TheTastyGreek

I don't want to belabor the point, but nobody else seems to much notice or care that this is a pretty troubling and significant screw-up that reflects very poorly on us and program leadership. So, one contrarian post, and I'll try to walk away from the topic and not beat people down with my opinion. With all due respect to guys like @GrandGreen and @Mean Green 93-98, who are people I can frequently disagree with on UNT stuff but always still like and appreciate because it tends to be in a limited, respectful, non-personal (I hope?) manner... This is not much ado about nothing, and it's not something to yawn about. This is embarrassing, concerning, and completely unnecessary. We had an entire month to get this figured out, and a clear deadline to get it done. So, the Mandy McKinley approach to contractual fulfillment ("If you haven't gotten your buyout yet, it's because you haven't called us, or we haven't called you!") doesn't fly. We should not be screwing stuff like this up. The previous leadership here came under a lot of scrutiny, much of it justified, because of a number of much less significant screwups. Mislabeled Christmas cards, typos in press releases and game recaps, delayed emails and news updates... Well, this is 1000 times worse. This isn't some intern or low-level employee forgetting to spellcheck something. This is the guy at the head of our entire program not bothering to execute a half million dollar payment in a timely fashion, when we had a full month to figure it out. And when we've brought in 3 other high salary upper-level support team members that ought to help make this sort of big picture, high dollar stuff run easier and better. If you ever got upset because your Heart of Dallas bowl tickets didn't get shipped in time for you to get them, if you've ever been pissed off over your seatbacks not being in place, or your email inbox getting an invitation to a game or event that already happened... How can you blow this off? We owed another school HALF A MILLION DOLLARS, and we couldn't even handle the simple process of transferring them the money by the legally required deadline. I'm not saying Wren Baker is incompetent, or calling for anyone to be fired, or claiming the sky is falling. But this is very bad, very dumb, and absolutely unnecessary and avoidable. Contrary to frequent opinion, it IS possible to be pissed off, frustrated, and embarrassed without carrying that out to an absurd extended hypothetical. I'm not calling for pitchforks and torches, but people ought to recognize that this matters, and we damn sure ought to care enough to demand accountability to make sure huge, stupid, public errors like this don't happen again. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident. I don't intend to say anything else on the matter unless someone replies in a way that wants to continue the conversation. You are free to disagree. Go Mean Green.

I've found that when I have an important deadline or event I need to remember, it helps to set a Google calendar reminder. You can have it send a reminder to you by phone or email the day before, the morning of, 15 minutes ahead of time... Whatever you need to make sure you have enough time to take care of all the little details necessary to complete your task. Not every important action can wait 7 months. Some of them have legally binding deadlines. So, if we ever find ourselves with a deadline to pay a huge buyout (or a gas bill, or to take important prescription medication, or to apply for openings at Big 12 programs) in the future, maybe setting a Google calendar reminder can help us avoid this sort of amateur shitshow embarrassment again!

And, as a number of his head coach hires can confirm, at least Ricky V knew how to pay a contractually mandated buyout.

I am absolutely shocked, shocked, SHOCKED to hear Wren Baker may not have handled a UNT basketball problem in a timely and immediate way. Shocked, I tell you. Hey, at least we handled it within a few days after it was already too late to matter... Right?

So, can I sleep soundly tonight? Pls help. Every time I try to read through the story, I get sleepy and sad.

Nothing mentioned in Vito's original breakdown of the contract.

Those are interesting questions. It's not a clean import into a database, and it's not coded by conference. So... Give me a few days.

Frank Martin likes Pitbull. That's a verifiable fact.

We were waylaid by the nefarious forces of Tulsa, Texas State, and Northern Arizona. It's a wicked cabal, and they've conspired to cripple our technology. But we will rise above!!!

Sweet. Much better. We've never had a vehicle related name or nickname tainted by previous football coach association.

Jacobs fought him pretty much perfectly, still got knocked down once, rocked a few other times, and had both eyes swelling by the time the fight was over. Not at all what I expected, but definitely a tense, close fight.

It's a 2001 callback. Not quite as memorably mockable as Hicks for Heisman, but still a good one.

No, 6 years, $3 million per. Guaranteed $18 million.

That's this guy:

Damn.

Disagree and be wrong. It's a free country. Also, note the inclusion of the word "arguably". You can't beg to differ, you just affirmed the sentiment. Come at me, bro.

If that turns out to be true, then that's a grand slam hire I never would have thought (as evidenced here) a mid-major school could pull off or afford. Moton has somewhere around 2+ million in guaranteed money left on his deal because of the length, and I didn't think even we could pull together the resources to hire him away. If Arkansas State actually lures him away, then they arguably just replaced their coach with an even better one, and we probably subsidized it for them. EDIT to add: There are rumors that he might be a shortlist candidate for NC State. Moton is a phenomenal coach, with 25+ wins three times at a HBCU school and conference. NC Central has only been a D1 school for 6 years, all of them under Moton. Only one losing season, 3 regular season championships, 2 tournament championships, 4 of those 6 years were 22 or more wins. AT AN HBCU. If Arkansas State can land him, they will be in great shape.

