untjim1995

That's why I have been saying that he will go away before anything close to what he wants to happen will ever happen...just like the rest of the folks who leave here, the results beat them down, they want us to be like Texas or A&M or Tech or wherever their buddies went to school, and they clamor loudly for things to change ASAP. Then they finally realize that they are howling at the moon here and that they are gonna join their buddies as new "life-long" t-shirt fans of UT, OU, Arkansas, etc... Lather, rinse, repeat...

No doubt that Dickey did more with less than anyone at this university since we went back up to I-A in 1995. Also there is no doubt that Dickey had a ceiling because he was a bland coach with a vanilla gameplan who didn't connect well with people. The best he could ever do was that 2003 team that was a very solid team that finished 9-4. That's was why he never even got a sniff at any other school up the foodchain--like it or not, the SBC was looked at so lowly that nobody even believed that huge conference winning streak was that impressive outside of Denton. In my opinion, Simon, Dickey, Dodge, and McCarney all continue to prove this point--we haven't found the guy at UNT that can transform this thing into a winner since we moved up to FBS because we haven't found the right combination of great recruiter and great gameplanner. Simon had a little of both, but he was paranoid. Dickey had a few recruiting gems, but his gameplan only worked against teams that were less physical than us. And Dodge recruited skill players well, but his x's and o's were nowhere near a FBS level. And now we have Mac, who runs an archaic offense that no one wants to play in or watch, that is laso dependent on the opponent being physically worse than his team. None of them have been what we need. And that goes back to the AD who hires them and the BOR who keeps that AD around and the funding they provide.

This seems very appropriate--it seems to be exactly what the university continues to tell us about their views of athletics here...

+ 1 billion When the MFers start getting thrown out at the fans and if Chico keeps his job after getting into a fight in the stands with an alum, then we will know that the end is near for Mac...this will be followed by Hutch Black Jersey Night at the last game of the season in 2017, as well as a few stolen TVs from the athletic department, too And RV will still be the AD...

TTG, what a great time to come back for tailgating!! With this marquee opponent and their thousands of fans that will be here, along with it being Homecoming in Denton and the tens of thousands of fans that will be back for this great event, I can only hope that you'll be able to squeeze into your spot in the parking lot, as well as your seats inside the stadium... Or the complete opposite of this scenario--its one of the two...

The university's leadership and the mindset of the city of Denton did this to us. Football and athletics at UNT are viewed as a detriment to the institution by the clear majority. The citizens don't want to pay for anything UNT related, nor support it in anyway beyond a minimal level of support. The administration and faculty don't help with any of this, either, so you have a strong majority of students who have absolutely no interest in following UNT Athletics, while in many cases, they absolutely loathe it. This kids graduate, never to come back again. Then, you have the biggest issue of all that comes from the university's pathetic view of athletics, particularly in football. All that Texas HS coaches and parents know about UNT is that we let our program drop down to 1-aa for 12 years and never had anything close to the success at that level that Sam Houston or SFA have had, so we weren't even winners at that level. Then, they watched us move up 20 years ago but see that we are bought by the teams they follow as a guinea pig for games like this past Saturday. Sure, we get the occasional recruit that was highly sought from somewhere else higher on the FBS totem pole or we get the occasional player that becomes a free agent success in the NFL, but by and large, we don't make any in-roads at all to get a decent recruiting class here. The coaches here have to sell recruits' harder about what we can do than other schools in the state and region, but when the losing sets in, that sell becomes damn near impossible, especially when you run an offense that the parents and coaches of recruits thought was boring in the 80's and 90's. So then we get to keep the same losing coaches and ADs on staff for years beyond their usefulness, all because we won't try to f-ing reset the whole thing. Right now, today, it would take at least $1 million to buy out RV, $2 million to buy out McCarney, and $325k to buy out Benford. Them, you've got to pay for a new AD, new head football coach, and a new mens basketball coach, which even at a typical UNT-cheap rate, will still cost you $1 million to start over, but in reality needs to cost closer to $2 million to get the right leadership in here. That's what Smatresk needs if he really isn't just giving lip service to this mess--$5 million dollars to reset and start over. At almost every other university that is above a SBC or MAC school, its my belief that would be done. But I don't believe that there is a prayer of this happening. I truly believe that Chico will get fired in 2015, Benford will get fired in 2016, and Mac will get replaced in after/during the 2017 season--and that RV will still be here as the AD to replace them. He has too many friends in high places at UNT and with the dozen big money donors here. Its the MO of this place--always has been, always will be. And we will continue to send our alumni off to be t-shirt fans of college programs that don't need any extra support, but will gladly take it (see Texas, A&M, Tech, OU, etc..)--and the BOR won't care one bit...

This. He isn't going anywhere after this year or after next year. Whether we have the funds or not, this school isn't doing a 180 on their view of revenue athletics. Look no further than the Super Pit and Tony Benford's stellar time here at UNT, where attendance has dropped over 50% because we can't even get to .500 with a dumbed down schedule. And we won't buyout a contract that would cost us an extra $325k to get rid of him before the 4th year of a 5-year contract. Very much like Todd Dodge got 4 years here, too. Mac ain't going anywhere. RV probably isn't, either.

I told everyone that SMU would win 1-2 games this year at the most...Morris might end up being a cood coach there, but he has no talent to speak of. Beating us right now is like Bennett beating us in 2007--we will probably be their only win of the season. James Madison would beat us by 3 TDs. Portland State might, too.

