Harry

I meant nothing but compliments in my comment on Michael Hickmon...dearly departed, ie dearly=coveted etc and departed=graduated...that's all. He was not a traditional FB but man he made the most of what he had and was a solid runner. He was an outstanding special teams player... I know Mike and he's actually a good guy and hard worker that made one bad decision but rebounded from that in a big way. I think he will be a model citizen. To be honest, there were a couple of players that I ommitted in the overview. Sorry about that.

QB - Hall and Smith will battle it out and both should see early playing time. The real battle will be for #3 as Gonzo returns but will have to stave off two talented freshmen in fleet footed Jon Ians (6-5, 190, 4.5) and strong armed Joey Byerley. This is the most solid I can remember us being at this position...both Smith and Hall are fierce competitors and will make each other better. RB - Let it be decreed that the Patrick Cobbs era has begun. Many see Cobbs primed for a breakout year. But the real battle will be for #2 as Big Roy Bishop, speedy Kevin Moore, Ricardo Smith and Cinderella James Mitchell will battle for the remaining 8-10 snaps per game. Don't count out talented WR Jamel Branch for 3-5 snaps a game either... FB - Former MLB Justin Claborn (6-3, 245) is the man to beat and should be a better blocker than dearly departed Michael Hickmon. Chad Boyd will be there to pick up the scraps and Andy Blount could see action as well. WR - The starters will likely be Jamel Branch and Kevin Howard with senior Michael Thrash looking for a breakout season at the possession slot. The best athlete is Joel Nwigwe although RS Johnny Quinn may be the most complete package. TE - Randy Gardner returns as a starter but the #2 slot remains a dogfight between talented receiver Andy Blount and big RS Robert Harmon (6-4, 265). Matt Bradshaw could be the best blocker next to Gardner. OLine - Right now this may be the biggest question mark on the team. Zuniga and Brewster return at starters but after that it may be up for grabs. Coaches expect/hope that sophomores Jason May and Weston Thaggard can step up to the plate and live up to their potential but also covered their bets by bringing in jucos Aaron Harvey, Damien Nobles and Lonnie Chambers. Joel Foster may be the dark horse at tackle while former walk-on Corey Hall may surprise everyone after a spectacular off season training regimine. If all else fails, look for Coach Wolford to lean on some talented freshmen like Kansas Heavyweight wrestling champ Adam Vinegas, local product Rendell Bailey or perhaps Oklahoman Jeremy Brown. I wouldnt be shocked to see TE Robert Harmon move here if depth is a concern. D-Line - next to linebacker the deepest position on the team. Can you say Booger? Kennedy will return to anchor the interior line and will be joined by JUCO All American Michael Pruitt. However, don't be surprised to see UNT use a lot of 3-4 sets in which Pruitt will line up on the outside as will giant Adrain Awasom with BK in the middle. This could possibly be the most talented three set in the country. Evan Cardwell will dogfight Michael Pruitt for the #2 spot. Oklahoman Chris Miller has made rapid gains and will battle with Kurk "Snot" Francis and Sky Pruitt for rotational time. Multiple true freshman will try and battle the odds to garner playing time in this deep area including TJ Raymond and Adam Vinegas among others, DEnd - Some questions remain here in the 4-3. Awasom is the man and has proven his ability - the real battle here is for the other bookend in the 4-3. Luke Conder is @1 right now although Tommy Harrison and Eli Hutcheson will battle for time. Of the freshmen look for Blake Burriss (6-7, 245) and possibly even linebacker Lawrence Brown to fill that speed role that Darrell Daniels played so well... LB - three starters return to the deepest and most talented position on the team - Taylor Casey, Cody Spencer and Chris Hurd will wreck havoc on opposing offenses. Koryee Wyatt will also see a lot of time as will SS Craig "hitman" Jones in the 3-4. Montrell Parks (6-3, 243) is on the brink of a breakthrough year. Art McNac (6-0, 250) could see time at MLB as could RS's Phillip Graves and Chris Nevins on the outside... DB - UNT looks pretty solid here. The best safety tandem in the country returns with Jonas Buckles and Craig Jones. At corner look for future star Marikeith Knowlton and either Jeremy Pearl or Walter Priestly to garner most of the snaps. Dominique Mackey could surprise some people with his post knee surgery speed. Sophomore Shawn Early is a terrific athlete that could be all conference if his pass coverage skills improve. Freshman Cass Starks could provide a depth boost at safety. P - Brad Kadlubar returns for his junior campaign and may be one of the best punters in the country. k - After a shaky start Nick Bazaldua came on strong last season. He will be fighting off a talented player in strong legged russian Denis Hopovac however. K/PR - Branch is dangerous although he may be weaned off this position if freshman Zach Muzzy is as advertised. Kevin Moore may garner time here as well.. Let's hear your questions/thoughts/opinions!

The Mean Green Report

Great news Coach Segal. Quick question, what is the player connection that we have with Arizona? Is it just a coincidence that all three are from that state or do you have some ties there? Does Arizona play some good junior college ball?

Congrats to Coach Segal. This team is going to be fun.

