untgirl04

Apparently they're having several promotions. According to the website, there's free food and entertainment for tailgating before tonight's and Thursday night's games. Wish they'd tell someone about it...

That's a start, but why haven't they advertised that anywhere else? There are lots of North Texas alumni working in the radio/TV industry in this area - why not push some alumni strings to get that kind of stuff advertised? I know budget comes to play somewhere in this, but even a sign or two would have helped.

Brad Kassell Patrick Cobbs May not get their numbers retired, but I think they'll definitely make the Mean Green Hall of Fame. I think JaMario has a great chance of being on that list as well, but it will depend on how well he does this season. Can't really speculate on how long it will take them to get recognized, since I'm not really sure what all criteria the Athletics Department uses.

On a related note... Voertman's has some excellent merchandise in stock right now with the new logo. My husband and I went in the other day, and nearly flipped at all the cool new stuff they've got. He picked up a hoodie in the new green with the "Son of Worm" that looks fantastic, and I got a new track jacket with the logo. Very retro, but very cool. They also had street signs with North Texas stuff on them. The perfect accent for any true Mean Green fan's wall. I highly recommend checking it out.

Wait.... so ULaLa, ULaMo, and the F_U's are more difficult to get into than North Texas?

A newspaper interview is a far cry from interviewing with a rival school for a job. Besides, RV doesn't really go recruiting. He goes asking for donations. As an athletics director, his job is to secure funds for ALL athletics - not just football or whatever your favorite sport may be. Buttering up the media helps get NT's name out there and perhaps attract a sleeper donor who is just looking for ways to spend his or her millions. Think of it this way: RV can't get much coverage in the local media. If he's getting outside coverage that makes it to this area (which as you can see, it has) then he can get publicity in an even wider market. And because the article is very complimentary, and from a rival school, people may realize what a great commodity we have, and work to keep him around. It's a politically savvy move, not only for the university, but for himself.

I'd be interested.

Who did we play in 1994 at home that gave us 19k for attendance? And if they're not currently on our football schedule, why can't we add them?

No, Dude! Who the hell is Brian Dennehy?

I have NT as my homepage at work. I nearly flipped when I saw it. It looks GREAT! It's nice to see them use more green on the web page.

I agree. The outside area where all the concessions are is very dark and dingy. It's relatively clean, which is nice, but I think it could use a few nicely made signs (in green of course) and some additional lights. We can't do anything about the way the stadium is laid out (I'd love to see a memorabilia/merchandise store and a mini NT athletics museum in the future) but I think some paint and a few additional decorations could make what we've got better. I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to get some students/alumni to volunteer to help paint/decorate Fouts. Of course, you've got to advertise it first...

LOL I think you're right. I had his class during 2nd period, where they always do the morning announcements. We had closed-circuit TVs that broadcast the announcements, and turned on automatically whenever it was time to watch them. For a while, he'd turn off the announcements and continue his lecture. But then he got in trouble for turning off the TV, so instead he turned the volume all the way down, and plowed ahead with his lecture. He also held Monday Movie Nights, where we'd watch historical films and discuss their relevance to our studies. The whole time, he was supporting 3 daughters under the age of 6 and a wife who wasn't able to work.

Two of my very best teachers were coaches. Both, were coaches for the girl's soccer team. One taught AP U.S. History while the other taught AP Government. Both came to school early to coach, then stayed until 8 or 9pm with students preparing us for the exams. As a matter of fact, the AP U.S. History teacher/coach was the best teacher I ever had (and I've had some very good ones). The year before I had his class, he had a herniated disk in his back. He could hardly walk, let alone sit down. Well, it was close to test time, so instead of handing his stuff off to a substitute for a few weeks, he had them cart him in at 7:30 am each morning and lay him on a table in his classroom. He then prepared and lectured, using his notes, on his back for the entire day. Someone would come in at lunch and give him a snack (still on his back) then come retrieve him around 4-5pm each afternoon. He has one of the highest passing rates for AP tests in our school.

And please, please, please let the cornerbacks play up in closer coverage with the UT wide receivers. Don't show them a 10 yeard cushion to keep from giving up the deep pass - you end up getting nickeled and dimed all the way down the field. Oh, and please get the defense some practice with the dummies this off season and discuss the advantages to wrapping up the players in a tackle.

Agreed. I think the success of DeMarcus Ware in the NFL this year is a great testament for that. If PC and JMo and Nick Bazaldua all make it to the NFL and perform, it will matter less which conference we play in and matter more that our coaching staff knows how to get a recruit to the next level.

VCR-gate? I sense an interesting story in our future...

I like the $1 hot dog idea. It elegantly solves a possibly sticky situation. Since they require students using their IDs to enter only through gate A, it makes it easy to give the students the coupon without worring so much about non students getting the benefits. However, I think periodic "Dollar Hot Dog Nights" are a good idea. They've worked pretty well for the Texas Rangers. Maybe we could do something different than hot dogs every once in a while, and have "Dollar Popcorn Night" or something like that.

That's a great idea! The only problem is the way North Texas sells its meal plans. Basically, each student purchases either a 5-day or 7-day meal plan, then can eat at any cafeteria as many times as they like during their meal period. So for instance, if I purchase a 5-day meal plan, I can visit all 8 cafeterias/grab-n-go's all in one day. Translating that to the basketball games, I could go back and get as much food as I wanted. Which means that I could swipe my card for free food for all my friends. If they could somehow find a way to limit the amount of times you can come get food, and just make sure the student has a decent sized meal the first time around, then it would be an excellent promotion.

Anyone notice these were Big 11 (I mean 10) refs? I wonder what Michigan's thinking now...

Review

Yep. We meant to call you last night, but Jason got caught up playing Fire Emblem. I also convinced two of my coworkers to meet us there. We'll call tonight to hammer out the details.

Good post. I'll be at the game Thursday with 2 newbies who have never been to a North Texas sporting event.

Please tell me it wasn't a Bronco...

Yep. Chili cookoff before every Family Weekend game. Those lime green flying worm shirts from several years ago were from the cookoff. I forget what all the qualifications for entering are, but I know just about every residence hall has an entry, and several other organizations around campus also participate. They hold the whole event in the Mean Green Village about 3-4 hours before the game. I'd like to see the university back the event a bit more and throw some more publicity at it. It's becoming more and more popular.

I disagree with using the 12th man tradition. There's history behind that, and people on the board always complain that we borrow too many traditions already. But to spin off your idea, I think having a fan on the sidelines is a great idea. But let's make it a fundraiser. Do an auction for football/athletics at the beginning of the year. Allow a student (or most likely an alumni) to bid for the "Assistant Coach" for the day thing. Give the winner a NT polo, ask them to wear khakis, and allow them to hand out Gatorade or water at the game. Maybe get them an autographed football for the game - that would really make some people up the ante. It's a great prize, and a way to allow students/alumni to connect with the team. And it gets us some much needed money. The only trick will be that you've got to actually advertise it to work. But if they throw a little money into promotions and post it on the athletics website, I'll bet they'd get a good response. That kind of prize could probably raise 10K easy. Since I doubt students will have that kind of $$$ to spend on the auction, maybe do a drawing during the first game, using scanned student IDs, and allow a student to come down and cheer with the dancers/cheerleaders for the second half. Give them a special shirt (free shirts always work - especially if it's a unique shirt) and let them help lead some cheers. Or allow them to cheer at the next home game. Either way, it's someone students can connect to, and if you get a loud and crazy fan, it could really make the student side roar.