untjim1995

I watched that entire game and remember that OU had a brand new QB in Rhett Bomar, who looked lost. They committed a lot of turnovers that day and TCU just physically whipped them. What's amazing to me about that TCU team is that if you looked at the SI College Rankings they did that year of all the teams in FBS then, you will find something rather humorous--we were exactly one spot behind TCU in those preseason rankings. TCU went on to finish 11-1, winning their bowl game over Coach Mac's ISU team, and ranked 10 in the final poll. We went on to lose to a team from Oklahoma (Tulsa) at home in a heartbreaker, 54-2...leading to a 2-9 season that basically led to Dickey's demise. How quickly these two programs moved in opposite directions from where the folks at SI thought they would be at the beginning of the year...

That OU game was embarrasing, but its OU--their were the Big XII champs IIRC that year. Them killing us 79-10, albeit awful, wasn't too hard to understand. A year later, going to Houston to play freaking Rice and losing 77-20 with them basically not trying in the entire 4th quarter (knowing they could have easily scored over 100 points) is the lowpoint of this program's FBS history since coming back from the dead in 1995. Its not even close, either...

I truly believe that the hardest part of running an athletic department is knowing when to make a personnel change at the head coach or the AD. It costs alot of money to buy out the contracts of people who are obviously not prepared to be head coaches in college or are just totally inept--or both. Its the final bit of proof to your alumni, students, and fans that you want to win first and foremost. NO doubt, that's a hard pill to swallow a lot of times. But that is the cost of playing poker at this level. If you don't want to pay-- or if you cannot pay-- to play at this level, it usually gets seen by your "university family" fairly quickly, telling them that COST is what matters most, not winning. At UNT, no matter what timeframe you look at, nor what revenue sport you look at, COST has always been the most important aspect to funding athletics. Simply put, its not something we really like to spend lots of money on, if at all possible. Look, I seriously doubt that we can't afford to fire Benford--some big money alums could get together and do it tomorrow, guaranteed. The problem is that you have folks within the university who would rather those alums use their funds to buy pianos, art collections, endowments of scholarships, or new equipment instead of paying for anything athletic. Therefore, its not really that we cannot pay to end this charade, its that we don't want to pay to end it. I suppose in my heart that if I heard RV say that this year, no matter what, we must see significant improvement in the w/l record or changes will be made, that would at least instill in me the idea that Benny has to make it happen by the end of the 2015 season or else. But we don't hear that ever, which means that we are almost forced to believe that we will do what we always do in these situations--wait until we only have to buyout one season of a contract. That is just depressing--especially when our OOC schedule is as pathetic as one can possible be to try and help the AD save face with this abominable hire.

I think a $2k stipend is just the start to convince the lower-level FBS teams and FCS teams considering a jump up to know that its about to cost even more to play at the highest level. The SBC schools and lower-revenue teams in the MAC and CUSA are now being warned of what it will cost. Sure, we can probably pay this, since we have the ability (if we choose) to increase a sports-fee for this. But schools like New Mexico State, ULM, Lamar, South Alabama, etc... that's who is going to get culled first. Maybe not all of them, but you get the idea. This won't affect the AAC or MWC at all. Schools with large enrollments in the MAC, CUSA, and SBC will be ok, at least for now. Eventually, though, the AQs learned their lesson on setting up requirements based on attendance or stadium size--you can get around those fairly easily if you are creative enough. So the best way to get rid of these non-AQ people is to raise the price of poker--literally the ante is now $200k more than it was before. It won't stop there...its actually genius in an evil sort of way. Politically, the current mindset in the country deals alot with inequality of income for the INDIVIDUAL (note, not per school or company). You can get in front of your political base by saying that you are for giving the athlete a stipend to be used as needed because you are in favor of helping the student-athlete get by. Guess what? The AQ media, who gets their audiences from these schools, and the politicians, who have graduated from most of these AQ schools, will gladly trumpet this. Meanwhile, in places like Denton, where athletic spending garners a lot of negative attention and creates tension among the faculty and administration, this will be the perfect excuse to say that we cannot pay that much to play at that level. These schools will just enjoy playing at a lower level again, so as to avoid the costs associated with playing at the top level. FBS football was meant to have no more than 80-90 members, tops...these schools cannot handle the idea that Georgia State has the same amount of VOTING power as Georgia. Paying players is a great way to keep the South Alabama's of the world from ever building up a program that could take any amount of resources and funding from Alabama. Pure greed, but its the way of the world in semi-pro athletics these days.

