untjim1995

Hey Mods, why do we let trolls like this TCU douche continue to post? I'm serious--at least the UH poster has some connection here, since he used to be a student at UNT. And GL2Greatness just argues ad nauseum his points. But the TCU got is just a troll. Ignoring posters is one thing, letting the board get trolled by someone outside of here isn't what I thought this board was about. Seriously, even ignoring him, you still several replies to his stupid posts that just draw UNT discussion offsides.

I usually don't even watch halftime, but I stayed there since I didn't want to miss the All Century team being introduced. (BTW, I think Troy Redwine deserved a spot--sorry he left school as our all-time receiving leader in 1995, plus he caught the game-winning TD with just a few seconds left to beat Oregon State in our return to 1-A). I thought the Green Brigade was awesome at halftime, and yes, because of this board, I noticed that their shirts and shorts all matched. Again, marching bands aren't my thing, but they had a great routine as far as I was concerned.

If there is a lick of truth to what Eric Russell said about the coaches from the DD regime being removed, per RV's orders, I suspect that Dodge was doomed from the start. Seriously, I doubt this is true. NO AD worth his salt would ever do this to a new coach. I'm no RV fan, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here, even when I don't want to. Its just too ludicrous to think that RV would order Todd Dodge to not keep even one coach from the previous regime. Even for recruiting purposes and for some sense of stability, usually at least 1-2 coaches fromt he previous regime will stick around. It looks to me as if the head coach chose not to keep any of those old assistant coaches around, rather he went after high school coaches that he knew really well. And that led to a 2-10 record in the first year under a HS defensive coordiantor that cannot even keep a job in high school today, all with a decent amount of defensive talents left behind by Dickey. Remember that Dickey's teams didn't struggle defensively, they just couldn't score points, which usually led to a defense that eventually wore down by the 4th quarter against most non-AQ opponents in his last two years.

I didn't get to see any of the 10pm newscasts last night. Did we get any coverage or mentions at all? I figured that the 100 years of football celebration might get us some mentions. Did the DMN or FWST give us any press?

Honestly, we are exactly where we should be when you put together everything that the WSJ used for their graph. Our record in the last 8 years is 19-64. The 19 wins are over these powerhouses: MUTS (2), ULL (2), ULM (2), FIU (1), FAU (3), Texas Southern (1), South Alabama (1), WKU (3), Troy (1), Ball State (1), Indiana (1), and SMU (1--with Phil Bennett as head coach). That is embarrasing and weak...

I actually think this was the NCAA telling the AQ teams and their networks that they are going to help them out even more so that they won't leave. But its still just a matter of time. The NCAA is a dying organization for college football that involves AQ teams and conferences. Just like with a college football playoff, once these schools and conferences finally saw the $$$ available to them, it was just a matter of time before it got adopted--the same thing will happen to the NCAA getting left behind by the AQs.

People can say that CUSA isn't much better than the SBC, but it is lights year better for us. The CUSA name carries weight in the area, since they are headquartered here. FSSW never even thought about doing anything UNT related until now. What changed? I mean we didn't improve at all on our record and our schedule isn't stronger this year than last year. The only answer is CUSA membership.

I can see it now... The Mean Green Sports Hour...now in Technocolor!!

Well, after Bower, they hired the guy who is at UNC now. And they were very good under him. It just looks as if the guy they brought in was just in way over his head. They will be better, but I don't think they will go from 0-12 to 6-6 in one year. I think a 3-4 game improvement would signal a bright future again in Hattiesburg.

WAY to go NCAA and A&M!!! That will show him!! I mean, really, Johnny Football, you either got away with thousands of dollars in your pockets to miss out the first half of your opening game (at home) against Rice in 100+ degree heat, OR you did not take the money, signed autographs for the sake of being a nice guy (doubtful) and your reward is to miss the opening half of your season opener. Ridiculous... Meanwhile, to make this UNT centric, if Brelan Chancellor signed a cast for a kid's broken leg that he suffered in a car crash that made him an orphan, Chancellor would never see the field again and we would lose 5 scholarships for the next decade... To paraphrase the old Jerry Tarkanian line about the NCAAs hypocrisy: The NCAA has found improprieties committed at Texas A&M, so North Texas better be ready for their upcoming probation penalties...

UNT90 leads because he posts a lot and he posts the truth a lot... You may like his style, but he points out the fact that our team is not highly ranked in recruiting, that our offense is very conservative, that our DL is not deep, that Benford has been a disaster as our BB coach, that RV didn't deserve a 5-year extension when you look at our W/L % in money sports, that our administration and BOR have not historically cared about athletics at all, and that our OOC scheduling in football is the worst thing our AD does. Those are not opinions that are hard to back up.

