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Not to rain on the new stadium excitement, but I'm on the side of the doubters that have just heard too much talk and too little action. I just found this little tidbit of information that I think many will find interesting. Here's a little peek "behind those closed doors" from Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate March 5, 2008, 2:00 PM, Conference Room, Hurley Administration Bldg: ii. Football Stadium. The President emphasized that this will only move forward once at least half of the approximate costs are raised as State funds are not able to be used for this purpose. The architectural firm is the same one that is building the new Dallas Cowboys stadium and is aware that they only have $300,000 to do the site study. The President noted that she was able to provide the $300,000 from State funds as the area would need a site review for any purpose, such as building dorms or classrooms. She expects that once half of the costs are raised that the other half will be quickly gathered from donors. Also of interest: iii. Oversight of Development Office. The President asked for more clarification. A case was raised where a development officer held onto some donor checks from a gala and did not deposit them in a timely manner with the end result of the checks being invalid when they were taken to be deposited. The officer no longer works for the University. Provost Wilkins noted that they are moving towards a system of shared accountability with a development officer being attached to each School and College and joint reporting to the Deans and to the Development Office. Due to the fiscal implications for the colleges and schools, this process will occur in yearly stages. The President stressed that the situation being raised is certainly not the norm but encouraged more communication between Deans, development officers, and those faculty organizing events. And, last but not least...some more encouraging news: iv. Alumni Visits. The President is focusing her visits in areas with a large number of alumni and setting up return visits to prospective donors. She is pleased with the efforts. The Emerald Ball was successful with approximately 400 donors, administrators and faculty attending. Ten Emerald Eagles attended as guests as did a number of newspaper reporters. Senator Doherty suggested tracking and publicizing the data on the disciplines of alumni purchasing tickets as this would encourage more faculty to attend. Provost Wilkins noted that she is currently investigating how on campus events are handled and a possible subsidy for faculty to selected events. She is also advocating for a “planned giving” campaign for faculty and noted that donor numbers are a very important statistic. The President noted that the UNT Foundation is a selection on the ESSC campaign but is not emphasized as much as she would like. I'm holding my breath. I just hope I don't die from lack of oxygen before a ground-breaking ceremony is announced.

Yes, you are right about that...it's a bit more that $14 million although I can't find a cost for the football stadium alone. They contructed five facilities for a grand total of $72.9 million. Berry Center overview

Seems like I read somewhere that Tomlin is going to Texas A & M this fall. I don't know if he's planning on playing football though.

A few more pics of Berry Stadium:

Ok, if we're going to lower our expectations to wishing for a high school football stadium (and I'm not saying we shouldn't based on the latest news), let's at least wish for the best. How about CFISD's (Cypress-Fairbanks, near Houston) the Berry Center Stadium: Maybe we could even afford a new basketball arena like CFISD's new Berry Center Arena?

...have black uniforms? ...have kelly green UA shoe laces? ...have helmet stickers? ...have a beat reporter that blows smoke up our collective arses? ...have more than one 2009 commitment on July 9, 2008? ...have ESPN Gameday broadcast live from our campus? ...get any preseason top 25 votes? ...have a student fee for athletics? ...have a stadium that can hold our expected enrollment in the year 2050 even though only 5% of the student body will attend a game? ...have the Goodyear blimp for our homecoming game? ...have a mascot cage on campus to house our live eagle (or is it Mean Green) mascot, a la Baylor? ...get invited to the Big XII or comparable BCS league?

While SLC headlines the article, both Vizza and Riley are mentioned. QB High: Carroll takes title away from Baytown Lee, Stephenville

I agree with your point and I think it depends greatly on who that second money game or mid major team is. I'd rather see an away victory/close game over a program like Air Force, LaTech, NMSU, Memphis, Tulane (no one in the MAC really excites me)...even Rice fits that category, than a home victory over SFA or Texas State. On the other hand, I'd probably prefer that SFA or TSU home game victory to that annual ass-thumping we receive at the hands of Texas, OU, LSU, etc... I think we all reluctantly understand that we can't afford to scrap the body bag game(s) just yet, but how many do we need to schedule in one season? And, would you prefer a (more) guaranteed home victory against a FCS team than a possible chance to beat a more worthy, more nationally recognized adversary on the road?

