PlummMeanGreen

Go for the, uh, gusto?!? UNT would need to "force" Coach Fran to sign in blood that we get at least 5 years from him; I know...that cannot legally be done, but if he were interested in our job we need to gently remind him that we are (after all) taking a chance on someone who has a journeyman reputation out there. (I'm not sure that would ever be brought up in the conversation, quite frankly). I would, too, bank on the fact that Coach Fran would feel he is getting too old to keep job jumping and needs to anchor down at this stage of the game for his career. I do think a name coach like him would create excitment to sell tickets to curious borderline fans, fill our stadium and probably even get a good first recruiting class, too. His son would have a good knowledge on JUCO talent in Texas since those are who he plays at Blinn. A 1 Win Team? What Can You Do? I remember Fry who coached the same bunch of players who the year before finished 1 and 10 with Rod Rust and then with his name, charisma and BCS type coaching talents made Missouri Valley Conference champions out of that group "who had only won 1 game the year before." How many games will we win this year? BUT........."IF" he could get his son from Blinn JUCO to come along we would have some semblance of insurance once his dad after 6 or 7 years in Denton got his Big 10 job. Also, with his son, we have someone who could be our recruiting coordinator as well as Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator, too. I guess he would be a tad busy with all that? At some point, we all need to want those kind of athletic employees that others will want, too, because (save Jerry Moore's .500 w/l in 2 seasons) that would mean said coach has done a rip-roaring job in Mean Green Country. Then we use the Boise model of having a proven Coordinator-In-Waiting to take over and we don't have to waste time and money doing national searches. GMG!

To maximize the full exposure of our new football stadium on a national basis I wonder if a weeknight game (not a Tuesday night like Boise and La Tech last night) might be something worth looking into? If we actually play UH for the stadium debut we will get some fantastic H-Town exposure with those we need to get the exposure with. Even if it wasn't UH who helped us open that stadium we still would get similar exposure if we can get a deal for statewide television for that game. Nothing wrong with our first 2 home games in our new football palace being televised, right? GMG!

Reading a feature on TCU in last Sunday's Fort Worth Star Telegram their Coach Patterson said after looking at their crowd versus Air Force he said "5 years ago, we were having 12,000 fans at our games." (Of course, TCU was able to count their season ticket sales which may have added 8,000 no shows to those 12,000 actual butts). Then.........watching the replay of the TCU/Air Force game last night one announcer said, "Patterson doesn't get many 4 or 5 star recruits at all, but before they graduate from TCU they are 4 or 5 star football players." DD in about his 3'rd year in Denton recruited about 8 or 9 Texas State Top 100 players in what many of us thought was quite outstanding and quite frankly, a pleasant surprise that it happened. (Again, most of our complaints with him did not begin until some off the field unorthodox things started happening his last 2 years which none of us would post on this forum when they were happening). Moral of This With DD: UNT has had some good recruiting in past years with many coaches just when you wondered how it could have happened with our lack of total facilities--as compared to our opponents facility spending sprees. Wonder what a proven name coach could do at UNT now? YET.........you add a name coach like a Coach Fran (with son as Def. Coord.) and then you start recruiting against the schools in Texas our new football palace coupled with said name coach will allow us to do. First thing we start doing is out-recruiting La Tech in our own backyard. Check out how much quicker and talented they are than we are as they play even now on ESPN2; albeit, Boise is much quicker and talented than the Bulldogs . We must have a name coach known statewide for the reasons GrayEagle has listed and the rest of our fans need to remember that when we get all our ducks in a row, then the winning cycle will return to North Texas--it has before after bad times and when we thought all was lost. Gut feeling says because of our new diggs over at the Mean Green Village we will now be able to finally go up to the next level but with...........a name coach known in the Lone Star State. GMG!

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-11/sun-belt/2011-north-texas-mean-green-football-schedule.php Just a few spaces to fill, eh? And.....has Rick V picked which Saturday will be our new stadium's debut? September 3'rd or 10'th? Or maybe the last Saturday in August perhaps? Or......maybe even a weeknight game for national TV exposure? GMG!

