untjim1995

A few things you have to remember about those other schools' endowments is that one, UTD, is basically the brainchild of Texas Instruments being based in Richardson, as well as the other technology giants that eventually found a home there in telecom corridor. UT-D flourished during that time, especially as the Metroplex soared in job growth over the previous 40 years. They graduated engineers, technology driven alumni, and other highly professionaled students. Tech had the SWC and Big XII to latch on to for building things up for them. Couldn't get into UT or A&M? Go to Tech--you can still watch your school play them, pay much less, and still be a part of good sized school and alumni base. Tech is West Texas' team--literally, they have nothing else. It sure helps to get teams like Texas, A&M, OU, OSU, KU, KSU, etc...to come to town to play you, especially with their traveling fanbase. Finally, UH had the SWC ties so they got some nice monied alums in the 70s and 80s to really back them, plus they have been the city's main university for decades, so even if it was a commuter school, they still had a huge enrolloment, as well as history of success in athletics to sell. Literally nothing UNT has done in the same time frame can even come close to comparing to the other three I mentioned. As frustrating as it is, when you focused on educators and liberal arts majors, they don't usually make a ton of money. Plus, the "value" approach used here for decades has brought DFW students up here for a juco like experience--as soon as class was over, it was time to head home. Or as soon as the weekend hit, it was time to get out of town. Athletics had no appeal at all--it has never been cool to be a fan of UNT sports. Then you had the university blatantly keeping major donors from even being contactd by the athletic department. I cannot see us reaching Tier One status without the state mandating us a part of it, thus keeping UNT leaders from interfering. That "value" label is never going to go away--the university's leaders love it because it brings in tons of students and the state likes showing its citizens that it has a state school in a large metro area that doesn't cost as much as the other schools in similar areas.

7-8 so far, with 15 regular season games to go. Win 8 of them plus a conference tournament game and you get 16-16!! Back to back .500 seasons = an extra two or three years for Benford.

They should be able to throw big money at him--they get plenty from the rest of the Big 12 schools that achieved something this year and from their tv contract. UH finds out, yet again, that the G5 left-behinds are not those in conferences below theirs...the mirror shows them in the picture, too.

Heupel's view of offense doesn't mix with Danrell McDickney's offense...

FFR, if you wait for significant changes at the athletic department that are good from a buyout/hiring standpoint, you'd better be prepared to wait for a longtime--like decades. Smaestrek came here to do the work of the BOR and the chancellor--that means taking good care of the university's main windows to the public and becoming a huge backer of "value". I think Smaestrek is a great leader, a guy you'd like to sit next to at a game, or even to sit down and talk sports with. But at the end of the day, he is just one person whose job is completely dependent on the satisfaction of Dallas Lee and the BOR. But, even if he likes athletics more than the previous presidents (which I cannot say for certain is true or false), what difference does it make if those above him won't come clean publically about the way they want to run the athletic department? We have a great football stadium and a great basketball venue--and almost always put mediocre to crappy teams out there for the few fans to see. The football stadium was never built as an investment by the university, just built on the backs of students, the majority of whom never even knew that a vote was going down becasue of the effectiveness of the stealth campaign of UNTFlyer's brilliance...the basketball arena was built by the City of Denton, IIRC...I am going back 33 years to 1982--how can anyone tell us that this mindset of not caring about winning in sports truly helped the university? The endowment is woeful and the number of alumni who give back to UNT in some form or fashion is pitiful. We have seen these coaches come thru here for the two main revenue sports: Bob Tyler, Corky Nelson, Dennis Parker, Matt Simon, Darrell Dickey, Todd Dodge, and Dan McCarney in football, not one of whom left here because they got hired somewhere else--all of them got fired, except for Mac because he is still coachin. In hoops, we saw Tommy Newman, Jimmy Gales, Tim Jankovich, Vic Trill, Johnny Jones, and now Tony Benford. Johnny Jones is the only coach out of the 13 listed that has been hired somewhere else from his job here at UNT since the early 80s. Again, Smaestrek might be the biggest college sports fan in the world--I really don't know. But until the BOR says to him, "This is ridiculous. If we are playing sports that make money, we have to win. No more accepting of losing in any way from the three revenue sports going forward!!", Smaestrek, RV, McCarney, Benford, and Petersen are all probably set for a while in their job security here.

Smaestrek will do some fine things to get this turned around and going in the right directioin, from an administration standpoint, for the budgetary issues. But I have no doubt on two things--the BOR will cut the budget even more for athletics to help cover this accounting fiasco--whether it is stated or not--and Neal Smaestrek will get hailed as a hero for turning this around, especially as he gets introudced as the President at a P5 school somewhere else. Smaestrek is a nice guy, but this will all eventually weigh on him to move somewhere else--I have the feeling that Austin is going to make us a nice scapegoat for how higher education costs have soared and that it is these types of scandles that have to be addressed sternly. Without any decent representation down there in Austin, its going to hit us hard. Oh, the university itself will be fine, just because we are so big and continue growing, so they will absorb these costs and eventually move forward. But I just think if Smaestrek is smart, he will use this as a springboard to a great job and a big raise...