Building jazz by improvisation Leon Breeden turned UNT's minor program into a major success 03/30/2003 By SAM BLAIR / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News The sign beside northbound Interstate 35 tells you what's ahead: DENTON. . . and all that jazz! But if it weren't for Leon Breeden, that sign probably wouldn't be there. As chairman of the division of jazz studies, Mr. Breeden built a world-renowned program at the University of North Texas. He directed the famous One O'Clock lab bands, student big bands that won Grammy awards and praise from legendary jazz stars, and inspired similar music programs at many other schools. When he retired in 1981, he left a school with a reputation for excellence that continues today. Now 81, Mr. Breeden is being honored with a namesake competition for younger students, part of the North Texas Jazz Festival. "Most of the international acceptance of jazz education can be traced to the University of North Texas," Dave Brubeck said in 1997, when the jazz program celebrated its 50th anniversary. A wonderful tribute, but one that would have been impossible to imagine when Mr. Breeden started the job. In 1959, when he joined the music faculty at what was then North Texas State College, Mr. Breeden brought outstanding credentials as a director, educator, musician, arranger and program-builder. His reception, however, was underwhelming. "The first day I walked into my office, I found an empty lard can on the floor," he says. "There was a dead rat in it!" Just sloppy housekeeping, but not a bad indicator of the road ahead. North Texas had been awarding a degree in dance music since 1947. But Mr. Breeden's old friend and predecessor Gene Hall warned him about the administration's negative attitude toward jazz education. "Gene told me, 'You'll have a president and a dean who wake up each morning saying "no," and that's all they say all day.' " But Mr. Breeden was approaching his 38th birthday and eager for a new challenge after a successful career as music director at Grand Prairie High School. He found one. The rehearsal room was awful and his department's only equipment consisted of a broken-down baritone sax and one microphone. Two weeks later, frustrated and depressed, he wrote his letter of resignation and showed it to his wife, Bonna. Fortunately, she urged him to put it away and get on with his job. Mr. Breeden did, and that's why you can hear all that jazz in Denton – and on campuses around the world. When Mr. Breeden started as director, the program had 75 students and four lab bands. Mr. Hall created the lab bands, but Mr. Breeden reorganized them, scheduling rehearsals on the hour. The bands were known by the time they rehearsed – The Two O'Clock, The Three O'Clock – and the best musicians played at 1 p.m. Mr. Breeden had to take some unusual steps to fulfill his vision. Under his leadership, the One O'Clock Lab Band toured from Moscow, Iowa, to Moscow, Russia. All of those trips were financed without official school money, although, in 1970, the band did receive a loan from the school – $20,000, to pay for air fare to Switzerland. The One O'Clock Band had been named Official Big Band of the famous Montreaux Jazz Festival. But Mr. Breeden repaid the loan with proceeds from sales of concert tickets and record albums. The band's annual albums began when Mr. Breeden arranged a secret recording session of Lab '67 with musician and former football player Ed Bernet at his sound studios near Southern Methodist University. "If I had gone to the dean, he would have said a program at a state-supported school could not make a recording and compete with outside business," says Mr. Breeden, explaining he was determined, though risking his job. "I didn't do it for money; I did it for education." Annual recordings became famous; two bands ( Lab '75 and Lab '76) received Grammy nominations, a first for a college group. Fittingly, top high school and middle school jazz bands will compete for the first annual Leon Breeden Award on Saturday during the North Texas Jazz Festival in Addison. April is a gala month for jazz in the area. On April 15, you can catch Lab Band Madness at UNT. And the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival follows, April 25-27. By the time Mr. Breeden retired in May 1981, his jazz studies program had 500 students, nine lab bands, more than $10,000 in cash, a library of 4,000-plus arrangements and a marvelous legacy. He was succeeded by Neil Slater, who founded the jazz program at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut in 1971. The bands continue to receive Grammy nominations. And the school continues to turn out fine jazz musicians, composers, arrangers, vocalists, directors and educators. For years, the music faculty gave Mr. Breeden the cold shoulder. "They thought I wanted to push Beethoven out the back door," he says. But he was warmed by the acclaim of jazz legends. The first was big-band leader Stan Kenton, a judge at the 1960 Notre Dame Jazz Festival where Mr. Breeden's then little-known NT band won first place. "Stan, tall and lanky like a basketball player, came striding across the floor of the field house and