PlummMeanGreen

Uh........................OK

Use to have that same philosophy, SE84, but I think now I've changed it to it moreso being about UNT merely being pro-active as all get-out, build that 40,000 seat stadium as we prepare for more dramatic growth (and many more new fans) and UNT coaches just going out there doing positive recruiting telling those recruits as to how each and every one of them can help take our Mean Green football program to very lofty "ranked" heights, a la Boise State, South Florida, etc, etc, etc,. I think the less we worry about what SMU and TCU are doing, the better off UNT will be long-term. Lets let them look over their shoulders as to what we are doing for a change.

If Appalachian State would have read Michigan's statistic sheets from their most recent games (of last seaon) before they teed it up, the App' Stater's might have merely said before the kick-off: "Just go ahead and write us our big guarantee check & we'll just high-tail it back to Coal Miner's Daughter Country." So in conclusion, I guess its like many of you have posted on www.GoMeanGreen.com and that is: "That's why they play the game?"

I hope UTEP has a very nice buyout contract for Coach Price; just like I hope we have one for Todd Dodge. If the Big Boys want our coaches, lets let the Big Boys shell out some Big Money to get them! GMG!

And I do believe that to be SUMG sitting right behind the Tea-Sipper wearing the UT cap. I'm surprised StandUpMeanGreen didn't have himself a UT cap before that game was over--or did you, SUMG? You know, though, when you go to your local Walmart (or just about any other retail outlet) and all you see is UT and TAMU gear, it stands to reason that we might always see a few of them at Fouts Field from time to time. Former Mean Green great Mean Joe Greene and Mrs. Greene are residents of Denton County; just don't know which part of Denton County.

And of course, our own Mean Joe Greene who was at Fouts Field last Saturday evening is a scout for the Steelers, too. I don't think his attendance to watch his alma mater's football team was merely just for recreation and leisure.

Southern Cal...............Southern Miss..............Northern Tex? North Texas is ust fine. Hopefully, our next wave of UNT higher echelon admininstrators don't get a wild hair on thinking about a 9'th name change for ol' Texas Normal. And the USF varsity football program is only 11 years young now? That makes many of us long-time multi-decades Mean Green fans just want to, uh, cry. With USF, UCF (maybe) FAU and (long shot) FIU programs coming on in the Sunshine State, maybe Florida St. and U of Florida will soon have the same kind of intra-state competition for Florida HS recruits all 11 Texas D1-A schools do for our own state-wide recruits. Of course, very few of us are actually recruiting head-on against UT and TAMU. Rest assured, South Florida still has that same characteristic they had last time we hosted them at Fouts Field---- S-P-E-E-D! South Florida being in the Big East probably sways a few northeastern sportswriters to keep their region, ie, the Big East in the BCS picture so therefore, picking up NE sportswriters votes to catapult SF up to #2 in the polls How darn lucky can one school get?

Sort of a quasi-phenomena how "new coach recruiting" has become almost as big a deal among Texas NCAA D1-A college alums & fans as annual Winter high school recruiting. And gee-willakers, didn't Coach Fran lose all his luster down in Aggieland? Seems the job and the man just never meshed from the git-go.

"...we have to be a little better."

Good oberservations, Jack... Whatever UNT does, we will have to do it on a bigger or more grandiose scale than the former SWC schools have done on their own (of late), whether that be (among other things) proving to them our real committment to climb up the NCAA D1-A ladder (a la Boise State and South Florida) by doing just that, getting Top 25 rankings as soon as we can. We cannot join any of that former SWC/UTEP group just to be "one of the boys" (so to speak) because if we do that, then we come up at the rear of that group of schools as we did before or after our bowl games. (Did a bowl game have CUSA busting their butts trying to get us in with them in their league; seems I recall A DMN quote from the SMU prez suggesting how La Tech would be such a good CUSA fit). So see what we're up against even with that? YET..........if we think we can come into CUSA as just "one of the boys," then the reality of the situation will rear its ugly head (once again) and...................we will (once again) just keep on talking about this sujbect. We are all pretty good talkers, now aren't we? Right now, Troy U, with a very nice "all but new" stadium for their sized school "enrollment-wise" (and the sparsely populated area they're located) have jumped to the front of the SBC line, and beating some of the OOC schools we've only dreamed about beating even during bowl years, will probably keep them toward the top of the SBC for awhile now. Building a true, legitimate NCAA D1-A football stadium out at the Mean Green Village will not only be so vital to UNT for an upward bound future in NCAA D1-A, but moreso even in our own state of Texas. Whatever we buld now, will be with us "capacity-wise" for a very long time. We can talk expansion of a "smallish built" stadium till the cows come home, but don't most of us who've been around this scene for a very long time know that that would probably not happen for--a very long time? 35-40,000 as our new stadium's initial size is more important than I think we can really realize (as we all allow ourselves to look past yesterday, today but more important project ourselves to what a future UNT in a Denton County with close to 1,000,000 citizens will be like).

