PlummMeanGreen

Been following Southwest Texas State LBJ U progress the last 2 1/2 decades & during that time they seem to have been copycatting UNT in almost every department post Jitter Nolan/ Fry era & their comparative stats might surprise a few. I know you can find polls that rank your school better than others in what sometimes could be a strange criteria. One that you say….OK🙄………but this one in the link surprised me some. https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/visual-and-performing-arts/music/rankings/top-ranked/southwest/texas/ The San Marcos school has not yet touchéd on jazz studies, but they are aggressive enough to do that one day. ••• They did put a Texas Music Museum on their campus during a time we sat around talking about all these athletic conferences we were going to dominate.😦 In Track & Field some would call us TSU-SM’s rabbitt to keep up with & (I’m afraid) maybe even pass us in some areas. ••• At one time years ago their financial endowment had passed ours. I haven’t checked it lately, though. ••• How long did it take Bobcat Country to catch up to UNT with the Carnegie Tier 1 status designation? I can only guess it wasn’t long. The life lesson for UNT is that we can’t sit still for long in Texas higher education or we might start hearing another Beep! Beep! in the distance.😳 🦅We should all appreciate even more what Neil Smatresk & Wren Baker pulled off with that American Athletic Conference invite (& that was really a big time win for our school). Hope we don’t blow it. ☘️

My premise is that there has to be a number of the MG Basketball Pep Band among this group? Damn proud of these kids! ❇️☘️❇️👍👍

A Tylor Perry fan here. His teammates, too. Hey folks, this was supposed to have been a rebuilding season. Methinks we got us a bonus.

LJ, might one reason be is that the fabulous 400+ member UNT Green Bride Marching Band are in ☘️Ireland🇮🇪as we post? They’ve been serenading small towns in Ireland before they join the big festival in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. I read their website & those kids are having the time of their lives over there. GMG!

Radio coverage begins shortly https://meangreensports.com/watch/?Live=89&type=Live

Grant needs what Bill Blakely called an aircraft carrier or scoring-rebounder deluxe to fall into his lap like a Karl Malone or Elvin Hayes. One who would mesh with our present team matter a fact. Still marvel how UH’s Guy Lewis recruited the Big E out of Rayville, Louisiana. Seems the Texas Southern basketball coach was sure Grambling (or another SWAC) school was going to sign Hayes & so that the Tigers wouldn’t have to play against the Big E the TSU coach calls UH’s Guy Lewis & ask him if he’d be interested in recruiting Hayes. Of course he was interested & as I recall the TSU coach all but lined up Elvin Hayes for Coach Lewis to recruit & then sign with the Coogs. Sometimes you just need a little luck (& a phone call) to turn a whole program around & put it in a different stratosphere. GMG! ❇️💚❇️

Of course Grant is on many “Coach’s to covet” lists. The color commentator & ex Mavericks coach spent an unnecessary few seconds shopping our Coach in yesterday’s telecast. That really pissed me off (Hey Avery! When’s the last time you were even in Denton to discover it’s hardly like you are taking a forced trip to Auschwitz)?😡 A Coach desired by many is a good scenario. Shall I go thru the last 50 years of MG basketball hires & the “stayed much too long” lists? I didn’t think so.🙄 A Little History of the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly—I told our UNT Defense Gurus Coach’s mother who I sat next to at the Super Pit/ La Tech game how we had one UNT coach who turned down Spud Webb for a scholarship. She knew who Webb was & couldn’t believe “an instant attendance producer” as Spud would have been spurned a basketball scholarship in Denton but… I also told her about many UNT basketball highlight games one of which was our big win over a Abe Lemons-coached Texas Longhorns team in the Super Pit. Remember that half court shot by Pat Hicks? Of course many of you do. My 6’th sense & from other comments by a few close to the Mean Green scene says Coach is happy in Denton; his family (including parents & a brother) are happy in Denton; & it is not all about money with Coach Mac. Many who grew up in his family’s ministerial kind of environment such values tend to get developed. Now I think all would agree Grant does need a significant pay raise fairly soon. STILL MEAN GREEN PROUD! (Why wouldn’t we be—it’s still our school & “OUR” team). GMG!

This team has caught the imagination of many fans across America. Hell! Even author Stephen King was on the Mean Green bandwagon after we beat #20 ranked Purdue in last year’s March Madness. Remember reading his tweet?

Whoever thought this quick transfer/be eligible now rule would ever be used for its original intention do remind me again what that original intention was? How will this ever help any G5 program is still beyond me. It still reeks of a minor league farm club existence for those not in the P5. 🦅

A state of art sound system & additional lighting would be good for now. When we start American Athletic Conference play & have to redo our floor I hope it’s a lot less busy than now & we do something similar to TCU & others—I love the predominantly white floor. A white floor with the apple green (& smaller) Eagle logo on it would be (to quote the late, great John Denver)——far out. ***See UH’s Fertitta Center predominately white floor a few comments above.

Fertitta gave UH $20 million toward the $60 million it took to convert Hofheinz Pavillion to the Ferttita Center. Note: Wish I could find a sped up from beginning to end video of the construction of the Ferttita Center. 10,000 seat Hofheinz Pavillion 7,100 seat Fertitta Center https://medium.com/uhvalentischool/a-texas-transition-8d5a38c5cd48

I think the ACU transfer QB will shine. His accuracy on the various videos of him I’ve seen were impressive. I read where Bryce Drummond will move to linebacker. Hope he’s OK with that.

