untjim1995

TCU Football has gotten way more support from FW than UNT Football ever has from Denton. I know you are from there, as am I, but growing up in FW, the Sunday FWST always had the TCU game from the day before on the front page. Of course, it always helped that the good citizens of our hometown got to see Arkansas, Texas, A&M, Tech, Baylor, and SMU roll into town to play at ACS, too. But Ft. Worth trumped them as the hometwon team for at least the last 20-25 years. Back in 1994, when TCU found out that they were going to get left behind, they and the city started a Group of 100 Team, made up of local business leaders, civic leaders, and educators in the FWISD that helped market the program to the city and to help with attendance. Yes, they didn't have great attendance until they started winning, but they still had better attendance than we ever had with much less of a student body and local alumni base while they were losing. Things have improved in Denton to where the community will support UNT better than they ever have, if for no other reason than Apogee is a great venue to go to watch a game. But I'd still be that if Denton scheduled an Arts and Jazz festival on a fall weekend, that would dwarf attendance at Apogee on that hypothetical Saturday. Denton is just an arts and music town, in part because UNT is well-known for both. The administration and the BOR butter the bread that the local citizenry wants, whether its students, faculty, or the residents of the town--that just happens to be music and arts over college football.

What still amazes me about this whole event was that Flanigan kept his job and wasn't fired on the spot...

The biggest SMU joke I ever remember was watching Ramon Flanigan play 8 years there... The worst UNT joke I ever remember watching was Ramon Flanigan attacking a fan in the stands as our OC...

And I want to win the lottery--we both have the same chances...

Geez, they are really down on their program right now over there. Remind me again--hasn't the current coach earned bowl berths for them in the 4 years before last season, of which they ahve won 3 against Nevada, Pitt, and Fresno State? IIRC, they hadn't even been to a bowl game before that since the Death Penalty. How can you be so down on the coach who brought you up from the absolute dregs of college football for the 20 years between the Death penalty and when they got him to come over there from Hawaii?

You have to give it to Dallas Green. He is one of the very few alums from the 60s or 70s that actually cares about this place. Imagine what he has put up with in his career after graduating from North Texas State. He saw Fry come up here and do some great things and yet nobody even cared because we weren't in the SWC. So he sees Fry try to get us into the SWC, only to see the same SMU douchebags he has worked around every day basicallly block us from ever having a chance, so Fry leaves. HE then see SMU become a dominant (paid) program in the SWC, so he has to work around them gloating all the time, while he sees his alma mater decide to drop down to something called 1-aa, so he gets to see UNT play games against SFA, SHSU, NE Louisiana, McNeese State, etc...while his SMU business contacts are playing ranked opponents in Arkansas, Texas, A&M, UH, TCU, and Baylor in the early and mid 80s. Then, when SMU finally gets the Death Penalty--he rejoices!! Finally, they got theirs, this will give UNT a chance to get some Metroplex coverage--and we do in 1988 with a great season. But when SMU gets back to playing in 1989, they schedule us to play a series for the first time in years. SMU is playing the equivalent of a Division II squad in that first year back in 1989, so playing them at Ownby would be a great way to show them that they are way behind us now--except we get pounded 35-9, SMUs only win against a team higher than Division II that season (UConn was still D-2 at that time in football). He sees us beat them at Fouts the next season in front of the largest crowd ever, by a 14-7 score. Of course, we went on to fire Corky Nelson at the end of that season and hired a Texas HS coach, Dennis Parker, to take over the program. We play SMU one more time in that series, losing in Dallas 28-14, to a bad SMU team, because we were a bad i-aa team. Over the years, he sees UNT move back up to 1-A in 1995, which is the same season SMU gets dropped from the big boy table as the SWC dissolves. Since then, we have both seen our ups and downs, but by and large, we have both been shoved out of the big leagues of college football. We have played exactly twice in the last 20+ years--splitting those two games. Yet he sees and hears more talk about SMU beacuse they are always above us on the conference ladder and won't even consider allowing us in with them--just as they had done back in the 70s. Now, he finally gets this series with SMU for ten years (supposedly)--and he cannot wait for it!! But he fails to realize that SMU carries exactly zero clout anymore in college football. He just has to hear it from the SMU business contacts he has in DFW, which kills him. And if we lose on Saturday, his worst nightmare will have come true, losing to SMU in Denton. Granted, the rest of us recognize that its just a game--but to him, because of what he has endured over all these UNT-masochistic years, this has basically become his line-in-the-sand. I truly fear for his life, if we lose this weekend,,,