Yes. Fall 2007. Men's basketball had just made the tournament for the first time in 20 years and the second time in school history, and landed the class that included Josh White and Tristan Thompson (our first 3 star high school recruit in a long time). Dodge had been hired, but hadn't yet proven himself worthless and incompetent on the field. Not only had he brought in an encouraging short-notice first recruiting class, but by fall, Riley Dodge had changed his commitment from Texas to North Texas, and we had our first 4 star high school recruit in a long time. And we were only two years removed from absolutely dominating our conference in a way only matched by Boise State, and a streak of four straight bowls, so people actually had tangible, immediate reason to believe we could be successful rather than just hope. Basketball had just won, football seemed poised to explode, and women's basketball was also a sport that we sponsored. Only men's basketball actually did anything for the next 5 years, but we were pretty much on top of the world in the summer and fall of 2007.

So, for anyone that's a casual boxing/MMA guy, or just someone that watched "Rocky" movies in the 80's and Mike Tyson fights in the late 80's/early 90's... There's a fight this Saturday featuring the most exciting, enjoyable boxer I can remember in my lifetime. That guy on the left up there is Gennady Golovkin. If you've never seen or heard of him... He's basically half James Bond, half Ivan Drago, with a sprinkle of Borat thrown on top. He's never lost, he's knocked out 23 opponents in a row, and nobody has every survived anything longer than an 8 round fight against him without getting brutally KO'd. Here's an article from about 4 years ago called "The Scariest Man Alive Wears A Cardigan: A Day With Gennady Golovkin". But he's not just the scariest boxing man alive, he's also one of the most charming and charismatic, despite (and sometimes because of) the fact that English is his 4th language. Unlike guys like Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather, he's not a dominant hurricane of power or a nearly flawless tactician (though he is both) that's also a rapist or a woman-beater. He's funny, polite, and all around delightful. For example: Or, his comments about pre-fight relations: If you've ever seen a heavyweight fight, where the raw power of the guys leads to a lot of tentative jabbing and clinches... That's the KO strength but not the style of a Golovkin fight. If you ever had the misfortune of paying money to see a Floyd Mayweather fight, which makes boxing seem as thrilling as watching an expert accountant do corporate taxes... That's not a Golovkin fight. Golovkin's early days (and less developed English) led to the accidental coining of the catch phrase that defines his fights: Big Drama Show. Golovkin fights like the sort of 2nd tier sluggers that create the bloody, action-packed affairs that make people wince and cringe and cheer like wild, bloodthirsty animals. If you ever saw the Ward vs. Gatti fights, or anything that featured guys pistoning away with both arms while eating punches and desperately trying to beat their opponent into submission... Golovkin, despite having amazing tools and abilities that would allow him to fight a shrewd, tactical style and take far less punishment, is willing to take risks to entertain and create amazing moments. In his own words: If you have a minute or two and your interest is piqued... Enjoy "Fun With GIFs: Fighters Reacting to Gennady Golovkin's Power". Here's my favorite: I can't embed the ultra slow-mo, but definitely go to this Deadspin article to see one of the most impressive displays of fortitude, skill, and raw violence you'll ever see. It comes from Golovkin's fight against Daniel Geale. Here's the GIF: It's awesome in GIF form, but definitely see the super slow-mo to really appreciate it. Geale lands a solid right hand right on GGG's nose. Some fighters would have reacted slower and had their nose broken. Most would have been knocked down getting punched clean by a guy with that much power, many would have been knocked out entirely. Golovkin part eats it, part slips it, and then throws an off-balance falling away hook that ends the night. If you watch Geale's face in super slow-mo, it's a lifetime of emotions in less than 2 seconds. He's thrilled to see the opening, ecstatic to land the punch, confused to see GGG slip/survive it, shocked to see the return hook coming, anxious right before it lands, and then he's semi-conscious and on his way to the ground. He got up from the punch, somehow, but told the referee he was done. And I don't blame him. If you want to read more, here's a great Grantland article from early in GGG's days fighting in the USA. Highlight quote: If you don't like reading, but enjoy seeing photos of good or great fighters (who make their living getting punched by the best people-punchers in the punching business) getting utterly destroyed by this man, then here are a few to enjoy: Only the last of those is a repeat from one fight. Every other picture, GIF, or video comes from different fights, all from the past 5 years. The man is the closest thing to guaranteed entertainment you can get in boxing. He breaks faces and ribs, he gobbles up hearts and devours souls entirely. He fights on Saturday night. It may last 3 rounds, it may last 8 rounds. The only sure things are that it will end in a knockout, and it will be ferociously entertaining. And if he's standing at the end of the fight, Golovkin will make you smile and laugh in his post-fight interview If you're up for it, check out the pay-per-view or head out to a bar that's showing it. You're not likely to regret it.

We actually had the "150 rule" (related to team and/or OOC opponent RPI) rolled out in the Sun Belt towards the end of our time there. I can't remember which conference it was modeled after, but MVC wouldn't surprise me.

He has a national championship ring.

Five years ago, we hired two basketball coaches almost simultaneously. One was a young guy with a 5 year tenure as an asssitant at a program guilty of major NCAA recruiting violations and a track record of all-around shady behavior. The other was a D1 head coach fresh off a 20 win season, who got a ridiculous overpay in salary AND carried a buyout that didn't seem to make much sense for us. Thank goodness for new leadership. Welcome, Coach McCasland! I sure hope you win, and win fast. Particularly in the CUSA tournament, since there's a 90% or higher chance that's our only shot at an NCAA berth.

National signing period opens on April 12th. So, you don't want to wait 3 weeks to ink your coach. And we're apparently making it official this week. So, if it is McCasland, we're paying half a million on top of whatever his salary is to get him.