untjim1995

​It certainly isn't their job at all. But if you think they have helped our athletic department more than they have hurt us, then I don't know what to say...there have been so many threads on gmg.com over the years dealing with this exact topic. As a matter of fact, Harry posted on this, knowing full well that the kid will have a negative impact on the athletic department by working at the NT Daily. And the Athletic Director's job at most places is to win, not meet the budget every year, so this is example 678,456,345,123 of how we are different than everywhere else in FBS America...

​And your response was also very witty--of course, you integrity-filled journalists are known for that kind of stuff...it certainly isn't to be divisive and fear-mongering to get readers and viewers the next day at all...very high-minded, for sure. Thank you NT Daily for all you have done to help our Athletics Program soar to the heights it has reached right now!! There's no telling where we would be without that cutting edge "reporting" that we have all enjoyed/endured over the decades.

​I grew up in Ft. Worth, so I ahve a great appreciation for where TCU has come from after the SWC split. It just amazes me how united they got withthe City of Ft. Worth to market them as the hometown team and how well the Ft Worth Star-Telegram covered them as the hometown team. Yes, they have money--so does SMU. TCU did something that I think we all look back on and realize was genius. When the big XII took Tech, Baylor, UT, and A&M and left the others behind, TCU went with SMU and Rice to the old WAC--and struggled mightily until Franchione got hired. Once he turned them around and they started moving up the rankings, they almost immediately decided that they could use this as a way to get away from SMU and leave them pemanently in the dust by joining conferences ahead of them. Not only did that work out for them in-state, it totally increased their talent pool against their non-Texas peers in the first CUSA, then the MWC. Now, today, they parlayed that into a seat at the Big Boys Table for a while--and for their sake, I hope it keeps them there for a long time. I have always felt that TCU gave us the blueprint to turn things completely around in Denton, but it takes money and vision, of which we have a severe shortage when it comes to college athletics.

​Drex just hit a moonshot out of the park...

​Well, I think its a great shame that you think the NT Daily is anything worth being proud of...

​Oh, I agree with you on your QB assessment for sure. But my point is that the absolute worst Texas offensive team I have seen from them since the SWC days still scored 38 points on us. As you mentioned, even with a better QB, against their worst squad in years, we still probably would have lost by a few TDs. I just like the idea that if you are going to play a bodybag game, play it against a team not from anywhere close to here, preferably in the B1G or the Pac-12 or ACC. Get away from playing all the local P5 giants, like Texas, A&M, OU, LSU, Arkansas, and Alabama, all of whom have plenty of alumni and t-shirt fans in the area already. An ass-kicking by Michigan or Washington is still better than to get seal-clubbed by one of the Big XII/SEC giants that are close to the state. And as we watched with TCU, a team of Texans competes real well with kids from the north, west, and midwest if they are coached well...

​Dude--I never said anything about UNT being higher on the totem pole than you guys. Your money, your history, and your location will always keep you above us until you give up football. Texas Tech is playing a regional rival they have played many times before in UTEP. UK wanted a regional opponent with a good name that happens to be way down compared to where they used to be (which is why UK is scheduling them now). No idea why Miss State would play UMass, except for it being an easy team to beat in OOC play before the SEC gauntlet gets going. That doesn't even compare to G5 SMU playing a series with G5 Arkansas State in a home-and-home. We hosted a P5 team at Apogee in 2011. We also hosted the worst FBS team in the country last year that thinks they are a P5, but in reality are just like the rest of us in the G5. And we beat that pile of crap 43-6, only because they scored a Hail Mary TD on the last play of the game not to get shutout. And we finished 4-8. And that team that sucked donkey balls last year has no measurably better talent this year on their roster. Maybe they will soon, since they are paying millions for an unproven coordiantor to be a head coach for the first time. But my guess is that Chad Morris is going to turn out to be nothing more than the offensive version of Phil Bennett. We don't like you people from SMU. You kept us of the SWC, which led to us basically giving up on Division 1 football for 12 freaking years. We survived this, barely, to move back up to Division 1, only to find out that yall wouldnt play us, even though we played you guys three times after your Death penalty ended to give you help again. When we finally start building our program into something kind of decent, you make sure that your conference (CUSA) won't offer us an invite, but instead you announce you're throwing your support to poduck Louisiana Tech--I guess you really felt like the Shreveport-Monroe market was going to be a coup for your conference. So that keeps us in the sad-sack SBC for more years to damn near die on the vine. And only because the old Big East invited yall to join them did we get in CUSA. We have a right to be bitter at you a-holes for your contempt and your egotistical views of our school. You've only played us when its in your best interest, not ours. And not a soul on here will be surprised if we keep beating you guys in the coming years to see some rich old millionaires of yours buyout the deal, since that's alwasy been your solution to everything--buy it or pay for it, legal or not, ethical or not. And a final note--you guys aren't getting invited to any P5 league. Ever...The pre-death penalty in the SWC was your high point on the totem pole. You ain't getting back there ever again. The NCAA drop kicked you guys down, permanently. No Big XII, no SEC, no Pac-12, no B1G, and no ACC. You may be higher than us on the totem pole, so congratulations--you managed to stay above a place that generally disdains athletics and loves music and arts. What an unbelievable achievement, Ponies!! The next thing we know, you'll also celebrate having more money than homeless people, too...

