untjim1995

The Rangers, especially recently and with it being the opening series, will get very good ratings, compared to other sports going on right now in the area. As for SMU and the NIT, college hoops is my favorite sport--and even I don't care about watching a NIT game on TV...very few people outside the Moody crowd of 7000 really care, either. Moody Coliseum is the hot place to be seen right now in North Dallas--not in the rest of the Metroplex, but in the hoitey-toitey land of North Dallas, the media makes it look like the whole Metroplex cares. This is where they have the huge advantage over the rest of us, even TCU. Because its Dallas, they get the coverage and the credit for being the team that delivers the DFW TV market. What just amazes me is how so many other conferences, other colleges, and the sports media overwhelmingly look at SMU in this light, even though your point about them being University Park's team is really dead-on.

We never have scheduled did two separate body bag games with another school within two years of the games being played--not with anyone else...but we do that with Iowa for 2015 and 2017? I'm sorry, but that is my defnition of a 2 for none series...

From what I heard, K-State treid desperately to get out of that game here in Denton because it was Bill Snyder's first year back at KSU and he didn't like playing road games against anyone not in an AQ league in OOC. UNT didn't budge, so they scheduled it as the final game at Fouts, instead, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, knowing that it would get a bigger crowd out to FOuts on that weekend than what we normally got, which was in the hundreds (NMSU game circa 2000) to a few thousand (see WKU game in 2007).

Idaho, Texas Southern, and Nicholls State weren't...

As long as we have Coach McCarney, this program is just going to get better...I see us being a good team again this year, assuming we have a solid QB leading the offense. I have zero worries in our D-Line being developed because I trust Mac and Skladany to coach them up and I trust Wintrich to strengthen them up--same with the OLine for the future, too. We will be a good team again this season. I see us 2nd or 3rd in the West, with Rice first and us battling UTSA for the next spot. Everything I said about McCarney is how I feel about Larry Coker, too. UTSA will be very tough, even with the replacement of their QB from last year.

I still don't get the 2 for none deal with Iowa. We haven't signed up a 2 for 0 deal with anyone else, not Bama, LSU, UT, OU, UGA, Clemson, Tennessee, or Florida, but we give Iowa that deal AFTER we get Apogee built. If Iowa is your bodybag game we need to pay the bills, why not just schedule a one game situation like we do with everyone else? One of the reasons that Apogee was built was that it was sold it to the students that a new facility was needed not only because Fouts was falling apart, but because it would open up the schedule to being able to get more well-known teams here to Denton for OOC games. Iowa was a frequent example of a team we could talk to about scheduling a home-an-home series with a new stadium. Well, in the first year, we had as good an OOC schedule as UNT has ever had, with UH and Indiana at home. Since then, we have played OOC home games against Texas Southern, South Alabama, Idaho, and Ball State. This year, we welcome SMU and Nicholls State to Apogee, then next year, we get Army as the one OOC game. Decrepit, toilet-bowl Fouts literally hosted games against each of these teams (or ones just like them) for years. That is 2 FCS schools (TSU and NSU), 1 provisional school (USA), 1 MAC school (Ball St.), 1 AAC school (SMU), 1 Military Academy (Army) and 1 FBS vagabond that should really just give up FBS football(Idaho). I think that the SMU and Amry games are fine for OOC games at home--I just think we need another good team to play at home, too, just to get attendance up early in the season. Games against Texas Southern and Idaho had announced crowds around 22K out to Apogee for the home openers. South Alabama and Ball State brought around "announced" crowds of 15k for their games. The SMU home opening game this year will get a huge crowd at Apogee--I wouldn't be surprised at all for it to be a sellout. But Nicholls State will be a great crowd if it breaks 20k, which would be about 5000 more than what we have seen the last two years for our second OOC home game of the season. Imagine what attendance looks like if you have SMU/Army for one OOC game and then another against a BYU or an AQ school? I just can't buy the argument anymore that we cannot get anyone to come play here in Denton. If the AQ schools in Texas and Oklahoma won't come here, then expand your horizons--go after a Midwestern team in the B1G or Big 12. Talk to a northern SEC team or a team from the ACC. Call one of the Arizona schools or Oregon State about starting a series with them getting a game in Texas for exposure to the recruits that they wouldn't normally get to talk to. Its just impossible to believe that we cannot get that done--and the core fans that have seen a ton of rotten games at home over the decades, truly deserve the chance to see UNT host a powerful opponent that would draw major interest from the media and other fans, if for nothing else, just to show the world how great Apogee is and how different UNT is today from what it has been for the previous decades of its history.

