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Nice turnout at Gainesville tonight. Kee, Palileo, Hedlund, Slekis, Benford, Peterson, Mac, RV, Hank Dickenson, and George Dunham were all there. RV talked about baseball coming hopefully in the 2015 season. Also said that the upcoming year would be the best ever for UNT athletics. Mac, Peterson, and Hedlund were very entertaining with their respective portions of the roundtable. Derek Thompson also spoke of how much his scholarship meant to him and his family, said his tryout with the Broncos went well & is waiting for a phone call. If the call doesn't come, he's prepared to go on with his life as a high school football coach. Food was okay, mostly finger foods (fried cheese sticks, boneless chicken wings, fruits, veggies, etc)

Right. First the excuse was Fouts. Now it's something else. But one thing remains constant. It's an excuse. NT03 (I think) posted a great list of non-P5s that have hosted P5s in the last 5 years. It's long. And we aren't on it (No, I don't count a terrible Indiana team that no one cared about). Other schools get it done. We don't. Bottom line. Not only do we not get it done, but put ourselves in a terrible hole in the process. Pretty amazing failure. Worst thing this AD does. Oh, and you nailed the work thing ;-)

Last season's Mean Green would have had a real shot. This season's Mean Green has even more question marks than UT does. With these games I hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

really? I mean really? Unt flyer helped with a big piece of the stadium. But they kept r.v. hidden away? R.V. was responsible for every 6 and 7 figure donor on the suite level, and there were 16 of those originally. You have and we will never know the dynamics of Harbaugh, dodge and bataille not wanting to pay a coach "more than she makes". Why do you think she is gone? Has anyone ever really found out why? Mr. UNT jim your post is full of assumptions, many of which just aren't true. I don't know the absolute truth of any of a lot of what you speak of, but I do know this. Apogee stadium is the result of a large group of very motivated people moving together against many odds to get things done, and the figurehead of this movement was Rick Villarreal. In fact, Todd Dodge was very articulate in the very early stadium road show meetings with large donors. I was at every one of them. Dodge was a failure as coach, but don't discount his ability to speak and explain why the stadium was necessary. You guys are comedians sometimes at best.

Proof that 3 negatives equal a positive.

UNTFlyer got the great new stadium done...they had to keep RV hidden away to make that happen, BTW. The athletic complex is very nice and I do credit him for getting that done. I think its the biggest achievement of his career here at UNT. The hire report card is not good. Like it or not, at UNT especially, the hires in revenue sports are all you need to grade. Football: Grade D Failed to fire Dickey in 2000, extended him and then fired him with two years left on his contract, hired Todd Dodge and allowed him to bring in HS coaches as assistants, kept Dodge for a 4th year after he had won all of 5 games in the first three years, and then finally hired McCarney and got him an extension after he won the HoD Bowl. Mens' Hoops: Grade C Kept Johnny Jones as long as he could until LSU came calling. Hires an assistant coach known for being a great recruiter and had no head coaching experience in Tony Benford. If Benford gets off to a great start at UNT with the best collection of talent we have ever had, he's probably coaching at his alma mater (Texas Tech) right now, meaning we didn't go with a guy who would stay here as a successful coach for any length of time. In the end, it doesn't matter, since he has sucked royally in two years as coach and doesn't look to have a bright future here in his next two years as head coach. Women's Hoops: Grade F Shanice Stephens...enough said. I knew when we lost a preseason game to Texas Womans University, that was all I needed to know about her "coaching". An absolute disaster as a head coach. Replaced with Karen Aston, who showed great promise, but got bought by UT after just one year. Petersen hasn't shown much in his years as coach. The move up to CUSA was solely because SMU left--not because of anyhting we or RV did. We aren't even in CUSA if SMU doesn't leave--which just scares the hell out of me, since we would have been in a WATERED DOWN SBC...that's where you have to ask yourself if FBS is really worht it, if the best you can do is be in a conference with ULM, Texas State, Troy, Georgia State, etc... The APR is something to be proud of, but the hole we dug out of was also under his watch when Dickey was the coach here. His second major achievement was to simply allow tailgating before games--that has galvanized the fans who like to enjoy this activity, even if a lot of them don't go into the game. To me, his grade is a C, at best. He looks much better than any other ADs at UNT, since we simply didn't even try to fund the AD before RV got hired, as well as the fact that the previous ADs didn't allow tailgating (Seriously, who is that stupid?) and scheduled us out in the revenue sports to fund the entire department's budget. But at UNT a C grade in athletics earns you a great job. From the BOR standpoint, RV's greatest achievement is that he does the job just like they want him to, so he has been rewarded with many extensions. At any other major university of our size, there is now way he'd have survived that many bad hires in those revenue sports. That alone would have gotten him fired many, many years ago.