The problem with playing Texas or A&M is that they are the two big schools in the state and they just beat the snot out of you ever having anything to look forward to after the physical and mental beating they apply. Texas beat us badly last year--in a season where the best wins they had were over West Virginia and Okie State, as they finished 6-7 with a whopping 59 yards of offense in their bowl loss to Arkansas. And that loss completely took all the positive air out of the bubble we had going after the HoD Bowl. It was just same ol' UNT again. And we went on to beat three dregs of FBS and a team in FCS that Denton Guyer would have pounded, while losing to every other FBS team on our schedule. But we got track and field, soccer, volleyball, softball, golf, and cross country paid for by those generous and thoughtful Longhorns in Austin!!

​FIFY RV and UNT are just lazy when it comes to this stuff. Seriously, it is so easy to find a SEC or Big XII team to pay for our non-revenue sports. They are paying out huge money for one game to cover all of this. I always complain that all that matters at UNT in regards to athletics is "known costs". In this case, its "known revenue". Lazy and a complete lack of desire to win, just pay the bills to keep the athletic department from running under budget in a simple fashion. But its never going away here--ever. RV publicly advocates this position. He will then buy a FCS game to give us 6 home games or if times are tough, he will find another bodybag game, just like this year and just like in 2012. Honestly, if we are this desperate for funding, I'd rather play two bodybag games like we are this year if it means never playing another ridiculous FCS team, yet in both cases of 2012 and 2015, the only OOC game we get is an FCS opponent. Just once, try to abandon the bodybag game and the FCS game in a couple of seasons and see what happens. If we are in the red, then go back to what is easy to do. But just try it--this crazy term called "opportunity cost" is just sitting here waiting to be tested. Hell, if it doesn't work and we cannot get people out for games against FBS teams only, then we all will finally know that higher-level college football just isn't what UNT's family even cares to find interest in and we can start looking at what needs to be done to drop down again. This current methodology of staying in budget as the main goal of the AD is unsustainable for two reasons--the P5s will finally pull away completely and not play anyone else anymore and it just perpetuates the fact that UNT isn't worth following closely because we don't care about winning. And we wonder why so many UNT students and alumni are fans of the schools that buy us for the pleasure...

​I think Dodge's offense--as was his entire approach to his tenure here--was just o high schoolish. From handing off in the shotgun 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 1 or by using timeouts frivolously, he was in over his head against legitimate FBS competition. His staff was not seasoned at all for the college game when he first got here, then the marijuana testing that got rid of a ton of players just confirmed that he felt like the same approach at Southlake Carroll would work here. Obviously, 6-37 and 4 years later, we saw the results. But that offense got kids here that would never dream of setting foot on the UNT campus before or today. I am not a huge advocate of the spread, it just seems that way because the 3 yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense went out of vogue in most Texas High Schools about 10 or more years ago. In true UNT fashion, we failed at the spread offense because we had a high school coach running it. So we go back to the incredibly exciting Dickey Ball that got us 4 SBC Championships and now has a HoD Bowl Championship to its credit--yet we get a similar amount of people to support the program in attendance and in dollars that we saw in 2001 (see Cerebus' report on MGC members, season ticket holder drop, and attendance figures that are in-line with any other SBCUSA game of the past 14 years.) We recruit against SMU, Tulsa, Rice, La Tech, ULM, ULL, Arky State, UTEP, UTSA, and Texas State for the most part--almost every one of those teams brings about exciting QB-driven offenses. No wonder they beat us for good QBs and that we have to go after grade-risks. We run an offense that Odus Mitchell ran... Here's my dream for UNT Athletics. Neal Smaetresk gets complete control from the BOR to take care of athletics the way he wants, within decent reason. He demands a winner in revenue sports. He tells them he wants to be able to buyout contracts when he thinks they need to be done, hire someone that can be compensated like the schools in the AAC or MWC, then hires experienced college coaches that have gameplans that look normal in today's game, not that of 1985 or earlier. Then, finally, he gets decent OOC games here to serve as litmus tests for the program. I figure that costs the university about $5 million, maybe more, to get this all going and running continuously in the first few years. But it would be looked at as an investment, not as a cost. If that investment pays off, the whole university feels the payday. And then I wake up and realize its just a dream.

