PlummMeanGreen

Now the big challenge is to get this good news out to all the UNT students. How will that be done? When is our students last day on campus for this semester? GMG!

Long time DFW sports media guru Norm Hitzges many years ago did a guest feature story on an NCAA play-off plan for the late, great "Sport" magazine staff (which was "the" sports fans magazine of the day and the fore-runner of Sports Illustrated). I cannot find that article anywhere and challenge anyone who can, but many praised the Hitzghes play-off plan, but as always the college leaders of the day wanted nothing to do with it------(made too much sense I suppose). GMG!

No doubt one team can be better than another, but on Game Day that team better be darn sure that it is the better team....As we know from our Mean Green football history, it doesn't always play out that way. Suppose that's why they still actually tee it up and play the games? GMG!

Wouldn't he probably want to go to a NCAA FCS schools to play immediately, though? Still......hope he shows up wearing green at the Heart of Dallas Bowl game on...........NEW YEARS DAY, BABY! GMG!

Be nice if UNT could match the same price UNLV has made possible for their students. Of course, UNLV will not have near as many students take em' up on that $20 offer as we would with our enrollment differences and distance comparisons to Big D for each student body, too. If they hadn't done this, UNT needs to convince (beg?) the HOD Bowl people to have 2 or 3 designated ticket windows at the Cotton Bowl stadium on January 1 for UNT students who buy on Game Day as well as ticket windows designated for UNT fans and alums who didn't buy their's earlier from UNT ticket outlets. Even now early or pre-Game Day ticket purchases by our alums and fans probably should have had a well advertised small discount to encourage such early purchases of the full priced $75 ticket. Nothing will keep most of us on this forum from buying these tickets even had they been the price of a medium talent rock star concert ($100 plus for those). Of course the timeline to have done all this should have been around December 1'st instead of the day we accepted our HOD Bowl game invite which would many days later and here it is now almost mid-December.

Good news!

Seems to me that Coach McCarney has his mentor, ie, Hayden Fry almost at sainthood status. After all, he has a framed photo of his hero on his Athletic Dept. office wall over-looking Apogee Stadium. No, Fry was not perfect and we all know that---and from every era, too. He was HFC when I was a UNT student so much of my feelings are probably more of a nostalgic nature than anything. That will happen to you younger alums in time, too, mark it. Anti-Fry With This: I have posted couple times thru the years that myself and others were not always on board with his playing Big School U at Texas Stadium rather than using his fund-raising skills and Dallas connections to actually get us a better campus stadium built. He chose not to go that direction. Again, the times were so different back then with a Southwest Conference always hovering over us like a dark, dark cloud that would rain on us if they ever thought we'd start a Mean Green parade. Honestly? We never had a snow balls chance for SWC membership and some of his detractors said that Fry did all that for the personal publicity. Fry would disagree. Why does it matter now? Yes, Fry had 5 of his 6 Mean Green teams which would have been bowl elgible today but not one received an invite from any of the (I believe) 10 or so bowl games back then. Fry had a plan for a school of about 17K in a town of about 39,000 and a Denton County which Texas Almanac said "is a rural county of 99,000" population. So yes, Fry (in deed) had his work cut out for himself and his athletic program with those kind of constituency numbers for sure. Fry's biggest success took place where he had a much bigger audience of fans who would appreciate what his talents truly were. That's all I will say about that. Was Fry perfect though? Hardly not, but I go back to my North Texas student days and still have good feelings when I think about many of the games he coached at North Texas. As another fellow alum of ours always said: "When you went into a Big School U game with Coach Fry in charge you just always thought you had a chance." I'm beginning to feel the same with Dan McCarney at the helm, but I will for sure not mention where he received his coaching apprenticeship, either. Wouldn't be prudent. BEAT UNLV ON NEW YEARS DAY !

Too many seem to want to "go along to get along." We don't always get the product we want by doing that all the time, though. And yes, I get on my 'old man' tangents of "why in the hell doesn't our attendance annually grow commensurate with our growing enrollment and our school location's growth" too, but this >>>>> all that has been a pet peeve passion of mine for "OUR" school probably longer than some of you have been alive & kickin'. I've just always thought we could take this Mean Green space ship to better future planets (conferences) and upgrades if we merely take care of that long time problem. I assure you, though, we don't want to get passed by again by some of the newbies out there who are just itchin' to pass UNT by. OK! Enuf! Without a doubt, had ESPN picked Pitt, Syracuse or Boston College for our HOD Bowl game the eastern media would have been all over that, would have gotten smart arsed about our school, too, but for darn sure S.I. and ESPN would not have rated that kind of bowl matchup as low. (Still, I think the UNVL Rebels will be a great opponent and will bring more fans to Big D than we all think at this point)

One on GMG.com has posted that............ all's well and clear sailing for New Years Day from wherever he got his forecast and now those darn farmers are saying "THAT?" Addendum: And best forecast of all? Mean Green Coach Dan McCarney on his radio show last night at Rudy's said it will be blue skies and sun'shiny on New Years Day! Heck yeah!

