NM Green

I was driving through Nashville today on the way to NC and listening to the local sports show. I love the way other members of the Belt don't trash the Belt like our local media and some of our fanbase does. They were dissecting the moment that MTSU turned its season around and WKU when they got a turnover as WKU was about to blow the game wide open. That led to 3 straight wins and to a bowl against a strong Miami Ohio team. They talked about the drama at FIU with Cristobal almost turning down the Detroit game because they were so pissed that Troy got the nod for New Orleans. What I realized is that our league is not the league we dominated last decade. Our brothers have grown up and now the league has 3 team bowling in the coming weeks. Call it weak, call it trash whatever everyone wants to call it, but this league will not be a cakewalk to get back on top of. We showed signs of life this year, but our fellow conference mates are fighting like heck to go bowling as bad as we will be. Also, every ding we make on our brand that is the Sun Belt damages the brand. Let SMU and the rest of the college world take their shots. I hope our brothers go out and kick their arse in those 3 games. All we can do is build our program and win. We are attractive, equipped and ready for the next steps. I love the bold talk I am hearing on here. Go Bold Mean Green! No reason our program cannot be on par with Texas Tech very very soon. GMG

Its about ideas. Capturing a ton of ideas from the mass - student body, alums, community, consultants. These need to be funneled through a few channels: Athletic department - who is the collector there Talons - who is the collector here Green Brigade - who is the collector here Alumni - alumni association - who is the collector here Once all the ideas are gathered a few strategic efforts need to be implemented for the dawning of our new age. For example, at the basketball games I love in the alma mater when they yell "who" towards the end. Very cool. Go laser focus with a few good ideas and then we need education: How about a yell practice at the stadium the night before the games? I have loved hanging in Denton after the bball games this month. I plan on heading up the nights before in the fall and grabbing a room at the Mean Green hotel. I love the Best Western out by Golden Triangle - very nice - how about a negotiated Alumni rate and we have a Mean Green breakfast before heading out for the tailgate. I have been visting Lucky Lous for a Mean Green victory tap every game this month and that patio is awesome - how about a Mean Green post game party there or some restaurant where the diehards and new friends of the MG can gather after the game. To me it is about community and in order to create the feel of the Mean Green community everybody needs to feel they have a place to go, gather, share, and celebrate. Communities emerge but in our case with our new age on the horizon and 8 months to plan, we have an opportunity to organize these communal efforts with some stategic organization. Point People Idea Generation Meetings between Point People/groups Education Execution Where do I sign up:) GMG

I have been living in and going to Mountain West bball games for 15 years now in New Mexico and Las Vegas. The MWC is terribly underrated as a bball league, but TCU could barely stay on the floor with those programs in the Pit, The Marriott Center, Thomas and Mack...They will field a bball team because they have to but they will not be a bball factor. They will be the best fball program in the BE and that is great for them. In following UNT for 24 years do you think I ever thought I would see UNT playing at the top level of football, traveling with the MG Nation to four consecutive bowl games, building of a brand spanking new football palace...UNT has come a long way since I joined the Nation in the fall of '86 when we were 17,000 students strong. Today we hired a former Big 12 coach, drove a Big 12 bowl team mad last week, have a new home to tailgate in and win in, and in 10 short months will open our new palace to the football world. I have also worn conference champion and big dance t-shirts to the last 3 bball games and look forward to the Mean Green competing for our conference title again this year. How sweet was it to have the 3 programs I follow closely - Mean Green, Lobos, and Rebels make the Big Dance last year! My point is that UNT has much to offer and should be fueled by TCU and SMU's success. The frogs and ponies in their displeasure with UNT's bball success should be driven to improve their lots. If we continue to excel and make the Dance again we will get a ton of attention in the area just as TCU will when it hits the Rose Bowl. This Mean Green fan is NOT defined by the success of the purple red blue and white. Mean Green have a lot of valuable seeds planted in rich soil. We will be just fine as well. Go Mean Green! Beat Texas Southern! 7-1 here we come! GMG

You just know that Riley is going to go all out next year and we will see his complete competitor all of 2011 - head, heart and gut. GMG

TCU's rise to the Big East is good for them, but North Texas is a program that stands on its own. I was at the Bball game tonight and couldn't help but think this program is sitting at 6-1! 6 and freaking 1! Do you know what TCU and SMU would do for a bball program that is stout and has only 1 loss, oh yea to the freaking #4 team in the country! TCU couldn't even compete in the Mountain West. Good luck in the Big East. They will be a non-factor but kudos to the BE they now get a pipeline into Texas to recruit - Dumb Big 12. They opened the door to the entire east coast and didn't even have to. They had open slots. I fully expect TCU to dominate in the BE in football and be perennial BCS visitors. That is why they are there. Their basketball program will stay down and it would behoove us to keep ours performing at a high level until football comes around. It stings the frogs and ponies like you don't even know that we kick their arse in bball right now, just as I sting that our football team plays 3rd fiddle to them. TCU has their automatic bid. I am here to support the Mean Green to get ours. We need to win and get into the broken down Big 12 or whatever comes about. Shoot high Mean Green! Go Bold and Shoot High! GMG

