PlummMeanGreen

I'm going to start a thread called "The Old Folks At Home Down Upon the Suwannee River " just to see if we can turn that one into a marching band thread, too. Carry on, Silver Eagle, I've known you long enough to know that your hearts in the right place with your constructive critiques and suggesting for a few mere tweaks for pre-game shows only to make our Green Brigade shine even brighter than they do already. None from the Green Brigade should take any of this personal because it's not mean't to do that at all. I'd donate $100 toward a $1,000 Green Brigade scholarship fund (which means we'd need 9 others), if they'd high step, double quick step or just run out in unison onto the Apogee football field for our home season opener pre-game show this next Fall against SMU. Not sure they realize the kind of increased stadium noise they'd create doing such for the SMU pre-game.

If we were able to hire Major Applewhite it would probably give our football coaches salary budget a $eizure, right? If Chico stayed another year with another winning and bowl bound Mean Green football team his HFC'ing choices would probably be at the FBS level.

North Texas, ie, the campus, Apogee Stadium, the Mean Green Village, the Heart of Dallas Bowl game (with a win) at the historic Cotton Bowl along with 35,000 "traveling" Mean Green fans would make the Mean Green program an easy decision with many of our Friday Night Heros. Welcome to Mean Green Country, Tillman!

Thinking out loud here, but just how smart is it to actually list your finalist for a HFC's job and that for public consumption? One gets chosen and the others then look like chopped liver? GMG!

Another 1.5 inches of growth and Xavier would be the same height the great Mean Joe Greene was while at North Texas and then later with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So many of the national media still consider Mean Joe as the greatest NFL DL in the history of the game. GMG!

Are we all just not counting a team many of us were not fortunate to see due to our either not being around this area at the time, being too young or not even born and that being the North Texas Mean Green football era of Mean Joe Greene, Cedric Hardman, Steve Ramsey, Chuck Beatty, Ron Shanklin, etc, etc, etc and our football program that produced 3 NFL #1 draft choices over a 4 year period along with a whole host of other NFL draft choices, too? I know most of these comparisons (including my own) has not counted that superb NCAA college football team at North Texas back in the mid 60's. I would have loved to have seen how close to the top or at the very top UNT's Mean Joe's teams would have finished in the old Southwest Conference. Dandy Don Meredith commented on an old Monday Night Football broadcast how good that team in Denton had been and that he was glad that even his SMU teams never had to play North Texas.

One thing about it, many would promise Xavier playing time but whether they produce on that promise or not could be up for debate at some outposts but................. with all our Mean Green DL grads this May, Xavier would probably be able to see from that alone that he would get more bonafide playing time at North Texas his true freshmen year and that would be most likely as a starter. We really need him to commit to us, but its all in his hands and I know our fans will wish him well no matter who he chooses; especially (of course) if he chooses............us. GMG!

Why leave out 1975 for heavens sake? The 1975 season seemed to do more to put North Texas on the national map in that era than any others that I can recall. Beating a 6 & 5 SEC team that Fall with our 3'rd string QB would be toward the top of the list of that 1975 season and had we had all the bowl games back then that we have today.............well, you know the rest of that story. (We also beat the University of Houston Cougars 28 to 0 that same Fall, too). Still....sorta' hard to compare teams from different eras. This 2014 HOD Bowl winning team and our enourmous fan support at the historic Cotton Bowl stadium this past New Years Day created more pride within me as a UNT alum and Mean Green fan as most any other thing thats happened in North Texas football during my past 40 years of this. Good days are ahead for us all! Thanks Coach Mac, his assistants and the mighty Mean Green football team for all that! GMG!

Who wants to go back to the 2015 HoD Bowl game, play a Big 10 opponent this time (per the Big 10 agreement with HoD Bowl officials) and win 2 bowl games in as many years and on New Years Day to boot ?

Had many years to think about this, but I'm not sure we really ever had chance to get in the late, great SWC. Granted, UT's Darrell Royal supported his friend Hayden Fy, but it would take more than even the late DKR to pull this one off. One of many reasons Frank Broyles took his Arkansas Razorbacks program out of the SWC is because he said there were too many Texas schools in the conference and that the SWC private schools (who were said to have black-balled us) were not towing their part of the rope at the turnstiles. Looking at that pic of a near empty Amon Carter Stadium during the Foggies Big 12 Kansas game this last Fall maybe some still have not completely solved that problem? Give North Texas 10K to 15K traveling Big 12 fans on Apogee Game Days and I'd like our chances to be successful at the turnstiles. Add such numbers as those to the 35K Mean Green fans who came from everywhere for the HoD Bowl game and we'd really need to do some serious stadium expansion talk. GMG!