I wonder what things would be like here right now IF: 1.) We wouldn't have choked away the Ohio game, FAU game, and Army game in his third year (all at home)...I may be foregetting another close loss or two in there as well. Instead of 2-10, he goes 5-7, what happens after that, contract-wise? 2.) What if in Year 4, we don't lose Tune, DT, and Riley as starting QBs within about a month of each other? Would it have mattered? What if we win 3 games instead of 1 in our first 6 games? 3.) After Dodge finally got canned, Chico came in and really galvanized the team. What if we had run the table with Chico as HFC, instead of going 2-3? Would he have gotten the gig? I think the university got off very easy, when they kept Dodge for a 4th year and then he failed miserably (again), leading to his firing. If he had gotten 5 wins (I know, stop laughing so hard!!) somehow that last year, I'm still convinced we would have kept him here--and probably extended him. Think about that for a second...

Man, Marshall has a cush schedule for a non-AQ this year...I wonder if someone bought them off the schedule this season?

McCarney, Coker, and Stockstill are way underrated on this list...

I'm just glad they look SMU. If SMU stays in CUSA, with RIce, Tulane, and Tulsa, the league probably just adds UTSA to replace UH. MUTS was going to replace Memphis, no matter what. One of the F_U twins would've replaced ECU in the new CUSA, as well. Imagine being in the SBC, but it somehow being worse than it already was perceived to be...La Tech would've gone independent before joining the SBC. Basically, you'd have the old SBC, probably have added Texas State, and would see another set of FCS schools move up, such as Charlotte or Georgia Southern. No thanks...

The only way that SMU game isn't close to a sellout is if we get pounded at Texas. We will see a big crowd since its our home opener against a school we hate. A signature win is beating one of the big name programs in your state (Texas or A&M, or beating a ranked team in your state, i.e., a ranked Tech, Baylor, TCU, UH, etc..) or a huge power in college football. It will take a win like that to truly get people in the Metroplex on board. Schools like ours that have seen the benefits of beating huge names over the years include Boise State, Fresno State, NIU, UCF, and TCU back in their MWC days. When you beat a huge name team, its galvanizing to the fanbase. HEck, playing Georgia close for three quarters got us more publicity with our fanbase than beating Ball State, who was damn good last year. I think this about our opener in Austin. Texas has neve been more primed for an upset by a bought opponent than they are this year. Their QB situation is just awful. A new coach will have to work out the kinks with his team against a team that is much better than New Mexico State or some FCS scrub. It wouldn't surprise me if we, at a bare minimum, give them a game. I know that the talent in AUstin is off-the-charts compared to us, but that prima donna mentality that Strong has to turn around is gonna take some time. Could they crush us? Of course--they are at home, they have their refs, and they have way more talent. But I watched Mike Sherman's first Aggie team get run into the ground by Arky State in his opener. I watched Turner Gill take a decent KU program that Mangino left him open up at home against NDSU (before they got to be a FCS power), only to lose without scoring a TD. Its not at all impossible for us to compete with them at a better level than we have EVER competed against an AQ power team in a bodybag game. Obviously, we have to catch a lot of breaks and score some points, but our offense, predicated on controlling the clock, could be the perfect plan against a team like Texas if we were to get a lead. It won't shock me if we walk out of their with a win...anyone who has read my posts over the years knows that I am no homer when it comes to predicting UNT wins or success. I just believe that Coach Mac will have our guys ready. He knows what an opportunity this is and I expect us to be ready to get after them.

