untjim1995

Dickey didn't motivate the fanbase--he was boring, his offense was insanely boring, and his attitude was poor. Again, like it did with McCarney, maybe the culture here did that to him, making him become so pessimistic that this was all the permeated from his mouth. We weren't going to get anything more than what we got at Dickey's high point, and I doubt very seriously we would have duplicated the 2002-2004 records, as the SBC teams had finally caught up to us and began passing us by. Dodge was the 'swing or miss" hire. His name was exciting, his offense was alluring, and he had monied fans down the road to follow us if we did anything right. His first few recruiting seasons showed that, especially with skilled positions. But a HS staff and a complete lack of attention for defense was the reason for the colossal miss. If he had a legitimate college coaching staff from the start, which was the fault of his ego, RV's lack of pressure on who brought over as assistants, and Gretchen Bataille for not letting him have extra funding for getting those coaches better salaries. By the time we fixed the salary issue and hired a real college coach in Dan McCarney, his attitude was refreshing at first, and we saw thigns turning around with the kids that were here, but his offensive gameplan was just Dickey-esque and the reputation of the university was still one that garnered little interest from recruits. And once Mac's health and mind started to deteriorate, it ended up in crashing into the worst loss in modern college football history. Littrell is lot more Dodge's offensive mind, but like Dickey in personality when he first got here. Exciting gameplan, very laid-back and quiet persona. With coaches like him, the ONLY way it increases interest here for fans, media, and especially recruits is to win. Otherwise, he's just the next guy in along line of people who couldn't duplicate anything close to what Hayden Fry did here in the 70s.

That's the rub, right? Because we kept him in charge for so long, he tied our hands with mediocre to awful revenue coaches. All I know is that when he got here, the Super Pit was about 15% full on most nights...just as it is today. When he was hired, our football team got a new stadium and a new conference and in his last football season here as AD, we had real attendance right in line with we had at Fouts while playing in the SBC. As we have seen with Littrell and even Jalie Mitchell, going from awful to mediocre is quite the process and shows just how far down things had gotten. I'm sure Bumford's replacement will show us the same thing. So, for those waiting for winning to come back around in one of the major sports here, its probably going to take awhile--and that all because RV was allowed to stay here for so long. UNTFlyer did more for our university's athletic program than RV ever did--don't care if he got 17 donors to pay for his pet projects and donate cash, that didn't get us a new stadium that basically allowed us to stay afloat as a FBS program. Otherwise, Fouts is still our home, we are still in the SBC, and are existence as a FBS program would be in serious doubt. RV did one thing that has a lasting influence here for the good--he opened up tailgating. Imagine that, a college football team having fans that like to get together before games to eat and drink? It just boggles my mind that he was the first one to get it going here, about 30 years after everyone else had been doing it everywhere else.

It shows what short-sightedness and apathy for the main window to every other university's athletic programs that we have endured by showing those of us that still hang around here just how little thought gets put into our program's future. We are where we are because we get what we demand. Very few people care about our sports teams, particularly at the top of the university. Smatresk is trying to change it, but I fear that without any backing or sufficient leadership from the AD, its not going anywhere here--you know, kinda like the last 40 years...

We lost the one guy who did more to get us a new stadium because of how poorly we ran the athletic department. UNTFlyer basically did the yeoman's work to get us the vote for Apogee and even after it was successfully passed, the continued acceptance of allowing RV to stick around was too much for him to continue following us as a rabid fan. Its just insane to know how many students and alumni are exactly like him--want so bad for this place to want to be great at sports, only to realize after years that he wants more than the university's leadership does.

You've been a fan here for 50+ years. Why on earth would you expect more after all of these decades of seeing how things have been done here? I'm the exact opposite. I've learned to want more, dream more, and wish more for us, but I've learned to expect the worst around here. Anything above that is just gravy at this point.

We had to play at Texas Stadium to get Kansas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech to agree to play us up here because Fouts was so dilapidated and they wouldmn't agree to play there when we were brand new to I-A again. I would gladly play Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl or Jerry World if that is what it took to get them here. But most of our fanbase believes we should only play games at Apogee, so we won't get anyone of that nature to come here. Of course, this fanbase acts like having SMU as an OOC game in Denton is the equivalent to playing Nebraska, so its a moot point anyway. We are where we are because we get what we demand and deserve. Small-minded, cost-conscious, and low expectations. Its how RV stayed here for 15 years, how Tony Benford is still coaching here for a fifth miserable season in front of about 15% capacity at the Super Pit, and its how we have had coaches in football basically just give up once it becomes obvious that our reputation in the state for our athletic program is terrible and we cannot beat anyone out for recruits very much at the FBS level. Its been this way since Fry left and we keep waiting or believing that it will change. Then we see the same recruiting issues, the same lack of expectations from the entire UNT family, and the same results for success. Its a never-ending loop that doesn't seem to be breakable.