Its a bit under the radar, but our opener at Mizzou in 1995 was great, too. If only because we had finally made our way back to 1-A ball. I remember we kicked off to Mizzou and they returned the kick for a TD and their idiot fans threw oranges on the field--since winning the Big Eight in those days meant you went to the Orange Bowl. Keep in mind, the old Big Eight that year had 5 teams that were ranked in the top ten at some point in the year, and fininshed with 4 (NU, CU, KSU, and KU) in the top 10, including the national champion (Nebraska). But to top it off, after the oranges pelted the field, there was a holding penalty on the return, so they didn't even score... LOL!! We held our own that game, lost a tough game the next week against one of the best Kansas teams they have ever fielded (finshed #10) at Texas Stadium, and then beat Oregon State at Fouts the next week for our first 1-A win since 1981. We finished that year 2-9, but we played games at Mizzou, Oklahoma, Nevada, LSU, Alabama, UNLV, and Louisville, plus the neutral site game against KU. We were so beat up that we lost our Homecoming game at Fouts to then 1-aa UAB (a program that passed us by rather quickly) and barely beat i-aa Idaho State in our last home game of the year. That was how hard that season was on the players with that brutal schedule--not to mentioned playing on the painted concrete that was known as Fouts Field!!

Next year is his make or break year. Unless we just tank and only win 2 or fewer games, he isn't going anywhere. North Texas isn't going to buy out more than one year of a high priced contract. We couldn't even buyout Dodge's contract after he managed to win 5 games out of 36 in three years and the contract buyout would have only been about 550k if we got rid of him when we should have. Instead, we watched him go 1-6 to start the next year and let him go then, meaning we only bought out one year of that contract. McCarney makes $600k per year--we aren't going to buy off two years of his contract. Not saying that we shouldn't if we 4-8 again, but it speaks volumes to how we look at athletic spending at UNT. Same thing goes for Benford--he can win 3 games in the next season and will still be back for a 3rd year. His make or break year wouldn't be until the 2015 season, but if he even won 10 games in that season, he'd get a 4th year here. The buyout would be steep for what we are willing to pay, basedon our history. We gave Todd Dodge and Vic Trilli each a 4th year of their 5 year contracts, even though they combined for somewhere below a .200 winning percentage. Barring a complete fiasco, like winning just 1 or 2 games this year, Coach Mac will be here in 2014. If he cannot get to bowl eligibility in 2014, he will surely get fired then, since it will be more affordable. That's just how it is here.

This is what we could really take advantage of if we ever got relevant. There is no one in this area that is a bigger local media member than Dale Hansen. He would love to take good care of a fellow Iowan--plus, the Hayden Fry connection could be talked about even more. Hansen is a huuugggeee Nebraska fan, since they were a power in his days up there, but I'm sure he would love to support a winning UNT program with his good buddy!!

We lost our opener 79-10 to Oklahoma under our new coach, Todd Dodge. It was certainly a sign of things to come. I think your opening game will be more like ours under Coach McCarney--we lost pretty good to FIU in Boca Raton. But we showed improvement as the year progressed. That is what I suspect Petrino will do in Idaho.

I think that game was one where the coaches thought they could build up DTs confidence by having a big game against a really bad opponent at home. So they gameplanned around him to throw a lot more and he had a really bad day. I think it probably surprised Mac and Chico at just how bad he was against Texas Southern at home, considering that he wasn't all that bad at freaking LSU the week before. I think the KSU game helped them to believe that it was an anomaly, but then the Troy game happened at home and it was basically obvious at that point that he had to just be a busdriver-type QB. He is not someone who can take over a game. I suspect that he will hand off the ball alot in this game and that we will just pound the spuds back into the ground. If they are going to open up the offense for DT to throw more, I actually suspect it won't be until the home game against Ball State. I doubt very seriously that we will throw much at Ohio, unless we just have too. That's my guess anyway...

I know that we almost always open on the road at bodybag BCS-AQ heavyweight, but what opening game stands out to you as your favorite. To me, it was in 1994, watching us kill-as we should have--a Division 2 team in ACU at Fouts on a Thrusday night in front of a crowd of more than 17k. We had to average over 17k that year in our 4 home games, which were ACU, Montana, McNeese State, and Sam Houston State. We made it happen that year, while playing 8 games on the road, including our opening playoff game in 1-aa at Boise State. Still had a great year, going 7-4-1--my favorite year at UNT, because we had such a fun team. Since we moved up to 1-A in 1995, we have opened up at MIzzou (L), home against Indiana State (W), at Vandy (L), at OU(L), home against UNLV (L), home against TCU (L), home against Baylor (L), at UT (L), at OU (L), at UT (L), at MUTS (W), at UT (L), at OU (L), at K-State (L), at Ball State (W), at Clemson (L), at FIU (L), and at LSU (L). So, by almost default, my favorite opening game memory since 1995 was watching us go up to Muncie and defeat Ball State on national TV. I remember seeing Riley Dodge going over to the UNT fan section with the talon up after a great win--really thought that would be the beginning of a great season, only to watch the horror story of watching the Todd Dodge-maniac kill us at the end of every winnabble game the rest of the season. Anyone else have any good memories? I did enjoy the UT 2002 game where Booger completely dominated the soft UT OL and even softer Chrissy Simms, even though our head coach's offense basically ran the ball as much as possible so that we would keep the score lower (27-0) and get out of town with as few injuries as possible--we passed midfield one time in that game, despite having the most stout defense we have had in decades.