A formerly successful name HFC would know this about assistants from the git-go. If they hire a buddy, you can damn sure depend on that buddy knowing what the hell he is doing as an assistant coach or coordinator. Few would ever want to tell their buddy that they cost him his job. GMG!

Long story and I cannot remmeber all the details now, but Jitter got railroaded out of Denton with what I think amounted to legal action bluffs by a couple of our BOR's. Oh well..... GMG!

SMU was a tough gig, but he still overcame much at North Texas because of his "Texas-wide" name value and charismatic appeal. Step inside a hall like the Silver Eagle Suite filled with people and with Hayden Fry in that same room. I saw that a few years ago right after he had left Iowa and had come to a UNT homecoming. There are some things you just cannot explain about those that have the "it" factor, ie, charisma, but Fry had "it". So far, the Bowden name is the only name I've seen in this board's coaching hunt (outside Coach Fran) that would have anything close to what Fry had state-wide with name appeal. Most college football fans in Texas know the Bowden name. All college football fans in SWC cities across Texas knew who Hayden Fry was because most major Texas cities had beat reporters for almost each SWC team--the coverage was unbelievable quite frankly and is probably one reason back then that I thought North Texas was in Denison, Texas, because the Houston Post and Chronicle never covered the Mean Green even during the Mean Joe Greene era--except in those dastardly, diminutive blurbs. (SMU now has blurb status in the Fort Worth Star Telegram if you out here in the West O'Plex haven't noticed). Some felt Fry had the impossible challenge at SMU (which was so politically charged back in those days with the late 40's Doak Walker era alums who wielded much power). Fry had hacked off many on the Hilltop because he had integrated SMU with Jerry Levias. He had many battles politically at SMU. I attended the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl game in the Astrodome when SMU beat OU in a back and forth game much like Boise and OU a few years ago in their bowl game. I was duly impressed with the guy's coaching even as a high school kid from Danbury, Texas. http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/north-texas/ 21 1978 Ind 9 2 0 .818 9.03 -0.27 Hayden Fry (9-2) 22 1977 Ind 9 2 0 .818 10.33 0.17 Hayden Fry (10-1) 23 1976 Ind 6 5 0 .545 1.67 -1.77 Hayden Fry (7-4) 24 1975 Ind 7 4 0 .636 -0.25 -1.57 Hayden Fry (7-4) 25 1974 MVC 2 7 2 .273 -12.19 -3.05 Hayden Fry (2-7-2) 26 1973 MVC 5 5 1 .500 -13.34 -9.83 Hayden Fry (5-5-1) GMG!

So does this mean we would have Mattress Mac as our main influence then?

...especially since his name sounds too much like Jim Crow.

Has the ghost of Jitter Nolen entered into Lane Rawlins? (Wait a minute, let me check and see if ol' Jitter is no longer among us). Amazing, we have this kind of president yet it is so North Texas'esque that we would have "interim" preceeding his title. Someone put interim on our chancellor's title and maybe his vision for UNT-Denton would magically increase (as we know it has from him for UNT-Dallas). UNT-Denton better figure out that if it ain't tied down at our main campus, ol' Lee will snatch it up and move it to Dallas. (Of course, I say that figuratively).

