untjim1995

Not this year, we aren't. The QB is mediocre on his very best day. But the OL blocking for him is very inexperienced, the defensive front seven is still very undersized, and the special teams are not good. 2013 proved, just as 2002-2004 proved, that the only ways you win with the McDickney Offense is to have a killer defense and great special teams that complement the run-run-draw or throw bubble screen-punt offense. We don't have that even if Damarcus Smith became 100% of what you hoped he would be when he signed and showed up to fall camp. The overall developed talent on this team is just woeful, still. It very well could get much better in the years to come, hopefully, since that is the ONLY chance that this style of play has to succeed. If Damarcus Smith doesn't get to start and keep the #1 QB job at some point this season, I expect him to transfer. He will then know that his talents do not align at all with what the busdriver QB needs to do to succeed here, especially since Mac's offense is likely to get MORE CONSERVATIVE with the next OC he hires than what we currently have in Chico. That's why I believe that your next busdriver in 2016 is either Greer or Means, somebody who is going to run the offense the way Mac wants it run. And you can take a maximum of 3 or 4 wins to the bank with that style of offense next year if the defense isn't back to its 2013 level again. How fun will it be to see a program going into 2017 with a coach who can finally get replaced because he is deemed affordable to replace, coming off of three years that we probably won't combine for 10 wins? It will be just our luck that Mac will have another 2013 type season in 2017 and RV will extend him again...

Berglund and Dajon were head cases--either mental midgets or just too self-centered to lead a FBS program. That's why things fell the way they did for both of them. I don't know anything about Damarcus Smith, but it is very telling that he had to go the JUCO route, ended up agreeing to come here and play QB at a school that passes about 1/3rd of the time, of which most are within 5 yards of the LOS, and then couldn't qualify academically to get here until the fall camp. There is no way that a coach like Woody Hayes McCarney is going to turn over the reigns to a QB like that until he has earned his trust. And that trust is going to be even harder to earn when his style of play is like Dajon's, which epically failed in the Wing-T offense of 1970 that Mac demands to be run here. Unless we get an OC in here that is allowed to run an offense that is wide open, which should happen sometime around the 2018 season, we won't have one decent throwing QB on the roster. There hasn't been, nor will there be one decent QB from a Texas High School that will come here to play in this offense. Not one... Basically, all you can do is wait this out over this year and probably the two that follow...or walk away. That's what RV and the BOR have given to us as choices, since we extended Mac thru 2018 at $650k per year. Its just so perfectly North Texas for us to be in this spot right now.

I grew up in Ft. Worth, so I watched a TCU-North Texas State game at Amon Carter one day in 1984. TCU killed us, but next year we got our revenge and beat them. UNT never even registered with me until I went to the Homecoming Game in 1990 as an invited guest of the athletic department. I got a scholarship offer to be a student manager starting in 1991, just as Dennis Parker got hired. I worked my tail off for 5 football seasons at that place--seriously, the hours you spend up there getting everything ready for practices and games during the season easily tops 60 hours, probably more. I graduated in December of 1995, as we moved up to Division 1-A again, feeling like we would be a rising up-and-comer, especially after beating tech in 1997 in Lubbock and giving a game to the Aggies at Texas Stadium the next week. Then the wheels fell off from October of 1997 until October of 2001. Almost miraculously, Dickey pulled the team out of a gigantic funk and started pounding the SBC schools for the next 4 years. But after 2004, the wheels fell off and the entire chassis just blew up. I thought that with 2013s momentum, that we had restored the car, but it looks like the engine died again and we won't try and buy a new car, just keep hoping the oil leaks and transmission issues won't keep us from having to buy that new car until 2017. Since 1990, I've only known North Texas to treat athletics one way--whether you call it cheap, value-oriented, broke, or frugal, its all been the same. But its never been committed to winning. 25 years is a long time to watch your alma mater, no matter if they've been I-aa in the Southland, an independent in I-A, in the Big West, in the Sun Belt, or in CUSA, enjoy all of 5 winning seasons, 2 of which ended with bowl victories. I am not sure how much more energy I've got left--which just amazes me about the few fans who have stuck with us since the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Talk about not following the crowd--especially if you graduated in the 70s or 80s and watched the university basically crush the program into I-aa oblivion for a dozen years. We gripe about having about 2% of the fanbase coming from alumni since RV has been AD--imagine how few are fans from the alumni that graduated between 1979 -1995? It cannot exceed 1%, maybe not even .5%.