There is a dollar sign right at the end of the tweet

We all wish they could be at all our road games. But, at $100 a seat, do you really want them there when the athletic dept. has not come up with the donors to support them being there? Then, we are trying to start BB in 16/17?

.....better than Dirk I hope.

Underrated post. UNT90 gets it. it's not just RV, though. It's his entire senior administration in the athletic department. We as a collective fan base need to demand more of our athletic department. I applaud RV for assisting in the facility upgrades and navigating us towards CUSA, but if we want to go to the next level then upper administration and the big money donors need to clean house and bring in the next AD who will take us there

You forgot: 4. Climate change has been cyclical for millions of years. Humans cannot alter those cycles at all.

You must have been on the debate team. Your arguments are always so convicing

Were you at the spring game? I was chasing down dozens of paper plates and even our chairs at tailgating as the wind gusts were insane all day. He had some good zip on the ball and tight spirals given the elements he was up against. I was impressed with his play and have the utmost confidence in his ability to manage a game.

Our main question mark is how our interior DL holds up against the run. I see our LB and DB situation as being pretty solid. We might not be quite as good on special teams this year....but you never know who will step up this year. Our big strength on offense is our OL and (assuming everyone shows up healthy in the fall) the depth of our RB's. Since I have said several times that I rated McNulty slightly ahead of Thompson coming out of last years spring practice, I don't worry about our QB situation so much. Texas is going to try and put a lot of pressure on McNulty, but our OL will keep him relatively unmolested (like they did for Thompson vs Georgia) and will give him time to "drive the bus". Which is what our coaching staff really wants anyway. We have our "heat of the battle" communications well in place. Texas has yet to get theirs worked out.

Exactly what I was thinking. Utah State ... SDSU .... New Mexico ... ugh! Give me the Texas schools any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Meanwhile we are able to get a home game with Northwood.

My mistake, I forgot Tech was at Texas Stadium. I don't disagree with the general sentiment about a bigger time name at home occasionally. Every other year would be nice, minimum every 3rd year. We were somewhat on pace for that, but the schedule for the foreseeable future does not include a P5 at home, but it does include smu and Army, both of which I believe our fans care about and should generate interest. I can't remember 2 simultaneous series that have been as good in my mind. Add to that, some reasonable interest in conference mates: Rice, LaTech, and UTEP, and there at least half the home games that I am really looking forward to the oppoents. Oh, and don't forget about roadkill down south. I am not exactly sure how we got into the situation of 2 payday games in 2015, but I imagine Iowa may have said that they will offer 2 games, but you have to take them both, we may have had to take both or get neither, I don't know. The Tennessee game had been on the books for quite some time as I recall and we may have reach a point in the contract where we had to schedule it or face penalties. Heck, maybe 2 payday games just sounded like a good idea to RV. However, as I have mentioned before, for some reason I don't have a problem with the OOC that year. I actually kind of like it except for the part about asking our guys to have to play 2 P5 teams on the road (plus, I purchased my season tickets with the full knowledge of the schedule, I understand the alternate stance).

The only difference between the "new CUSA" and the "new Sun Belt" is T.V. exposure, which is considerable. Not much, if any, separation on the field.Just an old man's opinion.