*** I get bored so I get on my keyboard. I have never enjoyed being a UNT grad & Mean Green fan as I am now & since I came to Denton in 1972. Last Saturday in the Super Pit was just plain ol’ nirvana & was as good as it gets. Got to see MG friends I haven’t seen in decades. I am not going to worry about our future in athletics up there. We have the best leadership all working congruently & in lockstep most of us have ever seen since forever & ever—amen. Word on the street among some of the nesters is Coach Grant McCasland (once a Baylor walk-on) wants to build a legacy in Denton. He’s got a great facility in the 10,000 seat Super Pit that obviously needs some tweaking (and campus powers can start with more lighting for TV & a new sound system). Coach Mac works on a campus that some state of Texas prognosticators project could have a 50,000 enrollment in another 10 or so years. •••UNT & Denton are at the top of the burgeoning DFW metroplex growth triangle with significant growth heading north toward Denton County (which is now closing in on 1,000,000 citizens). That location was key to our getting in the American Athletic Conference in 2 more years. When I transferred from Alvin JUCO to NTSU, Denton County had 99,000 citizens & the 1972 Texas Almanac called it a rural, farming county. (Yes, I’m a square alright, I read the Texas Almanac like it’s a Larry McMurtry novel). Some say the only job Coach Mac would leave Denton for would be his alma mater—Baylor U, but problem is the Bears probably won’t have an opening anytime soon because Grant’s former boss (Scott Drew) is firmly entrenched in “That Good Ol’ Baylor Line Country.” ••• Coach Grant McCasland could probably take a high power job in a high powered conference, but wealthy alums at those schools expect an NCAA National Champion in year 2 or else. He has no such pressure in little ol’ lazy Denton—Texas—America, but sometimes “lazy” also has its percs (as well as being ulcer free). It’s a good day. ❇️🦅❇️ GMG!

I will politely defer on a subject I may have first thought about even my first semester at NT, ie, Spring semester of 1972. (And 10 years as a devout UH Coog fan prior to transferring to NTSU from Alvin JUCO was probably my inspiration but—dreaming for higher than where we are is still a good thing IMO). Norm Hitzges has said more than once on his radio show: “North Texas the next Boise State? Why not?” 🦅

Like I said “still nice just to be mentioned no matter who mentioned us” because in the last 50 (exact) years—I can’t recall that we have ever been mentioned in such high cotton as Final 4 Dark Horse? Best part of this is somebody out there is noticing us. Now if we can just get KTCK 1310 to do the same.🤬 I take those blogs with the grain of salt (probably like TCU Froggie fans have); but weather forecast blogs is another whole different thing.🙄 🦅

I thought this was interesting. Not sure how reliable the source, but no matter who it is It’s very nice to be mentioned anyway. Still amazing to me how this was supposed to be a rebuilding season. I would like to see this Mean Green Defense against this year’s Purdue team or…….TCU or……..SMU?

You are right, ADLER. If Southern Miss had had our geographical location, ie, population they’d be in the Southwest Conference today well ahead of Cincinnati & UCF who are about as much a geographical fit for that league as a big toe would be in place of your pinkie finger. They are the G5 program that took the biggest hit with all this NCAA shuffling which has taken place. Couple decades back seems USM were averaging around 35,000 per home game? I feel sorry for USM today. Life is not fair, but most of us remember what our Mama’s said about that. https://youtu.be/l-dX3yFkLVE 🦅

Probably needed this expansion before the IPF & that is because it’s going to benefit both the Men & Women varsity athletes. If you check around even many regional FBS G5 schools have nice ones, but can’t touch North Texas with our other venues & the prime interstate real estate to put them on. I have no idea how much Wren Baker needs to raise to get started with Phase 1 but I’d guess around $50 million? Phase 2 to finish out the End Zone facility part of all this probably another $40-50 million? To see a architectural rendering of how the finished product would look like would be nice because the potential Big Spenders will need that to look at over a set of blueprints. That is something Wren Baker (& Smatresk) would already know because they are 2 or 3 steps ahead of the rest of us. _________________________ Totally unrelated, but this is what the Student Side of San Diego State’s new stadium will look like. 🦅

2 more pics UNT Alumni Association table ?????????, Vicki Olson, Mark Miller Chet Hufstedler

My Super Pit seat the other day was right besides Coach Hodge’s mom’s. You talk about a Mean Green fan who knows her Mean Green basketball! We did a bunch off high five’n’ throughout that barn-burnin’ game. In the next row below me was Coach Mac’s dad (Roger) He & wife had lived in Weatherford up until 2 or so years ago. He & I are Facebook friends & we chatted briefly before the tipoff. Good people every one.

Thanks FOTW! Thank you very much! It was a perfect day for a very deserving group of people in the Mean Green Nation.

You jest or is that to be real?

Rabbitt Chasin’ As Always… One of our alums pointed this page out to me at the game the other day. Some interesting stuff with various venue seating differences. I’ve seen the Super Pit said to have seating from 9,797 up to 10,500 seats thru the years. Not really sure what it is now. The other day walking up the steps to the coliseum outdoor concourse I noticed the concrete on the facing of the steps was chipping away pretty badly. Looks to me like they’ll need repairing soon. ••• Not sure if it’s just me, but the sound system & lighting are in dire need for improvement, too. Is it just me?🧐 I think AD Wren Baker’s 1’st priority is not the Super Pit, though. He seems to have the expansion of the Athletic Center/End Zone facility at the top of his list & has said as much. The Athletic Center expansion will house several services for both UNT Men & Women Varsity Athletics. Note: ••• I did notice UH’s Fertitta Center seats only 7,500. •••UT’s new BB venue will seat 10,000 & be expandable to 15,000. ••• SMU Moody Coliseum seats 7,000. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNT_Coliseum

How does Gonzaga’s loss to St. Mary’s figure into all this (if it does at all)?

Great pics, ADLER! Who is this? I took a close-up of him right after the clock ran out.