we are far from being where we need to be and where we were. I accept the blame for this and I know that Coach Benford knows that we expect to get back up to where we were very soon." The fanbase would do backflips to hear this from the AD. And, I suspect, that a man of your character and work ethic, would love to hear that, too. We all on gmg.com that regularly post want the same thing--for UNT to be the best it can be in sports. We want to brag to our friends that actually went to UT, A&M, Tech, OU, and the others who get our alums as fans because we haven't shown a consistent plan for actually caring about revenue sports fully. The HoD Bowl was a great experience for us. The UT opener will be a better opportunity for us in a game against an AQ power than we have probably ever had to at least be competitive and we know what that means for us. But when D-II Alabama-Huntsville beats you, when you have to struggle to beat Northwood or Wayland Baptist at home in Year 2, and when you have to realize that a good SFA team has gotten to the point where they can come to Denton and beat you by 30+ points in front of as many fans rooting for them as are there to root for the home team (not LaTech, not UTEP, not Rice...Stephen Freaking Austin), you have to realize that this operation is in dire danger of causing severe complications that cannot or are not going to be recoverable. And, again, most of us on gmg.com, whether we are new or old, are in agreement that we definitely don't want that to happen again to one of our teams.

Stop sucking and it will stop

Not to burst your bubble, but Dallas is a terrible idea. We need to stay in Denton. Bring the fans to us. No one is really fond of south central Dallas. Market to the people that will listen and bring them to Apogee. If we start winning and don't trip up in games such as @Tulane or @Ohio as what happened last year people will come. My bet is that Apogee will see it's first sellout on September 6th and it is going to be awesome (the game must be scheduled at night though). If people want to come be a part of it then great, if DFW alum don't want to drive the "grueling" 30-45 minutes to Apogee then they can go buy a purple shirt and go watch the frogs get beat to death.

see, I could see where some form of government intervention wouldn't be too terrible an idea.

I really think they need to work with a location somewhere in Alliance to set up an event for the area. Some people will drive to Denton, but you're not going to get the majority driving up there. Fort Worth, Keller, Southlake, NRH, HEB, Burleson, Crowley, Roanoke, etc. Way too many potential fans to completely ignore.

Game update..... T-shirts arrived today, and they look GREAT....and, joy joy...everyone has one of the size they ordered! Also...picked up the trophies today. Who will win the most coveted trophy of all...."Most in need of Practice"? Five trophies will be awarded during the after game event at Rudy's....will Ragemaster5000 reign supreme again this year or has he been practicing and will lose the coveted honor? It could be a close race this year! Come out and enjoy the game...tip-off at 5pm this Saturday...UNT Volleyball gym. Should we let the fans vote?

S/o to #unt for being the first and only team to offer me — Chris Orr (@Chris_Guwap) March 19, 2014

I'm for how ever many games we have to lose and win to get into each of the Bahamas Bowls!

Thanks, EP Eagle: So, we have: Annual New Mexico Heart of Dallas Until 2019 Beef O'Brady's 2015, 2018, 2019 Bahamas 2014 and four other random years Boca Raton 2014 and 2015 Miami Beach 2014, 2016, and 2018 Hawaii Three times in the next six years New Orleans When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars... Advocare V100 (Independence Bowl)

Thor can go the full 40. Oh, you mean minutes? Yeah, no one is doing that.

Dude...I'm useless inside as well...but will gladly drink your beer...

A lot more chances at wins tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be a better outcome for the league.

Having "played" in all of the games...I can assure you no one is going the full 40.

I got it from your coach. You must be new here...

I love the title of this thread. SMU loses a first round conference tournament game and still almost gets in, with tge reason they didn't get in being 4 other teams from their conference getting in. I'd kill to get in a conference like that.

No way is a half full Cotton Bowl more impressive than a full Apogee. The UNLV side was the butt of every joke at ESPN. You're delusional.

You can't write off Ft. Worth because of poor past attendance. The market is just too big. Like anything in sales, you must create a reason for them to attend. I don't understand Gainesville unless they are going to Johnny's B29 across the red river.

No

Y'all just fell for the weakest troll I've ever seen in all my days. Who gives a shit about UTSA. We can start that flame war in November.