The MAC champions almost always are ranked or receiving votes. The Sun Belt champion never gets ranked. Why? Well, the MAC has been around a lot longer, but they also have decent media followings in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Buffalo. The East Coast and the Upper Midwest still have a ton of people and press that plays a big hand in dictating who is "accepted" in college football and who isn't...hence, the term East Coast Bias, which is the Eastern Time Zone. Down this way, the SBC and CUSA are always going to be way behind in coverage and support against the SEC, Big 12, and , to a much smaller extent, the AAC. Hell, look at the state of Arkansas--you guys can barely even register a blip on the radar in a state with no pro team, all because of the almight Razorbacks and the SEC, even though yall have been a good program for awhile now. But up there in MAC territory, its the Big Ten and Notre Dame almost exclusively, and then the MAC for college media coverage in those areas. The MAC doesn't fight through three layers of conferences above them for coverage--they fight through one. Its why they have had a perception advantage for awhile against the SBC and now CUSA teams. All I know is that a Todd Dodge coached UNT team actually beat a MAC team and should've beaten the other one (Ohio) and he didn't beat really anyone else. And this past year, we beat a pretty salty Ball State team at home and played Ohio to the gun up there. I stand by my belief that the MAC gets more credit than it deserves...

I agree with all you say here, but I also just think of how big time TCU got by winning in a league full of well-respected football programs. If they could do that, I believe we could, too. Now, the best way to go out there is to go with UTEP and UH or UTSA.

FIFY

This. Boise State, Fresno State, Air Force, San Diego State, Nevada, and Hawaii have all been well-known commodities in college football for a long time now. Even Colorado State used to be a staple in the Top25 every year. New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, and now, SDSU, are solid college hoops programs, too. There is no one in CUSA right now, other than the old USM teams, that can compare with the teams listed above in college football. Western Kentucky might be able to compete with them, but that's about it. CUSA is fine, for now. Its the SBC 2.0 with CUSA leftovers that couldn't move to the AAC. But I don't see it ever being a better league than the MWC or AAC, respect wise. And with SMU in the AAC, we aren't ever going there until they leave, so the other option above us that has some appeal, at least to me, is the MWC. TCU showed us the blueprint to compete with those teams out west. Utah and BYU left, but they got replaced by Boise State and Fresno State, so its still about the same level of competition, in my opinion. I just think we could easily copy TCU if we were in a similar situation and took the same attitude that TCU did in competing with those MWC teams.

You'd have to see SMU leave there first for that to even possibly happen. We sit directly in their TV footprint, which does matter for that far-flung league. I'd love it, too, but its not a possibility at all. Now, if you want to talk MWC, there's your road to pave...if TCU could do it out there, so could we. Seriously...

Its just like coaching at Texas versus North Texas...one has everything imaginable at the snap of your fingers, while the other has to scrap and claw for anything they need. Its a tad easier to win when you already have the money, facilities, tradition, and talent at your feet. Shocking, I know, but Todd Dodge isn't stupid. He got a huge raise to go to UNT from SLC, he just failed miserably here. Now, he gets to find another rich, suburban HS to coach and win at.

That's just it...the old CUSA is now the AAC. The new CUSA is just the best of the old SBC. Its just how the ladder goes. If you think any of those AAC teams want anything to do with us, your crazy. Some, UH and SMU, never wanted us in a league to begin with. The others that could leave as soon as possible, ECU, Tulane and Tulsa, did. You have to replace those teams with someone. To me, having two teams in south Florida wasn't too smart, but WKU replaced East Carolina, we replaced SMU, UTSA replaced UH, F_U replaced UCF and USF, and MUTS replaced Memphis. To me, the biggest mistake was taking Charlote and ODU, two teams that should be in the SBC, immediately because ECU wanted them--only to then see ECU bolt out as soon as they could, which was clearly going to happen as soon as possible.

I think the MAC is overrated mostly because it is centered around East Coast and Midwest media outlets, as opposed to the SBCUSA. We can and should be better than the MAC over time. I don't think we will be that far from the AAC or the MWC, either, in our best years, but they have some strong teams year in and year out. The worst CUSA years will look like the SBC and MAC are better leagues, though.

With Tulane leaving, I still think Southern Louisiana is worth having a presence. When I say footprint, in terms of our league's affiliation, I think about it in terms of recruiting and travel for the schools and fans. I agree with you completely on the TV part, though. ULL would be a great conference mate again.

I would defintiely add ULL, without thinking about it--and Arkansas State, too. But I wouldn't add Texas State, since they dont provide any new footprint for the conference, since UTSA is already there. ULL and Arkansas State would be nice adds to the league, in my opinion. I have no interest in playing anyone in the east, at all, except for MUTS or Marshall. If you have 16 teams in league, you get 7 games in your division, all of which are driveable, then add in two games in the other division and 3 OOC games. It would be a pretty good deal for us to have games against Arky State, Southern Miss, La Tech, ULL, Rice, UTSA, and UTEP every year, with a sprinkling of just two east teams, say MUTS and F_U, each year. Costs go down, attendance goes up, and you can build rivalries easier.