I mentioned this the other day, but from the few coaches that I do know, they actually like Mac. They think his staff tries harder than anyone UNT has brought around ever, they like his positivity about coaching, and they think he is a decent man. They just don't like his offense--they thensleves call it boring and outdated. Kids love the spread in Texas. Has that hurt the specialty of tackling at the high school and college leves? Absolutely. And not running the spread, but pounding the ball down your throat 75% of the time does have appeal to the few RBs that get to run in that offense, as well as linemen. But the problem is that it has zero appeal to a throwing QB. So unless your defense just kicks ass and collects names and your special teams is just great, the offense that Woody Hayes ran just doesn't really move the needle much, especially at a place like UNT, where recruiting has generally sucked anyway because of the losing and the apathy associated with our history in the last 35 years. Our only hope, IMHO, is that we build up our lines to get back to a 2013 level again, find a workhorse back and a bus driver QB that can actually throw downfield a few times a game to guys on our team, and then get hard hitting LBs and DBs to create turnovers, as well as a great return game. That recipe got us a 9-win, HoD Bowl Champion season. The only problem I see is that we are probably looking at 2016 at the earliest for this to occur, more likely 2017. Until then, its gonna be rough around here--like ever year around since 2005, sans 2013.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...read above's OP to see if you think Mac's name could get changed out for the offensive gameplan we use. Only differences I can see between these two are that Mac has fire in his belly and can actually talk to people in a motivating fashion. Dickey was as dull as dishwater...

Look, Army and SMU are fine opponents, but why couldn't we schedule Kentucky, too? You know, since teams like them were specifically mentioned as opponents that Apogee would be able to bring into Denton. It doesn't have to be an either/or, people. Playing Kentucky is just a bit better than the following OOC opponents that Apogee has hosted, since it is brand new and can apparently handle the overflow crowds that come to Denton to watch Texas Southern, Idaho, Nicholls State, Portland State, Incarnate Word, Lamar, and Abilene Christian. I've always thought SMU and Army are fine ooc opponents to schedule a series with, but not if they are treated as the Big Game on the schedule. Army is a great historical program and play in a wonderful venue, but we are playing them for one reason only--they have fans that will come here to watch them. Having SMU and Lamar as OOC opponents in a season at Apogee, or Army and Incarnate Word as home OOC games in a single season, are not good OOC schedules. They aren't and never will be--because SMU and Army should be the backup to that equaton, like it was in 2011 with UH and Indiana coming to town. SMU and UK or Army and BYU would be awesome OOC schedules. SMU and Ball State and Army and Colorado State would be solid OOC schedules. Playing a G5, of which Army is barely, and then playing an absolute dreg of FCS is what I expected from us while playing at Fouts in the SBC. Instead, we close out Fouts as a SBC member playing K-State and Rice in OOC, a year after playing Army and Ohio at Fouts in OOC, followed in previous years with OOC games against Tulsa, Navy, and SMU. Our OOC home schedule at Apogee as a CUSA member is WORSE than our OOC schedule was at Fouts as a SBC member. How in the freak can that even happen, much less be accepted by so many people around here. I won't waver on this--I will never set foot in Apogee when a FCS team is playing there. It takes up too much time and money for a game that Denton Ryan would serve as a better opponent. If that makes me a bad fan, sobeit. I can barely sell people to go watch us play our SBCUSA mates, often going by myself or with my small children. Even I cannot convince myself to give up those hours on a Saturday to watch us beat Nicholls State 77-3--and it just kills me when I read others post on here that so-and-so looked just awesome today against the FCS-dreg we played, knwoing full well that the next G5 opponent we play will be infintely better on offense, defense, and special teams. FCS games are a complete wastefor a program like ours--and that is with us beating them. Imagine what it will be like if Portland State comes down here and beats us, which is sadly very possible? As if recruiting can get any worse here, lets see what it looks like to struggle in beating an FCS team. Its hard enough to get fans interested here in a winner (see season ticket decline in 2014 after a HoD Bowl win)--if we go 2-10 this year or worse, we are screwed--because Mac ain't getting canned here for at least another 2 seasons beyond this one. If the season turns into a 2-10 record and somehow features a loss to Portland State, it won't hurt Mac or RV, neither of whom will get fired. It will absolutely kill any recruiting battles we could even try to get in with other SBCUSA teams. To me, getting beat by Kentucky is still better than beating Lamar by 90, if for no other reason than casual fans may come out to watch us play them, UK will bring more than a dozen people to the stadium, and the local media and high school coaches and players will see us playing somebody they have heard of, like with Indiana, which still serves as the greatest win at Apogee in its short history, since there were more than 15k actual people in attendance to see it happen.