hugged me. He said, 'You've restored my faith in music.' " A foremost exponent of modern jazz and advocate of jazz education, Mr. Kenton became a great friend and benefactor. When he died in 1979, he willed his entire library to North Texas. In March 1981, Mr. Breeden signed for a shipment of six crates of original music manuscripts weighing 2,440 pounds. After retiring as director of jazz studies, Mr. Breeden stayed on as archivist of the Kenton Collection. He finished on Sept. 23, 1983. "I fulfilled my promise to Stan that I personally would go through anything he sent to the school." As faculty attitudes mellowed and facilities improved in later years, lab bands moved into a large rehearsal hall with seating for 115. Mr. Breeden was delighted when the NT Board of Regents approved his recommendation that it be named Stan Kenton Hall. Other historic jazz stars raved about the One O'Clock Band. After Duke Ellington played piano with the NT musicians on "Take the A Train" at the White House in 1967, he told Mr. Breeden, "After hearing your band, I'm calling a five-hour rehearsal of my band tomorrow!" Ella Fitzgerald was so pleased singing with the band in Charleston, S.C., in 1978 she said, "Mr. Breeden, I'd like to take this band on the road with me!" And Woody Herman told Mr. Breeden, "Your band sounds like it's been playing together for 20 years. It's unbelievable." A generation or so ago, Jim Riggs played alto sax and Dan Haerle piano in the One O'Clock Band. They eventually joined Mr. Breeden on the NT jazz faculty. "Leon had a vast influence," says Mr. Riggs, who still directs the Two O'Clock Band. "Even then, musicians came to NT from all over the world. I think everyone who ever played in the One O'Clock looks back on those as the best time in their lives. We were playing great music with great musicians." "Leon set the bar so high," says Mr. Haerle, who retired last spring. "And I liked his sense of humor. I wrote a piece based on a Mozart composition and called it 'Waltzing on the Wolfgang'. When the band was going to play it, Leon said, 'I think Dan's writing a sequel to 'Skating on the Amadeus' or 'Marching on the Mozart.' " A superb clarinetist, Mr. Breeden took his first lessons at age 8 in Wichita Falls from a teacher who received free auto repairs from Alvin Breeden, Leon's father. He played first chair in the high school band while wearing out 78-rpm records copying Benny Goodman solos. At 17, he played in a hillbilly band in honky-tonks where the leader packed a loaded .38 in a shoulder holster and chicken wire separated the bandstand from the fights and flying bottles. Through the years he played in everything from small combos to dance bands to symphony orchestras. He finished his degree at Texas Christian University after World War II Army service, and, at 23, became band director, the youngest at any U.S. college. He also earned a master's degree at TCU and worked on a Ph.D. at Columbia University while playing in studio bands at NBC Radio. He wrote two arrangements for Arthur Fiedler ("Hollywood Concerto" and "Flight of the Wild Goose") but declined the Boston Pops conductor's offer to succeed Leroy Anderson as chief arranger when his father's serious illness drew him back to Texas. Now 81, Mr. Breeden lives in a retirement community near the UNT campus with second wife Bennye Wayne, a long-ago schoolmate whom he met again at a Wichita Falls class reunion in 1989, a year after Bonna died. His voice is raspy after a recent bout with pneumonia, but it becomes vibrant when he talks about jazz. "They should start every session of the United Nations with some Dixieland – maybe a Kenyan on drums, a Swede on piano and an American on cornet. Then everyone could get down to business." Sam Blair was a writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News for 41 years. 3rd Annual North Texas Jazz Festival in Addison Friday- April 6. Ticket are $25 Friday and Saturday evening, $30 for Sunday's jazz brunch. Student concerts are free. Hotel Inter-Continental, 15201 Dallas Parkway, Addison. This year the festival spotlights jazz education. Big bands, combos and vocal groups from middle schools to top university programs around the country will perform and take master classes. The outstanding middle school or high school big band will win the first Leon Breeden Award. Headliners include: UNT Faculty Sextet, Two O'Clock Lab Band; New York Voices (Friday); UNT Jazz Singers, One O'Clock Lab Band; Kenny Garrett Quartet (Saturday); Jazz brunch, featuring a festival adjudicators showcase and Marchel Ivery Quartet (April 6). Call 972-450-6232. Or go to www.addisontexas.net. Lab Band Madness 2003 April 15, 7 p.m. Tickets are $8; $5 for seniors and students. Winspear Performance Hall in Murchison Performing Arts Center. All nine lab bands perform. Call 940-369-7802. Denton Art and Jazz Festival April 25-27. Free. Denton Civic Center Park and Facilities, 321 East McKinney, Denton. Six outdoor stages and one indoor. Headliners include Branford Marsalis (April 25); Double Trouble and Brave Combo (April 26); and Bill Evans and the Soul Insiders (April 27) Call 940-565-0931 or www.dentonjazzfest.com. DMNews Link

