PlummMeanGreen

No matter what you call the conference, SBC, Big 14 or the Whose Got It Going On Conference how about this combo of schools? Big 14 Conference West----East NMSU----ULL USU------WKU SJSU-----ASU Idaho----MTSU UNT-----Troy ULM-----FIU LaTech----FAU Actually pulled the combo of East/West Divisions from a Bulldog Barks & Bytes poster. Seems a bit heavy on the western travel for UNT, quite frankly.

Biggest scoop I heard today from Harry is that Coach McCarney has put 25 linemen (under his tuteledge) into the National Football League. And Harry, great touch with the giant letters! GMG!

As I recall in 1972 the NT Daily was really strong on the idea of our dropping football; guess there have been some years when we thought we actually had...but that was yesterday....and yesterday's gone. Now that some of you 'boomers have that tune (with lyrics in blue) of that old Chad & Jeremy 60's song entrenched in your mind.......enjoy. GMG!

I wondered where the heck you had been on this board--new moniker I see, eh? Again thanks to all...I feel an epistle coming on but I'll get over it I'm sure. GMG!

There are just some things I choose to keep..............privates! (Good one, Bill). Actually, I took my birthday off my GMG.com Bio about a month ago and thought I had made it through the day until SUMG calls me minutes ago to tell me he had just posted: This Big Surprise! I'm 60 going on 39, but a young lady told me earlier today I really looked 40 until I showed her my bank statement balance and then she said, "well, upon further review, you really do look 60 you ol' f@rt and just why are you looking at my derrier?!?!" Seriously to all who post here and to all I've hacked off who don't post I still say: Thank you.

We do have a main rival except they don't call us "their" rival; albeit, our games draw more fans than any other opponent either school plays to date. New Mexico State has been a good rival when we were in the Mo' Valley and 'Belt with those Aggies.

UNT was never going to pursue Leach based on his first lawsuit against the state of Texas. Now a private university may not have any problems with him, but him giving the appearance (or actually being) one who can be insubordinate will kill his chances to coach at most universities in the higher echelon of the NCAA. Just my .02 GMG!

Acutally, I like most of what you just posted, E01. In fact, you may have given me some new ideas for me to post about, too, since I do get a bit redundant again and again and all over again? I will offer this: Outside Denton, Texas, Dan McCarney "does" seem to have what our new Prez' was looking for to change the culture and direction of Mean Green football. Not my first choice since my sentimental choice was Coach Fran, but I'm in line with this guy if he's who they agreed on. I am impressed what some ISU fans/alums posted today since Coach Mac was asked to resign but here's you one more on that: SuperFry after 17 or 18(?) years at Iowa was also encouraged to step down, too. Emmitt, in deed, we go back and forth with both our well advanced levels of sarcasm mixed with a bit of cynic'ism in some of our posts, but you know I luv' ya' like a pop. (Now about that beer)? And I would probably continue talking about the good ol' days of NTSU, Fry Street, Norah Jones, Don Henley, Fessor Graham, UNT Jazz, Bill Vogel, John McDowell, Scottie Campbell, FFR, GrayEagle, SilverEagle, Huff, Deep Green, MG61, eulesseagle, etc, etc, long after you've left the bar, too, with me diatribing solo but you know that is what us Old Gun Alums tend to do, right? GMG!

And thats all some of us older f@rts needed to hear. Thanks for posting! GMG! PS: If he's the one, I still hope he would retain Coach Chico as Asst. HFC/O.C. (with nice pay raise); that is, if Coach C would be interested. This could probably land Chico a bigger/better HFC's job down the road as it is because look who would be recommending him then and from a (hopeful) winning program this time around? Think about that one. If Coach Mac left--then another golden opp--Coach C could come out smelling like a rose in this albeit I know his disappointment of not having gotten our job at this point in time, but none on this board had anything to do with that, either. GMG!

