NT80

The 32,000 figure is from the original plan back in 2002. A new, larger with decks, design was presented since then and will likely be changed again, depending on funds available to build with. 40,000 seats, mostly sideline seats, should be the starting point, and expanded as needed from that...no less than 40K! 2009 can't get here soon enough!

Wildcats' OL coach bolts for Illinois By Ryan Finley Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.29.2007 Eric Wolford, the last remaining offensive coach from Mike Stoops' original staff, will be named offensive line coach and running game coordinator at Illinois today. Wolford, 35, confirmed the hire from a Chicago airport Sunday night. "It's a good situation for me," said Wolford, who had coached the UA offensive line since 2004. Illinois coach "Ron Zook has done a good job of turning around their program. This is the youngest team in the Big Ten. I see a lot of similar things here that I saw at Arizona." Wolford's job status has been the subject of much speculation since Bill Bedenbaugh was hired as the Wildcats' offensive line coach earlier this month. But Wolford said his job was never in jeopardy. In fact, Stoops made the move with the understanding Wolford was looking elsewhere. "My role wasn't going to change (otherwise)," he said. "I left on good terms with Mike Stoops and (athletic director) Jim Livengood. A lot of things were being said and assumed that weren't true. There were some great relationships there." Wolford is the sixth UA coach or support staffer to leave since late November. Offensive coordinator Mike Canales resigned as co-offensive coordinator in the days following Arizona's Nov. 25 loss to Arizona State. Running backs coach Kasey Dunn and wide receivers coach Charlie Williams took jobs at Baylor and North Carolina in December. Recruiting coordinator Dan Berezowitz and assistant strength coach Mark Hill each took jobs at Minnesota last week. Wolford said his departure has more to do with going home than leaving Arizona. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and attended Kansas State before coaching at South Florida, Houston and North Texas. Wolford said he expects great things out of Arizona's offensive line, which struggled early in 2006 before coming together during a three-game winning streak late in the season. "They're going to be much better next year and, after that, they're going to be dominant," he said.

40,000 should be the seating goal from the start, mostly sideline seats, and not in phases. Maybe 55,000 for the final phase, but 40K to begin with. This original (2002) stadium design was based on just the minimum 30K seating (because of NCAA minimum stadium size criteria back in 2002). It did include a ground-level walk-in feature with then upper and lower seating sections, like a sunken bowl, as opposed to decks.

2002 new stadium version: http://www.unt.edu/golfcourseplans/imageas...newsstadium.jpg 2004-06 new stadium version and campaign: https://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArticle.db...p;ATCLID=113995 2007 new stadium (start over in design?); $ gift for planning: "Athletics to use $1.5 million gift for planning new stadium Denton County residents Shirley and Al Goldfield recently gave the Athletics Department $1.5 million — the largest monetary contribution the department has ever received. The gift will be used primarily to develop a plan for a proposed stadium adjacent to the current Mean Green Athletics Center on the Eagle Point campus, according to Rick Villarreal, director of athletics."

Tulsa winning more area recruits 09:43 PM CST on Monday, January 29, 2007 By TODD WILLS / The Dallas Morning News New Tulsa coach Todd Graham is already making a major impact in Dallas/Fort Worth area recruiting. Graham and Tulsa picked up four more commitments from area recruits Monday, including one from McKinney North outside linebacker/defensive end Rashad Robinson. Oral commitments are nonbinding. The first day a recruit can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 7. Robinson (6-1, 230) decided to follow Graham to Tulsa. Robinson had been committed to the Owls before Graham decided to leave Rice for Tulsa. Graham, a former coach at Allen, has eight recruits from the Dallas area. Tulsa also got a commitment from Lincoln defensive tackle Jacoby Veals (6-2, 270) and North Crowley defensive back Reid Singleton (5-9, 168). And West Mesquite outside linebacker Richard Brooks (6-2, 205) said Monday that he switched his commitment from Texas-El Paso to Tulsa.

Another coach for your consideration..... http://www.midland.edu/athletics/basketbal...t_mccasland.php

Long past time for Slinker to be put out to pasture. JJ can't get over the hump to win tourney games, teams consistantly fade 2nd half of season. Nice guy, but we need a stronger motivator in crunch time And drop the D-II scheduled games.