Do we need a 40,000 seat stadium now? Probably not this very minute... Can we afford a 40,000 stadium now? Probably not at the moment, that is, until Mr. Big Donor arrives on his white horse. Would 40,000 allow us to aim higher than CUSA and open up other BCS possibilities as well? Most likely it would, and that is one reason (as Cowtown suggests) that we need a 40,000 seat stadium. To gain any semblance of some kind of (public relations and statewide perception) edge over all the other former SWC schools & UTEP...UNT is just going to have to go the extra mile at all times and for us at this time in our history, that means a larger stadium than all of the rest of the aforementioned--IMHO. I cannot think of any other way we gain such an immediate edge over the old SWC schools since we know how long it takes to change our own state's citizen's usual perceptions of our university, ie, former teacher's college, great music school, commuter school, all the same ol' stuff in other words). So I agree, cowtown, 40K might do more for our school in more ways than one and than many of our best alums might ever possibly dream what it could. GMG!

I haven't been over at Frog Fan Forum in a long time to read their thoughts, so I don't know if the Frogs are liking their MWC co-existance or not. It might be more a thing with TCU of: "Be in any league than with their former SWC foes" which I think TCU officials saw an advantage in distancing themselves from athletically.

Troy U needs to get in their licks while they can against the Mean Green, because it will not be forever. Just add our own new stadium out at the Mean Green Village in our 6 million citizen populated North Texas Metroplex, and we might start talking dynasty (but this time moreso at a national higher "ranked" profile than we've had in quite awhile). Speaking of DFW: Per tonights Todd Dodge Radio Show on the Mean Green Radio Network: UNT has 6 assistant coaches recruiting DFW area high schools. If you saw today's Fort Worth Star Telegram full page recruiting updates, one would see that all that seems to be paying off for TDodge and Staff. AND.................who's to say the Mean Green cannot slip one by the Trojans this Saturday? And that was slip by the Trojans, folks, not slip on the Trojans; you know, like slip on their football field or something like that? (OK, that was my official Norm Hitzghes "dad joke" for the day).

I believe it was former ND Coach Dan Devine who in the 2'nd half of some Fightin' Irish game during his tenure that brought his Irish team out in the kelly green to get his team (and home crowd) all fired up. As I recall that game--it worked and the green sorta' stuck around with many ND fans. True, ND's official school colors are yellow/gold/blue, but Eagles was also our alma mater's original "official" mascot as picked by NT students sometimes in the early 1900's as I recall reading the late Dr. James Roger's "The Story of North Texas."

I think LIDS has reserved all its kelly green (only) for Notre Dame caps. They still don't seem to have a clue as to what we are trying to do at UNT with our brandings and sports gear colors, but FWIW....we don't sometimes know ourselves what we are trying to do with our brandings (at times). If our illustrious branding history @ UNT repeats itself, by the time LIDS (and other vendors) figure out that kelly green is now our official color, another new UNT administration will change our shade of green (once again). BTW, the much brighter kelly green surely showed up much better than our former shade of green as the ESPN TV cameras panned the student side during their broadcast of our game. In fact, I am watching a replay of last Saturday's game as I post.

Serious as a heart attack... Noticed it while watching a replay of the game. Really no biggie with this, but I'm sure UNT officials would want our full name (branding) to be visible on our helmets (especially when we are on TV or sportscasts from local and regional media).

The chin strap covers part of the "North Texas" on our helmets. Maybe a sharp razor blade to cut the part off that covers a letter or two on our helmet might come in handy?