Obviously, they were some international scouts there... Florida Interntaional...

I think this is great for both programs to do and it is a good night to still play a game during the week.

I can't imagine that BYU's QB ran like he did against UT versus anyone else, but I don't know that...If we stay with them, it will be because our running game gains 200+ yards on them and we get some turnovers that give us a short field and we use up a lot of clock. I can see that happening in this game, just as much as I could see UT pounding us. And I'm the one who usually thinks that this kind of game is just a waste of time and that we usually will get crushed. I just think that this Texas team is, by far, the worst AQ power we have played since we moved up to Division1-A in 1995. Looking back at the games at UT, OU, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, Texas A&M, and Kansas State from the past and I cannot see one of those teams being worse than this current Texas team. I just think this current Texas team is as bad as they have rolled out in a long time. Our game is a must-win for them if they want to fininsh above .500, I think. I see them losing to UCLA, Baylor, OU, @KSU, and at OSU. They seem to have Tech's number or I'd say they'll lose that game in Lubbock, but I think Tech has beaten UT once in the last ten years or so. BYU, at home for them after us, will be tough, too. I see them being a 7-5 team, at best, and that's assuming they beat us, BYU, @ KU, ISU, @ Tech, WVU, and TCU.

You really think the IRS is gonna go after a scholarship benefit from a university? In the current political landscape, that isn't going to happen. Education, especially higher education of a lot of poor kids isn't going to get taxed...

I see us losing a competitive game at UT, but its not that out of question for us to beat them. Again, I bring this game up as a reminder, but I saw Arkansas State literally run Mike Sherman's first Aggie team in its opener into the ground. That A&M team had no QB at all (sorry Stephen McGee fans) and they lost at home in Collie Station. I don't think we will do that in Austin, but I think UT is not a good team. Their QB situation is just downright awful. Their defense is supposed to be strong, but teams ran on them like they were a JV team last year. That just happens to be our strength. Texas would have to help us greatly by turning it over a lot and being inept on offense, but that is very possible in a coach's opening game at a school like Texas. I realize that UT could probably win this game 42-7, but something tells me this one will be much tougher than they think. I can easily see a 17-13 type game. And I'm dead serious when I say that the 17 could belong to us. But lets just say for now that this game is a loss. 0-1 I think we beat SMU at home, La Tech at home, and Nicholls State at home. 3-1 I think we split the next 4 games, losing at Indiana and Rice, winning at UAB and at home against USM. 5-3 I think we win 3 of the last 4 games in conference, losing at UTSA. 8-4. Beat a team from AAC/MAC/SBC in a bowl game--9-4

This. The A&M fans, the Baylor fans, the Tech fans, and the TCU fans all know SMU really well because of the SWC days. Plus, its an easy trip to North Dallas for many of their alums in the Metroplex. I'll never forget the years we played Baylor in Waco and TCU in Ft. Worth that George Dunham got an earful from their fans about how much they hated playing us, that is was beneath them and that it was a no-win situation--he brought it up the next week after those games on the Ticket. SMU has the name recongition, media coverage, and the money that these teams openly see. I've always said that for OOC games, now that we don't play in a toilet for a stadium, we should be able to get two good games per year. The SMU/Army games make up one of those games. The other game should be against either a P5 school or a name team from the MWC or BYU. I know that we have to play one bodybag game a year, which is fine for a school at our level, but it needs to be against a Big Ten/ACC/Pac 12 school. No more games at SEC powerhouses. Playing at Texas or Texas A&M are the only teams that should trump that rule since they are the largest schools in this state. Otherwise, a money game at Iowa is fine, even though most of us thought that was a team that Apogee would be able to host just fine as a part of an actual series.