TCU and SMU are true rivals. Their cities are Metroplex rivals, their schools are private peers that go after similar kids, they have money, and they have history. Rice and UH are rivals because of the fact that they have continued playing each other every year since the Cougars were admitted into the SWC back in the 70s. UT and A&M will always be rivals, even if they don't play, just because of academics in this state, as well as politics. When Tech and A&M played on the field, that was a true rivalry, as well, but they don't compete academically or politically with each other like UT and A&M do. Those are your three, true rivalries in this state.Now, Texas, Tech, Baylor, and TCU all have their rivalries because of conference affiliation,but its not as true because they don't have the same histories or competiton as those above. UTEP and UNT don't have anyone that cares about us. Being stuck as non-SWC teams for so long, we both got pretty well steam-rolled on the PR front for decades. No one will care about Texas State until they play other Texas teams in a conference--this is basically what we gave them by moving to CUSA. I do think the UNT-UTSA thin has some major potential, though. Assuming we stay in a conference together for years to come, which I think we will, and both are fairly competitive in CUSA West, which I think we will be, that last game of the year will always be played with something on the line.

I think June Jones gets fired if he loses this game--at least at some point this season. If we lose, I don't think it will be too much different around here. Basically, it will look like every year in Denton since 2005, except for last season. We will have started off the year getting pounded by AQ powerhouse or we will have lost the first home game played against a team that people care something about, meaning that about half the people won't see Apogee again all season long. 2005--crushed by Tulsa at home, followed by a pounding at K-State 2006--crushed at Texas, actually beat SMU at home, but then fell apart later, getting Dickey fired 2007--crushed at OU, lost at SMU, crushed at Arky 2008--crushed at K-State, crushed at home against Tulsa, crushed at LSU, prison-raped at freaking Rice (btw, this has to be the least competitive team UNT has ever fielded--we lost 11 games by an average of 31 pts.) 2009--opened with a win at Ball State, lost home opener against Ohio, crushed by Bama 2010--crushed at Clemson, lost at home to Rice 2011--crushed at FIU, pounded at home against UH, crushed by Bama 2012--crushed at LSU, lose at K-State, then follow it up with loss at home to Troy 2014--crushed at Texas, ??? at home versus SMU

SMU and OU both have annoying bands...SMUs band plays the same song all the time, playing it softer when the game is going and then louder again after the play ends. OU plays two songs--Boomer Sooner 95% of the time, and "Oklahoma-OK, " the other 5%. I grade a band by their ability to play songs that the fans like to hear during the game--I'm sure SMU and OU fans like those songs alot (since they hear them all game long). I think our band does a good job of playing stuff during the game that gets the crowd going. I know some on here don't care for Fly Like an Eagle, but it does have tradition here, so I like it still.

I am gonna eat my crow here. I was a big believer in Berglund's skill level. I always felt he should be the starter over DT. I was wrong, TFLF...now pass the salt.