So now lists are making some on this board tense now, too, forevereagle? Well, here's another to add to your #1... 2). ...and those who still seem content to keep doing things the same ol' way which has made most of us "Sun Belters" annual Bottom 25 (or close to it) football program fixtures.....and then some at North Texas with all their "low goal" setting teacher's college'esque M.O's who still seem to want to keep hiring the same kind of NT football coaches as we've done for almost 40 years now from the same ol' freakin' vat? I know a, uh, list that UNT didn't do a good job of culling the good from the bad when our alma mater decided to hire Dennis Parker over Dennis Francione for just one example of I'm sure many similar from all those other kinds of lists of names we'll never know what other coaches (like Coach Fran) got past over for ones doomed to failure. We have some at North Texas who also seem to think if we just add a program or 2 to our list(there's the word again) of varsity programs and merely field a team that that is some semblance of athletic success. And to take credit for land with facilities already on that land purchased by UNT as well as a stadium we only have in a construction stage today because UNT students voted to make it happen. Nixon also had an interesting list, too. Glad I wasn't on that one. Lists? So another bad word on a sports smack board of which the mob'esque mental-giant types in all their wisdom would have also never accepted Hayden Fry as a hire back in that day based on his SMU record? We really know how to do it up right in Denton, now don't we? Lists, lists, lists, lists........... GMG!

(1) IMHO, I hope UNT will announce him to the Texas sports media from the veranda with our stadium as the backdrop. More free advertisement for whats happening at North Texas. (2) IMO, he needs to be introduced to the public at one of JJ's basketball games with a promotion saying such. (3) And then whats next? Hit the Texas, Florida recruiting trails to not only salvage this recruiting class but to amaze many with what has been done with so little time.

Silver, as I told FFR yesterday, I received a nice response letter from Dr. Rawlins yesterday (with a non-stamped signature) and w/o getting into too much of the letter he did say this: "With this hire we want to change the culture and the entire direction of North Texas football. " I like the intent of that statement but the jury will always be out until proven in our "way too much used to losing" football culture. I don't know any more than the next guy if Coach Mac is the "one" that has "it" for our program but the fact that others much higher than our program have thought of him being their guy (like some from Big 10 Minnesota) says we won't have an unknown quanitity and the ISU alums now posting have given us the culture he inherited of which one said was worse than ours (if that possible) and then extolled what Coach Mac did at Iowa State..............which truth be known, looked very much as what Hayden Fry did at SMU in 11 years as you compare both Fry and his apprentice McCartney's well under .500 record at SMU and Iowa, respectively. Most of us knew our hire would not be from the NCAA "A" list of "no blemishes at all" HFC prospects because (1) they would never have applied at UNT and (2) if they had of we would never have had a budget to hire them. Quick Hit: I was impessed that Coach Mac's ISU beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 5 out of 8 times from a program which had been established by Hayden Fry This board had it been around when Jitter Nolen hired Hayden Fry would have had the same response toward Fry. Heck, I pushed (like many of you) Coach Todd Dodge from a Texas HS football program for our job so we have all busted our arses with who we have thought to be (as DFW media many times described it each each of their feature articles in our last 6 or 7 hires) "UNT's hopeful heir apparent to Hayden Fry." Fry was as much a crap shoot hire post-SMU firing as Coach Mac seems to be with many if he is (in deed) our guy who gets announced; but he does have that all important FBS HFC background that is one of the things UNT will have to pay for in his contract if he's hired. We could have gone the cheaper route but our new Prez' and AD wanted to try another direction with better results than our last 6 hires have given us. Maybe at last we are losing our insanity description from the Texas sports media of doing the same things over and over again in our past HFC hirings yet expecting different results? This PM From Yet Another Non-UNT Alum (which several have PM'ed me the last week on our search) "Well, at least you guys apparently aren't going to settle for just promoting your OC. I'm not saying he wouldn't do a good job as I don't know much of anything about him. However doing that would just smack of running a low budget operation, something that is antithetical to a university opening a new stadium. This is your chance to kick some ass and I hope you're successful!i]

Fran has been my sentimental favorite from the git-go with Jim Leavitt a close 2'nd. This Coach Mac thing was a total surprise albeit many of us were expecting a possible surprise, too; and we may yet be surprised when they make the official announcement. Hopefully, Santa will give us a nice early Christmas gift under our Mean Green tree come Monday (or Tuesday). GMG!