I second that. Chris has been a bright spot on an otherwise dreary basketball situation at UNT. Chris did his part to help this bassketball program and for that I am truly grateful. I hope Chris will assume his rightful role as an ambassador of this program in the future. I also see better days ahead for Johnny and the boys. Frankly speaking, I am glad that we can put this dark chapter of a season behind us and move forward.

The Dallas Business Journal ran a story regarding the fact that Texas Health Resources and Triad Hospitals were building a 100-million dollar hospital in Denton. The reason? Both cited RAPID population growth in the Denton area as the reason for the building. The new hospital will be state of the art and sized at 272,538 square feet. Construction will start this summer and is expected to be completed in 2005. It sounds like they will be building this adjacent to Denton Community so it will be very near to UNT.

That was actually mis-cut from a Plano segment but I hear you it was something I wish the editors would have caught.

DMNews Link At last, Norah Jones finds harmony in fame She didn't want stardom, but Grammy begs to differ 02/23/2003 By THOR CHRISTENSEN / The Dallas Morning News Norah Jones' phone rang nonstop as the news broke about her five Grammy nominations, but instead of answering it, she rolled over in bed and drifted back to sleep. When life becomes as surreal as hers has, sometimes it's easier to hide in the unconscious. "The whole year has been insane. ... I almost cracked," says the 23-year-old Dallas-raised singer. "It's like a dream I don't understand." And it keeps getting stranger. On Sunday, the odyssey takes her to the 45th annual Grammy Awards, where she's in the running for five awards, including best new artist, record of the year and album of the year for her debut CD, Come Away With Me.. AP Dallas-raised Norah Jones has five nominations for the 2003 Grammy Awards. A year after it came out, the disc continues to sell more than 100,000 copies a week and has passed the 7 million mark – a head-spinning milestone for a classy, jazz-based album that fits none of the trends on MTV. Even more bizarre is how fast it happened. Fourteen months ago, she was a virtual unknown who balked at the far-flung idea of selling a million CDs. "That would be the worst thing that could happen to me. I'm not ready for that much pressure," she said at the time. "I actually don't want to be a star." Phrases like that have become common in an era of cheesy American Idol-style fame, but for Ms. Jones – a self-conscious, self-described "dork" – it's more than just a ploy for credibility. While she says she's finally learning to enjoy stardom, it's been an arduous lesson. "There are just so many things that I've had to stay up at night and worry about, you know?" she now says.Also Online Vote for Album of the Year Vote for Song of the Year Vote for Best New Artist Top category nominations Complete nomination list (From the official Grammy Web site) Musical beginnings Born in 1979 in New York, Ms. Jones moved to Grapevine at age 4 with her mother, a nurse named Sue Jones. Raised on her mom's eclectic record collection – everything from George Jones to Luciano Pavarotti to Aretha Franklin – she began piano lessons in grade school. "When you're a little girl, you dream of [being famous]," she says. "But I stopped dreaming about it when I was 13 because I got into jazz, and I certainly knew that wasn't going to make me a superstar." Accepted into Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts – the same launchpad for Erykah Badu, among others – Ms. Jones immersed herself in piano theory and technique. Quietly, as few teachers were listening, she was also perfecting a more important asset: her velvety, world-wise voice. "The first time I heard her, I thought, 'Wow!' " says Kent Ellingson, her piano teacher at the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school. "She never had any vocal lessons, but she sounded so mature beyond her years. It seemed so effortless." Piano instructor Dan Haerle was in for a similar shock a few years later when Ms. Jones – then a student at the University of North Texas – launched into the smoldering '50s R&B song "Fever" at a recital. "There was this spark, this innate musicianship in her voice," he says. "She had something that was exceptional." Her professional career began on the bottom rung – playing piano over the clatter of diners at Popolo's restaurant at Preston Road and Royal Lane. After her sophomore year at UNT, she gathered the courage to move to the Big Apple for the summer. But school quickly became a fading memory as she began to land gigs in the cafes and jazz clubs of Manhattan. How it all began Before long, she'd caught the ear of Blue Note Records president Bruce Lundvall, the veteran jazz honcho who's worked with everyone from Miles Davis to Bobby McFerrin. After a few false starts in the studio, the singer teamed up with Aretha Franklin's famed producer, Arif Mardin, and finished Come Away With Me in late 2001. Then the buzz really began. Although the album wasn't due in stores until February 2002, music writers across the country began singing early praises for the dusky-voiced singer and her enchanting blend of jazz, country and soul. By March, when she played the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, music-biz types from around the globe were turned away in droves outside her