UNTDude

Agreed, Congrats to Juett & Lundsford. These pre-season awards are voted by the SBC coaches hopefully Perlman will do a lot of jersey popping in their mugs this year :-) .... She got the Tim Tebow treatment!!!

KRAM..first thanks for coming out and supporting the girls. Don't be too disappointed, the girls only had two practices together as a team prior to the exhibition game with TCU. TCU had over a week head start on UNT with their two a days as well as a pre-season game against Baylor under their belt. I agree at times it was not a pretty game to watch, but taken in perspective the girls played pretty well all considering. The offense always takes a bit longer to come together and there were a few girls up top playing with some pre-season nagging injuries (those come with two a days). I really expect the offense to be very potent come SBC games. Now for some bad news. Four starters are out for this weekends game against Sam Houston State & New Mexico State....this years depth will be tested early. The injury bug is carrying over into the games that really count :-(

Nikki Crocco - Transfer from University of Arkansas - Played on nationally ranked club team Dallas Texans 90/Sting 90 with Shannon Gorrie and Kelsey Perlman EriKa Palmacci - Transfer from SFA, was first team All Southland Conference in 2007 Dani Watson - Transfer from Northeastern State, OK - Top goal scorer first two years.

Saturday's exhibition game at Mean Green Soccer stadium starts one of the most challenging soccer seasons in recent memory. With tough non conference matches verse the likes of SMU, TX Tech, Baylor, Ohio State and a much improved Sun Belt conference, should make for one entertaining season. The Mean Green should be very competitive as they return 8 starters( 3 first team All-Sunbelt - Juett, Lundsford, Perlman), from last years 15-4-1 team. Improving on last years team UNT bring in 3 accomplished transfers and a highly touted freshman class. Can't wait till Sat!!! Come out and support the Lady Mean Green!

Talk about a coach that fly's under the radar....Coach Hedlund is only 4 wins shy of 200 (71% winning percentage). http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle...;DB_OEM_ID=1800. Quite an accomplishment, and it should be noted all his victories were at UNT! Any prediction the year our next UNT coach hits 200 wins?

Nice article in the DRC. It's great to have an assistant coach that intimately knows the program and the university. Link: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...8.83090963.html

New Website looks great! Thanks for finally shooting down the screaming eagle on the home page

I appreciate RV candidness on GMG as there are always two sides to a story. If I were in his shoes I'd be addressing my response to the DMN or DRC directly. Three quarters of the stadium initiative relies on positive PR/Marketing, and in the last month there has been virtually no media representing anything uplifting. Every time I read about this athletics initiative I get a lump in my throat and think - Arts of Collin County where they had huge initial investment from Plano, Frisco & Allen ($57 million in public bond money -equate that to the student fee), loss of it's leadership, questions on whether it will ever come to fruition (delays, delays, delays)....but the positive is they hired a private firm to raise money (Communities Foundation of TX), replaced the director that stepped down with what appears to be a capable person...and it appears that donations seem to be flowing again (they have to acquire 17 million in public funds to break ground). In a relatively short period of time the ACC changed their image from a project dead in its tracks to one that at least appears to have forward momentum again.

This was an interesting, (although way out there), document I found while exploring conference realignments. It appears someone at Tulane has too much time on their hands! Interesting reading though. Link: http://coalition.tulane.edu/ideas37.pdf

I'm not sure if this article from Rivals was posted on GMG earlier, but I thought it was very insightful into realignment and it's relationship to a possible seventh conference becoming a BCS conference. Here is the link: http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/008127.php Article from fanblogs.com June 14, 2009 Will 2010, 2012 be the years of mass realignment announcments? According to the BCS Website's "Standards for Future BCS Automatic Qualification" the results of the 2008-2011 seasons will be used to determine if a seventh conference will earn a BCS spot for 2012 and 2013. If the current procedures are used after this, then the 2010-2013 seasons will be used to determine the automatic qualifications for 2014-2017. This means the MWC, WAC, C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt will be re-evaluated after 2011 and all conferences will be examined after 2013 based on a four year window. The criteria used are: (1) the ranking of the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings each year (2) the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year (3) the number of teams in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each year [Note the complete lack of any measure that incorporates bowl results of any kind. I guess bowl results really do mean nothing.] Previously the BCS has set the precedent that if a team moves from one conference to another the conference they played in the last year of evaluation is where their numbers count for the evaluation. If a conference is considering a team in a weaker conference they will get the most benefit in the BCS automatic qualification criteria by getting the most years with the team in question in the weaker conference as possible to count for their numbers. It also must be noted that it takes a full year to get out of a conference once an announcement is made. To start in 2011 an announcement must be made in 2010. For 2013 the announcements would be 2012. If the MWC is looking to poach Boise State while maximizing their post 2011 BCS numbers they are better off allowing Boise State to play the WAC in 2010. If the BCS is looking to eliminate the MWC by taking a few of their top teams 2010 would be the year to do so. Though I may be partial to BCS conspiracy theories, even in the worst case this would provide the final evidence needed to instigate an anti-trust investigation with teeth. If the PAC 10, Big 10 or Big East are waiting to maximize the BCS value of teams from weaker conferences they would best wait until 2012 to announce their expansion plans. This indicates that a conference realignment spurred by MWC expansion might be on the horizon next year and one triggered by the PAC 10 or Big East might be being developed for 2012. So the contracts align themselves and my prediction from last year remains: The MWC will earn a BCS automatic qualification for 2012, only to have the Mayan's calender proven right and never have the opportunity to use it due to world changing events. Then again, for some of those visiting this site in the middle of June the MWC earning a spot in a BCS bowl due to an automatic qualification might constitute a world changing event. Posted by Ben Prather

Fantastic achievement and great exposure for UNT! Good luck at the Pan Am games! Keyth Talley's (20.85 in prelims) success made me curious as to the best times ever in the 200 m..... Usain Bolt's 2008 Olympic performance was just "insane", the guy shut it down at the end of the race and still set the world record of 19.30. What is almost as incredible is Florence Griffith -Joyner's 1988 Olympic world record of 21.34 (Keith Ricks of Virginia Tech ran a 21.18 for second place behind Talley)

Hmmmm....Can you say raffle! How much stadium cash could be generated for just one date!!!