I do not see quality in a merger that would warrant a BCS bid. That only made sense when TCU, Utah and BYU were in the mix. Those programs are nice but not Big 5 caliber. If we don't get added to MWC or CUSA we should just wait for the Big 12 to explode. My friend who is a big UT fan says it is only a matter of time before they go indy with their own tv deal. Ironically they now have that series with BYU lined up. Boise should consider Indy in football as well. GMG

The one weapon SMU has is June Jones. He wields so much more power than I have ever seen a head coach wield at any destination. Living in Hawaii he single handedly was able to change their entire marketing and brand program. They went from the Rainbow Warriors (except for basketball and he would have changed that too with more time) to the Warriors, he integrated a pro style experience via music he had created by his friends in Hollywood for kickoffs and throughout the stadium. He got the band to stop playing Hawaii Five O because it was old school Hawaii at the time. He made a lot of enemies and fans because he won. Now that he is having success in football you better believe is strongly recommending some shots on the hilltop and one of them you better believe will be to get into the Mountain West. He would love nothing more than to return to the islands, Fresno, Reno, Boise, San Diego, Las Vegas and Air Force with his high flying program. SMU would not be interested in going west in my opinion if June were not there and he may be putting them over the barrel with threats to leave if they don't make the right selection. I want MWC but I have a feeling SMU goes there and we go to CUSA. Not bad but not as strong and not as high profile as the MWC. I don't see Houston going MWC so if we go to CUSA and keep H-town that is not bad. At least the Cougars are another large state program that we can compete with to make some waves. GMG

I don't understand the love affair with Rice, Tulane, SMU and Tulsa. I know they close and bring some fans but we not like those institutions. The smaller private schools do not thrill me because they will never have those big fanbases to lean upon when they are great. If you get Boise or Air Force or Reno rolling football you will get good amounts of traveling fans. Reno and Boise are already rolling. I know we are not a basketball states but you step outside of Texas and you have a passionate and different ballgame, especially in the highly competitive MWC. UNLV has already beaten Virginia Tech and Wisconsin this season with a looming trip to Louisville on the horizon. New Mexico beat Tennessee I believe and know they recently played out in Berkley. Last year UNLV beat down Arizona and Louisville in the Thomas and Mack. Again I am going to stick to my argument about UNT and us beginning to think of ourselves in a better light than some of us do. You are right, we are not TCU. We are North Texas and joining a league that recently lost teams to the Big East and Pac 10 makes me wonder what UNT can do on a bigger stage. Not to mention the MWC is about to settle down. All of the current members are not going anywhere. The ancy ones left in BYU, Utah and TCU. A stable MWC or a stable Sun Belt not even close. Now if CUSA calls they better call quick because I just cannot see the MWC not sniffing around the 5th largest media market soon. Go Bold. Go Quality. GO Mean Green!

Mountain West had 4 bids last year: UNLV SDSU BYU New Mexico Three of those powers are still there and Reno will be coming to the league. So you are automatically more battle tested before tourney time. I love UNLV basketball and watching UNLV and UNT is really watching similar style programs. UNT is a little more helter skelter in their play, but running and gunning in Denton and Las Vegas would be awesome! GMG

It will be interesting to see who the MWC feels should get the invite should one come to a DFW school - SMU or UNT. They have relationships with both of us, more with SMU but you cannot ignore UNT's investment over the past few years (all around - not just a coach). GMG

And I live 20 minutes from the Thomas & Mack and 30 minutes from Sam Boyd - so call me biased:) GMG

And there in lies why the MWC might come fast. Think about it. Don't lose the market! The WAC could not maintain a presence in the rich recruiting fields of Texas after TCU and SMU left. They did just fine, but that was when Reno and Boise were building their beasts on the rich Cali talent. The WAC could never put pressure on us to join the league because we always wanted to wait for the CUSA invite. It did not and still does not interest us to join forces with SJSU, USU and Idaho. The MWC could add us and not skip a beat in terms of maintaining a presence in Big 12, Big East and CUSA Country. Rick better make sure the phone is on the hook. If CUSA continues to get raided we will have a chance to land there, but I already am not enjoying the quality of CUSA. It is not the CUSA of old and seems to be losing steam. I like the natural rivals, but if a higher quality conference not named the WAC comes a calling it will be a monster risk to say no. We had better be prepared to say "sure we will open on the blue turf!" Think about it: Air Force - Local and regional military personnel visiting us every other year and annually in bball New Mexico - draws 17k for every bball game right now UNLV - draws 13-16k for every bball game (they had 9k for an exhibition this year that I was at) Colorado State - in the doldrums right now but they have scoreboard on us Wyoming - strange passionate little program with name recognition and they do travel - can't miss that brown) San Diego State - draws poorly but they have a beast of a bball team this year Boise - enough said Reno - rising program that made a national splash last week Fresno - name recognition and consistently strong (like our Troy but has done it longer) Hawaii - name recognition and back on track in football Every program brings something to the table in one of the sports. I don't think we have that in our current conference setup. GMG