Tulsa has a great home schedule, even if the OU game will be 3/4 Sooner fans. And their hardest away game in OOC is at Colorado State. IF they could somehow upset OU at home, the rest of the schedule is very winnable--I realize they are bad right now, but that is a dream schedule for a non-AQ team.

It would end it for me, too. I watch about 2-3 regular season NBA games per year. Maybe 1-2 NHL games per year. I do watch the NFL, mostly because of living here in DFW and needing to be able to talk to clients about the sport that catches the strong majority of fans' attention, but it isn't anywhere close to being as enjoyable to watch as college football, college hoops, and MLB. Hell, the NBA and college basketball aren't even close to being the same game, from the halves to quarters, from 24 second clock to 35 second clock, and from an anything-goes- defense in college to something still nebulously called "illegal defense"...at least the NFL and college football have more similarities on rules than basketball does.

You can easily argue that we have always been on the losing side of college athletics for our existence. A lot of that is our fault, a lot is just due to the schools in our state, and a lot is due to the way the NCAA has governed college athletics. Look, if this thing goes nuclear, then pick your top 30-40 programs that make money on sports and that's who BCS Bowl Games, March Madness, and the College World Series will involve every year, wihtout any intereference from those below. Then that just turns into a pro-like setup of divisions (instead of conferences) based on geography. For example, the College West Division has USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Stanford. The College Southwest Division is Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Kansas. The College Southeast Division is Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Florida State. The College Atlantic Division is Clemson, UNC, Kentucky, Louisville, Virginia, and Georgia Tech. The College Midwest Division is Nebraska, Michigan, MIchigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana. The Northeast Division is Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Boston College. Obviously, you could add in other schools not listed, but you get the gist of it. I just listed 36 teams that are well-known for making money and being in big TV markets. Add anyone else you think fits this mold, but this is your official minor league system moving forward for the NFL and NBA, as if it wasn't already, basically.

First off, this thing, like the O'Bannon lawsuit won't get settled for a long time, so lots of things will get challenged in the court system for the near future. If this gets approved, its been a good time for North Texas Athletics, but it is over. There are about 30 NFL-lite and NBA-lite programs that can afford this. You will see those schools leave the NCAA, pay their players, get the media contracts and coverage, and we move on. A school like ours won't even keep teams that you have to pay players for, which I don't blame them a bit. I have always hated the lack of athletic support and funding this university has exhibited, but this is where I would agree wholeheartedly with the university to end the madness. College sports has become such a big business that it has just followed pro sports into the same trap that money from TV and increased ticket costs are just going to continue forever. They won't. Corporate money drives the pro leagues already, which has created the stale environment that so many teams feel at their stadiums or arenas (see Dallas Cowboys). The big donors at big colleges drive their decisions, but it gets lots of help because of the students. But the way it is going, with these increased costs, it will hit a breaking point for a majority of college kids and their parents.

SMU has done what I didn't think could ever happen--turn into something that people in North Dallas want to watch. A sellout for an NIT game? I realize its LSU, but that place was packed with what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, North Dallas fans. I wonder if SMU will become a basketball-first school now? I mean, in football, the writing is on the wall that if you aren't AQ, you don't matter much beyond your circle of fans and students who care. They aren't going to moving up anytime soon to an AQ league. If I were them, I'd put my emphasis on hoops, for sure. I know its Texas and that school has produced All-Americans in football from the 40s thru the mid 80s, but if they focused on being a basketball school first, they could very well be a team that could become a strong player nationally, just because they have a good basketball league and are able to go after some of those Texas HS recruits that always seem to leave the state.