show. Fueled by the media attention, Come Away With Me began to climb the sales charts – slowly at first. But sales snowballed when radio stations began airing "Don't Know Why," a chiming lullaby that seemed tailor-made for a nation jarred by Sept. 11. "The public was waiting for something like this," says Mr. Lundvall. "It's understated and underproduced and unpretentious. Less is more – and people found that completely refreshing." In a business dominated by rigid radio formats, it didn't hurt that "Don't Know Why" – written by the singer's friend, guitarist Jesse Harris – was broad enough to cross over from smooth jazz to adult contemporary to Top 40 stations. "Getting so many different windows of exposure was essential," says Billboard chart director Geoff Mayfield. "And the album had a longer shelf life because it appealed to a lot of gray-hairs who don't react as quickly as people who buy rock or rap. It's grown organically, by word of mouth. People kept on discovering it and telling their friends." 'Too much hoopla' Yet the petite young woman at the bottom of the pyramid was starting to get crushed. During one of her many promotional trips to Europe, she gave 15 interviews in a single day – a Herculean task for someone who describes herself as "awkward" and "nerdy." "I almost had a nervous breakdown," she says. "There was too much pressure, too much hoopla, too much stuff, you know? If I never did another interview in my life, I'd be happy. ... Talking about yourself for 12 hours, it gets old." The harder part came when reporters asked about her father, Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master whom former Beatle George Harrison called "one of the greatest figures of the 20th century – the godfather of world music." It's a delicate topic for Ms. Jones. Her parents broke up when she was a child, and while she and her dad are close now, there was a long period when they weren't. Leery of the media focusing on her famous father, she kept his name out of all her promotional materials, though she knew they'd ask about him anyway. "I understand [the fascination]. It's an interesting fact, and this is America, you know, Gossip Nation. But if they want me to talk about him, then they're going to be disappointed," she said before the CD came out. "I'm not going to say negative things about him. I'm not going to say positive things about him. I have my own baggage to deal with, and I'm not going to make that public." But the bigger the album got, the more people wanted a piece of her. By summer, she found herself at the center of a full-blown feeding frenzy during a European tour. "We had our international people screaming, 'She has to do this interview!' or 'She has to visit this radio station!' " says Blue Note's Mr. Lundvall. "I tried to lighten things up and be supportive, but it was very stressful for her," says Lee Alexander, her 33-year-old bass player and boyfriend. "This was her first time dealing with this sort of thing, and she was intimidated. This was before she learned she can say, 'No.' " "I was about to lose it," Ms. Jones says. "But then I said, 'Enough is enough – no more press. I'm tired, and I just want to enjoy this.' " The emancipation proclamation worked. She stepped off the promotional treadmill and slowed the interviews to a trickle. She vetoed the record label's request to film a slick, MTV-style video for "Don't Know Why" to replace the grainy, low-budget one she'd made before the CD took off. And when Blue Note commissioned a remixed, up-tempo version of "Don't Know Why," she didn't mince words. "As soon as she gave it a listen, she said 'Absolutely not,' " says Mr. Lundvall. "For someone so young, she's very smart. She's stubborn in the best sense of the word." Yet there was one time she didn't get her way. This summer, with sales of Come Away With Me charging toward 2 million, she told Mr. Lundvall she didn't want to be a flash in the pan and asked him to stop selling her CD. "I said to her, 'Unfortunately, in a way, you're a commodity now. You can't stop people from buying your record.' I told her, 'This is a magical time, so enjoy the ride.' " Learning to adapt She's trying, but it isn't easy. She's facing a heavy load of live performances, including a spot Tuesday on the Late Show With David Letterman and a 42-city summer tour that brings her to NextStage at Grand Prairie on July 23. She's also busy writing songs for her second album, which she'll start recording in April. Before that, there's a little event called the Grammy Awards, where she'll perform "Don't Know Why" to a billion or so TV viewers worldwide. Ms. Jones is heavily favored to take home the best new artist trophy, and if she wins multiple Grammys, the heat of the spotlight is bound to grow even more intense. Last week, during a stressful concert tour of New Zealand, she told her boyfriend they should rent a cabin in the middle of nowhere "and just disappear." "She still goes through that a lot," Mr. Alexander says. But Ms. Jones says she's finally learning how to enjoy the ride – or at least more than she did when her short, strange trip began. "For the first sixth months, it was so crazy I really didn't enjoy myself. But I'm past that now, and we're really starting to have fun," she says. "This could all be over tomorrow, and I don't want to remember it that way." E-mail tchristensen@dallasnews.com The 45th Grammy Awards air at 7 p.m. Sunday on Channel 11. DMNews Link

