untjim1995

The NO Bowl win over Cincy in '02 was the single best football win since Fry left Denton. That team was good, barely lost to Ohio State who won the NCAA Cahmpionship that year, and had been co-champion of CUSA, when that meant something nationally. The 2003 season where we beat Baylor and lost to Memphis in the NO Bowl was the best team that Dickey ever fielded, maybe the best we have fielded since Fry left (at least tied with 2013's team under Mac). The 2004 season gave us the NCAAs leading rusher in Jamario Thomas, who was absolutely unreal once he got some playing time. Yes, those SBC teams we beat were not great at all and we didn't get that much attendance for a team as good as we had in those years, but those three seasons were the best stretch of UNT Football since the end of the 1978 season. I don't fully credit 2001 as being that great, just because we had a losing season and got clobbered by Colorado State in the NO Bowl, leading to several national pundits to gripe about having a 5-6 team make a bowl, but at least it got several of our better players the experience they needed to get better in the following years. I still believe that 2001 is where Scott Hall realized that he could be the true leader of this team, even as a freshman.

I believe it was Pitt, actually, that Mario Cristobal turned down. I'm waiting for him to get another head coaching job again. What he did at FIU was borderline miraculous--and he got thanked for that by getting canned after one bad season by a new AD.

That's what I felt about Leach--the older alumni with the money couldn't stand him, but the students and younger alums loved him. The thing with Leach was that all he had to do was just say, "I'm sorry for using bad judgment" to Kent Hance and he probably would still have a job there. But they used it as the last straw--paying tha tkind of money to a guy who was a jackass to the administration and big donors eventually caught up to him. Its really too bad--Tech will never have the success they had with Leach and Leach probably will never have the success he had at Tech ever again. And I love every bit of it, since I cannot stand that school or their trashy fanbase at all. The administration hires the anti-Leach in Tommy Tuberville, who literally couldn't wait to finish dinner with recruuits to bolt to Cincinnati, so then they are left to try and quell the Leach fans, so they hire Kingsbury well before anyone would have hired the guy to be a head coach at a P5 school just to satisfy the Leach contingent, even extedning himafter a decent first season. Now, he looks like a colossal failure waiting to happen and Tech cannot do anything about it in the next few years, since he has 6 years left on his contract. Schadenfreude at its finest for this incredibly jealous poster who still cannot understand how lucky Tech got with the state's big schools and how absolutely unlucky we got with them...

exactly--its been a tennis match of nut-punches...

On the other end of this spectrum, if things go south on the lines or we have a 2010 type of season where the QBs cannot stay healthy, its not hard to see us winning just a game or two. To me, Portland State has to be win, even if theyve beaten other FBS schools before. You cannot lose that one. Beyond that, @ SMU really does look like our best shot at another win on the schedule. They are going to still be really bad--June left them with nothing, so even if Morris gets those kids going like Jones did at SMU, it won't be until next season at the earliest. To me, Morris is a mix between Mike Cavan and Phil Bennett, a coach whose name was fairly well-known in football circles and Texas ties, but the reality of the situation there is that winning big in football is gonna be a challenge, especially for an assistant who has never been a college head coach (ala Phil Bennett). After those tow games, I am not sure where we get another win, even if we stay healthy, but I think we will get one or two of our conference home games. I'm prepared for 3-9 or 4-8, with anything better than that being a minor to major miracle, considering the schedule, the lack of developed talent, and the QB play just being meh...

That's exactly why I write him off--the Mac philosophy doesn't mesh with Dajon at all, both on the field and off the field. I'd love it if Mac went to him and just told him that he has 1 last chance to prove that he can be the QB they want him to be, in the locker room and on the field, but I am not sure Dajon wants to do that, based off of what we have read on this site. Its too bad--he could easily be the best QB we have had here since Mitch Maher, if not better. As for Greer, the stafff just missed on him--I think they thoiught his JUCO experience would translate here, but it was a failure. He's a guy that could play at a low level FCS, like NIcholls State, probably, but that's about it. I think McNulty will start the season under center in Dallas and he will be touted as the guy who has senior leadership and knows the playbook really well. (i.e., hands off the ball well and throws bubble screens and short passes when we ask him to). I think Mac has siad the QB play needs to improve greatly for two reasons--1.) It was very poor last year and 2.)He knows the fans think it was bad. I don't read into anything he says as being ready to replace Minimac as the starter. I think he just wants him to get better at being the busdriver. I do know one thing, whether its in the next few months or over the summer, but we are going to see a QB exodus over there. I fully expect DW and Greer to be gone, as well as some of the walk-ons. I figure the QB depth chart will be McNulty, Smith, Means, and Chumley. I think last year really burned Mac and Chico with trying to go with the guys who they thought were ready to play at this level with more talent than Minimac--in the end, that's who they turned over the keys to again for the last half of the season. I suspect that is how it will go for 2015, as well.

