Aquila_Viridis

I have seen a lot of Auburn football this year including one in Auburn. They have good running backs and a good rushing attack but they can't consistently throw the ball downfield with accuracy, and the defenses know that. Still, they have come up with a lot of different ways to run the ball effectively, to the extent that when they try to throw, it often seems like a wasted down. They ran one play where a guy was squatted down behind the line and the defense never saw him til he was running away from them out wide to the left; I think that was the A&M game. It's one of the coolest plays I've ever seen. So I have a positive impression of what this guy is doing, but I am hoping that NT comes up with enough money to really enter the game. (If anyone from NT contacts me to say that's what they are doing, or if they actually do it, I will pledge $.) Hiring a position coach from a currently unsuccessful SEC team is not going to get it.

UH knows that whatever they spend to get a coach who can continue performance at their level, will pay for itself many times over through attracting students who will later be successful earners who are happy to contribute $$$ to the university every year of their working lives, and to get themselves in a conference where they can get some big TV $. NT will miss a huge opportunity if it does not follow UH's lead. About the only thing that would be appropriate is to hire that coach away from UH. Now THAT would be a statement. NT has a big gap to make up with UH, but it can be done. (And then together, we can kill off Texas Tech and split their misguided state funding.)

My daughter wanted to go to college in the city but not in Tennessee so NT and VCU were both discussed. But she also wanted to go to a place her friends had heard of and that has a positive reputation. Let's leave aside the academic rankings for now. Not having a football team at all took VCU out. Not having a recognizable or successful team took NT out. Of course, being in Wichita took WSU out despite all the glory of WUShock. I know NT isn't in the middle of a dense urban environment but it's close to one. Once you get out of a group of very good schools that are either hard to get into or hard to get out of state scholarships at, there are not many urban schools that appealed to her. That is an example of one reason why NT has such potential. If NT could get the academics and athletics up to where LT is, NT could attract an entirely different class of students, particularly out-of-state students who still pay more even after scholarships. I keep singling out LT but they are ranked like 389 on Forbes where NT is 570. NT could compete for students very favorably against UH for example, with a ranking like that and a relatively successful football team. NT has no problem getting enough students; the mission should be to get better ones and ones that pay more. You can debate whether it makes societal sense, but the unarguable reality is that a lot of people form much of their opinion of a school from whether or not it can field a competitive football team. Having one will not make the difference against colleges like Texas, UCLA or Georgia Tech, but that's not who NT can expect to compete (for students) with for another hundred years. It WILL make a difference against a lot of other schools at the next tier down. Basketball can not have such an effect. Leave it til the football gets fixed. If the team sucks, there are a lot of good students who will not want to tell their friends that's where they're going. This ain't Rice or Vanderbilt.

So our core value is Crappy Football. Measurable results.

I don't have anything against Louisiana Tech or Ruston by the way. LT outperforms and should be proud. But anyone who supports an NT administrator who lets us not only to languish in the same league but to be getting killed by LT, is crazy. NT has to be the worst underperforming university in America. So instead of pride we have shame.

No doubt there are people in Denton who would like for UNT to be 7,000 full time undergrads like LT instead of 24,000 and for Denton to be like Ruston part of a population center of 50,000 instead of over 6 million. Those are your delusional RV supporters. Those people should all move to Ruston immediately.

Now is worse because it comes on top of the Dodge years. Now we've had many years of crap with no end in sight. The only thing that would raise spirits is hiring a currently very successful coach from a more prominent program, not an 'up and comer' with potential. That would cost a lot of money, but guess what, it costs a lot of money to have a great coaching staff that can compete in D1. Unfortunately instead of raising funds over the years from the masses, our lazy administration has worked on only a few people and that means limited possibilities. It is insane to be in such a large and wealthy metro and have no connection with the populace. Yet that is what we have endured, laziness and insanity. You would think this university was in a place like Ruston LA, but even teeny tiny LT is killing us. Apparently our people have no pride in what they do because they are abject failures at it.

What I'd like to see is a team show up that is worthy to play a game scheduled by NT administration, but that will not be seen. Instead NT goes and schedules something like this with no commitment to deliver a competitive team when the time comes. It is so terribly inept and thoughtless.

Thanks a bunch for posting those images. Being 8 hours away, I really appreciate being able to see the progress. That update in the heart of campus was sorely needed. I have been on a lot of campus tours the last few years with my son and daughter. A facility like that is expected now. It looks like they have done a great job at NT. I don't know how they can do so good with it and so bad with a football team. I am very down on NT especially right now working with so many Tennessee grads, but at least the new Union is something positive.

Thanks for posting the pictures. That is the kind of attendance you could expect if the promotions said "All attendees are very likely to be tapped in the head with a brick." Still it is rather amazing that even that many people are willing to tolerate that risk.

It is not so easy as 'we all just need to step up'. You are talking about a small group on this board. Many of us have stepped up. The school must have staff who go get MANY people to step up. They have not done that and apparently don't think they need to or that it's not their responsibility. The program needs THOUSANDS of people writing $1,000 checks every year, not just a few writing $1,000,000 checks occasionally. But that would be a lot more work and they'd have to be creative and desperate about it. Instead they just like to hope all those people will magically step up on their own. It is either the most careless or most ignorant management possible. I have said it before. All those citizens in your area deserve a far, far better local public university that is not managed that way.