I'll trust you on this, in part, because I wouldn't know...or care. I am in the minority at UNT, by a mile, but I could care less about the band's performance during halftime. I just want them to play the alma mater, fight song, and other songs that get the crowd going. Just my .02, though. Like I said, I'm in the minority here. One game, a few years ago in 2009, on gameday, I had to go buy an extra ticket for someone coming to the game with me. While in line, the couple in fornt of me asks for the cheapest ticket they could get, but not in the end zone. The ticket guy asked why he didn't want an end zone seat if he was just looking for the cheapest ticket, the couple looks at him sternly and says, "We are here to watch the band--we won't be here for the 2nd half." As if I'm not astounded enough by this, the guy behind me yells out, "Us, too--we need 2 of the cheapest tickets you can get so we can watch our daughter march." Disgusted, I get to the ticket guy and said, "Does this happen all the time on gameday?" And the ticket guy just looks up at me and says, very plainly, "Yep--that is who walks up to get tickets most of the time." Sometimes, I think we'd be better off to market The Green Brigade as performing on Saturdays in Denton...might fill up Apogee that way. I'm joking--I think...

For those that cannot see sarcasm from a mile away, NMGreen is clearly joking...he is frustrated by the depressive state of gmg.com right now. Positive people tend to get this way when the negativity gets to them.

Al Hurley once called Craig Helwig, who called Darrell Dickey and Vic Trilli, who then left messages years later for Todd Dodge and Tony Benford, that if we ever got a guy like Lee Jackson in charge, make sure that untjim1995's degree gets voided...but in true UNT fashion, the server went down and the message got deleted. Now, I'm about to become RV's successor...in twenty years when he retires.

I have no doubt that my BBA in Finance from UNT has helped me out immensely in my career. I have no doubt that UNT Sports hasn't helped my career one bit. I know it has embarrassed me on countless occasions in a business setting since 1995. I know that the Longhorns, Aggies, Red Raiders, Bears, Frogs, Sooners, Hogs, etc...from the P5s just give me pity, unless we somehow beat them, but even then, its back to our slum while they head back to their gated community. Its not much fun to hear the response of, "What do you know how about football--you went to a music school?" or "Maybe you should just follow that glorified HS program of UNTs while we talk real football." So yeah, the degree has helped on the job front, but not at all on the sports front...if the responses are from t-shirt fans, its easy to respond back, but if its from degreed alums, it is the ender. I've posted it before, but my favorite line I ever heard about us was that "if we had to play yall in marching band or art design, we would get killed just as bad as your football team did on Saturday." That's Dentlandia, for you...

Except a team with a strong winning record in the last 20 years and a town that actually likes football...

I'm glad they lost--again. Crybabies, the whole of them, from their president to their coach to their whiny-ass fans. They should be playing in the MWC within ten years, Mark my words...

Ruston Louisiana and La Tech like football...a lot. It's their window and kids and HS coaches know they have a solid history there. Absolutely nothing about Denton, Texas and North Texas football is the same. Recruiting sucks here every year because the HS coaches and recruits' parents look at this place as a last resort usually. The only time we did well was either when Dickey for his stealth class that one time or when we hired Todd Dodge and kids that his offense would lead us to heights unseen...until they got here and played at Fouts for a coach who was a much better HS coach than he could ever be as a college coach. Otherwise, it has sucked something fierce since we moved back up to FBS in 1995.

And the BOR will never be that way--ever. This is a liberal arts school first, a teachers college second, and a value degree school third. The BOR will always be made up of those areas' votes... Athletics will never matter here--there's too much history, both long ago and today, that proves the point. The only person that is gone from a 4-8 season is the DC who said he was retiring months before the season ended. The men's hoops team has been pile-driven into the ground since JJ left three seasons ago, yet no changes on staff, and the women's coach is being called Shanice Petersen, so that tells you all you need to know. My Alma Mater doesn't care a lick about sports the way I do. It is what it is. It's never gonna change. We can all still Bleed green and support our teams, but in the end, the BOR and admin want us to be that wonderful liberal arts and music school that started as an educators college, and offers a great value. It's who we are and it's in the DNA of the school and of the town. It just has to be accepted at this point. Nothing we can do about it...

#hit.500 is still possible...then Andrew Benford will be here for years to come!!

The real question is how many more years does he have on his contract? That should give you an idea of when he'll be eligible to be let go...