This thread delivers...just sayin' We got big money donors, we got well known fans, we got young students, we got old guys, we got scheduling conflicts, we got RV apologists vs RV antagonists...this is gmg.com in its most natural state.

Are you the old meangreener?

Why do you think they ran him off? Serious question? Because he was getting too powerful at the school or just couldn't get along with the administration, like Mike Leach at Tech?

Its almost as if he is a college student and hasn't been beaten down for decades at his alma mater absolutely sucking in almost every revenue sport imaginable...I remember those days of thinking that the Mean Green were going to show all these T-shirt fans of the SWC schools just how dumb they were for not being loyal to our sports teams here. Its a right of life, as the UNT student and young alum that actually cares about UNT sports--you have your whole fandom ahead of you, so you think...then one day, it hits you, "Man, we usually just suck at football and hoops--no matter who is the coach, AD, President, etc"...that's when you just either quit for good or you just become numb to it and just accept it for what it is, since they are still your team. He'll learn that fighting is really the worst thing you can do here...

Portland State would make the most sense, WKU would be fine also. The other three Texas schools make no sense at all, just based off of timing. I'd wager that Parents weekend would be with WKU.

That's what I thought--wonder if its sunsetted, like ours?

If all of that occurs, I'd say we are about a 6 to 7 win team. Still don't see us winning, no matter what, at Iowa or Tennessee. Plus, I don't see us beating Marshall or La Tech on the road. Add in Rice, WKU, UTEP, and UTSA, even with everything above going perfectly, I don't see us winning all of those. That would get us 6-6 or 7-5, which would just be outstanding. I'd even venture that would be Mac's best year of coaching here if we pulled that off. For me personally, and yes I know we had NFL players on the roster, but his first year in 2011 was a very good coaching job by Mac, going 5-7 with a bunch that had combined to go 8-40 in the previous 4 seasons and 13-53 over the previous 6 seasons, covering Dickey's last two and Dodge's epic fail 4 years. Just by winning 5 games that year, he had tied or eclipsed every season 1990, with the excpetion of the three SBC champs from 2002-2004. His 9-4 team from 2013, to me, was the best team I've personally seen UNT field since 1990 when I started watching UNT football. So I know he can do it--but what I worry about is if the line play is soft and the QB play is just nothing, we could very easily just win 3 games next year--at best...

You won't need to worry about that. SMU is going nowhere anymore than we are or any other Southwest based G5 program. TCU and Baylor are also just on borrowed time at the P5 level when the Big XII's GOR runs out in 2025. When the Texoma 4 split off and head west to the Pac-16, Baylor and TCU are far more likely to come back down to SMU's level of competition than SMU is ever going to rise up. TCUs ascendancy was the result of perfect timing--a huge run up to a Rose Bowl win and #2 ranking, combined with A&M leaving the conference and the Northern Big 12 schools forcing the other three Texas schools in the Big XII to take the Frogs, just for more recruiting possibilities in Texas. Plus, TCU joining the conference was quick and relatively inexpensive. Baylor got in because of their political ties in Austin in 1994, but let's face it--that ain't gonna save them this time. As for UNT, I doubt seriously that there is any thought about changing anything in regards to the revenue sports here. We got Apogee and CUSA...and that is where this bus has parked for the long term. Nothing more left for the BOR to really do now--we improved the facilities and moved up to the conference that the fans clamored to move up to, not to mention a long-term series with hated-rival SMU. Success all the way around in their minds...

Me, too, emmitt...I just usually am going by myself for these games. Getting someone to go watch us play Western Kentucky is never easy--same with Middle Tennessee or the F_Us. It has gotten easier for UTEP, Rice, and UTSA, as well as La tech or Southern Miss, so it is better. But most of the time, its actual UNT alumni who tell me that they would rather watch Texas or A&M play than to come out and watch us play. The inevitable statement always come back to when we play someone at home that is from a big conference, then I'll go. I remember watching Troy destroy Mizzou and Okie Lite on national tv at their place in very metroploitan Troy, Alabama. I just thought it would be so great to have the chance to do that here at some point. Just imaging what it would look like if we beat a hypothetically ranked Okie State team here or a ranked Iowa team in Denton, just how much of a boost that would give the program. I chose those two programs because they are the type of school that I thought we could have reasonably been able to schedule here before all the P5s started making road games at G5s for the future a no-no. If we get anyone to come here now from a P5 league by the time we can actually have an opening, it would be a Wake Forest or Vanderbilt type team that really won't help you anymore than scheduling SMU or Army at that point. I would really be shocked to see any decent sized P5 school ever come here now, since the P5s are taking a harder line against road games against G5s. Its just the reality we are in now.