Rivals Texas Top 100 for 2009 I see a couple of names that have appeared on our recruiting radar.

OK, I'll bite...looking at this year's schedule, which non-conference, away game would you change in order to schedule a FCS/D-II team? Would we make more money from this home game or the game we canceled? And, what if we lost to the FCS/D-II team (Michigan lost to one last year)?? How would that affect our recruiting efforts, or would it? Just some questions to ponder. Personally, can't say I really care one way or the other.

Back in 2003, starting at QB for the University of Texas was Chance Mock. When things didn't go well, it wasn't backup QB, Matt Nordgren, that everyone thought could turn things around, it was RS Freshman, Vince Young. Now, I'm not comparing Riley to VY but he is the most highly touted QB recruit we've had in a long time, if not ever. Prepare yourselves now, if we lose a few games (and we will) and if Giovanni throws a few ill-advised passes (and he will) people will start asking to see Riley because they will want to see if he's the real deal. You only have to look to last season for an example. I agree that Meager is a very capable back-up and I'm glad we have him. I also hope to see Riley redshirt because I don't see that his talents are that superior to Vizza's (meaning I don't think Riley at QB will be the difference in a win or a loss) to warrant burning a redshirt. The other factor is Riley's injury last year. I think the extra time off from the gameday hits will assure that he's 100% healed. Besides, even the great Vince Young needed a redshirt to help him adjust from the high school game to the college game. Now, if Riley playing meant the dfference between a three-win season and a six-win season, I'll buy my ticket on the Riley bandwagon right now. I don't know that our recruiting can endure another 2 or 3 win season right now, especially with the increased competition JJ is now giving us over at SMU. One more note on Meager - I don't know what his post-graduate plans are right now, but I think he'd make a hell of a coach and I'd love to see him on the sidelines next year as a GA. He's shown an incredible ability to learn and be taught different schemes and different offenses and the best learners generally make the best teachers.

Gotta love this comment by the seller : Custom made current revolution style north texas mean mean green college football pocket pro helmet,riddell has never made this team in their pocket pro series and may not do so as they come out of one of the weaker college football conferences.

Shouldn't that be "A SLUT"?? I don't know any mirrors that can make an "A" look like a "U".

Yes, Jeffcoat's son, Jackson Jeffcoat (DE, 6'5", 230 lbs. 4.7) is a Junior at Plano West High School. He's listed as a 2010 class player to watch in DCTF. However, according to Rivals, his short list of schools consists of OU, Texas and Texas A&M. No Houston, at least not yet.

I think I have to agree with her on that one!

Well that's reassuring. So, as long as we score more than 70 every game we'll be undefeated?

A couple of UNT fans have questioned today whether players committing to other schools who had offers from the Mean Green is news. Well, I guess I'm one of the guys he's talking about since I posted the link to his "breaking news" story and questioned the headline at the same time. Brett, come on, thicken up that skin. If you're going to come to this forum and read you need to be prepared for some criticism. That headline was a bit, well, over-the-top and dramatic. I wasn't questioning the newsworthiness of your story, just the way you presented it. While Darius Johnson (and I don't want to take anything away from him) is a three-star Rivals prospect, his size (5'10", 160) and his Jr. year stats don't really excite me. He has great speed, but he doesn't really have his mailbox stuffed full of scholarship offers. That's why I report it when a player commits to another school that has a UNT offer. It's a gauge of how UNT is doing. Plus it is relevant news at this time of the year. If UNT lands a player with a host of offers from other schools, we report it, just like we did with Riley Dodge last year. I hear what you're saying but I don't think Darius Johnson is a Riley Dodge (of course, I could be wrong) and, according to Rivals, he only had interest from us and SMU. That's hardly a "host of offers from other schools". I appreciate your research on the head-to-head recruiting stats and your coverage of UNT sports but you need to stop being so sensitive about comments you read on gmg. (Yes, I know some of the comments are pretty harsh, but the ones you're questioning were legitimate IMO.) In fact, why don't you just come out of the Mean Green closet and trade punches with us in the open?? You're obviously spending a good deal of time here so it couldn't be against DRC policy to post could it?