The really scary part is that a spare poster like myself on some fansite can see this, but the BOR either refuses to see it or does see it and willfully chooses to ignore it. Either way, it is poor judgement.

Oh, I don't know...maybe because RV needs this hire to not be judged a complete failure, like Todd Dodge and Shanice Stephens were, so that flyonthewall and his pals won't think the AD cannot hire decent personnel and possibly pull back from the program? You know, like everyone else has at the school, in Denton, and in DFW. And speaking of Slinker, she left here after 19 years--with an astounding record of 241-287. But she did get us to back-to-back NWIT berths in 2001 and 2002, her 11th and 12th years on the job, Her most wins in 19 years on the job was 21. .500 is the bar here for Benford. To think otherwise is to not know or understand UNT Athletics history. If he doesn't get there this year, he will just have to get to .500 next year in his make-it-or-break-it 4th season. I promise you that 2 .500 seasons or better out of 3 or 4 will get Benford an extension. Attendance doesn't matter, postseason doesn't matter, nor does x's and o's as a coach. This will be about money and RVs pride--as long as the BOR likes the first part (friendly cost, not having to hire anyone else), they will give RV the blessing to help him. Benford is RVs guy--he's gonna do everything imaginable to keep him here, just like he will do for Dan McCarney. He cannot have either of those two hires fail--not after the Dodge debacle and the way things started under Benford. He has to have them both "succeed"--Coach Mac is taken care of for now, and Benford will be next. For you or anyone else to not see that just astounds me...

There are a few similarities, Both were known as recruiting aces at their previous stops. Both brought over some nice recruits, but they abandoned ship before ever getting onboard or soon there after. Jankovich left a good team behind that got destroyed very quickly by Trilli. JJ left a really good program behind only to see it burn to the ground within two games of being gone. But Trilli's AD made him play every single OOC giant on the road to pay the bills. At least Benford's AD has dumbed down the schedule to help him get to .500 last year and will probably do so again this year. But really, the situations aren't that similar. Trilli went out and hustled money to paint the Super Pit and get the seats green because he wanted so bad to make this thing work out--he was over-the-top positive. Benford doesn't seem like that kind of coach. I do think Benford's a better x's and o's coach (I cannot believe I just typed this...) but that was because Trilli couldn't outcoach your below average YMCA coach. Benford has about 10x the financial support that Trilli ever had from the university, but that was because we were just dirt poor back then, as opposed to being just poor now, apparently. back then, Vic Trilli got a 4th year because that was when his contract was over and we couldn't afford to buy out a 6 figure contract. Today, we can afford to buy out one year on a bad contract, but nothing more, so I guess its the true progress of the last 14 years that we have progressed up that much (or little)... Benford literally fire-bombed our program from the get-go, but now has it setup to be a .500 team because of the scheduling. Trilli took it down in a more measured pace--started off bad, got worse, still even worse, and finally reached the ultimate "this is as bad as hoops can get around here". Trilli got 4 years, as will Benford, but Benford will possibly get extended at the end of the season, where as Trilli never had a prayer of that happening. He just had to run out his contract terms until it was over. Benford, at a bare minimum, will be here next year, just because we have those 6 wins already. Literally, we could lose out and he will be here next year. But his record so far gives him a chance at being extended here by RV. Helwig would have just fired Trilli and replaced him with another assistant from Texas or K-State when hius contract was over.

Nah, Tech would finish in the top half of CUSA...we will win those 9 CUSA games that Benny needs for RV to extend him.

I always enjoy their failure...terrible fanbase, given everything because of politics and their location...they got everything we never got.

Oh, don't get me wrong. JJ definitely earned his new gig at LSU--he just got a long time to get things turned around here. I really didn't have a problem with JJ, either, getting that time, just becausae of what he took over. I actually feel the same way about McCareny, too. He deserved an extension for giving us a 9-4 HoD Bowl winning season, especially given what had occurred here over the previous 8 years before. Hell, even Dickey deserved his extension he got after the SBC run. What I am talking about--and I know we will see it with Benford, too--is that you can rest on those laurels here for a loooonnnggg time. Let's say JJ didn't leave for LSU, but stayed behind with TMitch and the rest of the squad, then let's say RV and his compadres were somehow right, that those players were the real problem, not Benford's lack of experience at being a head coach, and we finished below .500 in 2012. Then followed it up with .500 season last year. There is zero doubt that Johnny Jones would still be coaching here for the next 5 years, bare minimum, if he wanted, just becuase he got us to the NCAA Tournament twice. We don't pay off contracts, period....the one time we did it, firing Dickey after his second straight poor season and his sixth losing season out of 9, we paid out two years of an extremely low cost ssalary (DD;s buyout wasn't more the 550k, IIRC), it caused us to hire Todd Dodge for that similar amount of money for 5 years of a contract, instead of Jimbo Fisher or Dennis Franchione (Jim Harbaugh was never coming here for what we offered).Instead, we took the cheapest route possible, kept Todd Dodge an extra year, then hired McCarney for double what we paid Dodge, even after absorbing his last year of his contract. Benford is fairly cheap on an annual basis--he can get extended for cheap head coach pricing. That is where you always start at UNT--waht does it cost. After that, everything else can get figured out. But what does it cost, what will it cost, what do KNOW it will cost--those are always the questions you ask before asking who will get replaced, who is availbale, and who can get hired. That's why this would be an awesome place to be a head coach for someone in their 50s or 60s--a great last place to ride off into a very comfortable and low stress retirement.