They fired him after he had 3 winning seasons in 9 years. And in his three winning seasons, his teams beat exactly 2 non-SBC teams that were also FBS schools, Cincy and Baylor. And the fanbase abandoned him long before he got fired, since we were all MFers in his view, while he coached at the WORST JOB IN AMERICA (his exact words, since he worked here everyday). He stayed as long as he did because he was friendly with the BOR and didn't cost much.

Dan Wolken is probably in line to be the next Eric Capper if he ever leaves UNT... Todd Dodge, Shanice Stephens, and Tony Benford for head coaches in the 3 revenue sports, all hired by the same AD. And said AD just received an extension... Congratulations, RV--you have to have the most secure job of any AD in America. I'm not even kidding, either.

Don't forget, after he promised that, he would then tell the team that the die-hard 2000 fans we have are really MFers...then he would tell Brett Vito that this was the worst job in America, that he knows because he works here everyday. But we would only lose 45-6 against name your OOC powerhouse by just running the ball into the line of scrimmage on three straight downs, which wwould then be followed by a beautiful punt from one of our All-American punters, who will eventually not be able to walk when they get older becuase ofthe overuse of their legs during their college careers. And for real fun, we will break out the Hutch Black Jersey Night as our promotion, with a special drawing to fight the OC in the stands, without said OC even getting reprimanded... But we would never lose to FIU or another spare SBC team by 35 points, either...so DIckey would always have scoreboard on Todd Dodge for that, since we would be behind to one of those schools by about 3 TDs at halftime under Todge. BTW, I now love Dan McCarney even more after typing this post...

I've always argued that we really quarter-assed it with athletics funding for decades, and only recently, have bumped it up to half-assed. With Coach Mac's salary being more than double than Todd Dodge's salary, but about half of what June Jones makes, it lets you know where we sit on the funding, just as the reality of keeping Tony Benford around shows that we aren't ready to go full bore at not being a loser. The new stadium is absolutely wonderful and the Super Pit remains a great venue for college hoops, so the facilities funding has been done at a much better rate than personnel funding, but even with that, when you combine the fact that it took a stealth campaign to get the stadium funded and the student fee that other traditional power schools in Texas, like UTSA and Texas State, get to charge a higher rate for in perpetuity, our leadership made that fee much lower than UTSA and Texas State and also allowed it to be "sunset-able"in the future. There is no doubt we have improved funding, support, and facilities in the last 5-10 years, but from where we came from, it really is about going from quarter-ass to half-ass in terms of athletic spending, as compared to our non-AQ compadres.

Get the popcorn ready...

Exactly... Todd Dodge was just Vic Trilli as a football coach--a great family man, a man who helped to get huge facilites improved, and was good in front of a microphone or camera (unlike his predecessor). We NEVER would have goitten Fouts replaced if Todd Dodge didnt keep that issue in front of the BOR during any press interviews he did, maintaining that he was promised that a new stadium was in the works even though it ended up taking the stealthiest campaign the university could have put on to get it approved. Apogee never gets built if Dodge doesn't force the issue to keep it on the front burner, which forced the university to eventually have to do something. UNTFlyer took care of most of the campaign, but Todd Dodge gave it the full attention it deserved. But he was an incredible under-achiever as a football coach, since he had no one on staff for basically two years that had little-to-no college experience. It was right for him to get fired, as it actually happened later than it really should have, but the university wouldn't buy out two years of his contract. He just wasn't the right fit here, just like Dickey wasn't, Simon wasn't, and Parker wasn't. Corky Nelson might have been if he had an administration to even attempt to care about sports. What makes me feel better is to know that we currently do have a coach that is the right fit--I just wonder how much longer he will stay here if he gets an offer from an AQ team. I still think he will get a call from Kansas at the end of this year, assuming Weis has another terrible year. He knows that league, that area of the country, and would be able to get another rebuilding gig, which he seems to specialize in. We'll see, but that is my biggest concern with Coach Mac at this point in time...because he really is the best fit for this place.