Interesting that UH's students are being charged $45 per semester to help cover these costs...

I think he will be the next head coach at Colorado in due time. They have sucked for a while now, whether its been in the Big XII or Pac-12. That program has fallen hard since Gary Barnett was forced to resign.

I wouldn't hold my breath on this--if he didn't get fired because of the accounting fiasco, this isn't gonna get him. Hell, the accounting fiasco didn't even come with so much as a wrist slap--instead he got EXTENDED by the BOR. When all you care about is "value", this is what you get. Music and arts are inexpensive ways to celebrate the university's culture. So is low cost tuition. These two criteria completely define who UNT is to most of the citizenry in the Metroplex. Its all about cost...always has been, always will be--it doesn't matter if its athletics, administration, tution rates, etc..its always about staying at the top of the "values" rankings.

What goes into the porta pot...

That picture is just chock-full of douche-bags...not including Garret, Romo, or Murray, of course!!

"No one has ever had a more dynamic binder in an interview than Shanice Stephens!!" meangreen sports, circa 2009

We'll see...I just don't see anyone else starting here.

McNulty's grip on the sterring wheel of the bus just got a lttle tighter...not that he wasn't going to be kicked out of the seat anyway. A Senior QB that Mac trusts--there is no way he is going to give up the spot to someone else besides Mini Mac. He learned his lesson last year by trying to go with the better arm or faster feet--and Coach Mac couldn't handle the turnovers and the freelancing play at that position. He wants the guy who will hand the ball off, throw a short screen or bubble route, and will occasionally throw deep when the defense isn't ready for it. He's basically wanting MiniMac to be the Derek Thompson and Scott Hall of the offense--don't lose us the game, just keep us in it until our defense or special teams makes plays for us to score points.

At least San Antonio is a destination city and gives you a foothold in recruiting Texas HS kids--plus its in a large domed stadium to fit an increased demand of having a decent traveling fanbase come in. Murfeesboro, TN, while an hour or so away from Nashville, doesn't have that. Nor does Jonesboro, Arkansas or Monroe, Louisiana. Who am I kidding...we got SMU for a home-and-home series!! Can you believe it? I mean they are in the SWC and have a top ten ranked team and have Heisman hopefuls on their squad and...oh wait, its not 1985 anymore is it. This is another classic example of how we are about 30 years behind where we should have been if it hadn't been for our own making by droppping to i-aa and never building a new stadium for over 15 years after moving up to 1-A in 1995. We celebrate this great scheduling coup of getting freaking doormat SMU to agree to a long series and that it is such a huge deal that the only possible other home OOC game you could even imagine scheduling couldn't be anyone else but a FCS team. Its just depressing.

Oh, it won't change--but it was way of illustrating just how little bang for our buck we get in Denton. Ever had trouble getting anyone to go watch a Big West/SBC/CUSA home game? Well, there went your best chance, usually. Sure, Navy, Army, and old SWC teams have brought decent crowds to Fouts/Apogee but its because other people might actually want to come and watch us play them. We overcrowded decrepit Fouts, just to watch the worst Baylor team in their history play in Denton against our best team of the 00's. Our fans want to get others to come out for a game in Denton, but its really hard to do that when you litter the schedule with FCS teams that no one has heard of. I'm not even asking for a P5 OOC game anymore. Just give us something to compliment SMU or Army, a series with a MWC team or with a MAC team would be perfectly acceptable at this point. Or God forbid, we try and do something as insane as fellow conference mate and noted powerhouse, Middle Tennessee, did when they actually signed a home-and-home with BYU. BTW, noted powerhouse Middle Tennessee, has hosted BYU (2014), Memphis (twice), East Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Minnesota since 2010, and will host Vanderbilt this upcoming season. Just getting Houston, Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State, Northern illinois, or others like them is all I'm asking for at this point. Please, no more FCS schools or SBC schools anymore. Start by droppping Incarnate Word and all 25 people they will bring with them. But who am I kidding--Abilene Christian is not far behind to get on the OOC again here in Denton. I can alreeady see the press release: "A Rivalry Renewed!!"