PlummMeanGreen

The Irish tenor part of me almost cried when I accidently ran across this vintage video as I was surfing YouTube for past Mean Green football history. A special thanks to former Texas Tech Red Raider Trooper Keeton who posted this video. Ad Nausem Time Again...........is there anyone who can get the video of the 1968 North Texas/Arkansas game and convert its highlights to a YouTube video? Surely UNT has film of that game in its archives and if not I just know University of Arkansas athletic officials would stumble all over themselves to let us borrow a copy of theirs. Folks, sometimes during our down cycles we just have to remind ourselves what a great 100 year football history we have at the University of North Texas and you know what the best part of all this is(?)................the best is yet to come! GMG!

Amazing what you can find when you surf the YouTube net. I wish we could find something like this of Ronnie Shanklin catching that "called back" touchdown pass against the Arkansas Razorbacks in 1968. Someone may want to tell Mean Joe about this thread featuring film footage of the North Texas freshmen football team versus Texas Tech's frosh team with this footage being a bit over 5 minutes in length. While on the freshmen team at North Texas, Mean Joe wore #72 which (of course) later became #75 when he joined the varsity and then #75 with his Hall of Fame career with the Steelers. So here are excerpts of the 1965 North Texas "Eagles" versus the Texas Tech Picadors (which was the name of their freshmen team) with comments by Texas Tech's Trooper Keeton Huff, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that you know many of the players on both sides of the line. Enjoy...and by the way, check out the final score on the Tech scoreboard toward the end of the video.

Interesting....and even more scary is how I agree with some of your points. The Apocolypse must be on its way! GMG!

If we add beer to Apogee Stadium's Game Day menu and knowing our very creative bohemian atmosphere in Denton, Texas, new cuss words will most certainly be invented. GMG! Add those suds!

Call me crazy, but UNT Head Football Coach Dan McCarney's 3'rd Mean Green football team is going to a bowl this December. GMG! PS: We will be just fine at QB this Fall....mark that in 3 inch headlines.

North Texas' long time friend Mr. Perception seems to have followed us to CUSA if you believe these pre-season college football soothsayers. (1) When North Texas once again duplicates our NCAA Division 1 era of Abner Haynes of which he & Leon King "ONLY" (and admirably) integrated the Southwest & Deep South traditionally caucasian NCAA Division 1 schools and whose team went to a Sun Bowl; (2) When North Texas once again duplicates the Mean Joe Greene era whose quality produced record numbers of NFL draft choices including 2 #1's in Denton and with one of those teams that a top ranked Frank Broyles' coached Arkansas Razorbacks team needed some last minute home-cooking to over-turn a Ron Shanklin caught winning touchdown; (3) When North Texas once again duplicates the era of Hayden Fry when in only 6 years he beat schools many in the present Sun Belt still cannot get on their schedules while during the Fry era the Top 20 (now Top 25) rankings barrier was broken by his Mean Green and last count no program in the Sun Belt has done the same since the league's inception; (4) When North Texas once again duplicates a few of Corky Nelson's years particularly one season (1988) when we beat the Texas Longhorns except for 2 terrifically terrible "homer" calls that even embarrassed Longhorn fans were shaking their heads even apologizing to some of us as they left DKR Memorial knowing which team had really won that game along with that same Corky Nelson-coached Mean Green team which went on to beat 2 other Southwest Conference teams; (5) When North Texas once again duplicates Darrell Dickey's 4 bowl teams which got us enormous national publicity (albeit gol' darn it he still left Denton under .500 and with this MG fan who still feels to this day was way too critical of him); Nevertheless, when North Texas duplicates all of the aforementioned it will be then that our old nemises Mr. Perception takes a back seat where it needs to stay for many, many decades. And when our winning pendelum swings back (as it always does) it will be the 5,000,000,000 more population strong geographical footprint in the new Conference-USA which will be the biggest beneficiary of UNT's upcoming winning ways except this time around...before a much larger constituency of UNT students and alums than we ever had in my student days in the 70's and such larger numbers which will more easily fill that palace of a college football stadium located in Denton, Texas, America, between those 2 Texas interstates which former Dallas Cowboy Super Scout Gil Brandt called "a Taj Mahal of a college football stadium." Still the most amazing part concerning these upcoming pre-season college football magazines will be how so many of them will still rank this Fall's NCAA FBS teams and conferences based on last years records never-minding that some of those football programs had very large numbers of graduating seniors. I cannot forget how ULaLa was ranked to finish last in the SBC one year only to see them win it, go to the NO's Bowl and then beat the MWC's San Diego State Aztecs. Uh.......go figure because after all...they were picked to finish last by pre-season prognosticators of that summer preceeding that Rajun Cajun football team's very successful Fall. I think most of us like where we are now much better than where we've been no matter what all these college football scribes and soothsayers are saying now. Bottom Line Is: Conference-USA is depending on North Texas to catch its light'ning in a bottle once again. GMG!