Still....how many unfamiliar to regular UNT fans and new UNT faces were seen at the NO's Bowl many of whom haven't been seen since (according to some of you who went to all 4 NO's Bowl games)? We will have many of those fans back at this much higher profile bowl game on New Years Day. Fact: New Years Eve and New Years Day are big USA event days which for all of us will now mean watching our favorite college football team around those 2 event day timelines. A Joe Namath kind of guarantee: > > > > > .North Texas/UNLV will have more butts in seats than that Cotton Bowl Classic Game which featured Houston and Joe Montana's Notre Dame game back in the day.....Guaranteed! (there was an ice storm that week and we've already had our ice storm for this Winter last few days). HoD Bowl has the highest priced tickets compared to the rest of our G5 colleague's bowl games, so we have to make this game affordable for UNT students come hell or high water because making tickets available to a UNT enrollment of 37,000 students (who have family & friends) is the difference-maker. No, not all 37,000 UNT students will purchase tickets but that is still a pretty darn big reservoir to start fishing for a good group of very vocal Mean Green bowl fans. Remember how especially great (and vocal) our UNT students were on national TV for the Rice Owls game on Halloween Night?

....unless we have a good "day of game" walk up ticket sales which I think we will. HOD officials will see all those who buy at the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day wearing green--whether purchased through UNT channels or not. All should buy earlier than Game Day through UNT channels best they can, though. 1-800-UNT-2300 I think will get you to the UNT ticket office. (Some of us still talking to fellow alums and fans to find seats all together before we purchase all together).

ADLER made that very suggestion couple weeks ago Would be worth looking into, but is there really room? GMG!

Kinda' sad how it seems he got treated toward the end. Mack has a nice nest egg and needs to go deep sea fishin' now. GMG!

TRICE!

Who cares what SI says? Didn't know they even knew there were more than the BCS bowls as it is but.... .... the HOD is the only bowl game I'm really interested in seeing (in person) since most of us on this board are going to spend $75 a ticket to go watch our school's team kick some butt I'm biased, but I think we have a very fun & interesting team to watch especially when all cylinders are running. We hope America gets up on New Years Day and gets to see that team. I stopped subscribing to S.I. long ago--they're irrevelant in my day in and day out sports world as it is. I'd rather read the Farmers Almanac. GMG! When Boise Was Bozo! When Boise first started going to bowl games they received similar treatment from the national media. The sports media court jestors most always want to devaluate newbie bowl teams to clown status, but I don't think any of the S.I. staff writers have seen our school's football team, especially that Mean Green D, now have they? ? Can't recall any of Boise State's first few bowl games ever being on New Years Day, though. Then they had several winning seasons in a row, annual Top 25 ranked football teams (even while losing one HFC after another) then they beat OU in that most exciting Fiesta Bowl and the rest is history for a school that would then finally get the attention of the S.I crowd & national media in a most positive way. We have 1 winning season in almost a decade, so I don't think any of us could really expect the national media to genuflect in our direction.........yet. ? ADDENDUM: Just like Syracuse, Boston College and PItt showed a definite interest in coming down here to play a CUSA team in the HOD Bowl game, would SMU & TCU gladly change places with North Texas right now?

Bowl talk start around 15:04 (+/-). Good find, GB. GMG!

And that was mostly the Cincinatti Bearcats marching band and band sponsors I suppose. It was a pathetic showing for their school albeit some of their fans claimed that was due to a big basketball game on campus that same night.. And I believe it was that Tuesday night game in the Big Easy that in that year's bowl's DVD the narrator said North Texas had 17,000 traveling fans that evening. For a weeknight game I always thought that a most impressive number. Wish we could double that for the HOD but those damn $75 dollar tickets might throw a monkey wrench into that. Did someone say the HOD Bowl had the highest priced tickets of all the bowls that G5 schools were participating?

BillySee58, I know you are a UNT student with limited time, but you are doing a great job on the Scout "Inside North Texas" board keeping it relevant for those Texas HS and JUCO recruits who might just visit it if they have an interest in the North Texas Mean Green.