This is good. There are diamonds in the rough. Kids work so hard for the sports they love. Good to hear no matter who they are our coaches give them respect.

Don't understand your post at all. I guess everyone should support the team by making demands without any regard to the reality of the situation NT is in. Yes, NT should get rid of the away guarantee game and schedule only big time home games as soon as they find millions of extra dollars. Have you every really looked at ULM's home schedule. This year they have one home game: Wake Forest Away: LSU, Kentucky, A&M. Last year: Grambling and Tulane at home Away: Oklahoma, Baylor Wake Forest. 2012: Again one home game: Baylor Away: Auburn, Arkansas (so called neutral site game at Little Rock) and Tulane. 2011: One home game against Grambling Away Florida State, TCU and Iowa. 2010: One home game SE Louisiana Away: Arkansas (at LR), Auburn and LSU. They also had only one true home game in 2009 and 2008, Texas Southern and Alabama A&M. Are you sure you want NT to live up to ULM's standards? Before you post more drivel, you just might want to think first. Not sure how basketball got in your tirade, but than I guess a guy with all the answers without any regard to logic can rant about anything.

I'm not sure about the logistics and donor involvement, but as long as I was in the GB we were taken to Austin or Norman whenever there was a football game there. Did a Baylor game in Waco, too.

I think every game should involve no shirts, just body paint. For guys too, if you want.

I'll stake my River City ... er ... Green Brigade band against any town west of Chicago!

Good memory! If I remember right one UT fan called us the Goodwill Band or something like that

Puts a whammy on some of the "one and done" in basketball.

Yep. But things tend to go better here when you talk and the rest of us mostly just listen.

Any interest in this still?

I wonder about basketball too. One and dones won't like this

Yes he did it to provoke us all lol. They'll be there wearing their white shirts, khaki shorts and black socks. Bank on it

Ok e.e. cummings calm d o w n

Yeah, let's call ol' Phil out from the shed so he can look at this heavy-duty construction rebar/concrete with his tape measure, give his blessing, then go back to repairing broken desks or something. Isn't this what you pay a LOT of money for some other, more qualified, people to do? The district's only fault is that they misplaced trust & hired the wrong folks to build their palace.

If we could get Southern Cal to come to JerryWorld to play us and call it a home game (complete with a ticket & parking pass included in our season ticket package), then I'd be all for it. This would still be a UNT advantage, as I would expect a HoD-type crowd from UNT. And I highly doubt USC would consider coming to Apogee. If Texas Tech or OU wants to play us in Jerry World and UNT can call it a home game, no thanks. They can come to Apogee. Big difference there.

No offense, Gray, but this type of thinking is the reason we are where we are at right now: one of the least respected football schools in FBS. We do not play in Fouts anymore. We do not play in the suck belt anymore. We have a pretty great athletic village. Yet, some of our alums are perfectly happy with the status quo, willing to let the AD lie to them about 6 game home seasons with no repercussions and schedule us so far into a hole that we have to buy games 3 years in a row and still have 5 game home season in 2 of 3 years. The year we stop buying a home game? 2015. No coincidence that we have only 5 home games that year. It was so bad that we had to buy a home game in 2012 just to get to 5 home games. That is horrible scheduling. But did we hear anything about it from the administration? Nope. From big dollar donors? Nope. From anyone? Nope. Why? Because we are UNT and we just accept things. With no consequences. AD at UNT is easily the best and easiest job in America. No expectations and no results required, from the upper administration or the fan base. RV will put in his 25 and then collect a state pension.

SMU is not the reason that we have 5 home games. We have signed for 16 games with SMU...eight home and eight away. As long as we have single body bag games and 2 for 1 games with major opponents we will have to have five home games or buy a game ourselves. We've had many years in the past when there were only five home games. I'd take it again for a good major opponent away and a virtual home game with SMU or TCU.