I just tested it and it seemed to work fine. Sometimes the servers get overloaded but I would expect that to be the exception not the rule. Let me know if you continue to have problems with it. One of the reasons we selected this program is that it is the same format that many of the larger college sites, like Florida State etc. use and should be better equipped to deal with heavy traffic.

Texas Colleges Starting to Slash Classes February 3, 2003 5:27pm Feb. 2--AUSTIN, Texas--The University of Texas at Austin will hire fewer professors, forcing students to scramble more than usual for the classes they want. At Texas Woman's University, fewer police officers may patrol the campus. Some intercollegiate sports may disappear from Collin County Community College. Tuition will probably rise at Dallas County Community Colleges. The state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit is no longer just talk. In the last few weeks, it has become an all-too-real beast looming over higher education in Texas. Higher education is absorbing close to half of the impact from an order that all state agencies cut 7 percent of their 2003 budgets, according to budget figures from Gov. Rick Perry's office. Of an estimated $700 million to be cut, universities, medical schools, community colleges and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board collectively must slash $343.8 million – in the middle of the school year. "It certainly is a nightmare," said Tito Guerrero III, president of Stephen F. Austin State University. "The thing that's troubling is it's a nightmare we're not going to awaken from soon." University officials say they're considering all types of cuts as a doomsday of sorts approaches; they, like all state agencies, have until Thursday to submit a list of cuts to state leaders. Don Brown, the state's higher education commissioner, said he would use the same philosophy he is preaching to universities: Protect the students first. "The central thing we have to focus on is making cuts in ways that don't do lasting harm to the movement we're making in lifting educational levels across the state," said Dr. Brown, who is leading the charge to get 500,000 more Texans into college by the year 2015. The Higher Education Coordinating Board will review several state programs it operates, including the Texas Grant scholarship program, research and technology efforts and grants for students who go to Texas private universities. University leaders say the required cuts – and dire budget years ahead – won't help them open classroom doors to more students. And the budget nightmare worsened abruptly for some schools Wednesday. When the Jan. 23 order came to cut budgets, university officials said they were told to cut the money from their general appropriations budget. But on Wednesday, almost a week later, a higher education policy analyst for Gov. Perry told university presidents and chancellors to also make cuts from a second pot of money, one financed by students' tuition and fees. Silence filled the legislative hearing room. Presidents and chancellors said they were surprised by the change, which dramatically drove up the amount schools would have to cut. By late Friday afternoon, the news had changed again. Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Gov. Perry, said the governor, the House speaker and the lieutenant governor decided not to cut money from tuition revenue, just fees. The figures will still go up for some schools. The confusion has only heightened the stress, said Phil Diebel, vice president for finance and business affairs at the University of North Texas. "I'm numb at this point," Mr. Diebel said late Friday. "It's a roller coaster ride." UNT still has to cut about $8 million. With Feb. 6 less than a week away, university officials said this week they're hard-pressed to say what they will cut. Meanwhile, professors and students are worried. "I definitely think the entire university is going to feel this," said Katie King, UT's student government president. "We knew we were going into a tight budget season. Now it's just worse." Ms. King, a 22-year-old senior, said her and other students' biggest fear is that tuition raises will follow the cuts. The state estimates a $1.8 billion budget deficit for this fiscal year and a $9.9 billion deficit for the next biennium. The UT System has been leading the charge to ask legislators to allow universities to set their own tuition rates. The cuts at UT will have more effect next school year, said President Larry Faulkner. Open positions will be frozen, meaning fewer professors and fewer sections of various courses. Also on UT's hit list: Not replacing computers and cutting down on repairs and renovations. UT, meanwhile, is coming up with ways to cut 10 percent from its budget for 2003-04. All colleges are going to hiring freezes and travel restrictions as their first option. But those measures barely make a dent in the amounts they must hack, officials said. "We don't know how we'll cut it," said UNT President Norval Pohl. "We aren't adding the numbers up yet." UNT is studying the merits of every faculty opening. "My phone's ringing off the hook," Dr. Pohl said. Department chairmen are calling saying how great each professor was that they planned to hire for an opening. UNT has debated having a four-day workweek in the summer, but that would save only $140,000, Dr. Pohl said. Professors are helping with the budget slashing at the University of Texas at Dallas, said Robert Nelsen, a UTD professor and president of the UT System Faculty Advisory Council. UTD has decided to turn down the thermostat in the winter and turn it up in the summer to save money, Dr. Nelsen said. The university might reduce the number of teaching assistants, which means fewer graduate students. "Things are happening way too fast," Dr. Nelsen said of the statewide cuts. "We're approaching this in too much of a crisis mode. Everyone is just pulling out knives and trying to cut. I'm afraid they're going to cut meat instead of fat." Texas Woman's University is discussing making cuts in its police force as one of many options. It, too, is freezing open jobs, then fretting over how it can maintain its growing nursing program without adding faculty members, said Chancellor Ann Stuart. Protecting services to students is a top priority, but so is protecting faculty research, she said. Cutting travel will hurt research efforts because going to conferences is a part of research for many professors, she said. While four-year universities so far have given sketchy details on their cuts, community colleges are more specific. The Dallas County Community College District at first informed its seven colleges that it would cut one summer session and a mini-semester in May. On Thursday, the plan was changed slightly. If the college district's board approves the idea Tuesday, three of the seven colleges will eliminate one of those semesters, and all of the colleges would then raise tuition by $4 per credit hour this summer, said Chancellor William Wenrich. That rate would continue next school year. Tuition would rise from $26 per credit hour to $30, meaning a three-hour course would cost $90. Complaints from students and faculty members prompted the change in the plan, Dr. Wenrich said. As a group, leaders of the state's community colleges met Wednesday in Austin, then delivered a letter to state leaders, saying they could not cut their budgets without directly affecting students. Their options, the college officials said, include limiting or eliminating summer classes; laying off staff members; raising tuition; and cutting student services and partnerships with school districts and other entities. Collin County Community College doesn't plan to cut its summer programs, but it might cut some intercollegiate sports, said Cary Israel, college president. "It will hurt," Mr. Israel said of the cut. "It's going to be a challenge." Mr. Perry is disappointed in the community colleges' intentions to cut summer classes and student-related services, Ms. Walt said. "By taking the approach community colleges have, by saying flat out, 'We can't do it,' the governor and Legislature will have to dictate cuts to them," she said. Several El Centro College students would be happy to see summer classes restored. They said they had no idea the billion-dollar budget beast was coming their way. Anika Wilborn, 19, wants to take as many as classes as she can this summer to qualify for El Centro's nursing program. "It will affect me a lot," Ms. Wilborn said of the proposed cuts. University officials, as they near the Feb. 6 deadline, say they're not sure whether they'll be able to save all of their summer programs. But they say they're also realistic; Texas is merely joining other states with multibillion dollar budget problems. The 7 percent cut is only the beginning of the budget-tightening they will face, they say. "The monster came through our door, and now he's sitting on our lap," UNT's Mr. Diebel said. ------------------- To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com © 2003, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