We have never been invited to a conference with foes that would include Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV, New Mexico San Diego State, and Colorado State. These are name programs that would travel (I see it in Las Vegas when WY, CSU, Air Force and NM roll in). Yes it is Las Vegas but like KSU I think they would travel down to the Metro. I have not seen how they travel to Fort Worth now, but the WAC in that form never invited us. The WAC that did invite us included Idaho, San Jose State and Utah State. That is the old Big West. I would like conference mates that include: UNT Reno UNLV San Diego State New Mexico Wyoming Colorado State Air Force Fresno Boise State Hawaii Not to mention, two of those teams are Top 15 ranked. That is a step up. Joining the likes of Idaho, Utah State, SJSU and La Tech do nothing for me. I welcome the TSU and UTSA rivals the same way I am looking forward to the UTA game tomorrow. UTA is a great basketball rival and the Bobcats and Roadrunners could be fun to fight with in a few years. GMG

Agreed on the CUSA being more of a fan favorite destination and better fit, but MWC is stronger even without the Utah schools and TCU. I don't see Houston ever heading west except for the Pac 10. SMU probably doesn't want the MWC, but Jones will flex his muscles and try to get them there anyway (he likes the West). Tulsa has a solid hoops program to present to the MWC, we have the market and alumni base. CUSA will look at us only if SMU leaves. MWC may look at us sooner. What about the Big 12:) We are not the threat that TCU is and we have good bball upside with football future. Send Texas Tech, BYU and UNT to the North and you have: BYU UNT ISU Missouri Kansas State Kansas Texas A&M Baylor Oklahoma Oklahoma State Texas Tech This forces Texas to independance and in returns TCU or Houston down the fold. Go BOLD Mean Green.

UNT to the MWC pretty please pretty pretty please! Jones and the Mean Green with trips to the Pit, San Diego, Reno and the Thomas and Mack every year! That is some serious basketball company. Bring Boise and Hawaii into DFW every other year and we will get some good name programs arriving into the Win Mill for their annual beat down. GMG

No, thank you for your service. I went to both the basketball and football game last week and had a blast. Spirit is definitely up and you all have really raised the bar. Stay loyal to the Green. Come back often after you graduate. It only gets better. Go North Texas Go North Texas Go Go!

It is called brand management. My previous hotel responded to every comment on Travelocity, Hotels.com, Yelp, Expedia...good or bad you get a response. We would have made personal calls had we had telephone numbers because you need to cut off any negatives at the head. Love that RV reached out to protect the brand but shouldn't there be an athletic department employee making such contact? Even the negative comments we responded to by saying, "thank you for your thoughts and we apologize we did not meet your expectations..." All feedback positive and negative should be recognized - communicate, communicate, communicate. gmg

I do not see the difference in risk between a Canales who is ready and a DM who came from a losing program. I wanted either a high potential college coach ready to take charge, which is what Canales showed me in a month or a coach from a winning program! Is that really too much to ask for? This oh so important amazing hire and then you crank the jack in the box and it gets stuck. I am sorry I just wanted to be way more excited about this hire than the reality that is. gmg

I don't, but I do know enough about his ability to inspire. I have heard it and seen it transpire. I don't fall for rhetoric and those politicians that can move the masses and then not execute. People either believe or don't believe and Canales had the players believing in a few short weeks. He had me believing watching games on the internet and hearing his passion for this opportunity. Forgive me for wanting to give the guy a shot. I trust my intuition and would never speak so convincingly of someone I did not trust. He is not our coach. I get that. I will be there rooting for my Mean Green always. I will also be cheering for the university who gives Mike a shot. I have been seized shots in my life and am grateful for those who trusted in me. If he lines up against us and beats us down the line, I will congratulate him. It will not have been Mike Canales who made the questionable decision. I would have loved to see him recruit his staff, team and continue to inspire a team, fanbase and community. Good for the program who gives him that shot because he is ready. He is urgent. He will give it his all, which is all I want from my coach. DM may do that. Canales will do that. Stay tuned. gmg

uhhhhh you are ULL, and the team with all the resources that should be banging on the door of the MWC when TCU leaves just let the next great thing go. Wait no, they booted him onto the street and said you are not worthy. If the Green jesus comes in and does what everyone proclaims DM is gonna do in 5 years, why not beat them to the punch. That is why I would look at MC now. If North Texas will get better and will have to be contended with down the line, you better desire to win now. Bring in the coach who wants nothing more than to give the sleeping giant a sedative. gomcgmg

I like the fans that thing football wins grow on trees. what a reality! pass the pipe. GO MC. gmg

He also performed consistently at a high level for a few games, oh yeah and almost took down a bowl bound Big 12 in the Fouts Field Finale. Heal well Riley. Stay Thirsty young man. gmg

I am confident it will be well scripted and probably handled in Baltimore Colt (in deep of the night) fashion. Maybe one day we will bring back the town halls and Mean Green gathering forums. gmg

The only thing better would to see our nationally acclaimed stud running back follow along and burn up the "win" mill. It is coming and this is going to better than a emmy award winning drama. Go MC. GMG

I'm a fan! Go Ragin Cajuns. This is going to get juicy. Mike is ready and I wish him all the success in the world. GMG