Hayden Fry compiled a 49–66–1 record in 11 seasons at SMU, including the school's only three winning seasons since the late 1940s. Schools like UNT just do not get the NCAA Coach of the Year "A" list type of applications is a given. Fry didn't do so bad in Denton, but his 11 year record at SMU for sure didn't get him in the NCAA College Football Hall of Fame in 2003; but one brave and gutsy soul in Denton went out on a limb on Fry--no names mentioned but his initials are Jitter Nolen (the UNT Prez' who hired Fry). There were more than just a few debates about Fry's record at SMU, too, when first hired at UNT and don't think there wasn't. GMG! Addendum: I read that Coach Mac (a defense guy) is a very good recruiter of defensive linemen prospects and truth be known if he is our next HFC he will immediately need to make a good impression with Texas HS recruits before making an impression with us. He not only apprenticed with Fry at Iowa as a football coach but most likely learned much about the recruiting game while under recruiting guru Fry, too. Those are the kind of variables we have not had in most (if any) of our past hires that really can make a difference at a school like North Texas. A school like North Texas? Fry had average results in his 11 years at SMU but became above average at North Texas. Whoever we hire, we need to become above average at North Texas--we are over-due for that to happen.

Mac was the only Iowa assistant coach Fry kept on his assistant coach's staff when he left UNT for the Big 10. Honestly, I've not followed his career that closely but someone at UNT seems pretty high on the man if he in fact gets the job. GMG!

It is not the time for us to keep playing Alabama. Why this love affair to keep scheduling the 'Tide? We should play others who would pay as much but be ranked anywhere from #15 thru #25--not #1 thru #10. Give us a few years, then lets tee it up with Alabama when we've had 3 or 4 years to recruit toward that new football palace of ours.

As much as I hate to agree with, uh.....oh, hell, I'm just kidding! Good post from top to bottom! With Dodge recruits and all back healthy I think we win the SBC in 2011, but what most of us want with Coach Mac (if hired) is beyond the SBC. We want bowl wins in the Big Easy plus we want those OOC wins which have most years merely been "pay the bills" games for UNT. We begin our rise up the NCAA totem pole when we win the OOC games, especially when we put a knot or 2 or 3 on Top 25 ranked AQ schools. GMG! GMG!

Posted earlier that "IF" Coach Mac is not the man, some from the UNT Athletic Dept are going to be belching out some serious belly laughs toward this forum--which is not many of their favorites reading material I have been told. McCarney may get the job, but there is still some strange 6'th sense telling me that we all should wait before we crown him the new king. Of course, GoMeanGreen.com has gone viral with all the Coach Mac stuff (including my own thread which basically talks about his background and comments concerning his apparent upper level coaching abilities). Folks, we had to go with this kind of hire sooner or later... whether it be Coach Fran or Coach Mac or Coach Leavitt because.........we had tried all the others that did not improve our lot in the NCAA at a level few of us could or would brag about at Dallas-Fort Worth area office break rooms water fountain talks. GMG!