Assuming that Canales is staying as the OC, and going on the assumption that Mac stays healthy and doesn't have to quit as our HC, there is zero chance that Greer or Dajon will be on this roster for next season. No chance, especially for Dajon, who is so far into Mac's doghouse, you would find a stack of dogbones before you'd get to him. Greer cannot play in this offense--he should transfer to a school like Nicholls State where they could use his ability to get a better QB than they had. McNulty will start, no doubt. Maybe the Smith kid from JC will be his primary backup, but there is absolutely no way that Sr. QB McNulty gets replaced by an unproven Juco QB--Mac and Chico won't let the happen ever again. Should it happen? From what I've seen the answer is pretty obvious, but they like bus drivers and Mini-Mac is a classic bus driver. The Derek Thompson comparisons are about to get pounded into our heads ad nauseum... On the bright side, the last time I felt this way about a busdriver at QB that was a senior, we went 9-4 and he was MVP of the HoD Bowl, while I predicted a 3-9 record with him, so you have that to go on...

2500 as a goal for MGC membership seems like two poor realities are the real options: 1.) It is a number that should be reasonable to attain because it just won't take much effort or thought, which is easy to show to a BOR that just wants to tell the flyonthewall's of the UNT world that we are trying to use his money for something. 2.) It is a number that we cannot attain--that it is our shoot for the moon, wild-ass goal. This is the more depressing one--if this is true, out of the 200k supposed local alumni, the 36k student body that has a decent sized faculty, all surrounded by millions of other people in the DFW area, if the absolute pie-in-the-sky goal of 2500 people to the MGC is the best you could ever hope to attain (and I don't doubt it, by the way), why do you even try to have a FBS level program? Either you cannot win this war or you aren't winning this war--either way, what you are doing is just not working--at all. If I was our AD, today, I'd do the following: Tell the BOR I am going public with every single number we deal with--attendance, season ticket holders, MGC contributors, and total budget. This is to show the world what we have, what we don't have, and what we want to improve upon. I also make it known which sources of donors we are given by the university and which ones we need to be given. Second thing I do is I call every single MWC team and every single AAC team besides SMU and tell them I want to schedule home-and-home series right now for as long out as I can. Then I tell our fans that we are going to have 6 games a year at home as soon as possible. I focus on New Mexico, Colorado State, AFA, BYU, Boise State, and Fresno State out west, as well as Tulsa, UH, Tulane, Memphis, USF, UCF, and Cincy as my targets in that conference. With Army and our bodybag game, we should be able to have 6 games a year at Apogee. Third thing I do is make sure that all bodybag games we play in the future DO NOT involve any of the T-shirt schools anywhere near here. No more games in Austin, College Station, Lubbock, Norman, Fayetteville, Baton Rouge, or Tuscaloosa. When we lose these games, everyone in the local press and those that attend UNT but really grew up loving those schools as "their" team get to feel like they have a valid reason not to have UNT as their team. So, going forward, games against Big ten teams, Pac-12 teams, and ACC teams are the only bodybag games we play. The last thing I do is go to any media outlet that will have me and acknowledge that our school has done a really poor job of connecting to the alumni and general sports fans in the DFW area and that by doing everything I just mentioned above, it is to show everyone that we aren't following the same path we always have. We realize that actions speak louder than words, but these three things are going to be ways that will allow us to get rid of coachse who aren't winning before there is one year left on their contract, that we want our fans to know that 6 home games is what to always expect and those OOC games are no longer going to be against FCS or SBC schools ever again. Finally, I'll go back to my AD office and wait to hear the BOR call that fires me for having the audacity to think athletics should ever have that kind of visibility to this university....and then collect my buyout and my severance package that precludes me from ever talking about UNT sports publically ever again...profit!!

If anyone on this board thinks that my claim of Benford being extended is going overboard, here is your proof--directly from the AD itself--that they are doing all they can to sell you on why he is deserving of an extension. Benford will probably be our head coach here until at least 2017-2018. That's assuming RV and the BOR only grant him an extension of just two additional years to his contract, which would then run out in the spring of 2019. How does that sound TTG for taking basketball serious here at UNT?