Is there a list of alll our true freshman to post on this thread?

"UNT AD Rick Villareal said Vanderbilt University officials visited our (Apogee) stadium recently because they heard such great things about it. They loved it so much they toured the rest of our facilities (the Mean Green Athletic Village). The Vandy' people said you can't find these kind of facilities at some Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools. That was pretty impressive." L. Travis post & quote from a Mean Green Caravan Get-Together In Plano, TX. _______________________________________________________ University of North Texas Mean Green Athletics Interactive Map of the Mean Green Village & All Our Athletic Facilities plus Student/Athlete Related Venues, Too...... (from the official North Texas Athletics Website) Much of our UNT Mean Green athletics history & legacy shown in vintage & recent photos in most all our athletic venues as seen on the interactive map. (On the interactive map, click Fouts Field for starters & see some great photos of memorable scenes of past years). http://www.meangreen...ome.html#anchor * At the bottom of the page of the above link are all athletic or student-athlete related venues--just click each one of them for a photo tour of each. GMG!

I believe Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats were ranked in the Top 10 when the Mean Green played them in this game last September. A game that was quite close for much of the game with North Texas even making a 4'th quarter bid to pull it out. Many TCU fans all over their tail-gate areas at Amon Carter Stadium were watching this game in a bit of disbelief as reported on this forum were pulling for the Mean Green to pull off the upset against their new Big 12 foe...the KSU Wildcats. (Thanks for the support to our neighbors in Cowtown). Can Mean Green QB Derek Thompson put it all together his senior year like he had it together for the Kansas State game? Most of the key North Texas RB's all returning this Fall, too, along with Purdue transfer RB, ie, Reggie Pegram. Can this team with all the positive new additions put it together like they did during the SBC first year of football operations when the Mean Green went bowling that year? There really are some things to get excited about in this YouTube video about who we have coming back this Fall. Enjoy...

I think Coach Chico should be allowed to join our HFC Mac in this mediation; not that Coach Mac is incapable of doing this on his own but the more the merrier? The UNT pep band should also be allowed to go along and serenade during this mediation session. GMG!

Oh my.............................Paul Boesch--a name I haven't heard in decades. Guess those from the H-Town area and from that era know what age group we are...right, RushnStudies? Next thing you know you'll be dropping the name of KTRK's "Kiterick" or even that old Houston TV cowboy personality Utah Carl and who was that agriculture show Neil Sperry-type who was killed in that plane crash en route to a Texas Aggie game? GMG!

Move on from the Sun Belt, folks, a conference which still has not had "1" team ranked in a Top 25 football poll....so just move on as most of us have from those 12 long years of an NCAA D1-AA classification which we all know what that did for way too many of our fellow alums who graduated from UNT during that 12 year era or what our being at that level for 12 years did to the perceptions of those masses of our critics who will most always live on..........perceptions. We cannot change that part about people other than go on a 25 year winning streak in football and basketball which seems to have worked for our former conference-mate the Boise State University Broncos--a school which once had a truck driving school as part of its academic offerings to its students. BSU's success in athletics seems to have erased that memory for the Boise-based school. It's CUSA now and to copy-cat TCU, SMU and UH......let's also keep looking for something even better down the road along with the success we will have because it's "OUR" time to have that success (coupled with the larger turnstile numbers that will be commensurate with our school's on campus growth.........our school's home city's growth; our school's home county's growth and even morso, the staggering growth of the entire region of its location, ie, the North Texas Metroplex where no other university in Texas (including UT and TAMU) can touch our numbers of North Texas alums in DFW. In deed, keep those good memories of 4 nationally televised bowl games the Mean Green participated in last decade which to many viewers on the USA's East and West coast was our school's first introduction but otherwise............just move on. Do what you want but this is just my take on this subject. GMG!