No one I know is complaining about our coach or the team, either. They have done their job, albeit we did have a HFC who (like many of us) was disappointed with some regular season games turnstile numbers. Look folks, before Fry came to student Dan McCarney's University of Iowa they had had 20 losing seasons in a row with sellouts at each game during that span of time (if I recall Fry's story on all that). That alone clinched it for Fry to take the Hawkeye job. Many of us old gun alums just think that had we taken care of business the last umpteen years beginning with season ticket sales of which if you haven't notice UTSA, Old Dominion & Charlotte all 3 now dwarf our own totals. Newbies doing all that while we plod along like a plow mule in this our 100'th year of playing football? Not good--how could anyone explain otherwise? if those whose job description has something to do with ticket sales up there had sold tickets with increasing numbers commensurate with our enrollment and population growth annually, then there wouldn't be what seems a dire expression "IT'S ON YOUR BACK NOW OR ELSE WE FAIL" aimed toward our fans and alums; that is, all of us who already show up at games All that represents to some of us is a department that hasn't been doing their job the past years. Chicken have come home to roost? (One has to wonder had Coach Mac had a 3 or 4 win team this Fall how much scurrying around there would have been in the UNT Athletic Department since he's now the main Hoss whose coattails many over there are riding on in order to keep some of their respective jobs). If an NCAA FBS program doesn't have wins and significant numbers of fans--then just what does it have? Had we been developing new fans, ie, the casuals and borderliners even just the years we've been at Apogee, then selling $75 dollar tickets this week would not have been near as difficult. As it is, we have a rather lengthy cold calling list to get the fans we really need for this bowl game. STILL.....This HOD Bowl Thing Can Work With A Smile From Lady Luck & "IF"........ The UNT Students Show Up Along With First Time/Long Time UNT Alums In Dallas-Fort Worth Who Show Up At The Cotton Bowl Stadium Ticket Windows With $75 Dollars In Hand On New Years Day: Yes, there is still a good chance for the HOD Bowl game to draw a good crowd, but much of that will be based on "day of game" walk-up ticket sales--much like we have to have at Apogee truth be told. North Texas would be wise to get the HOD Bowl folks to give us a few ticket windows exclusive to North Texas fans so they can buy their tickets to sit with the rest of us. Still................Cerebus is spot on in his above post....IMO.

You've seen more of these rodeos than myself, drex, so you will also choose to look at the reality of all this whether you be called Negative Ned or not. Funny how I don't see many of the N.Vincent Peales out there of late selling many season tickets that would go a long ways toward filling a 31K seat stadium, though. Yes, for certain be positive but let positive have some legs & some "get out there among the masses press the flesh type" pro-activity to it, too. Don't pass it on to someone else--that theme is getting old and becoming more obvious as to what it is saying. Have to say its a pretty good formula for some, though.....Good Attendance ='s UNT Athletics Takes Credit (and we all 2 or 3 that would do that unabashedly)..............Poor Attendance ='s It's Those Damn North Texas Fans & Alums Fault. THIS: Who cares who gets the credit? Sell some freakin' football tickets, dammit! STILL A GOOD CHANCE FOR A GOOD HOD BOWL ATTENDANCE IF THIS HAPPENS: That is, if we have good to excellent day of game walk up ticket sales from Dallas area alums with most of that group wearing green. How about an exclusive ticket booth or 2 or 3 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, HOD Bowl folks, for UNT alums to buy their tickets on Game Day and sit in the North Texas section? Anyone going to doubt who fans wearing green will be for no matter if our school or the HOD people sold the tickets? UNT has no idea who or where most of our over 200,000 plus DFW alums are located.....we've seen that scene for decades, drex, with a much, much smaller UNT constituency as you could testify to that as a former athletic dept. employee so really............ IMHO, there really is still a big chance that we can draw for this game no matter what the pre-game ticket sales are. TAKE CARE OF IT NOW OR ELSE: It's still those regular season turnstile numbers at Apogee that continues to baffle many (as I know it does you, too) that needs to be addressed in a way it has never been addressed after this bowl season. Again...if our alma mater's leaders don't address our puny Apogee attendance numbers for a school our size in the area our school is located they will come back to bite us in the arse later on since this, folks.............Rest assured, there will be another conference re-alignment down the road that we do NOT need to see a start-up or any school step past us in a perceived better conference but moreso beat North Texas in the all important Texas intercollegiate perception game and subsequent pecking order for recruits. Drex, how many schools have you and others of us on this board seen go Beep! Beep! past our school since the 60's? I've just about lost count, but I don't think we want to see that happen again in our lifetime. So What Is It? Positive or Negative? When does reality enter the discussion because that is what we'll be faced with at the 2014 football season opener at Apogee Stadium. Comprende? GMG!