I didn't want further footie discussion taking place in that depressing Mexico in/Panama out thread... A very impressive run through what proved to be a competitive hexagonal...there isn't enough credit that I can heap on Klinsmann for installing a system and mentality and sticking to it in spite of some early bumps in the road and alienating some veteran players. The quality of play and depth in squad are miles ahead of where they were going into South Africa in 2010. Some bit of luck will certainly play into how far the USMNT can advance, but I'm certain this squad is looking beyond the idea that just getting out of group is our trophy...with all the pieces in place and with a favorable draw I think this squad is capable of winning a match...maybe two...in the knock-out stages. Assuming fitness...my picks for your 23-man roster Goalkeepers (3) - Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Nick Rimando - this one is pretty easy...I think Guzan will push Howard for the number 1 shirt, but I'd expect Klinsmann to go with the experienced Howard...and the competition should make him all the better Central Defenders (4) - Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, Clarence Goodson, Geoff Cameron - it seems Gonzalez and Besler is Klinsmann's preferred pairing...Goodson is steady and imposing in the air...Cameron's ability to play CB, RB or in a holding midfield position should make him a near lock for Rio Fullbacks (4) - DeMarcus Beasley, Fabian Johnson, Steve Cherundelo, Brad Evans - ugh. this is the best of the lot...and the achilles heel the squad. Again...assuming fitness...I'm still of the belief that Cherundelo walks right back into the squad and the starting right back position. Evans has been ok...but the thought of some world class left wings running at him for 90 minutes doesn't exactly instill confidence. On the other side...two converted midfielders. Johnson is the best option, but he plays more forward for his club and might also prove the best option playing in front of left back. The lack of progress in Timmy Chandler is absolutely glaring here. If Cherundelo is actually done, I'd pick Michael Parkhurst here...he offers nothing going forward, but he's steady and reliable. Central Midfield (4) - Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestin, Mixx Diskeruud - Bradley is the most valuable player on this squad. He dictates play going forward and is a calming presence in front of the back 4. He and Jones have formed a solid partnership in the holding roles (and let's hope it's a partnership come 2014, because Jones looks at best pedestrian, at worst a liability without Bradley next to him). Kljestin's experience on some of the bigger stages in Europe and Diskeruud's place as really the closest thing this squad has to a legit no. 10 give them the reserve nods over the likes of Beckerman, Corona or Torres. Danny Williams may still have a little something to say, but it'll take a great run of form Wide Midfield (4) - Landon Donovan, Graham Zusi, Alejandro Bedoya, Brad Davis - I think the first 3 are no-brainers...Davis I'm including because he is the only true left-sided player if Fabian Johnson is going to be in defense. We saw against Panama that neither Bedoya or Zusi can play on the left...and with Donovan likely playing some centrally, I think Davis's left foot and his ability on set-pieces (where the US is probably going to have to find a number of their goals) will get him in the squad. Forwards (4) - Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Aron Johansson - Jozy is a lock to start up-front. Dempsey needs to regain some form and confidence after his precipitous step back from Spurs (awful club they may be) to the MLS...I'm not sure this squad is at it's best with his starting. Johnson is the ideal reserve striker for this squad...and he can play wide in a pinch. Johansson is the best prospect in the US system (unless my Arsenal starlet Gedion Zelalem opts to pledge to the USMNT)...he's in form for Az Alkmaar (Jozy's old Dutch club) and has the touch of class lacked by forward options like Boyd or Wondo.

Not UNT related but Lamar fired Pat Knight. I believe he won only 3 games this year.

http://southernmiss.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?sid=1085&script=%2Fcontent%2Easp&cid=1621509 Good read

Benford'd

Indeed it is. He has two offers. If he holds the commitment, more power to him. But it won't be easy for Rice.

Yall are crazy, our coaches like to party. Bet you can find them at the casino shortly after the coaches caravan. Any takers?

I am in my mid 40's too and "Caw Caw" is the equivalent of Arkansas fans mooing.

Hope all you want, it ain't happening.

Must be the off-season

I would hope one of my guys could play the straight 40. I hope. Although we have enough guys to run Benford lines.

I said a HALF FULL Apogee and at least ESPN was AT the Cotton Bowl.

I like how we're the only school to get a derogatory adjective.

I agree, when bragging rights are at stake people get far more emotionally involved. Having SMwho, Rice, and even utsa on the scheduke annually will draw people. Now we just have to beat them and stay competitive consistently. A home and home with Houston in the future would also put butts in the seats and cards swiping at local businesses. I think after Baylor falls off again they would consider a home and home with us as well. Probably not right now, they think they are taking over Texas, but after reality sets in 2 or 3 years from now Mac should try to work that out. The game with Texas this year is a win-win for us. A sense of excitement, a paycheck, and all the pressure on UT to beat us. In the future if we can stay competitive scheduling games against teams such as Indiana is a genius move. Play the P5 schools that we have a shot to win. Start beating the Indiana's, Utah's, Kentucky's, Iowa State's of the college football world people will start taking notice of that. Anyway, I'm ranting now. GMG

This is the link for the game cast tomorrow - http://www.texastech.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wsoftbl.html?event=1317038&school=text&sport=wsoftbl&camefrom=&startschool=& Tech is 22-9 this season