After perusing this website, I can confirm that a few things I have recently wondered about their future and have questioned on gmg.com have been answered. Here they are: I have seen the name Larry Coker mentioned as a target for them when June Jones gets dropped. Makes a ton of sense. I have seen them begin to mention buying out of the 10-game series with us. They also mention UTSA as passing us by, basically saying that they are AAC targets ahead of us. More importantly, it appears that my suspicions that they would want to just drop scholarship football instead of accepting a lowering of their program to the new i-aa seems to be strong on that site. They still have delusions of being bigger than they are, probably comes from the $$$ and their SWC history, as well as their recent hoops success, but they don't understand that they are in the same boast as the rest of the G5. They aren't going into any P5 conference--it just isn't going to happen.

Exactly--I know that the previous coaches complained about the strict admissions for SMU before, but when June got there, the admissions were softened. I just think June Jones wants to get paid as long SMU will keep paying. He'll leave there and have a job in Hawaii waiting for him as soon as he wants that job again.

I, too, felt the same way about Coker at UTSA. Always thought they hit a home run on that hire and they have used every single advantage they have as a school in San Antonio to get built very quickly. I still feel like they are the second version of USF. I love Dan McCarney, too. He has enthusiasm and a great presence about him. But he is facing the hardest enemy to beat--a culture that accepts losing and mediocrity. He has done a great job so far in trying to beat it down, but there is still a long way to go. I just hope that over the course of the next 12 games (yes, including a bowl game) that we can duplicate our success from last year. I have us at 8-9 wins this year and I still believe we will ge there. But this past weekend's effort at Texas was just Dickey-esque in its patheticness--just run out a vanilla gameplan to run out the clock and collect $875k with as few injuries as possible so as not to show the rest of the schedule anything on tape--so that has me questioning that prediction. But I'm gonna assume we will do what we did back in 2006--lose bad to Texas in the opener and then beat SMU at home in the next game.

I hate SMU because they are soooo Dallas to me. Sit in University Park/Highland Park and have the $$$ to do anything they want, but only appeal to those folks with $$$. I grew up in FW, so I've always had a dislike of all things Dallas and really still do, except for their pro teams. When I got to UNT in 1991, I'd heard about the SMU game from the previous season in 1990 that we won at Fouts and how it was our largest crowd ever at home. Hearing the things that happened in that game from our players and the things that were said by SMU fans leading up to that game just made me hate them more. Then, getting to learn about the fact that Hayden Fry's North Texas teams in the 70s were so good and that we wanted into the SWC only to be defeated before it really ever got started by the SMU-led block of private schools just made me hate them even more. Then, finally, we start having some success on the football field in the SBC early in the 00's, while SMU couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, yet CUSA won't take us in their league because SMU throws their support behind adding freaking La Tech, who would've given their league absolutely no value. Of course, CUSA sees that and invites UTEP instead, while we get stuck for years more in the dregs of the FBS until SMU leaves and opens up the spot we now claim in today's CUSA. ANd as soon as we get into CUSA, they get their old private buddies, Tulane and Tulsa, to immediately bolt to the AAC, leaving us with adding Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic. That's why I hate SMU. And because they still get SWC coverage fromt he DFW press when it is not even close to being deserved...

UNT--27 SMU--17 Crowd of 27k

Rice, TCU, and Baylor all manage to get talented kids into their private schools...to me, that's not an excuse for SMU anymore.

I just saw Vito's tidbit about RV getting a bonus of $100k for being our AD--it was a retention bonus, apparently, which was met yesterday. It was his second bonus for the same amount and he is scheduled to receive another one on Sept.1, 2015. Apparently, those $100k bonuses were raised by private donors, according to Vito's blog. So to get this straight, our big-monied alums and fans didn't raise this large amount of cash for a Benford buyout or to help us avoid the bodybag game that we lose every year. Nope, instead we paid the AD, who has already been extended by the BOR, with private donor bonuses. I guess the joke is on me...I truly don't get it.

No doubt, Eagle1855...