A university also must meet four of six other criteria: An endowment greater than $400 million; Texas Tech’s endowment is projected to exceed $400 million in 2010 Doctoral degrees awarded must top 200 in each of the previous two years; Texas Tech awarded just fewer than 200 in each of the past two years Membership in the Association of Research Libraries or housing a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; Texas Tech meets both requirements High achievement of the freshman class for two years, to be determined by THECB High-quality faculty for two years, to be determined by THECB High-quality graduate programs, to be determined by the THECB http://today.ttu.edu/2010/02/texas-tech-makes-progress-on-tier-one-status/ PS: Last I heard from one on this forum who I have utmost respect (and have for years) UNT met all the other necessary criteria except the $400 million minimum. That will be a worthy challenge for our fundraisers but................it can and will be done! And for our school's greatest fan, ie, GL2Greatness (+1....always)...........please tell us to the person here on GMG.com that when UNT officially does reach Tier 1 research university status that you will not go out and commit horrific acts against mankind because of it, OK? Seriously, some Texas-based universities with very weak or almost non-existant doctoral programs also trying for Tier 1 may have to find other goals to reach. UNT does not have that problem with its all encompassing doctoral programs. GMG!

Somehow I feel our UNT-Denton main campus endowment coffers (of which we need about 4 x's as much as we presently have to become Tier 1) would be so much larger if we were not so spread out in DFW. Might the other system schools in Texas just traditionally have more financial resources to draw from as they have most of the last 50-75 years? UNT-Denton was struggling financially even as a single university not that far removed from our teacher's college era before the idea of becoming the flagship campus for a DFW Metroplex system even came up. UNT being a system of schools in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton is fine but to what sacrifice has all this been for UNT-Denton and its quest for Tier 1? GMG!

Northern Tex ! PS If we stick with "North Texas" on the helmet is there anyway we can raise the letters a tad higher so the chin strap does not cover part of the letter "x?"

Boast not lest ye fall......and.....pride cometh before destruction. Just as quickly as the Big 12 formed, it can change (again) just as quickly. Casepoint TAMU left the Big 12 now didn't they? GMG!

I know where you're coming from, outoftown, but good golly miss molly, we need Coach Mac and his staff to be successful this Fall with 6 or 7 wins. I think 7 wins would get us a bowl game. I think many of us do worry about his health, though. No job is worth dying for IMO. GMG! GMG!

I am almost assured knowing the pulse of many on this forum that the very presence of Apogee Stadium is going to do it for them for a very long time no matter who we're associated with conference-wise and even (probably) no matter what our W/L records are just as long as we can all say to many in the Go5 conferences..................... "OUR STADIUM IS BETTER THAN YOUR STADIUM----NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH.............NAH ." After all (and as predicted by some on this forum) hasn't the student passed referendum (and student fees which funded to a great extent) Apogee Stadium already bought more time in Denton for some on the UNT payroll, ie, the Mean Green Retirement gang that 99% of all other NCAA FBS level programs would not have given half the time (now going into decades) as ours have been given? For those of us who were at the grand opening of the fabulous Super Pit in the Fall of 1972 and with our school's brief run of success with 2 coaches, ie, Bill Blakely and Johnny Jones must we at UNT continue to give so much creedance or credit to facilities being our panacea instead of the more preferred winning seasons? Many of us now in our 60's and up can tell you who are younger how not one time did the Super Pit have winning seasons on its own or because of its mere presence.....................................neither will Apogee Stadium. I read some of our older alums on this forum express with dismay how disappointed they are that we have not recruited better with Apogee Stadium. This (no doubt) beautiful venue in Denton which is such an ominous, imposing presence on the rolling Texas prairie that TxDot says about 100,000 commuters drive by it per day on both Texas interstates. Bottom Line? The bottom line for NCAA FBS level success still remains with qualified & proven athletic staff professionals because they are the ones who make athletic programs work................not facilities. Don't we who are proud alums of UNT know that better than anyone? Louisiana Tech and its Joe Ailleet Stadium ( a vintage 1960'esque football stadium) had a football team ranked in a Top 25 poll last Fall for 2 or so weeks.........along with their basketball program, too. And North Texas? All we can do is still talk about how some time way back in time we did have a football team that was ranked in some NCAA D1 "Top 20" poll and no one I know can remember the last time our varsity basketball program was ranked in a similar poll if ever. And still one more time...... La Tech did it with both their men's revenue programs last Fall. What are they doing right in Ruston? What are we doing wrong in Denton? If our alma mater's athletic department is being so pro-active at every phase that an NCAA D1 athletic program can be so pro-active (as has been advertised by those on our staff and a few on this forum who roll with just about anything our staff tells them)...........then why in the hell are we still sucking hind teat and have been most of us Older Phart Alum's lifetimes? Just hide....watch.............and see...........because of its predictability.................but SMU, UH, UTEP and UTSA will one day be in the Mountain West Conference while some of our alums will keep preaching "let's build SBC 2.0 no matter our W/L record." From all accounts those other 4 Texas-based schools (like TCU) are "full charge ahead" and appear to be positioning themselves for better athletic neighborhoods and futures while North Texas will continue to tread water no matter if we're in the Southland, the Big West, the SBC and now the new SBC 2.0 but................at least we will have mighty fine facilities to do all that treading. "Have another brat', Joe!" STILL.....with the right round pegs in all the right round holes (instead of our school continually trying to force square pegs into round holes)............North Texas can actually still awake from our long, lengthy slumber but this time wake up to a much larger constituency than Hayden Fry would have ever dreamed of having back in the 70's which will mean much larger numbers at the turnstiles. All that turnstiles part is a mathamatical certainty and only extreme poor management and the worlds worst P.R. could prevent it. Shall we all hold our breath with that one? If our 200,000 plus alums in the DFW also ever think again that our program wants to even become exclusive (instead of just more status quo) then that coupled with annual winning seasons (with a few La Tech'esque Top 25 wins) would mean the Apogee Stadium expansion project would begin sooner than later. Problem for some of us is that "later" is no longer our long time ally. GMG!