My name is Harry and I graduated from UNT with a BBA in Marketing Management in 1990. I followed the Mean Green back in my school days and fondly remember beating SMU at Fouts. Upon graduation I focused on getting a job and starting my career. In 1994 I rekindled my Mean Green following with my father and purchased season tickets. What an amazing season 1994 was! Not long after that time I found the internet and Lee Hughes' UNT Football web site which was one of the first of its kind. I was frustrated ex-jock and had an interest in the internet and computers so with Lee's support I started a Mean Green Football page of my own. It's hard to believe that was almost eight years ago. I can honestly say that some of my best friends in life have come from my association with UNT Athletics and this website. I have worked in Employee Benefits Consulting for about 10-years. My wife Kim graduates from law school this May. We have two beautiful children, Megan (6) and Dru (4). My dad graduated from UNT with a BBA and MBA and currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of The College of Business. My sister attended UNT as a Journalism major and was an A-Phi.

Jan. 27, 2003, 10:47PM A&M freezes most hiring, travel Other state schools also likely to cut costs to help ease deficit By RON NISSIMOV Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Responding to Gov. Rick Perry's request that state agencies immediately cut their budgets by 7 percent, Texas A&M University President Robert Gates on Monday announced a hiring freeze for staff positions and a freeze on travel with state funds. The hiring freeze would affect the university's 6,000 maintenance and administrative positions but not the 2,400 faculty slots, said A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson. Other public universities also are likely to take cost-cutting measures soon to address the state's estimated $9.9 billion budget deficit. University of Texas President Larry Faulkner sent a two-page e-mail to faculty and staff members Monday saying the university's financial outlook "is serious and will require a significant contraction in the scale of our programs." Faulkner did not specify what reductions might be made, saying UT officials will develop a plan over the next two months. University of Houston spokesman Mike Cinelli said officials are exploring ways to cut the university's budget, but he did not know when decisions would be made. "We are currently engaged in a careful, thoughtful and thorough review of all operations," Cinelli said. "At this time, we are not ready to announce anything." After many years of booming endowments and increased funding resulting from the surging stock markets of the 1990s, the ongoing economic slowdown has caused many public and private universities to experience budget problems. For example, Rice University announced a non-faculty hiring freeze in November that is scheduled to last until at least April. The university's endowment fell from a record of $3.37 billion in June 2000 to $2.75 billion last November. Texas universities have enjoyed double-digit percentage increases in state funding in recent years, but that is expected to change this year with the deficit. Gates sent a two-paragraph announcement to faculty and staff members. Stephenson said it is not known how much money A&M would save. Gates made other cost-cutting suggestions that will be forwarded to a newly formed finance council for review, according to an A&M press release. The council consists of administrators and faculty members. Stephenson said he did not know what the suggestions are. Gates was not available for comment. A&M, the state's third-largest university, with 44,000 students, has a budget of $808 million for fiscal year 2003, with $263 million coming from state funds. Faulkner said in his letter that the Austin campus likely will have to cut $25 million to $30 million from its $265 million state funding pool affected by Perry's call for budget cuts. UT, the nation's largest campus, with 52,000 students, has a 2003 budget of $1.4 billion. It will receive $119 million this year from the state's Permanent University Fund, an amount that will not be affected by budget cuts. Gates has said that improving the faculty at A&M is one of his top priorities, adding that higher salaries would help achieve that goal. He said A&M faculty members are paid an average of $10,000 less a year than professors at competing Texas institutions. A&M business professor Bob Strawser, chair of the faculty senate, said he believes Gates will do his best to not cut faculty salaries or pay raises. "My own feeling is that Bob Gates has repeatedly said he is committed to improving the faculty, and I'm confident he will look elsewhere to make cuts if he can," Strawser said. In his memo, Faulkner said many faculty members are wondering if he will freeze salaries and raises. He said UT is committed to increasing faculty salaries to compete with peer institutions but it will not be able to continue giving raises at the same rates as it has in recent years. "The only guideline that I suggest now is that we should try, above all, to best preserve the most critical things that we provide for the people of Texas," Faulkner wrote. "To me, that means especially preserving the quality of the educational environment. A consequence is that we must expect to reduce the scale of what we do." Faulkner said making cuts "will not be pleasant" but added that "the university's future will depend on how well we manage the time ahead just as much as on how well we manage better times." Officials at A&M and UT claimed last year that they have been underfunded for decades because the state has funneled an increasing amount of money to other public universities. State legislators have done this to try to address historical inequities that benefited the UT and A&M systems, which under the state constitution are the only systems receiving annual payouts from the state's multibillion dollar Permanent University Fund. UT and A&M officials say the two flagship institutions need substantial funding increases to compete with flagship institutions in other states. A&M regents last year approved the largest student fee increases in the history of the College Station campus, totalling $380 per year. UT regents also approved the largest student fee increases in the history of the Austin campus, which would have reached $430 per semester in six years. But the increases were rescinded after Attorney General John Cornyn doubted their constitutionality. UH design professor Angi Patton, a frequent critic of the administration of President Arthur Smith, said the budget crisis makes the university's $10.8 million athletic department deficit "all the more obscene." Cinelli said all departments are being reviewed for possible cuts.

A message from the President As you’ve likely heard through the media today, the Texas leadership has directed state agencies to enact 7 percent reductions to current fiscal year budgets. The immediate cutbacks are ordered to help combat a projected $1.8 billion deficit this year. The directive addresses only the remaining seven months of this fiscal year. It does not address future projected state revenue shortfalls of $9.9 billion, which will be addressed by the legislature as it crafts the budget for the next biennium. To address the current shortfall, agencies statewide are expected to study their budgets to make the necessary reductions and reallocations. Although UNT has not yet received a written directive from the state, we believe that the university may have to trim $8 million from its current budget, however that number may change. As we work to pare down our budgets, I want you to know that I will, wherever possible, minimize the impact on our current employees and the basic services provided by our university. I am intent on providing our students a quality education, while continuing to support important student services. Equally important, I do not foresee in the immediate future a reduction in currently employed staff and faculty, and I will work to avoid a reduction in our current workforce. Right now, we will all have to do our part to help address the state’s current shortfall. There’s no doubt that we are going to have to do some belt tightening. I will update you shortly about how we will go about making the necessary budget adjustments. These are challenging times for our state financially, and I anticipate that they will continue to be for sometime. Our legislators will have to grapple with this reality and its impact on higher education. I can’t predict the outcomes, but I can assure you that I will continue to communicate with you as we gain an understanding of how the decisions they make will impact UNT.

42-38 UNT at the half...