I think you hit the nail on the head. On the girls side of club soccer the Texans and Sting consistently have top teams in most age groups. Although D'feeters, Solar, FC Dallas, etc. may have a top team in one or two age groups, Texan's and Sting still bring in the most talent across all age groups. I keep up with the boys side as well (I'm a big Andromeda 90 & 91 fan)..and would love to see the day that UNT brings back a boys soccer program....but that's for another thread

Yep, my daughter is on Sting.... Challenge 90 & Texans 90 were knocked out in the last day of bracket play on Sunday. Sting 90 (Shoot out to D'feeters) & Sting 91 (3-1 loss to ESC , OK), were knocked out today in the semi-finals. The huge upside for UNT is that most of our sophomores that are listed in the previous post contributed big minutes for their respective teams and it looks like we are bringing in another talented group of freshman. I did get a chance to see all the teams play at least once and UNT soccer was represented well by the high level of play from our girls. With the brutal schedule we have next year it's nice to see our younger girls playing at such a high level and more importantly developing confidence that will hopefully carry over in the fall.

UNT soccer has a number of current players and new recruits participating with their club teams at the US Youth Soccer Southern Regional Championships being held at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco and Russell Creek Park in Plano June 18-24. Top teams (primarily State champions and Premier League Champions) representing the South and Southeastern part of the U.S. are vying to be the one team in their age group to advance to the National Championships (Final Four) in MA next month. This says a lot about the caliber of recruiting classes Coach Hedlund is bringing into UNT, as virtually all the girls participating in the U-17 thru U-19 age groups are D1 college locks. Link: http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/regionIII/ Current Players Kelsey Perlman - Sting 90 ( North TX State Cup Champions) Shannon Gorrie - Sting 90 Nicki Crocco - Sting 90 Kara Brooks - Sting 91 (Premier League Champions) Hanna Crawford - TSC Challenge 90 (South TX State Champions) Julie Lackey - TSC Challenge 90 Rachel Turpin - TSC Challenge 90 Casey Lerond- Dallas Texans 90 2009 Recruits Ellen Scarfone - Sting 91 Haley Newsom - Sting 91 Chelsea Heimann - Sting 91 Danielle Guilliod - Sting 91 Carly McDowell - Sting 91 I've watched a number of games and all of our girls are seeing major minutes on this national stage. As of today (Sat., June 20) Sting 90 leads their bracket with a 2-0-0 record, TSC Challenge 90 also leads their bracket with a 2-0-0 record. Dallas Texan 90 are still in contention with a 1-0-1 record. Sting 91 lead their bracket with a 2-0-0 record. Shining UNT moments....On Sting 90, (last years natiional runner up), a team loaded with top D1 player playing at schools like ND, Duke, UT, TAMU, Illinois, Wake Forest, Virginia, etc. (you get the picture).... in today's 2-0 victory verse TN state champions all the goals and assist were from UNT girls!!! Perlman 1 goal 1 assist Gorrie 1 goal.....I also saw McDowell score the first goal in Sting 91's 4-0 victory over the Alabama state champions.

No typo. I think we all would like to see a more balanced schedule, but it's hard to complain after our favorable home conference schedule last year. This is the exact opposite of last years schedule where 7 of 11 conference games (and the conference tournament) were at home.

My sentiments too. Last year you couldn't have paid me to go to a Texas Rangers game although I did watch them on TV occasionally towards the end of the year when they were playing better baseball. This year I've already been to two Rangers games and I actually search the TV listing to see when they are playing next. I don't consider myself a fair weather fan (maybe by definition I am :-) ) , I follow them in the paper, wear my Rangers cap when working in the yard and generally hope at the beginning of each year that this is the year. Why the big difference? The Rangers are putting out some really good product, providing me hope for the future and winning..... and I'm willing to pay. Concerts are a nice marketing bonus which may draw a few incremental fans of the band, but winning is the best cure for apathetic fans. UNT has 3 years to start improving their product and if they show improvement over the next couple seasons we won't have to worry about a healthy number of fans in the new stadium. Although, promote a "short set" of KC and the Sunshine Band after the Western Kentucky game.....and you may get a few old alums to come out to and "shake shake shake...their booties!")

Sorry to report that the SBC isn’t going to do anything for Denver as I was told a couple weeks ago that Denver has informed the SBC they are leaving the conference in 2010 to join the West Coast Conference (Santa Clara, Portland, Pepperdine. U of San Diego, St. Mary's etc.) This will have a more dramatic effect on sports other than football but may just be the impetus for UNT to consider other conference options. Or, for some type of expansion within the Sunbelt that would hopefully favor football. For most other sports at UNT, Denver has been our travel partner and after next year we will be have an uneven conference of 11 (which leads me to conjure a post for another day, "Why doesn't the SBC drop UNO"?). Frankly, the WCC is a better fit for Denver as the conference is a bunch of smaller private universities with very competitive sports other than football...and a more favorable travel area for Denver.