You could very well be right about TCU--they basically have the metroplex to sell, as well as their recent winning in football. Actually, they are probably the only private school that the Pac-12 would consider, just because it really isn't that overtly religious anymore, certainly less than BYU or Baylor, neither of whom will ever get included out west. I figure the Pac-12 has 4 slots left, the SEC has 2 slots left, the B1G has 2 slots left, and the ACC has either 1 or 2, depending on how you look at Notre Dame. I still think that Texas, OU, OSU, and Tech will go west at some point. Tech just has more political sway within Austin and they have been UT's buddy for a long time. I think KU will go north to the B1G and I think they will get another ACC team to move over--my guess is UVa. Then the SEC will poach Va Tech and NC State. The ACC will replace them with the following teams UConn, Cincy, and WVU, plus a basketball only type member like St. John's to get to 16 hoops teams and 14 football teams + ND. The leftovers will have to find their place in the G5s or in the realm of going independent to get Power Leagues to continue to play you as a peer, just like BYU has done.

Yeah, she has never understood that what kills them is being in Houston--the SEC and Big XII already have those markets covered. And when the Big XII goes away, the other conferences are going to use the Texas and Oklahoma Big XII schools to gain their entrance into the DFW and Houston markets. If the Big XII does expand, it will be to Cincy, Memphis, BYU, Boise State, CSU, UCF, or USF--markets that they can gain a foothold in that they don't overlap already. Its not gonna be Houston. UH has one hope for P5 status--that the Pac-12 expands east and they take them because they cannot get Texas to drop the LHN. Its possible, but not probable. Otherwise, they have very little hope. I suppose the ACC could expand, but they will look at Cincy, UConn, and WVU, to add to their league to replace anyone who might leave to go to the SEC or B1G. I still believe that you will see UH, SMU, TCU, Baylor, and anyone else that gets left behind by the Power Conferences to just go the BYU route and declare independence in football--they will play each other, as well as BYU, Notre Dame, Army, and other G5s and FCS teams. That way, they can still cling to the idea of getting into a playoff and being able to play power teams in their OOC schedules.

Todd Dodge won 5 games in three seasons--and was given a 4th season to still lead the team, since that would have required us to buy out an extra year of his contract that was worth $300k annually. He rewarded us by going 1-6 in his 4th year before getting fired. Dan McCarney can go 0-12 this year and he won't get fired. And my guess is that as long as he wins 2 or more games next year, he will be back for 2017. We will buy out one year of a contract--but to pay over $1.3 million to buy out two years of Mac's contract and then hire someone just isn't something the BOR will ever get on board with--like ever. The exact same thing has happened with Tony Benford--he hasn't had a winning season yet in his three years over at the Super Pit, yet he gets a 4th year because we wouldn't buy out an extra $325k that it would cost to buy him out after last season instead of during or after this upcoming year. It would take us winning only one game over the next two years for Mac to get replaced--and we would probably hire the absolute cheapest options available (again) to take over as head coach.

Oh, I agree...but I do think that UConn and Cincy will get in...

I think that they probably realize both of those schools will be P5 very soon. I totally understand BYU and Notre Dame, but Army is the one that makes no sense to me.

They allowed them because they have already been scheduled...

Iowa 45 UNT 6

And next year at Florida, as well...

That QB probably isn't on the roster right now for this offense. Next year will be very interesting. You'll have a senior in Greer, who couldn't play FBS football in his first season up here. You'll have Damarcus Smith, who will be a senior, but plays a style that doesn't even come close to fitting the offense Mac runs (see Woody Wilson/Dickey offense in 2006). You have Connor Means, who hasn't made much progress in his time here yet, but fits the busdriver qualifications perfectly for Mac. And whoever else is on the roster that cannot seem to make a dent on the depth chart. I don't know who the JUCO QB will be that we will target for our next class, but most likely, he will be behind Greer or Means for next season. I actually expect D. Smith to transfer, just like Dajon did. His game would be perfect at a school that has a wide-open offensive attack--that style will NEVER be played here under Mac. I do know this--we aren't getting any Texas HS QB to come here that can throw the ball--they refuse to come here for obvious reasons. Maybe a QB from another state, ala Minimac again, but not one from Texas, unless they are in the 5% of the high schools that don't run a spread offense.

