KRAM1

Hope it works out date-wise for you. Really would enjoy seeing you back for another go.

One other thing about the concert itself...not the WingSpan Gala event...you folks are probably already aware, but this Apogee concert is not open to the general public. The Eli Young Band wanted to do something for UNT students. Rumor has it that alums will be able to acquire tickets as well somehow...but, have no clue if that means only Alumni Association member alums or not. Am sure details will be out soon.

Russians.

Date is in the very first post in this thread. Sorry you missed it....looking like April 1st with a 3pm tip-off. You in this year? Hope so. Hmmmmmm..in the very first part of the very first post! Ha! Looking at April 1st with a 3pm tip-off. I realize it doesn't say it is firm as yet, but it is looking more and more like it...as is playing back at the Volkeyball gym.

Ha! Same place it always was located. Right across the street from the Super Pit and beside the outdoor rec tennis courts.

This is coordinated with the WingSpan Gala that takes place earlier that evening and was worked around the band's schedule. If the Gala was on the day of the Spring game you lose Gala attendees like Coaches and AD personnel who donor enjoy chatting with at these donor events that raise scholarship monies plus possible donor attendees who don't want to sit through the Spring Game and then put on a tux for a formal affair just a few hours later. Very important for UNT to focus personnel and donors on the Gala. By the way...not saying I disagree with your line of thinking. Just giving you a bit more info.

Works for me....hey...you bringing your buddy Paul back for this year's game? He did a nice job last year.

This will be our "official" player roster for the seventh Annual Cheer Scholarship Game. Trying to raise SEVEN FOR SEVEN this year...$7,000 for our seventh year! Any player info is welcome to be posted here along with any friendly banter (trash talk) regarding players or teams one wishes to post. I will update the thread as to players as they announce their intentions...you folks can supply the chatter. ANDREW - Andrew Valenkamp THOR - Thomas Coe smoothfresh RICO - Raymond Rico Vince GMG24 - Brandon Grady Ben Gooding Zach Gooding Jacob Gonzalez Emmitt Jackson Cody Coile Ray Cortinas Rob McKinney Grant Gilbert MeanGreenCoach2 John Hopkin Greendylan Paul Rob Morley

Excellent...got you down to play and Coach...thank you. Hey...any of your coaching or teaching buddies that want to play just let me know...ladies are more than welcome to play as well. MVP from one of our earliest games was a lady.

Note the tweet posted...under the scherdule...it says "come check us out". Spring practices are open to the public. If you have a group coming you might want to contact Scotty as the schedule indicates.

No problem...you no longer live in the area. But, Dot's Hop House is one great beer house...restaurant...bar in the Deep Ellum area of downtown Dallas. Owned by the super supportive UNT grads that also own Oak Street Deprafthouse and East Side Social Club in Dallas. The UNT Alumni Association along with Athletics held a pre-HOD Bowl event there the night before our recent HOD Bowl appearance. Dot's has a fantastic outside beer garden area as well. If ever back in the Dallas area you really should check it out. Food is great as well.

Just FYI, and something that no one else has mentioned....the existing Super Pit has some handicapped accessibility issues as well.

Well said. I, too, appreciate Andrew's soccer volunteer efforts. We need more people willing to give back within their communities! AND... oh, yes, indeed, there will be a half-time mid-court shot contest. It seems to be really fun and if you hit, you could walk off with a bit of cash. 50/50 game...open to everyone..players, all spectators, Cheer Team, referees, volunteers, etc. Come watch this masterpiece of basketball powress and take a shot or two or three! You bid on it and win it and it is yours to do with as you please. Hope to see you at the game with bidding pen in hand.

Folks...check out this silent auction item: Check out the autographs!

Fantastic! Great to have you in for another round! ?

For the time being it is being "delayed" until these other projects and upgrades are completed. See my previous post regarding Dr. Smatresk's comments. It mentions what he said about baseball.

So...heard several things from Dr Smatresk Thursday in a meeting I attended, then found out a bit more from another executive level employee in another meeting today... First...no baseball for awhile. The multi-purpose indoor sports facility WILL be constructed prior to adding baseball. The new track and soccer facility is about to break ground. Heard the soccer practice facility will be in the infield of the track. Seems Fouts will be torn down and will serve a few years as a ground level parking lot. Until the state legislature frees up new building construction funds, it will remain a parking lot. In addition, a new residence hall that will include a dining facility and a welcome center is going up promptly. The Super Pit will not be remodeled, but a new basketball facility is in the planning stages...rumored to be a 7-8,000 seat facility. I do not know the fate of the Super Pit, but would assume it stays as a multipurpose facility. Of course, we all know the rehab football locker rooms is currently underway and that the women's BB locker room rehab has been completed. And, the tennis courts have been resurfaced. In addition, some rehab work at the Athletics Center has been completed. Baseball is on the radar, but there is apparently much to do before baseball. This is only what I can recall. I was shocked at the emphasis facilities improvements and additions are taking under President Smatresk. He said we would strive to be Tier One in athletics as well as academics....seems he meant it.

We have our first referee....Ex-UNT Deep Snapper....Troy Kokjohn...the Vinney Testeverde of Cheer Basketball referees....will join us once again as one of our referees! Troy is, of course, the world's most experienced Cheer Scholarship BB game referee....so, you guys won't be able to get anything past him! Thanks Vinney....oops, I mean Troy! Appreciate you.

Thank you...great post and spot on. Time to look to the future...not dwell on the past.