I've been on record many times thru the years as being a huge enthusiast for the GBMB but I will say this... ...our entrance onto the Apogee Stadium football field pre-game does leaves much to be desired. I've just never talked about it until now. Our present entrance sorta' reminds me of the school play back in the 3'rd grade when the teacher would tell all of us to "slowly" walk out to the "X's" she had put down for each of our spots on the stage. Of course, how else would we as budding actors have gone out onto the stage? LOL! I would love for a "double step" or a Michigan Wolverine's band kind of entrance any day of the week and guess what? It would be our fabulous Green Brigade Marching Band who would receive all the attention, all the praise along with what I believe would be an even more thunderous ovation for doing such. Heck, who knows, it might get more inside the stadium early to watch this new phenomema taking place inside Apogee Stadium on Game Days. It's show business and we should treat Game Days as such. Nothing ever wrong with adding a little spice to the cake is there? GMG! A Fair Challenge To Green Brigade'rs: Try such an entrance "1" time this next Fall and gauge the home team's fan response. If it's merely a business as usual response then...go back to business as usual. Nothing ventured...nothing gained.

Bill, lets get FFR and have a McD's Mean Green coffee club meeting over here in Hudson Oaks and I will tell you some funny stories about that whole season; along with Mike Robinson who UNT hired to promote all 4 of those Cotton Bowl stadium games in '81. I think my worst ever year as a Mean Green fan was that 1981 season. I can't think of any others that would top it....can you? GMG!

I will add that Coach Fry was our coach while I was a student so his legacy means much to those of us who were UNT students when he was at UNT than perhaps most? Throw in a little nostalgia in the mix, too? Best I recollect even in his short 6 years stay in Denton he is still the last coach who left our school with over .500 in wins and among them some impressive ones. I'd rather had that than someone who wore out his welcome at UNT and left town well below .500 in career wins and no national or significant eye-popping wins......wouldn't you? If Coach Mac were younger and in tip top health, how many of you think we'd have him for 6 years based on what many of us feel he will being doing at UNT based on 3? Even based on his 3'rd year at UNT and the HOD Bowl game results many of us would tell you his light would shine brightly for those in larger P5 conferences looking for a new HFC today. (Ark. State with 3 HFC's the last 3 years----caca like that happens--ya' know)?. I think Coach DMac staying in Denton would be a win-win for both parties and I've heard many of you say the same. I hope he feels that way, too! LOL! Still............being age 60 today is not like it was 25 or so years today, either; in other words, with most in our society it is still young. Heck, how old was Woody Hays when he retired at Ohio State? How old was Bear Bryant when he hung em' up at Alabama? Glad we had Fry when we did but have said a few times we had him about 20-25 years too early and Pre-A.S. (pre Apogee Stadium). Why 20-25 years too early? Well, here were the constituency numbers when Fry was at UNT as compared to today. Fry didn't have nowhere close to the numbers to get a much larger bandwagon effect in place as we do today. _______________________________________________ Fry Era UNT Constituency Numbers: Denton.......................39,000 pop. Denton County..........99,000 pop. UNT alumnus numbers? Nobody around Denton flat out had any idea how many we had in the early 70's. They didn't have very good records (or maybe even no records at all) of past alums because of what some of you have told me was former North Texas President J.C. Matthews attitude toward alums and that as mostly an era when we were a teacher's college. Not a bad thing being a teachers college BTW....weren't some of all our favorite people on this earth.....some of our teachers? Yet President Matthews didn't want alums or their influences around after they graduated is what I've heard from some of you. So in essence, Hayden Fry started with that kind of an "un-organized" alumnus base in Denton and beyond. Today's UNT Constituency Numbers Denton..................120,000 pop (and expected to be much larger next 10 plus years) Denton County......Approx. 800,000 (ditto to above) UNT Alums............One UNT publication says 225,000 North Texas exes in northern Texas alone. Didn't we see so many of that group for the first time ever at the HoD Bowl game, too? Fry took a Big 10 Iowa U job he'd been crazy to have not taken considering our Denton and UNT culture of that day along with a much, much smaller constituency, too. I hope Coach Fry's health is OK because we haven't been hearing much about him of late when we probably should have around the time of the Heart of Dallas Bowl game. Anyone know?

Glad Chico is staying...Another winning year at North Texas and he'd have better offers anyway.....IMHO.

Those who can...do; those who cannot and could not..... blamed Fry. UNTLifer pretty well said it all. GMG!