​Who cares what the fanbase thinks? The fanbase that has watched NT Daily report year after year how much football and athletics costs the university and how nobody even cares about it? That fanbase? I think most of us recognize what garbage we have been served in the decades previous by those awesome "journalists" at the NT Daily, Keith7, obviously withstanding, since he is one of about 3% of UNT alumni who still follow our teams.

​MattressMac gave us a Million Dollars because he liked Darrell Dickey and went to school here in the 70s. We fired Dickey, he threatened to get his donation back, then made us name our practice field after a coach whose overall record is 42-64, while Odus Mitchell and Hayden Fry have no mention whatseover around our facilities. It sucks, in that we did the right thing by firing Dickey, and even got that donation to stay in Denton, but we lose a mega-donor that only loved the coach here, not his former school. Maybe that has changed in the last ten years with his involvement or contributions to UNT, but I really doubt it.

​You know, then, that you are completely in the minority in the fans view, right?

I hope this shows how low on the totem pole SMU really is...they aren't relevant, won't ever be again, and are just as lowly as all the other G5s are. Doak Walker, Don Meredith, Eric Dickerson, and Craig James are bygones. Their post-death penalty is filled with "greats" like Ramon Flanigan and other spares...They think of themselves as being peers with SWC compadres like Arkansas and Texas. Meanwhile, they can only schedule home-and-home series in the future with North Texas and Arkansas State. And when TCU and Baylor see no value in playing them, they'll get dropped even further down the totem pole. They snubbed us forever from being in theri conferences. Now that get to enjoy being on our level, even if they won't ever be our conference mates. It serves them right.

​But McNulty is "just like Derek Thompson" and this is our "alternative" home game? How can you miss this kind of awesomeness...never mind, don't answer that.

He will fit in quite comfortably in Denton, especially at the NT Daily... Maybe he can go cover a hugely entertaining Art Exhibit and tell us how the tens of people there are the diehards that make UNT special...

​I stopped reading after this...no offense, but that is reason #2 that I think this season is going to be painful. Reason #1 is the brutal schedule.

​Actually, this year's FCS team isn't too bad, from what I understand...so we have that going for us!! #soldoutApogee

ShaneB seems like a real fun guy to hang around...

​Yes, that's exactly who I'm talking about.

​Gotta have someone to throw it to them, though. I agree on the RBs, but they are used to being in a spread offense for the most part, so a bruising pound-it-down-their-throat running game is basically the opposite of what they are used to. Not exactly the easiest thing to get used to...

Just ot make sure no one gets the wrong idea from the post, its just asking who else you like or root for when you aren't watching UNT. Obviously, we gmg posters all root for the alma mater no matter what, even if the university is full of students and alumni who are t-shirt fans of the other P5 giants around here. Just wanted to make sure that was clarified--as was mentioned earlier, the constant ball-kicking that is being a UNT fan is enormously hard sometimes, but they are always going to be ours.