So lets have a hypothetical. A team like Nebraska comes to us and says we want a game in Texas since we don't play here anymore and we need Texas HS recruits again. We would love to play you guys in a series, but we want to play at The Cotton Bowl. What terms would you find this acceptable? 1 for 1 only, 2 for 1 with our game down here, or a no go at all because it wouldn't involve a trip to Denton? To me, any game that involves UNT playing in the DFW area against a megapower like Nebraska, for example, even in a 2 for 1 series, would be awesome for our program. If we drew 35k UNT fans to the HoD Bowl against UNLV, a Cotton Bowl game against a team like Nebraska, during the State Fair, would easily draw a total attendance of 60k+, and it could be much higher than that. That is how I would ONLY look at a game in Dallas during the regular season as a home game replacement. I see Rice play UT at Reliant in Houston when their giant stadium could easily host the game. I've seen TCU host Oregon State and BYU at JerryWorld in recent seasons when their place would easily handle the crowd for those two opponents. I've seen Northern Illinois host Iowa and others in Chicago at Soldier Field. It seems to me that if a bigger venue could open up a "home" game against a huge OOC team that would never consider coming to Denton, then its something to go after. For anyone that we normally play--and have for future home games, Apogee is more than fine. But an AQ power with large traveling fanbases and large alumni groups in DFW would be a good fit to play at the Cotton Bowl. An SEC or Big Ten team is who comes to mind, someone like LSU, Auburn, Nebraska, Michigan State, Penn State, etc...

This is such a great move by the BOR. Very proud to have Coach Mac here. What a difference a great coach has made here!!

Thanks--that is awesome news!!!

That would be great, if it is true. I just know in the past, the Big Ten has sent a team every year, until last year, and that was only because they didn't have anyone left that was bowl-eligible. Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, and then UNLV filled in since Penn State was on probation. But if CUSA got a bowl game every year against a Big Ten/Big 12 team, they should definitely send their champ here.

I absolutely agree, UNT90. But, I'll also add that a school president should know that the AD's job responsibility is to make the hiring decision, not to get their input and who they think is the right hire--that's why you have an AD. The President of a university isn't going to ask for the AD to make the final say on who will build an athletic dorm or facility. I'm just glad to get clarification on this. If RV couldn't even get to pick coaches and had to let the President decide, then he would have given up any pride he could ever have just to collect a paycheck.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the HoD Bowl shift between the Big 12 and CUSA each year, while the Big Ten remains the opponent every year, unless they aren't able to meet their allotment of bowl-eligible schools?

Suburbs are good now?