I don't know that I agree with the statement that is in bold. If they did, that would mean winning in football becomes the expectation. I do agree on everything else you posted, but that point doesn't really seem that true, to me anyway. If it did, RV would be gone--for all of the losing, even with a new coach, new stadium, and a new conference with more bowl tie-ins. Mac's ridiculous extension would be the final nail in the nail in RV's AD coffin--just because he gave out an extension that is not reasonable to be bought out without a substantial change and/or hit to the budget. Your point on basketball is exactly right--and for the exact same reason as I listed above about RV and Mac. RV gave Benford a 5-year deal that was deemed too expensive to be bought out at any point before this season, despite three non-winning seasons, including one with the most talented team in our school's history that lost to a Division II team. In college sports, you have two ways to lead an athletic department--to expect winning or to expect a balanced budget. No one in the country will out value our leadership, which explains how we view athletics. To expect a bowl team with that mindset--not to spend more than budgeted, certainly not to buy out more than a year on the contract of an underperforming coach--seems like a contradiction.

This is what you will see...they don't care enough to cause change with RV. This is proven by the fact that the Super Pit is less than half full from where it was in 2011 under JJ. Say its all about football then--that last game of the season this year will not have 1000 butts in seats, even if they announce that 5000+ is the official attendance. These half dozen to dozen donors love having RV's cell phone number and getting preferred treatment, like its some big deal to brag about having close relationships with the AD at UNT, to flaunt that to their Aggie, Longhorn, and Red Raider buddies, even though if they weren't UNT alumni, they wouldn't even get to meet with the ADs at those places on any regular basis. Match that with a BOR that is full of non-UNT grads, of which they traditionally have not helped athletics anywhere near what other universities' boards of regents do, as well as a chancellor that wants to bolster UNT-Dallas, you get what we have. I know this much, even if Neal Smatresk cares enough about winning in revenue sports that he wants to make changes in the athletic department, he's still got a fierce battle ahead of him with the two groups above. To be honest, even with all my hope resting on the possibility that Smatreesk wants to win, at best those odds seem no better than 50/50 at this point--and that might be optimistic. It will be such a sad day to walk away from this place if it comes to that. Its why I am trying to learn more about the great music department we have, to find a way to feel connected still to my alma mater. But I admit its hard--I don't know much about music, nor has it ever been high on my list. But it is what we are great at--I want to be associated with that. It gets reinforced by my buddies from A&M, UT, OU, and Tech that always tell me that if they had to play us in a marching band concert, they would get crushed. Before, I always looked at this as a negative, but now, I want it to be a positive--because it is greatness and that needs to be celebrated. It may be where my support goes to if it comes down to Benford keeping his job after this next season ends without a berth in the NCAAs or NIT, most likely because RV gets him an extension.

If Resilience = stubbornness, then yes, this is dead-on, especially offensively...which he is resilient in sticking to, despite nobody worth a damn that wants to come play QB here.

At this point, #hitanythingabovezero would seem more appropriate. Its just amazing hoe bad we are right now, on both sides of the ball. I pointed it out yesterday, but for those of you who think recruiting rankings are overrated, they might be on the player level, but they usually tell a different story from a team perspective. You cannot have three classes in a row get ranked in the 100s, including the one in 2014 that was dead-ass last, and not think its gonna make a difference in your team's performance. You can only coach up unrated and 1* kids so much--and it usually takes years until those kids even have a chance at being contributors. I really thought Mac's positivity and motivating style would rub off on recruits and their coaches in this state faster than it has. Last year, the class ranked 90th out of 129, so that's a huge improvement and it might be that class that will help us to turn things around again, but that cannot be expected to happen until those kids have been in the program for at least two years. That's why I truly believe 2017 is the earliest we can expect to see any improvement in our record, which will also just perfectly coincide with Mac's make-it-or-break-it year on his current contract. After typing this, I think the best hashtag that I feel sums my feelings up perfectly is this: #hitmeintheface

To many, the modern age of college football started in the 80s--more passing, more television, fewer scholarships, etc...when that was happening, we were playing games against Northwestern State and McNeese State at Fouts Field in the Southland Conference. I will never forget seeing what amount to about 150 people, including the band, for a November night game against Nicholls State in 1992--I've always felt that was the low point for our program. To host a game in front of 150 people (in a toilet of a stadium) that includes your band, as you are aiming to win your 3rd game of the season in mid November is all I have to look back at to realize that things in Denton are better. Granted, that was also 23 years ago, but to watch us play in CUSA with UTEP, Rice, La Tech, and Southern Miss and have Apogee as our stadium are both reminders of just how far we have come. To put that in perspective, if we made the same type of jump in the next 23 years, we would play in a P5 conference (or whatever it will be then) that includes even more SWC schools and have a stadium that seats about 50k.