http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2009/12/27/1220569/urban-meyer-resigns-from-florida Just More Perspective On Dan McCarney: Hayden Fry Has Always Been Sold On McCarney Who Was The Only Hawkeye Asst. Coach He Retained When He Left North Texas For Iowa Telling Information on McCarney from a Iowa Hawkeye Fan: Decide For Yourself... Urban Meyer Resigns From Florida; May We Suggest A Replacement? by Adam Jacobi on Dec 27, 2009 1:40 AM CST in Iowa Hawkeyes Football Sports fans nationwide have undoubtedly already heard the shocking news about Urban Meyer: the Florida head coach announced this evening that he would be stepping down from the Gators after their bowl game. Meyer, who is only 45 years old, cited health concerns after years of chest pains--the latest episode coming after the SEC Championship Game: The night that Florida lost to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game, Florida Coach Urban Meyer awoke in the middle of the night with severe chest pains. He had suffered from severe chest pains the past two years, but this time was different. He lost consciousness, went to a hospital in an ambulance and underwent more than nine hours of testing. That night was the tipping point for Meyer, 45, who stunned the college football world Saturday by announcing that he was stepping down from coaching. "There was no heart damage," Meyer said. "But I didnt want there to be a bad day where there were three kids sitting around wondering what to do next. It was the pattern of what I was doing and how I was doing it. It was self-destructive." You'll really want to read the entire article linked above, written by Pete Thamel for the New York Times. Urban Meyer's quotes are both open and personal, the type told by a man who genuinely believes he has just saved his own life. Thus, though it completely sucks for Florida fans that such a fine coach is calling it quits so soon, they can at least turn their attention to a replacement without heavy hearts or guilt over insufficient mourning; Meyer is alive and well, after all, and even if he never coaches another game he's been so handsomely compensated that money ought never be an issue. Gator fans may just issue him the heartiest of Thank Yous, embrace him as men do, and then let him just be a father as they go about their business. And that's where Black Heart Gold Consulting would like to come in and help. The first issue Florida must address is the nature of the departure. This is one of the very rare instances where a coach leaves a program without said program facing any immediate major problems. Florida's on-field productivity is nigh unimpeachable, the institution isn't facing any NCAA penalties, and he's not even stripping the assistant cupboard for his new move. Thus, there's really no necessity in cleaning house or otherwise unnecessarily creating turmoil. Save recently departed DC Charlie Strong, the framework's still all there. Hiring from within, then, is the natural first choice. The aforementioned Strong was the most likely head coaching candidate on Meyer's staff; unfortunately, Louisville realized that first, and it would take large amounts of superdickish legal-fu to get him out of the Louisville contract. No unnecessary turmoil, remember. Florida's offensive coordinator is Addazio, whose performance this season prompted one Orson Swindle to tweet this just the other day: ADDAZIO WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY YOU HOPELESS TWIT WHY. That is all. #airingofgrievances Yes, we feel hiring him would not be the finest, least outrageous of moves. No, there really is only one answer here: DAN THE MAN, BITCHES. Yes: Florida should hire Dan McCarney as Urban Meyer's replacement. Program ties? Check: McCarney is an assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Florida, and they don't give the "assistant head coach" title to just anybody. Abe Lincoln was never an assistant head coach, and he was one of America's greatest presidents. Ergo, Dan McCarney is better than Abe Lincoln. Experience? Check: McCarney was the head coach during Iowa State's most prolific stretch in program history, and his team record of two bowl wins may never be equaled. Seriously, it's like Johnny Vander Meer throwing two consecutive no-hitters. It's just never ever supposed to happen. Multiple bowl wins, people! That's good enough for ISU, and it should be good enough for Florida. Moxie? Check: McCarney is a fiery presence on the sideline, something that has always translated well to his players. Rest assured that with McCarney at the helm, Florida will always beat their fiercest rival*. Recruiting? Check: McCarney is as revered as any collegiate figure in central Iowa, even so many years after his departure from ISU. Why, as a high school senior in the Des Moines area, I was terrible at both football and academics. And STILL, both my coach and academic advisor kept telling me, "Go to D-Mac, go to D-Mac." I told my parents and they said something about a community college. Whatever. There you go. Nobody else has these qualifications. Oh, Bob Stoops won a title? Yeah, but that was with Oklahoma. Dan McCarney won an Insight Bowl with Iowa State, and that is as likely as convincing Natalie Portman to give a hobo a blow job. Dan McCarney, people. Make it happen now. Black Heart Gold Consulting has spoken, and now we demand our customary 6% of the contract as a headhunters' fee. Hey, we gotta make money too. (Oh, and seriously: may this be the last serious health problem Urban faces until his children are old and gray. Life's short enough as it is. Go read EDSBS' farewell. Go go go. And then go tell Florida to hire Dan McCarney. __________________________________________________________________________________ http://wesleyvaclav.blogspot.com/2010/10/minnesota-should-hire-dan-mccarney.html OK, a blog perspective but doesn't Vito have a blog, too? Minnesota Should Hire Dan McCarney By Ron Maly Minnesota is looking for a new football coach, and it's my feeling that Dan McCarney is the guy who could lead the Gophers out of the wilderness. McCarney, of course, is no stranger to bringing football programs back from the dead. He was an assistant coach for 13 years at Iowa--including 11 when Hayden Fry brought the magic back to Iowa City after four previous coaches had helped produce 19 straight non-winning seasons. McCarney thought he might be risking his coaching career when he accepted the head coaching job at Iowa State prior to the 1995 season, but all he did there was take the Cyclones to five bowl games while becoming the school's winningest coach. When I interviewed him recently while hosting a 2-hour sports-talk radio show on KXNO-AM in Des Moines, I told McCarney it was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the history of collegiate football when he was dismissed at Iowa State. I'm certain that if he were still in Ames, he'd still be winning. Now McCarney is the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at Florida, which is having a down season with a 4-3 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Southeastern Conference. McCarney is 57 years of age now, and some might think he's too old to revive a program like Minnesota's. But I don't. Mac has the energy, the recruiting know-how and the knowledge of X's and O's to get the job done at Minnesota. I hope he gets an interview and I hope he gets the job. He'd be an excellent fit with the Gophers. He knows the Big Ten, he knows Minnesota. One thing I worry about is that Joel Maturi, Minnesota's athletic director, doesn't recognize a good football coach when he sees one. He's the guy who hired Tim Brewster 3 1/2 years ago for the job. Brewster had never been a head coach, and he showed it with his 15-30 record with the Gophers. Maturi finally pulled the plug on Brewster Sunday after six straight losses this season--including one to South Dakota, another to Northern Illinois. The last time I paid much attention to Brewster was at the end of the 2008 season when I was watching his team play Iowa in the Metrodome at Minneapolis. It was the Gophers' final game in the dome, and they were so revved up for it that Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes clobbered them, 55-0. A couple of Hawkeye fans got so bored with the football that they were cited for having sex in a restroom at the Metrodome that night. Nothing like Hawkeye fans to keep things interesting. A strange thing [but not quite as strange as the Iowans who were doing it in a bathroom stall] was that Maturi didn't have enough sense to fire Brewster after that game. Something that's certain is that if Maturi doesn't hire the right football coach this time, he'll be fired. My advice to him: Place a phone call to McCarney right now. He's your guy, and he'll save your job.