I've been saying this for years. That rag has more SMU and Texas money behind it than anyone else--Baylor has some influence, there, too. Then, the FWST loves their hometown team, since TCUs money is there, as well. That leaves us the DRC--owned by Belo, managed by Dentonites that like music, arts, and education. They like high school sports, too, but generally have loathed UNT athletics for decades. When the DRC is your only media outlet, and its owned by a company that gives SMU extremely favorable press, its not a surprise that we cannot manage to get equal footing in the Metroplex. You can poo-poo the newspapers as dying, but the local TV and radio sports stations in the DFW area still use their stories as "research" for their own programs.

If there was ever a game that actually running the ball 80% might be a good idea, its this one. You give your OL and RBs, which are the strength of your offense, the opportunity to wear down the defense in the heat. Plus, you can actually save some wrinkles for the passing game for the next few weeks against those MAC teams that are immensely better than Idaho. I wouldn't get too cute in this game. Usually, I would say to throw the ball more, but I don't think we are going to need to try that too much. I think we will run the ball down their throat and setup a few throws to get some TDs. As I mentioned, I think this is a game where Dickey-Ball will make a lot of sense, especially if we get control the line of scrimmage. The only way I see us having to pass a lot on Saturday is if Idaho either builds up a lead or stays in the game because our defense can't stop them. I don't believe Idaho has that kind of talent to run Petrino's scheme effectively--yet. Maybe later in the year, but not right now. 27-17 Mean Green

The Old Buick agress with this sentiment...

Many of us often get ripped on this board for being "too negative" about things going on at UNT. This is an example of where a job well done is getting deserved praise. This is a perfect setup for Denton, UNT, and the fans to work together for the betterment of the event. It makes everything work better for the experience. Now if we can just get those pesky wins to follow, we will really see folks enjoying a great Mean Green experience in Denton!!

The Rangers have higher attendance than the Astros for damn near 20 years...look it up. When the Texans fall back, they'll see it, too. Only reason the Cowboys won't see it for a while is that JerryWorld is still a phenomenon and the team is always winning just enough to keep fans coming back for more torture (see 8-8 years, without making the playoffs) Most towns are a winners town. But even in Atlanta, where the Braves have basically been awesome for 20 years, they rarely play in front of a sellout, just because they lose every year in the playoffs. This goes for college sports and pro sports.

Houston is no different--check out Astros games now. Before UH got good again, they had trouble getting people out to games, too. Its not just DFW, by a long shot.

I believe that the answer is sustained winning. We have had two stretches of sustained winning in 40 years that were about 3-4 years each. In the 70s, when we were really good, we beat SWC teams and other well-known programs while posting winning seasons. The only problem was that we weren't in the main club of the time, the SWC, plus we didn't even have another conference to help us get a bowl bid. WIth no bowl bid, Hayden Fry realized that he had done as much as he could in Denton. In the Dickey SBC years where we ran the table in conference play, almost no one except the diehards gave our program any credit because the conference schedule was full of teams that no one had heard of or cared about, which is why we never really saw much of an attendance bump like we probably would today. Even Dickey himself thought he would be gone from UNT to a better job, which is why recruiting dropped off so much. Combine this with the fact that TCU has its own hometown media and managed to put together some amazing seasons with its tradition, they got themselves into an AQ league that will always get great coverage from the media and fans. SMU has managed to right its ship enough to get more attention than it normally would, but their money and the Dallas media do a great job of trumpeting them up to the metroplex, in part because of their tradition and its location. It will take us winning conference titles, winning bowl games, beating OOC teams that people care about, and increasing attendance at home games to change this with the DFW media and the state media. Otherwise, it will look like it has for the last 40 years in Denton. The biggest hurdle to this, besides winning, is getting Dentonites to not only care about UNT athletics, but to stop being an antagonist against its presence in our community--this includes residents of Denton, the faculty at UNT, and the DRC, which is the only media outlet we have that gives us coverage. That seems to be happening more today than ever, but we have a loooonnnnnnggggg way to go.