It looks to me like if el presidente really cares, he has a lot to learn. I understood his comment about engagement to mean that if we do not stay engaged then the situation will not improve. The problem is that they have not engaged with enough people, only a tiny fraction. They have leaned on a handful of us over the years. Unless he wants to preside over a UAB-type disaster, he better take initiative. But it seems like he has bought into the idea that it is us who should be taking initiative. It does not work that way. I do not hear anywhere in that pile of crap that 'The University of North Texas will not tolerate this problem and will fix it.' For me, the University of North Texas is turning into one escalating gigantic disappointment. Great job! Those #%^*& administrators need to take responsibility. Yet that garbage content they spewed out there has NO responsibility. Absolutely sickening! Puke!

Here in west Tennessee, some people support the University of Tennessee who have no other connection than they live in Tennessee, and it is six hours away. Now they are down but we would happily trade places with that program. The broad support you describe would only come from people who live in the North Texas region deciding they should care about the University of North Texas. I have not seen much evidence of outreach from the university to capitalize on that connection. There are a lot more North Texans than there are Tennesseans. This is the basis for nearly all of my frustration with the university.

I have come to realize that a North Texas football or basketball event is designed for people who don't care whether the team wins or even if there is a game played. I don't think there are very many of those people though. I would say, 'maybe the "Establishment" doesn't realize how many people do care or could be made to care', but I also think it is evident that the Establishment is in the 'don't care' set. So unless a frightful army of concerned and embarrassed North Texans stages a sit-in or something over at wherever the Establishment makes its fortifications, no significant change is gonna come. I should clarify. There are many people who don't care. I am saying that there are few of those who would attend a football or basketball event, yet the events seem to be targeted at exactly those few people. And as for a sit-in, it is not to show them about the numbers of caring people, but more to make the Establishment feel uncomfortable. They seem very comfortable.

He will eat all the other candidates.

It is mystifying why anyone who contributes enough to have sway, would tolerate this ridiculous athletic program and director. Surely the reason for making such contribution is because you deeply care about the reputation of the university and desire to see it advance. So you see advancement in a facility? To do what, put on the sorriest show in it that severely tarnishes, not improves, the reputation of the institution you care so much about? Maybe take a step back and think about what you are doing and why. This situation is so hopeless I don't have time or money for it, for a banner or otherwise. Congratulations you RV insiders. Enjoy whatever it is you get out of this idiot production.

Hey now, that looks like some "pretty good" tile.

RV's legacy will be the best Traveling Comedy Football Troupe in the nation. We are nearly there! Once we've recruited some new cast members - I mean players, who are fully on board with the new vision, RV will have created a whole new category of entertainment. What better way to make a mockery of the insanity of $$$ that college football has become? "Something Completely Different!" And wow those Subarus run forever!!

If there's a Guinness World Record category for Worst Division 1 Football team, we got it. I had pretty much given up on the program anyway, having not renewed my season tickets this year. But now it's to the point where I can't even mention that I went to North Texas. What a bunch of clowns! Those of you who have talked about dropping down are wrong. Whoever is running North Texas will lose at any level you throw at them so it won't make any difference. I wish they would either make a commitment to winning or just stop playing. North Texas is bigger than most SEC schools by student population. It is the worst underperforming athletic program of all time.

The whole thing is a mess. Why are we having a thread with one guy's name in it other Dan McCarney? I'm more concerned about missed tackles, inability to cover, and guys not getting off blocks. We didn't see much of that last year. The head coach is ultimately responsible for all this. Maybe some players aren't so great, but who picked and trained them? Maybe they're not giving all they can; who motivates them? That recruiting rant could have been written by Dickey and made me sick. At least the nut up there at OK State said 'I'm a Man!!' Then I see smu waving around $4 million. Even if we had that, does it make any sense? Would it even make sure we never got beat 82-27? It's madness. I live over here in the middle of SEC country. It's madness. I think it IS a real pain recruiting from the bottom of a long totem pole that includes Big 12 and SEC schools. We had an up year. Now we're having a really down year. Continuing the parade of QBs isn't going to change it. I don't even know what to expect anymore. Maybe next year will be better. Over the long haul we have a terrible program, with occasional - and relatively brief - runs of success. It really would take 'transformational leadership' to change that. I don't see it coming. Don't be putting all that on one player or position.

Since we have a new president it's hard to tell if he cares, but it's been evident over the years that there is not a lot of caring by some who steer the university. I mean they don't seem to care about what these embarrassments do to the brand. And I think they have done a poor job overall of building the brand in other ways. They have done some things right, but then stupid stuff like only selling eagle logo merchandise that has the 'North Texas' attached to it. Do you see any other schools where you can't just get the logo to put on stuff without words on it too? I even see that Texas State bobcat on cars all over the place. It doesn't say 'Texas State' on it but I know what it is. I don't want the item to say 'North Texas' cause it doesn't look like what big schools do and it de-emphasizes the eagle which is a more recognizable symbol by itself. That sounds petty but it exemplifies the sort of buffoonery we've consistently had to endure even during the rare good times. Getting blown out by LT, Indiana and UAB is a clown act. They may as well play that 'yackety sax' song at the games. Comedy football, but I don't find it funny. That's how I feel.

They're in Miami.

Probably it is now presiding over a crawfish boil in Thibodaux.

Kudos to Canales for putting together a structure that allowed NT to get a big win over SMU without downfield accuracy. Kudos to Holtz for quickly dismantling that structure. If that gets sent out again and Nichols watches the LT game it could be an all time low. I don't know what attitude issue or what is keeping Dajon from starting, but unless he wants to sit for a team with a losing record it needs to get fixed.

Careful! It's a sexual reference. You can google it. Things can get pretty crazy in there!