At the beginning of the year, I thought we would go 4-8, with wins at SMU and over Portland State, UTSA, and UTEP at home. Today, I truly believe we are going to go 1-11, maybe 2-10 if UTEP just doesn't care in that last game at Apogee on the weekend after Thanksgiving, in front of about 500 people. But that is 50/50 at best. I full am prepared to continue watching UTSA make us their bitch and I have no reason to believe that we are going to beat Southern Miss on the road. Everyone else is basically like Rice--just flat out better than we are, in some cases by a lot. Iowa will kill us this weekend, but that was always to be expected. After that, we play at USM, where I see a loss like the one at SMU. We beat Portlandia on Homecoming in a thriller. Then get clobbered by WKU and Marshall. UTSA comes in and wins a close one, where we give it away in the second half. Then we get crushed at La Tech, Tennessee (epic loss), and MUTS. Then come home for that 50/50 game in front of hundreds of fans against the Miners. Thanks RV!! Lord knows this talented bunch didn't need a bye week during the season and only 5 games at home!! I am just so glad you opened up tailgating all those years ago!!

There is no way--none, zilch, nada--that we are paying over $2 million dollars to buy out McCarney after this year, even if he goes 0-12. I might be persuaded to believe that after a dismal 2016, he might could be bought out for $1.3 million, but even then that is extremely doubtful. And that doesn't matter if RV is gone or not. There is NO WAY the BOR is gonna ok a buyout of that magnitude. To believe anything otherwise is to place your faith in the Easter Bunny... If you think that was about RV getting bought out--he is owed three years at $375k. His best friends here are those who pay the big figures to the AD. They aren't ponying up for a buyout of a guy who has just transformed their world by --gasp!!--opening up tailgating!! Maybe in early 2017, but not before. In an acceptable world to me, considering our financial lack of commitment, I'd say that this is the best sequence of events: 2015--we hired an alum to turn around the abortion that is UNT Womens Hoops 2016--we dump RV and hire an AD from a place that has raised funds and won at a G5 university that has dealt with being in the shadows of P5s. Then we fire Benford and hire an actual experienced head coach to take over the Dumpster Fire that is our mens' hoops program 2017--The new AD fires McCarney and replaces him with a young up-and-comer in the coaching ranks

I am a financial advisor myself, so I don't recommend rash moves in the stock market. however, I do look at performance over a full business cycle or two, which is usually a 5-7 year term. I'm looking at two to three business cycles here for the AD--if he were a mutual fund, I'd have recommended a sell a long time ago...because this manager would have easily been in the bottom decile compared to his peers. You can recommend buying more 1-star holdings because you believe in the money manager. But most people are going to keep it in cash until they see the changes they want to see, or even worse (which is precisely what has happened), they walk away and give their funds to another money manager, usually one that is so big that they aren't even feeling any sort of personal connection, just because it isn't losing...

So I'm pretty much going all in on the idea that Neal Smatresk is our only hope to get things changed at the athletic department, from the AD on down. So my question is this: What if the BOR won't pay to get rid of RV, even if Smatresk wants him gone? That means RV gets to choose if Benford stays or goes, as well as who his replacement will be. It also means that McCarney's seat doesn't get hot until the end of 2016. What will your line in the sand be for stepping back from following the program as closely as you do right now? I'm gonna draw this line in the sand. There is not much that can be done about Mac's situation because of that ridiculous extension that runs thru 2018. But if Tony Benford gets to coach one day at the Super Pit after this upcoming season, assuming that we don't end up in the NCAAs or NIT, I am out until RV is gone. The man may get rave reviews from the half dozen big monied donors around here, as well as the BOR, but his hires have been just atrocious in the three revenue sports. How you can be this bad in basketball and football, while sitting in the freaking Metroplex and playing in the Super Pit and Apogee just defies logic...

We will get paid...

I don't live in SA, but the Alamo seems appropriate...

In Mac's mind, he doesn't have to focus on any of this--he knows he isn't going anywhere soon.

This was so clear at the end of last year, during the spring, and during fall camp. Nothing about McNulty being named the starter, being compared to Derek Thompson, and having unwavering support from Mac surprises me at all. I felt sorry for all of you who believed otherwise, especially those of you who convinced yourself that Damarcus Smith was gonna come save the day. Instead, he is buried behind Greer on the depth chart. Once Smith couldn't get eligibility in the spring, his chances were done to become the starter here, barring injury. McCarney wants the busdriver, especially one that has been loyal to him. And Mac knows that there's absolutely nothing that will be done about it. The knee-jerk 5-year extension from the #UNTADforlife made it this way...