I don't know you and vice versa. But this post says a lot about your character, flyonthewall. I, too, have had instances where I said things in haste that I regretted. Taking the time to walk those comments back, even as hard as it can be for our pride sometimes, is very telling. I bet its why you have a successful business. I agree on everything you say in this post, except for kinda blaming Mitchell, although I felt the exact same way you did about his lack of trying under Benford versus JJ, but losing does that people, both in sports and in life. We want our athletes to have the Michael Jordan attitude when it comes to losing, that you hate it so much that you just won't ever allow yourself or your teammates to get mired in it. But, truthfully, as we witness with the Cowboys every year in December, used to see with the Mavs in playoff time, and now see in the Rangers in September, once losing in the clutch time starts, its awfully hard to stop. And this is with paid pro athletes, not scholarship college kids. They hear the media ask them over and over about losing in the clutch times, even when it was in the past and your record YTD is really good. The fans respond with the negativity and the atheltes and the coaches feel that extra pressure, which leads to teh Cowboys sucking every December, the Rangers falling apart in September, and when the Mavs would have a great team int he regular season, only to get bounced in the first round by some team that really wasn't as good as them. It takes a very special team that gets over that hump (See Mavs of 2011). Otherwise, you get the Cowboys of the last 8 years or so and the Rangers of the last few years. UNT will always have a harder road to pave, just because of the culture and history here, which is not good. So when winning actually shows up, as it did with Fry in the 70s, Dickey in the early 00s, and JJs teams in the last 5 years of his tenure, the hardcore UNT fans are fired up because they feel like this is FINALLY our time, especially as we watch other lukewarm-at-best fans get interested in our team instead of name your AQ school that has not ties to them. But once losing comes back into the fold, at a place like UNT, it isn't a slow fade, its been a cliff dive. And the players know it, especially a guy like Tony Mitchell that knew that playing out the string was better for him since he was going to get paid soon. Again, that falls on the coach and the AD to fight that off, but it becomes harder as you go from 4000 people watching your SBC game to having 2000 watching your SBC game. Losing does that--and as previously stated, the AD and the BOR need to address this quickly or it becomes an avalanche here in Denton because of that culture and history we carry with us. Its not hard to blame college kids for giving less than the effort they should, but we know that pro players do it everyday, and they are supposedly more mature since they are older. I just find that when the AD of your school blames the kids for a huge dropoff instead of his hire, which was approved by the BOR, that he has a year to be proven right or else that AD should have major responsibility for blaming the kids instead of his hire. This year, the record may have improved, but anyone wathcing knows that the team's performance isn't inspiring anyone to back Benford any further. That falls at the feet of the AD at almost every other school in America, unless they don't care about that sport or are trying to save money. Neither option tells your fanbase anything good. BTW, our friends in College Station are dealing with this now, with the obvious retainment of Billy Kennedy as their head BB coach, despite coaching them from being a regular in the NCAA Tournament down to being a dying program in a bad basketball league. And they have no excuse with all the money that they have in Aggieland for accepting this. And it will hurt their program significantly. But, again, they will always have money to go buy a decent head coach when they are ready, which we don't have. It stinks when you realistically expect more for your school's revenue teams than they are willing to do to make that happen. You mentioned Todd Dodge in your earlier post, so I want to say something there about him. I, too, felt he was a great hire at the time. You have someone who was affordable for our situation (with Fouts as your stadium, you had very limited resources), had great name recognition, had coached here before, and had lots of in-roads with Texas HS coaches. Plus, he was a great guy for the alumni to be around and get in front of a TV, unlike his predecessor. But, just like with Vic Trilli, who was everything that Dodge was with the fans and with the media, once it was obvious that this was just not gonna work, you have to pull the trigger and move on. Not doing that, in both cases, cost us so much more than the buyouts of that extra year ended up costing the bottom line. As a successful businessman, you know that sometimes ventures or purchases just don't work out. It stinks, too. No one likes it when it happens. But you move on as fast as possible. You don't tell your business partners or shareholders that we will just have to keep that manufacturing equipment for another few years, even though we have lost several contracts and potential new business because its not any good. If you do that, you are rightfully setting yourself up to be fired or to suffer greatly. That is where I am with Tony Benford. Look, if he has to come back, I get it--I understand the financial realities here, too. But if I am the AD, I am making it really well known that if he cannot get significant improvement this next year--as in top 4 in the league--we will cut bait this year. I don't go on to various media outlets and make it sound like we are improving and you are happy. I'm saying,"Although I see improvement, we are far from being where we need to be and where we were. I accept the blame for this and I know that Coach Benford knows that we expect to get back up to where we were very soon." The fanbase would do backflips to hear this from the AD. And, I suspect, that a man of your character and work ethic, would love to hear that, too. We all on gmg.com that regularly post want the same thing--for UNT to be the best it can be in sports. We want to brag to our friends that actually went to UT, A&M, Tech, OU, and the others who get our alums as fans because we haven't shown a consistent plan for actually caring about revenue sports fully. The HoD Bowl was a great experience for us. The UT opener will be a better opportunity for us in a game against an AQ power than we have probably ever had to at least be competitive and we know what that means for us. But when D-II Alabama-Huntsville beats you, when you have to struggle to beat Northwood or Wayland Baptist at home in Year 2, and when you have to realize that a good SFA team has gotten to the point where they can come to Denton and beat you by 30+ points in front of as many fans rooting for them as are there to root for the home team (not LaTech, not UTEP, not Rice...Stephen Freaking Austin), you have to realize that this operation is in dire danger of causing severe complications that cannot or are not going to be recoverable. And, again, most of us on gmg.com, whether we are new or old, are in agreement that we definitely don't want that to happen again to one of our teams.