We've already lost the battle in DFW. Our alumni will come, as seen, I think we can get them interested. T-shirt fans are already sold. That's why we look elsewhere and quit trying to shoehorn ourselves into DFW. People refuse to learn this fact, but in 2014, a combination of laziness and traffic will stop people from driving to us when they can go to TCU or get free tickets to see Smut lose. We can get our alumni because they need to re-experience campus, thus my UGA example. We're like Windows Phone. Newcomer, actually really capable and a good platform. Most people have used a Windows phone or used Windows before, but are already pot deep in iOS. Problem is, that the market is already oversaturated so it's a losing battle. So, instead, you focus on enterprise or overseas. Students never came out in the mid 2000s because nobody cares if you beat Monroe. Now, if you beat Rice, UTEP, LATech, those are schools students want bragging rights over. No coincidence that attendance was iffy vs MTSU and Ball State (even though it was a scorcher.) ESPN putting Georgia in #UpsetAlert (they did) and beating teams people can brag against gets students involved.

We have more alumni in DFW then any other school in the area. I would think we could be the team of the region. Gotta win a lot though (In all sports)... To make it happen. Slowly but surely. I am still impressed we can get students to come to football games. In 2001 to 2005 we were winning and turn out was horrible.

I agree with this except for the BWW thing. Something unique to Denton should replace that dump. Not a large chain establishment. Preferably an establishment that John Williams is a part of in some form or fashion.

When Willy Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, his famous reply was "Because that's where the money is".We have to face facts folks, DFW is where our largest alumni base is and a State Fair game should draw a nice crowd and be an opportunity to boost our profile with the Dallas media as well as possibly getting local apathetic alumni interested in their university. God bless our Denton fan base, but Denton does not support UNT in the way Lubbock supports Tech, Waco supports Baylor or Ft. Worth supports TCU. We have yet to sell out Apogee whether we are winning or losing and it just seems to make sense to bring our team, for one game, to where most of our fans are. I think it would encourage those fans to actually make a trip to Denton. We are going to have to do something. A half to two thirds full Apogee year after year is not sustainable for a serious Division One football team.

So, now, even you sound like Crimea is going to belong to Russia from now on. I know the people voted (or "voted"?) to join Russia, but I thought all of that was dismissed by NATO before that vote even took place. Is that more empty rhetoric?

Or....Fort Worth & Gainsville. Crazy I know. I have been to every one of the caravans in the Fort, have my Apogee mini and my CUSA T to prove it. I agree with 817, I am not sure how they promote it to the gen pop. Seems like I have to do the promoting myself to alumni that have no idea its coming. But I assume the same efforts here in FW were made for the other stops, that are reported to have better turnout. I will say this, the best turnout I have ever seen for an NT in FW event was a summer, incoming freshman...get fired up dinner at Joe T's. Tons of HS grads and their parents were in attendance. This was probably 10 years ago and the place was packed......I dont think they did it again after that. Another thing to consider is that we have a huge alumni population in the North Fort. I would bet much more than those of us inside the loop. So, as much as it kills me, because my universe exists almost entirely inside the loop with the exception of NT Football and vacations...I would suggest moving the Ft Worth event to somewhere up along 1-35, between Downtown and Keller. Then you get your die hards who show up to everything and can also draw from Keller, Mid Cities, Saganaw...etc etc. Fort Worth is a little different. There is an inclusive "Cool, In Crowd" vibe associated with TCU. To the Frogs credit, they did a great job building this. But, as someone that might know a little bit about advertising & marketing campaigns...to write off the Fort would be a mistake. Recognize your audience and play to your strengths.

We need these people on campus IN DENTON. Set up the Mean Green Express (A Train), get the downtown establishments to offer post game specials, run a shuttle from the train station to Apogee and have the A Train's return trips a couple hours after the game with multiple runs. Make Denton the destination, not counting on these folks to come to one game a year in Dallas.

LOL at this thread. Health care worked pretty damn well when doctors could charge what people could pay. But no, we HAD to get "regulation" into place so everyone could "afford" health care. That was over 3 decades ago. That didn't work, so now we have OCare. You know--so people can "afford" health care. Yes, the solution is to throw MORE taxpayer money into a system created by the people that screwed it up in the first place. Carry on.

Glad Coach Mac doesn't share your opinion.

Not me. But it's funny that I'm in your head.

Mark, in the spirit of fundraising, I'll auction off a week of my silence from GMG.com. The mods can even block me from posting. I'm sure there will be at least a 50 cent bid. ;-)

There's still the possibility of "MeanGreen Matt" and "Mean GreenMatt"!