Updated Vito MG Blog........ Mean Green Blog January 28, 2007 Final recruiting tally When all was said and done Sunday, UNT had three commitments in football recruiting -- including from two high school players. Lufkin linebacker A.J. Penson and Plano West offensive lineman J.J. Johnson both said they had orally committed to play for the Mean Green. UNT has also picked up Greg Garden a former Ryan standout who spent a year at the Naval Academy. UNT recruited Garden to play in its defensive backfield. What could be interesting is to see if the addition of a player like Garden helps open up the pipeline from Ryan, Denton and Guyer. UNT has seen a long line of Denton and Ryan players leave town and play for other programs. One can understand seeing players like Herman Johnson and Derek Lokey leave for programs like LSU and Texas, but there is little doubt it would help UNT to keep some of the players who are going to places like Houston and Tulsa home. UNT is currently courting Lake Dallas running back Justin Hill and trying to get him to change his mind and play for the Mean Green instead of Rice. What are your thoughts? Will Dodge be able to keep more players like Hill and Garden in town in the future?

DRC article says he was injured last season (shoulder) and didn't play, so I'm assuming redshirt. It says he will be eligible beginning in the 2008 season.

I would prefer a Saturday night game, but would take a Thursday night game if it meant National TV, not just SBC TV. Also would prefer Northern Illinois to Buffalo or a couple others mentioned.

Did Harry's "guest" hear the date wrong? He twice said the 13th.

Harry's special guest on the podcast heard it announced yesterday as Sept. 13. Perhaps it's for TV Thursday night?

September 13...a Thursday night game....vs. a MAC opponent TBA (from a previous thread probably Northern Illinois, Buffalo, or Ball State). 2007 schedule so far looks like: Sat. Sept. 1 @ OU Sat. Sept. 8 @ SMUt Thu. Sept. 13 vs MAC Sat. Sept. 22 @ Arkansas 10/20 : @ Troy 10/27 : vs. Middle Tennessee 11/3 : vs Florida Atlantic *subject to change until schedule officially released*

NT Athletic Site banquet article: http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle...p;ATCLID=776271

The floor of the SuperPit could probably hold enough tables for 1000 people.

My first time to watch a televised NT game was also against Tulsa sometime in the early 70's; I think it was at Fouts as I remember seeing Tulsa 4-wheelers with hurricane flags on them going around the track after a score. My first NT game in person was in 1975 at Texas Stadium against Houston. My friend's dad took us because his coworker's son was an OL on Houston....NT, coached by Hayden Fry, won 28-0 and I was hooked from then on.

The 2006 highlight video showed NOT a single second of the black-jersey game! Dodge made a quick reference to the new stadium, something to the effect that until it's done let's "light up" the current one. Only about half the seniors showed; Chancellor Lee Jackson was again a no-show. Most speeches included thanks to the players for the past season and past championships, and the excitement going on now with the program and new coach. Overall, a good banquet and a good kickoff to the new era.

from DMN: Nebraska offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jay Norvell joined the Bruins as offensive coordinator. ............................................ Wouldn't that be a lateral move?

I believe either Harry or illuvius32 mentioned a podcast or report late tonight after the banquet...

"It is a remarkable compliment to the type of people Al and Shirley are when they make such a generous donation to this university and this athletics department," Villarreal said when the donation was originally announced last year." It would have been nice for Vito to get a more current quote from RV on this stadium issue. Why do I feel like Vito has been in RV's doghouse for a couple years now? His articles never have quotes from the AD who has all the answers.

http://www.lids.com/did/335

Basketball: Sun Belt hoops tournament moves to Mobile, Ala., in 2008 08:16 AM CST on Friday, January 26, 2007 NEW ORLEANS — The Sun Belt Conference announced Thursday that the league’s postseason basketball tournament will be played at South Alabama in Mobile in 2008. First-round games will be played at on-campus sites before the tournament moves to Mobile for the quarterfinals. South Alabama has not hosted the conference tournament since 2001. Brett Vito

An interesting design, but not sure I would wear one..... http://cgi.ebay.com/NORTH-TEXAS-NEW-Z-FIT-...bayphotohosting

"Hay day" in what terms? attendance, bowls, big wins, conference titles? Fry tried to get us into the SWC, and I heard he was only a couple (private school) votes short of doing it. Fry beat Tennessee, Okla State, Houston, and several other name programs back then. He had 10,000 NT fans follow him in 1976 to Austin for our first game vs UT, lost 17-14.

MAC? How far would that nearest rival be?