It's a new ballgame in naming rights 01/25/2003 It's still The Ballpark in Arlington. Fans who curse corporate names on sports facilities might be happy about maintaining tradition, but the inability of the Rangers to land a naming-rights deal shows just how tricky the market has become. "We've had some interested parties that have kicked the tires," Rangers president Mike Cramer said. "I don't think we'll announce anything in the next few months." The embarrassment of renaming Houston's Enron Field and tight corporate advertising budgets are changing the rules of the naming-rights game, particularly for stadiums and arenas that aren't new. They're taking smaller fees, throwing in added goodies to seal the deals or holding back until times aren't as dicey. "You're not seeing the dollars you were seeing just two or three years ago," said Ray Clark, president of Dallas' Marketing Arm, which advised clients on deals for Florida's Office Depot Center and San Antonio's SBC Center. "Within the marketing departments, there are 'must have' and 'nice to have.' The naming rights are slipping to 'nice to have.' " The Rangers aren't the only team not making a corporate connection. The Philadelphia Phillies have a marketing company pitching the naming rights for a new stadium to open in 2004. The Golden State Warriors haven't found any takers for an arena renovated a few years ago. The Fort Worth Brahmas, a minor-league hockey franchise, struck a deal with the city in 2001 that gave the team a window of several months to sell naming rights for the Tarrant County Convention Center. It didn't happen. "Our deal ran out," Brahmas general manager Mike Barack said. "We're still continuing to look at it, but we'd have to go back to the city should a deal come to the table." Still alive More from Richard Alm Sports business briefs Alm archive More business The market isn't dead. Teams and companies are still getting together on naming-rights deals. The Frisco RoughRiders, a minor league affiliate of the Rangers, just named their new stadium the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Ballpark. The San Diego Padres this week signed a 22-year, $60 million deal to name their new stadium PetCo Park after the locally based pet supply company. In June, Philadelphia-based Lincoln Financial Corp. agreed to pay $139.6 million over 20 years to name the stadium that opens next season for the hometown Eagles. Two-thirds of the 119 teams in the four major-league sports now play in facilities with corporate names or will when their new digs are done. The deals total $3.4 billion, the Ralph Nader-affiliated League of Fans says. "Naming rights really, really work," said consultant Jon Spoelstra, author of Marketing Outrageously, "but you have to take a company you've never heard of to see how it works." He's talking about the likes of Qualcomm Stadium, site of Sunday's Super Bowl XXXVII. Who ever heard of Qualcomm Inc. before its name appeared on San Diego's stadium? Companies still value the exposure of naming rights. Teams still want a jolt of revenue. So the game goes on. It goes on, though, with changes on both sides. Companies are asking teams to sweeten the deals with added benefits, including tie-ins with the sponsor's products. They're also staying close to home, usually looking at facilities in cities where they have their headquarters or at least a large corporate presence. "They're not national deals – they're local deals," said the Marketing Arm's Clark. "You've got to find real return on investment through sales. Venues have typically not been able to deliver on that proposition." Cautious approach Sports teams are taking a more cautious approach, not just looking for the biggest payday. After Enron and other corporate meltdowns soured a half-dozen naming-rights deals, Cramer says, the Rangers aren't going to partner with just anyone – even if they're offering top dollar. "We're going to be very careful about the name we put on The Ballpark," he said. "We don't want to have to change the name when they go out of business." The Rangers are willing to wait for the right deal. "We've put some impediments in our own path, but we think it's good for the ballclub and the real-estate development around The Ballpark." The current climate is producing a new realism in the naming-rights market. "If a team is willing to sell at the real value and the company meets its objective," Clark said, "only then will we recommend it." • • • Staff writer Richard Alm reports on sports business for The Dallas Morning News. His e-mail address is ralm@dallasnews.com.

New Growth in Denton

You forgot the picture!

Hotel in Denton for Sale

July 17, 1997 - VOL. 24, NO. 14 Terry A. Wilson On Campus staff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Royal-Memorial Stadium expansion projects to affect traffic flow, parking options -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The UT Austin intercollegiate athletics department recently held two public forums to discuss the renovation and expansion of the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the Neuhaus-Royal Athletic Complex and the construction of a new track and soccer stadium. Athletics department officials and representatives from UT's Parking and Traffic Division also were on hand to discuss the effect construction around the stadium will have on student, faculty and staff parking as well as traffic flow and parking on football game days. Doug Messer, senior associate athletics director in charge of finances, said, "All of the projects that have been approved by the board of regents total approximately $91 million and include long over-due renovation and improvement of restrooms and concession space that requires new plumbing and electrical work to the 75- year-old stadium." The projects include: Expanding the seating capacity of Royal-Memorial from its present 75,512 seat capacity to 85,000, including the addition of 66 new luxury skyboxes. Estimates for these improvements total $51.6 million. A $9.2 million renovation and expansion of the Neuhaus-Royal Athletic Complex at the stadium's south end zone. A new $12 million track and soccer stadium. The football field will be lowered and the track will be removed at a cost of $2.5 million. Athletics officials indicated this will allow spectators in the front rows to see the game without having to stand. UT already has spent $1.25 million on the installation of a natural grass field in the stadium and an additional $1.3 million on a soccer/football practice field. "To fund all of our projects, we are raising $30 million from alumni and donors ($24 million already has been contributed or pledged) and will finance approximately $50 million of the total through the sale of bonds, which will be repaid from ticket surcharges and skybox lease fees. "No tax money is being used, or can be used, for intercollegiate athletics or the stadium,"said Messer. Construction on the stadium and other projects discussed will effect game-day parking and access to the stadium during the upcoming football season. UT Austin Police captain Rollin Donelson told faculty, staff, students and alumni attending the forum that Capitol Metro's shuttle bus service will not be available to game patrons this fall. Customers that have used the shuttle service can use the regular Capitol Metro buses, with stops on 26th street, Red River street, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Guadalupe street. "Fans will have to adjust to the fact that the shuttle will not be in service to drop them off in the front or rear of the stadium," said Donelson. Game-day traffic will be routed north on San Jacinto Boulevard and one way south on the part of East Campus drive that will be open. David Kapalko, director of parking and transportation at UT Austin, said, "Overall, we will not have a net loss of parking spaces, but fans coming to football games will have to park in lots they are unaccustomed to. "Three lots that were available for public parking on game days will now be reserved for VIP parking," said Kapalko. "Those lots are across from the Jamail Swim Center, just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; south of the Erwin Center on 15th street; and on Comal, east of IH-35. A new parking facility adjacent to the Jester Center dormitory that will open this fall will also be available for VIP parking on game days," Kapalko said. Updated parking information is available on the campus web site: http://www.utexas.edu/business/parking.

Mean Green Screen Savers

UNT Lays Out Plans for Golf Course Expansion

I - and I believe everyone else here - wishes him well in his new job. I hope everything works out for him I really do. Enough said.

Looks like the man you feel has been wronged by Dickey only has great things to say about the man (Dickey). Like I said before I wish him well. Sometimes, in life, you take less money for better long term opportunity or even a better lifestyle. I hope that this move works out for Leftwich I really do but I am concerned that he has taken a job with a program that has some major challenges ahead. Hope he made the right decision for his family cause in my opinion Tulsa is on pretty shaky ground.