What was the record for that recruiting class for 2010-2014? Hint---it doesn't help your argument...

Would Tech have won a conference title if they played in any of our conferences in the last 50 years? How would we have done in the SWC or Big XII? I completely agree with you, but it just doesn't seem that hard to ask SL to consider having a practice in Frisco, especially since we have paid to sponsor the Star...

That would require effort and thought... All I know is that we have more UNT alumni outside of Denton that could come and see us in their backyard. what could it hurt to just try it?

Oh, I don't know. I mean our recruiting is just stellar right now, so... Or we can still just keep doing the same thing over and over like we have, such as having no increase in the recruiting budget and just letting TX HS coaches and parents continue to look at us as a last resort...

Even more reason why we should play a scrimmage in one of these places. A Spring practice scrimmage in Frisco could be used as a nice recruiting tool at The Star, since our name in Frisco is growing for our campus there. But, again, I thought we should have done this at Toyota Stadium in the years past--or at Clark Stadium in Plano... Its just another way that we are still about 25% behind other FBS schools when it comes to athletics. I want to believe in Wren Baker and his staff, but I fear he's gonna be nothing more than another UNT BOR stooge. Some people here want to see more action, but maybe he's doing it behind the scenes to help make things better. But Im inherently skeptical of anything UNT athletics related to be anything bigger than it has been. The culture doesn't demand it here and in many spots within the UNT community, it's completely loathed and wanted to be stopped completely.

Dickey also didn't have to compete with UTSA or Texas State as Fbs teams back then. Thats 170 kids that are playing FBS on scholarship in Texas that weren't back in the Dickey days.

We have some fans that really don't want this thing to ever get bigger than it is. I give Tech tons of credit for moving a spring game/practice around to their alumni bases. This was a very smart move by them. Those recruits in Frisco and Plano and McKinney will enjoy this a lot. But, don't worry, our recruiting is so strong that we don't need stuff like this...I mean, we own Denton area recruits, right?

I said this years ago that we should hold a spring game in frisco. And we are in a sponsorship with the Cowboys for UNT and freaking Tech comes in and gets this done. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Tech-Spring-Football-Game-To-Be-Played-At-The-Star-412510803.html#ixzz4Xa7bPewc

I love how every truthful post about the state of the program gets a -1. Most of us think the post rating is ridiculous anyway.

All I'm saying is that until proven otherwise here, this place is not somewhere that recruits will come when offered by other comparable G5s. We are beating FCS schools for recruits. And it really hasn't mattered who was coach, where we played, or the conference we have played in since 1995. Simon, Dickey, Dodge, MCCarney, Littrell, Fouts Field, Appgee Stadium, Big West, SBC, or CUSA...always the same ranking between 90 and 125.

We go thru this exercise every year, yet we always are mad that the coach here cannot change our reputation amongst the Texas HS coaches and parents overnight. We have sucked something fierce for the better part of 22 years as a FBS team again. We have 4 winning seasons in that timeframe. Our biggest wins in the last decade of play are beating Indiana, UNLV in the HoD Bowl and beating Army this past year. IOW, that doesn't move the needle around here at all. Since 2007, in the last 10 years, the FBS teams we have beaten are as follows: ULM twice, WKU 4x, Ball State twice, FAU 4x, MUTS twice, Indiana, Troy, ULL, South Alabama, Idaho, La Tech, USM twice, Rice twice, UTEP, Tulsa, UNLV, SMU, FIU, UTSA, Marshall, and Army. Against the teams we recruit against in CUSA West, we are 7-15 in the last decade, including Rice who we are 2-4 against, as well as UTEP, who we are 1-3 against in that timeframe, and they both finished below us in the recruiting rankings. Those results aren't making many kids with other FBS offers to choose us over them. And the schedule we play here doesn't give any of them any reason to give us some extra thought when compared to other regional G5s.

As college coaches, they are in different universes. But Dodge, alone, got us Giovanni Vizza from Alamo Heights (San Antonio's version of Southlake Carroll) when he got hired here, as he switched over from Nevada to us. He also got us kids from SLC, who quickly realized that we had worse facilities and support than they had in HS at SLC. But make no mistake, Dodge's reputation opened those doors by himself when he got here. To me, Kiffin's reputation gets him in front of talent in Florida and the Southeast that his predecessors couldn't do, but if he sucks as a head coach there, they will leave, just like our kids did when they realized how bad things were here under Dodge. OTOH, if he has a winning season this year, and someone higher up the foodchain calls, he will be gone, ala Bobby Petrino. They are both cut from the same cloth...

