PlummMeanGreen

To me, the opposing fan’s banter has always been a fun part of NCAA college football scene. It would be dull w/o it truth be told. ••• I was 17 years old when my late father & I drove from Brazoria County to attend this bowl game at the Harris County Domed Stadium aka the Astrodome. It was SMU vs OU. 🖌🖍The SMU Mustang Band performed at halftime as did the OU band on New Years Eve, 1968. (see belowvideo). The Astrodome was packed & everyone was in a party mood. The game featured Coaches Fry vs Fairbanks. It was a great college football game. We pulled for the team from Texas, of course, & that team pulled it out at the end. . Da’ Game? I hope there’s one at fabulous Apogee Stadium in just a few weeks. 💚🖤I’m sure the Green Brigade will be civil & welcome the Boys (& one twirler) from Big D. (After all, musicians do tend to be a bit tamer than We the Fans, right)? GMG!

Hey Rick V, this former Mean Green linebacker after watching his 2 hour A&E Network documentary I then did a little research & found out Stone Cold Steve Austin was worth $25 million.

I went to one of those small Texas high schools (in Danbury, TX) where the Senior Class actually had a Senior Trip. Ours was at a dude ranch just outside Austin. During some free time several of us guys drove into Austin & toured the UT campus. Walking over to what is now DKR Memorial Stadium in May of 1969 the UT Athletic Dept. was having their grass taken up to install their first ever artificial turf. It very well may have been Astro-Turf by Monsanto. The Horns won the NC in 1969. I watch the Longhorn Network documentary of that 1969 season & it brings back great memories of my 18’th year.

Welcome back! Banter between opposing school’s fans is what makes we older fans feel like we’re 18-21 all over again. We have one on this forum whose first UNT game was in 1947 even before Fouts Field was built. My first UNT game was Hayden Fry’s first to coach here, but it was at Texas Stadium vs UTA. • I saw Coach Fry coach SMU vs the OU Sooners in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in 1968. It was a barn-burner with your Mustangs beating the Sooners in the last few minutes. The SMU Mustang Band were outstanding that night in the Astrodome. Irvin Dreiboldt had some good bands on the Hilltop for many years. I think our game with your favorite school will be close because of what you said. Will you & yours be coming to Denton? I believe SMU will have their largest fan support ever for a game in Denton. GMG!

Even some SMU fans are saying “buy up as many now as you can because the NCAA is going to reel much of this in.”

1947? Wow! Did you know Norma Hunt, ie, Lamar’s widow who was also a North Texas student about the same time? I got to see Abner Haynes against the Houston Oilers back in the day. Lamar Hunt called Abner the first superstar in the AFL & also said if there had been franchise player designations back then that Haynes would have more than fit that role. GMG!

🦅 🐎…….Peruna fixin’ to get her back scratched. SMU…35 UNT…38 It will be an offensive showcase for both teams. SMU will have (the expected) first game jitters & have turnovers. Mustang fans will be at a Denton game in record numbers—it is their season opener. If the Mean Green defeat the UTEP Miners before almost 50,000 fans & a national telecast—the Wing Zone will be filled for the SMU game. GMG!

Hey Jack! What year did you first start following Mean Green football? You are the best, buddy! 👍 Photo 1: Lamar Hunts first AFL Super Star—the great Abner Haynes Photo 2: A 1960’s Band Day at old Fouts Field Photo 3 An early pic of Fouts Field—Interstate 35E had recently been completed.

UTEP version of highlights

Here we go again—it’s wave the white flag time among the faithful. Some thread themes are almost predictable. It’s all been said before. Both Denton & UNT alums are equally to blame but, it’s back to the old Al Davis of the Raid’ahs line: “Just win, baby’eeeee’!” ••• My last 2 years as an NT student & first 2 years as a new alum we had 4 seasons in a row above .500. That was the last time for that. Just 4! (That be a long time ago, folks). We do draw when Mean Green football has momentum & more wins than losses. I think someone posted that AD Wren Baker has said as much. I think we win this season & I also think we give SMU a tough game; who knows maybe a win—NIL or no NIL. (Lest all forgot, it was a close game until the 4’th quarter last season).

To ever compete in the AAC we will. Otherwise the larger stadium AAC members will dominate. For certain SMU & now (bite lips) UTSA shows signs of heading in that direction already. KTCK’s Norm Hitzges has already mentioned SMU & UTSA as future P5 expansion targets. I’m sure Wren Baker knows what UNT has to do & it’s not wave the white flag in the NCAA Venues Arms race.

Jack, our friend Ken Murphy comes to mind, too. Seems he employed a bunch of athletes back in the day at his Dallas-based company. Last time I saw Ken was at his wife Shirley’s funeral where a small army of UNT folks were in attendance. Hope he’s doing well. https://northtexan.unt.edu/issues/2018-summer/unt-revamps-murphy-centerGMG!

