Green to the Bone

Since it's really a motel, I would rename the notorious College Inn, most hated of campus buildings, for former provost Howard Johnson. Call it Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson's.

There are some very nice improvements under way, but as others said, more are needed. The campus master plan from 2005 (www.unt.edu/untmasterplan) has a very detailed and frequently brutally honest assessment of the buildings and the campus layout. It finds much to admire (the older buildings and the core campus) and much to improve. It's certainly worth reading. The master plan also superimposes maps of the old campus alignments of the early 1900s over contemporary aerial photos to give people an idea of what has changed. My undergrad alma mater, the University of Georgia, features historic campus maps on the visitors portion of its web site. Visitors can look at a hand-drawn campus map from 1805 that shows a half-dozen buildings, including the oldest, Old College (1801; it's still there). Perhaps UNT could offer some archival maps, too. In general, the UNT plan calls for closing some streets and turning them into pedestrial malls, which is a really good idea. Also worth noting: the current Fouts parking lot becomes a parking garage and Fouts itself becomes surface parking studded with trees, available as a future building site. The athletic and rec fields near Fouts remain. As most know, the new stadium appears at Eagle Point, with the open end of the horseshoe facing the athletic center. The master plan map names it Future Stadium, which I guess means that they expect Mr. and Mrs. Future to write a big check for it in exchange for naming rights. One change I'd like: to rename as many buildings as possible from So and So Building to Somebody Hall. "General Academic Building" sounds like a community college building (I went to one of those, too, so no snobbishness here). There are many other examples of lousy naming. It's more university-like and historical to name buildings Somebody Hall. Bruce, for example, has much that makes it special (designed by George Dahl, architect of much of Fair Park, the Dallas Morning News building, and others); one of those is the portrait of old Dr. Bruce himself that overlooks the lobby. If they had called it Dorm No. 1 or some such awful name, much of the building's charm would have been lost. A committee could solicit building name nominations, focusing on people who made extraordinary contributions to the U. I think it would enhance the feeling of the place.

Quoting SilverEagle: "Not exactly the *Exodus of players from some of the "name" schools that we were hoping for." Everybody in spring ball has to be enrolled in UNT in the spring semester. TD wasn't announced until Dec. 12. The regular admission application deadline for spring was Dec. 1. Undergrad applicants could go as late as Jan. 8 if all their paperwork was in order. Even that wasn't long enough for a kid attending another school to make such a monumental decision as to leave his school and take a chance in Denton. In other words, nobody has been able to transfer to UNT specifically to try out for TD. That'll come later.

Who among us, upon seeing Fayetteville, would not pine to return to cosmopolitan Omaha?

And the process of getting kids is the best part of doing something better with at night than watching TV!

Three things are more important than color: 1. Identity. Gotta settle on a distinctive logo and hammer it home with the public. A simple and instantly recognizable logo is way better than words. The longhorn is the best example. When you see that, you don't have to ask any more questions. 2. Consistency. This is a rapidly evolving program. It's still seeking its identity. The new look needs to signal that this program is new and exciting. And it needs to be kept intact pretty much forever or you've failed the product branding test. That means you really only get one chance to adopt a successful new look, so make it right the first time. 3. Crossing the goal line. If white helps us do that, and I'll defer to QB and WR experts on that, wear white.

I was at that private school recently doing some research in their library, but the whole time I was listening to the Green Brigade on the iPod. I think the psychic power of that guerrilla action was sufficient to put us in the top 50 in a couple of years.

Or just $2.61 from each of the 23 million Texans. Make it a Starbucks promotional tie-in: Mean Green Grande Day!

To paraphrase the legendary Foghorn Leghorn: "That was a joke, son."

Lord knows, we don't want to give fans and alumni a voice. They'll just say naughty things. Thing is, there's not a college board in America that doesn't fit this description. Find me one where everybody writes like an athletic department flack, where everything is wonderful, and I'll take that back. But there ain't one. I also doubt that there's a decent high school coach anywhere who doesn't tell his kids to laugh off 99 percent of what they read on the board of a school that's recruiting them. If a kid told a school that he turned down a scholarship because of what was on a board, what that kid really meant was that he didn't want to go to their hick school. College athletics is like a high school cafeteria. You could have one where Stephan Pyles and Dean Fearing were serving up 5-star, 4-course meals and kids would still complain. It's the fun part. It's what we do.

Given that SMU, TCU and Baylor all had the opportunity to watch all the NCAA tournament games on TV from their dorm rooms, they might want to play us so they can raise their RPIs by playing a tougher schedule.