Come On Now...Give Us A Freakin' Break! Too Long? Yes, in deed, but this one you might just want to read & absorb. (Eat prunes later). 3 or so weeks ago Sports Illustrated forecasts that Notre Dame would be the CUSA team's foe in the HOD Bowl Game 2 or so weeks ago USA Today mentioned Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and 1 or 2 others for the HOD Bowl Game. Just days ago, Syracuse and Boston College were on record that they wanted to come to Big D for the HOD Bowl Game. So yesterday we all get collectively kicked in the family jewels as that vaunted NCAA college football juggernaut, ie, the UNLV Rebels (instead of "ANY" of the above traditional football schools) gets the HOD Bowl invite? Is this someone's idea of a cruel joke or what? And with $75 tickets we are supposed to convert all the casuals and borderliners to over-night Mean Green fans to boot? Hell, pass that job onto someone else, right UNT Athletics? YET STILL.............the onus is on our regular fan's backs once again to somehow each of us do a personal mitosis or tritosis of ourselves and suddenly create a groundswell of new fans with a feat which would be the all time miracle of modern medical science, right? And as ridiculous an idea that is most on this board still would--if only we could, right, fellow Mean Green fans? Anything to help dear ol' alma mater from our group. OK, let's get a bit more serious again. AND THEN WE HAVE THIS FOR CRISSAKES'? Should we all have quit our jobs in the Spring and Summer of 2011 to help our crack promotions and marketing staff in the UNT Athletic Department to sellout Apogee for the Houston Cougar game? With almost 4 or more months to sellout that stadium debut game a piece of cake, right? Not at our school would it ever be a piece of cake. UTSA would have needed extra seats if it had been their "can do" staff, though. They wouldn't have passed the ball over to their fans in order to keep the microscope off of their nicely paid jobs--especially if failure would have occurred. Well, for the debut of a new college football stadium in Denton, Texas, and against a UH Coog foe that would bring 4,000 fans......failure did occur. The fact that even our campus stadium's grand opening didn't sellout even with Houston bringing 4,000 fans should have been yet another clear sign of just more of the same ol' shit to come from UNT; that is, from a department on our campus that are still able to continually removes themselves from the challenge of getting new fans but rather putting that challenge on fans who already show up on Game Days any time the damn turnstiles are open. One helluva' cushy job some have at our alma mater keep hanging onto--hell or high water; ie, those who never are responsible for what they were hired to do but who rather choose to put probably the most important part of their job on those of us who are actually a tad busy at our own jobs. Fellow North Texas alums: When is the last time you asked someone else to do "YOUR" job? Once this latest adventure in Mean Green Soap Opera is done there needs to be some drastic changes made because I guaran'damn'tee you, if we don't solve our regular season attendance shortfalls now, it will come back to haunt us once again like for starters maybe the following > > > > > > > Like when we have a bowl game in our back yard and our fans are being asked to come up with thousands of new fans that not even our own UNT Athletic Department could find among a population center of over 6 million and for a new stadium's grand opening? You can't make this stuff up---but you can at UNT. I'll be at the HOD Bowl game, but I will only count for 1 seat. GMG! Adding Insult To Injury From the UNLV Head Football Coach: Even the UNLV HFC is telling us they don't want to play at an empty Cotton Bowl stadium? You think we do, Coach? Sorry, but we really wanted who the national media has been projecting for about a month now and that list did not include.....Tark the Shark U ! This For The UNLV Head Football Coach: The schools that the national media projected would be at the HOD Bowl game would have brought so many more fans than just their marching band and a few of their football player's parents like we fear "YOUR" school will only bring. And with (was it) 15,000 (+/-) at your last home game, O Wise UNLV Coach, do you have some attendance ideas for us down here in Texas?

First of all, building our attendance is not the job of Coach DMac. Yall know any other NCAA FBS HFC whose job it is to sell tickets? Yet once again we get preached to; that is, those of us who are the week in and week out parishioners. If all the regulars were to succumb to some epidemic, then who would be left that would hear the same sermon? Just maybe they need to go out and recruit new faces? UTSA should have taught that to us if nothing else. They had "NO" faces 3 years ago. Yet our area and enrollment continues to grow, but our attendance does not....if you've heard this once you've heard all this a thousand times from some of us--probably me more than most. Its very easy to see where our problems in building attendance come from with this pass the buck mentality. Pretty easy to pass the buck to those who job it flat out ain't to do, now isn't it? Our coaches and teams deserves so much more than this (and just seeing the same old faces--like us). GMG! PS: Walk up ticket sales will be very important for this game, except our school won't get credit for those even if 99% of the walk ups are wearing green.

And that was longer than the others, right? Those who are hearing impaired probably appreciated that timeline of 34.92 seconds, though.

It's that UNLV matchup that did it! Other than Father Time Lou Holtz those other guys look like they just graduated from HS to me. Conspiracy Thread..........5...4...3...2...1...