You know this for a fact how? You have direct personal contact with Ernie on a regular basis? Ernie is a very successful lawyer and a very interesting guy. He can be VERY generous with his time, his talent and his money as we have all seen. He can also be a tad "tough to figure out at times". Ernie is "one of a kind" and he has earned the right to be that way. Unless you have talked directly to him and that is where your info is coming from, then you are only speculating. Ernie IS NOT an easy guy to figure out. The issue is not the so-called 17, who no one here has ever been successfully to name, it is that UNT has far too few of these mysterious 17! With so few heavy hitters it is easy for one or two to dominate a good bit of what goes on...it is their money after all. Their influence goes a long way in any athletic department and those of us with much less to give should be thankful for the heavy hitters we do have, not play the blame game and see them as the root of all evil. If the smaller guys, like me, want more influence or want to mute the influence of the largest donors to any extent, there simply much be many many more of "us", so that a loss of one of the "17" because they were upset about something would not result in such a big financial hit. Until then, well, it is what it is for us and many other universities. If the smaller donor "us" folks get in a huff and walk away because we have some personal grudge, don't like a certain coach or administrator, well...hello big donor influence. Yes, I know there are those among us that will vehemently disagree with my thoughts here. I get that, and that is OK. It is a difference of opinion, but I am guessing if people really think about it and put those personally grudges or dislikes away, they might find some small bit of logic in these thoughts. Yes, just as I have found bits of logic in even the biggest "disagreers" we have here on GMG.Com. And, perhaps the answer lies smack in the middle of both. Anyway...if we want to blame the "17" or more specifically Ernie, we also need to take a long hard look in the mirror. There is power in numbers. Lots of smaller donors can and do offset the effects of a single larger donor who some might think are pulling strings in a direction that would prefer not to go. Anyway...whichever way anyone wants to look at it, it appears that a decision, one way or the other, will be made after the season ends. Hopefully, it is a decision that a lot of us "smaller donors" can get behind and support with the time, talent and dollars.

Update: We have two new sponsors to announce! John Williams of OAK STREET/EAST SIDE fame has agreed to sponsor our event once again....and...wait for it...John Brightwell of DOT's HGOP HOUSE fame has also stepped up to be a sponsor separate from what East Side/Oak Street is doing! This is BIG folks and really jump start our scholarship efforts. Since this is the seventh year for this event...we are setting out fund-raising goal at $7,000.00 this year. We can call it SEVEN FOR SEVEN! We raised a tad over $6,000 last year when all was said and done and all donations, player fees, silent auction monies and sponsorships were accounted for after the event. So...why not $7,000.00? Easy, right? Our TRHREE named sponsors have already provided a nice kick-off for our event this year! AND...GOOD NEWS HERE...since East Side and Oak Street are involved again this year...we will be holding our after game event at East Side this year! After the game we will "adjourn" to East Side for some great fellowship and even a beer or two or three. PLEASE plan on participating in this event as well as the more that do the more fun it is...players, player families, volunteers, folks who come to watch, Cheer parents, etc., etc. ALL are welcome to come enjoy this after game gathering...so do make plans. Sooooooo...after all that good news, I thought I might share a tad small bit of disappointing news.....It appears that we will, once again, be utilizing the UNT Volleyball gym for our game. Both the old men's gym...original PIT...and the Super Pit are completely booked that weekend...and Cheer schedules are such that the first of April is the day. Guess what event is taking the Pit and Super Pit? Ok, drum roll please......a Cheer Competition! Now, just how ironic is that, right? The result is that we will need to plan much earlier next year and set a date in order to be able to use one of these other facilities. We tried...we really did...even used the VP of Student Affairs for some "pull"...just no way to move that schedule this year as the Cheer Camp brings in a good bit of cash for the university. No, the UNT Cheer Team is not part of that event and is not connected with it...so our own is not knocking us out. But, next year we plan plenty early...fingers crossed. ANYWAY...now that we have the date...who's playing? Who can help with a corporate, business or personal sponsorship? Who wants to volunteer to help run the event? Who wants to referee? Together, we can once again make this happen. The Mean Green Nation is a generous lot.

You mean the winningest Coach we have at the moment...that John Hedlund? And, it is his off season...well, the end of it anyway, so Wren did wait until the end of the season to evaluate Coach Hedlund. and give him a nice well earned extension. Not that much evaluation was needed regarding wins and losses that is...

You are pretty out of date on your info regarding the so-called "17" and Ernie. Ernie is not attending basketball games and is not at all happy with the state of the program in basketball at the moment.

Any updates? Has your situation been resolved as yet?

Dominate? I attended the game, and while the final score appears that UNT dominated they actually did no such thing...the game was definitely in doubt at half (3-5 point lead for UNT) and it wasn't under control until the last 2/3rds of the 4th quarter. Way way too many turnovers and some early poor shooting by UNT allowed a pretty poor FAU team to hang around. Now, that being said...this Jalie Mitchell team never quits and never seems out of a game...even when playing a tad poorly early. They just hang in and find a way to win. A sign of a good team is one that beats a team they should beat even when playing not up to the top of their game. This was tonight and may have been a bit expected...playing a team with a bottom feeder record when coming off a big comeback road win in their last game. So, yes, you are exactly right...they did what they should have done...but, dominate...not so much. I think we might just see that dominate win by the ladies Saturday over FIU. Ladies seem to be getting it together, in spite of some injury issues, just at the right time as the conference tourney looms. Ladies looking good to make the tournament any be the team that no other team really wants to play. Congrats to both the women and men tonight. Light that tower double green!