And it seems that your football program has progressed right along with your school having that new stadium, tsufan. None of us will soon forget the Trojan's puttin' some whoop a&& on that ESPN national broadcast of the #17 ranked Missouri Tigers as yall debuted your new stadium. T There are actually some on this board who think a new stadium at our Mean Green Village could help us catapult Mean Green football whereas we, too, will be sable to beati such teams. I realize your new stadium didn't win that game for yall against a Top 25 Big 12 football program, but it sure didn't hurt, either, now did it? How much did yall spend for your stadium's complete make-over, tsufan? Just curious... Good luck the rest of the year, tsufan (except for this Saturday, of course). GMG!

The last sentence of your last full paragraph caught my attention, MGW. BUT SINCE YOU MENTIONED NEW STADIUM------WHAT MIGHT BE THE IMMEDIATE IMPACT OF OUR EVENTUAL NEW (& LARGER) FOOTBALL STADIUM? I truly think during the inaugural year(?) of our new stadium there will be 5,000 immediate new fans who just simply come out of the woodwork. They will come from several constituencies starting with those from Denton, Denton County, DFW NT Exes (many who dis-associated themselves from UNT & MG football long ago), the ever-burgeoning UNT student body and our UNT faculty/staff. Our entire UNT constituency is humongous and gives us a very bright attendance-growth future. If I recall from the taped re-broadcast of our game, even the ESPN guys on the telecast last night said something about very good Mean Green support in light of our W/L record. If SBC Commish' Wright Waters was at Fouts Field last night, I'd wager a guess that he would have been a bit estatic himself. Last week's game at ULaLa with their most obvious-to-the-naked-eye empty stands was an embarrassment for themselves and the SBC.

A hardy welcome to Mean Green Country, New Green Fan. What part of Oklahoma you from? My first Fouts Field game as a UNT student was in September of 1973. And that reminds me, I need to get back in church next Sunday to continue studying for, uh, finals.

This is the part where the slow hand clap begins..................... (just kiddin' of course--that would be my poor dad joke of the day, Young Gun Alums). Seriously posting, those were some great positives, UNT Mean Green. GMG!

Good observation, stebo... So the new question that may arise now (keeping stebo's comments in mind) would we want to ever leave the SBC for a conference rated lower than 'the Belt? Holy Moley! I may have opened up a can of worms with that one, eh?!?!? Congrats to Troy U on the poll vote. We have to start somewhere with all that.

"the Pass" was a beaut'! The results of the pass even moreso! GMG!

In our 1'st win in the DodgeBall era, what were some of your favorite moments of the evening--whether you were at Fouts Field, watching the ESPN broadcast or listening to the Mean Green Radio Network. There may be some duplications of positives, but that's OK, too. What Game Day activities stood out for you, too? One Postive Among Many That I Saw In Our 1'st Win: I was duly impressed with the attendance in spite of our pre-kickoff 0 & 5 record. I think that was a huge statement made last night that this program is steadily growing right along with our school's on-campus enrollment growth and that of the Greater Denton area as well.

Sorry about this incident. FFR. 'Twould have been nice if Coach "M" (who as some of you I've been frustrated with our "D", but patient with the D.C. as his learning curve continues) would have been more gracious but he was not. This whole thing is probably worth dropping truth be known. I've had to drop a few of my own in past years. (BTW, a belated Happy Birthday to you, Rick). For those of us who do have a couple of opinions now and then and have expressed them on GMG.com, we are going to have to (sometimes) take the bitter with the sweet because we are expressive. I have a few DD Ball supporters who will hardly even talk to me and that is because of the stand I took the last 2 previous years and was calling it as I saw it for this entire football program under Darrell Dickey. I did support him for 7 of 9 years, but could not any longer after the big Tulsa loss at Fouts and then La Tech later that season (plus some DD public relations situations most of you would be aware) ; but, I really do think 9 years is enough time to move a program up the NCAA D1-A ladder, didn't yall? I've even had some fellow NT Exes tell me that they wanted to get really pissed at me for some of my posts if not for the fact (as they would say) that many times they thought I was not too far from the truth if not completely on target. I will 'fess up and say I've not always been quite on target on other things, though. Yet if you want friends & buddies at UNT, just tell em' everything is sunshine, lollypops and rainbows (even when it ain't) and you will have yourself some lifetime friends and buddies; but express a few opinions on how you want our alma mater's D1-A football program to be in better company on a national non-SBC basis, and then you are merely going to ruffle some feathers and probably not get too many cocktail party invites from some of our UNT officials in years past, but hopefully diplomacy will prevail while both sides will understand each other's positions and situations more in the future. After all, we are all in this together, folks.