It will have to be more than just stipends to keep Conference-USA out of this P5 power grab dog fight! Conference USA's presidents and athletic directors unanimously endorsed providing a stipend for full-scholarship athletes during a two-day retreat in Irving, Texas. The issue of providing athletes with a stipend of about $2,000 per year to help pay for living expenses not provided in traditional scholarships is one of several that has led the major conferences to consider forming a new NCAA division. ODU athletic director Wood Selig said traditional scholarships pay for tuition, room, board and books. They do not pay for clothing, expenses for athletes to travel home during the holidays or for necessary items such as toothpaste and razors. Selig estimates those additional costs add up to about $2,000 at ODU. "We are in favor of paying a stipend that funds the full cost of school attendance," he said. Proposals to pay stipends have been vetoed by the majority of NCAA schools that don't play big-time football and have limited financial means. Some of the power conferences had discussed forming a new division in the NCAA, or seceding from the organization, so they can begin compensating athletes. Any proposal for a stipend would have to be approved by the NCAA. (Check the date of this story). http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/athletes-would-get-stipend-under-cusa-proposal

Then that could also be.....TCU?

Mumme? Wasn't he also the little boy actor in that old TV series Lost In Space? What a diverse talent! (Another Hitzghes-style dad joke---take it for what it is). Did he and June Jones have a falling out or what? GMG!

MWC commish' not as concerned as some so again...let's be patient and see how all this plays out. (I would think C-USA commish Banowsky would most likely concur with his collegue from the MWC). From the NCAA Convention MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson says: "I think our biggest potential concern is if the scholarship limits would ever change one day, say going from 85 in football to something other than that," Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson told ESPN.com. "For the most part, a lot of this is business as usual. There don't seem to be any red flags. ... There hasn't been a level playing field for decades. People like to say that and there's a perception. But there are different budgets, etcetera. We felt like we have performed nationally and competitively at a pretty good pace and I don't see this changing our world too dramatically." http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10307993/ncaa-administrators-mull-giving-power-5-conferences-more-autonomy

It will be a game-changer for many. Several schools in the G5 group have more going for themselves than some of the perennial lower conference finishers in the P5. Not sure how that group of G5's are going to respond. It's times like these when ticket sales and filled stadiums probably will play a part for some G5's in the future; that is, those who are presently G5 and would have a real chance of meeting some of the new P5 criteria "IF"............there is a new P5 criteria at all. Surely this will not be a closed membership forever to where a G5 would not be able to upgrade itself to their level when it is doing as good (or better) than those P5 schools who annually finish toward the bottom. But like those gurgling water as they watched Noah's ark float away in the distance, there will still be many who choose to tread water no matter all prior warnings "to merely take care of business at home." Probably even more reason why season ticket sales and per home game attendance will always be important now and in the future. They most always have in past re-alignments beginning in the early 80's when NCAA D1-AA became UNT's option due to our short-comings in attendance and stadium size. (Didn't many of us know that these 2 vital areas would re-visit our own situation at some point)? Let's still wait and see how all this play out. Not sure the P5's will get all that they want in the final analysis. A strong spokesman for the G5 would really be in order right now to plead our case so we are not sent into NCAA purgatory.....................again.

Very interesting....college football at its highest... ...and with a college marching band stadium entrance that will make Silver Eagle froth at the mouth--even made me do a bit of mouth-slobbering myself, Bill... Love the indoor practice facility (hint, hint, hint) & it even looks large enough for a marching band to practice in, too, especially when its 110 degrees in August & September...facility arms races to always be in play (so get used to it)...Alabama coach basically says he's not worth his pay...Thanks Jerry "Goober'billy" Jones for all you do for local school's college football (not) Long video (well, not "THAT" long) from CBS 60 Minutes but quite interesting and one that all who work in or just love college football should really see. No, most of us are never going to be a Michigan Wolverines kind of program, but we can still learn and adapt some of the things they do even in....Denton, Texas, America!

He's a Texas HS football product that we should all wish the best.

The TCU Good Time Boys sends their special love to the Mean Green and 100% approval for UNT's involvement in this parade. (Coach Patterson was said to be checking on a float for Frogdom because he fears we will have some kind of recruiting inside with this "Big D" parade participation by our folks). And to greenjoe's above post.....sorry that you've received no response, Joe, but word on the street is that they are still mailing out tickets for the HOD Bowl game.

One of the strangest chapters in the annals of Mean Green football with this BB story. Almost similar to top ranked Dave Campbell's HS Football and 1977 #1 Texas HS recruit Milton Collins who (then) UNT HFC Hayden Fry signed on a snowy national signing date in February of the same year. Milton never did make the transition from Blooming Grove HS. I feel sorry for these guys because you know they are as disappointed about all this as we and their parents are. Put yourselves in the shoes of the parents. GMG!

To quote the great Dan McCarney: Why Not North Texas? Heck! This guy wants to win an NCAA national championship! Only 2 people in 40 years of this I ever heard that NCAA N.C. challenge: (1) Mean Joe Greene who spoke at a football banquet after Matt Simon's 1'st year when we got our NCAA D1-A classification back as he said "why not go for an N.C. at North Texas" and then......(2) Coach DMac. We have to move forward because staying the same is going backwards and especially because of who we now have to compete with in C-USA. Other schools have set high standards at the gate and in season ticket sales. We all wish that could have been our school---but it wasn't. GMG!