Well, maybe, uh...Mrs. McCarney?

Are we really sure its going to be McCarney? If not, there will be some huge belly laughs coming from over at the UNT Athletic Dept. of which this board is hardly in their Top 10 list of favorites. If it is McCarney, he has more skins on the wall than any of our last 6 hires if you dare to compare. He also now has Florida connections which if we can get a player or 2 or 3 out of that state it would be a good thing and I think even more strongly that he really would need to hire Coach Chico as his OC in Denton IMO. A winning UNT football program will land Coach C his HFC job and maybe in a brighter lights environment than Denton, Texas, is at the moment. Coach Mac has also coached in impossible situations and whether we like it or not, folks, UNT meets that criteria at present and has been a coaches graveyard of late. Our new stadium gives us some enormous and new opportunities to change all that, though. I wanted Coach Fran with Son of Coach Fran or Jim Leavitt but McCarney has what Harry's Poll still indicated most on this forum wanted and that was: a proven FBS HFC with some semblance of success. We need to all put our realism caps back on and realize new stadium or not, we were not going to get the 2'nd coming of Vince Lombardi. Again, Coach Fry's SMU W/L history was about the same as McCarney's and we did see a great coach's comeback in Denton before. Hey folks, we love our Texas HS football but at least we didn't go to a Texas High School this time to hire our coach. There are some definite positives with McCarney. "May I" suggest that our Prez' had as much to do with this hire than any UNT Prez' since Jitter Nolen took a chance on Hayden Fry? I prefer UNT taking a chance with a coach at the level McCarney has been than taking a chance like we did with the last 6 hires at UNT. Another .02