Breaking news -- Wide receiver with UNT offer commits to SMU If it's true that Dodge only intended to sign one WR for this year's class, how is this "breaking news" and why do we still have offers out to WRs?

I understand that. However, if one opponent from the other division remained a constant every year, that would mean that a given school would play one other division opponent only once every three years. For example, let's use Oregon and Oregon State. Oregon would play its five division foes and Oregon State every year...that's 6 games. Then, let's say Oregon has to play two other conference opponents from the other division; WSU and Stanford. That's eight games and you can rest assured that the other four games will be played against weaker non-conference opponents, mainly for the "W's" needed to be bowl-eligible. OK, the next year Oregon plays the division opponents, plus OSU, USC and Arizona State. That leaves out BYU two years in a row. Now, this would work if you get all the schools to agree to only playing three non-conference games within any year. But I just don't see that happening and I couldn't blame the schools for wanting to do that either. At any rate, it's all just speculation....talk to try to keep the off-season interesting. I can't wait until the season starts!!

So, those are the numbers. To wrap up, if BYU and Utah are invited, the conference could be split in a way that gives all schools access to the Southern California market as well as accenting the conference's rivalries. University Division Washington, Oregon, Cal, UCLA, Arizona, Utah State Division WSU, OSU, Stanford, USC, ASU, BYU That's just stupid. Not one of those schools would go for that particular conference division. Breaking up in-state rivals like that means they'd only be able to play each other every other year or so.

I like the slogan, but the name just seems directionally dysfunctional; Southwest Airlines Stadium, home of the North Texas Mean Green? Would we all have to line up at the gate in the order that our tickets were issued?

Wow, I feel bad for all the Spruce athletes. That's tough to have go to another school where none of the other players or coaches really know what you can do. It's especially tough for the Senior football players because they have less time to showcase their talent and learn a new system.

You're right, I totally forgot about the Rangers but...hasn't everyone? I think I remember hearing about this now too. In hindsight, it looks like the decision to move to Dallas has been in the works for a while now. Of course, no decision to relocate a company's global headquarters is made overnight. Maybe we can piggyback on the contract of whatever multimillion dollar stadium naming rights deal AT&T secures with a DFW professional team. Our price would be a drop in the bucket to what they would have to pay Jerry Jones. But our media exposure would be miniscule too.

I think this is great news but, WOW...2014-2017...that seems soooo far away. Still, I'm glad we have as many as 12 games with SMU in the future. This is awesome news!! The deal with Army is great too. BIG thumbs up to all who worked on these contracts!!

OK, here's the kind of sponsor we need to target. AT&T to move headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas. They have a history of committing millions of dollars to name entitlement sponsorships and this move to Dallas may mean the end of their sponsorship of the AT&T Center and the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavs and Stars both play at American Airlines Center, and AA has that sponsorship tied up for the foreseeable future. I worked with the guy that put that sponsorship together and I want to say it was a 20 year commitment, but I'm not 100% certain. I'm sure those details are available on the web somewhere. While Jerry's Cowboys generally have huge investments from Ford and Pepsi, I don't know that either would pay the additional money to name the stadium, but it wouldn't surprise me. Selling AT&T on a stadium sponsorship for UNT might be difficult (as it doesn't come close to offering the same exposure as a professional team) but the dollar commitment would be significantly less. We'll never know if we don't try. Here's the story: AT&T moving headquarters to Dallas from San Antonio 2:02 PM CT 02:02 PM CDT on Friday, June 27, 2008 By VICTOR GODINEZ / The Dallas Morning News vgodinez@dallasnews.com AT&T Inc. is moving its headquarters to Dallas from San Antonio, the telecommunications company said Friday afternoon. AT&T said the move will begin in the next few weeks and be completed by the end of the year. About 700 of the company’s nearly 6,000 San Antonio-based workers are expected to move, as well. "We're a growing global company with customers and operations around the world," Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Being headquartered in Dallas will benefit our long-term growth prospects and human resources needs, and our ability to operate more efficiently, better serve customers and expand the business in the future.”