I've posted this before, but it must really suck to be a fan at SMU. You were once at the Big Kids Table, only to get knocked hard to the Little Kids Table. Now, granted, SMU did it to themselves by earning the Death penalty and then following it up with putrid ball for the next 20 years, but nonetheless, they've watched a program with the heritage of Doak Walker, Don Meredith, and Eric Dickerson play great teams in the old SWC every week. Now, they are permanently stuck at the G5 level, playing teams that their fans don't care about much at all, leaving y'all never to be relevant again. Sure, some of the old guard in the DFW media scene still fantasize about SMU actually mattering still, but for the most part, as time goes on, its very apparent that they just don't matter anymore. Now before any SMU fans get all high and mighty about North Texas' place in college football, I actually agree with you that we are well below you on the totem pole of college football, that we are stuck in the extremely watered down SBC if you guys hadn't jumped ship to the AAC to give us your old CUSA spot. In advance, I'd like to say again, thanks for doing this. What I am saying is that we at UNT have always been used to having to eat at the kids table, teh reasons wy are variable to the posters on this site--some of us believe you have kept us at the kids table, some believe it was the UTs and A&Ms that kept us at this table, while I believe it was solely our own idiocy that has kept us at this table--to the point where we are f'ing stuck to the damn kiddie chair and it is now viewed as unremovable by any medical staff out there (P5). But you guys have all this history and all this money and sit in the middle of Dallas and...it just doesn't matter. You, too, got welded to the kiddie table chair. Both Baylor and TCU beat you to the punch and kept you from ever moving upward on the conference ladder of relevance. So, today, just like us and UTEP and Louisiana Tech and any other G5 team located in the Southwest, you have become one of our kind. The question is what you do about this going forward--keep throwing money at having what is increasingly the new i-aa level of football, drop down to non-scholarship football, or just quit. Its not hard for me to imagine any of those scenarios for your program ten years from now. That is one calamitous fall from grace, SMU...

FIFY

Have we ever seen Ben Gooding and UNT_Playmaker together? Just curious...

If we wanted to use just one post to summarize this university's issues, we would start here.But just focusing on athletics for now-- we keep Tony Benford as the head basketball coach after two horrendous seasons because it would cost too much to fire him. The man who hired Benford, Dodge, and Shanice Stephens, all of whom have been the worst coaches in the school's history for each sport, was RV, who promptly got an EXTENSION before we made the HoD BOwl last year--meaning the BOR and Administration fel tthat RV had done such a great job here that he deserved an extension and a raise. Is it any wonder that Lee Jackson would also get an extension under these circumstances?

This. That guy built them up from absolute Dodge-like garbage to a bowl champion. Then, after he stays at FIU instead of going to Pitt (huge mistake), he has one bad year and gets canned. Pathetic... I think the mistake was adding FAU after you already had FIU for the Miami market. ULL made a lot more sense, at that point.

It really doesn't matter in the long run. When the P5 makes it to where there are no OOC games against non-P5 teams, we won't deal with this anymore. At that point, we could really be one of the best G5 teams in the country. Granted, the normal 15-20k will be all that cares, but I suspect these scheduled body bag games within five years will need to get rescheduled. Just my $.02.

TFLF, I don't always see eye-to-eye with your views, but I always enjoy reading your posts. And this post is one of your best, on all fronts. From where the NCAA is not at, to the place that big colleges chose to go with football and other revenue sports to get ahead, all the way to the place where we at UNT refused to go with athletics because of various factors, your post just about covers it perfectly. College athletics, as we have known them, is about to get drawn and quartered. If this guy's plan gets put into law, the whole landscape is gonna get nuked, basically. You would basically have about 20-30 schools that would/could participate in a pay-for-play deal with big enough fanbases to appease the networks and media outlets. And the biggest losers in that scenario are gonna be those P5 schools who have built new stadiums and facilities to try and compete with the big guys. Your Baylors, TCUs, Techs, ISUs, etc...talk about a colossal waste of money and energy. Spend hundreds of millions on this stuff only to become a AA team , while the powerhouses get their AAA status upheld.