Agree. 👍

👍👍 Wardly hits one out of the park. I once told RV he had the toughest AD job in the entire NCAA. Why? Among several reasons is—-just look at us? We can hardly be pleased about anything. I mean think about it? This forum over the year has members (me included) who will argue over just about anything. Start with: •••don’t like our shade of green•••disjointed “NT” logos or do we we emphasize “UNT”•••don’t need to replace Fouts Field because we never fill it•••which “Eagle” logo do we use on our helmets•••marching band doesn’t inspire a college football fan base•••& I know I’ve left out a dozen more BUT———-I still observe when the Green Brigade strikes up “Glory to the Green” we’re all standing & some of us are actually singing our alma mater. Gives me goose bumps thinking about all our friends we’ve known thru the decades who are no longer with us. Let’s enjoy our time. GMG! ”Glory to the Green” (2 versions) Version 2

$19.99 per copy at Barnes & Noble south Hulen Street, Fort Worth. Some very interesting stuff about our favorite school, though. The Phil Steele staff is (as always) very thorough. Heck! He knows which day a player has a zit on his nose. _______________ The Mean Green “D” with Def. Coord. Phil Bennett will shock the Texas college football world & S. Littrell has found a QB by Game 2 at fabulous Apogee Stadium. UNT 28 UTEP 17 UNT 24 SMU 21 __________________ 😱Sorry, SUMG! I lied to ya’ & bought a copy anyway. 🤥 🙂 •••It’s almost August & DCTF magazine is still missing at my local Walmart. As a kid, I bought the first edition of that football rag at Griffins General Store, Danbury, TX, but I can never remember it being this late at local retail outlets as it is now in the Summer of 2022.

The lady TV commentator who did the color for our WKU/UNT CUSA championship game at the Lovelace Softball Complex called us “North Texas State” twice. No biggie but we have been UNT since Gov. Bill Clements signed the bill that changed our name back in 1988(?) More than enough time for it to have gained traction with those who do sports for a living. GMG!

Looking at the SMU rendering 2 comments above this one, but it appears to me their new Video Screen/Scoreboard is at least 4 X’s larger than our present one at fabulous Apogee Stadium. It’s location is perfect. ❇️GMG!❇️

Great podcast discussion, Harry & Rick Villarreal! I’m sure we all know a bit more about this NIL project. 👍👍 👍👍 Harry, the 2 podcasts you did with AD Wren Baker were also spot on & very informative. ❇️🦅❇️ Exciting times ahead for the entire Mean Green Nation!

👍 Good video find, Jeff. End zone projects with extra square footage under or adjacent to them seem to be the thing now. Did I read on GMG where TTech was fixin’ to put $200 million into one? (Even some P5 schools are trying to keep themselves relevant). Seems SMU smelled re-alignment talk before the most recent “major P5 conference” shake-up happened. So months before the USC/UCLA bombshell they announced their own end zone project. **FWIW, it also seems SMU figured out there were no G5 schools with 30,000(+/-) seat stadiums being talked up for a future as a P5 candidate. I’ve heard AD WBaker needs $100 million+ to get what we need at UNT, but to my knowledge there is no rendering of one yet. Best part of all this is that our favorite school will still be participants in the NCAA Athletic Facility Arms Race. I suppose we had no choice? SMU End Zone Project **I like where they put their scoreboard—much larger than the one they presently have.

RIck Villarreal stayed connected to UNT like few former Athletic Department employees ever have. ••• RV’s name is on the Mean Joe Greene statue in front of Apogee Stadium as a contributor. ••• Rick V knows a whole bunch of people & that should help with this NIL project immensely. 👍👍 GMG! GMG!

There will still be a great Apogee crowd for the home season opener when another record-breaking UNT Freshman class show up en mass. Heck! The Green Brigade will probably be larger, too. Their parents will be there to see their little Susie & Johnny march at a college football game. Most of you will be there. (I’ll be there with ya’)! 🔵🔴SMU’ers have already started buying tickets in the shaded part of Apogee (according to PonyFans.com)

TAMU & UT-Austin get the Permanent University Fund (PUF). Texas tea (as the Hillbilly’s song goes). My Great-Great Grandpa’s uncle by marriage (Isaac Parker) was in that 1870’s Texas legislature which established that huge perc for Texas’ 2 flagship schools. He fought with Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto & Parker County is named for him. _____________________ Funny how what’s in this rendering has changed some.

Hey TCC Mean Green, have those schools actually gone on record saying they didn’t want to play SMU? Have a link? _______________ All should put themselves in the shoes of an SMU alum to understand their anguish in moving up. We would be if we were ready, but Smatresk & WBaker have a few more miracles to pull off, venue-wise. As far as SMU is concerned, this will probably be their last chance to make a dramatic conference move for awhile. Reading GMG, it’s easy to see all agree UNT needs to put itself in a better winning situation with better attendance. Many times in the past when serious re-alignment talk comes up we are deficient in some areas athletically & in venues. Not as much now in the latter. *NFL scouts are sure impressed with our Indoor Practice Facility, aren’t they? Back To the Beep! Beeps! Some I’ve spoken to have asked “is UTSA in the process of passing us by in football & football attendance?” Well…time will tell, but UTSA does have an impressive 2022 home football schedule to draw at home. Told some 3+ years ago: “Watch out for UTSA when they start winning.” Why? (1) They have a large stadium plus it’s covered & (2) they have a tourist destination city who shows big signs that they will support a winner. •••Their UAB win last year in the Alamodome is a big hint of that. •••They had 50K+ fans for their program opening game over 10 years ago. •••UTSA almost reminds me how Bill Yeoman’s UH football program really started taking off in 1965 when they first moved to a large domed stadium. UH also had a city who would support a winner. 🏳 Hardly waving a white flag here since UNT has 10X’s better venues for all its varsity sports than UTSA, but somehow we just have to get Mean Green football back up & running toward an annual Top 25 level. Others in the American have certainly done it. UNT has no choice now but to do it.

🙏🏻 We praying for you, Rick Herold!