Besides, the better Memphis looks, the better we look.

You're right about that. Often it's important to state the obvious to reinforce the idea and to telegraph what you're after. This says we want continued improvement and higher visibility for the athletic program and the U. I think she also understands what Ben Franklin said: "Well done is better than well said."

This is on the UNT web site. "Our student athletes played with a lot of heart, and we are proud of them," President Gretchen M. Bataille said from New Orleans. "This game meant a lot to the Mean Green and shows the growing strength of our basketball program and our athletics program overall. The men's basketball team being in this NCAA Championship Tournament plays a critical role in our ability to recruit top-notch student athletes and gives sports fans all over the world the opportunity to learn more about our teams and our university." I'd say we made a good hire.

Hey, yer verrry welcome ... I didn't hear from my kid this morning on any schedule changes, but that's not surprising; at 7 a.m. after a night in the Quarter, I wouldn't expect any message except an incomprehensible mumble!

According to the schedule they had yesterday evening, they were to be on the buses at 7 a.m. for a 9:30 plane departure. That would get them to Love Field just before 11, if they left on time. Then they should be at the Pit about noon. GMG!

You're right -- they've only won 82.5 percent of their games this year and are just 22-7 on the road. Bunch of losers! Let's tell Cuban he can't come to our opening game and we don't want his stinkin' loser money! I think you kinda missed the point of the post ...

1. Expectations: After some time for greatly deserved enjoyment, accolades and decompression, JJ carefully analyzes both assets and needs and hits the recruiting trail with significant success. He pitches how exciting it is to be on the way up and get some great national PR and play on the big stage. He's able to pull in some impressive high school talent and gets some interesting inquiries from potential jucos or transfers, especially three new guards who are in the 6-5, 200 range. Calvin Watson talks to the new class of recruits wearing both his old Mean Green and his new NBA gear. The Mavs, still giddy from their NBA championship, repeat their workout in the Pit and also hold a highly publicized clinic and photo op for our players. Given the friendship between JJ and Avery Johnson, the Mavs declare the Mean Green the official college team of the NBA champs. We win the Belt regular season and the tourney, enter the Dance again as a higher seed, maybe 13 or so, and win Round 1. During the March Madness publicity, it becomes know that Bell, Sturns, Williams and Wooden had formed a pact in October not to wash their socks during the whole season. High-school kids all over the country stop washing their socks. 2. Schedule: We get two national and several regional TV games. We pencil in a couple of away majors to give the guys more experience in the spotlight and really stretch their limits. Highly ranked teams are willing to schedule us, but no longer as a body-bag game, because we've shown ourselves as contenders. We take a whuppin' in one but pull out a shocker in another with a buzzer-beating alley-oop from the sleeper combination of Mangrum to Howerton. Hank immediately nicknames them the Pale Perils. 3. Attendance: Season average is 4,000-plus, tending toward 5,000. Home opener is 6,000-plus, after a great publicity and word-of-mouth campaign, including invitations to high school teams all over the Metroplex (are there NCAA rules on this?) to be there for the pregame ceremonial raising of the SBC Championship and NCAA Tournament banners and displaying of the SBC trophy. Avery Johnson and Mark Cuban are both there; Cuban announces a $5 million personal donation to UNT athletics because, as he tells the crowd, "Who the hell couldn't love this?" This year's whole team is there, plus members of the '88 team. When RV and Dr. B introduce Coach Jones, students' rythmic shouting of "Jay Jay! Jay Jay!" is taken up by all 6,000 fans and continues for three minutes until the referee threatens us with a technical. It continues anyway. 4. Name of the University: Not one single person anywhere refers to us as "North Texas State" anymore.

Great, positive post. We lost to a team that's not perfect, but very good -- they've won 23 in a row. Now, about that quote that I bolded -- it seems to me that we lost because you had to go back to work. It's your boss's fault!

Yep, missing the slam was a turning point, as it turned out. But our guys never gave up, which is the hallmark of any winning program and a well-prepared team. Just ask Boise State.

Take all ELEVENTY-ONE BILLION DOLLARS, go into Harrah's, and bet it ALL on 13, Rich Young's number. Then use the SEVENTY-NINE ZILLION DOLLARS you win to put the jumbotronniest jumbotron in the world in the Pit, and use the leftovers to build TWO new football stadiums.

I'm with cmj. As a wise person once said, act like you've been there before.

I want my ticket now!

You're exactly right. GMG!

Plenty of "if onlys" in any loss. But I'd impose a moratorium on what-ifs. I'd rather riff on a great this season and a greater next.