As a UNT alum, I'm trying to think of the 2'nd person besides Hayden Fry to, uh, "worship"; that is, one to worship their results at a higher level who has ever been a HFC at North Texas. I'll get back with an answer if I can find one. So we have to invoke the name of Fry to further support this latest of what could very well become a flavor of the week once this is all done and said? This board sometimes has a mob mentality on some subjects. I could throw out a name right now that would leave the Leavitt choice as yesterday's news by the mob. I love this board--it's very entertaining to hear those who have witnessed nothing but terrifically terrible hires (from top to bottom) and mediocrity the last 3 plus decades while they were students and now alums who suddenly have become bonafide experts on what this program needs. We've had UNT AD's thru the decades who refused to copy our hiring success of the 1970's and then we started bringin in "our own alums" to "so called" straighten out this mess(?) Hayden created." All that we endure in Denton is enough to make you slap yo' mama! Hellbells, we are a reality show waiting to happen in Denton. Yet this intellect is even catching, though, because I, too, forgot Dennis Parker's non-succeess and then I started taking Jub-Jub's radio advice to think Todd Dodge would be the answer. How silly we can all be at times in the name of persevering mediocrity. More Pie In Our Face As We Eat Even More Southern Deep Fried Crow? I fully expect (and even hope) TDodge will in due time be snatched up by some BCS school who needs his offense of which he himself will install (a la as he did for the Missouri Tigers?) and then become their new offense coordinator making many of us on this board wonder "why in the hell can't this kind of thing ever happen in Denton?" Holy "we left this guy's name out of this mix" Cow! Is Ara Parseghian still available?

Seems a constant theme over the years and who knows the answer on how to really solve this problem? Do those who can solve this problem or make some kind of dent into it even see this as a problem at all? On another note: When change is immenent and/or with a new stadium on the horizon, most sports teams start re-doing the brandings on their sports gear as to create a whole new generation of buyers and repeat buyers for those who buy every time there are cosmetic changes in sports gear; also, to quickly retire the brandings now in use that may represent "not so successful times" as far as wins/losses, too. I hope this new look branding for Mean Green football--2011 version has already begun because if it hasn't--it may be too late to make an impression in the North Texas Metroplex. GMG!

Of course, few are the schools that are looking for a HFC's replacement starting in the 3'rd week of October, too. I don't know how divided any school should be at that point in time. Jeez, just how quickly can a group be divided over the (still) unknown criteria of hiring the right HFC for a school like North Texas with our history of not doing well in the hiring business? Does This Make Any Sense? UNT needs to understand how it is uniquely talented people who turn programs around in upward bound NCAA programs--not just filling job openings with just about anyone. Such people (or hires) who may actually sometimes be covetted by other schools in the upper echelon of the NCAA is usually a pretty bright apple green flag that we have hired the right ones in Denton (Amazing, but that concept sorta worked in the sector of education I was in for a quarter of a century, too, and I'd bet in your own industry as well). Yet.......in the last 30 plus years, UNT has not had many on staff who others in the BCS have been knocking doors down to talk to. Maybe that alone a prime reason for our 30 plus year walk in the wilderness? Post Big West, we had no options on the table, too, (except a newly thrown together league) because of our lack of success for those 3 plus decades. So..........don't we sorta' need to hire our next HFC with the idea that someone else may very well want the guy after he's been in Denton around 5 or 6 years hopefully building a solid foundation but this time around..............then we follow the Boise model and have a top assistant coach-in-waiting who has been part of a "winning" MG football program. For newer readers unaware, Boise State in the space of about 11 years in their history had 5 Head Football Coaches but during most all those tenures were still a Top 25 fixture. What a success story in Mr. Potato Head Country many schools of our level should maybe try to follow. Not sure how many out there have been following our model lately. OK, now go for it UNT's version of the Roman mob! GMG!

I know they had a tremendous rain storm with a 2 hour delay after the game started I believe, but did anyone see the crowd in the stands before the rains came? Did the DMN have their att. in the boxscore? (You can no longer find a Dallas Morning News out here in the wild, wild West). Looked in the FW Star Telegram box score but they did not include attendance numbers. UH clearly had more team speed than SMU. Our new HFC if he was a Leavitt or whoever would probably let that be on his priority list. Great team speed and skill people sure has helped the Boise program. GMG!