#UNTADforlife

Tulsa stayed independent and did just fine. We failed after The SWC dream died because we literally gave up. I-AA was pure give-up.

Thank goodness we get to watch this offense for a few more seasons... RV--you've certainly earned yet another rubber stamped BOR extension!!

Its not at all--as I am learning, the College of Music really is the very best part of the university. As I was driving to my office today, I saw the UNT billboard on I-35 in Carrollton that listed Denton as one of Forbes' best college towns, with a photo of some of our musicians playing guitars. That is how you show off the area of the university that excels and is the best of its kind in the entire region. The detriment to the school is that the alumni and students don't care to follow UNT Sports at any decent level. Whether that's more on the BOR, administration, the faculty, the AD, or the city, its all combined to create a culture of pure apathy. That's your detriment.

You know, that might be the best suggestion we could make at this point. Imagine him being able to go out and connect with the alumni and businesses to raise funds? You don't have to buy his contract out, but you instead you buy out RV. Then you go hire a new head coach--he probably won't get paid anywhere close to what Mac gets paid, especially with the buyout of RV, but that could still be ok if you got a rising FCS head coach that would love the opportunity to move upward. Mac would probably be a pretty damn good AD--he knows how to glad-hand, motivate, and, is good at PR.ANd, evne better, he would never have to recruit again or run his 1970 offensive scheme anymore.

Sadly, a six-pack should do the trick...

When most people think of Houston, the following thoughts come to mind: humidity, mosquitoes, dirty, fattest city in America, and swampy... The most cultured big cities in the state are Ft. Worth and San Antonio...

That's what I'd say about a kid I didn't recruit who was from my home town and knew my family but I still knew couldn't play a down of FBS football at any school in America...except one, apparently.

Well, we do have a great music and arts school, educate teachers very well, and have low cost tuition compared to other schools. Focus on those and it will make the athletics part less painful--at least that is what I've decided to try and do. If you cannot beat 'em, join 'em...its been pretty eye-opening to see how awesome our music program is, in terms of ranking and prestige. Its everything we wished our football and basketball teams were. I never imagined I'd ever type that, but its what the BOR and RV have led me to do if I want to feel some sort of pride and connection to our alma mater. I really don't want to join the 98% of UNT alumni who never even try to connect with the university again. I always thought athletics was the way to avoid that trap, but instead, I'm realizing I have to go the school's strength and its primary window of interest to feel that connection. After 25 years of waiting, I realized it wasn't going to ever happen with athletics.

I do...it was a late November home game in front of about 12,000 fans when the starting QB was so ineffective that the head coach basically ordered every offensive play in the 4th quarter to be a run, just so the starter wouldn't throw another devastating interception against one of the worst FBS teams in the country. Thank God the head coach decided to make serious changes at QB to avoid something like this happening again...oh wait...

In other news, we need oxygen to breathe...

Don't brag about stealing candy from a baby--its kinda like CougarQueen coming on here and scoreboarding North Texas-- that curb you just leaped over is still about 3" of the ground...

America's future is bright!!

I can assure all of you that if you want us to get crushed this season just to see Mac get fired, you'd be better off to just find another team to root for. Mac can go 0-12 this year and he isn't getting fired. It would take him winning less than 2 games in 2016 to even possibly get fired. Don't spend your time rooting against your alma mater...

Exactly--on all points. RV served a nice purpose here--getting the MGC going, setting up tailgating, talking up the university's teams...all of those done in his early years here were just brilliant. Whether it was Helwig, Dr. Hurley, or any other leader you want to point to before RV was here, all we got served was a $hit sandwich. That I-aa fiasco haunts us till, but coming back from it was no smooth ride, either. To put lipstick on a pig by adding 10k aluminum seats that were a mile away from the field in 1994 and having no budget so scheduling every away $$$ game you could was never going to work toward creating a winner. So when RV got here, he looked at it all and basically made us believe we could get things going in the right direction. And with Dickey's SBC run, and then JJ's turnaround in hoops, he had points where he showed competence as the AD. To everyone but the BOR and the big monied donors, that competence has completely gone. You get gifted a new stadium from the SGA's leadership, yet schedule WORSE than you did at Fouts. You hire a high school coach and let him bring in a mostly high school staff. You hire a woman's hoops coach because she had a great binder. You then hired a recruiter to be your head basketball coach with the roster that probably had the most talent we have ever had. And all three turned out to be the worst hires in each sport's history--Trilli may have something to do with that in hoops, but that's the company we are talking about. And, then, as soon as we get one good season in football, he extends that coach so far out that he won't be bought out by the BOR because it costs too much. And, amazingly, he isn't going anywhere--doesn't matter that the Super Pit sees 2000 people on a good night, that our football team plays some far-flung or little-known FCS teams in OOC every year, or that his winning percentage in the big three sports is .455 in 14+ years. He keeps getting extensions. #UNTADforlife

You've waited a long time to get this off your chest, haven't you?

Even if the Texas/OU game is at 11am, which I bet it will be, and if the weather is perfect outside, none of that will make more than a few UNT fans go, "Oh great!! Now that one of my favorite t-shirt teams' game is over, I can get to the riveting Homecoming game between 0-4 UNT and some school from Portland!!" I have never wasted a cent or a minute on a FCS opponent at Apogee and I won't start now, especially with the very real possibility that we could lose. If the AD won't make a better effort with scheduling in OOC play, especially for Homecoming, then we deserve to have a ton of empty seats--and I am certain that will be the case. I truly expect the SMU ticket counter technique to be used very effectively for this game and every other home game after it.