"IF" McCarney is the hire, I would think Coach C would have a great opp to stay in Denton if he's not too hacked off at UNT and Neinas apparently not putting him on the top of the "A" list. With Chico it has never been about his ability, but the staff he was a part of. As asked ad nausem, how many NCAA FBS coaches has ever been hired from a losing coaches staff no matter the circumstance? None would be the answer to that question.

Tit-Tat! ............please forgive me, GrayEagle, he just hit some hot spots with some of his comments. Yet only 17,000 for Fill Ford Day last week with a winning and bowl-bound team? Hint: Your coach will soon want to play before much larger audiences who appreciate winning and he will get that opportunity sooner than later. stangbang, does SMU ever grow tired of coat-tailing into any of these conference re-alignment scenarios, but still fitting in like a round peg in a square hole ? You bring a 1939 NC to the table, but the Year 1939 is closer in time to Commanche Indian raids out here at Parker County ranches than present day so yall still want to hang onto that as part of your marketing arsenal as to impress a bunch of public university-oriented conferences to get in bed with those kinds of "OMG" state-assisted schools of which SMU's long-standing attitude has been a bit condescending in the past? AND.........just how soon will it be when courting conferences thinking about SMU look at Ford on Game Day and see a bunch of Neiman's finest mannequins all sheepishly but sitting very still in Ford seats? And how does 6,000 actual butts in seats at Gerald Ford Stadium ever equate to 17,000 on Fill Ford Day? Is this some kind of new math or what one famous Texan used to call, uh, "fuzzy" math? stangbang, SMU was a terrible program when yall coat-tailed hiding behind the shadows of the other schools you all came into CUSA with. Is that really a scenario that makes your people on the Hilltop beat their chest with Peruna pride? At what time does SMU (money and all) start producing big time crowds in the Big Time you all still profess to be part of? Granted, UNT has been down for quite awhile, but hellsbells, even without an approx. 100 year Southwest Conference background as SMU had we can still draw better crowds many more times than SMU with our 6 years in a row football program. We could do that even if we had an "Empty All the Seats @ Fouts Field" Game Day promotion. You say SMU powers don't like us at UNT? Jeez, this is a complete revelation to us. We thought our church-related school neighbors over at University Park were just typical neighborly types with that old "do unto others" Golden Rule thing your SMU Perkins School of Theology has (I suppose) still preaches? Yet, even the Golden Rule has been twisted by some of your elite to fit your culture with many of them who say it really means "he who has the gold-rules?" Well, that kind of attitude and a buck will get you a bad cup of coffee at McDonalds mid-afternoon and even make long time partners or your former bobbsy twin, ie, TCU want to remove their presence from your school's self important presence and now with a Horned Frog program who is dishing out to SMU the same stuff you are dishing out to UNT. Sorta' hurts when that gold-plated horse shoe is on the other hoof, eh? Moral of Post: SMU is blown away with our growth (closing in on 40,000 students)and still projected by the Texas Higher Ed Coordinating Board to one day be the 2'nd largest university in the Lone Star State. SMU'ers can also no longer use their forever worn out "commuter school" barb at us since we have more than twice the number of our students living on or within blocks of our "dormitory saturated" campus (with more on the way) than SMU's...........entire enrollment. So how SMU gets around such blatant UNT truths is by saying, "we don't like you and so you can't play with our toys, football or basketballs." So when does PeeWee Herman make a kids movie about SMU who acts like a kid when it comes to the University of North Texas? At some point, though, a public university oriented conference is going to tell us--"we do like you North Texas, and your school with its enormous constituency can bring so many number to our league simply based on your staggering (and still growing) numbers." And then.........the worm will have turned forever as far as the subject of SMU would be concerned. GMG!