We may need to check the police blogs across the USA and NCAA to see if we can add anyone else to our "prime" list. (just kiddin', of course) Yet upon further review, are we talking too early about this with a limited number of "name" coaches this moment of which none may really fit what North Texas needs to hire? Only one that we know of has exrpessed interest in our job but we cannot go around saying "golly gee, somebody loves us" and hire the first one who comes a-courtin', right? Deep Fry'd! Hayden did not become available for UNT to talk to until about mid-November of 1972 which was the month SMU fired him and I know......... ..........lightning will probably never strike twice and allow us to ever get another Fry type of hire the way all that came down, but can we wait until mid-November to see who else may be available from a fired staff that may even have a former name coach on it as that staff's Off. or Def. Coordinator? Some BCS HFC's have been fired with above career .500 W/L records but said alumnus base just wanted a new direction and one who gives that school a chance for a BCS bowl, too. GMG!

Uh.........OK. GMG!

This may have already been expressed, but whatta' ya' think? Of course, Dad would have to convince Son to come to Denton on this one. I'm sure RV will soon come down to 3 top candidates but this would sorta' take care of many years at UNT if Dad leaves and Son takes over--assuming we are the Top 25 program I think Coach Fran would give us if he stayed 5 or 6 years in Denton. Just something to mull over--that's all. Whoever we hire, we must do the most research on this new hire in the history of our school's athletic program--that is a given. GMG!

What would an attorney tell Rick V if our AD told him (or her) that 2 of our potential HFC's for UNT were both in litigation or lawsuits; that is, Leavitt and Leach? Might some outside our UNT commnunity with no bias toward anything about UNT say those are definite red flags to consider? Buyers remorse could set in fairly quickly with someone we could hire now who would bring more to our table than we need at this time in Denton, Texas, America. Some things would be forgiven at some other schools who "might" have the luxury to gamble on these kind of things, but truly..........with our situation at UNT do we have any room to do that kind of thing at this point in time? GMG!

A Mean Green Prayer: O Lord God of the Mean Green Universe, you know (since you know the number of hairs on my head) that I may have just 15 to 20 years left on the Big Green Planet unless I slip on a banana peel or get ambushed by a gang of our well meaning and most loyal to the cause Young Gun Alums. But for the rest of my time here (and I can't blame Mizzou Tiger because I' sure he/she doesn't know our past in the modern era of NCAA football in MG Country; but please don't let me hear "UNT Is A Sleeping Giant" not one more time because it just sticks in my craw now as a grumpy ol' man and makes my eyes go into a continous "roll back" status. And Leavitt? Please help us discern if this guy is the real deal or just another flavor of the week on a collegiate smack board like GoMeanGreen.com. Please show us what we need to know because we truly do not need to mess up again in this hiring. We truly may need "Your" divine intervention on this one because most of the rest of us really don't have a clue. (Look who I pushed to be our HFC last go around for example). Yet there are some things You know I do want to hear in my last years concerning the Mean Green. "You" know what made us successful before in Denton; you know, as in personnel from top to bottom, those with true professional customer servcie skills, etc, whereas we acutally had a coach who had more winnning seasons than losing ones so just smile on us one more time and allow us to (I suppose) get lucky into another hiring that meets a similar criteria. AND.........thanks for all You do and for a Big, Big Bonus and in a more serious note....please heal our divided country and make people who don't like each other to start liking each other in spite of their 180 degree opposite persuasions. Amen.

Leavitt could be a good choice, but as far the "name" part of all this goes, who outside GMG.com knows anything about this guy? Are we shooting too low here? Coach Fran would be known more here in the Metroplex and beyond, but he, too, has blemishes and staying somewhere for any considerable amount of time is one of them. GMG!

Wonder what the gender breakdown of our undergraduates would be? Usually there are more females at most universities. GMG!

Happy Birthday, E01. GMG!

Jack, I hope you don't mind that I enlarged the letters to your thoughts. And for those who didn't realize what TDodge truly inherited his first year--you do now. GMG!

Folks, we are creating deep gutted laughter with many of our other Texas intercollegiate peers with this Leach talk. I know most of us have skin tougher than a 20 year old igauana, but we are still getting some of those knee slapping "yeah rights" from many outside our community. If a few of you didn't know this--thought you might want to. Proceed with the procedure of the proceedings. GMG!