In a perfect world we would win a few conference championships and get our attendance up to a consistent 30,000 before we tried to make a move. This is not a perfect world. If we waited until then there might be no place to go. The landscape is changing and could be stabilized by the time we have won a championship or two. The better the competition the easier recruiting becomes. Have you ever tried to get a friend to come to Apogee on game day and be told no thanks when told who we were playing? I have...many times. This is not a knock on CUSA teams it's just that they are less well-known in this area. Only Rice, UTEP, Southern Miss and North Texas have been around for 50 years or more. La Tech has been in the FBS at least 25. Most of the rest have been in the FBS for about ten years or less. This will be UTSA's second season, Old Dominion's first and Charlotte won't start until next year. So, maybe we haven't been in CUSA but a year but we've been a major college/Division 1-A/FBS team for a long time in spite of a twelve year drop to Division 1-AA because our administration wouldn't sustain support. Our Athletic Department, coaches and players believe that we can play with anyone in the country. We are the 25th largest university in the country and the 4th largest TV market. There are more than 5.8 million people in Denton County and the counties that it abuts. We are in the heart of one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the United States. We'll soon know if we're for real and I believe that we are. If BYU needs a partner for conference membership I hope that we are allowed to help them..

Sounds like a construction issue. Not sure how you hold district employees responsible.

Frankly, I am not sure we really want to/are in a position to exchange a $1mm in exchange for a home game with a team that will provide 10k extra fans and a likely home loss. Look at The Donks. That have had a decent OOC home schedule the last couple of years/next year that is damn near killing their football program. Why do you think they finally agreed to schedule a series with us? They were getting desperate for recognizable home game they feel they have a shot at winning (silly donks).

Fresno State? Seriously? People in the Metroplex aren't going to line up for Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, ect. I think we would compete just fine and proved that on January 1st. If any CUSA is headed to the MWC it's UTEP. Anyway you slice it, non P5 conferences will always be on the outside looking in. MWC was talking a merger of sorts with CUSA like 5 minutes ago. It's not some massive step up. Heck, if we were, and we aren't conference shopping, the AAC would be better for us in my opinion. Not that it's even and option. At the end of the day, in the current landscape there is nothing wrong with CUSA for us. We should, I don't know, maybe win a conference championship before everyone thinks our britches are all big?

Mountain West >C-USA>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Big West

The Big West wasn't good for us. Going west isn't a good fit for us either. Playing teams that our fans give a crap about is better for the program. Playing teams in our region is good. For instant playing Rice is far far more interesting than San Diego State which almost no one would care about in Denton nor San Diego. The same would hold true for much of the MWC. Plus our fans aren't going to travel out west.

There is no doubt that BYU belongs in the P5 but it's not going to happen anytime soon. They're best bet for the moment is the Mountain West. It might take a little pride-swallowing but that's better than the alternative. I have a little food for thought. How about North Texas and Brigham Young join the MWC? It's been known for awhile that Commissioner Thompson would like to have presence in the DFW market. SMU isn't going west and would likely try to keep us out of the AAC. By my calculations the two additions would give the MWC parity with the AAC. I calculated the average of the new AAC configuration based on last year's Massey Consensus ( more than 100 computer rankings) and the mean was 75.67. If BYU and UNT were added to the MWC alignment that average ranking would be 74.57. Yes, I know that we just changed conference affiliation but the CUSA landscape has changed considerably. Not to knock our members at all but this is a chance for a stronger conference. Another argument I'll hear is that there are no driveable conference games. That is the one true drawback. But a division consisting of New Mexico, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming, BYU and Utah State would be palatable. I believe that all are one time zone away. There would only be one conference game per year on Pacific (or Hawaiian) time.

Fixed. ETA: Which was originally metal disks handed out by temples as a receipt for stored grain in Sumer. The Sumerians built the first cities, and had the first system of writing. In other words you really can't have a human civilization without money.

DT has overcome injury, competition, and doubters to become the leader of this team. He stared adversity in the face and didn't blink. I do agree on the mistakes, but they tend to happen early in games. Once he finds his rhythm, things start to click. He may own the UNT record book by the time he's finished.