Last year, Frank Wilson took over for UTSA rather late in the recruiting season. Just sayin'...that's why they finished 11th last year. People know who Lane Kiffin is--not the same, but when we hired Dodge, his name created serious buzz and we got some really solid HS talent here. But Dodge sucked, so it didn't really matter and didn't last. Kiffin may very well be the same, plus he may be gone quickly if he does have a winning team--that dude has no loyalty to anyone but himself. FIU, with Davis, has ALOT more upside than FAU does, IMO.

Seriously, the WRs we had here were recruited to play in McCarney's archaic offense. I mean they might have thrown downfield more than 10 yards about 5 times a game. Andrew McNulty and Josh Greer threw bubble screens and two yard throws to the tight end when not handing the ball off. Those receivers that are still here are either going to improve after last season's indoctrination into a modern offensive scheme or they will be easily replaceable by WRs who actually played in the spread in HS. The disappointment was that the OL, which was supposed to be Mac's MO for developing, has been subpar or worse for 3 years now.

That's not gonna change our reputation with TX HS Coaches and parents. Only winning will do that, just like it did with Johnny Jones. Seth Littrell is basically a no-name to a lot of people in this state. He's going to need time to build this thing into something that recruits will be interested in. If you are a kid in Texas playing HS Football and you can choose between playing at UNT and our schedule, which features OOC home games against SMU, Army, and FCS spares, or UTSA, which features games against P5s and other notable G5 opponents in OOC play every year, the choice isn't gonna go our way very often. Plus, UTSA's coaches can easily sell kids on the possibility of being able to move up the conference ladder before we ever will, just because of their TV market not being shared with anyone else. Now, when we compare ourselves against UTEP or Texas State, that's a different story--we shouldn't ever lose a recruiting battle against either of those schools, because of remoteness for UTEP and conference affiliation without any major achievements for Texas State. People have got to stop getting pissed about UTSA zooming by us. What were they supposed to do? Not hire smartly or take advantage of their location? I mean, seriously, give UTSA decades of suckitude like we have seen, then we can start asking why they are still killing us in recruiting. They have played at home since moving into CUSA, Oklahoma State, Houston, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas State, Colorado State, and Arizona State. In the next 2 years, they will host UH (again) and Baylor. That's 5 P5s and 3 high G5s at their place since 2013. In that same span, we have played in Denton these OOC powerhouses: Idaho, Ball State, SMU, Nicholls State, Portland State, SMU (again), and Butt Cookman, with games to follow in the next 2 years at home in Denton for OOC games to be Army, Lamar, SMU (again), and Incarnate Word. Don't forget even future games scheduled at home to include Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, and Rhode Island, which means we have scheduled for games in Denton for fans and recruits to consider attending: 0 P5s, 2 G5s that most would consider above us in SMU and Army, 2 low level G5s in Idaho and Ball State, and 8 FCS opponents. To put it another way, if you are talking to a recruit today that is considering us or UTSA, he can look at the same conference games, but gets to play UH, Baylor, Texas State, and whoever else they schedule to play in San Antonio in a climate controlled atmosphere ot he can come here and play CUSA games, plus games outdoors against SMU, Army, and a whole plethora of FCS spares. I don't care how much it stings or how many negative 1s I get, its the truth...they have major advantages that we don't have, whether its because of their location and history or because of our location and history.

Pretty much--they are eerily similar.

Worst coach--Benford--had a tournament team in talent and completely wasted it...plus he earns bonus points for losing to Alabama-Huntsville. Worst Loss--Trilli team lost a heartbreaker at Maryland by 75 points Worst Season--Jimmy Gales last season was god awful and he knew wasn't getting his contract renewed, so everyone basically quit.

RV was the perfect guy for the BOR for a decade...he came in under budget, never caused a stink publically, and he glad-handed the BOR on a regular basis. Then, after hiring Todd Dodge, Dodge started losing badly, but he also kept reminding everyone that he was promised a new stadium. That stadium, due to the leadership of UNTFlyer, miraculously passed and the fee was set up, albeit at the much lower rate than others were charging in the state at public G5 schools. Then, RV, sensing the need for more insulation, with all of the colossal losing going on, got 17 people to pay for stuff and keep him protected. And it worked, until Portland State showed up and massacred us. The 17 bought out MCCarney immediately, but also began the process of tying the rope that would go over RV's neck. He swindled this place for years and was extended by that BOR for absolutely no other reason than staying in budget. These numbers aren't surprising. He couldn't fundraise, he couldn't hire good coaches for revenue sports, and he couldn't schedule for crap. At any other place in America, he would have been there as the AD for 3-4 years, tops. But here, he got 12. And it's damn near amazing that he isn't still here now--it's the FIRST time that I've seen this place put some effort toward athletics and I've only been around here since 1990...

The hardest part about finding defensive front seven players that can play is that Texas HS has gone to being very soft because of the spread and this fascination with 7 on 7. That's as big a reason as any as to why Texas college football is in terrible shape.