Of course this will also go over like a lead balloon or a submarine with a screen door on this forum especially as we're on the eve of CUSA (or the old sbc) membership, but North Texas should beg the Mountain West Conference to let us in along with 2 or 3 other Texas schools as travel partners. (Anyone think UTEP or UTSA & maybe 1 or 2 other Texas schools would turn them down now the way all this is shaking out of late)? MWC membership would be a step ahead of what we have now (which ain't that bad) but some of you on this forum know exactly where I'm coming from with this. If we want to stay the same for the next 50 or so years, then we should just stay where we are. TCU Horned Frog's football successes in the MWC catapulted them to the Big 12. TCU's Many Conference Affiliations After Southwest Conference Imploded in 1995: 1996-2000 Western Athletic Conference 2001-2004 Conference USA 2005-2011 Mountain West Conference Big East Conference....was a member for what seemed to be about 5 minutes... 2012-Big 12 Conference

If one could go back in time in an H.G. Well's kind of time machine and if TCU were presently in this conglomeration called CUSA/AAC does anyone else think the Froggies would want exclusivity (once again) by joining the Mountain West Conference? Some programs like TCU think on their feet about such things; that is, positioning and advancing themselves while others just don't have that capability or want'ability. It seems with this present NCAA FBS crowd of schools if you are not in an upwardly mobile mode then you are going to stay where you are or worse be retreating in due time. I applaud UH or any school for thinking ahead (or outside the usual box) about better things for their program no matter how silly this may sound now. After all, how many of us 2 years ago would have thought TCU would be leaving the MWC for the Big 12? GMG!!

IMO............North Texas will need to win 7 games to break into this bowl lineup. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions GMG!

Apparently the Vanderbilt U contingency representing their athletic department who recently made a special trip to Denton to take a tour of Apogee Stadium think something special is going on at UNT--that is, facility-wise. Another poster said one from Commodore Country after his tour of Apogee and the MG Village said a few SEC schools didn't have the overall facilities that North Texas did. (Not sure who those would be but I'll take his word at that). BUT.... like the Super Pit which for well over 10 years was the best on campus basketball venue in the Lone Star State and remained so until UT-Austin built their Super Drum; yet we cannot afford to go thru as many losing years at Apogee as we did the Super Pit most of the last few decades. Still the best formula in the NCAA to this day is: Great Facility + Great Football Team ='s Annual Record Attendance Numbers, Top 25 Ranked Teams + Recognition When Better Conferences Come A'Callin'. GMG!

Happy Birthday, Harry!

I think the new Big 12 TCU with what they are now trying to do nationally with their football program is a pipe dream for North Texas to schedule the Froggies. Of course, it never hurts to ask since the worst thing they could tell us is......no. I also don't think TCU's series with SMU will be long term, either. GMG!

A football program with 3 winning seasons out of 18 years may not want to fight its attempst to "grow its attendance" wars on too many fronts IMHO, Harry. 200,000 NT Exes in DFW now (probably twice as many as the early 80's) seems to have not increased our crowds that significantly since the Fry era with an upwardly mobile ratio that our recent growth which (in a normal world) would reflect such growth at our present day turnstiles (which for now it has not). Winning will change much for us and it will be at that time that our recent, ie, the last 15 years of sky-rocketing growth will show at the turnstiles compared to past decades. With over 700,000 in Denton County we really have a nice base to draw from when we start winning again. Just my .02 and I think other older alums might concur from most all our experiences in east Dallas and Fair Park. GMG!