PlummMeanGreen

I think the other final straw for SMU, KDL1, was an SMU recruit named David Stanley (from my birthtown, ie, Angleton, TX) that was the icing on the cake for the SMU death penalty. I cannot remember all the details surrounding Stanley, but (as I recall) Dale Hansen put it on his Sunday night show for all to hear. The NCAA Infraction Committee would be in Dallas just a few days later. I'm amazed that the NCAA ever gave any school the death penalty and I think they have resoloved in their minds not to ever do it again.

Not telling anyone what they already know, but one key factor which allowed Boise State to beat OU last bowl season was their overall team speed. And like any coach (at any level) will tell you: "You cannot coach speed." I hope we are getting our fair share of speed merchants where we need them to be up in Mean Green Country and in the Mean Green Village. GMG!

To Poneez' and other SMU visitors: UT (our state's sophisticated T-Sipper crowd) and TAMU (our state's fightin' farmer gang for heaven's sake with thier most always rural-like ways along with similar backrounds and country boy/girl attitudes--and oh how I know, I had two 1'st cousins who were in the Corp when it was the "REAL" Aggie Corp of decades gone by); yet, both of these schools (in many ways) have different missions as universities just like SMU and UNT have different missions. They both seem to respect both of their respective missions, too. Yet you don't catch those two schools spending too much of their mental energy debating on who has the advantage of playing (or not playing) the other--they just do it (& obviously they would since they are league-mates), but they fill their stadiums and they both make money doing it and................their fans have a good time with all this, too, and have for years. Even when one school is down and the other is up, when its UT/TAMU, all bets are off and they both play as if they're are playing for a NCAA National Football Championship. Both UT and TAMU leave their (somewhat) different academic missions (and egos) outside their stadium's turnstiles when they play each other and most every year they play it is a crowd-pleaser of a game with much pagaentry that accompanies their annual Game Days. Even their marching bands have completely different styles but I'd bet many Horn fans (secretly) enjoy watching the military style of the Aggie Band many times and most likely, many Aggies (secretly) enjoy watching 500 member UT marching band march into DRK Memorial Stadium on a Fall afternoon with the Texas state capital setting very nicely in the background. NOTE: Confession is good for the soul, right? OK, I have a confession: I have "secretly" enjoyed watching your former marching band director Irving Dreiboldt's SMU Mustang Bands of year's past. They used to have one feature twirler when twirlers with batons were part of college marching bands. The SMU Mustang Band has a different style from our Green Brigade, sure, but isn't it nice that all college marching bands are not facsimile's of each other? SMU and UNT can live without each other just fine, but since neither are playing the Horns or the Aggies that much of late, both the Dallas and Denton-based schools should leave all their respective differences outside the turnstiles and just tee it up (as Coach Fry used to say. Actually, what do either have to lose by playing each other in this (non-BCS) era? Hellsbells! Boise State used to be a conference-mate of UNT's and they won a BCS Championship Series Bowl Game last bowl season, but a UNT/SMU game would (still) most years outdraw a UNT/Boise State matchup. Why? Who the hell knows why since we are talking about the typical Metroplex college football fan here. Poneez, do you really like seeing all those empty seats when the Rice Owls come to your Ford just as we see empty seats when Florida Atlantic U & Howard Schnellenberger come to town? A UNT/SMU football series not only makes sense, but it should be obvious to all that it also makes cent$. As your former SMU AD (Russ Potts) used to say: An empty seat cannot buy a hot dog, a coke, sports gear, etc, etc, etc, And what better reason does anyone need than that for our 2 schools to play each other when they can. Last I read and heard, UT and TAMU AD's are rarely on each of our respective AD's hotlines lining up future games.

KRAM1, playing all the locals is a novel idea that is now at least 4 plus decades old. But keep the faith, maybe the GenX'ers (or whichever group it is now) will be the ones who do the convincing as to see this happen. GMG!

Don't know if it will ever happen annually, but how many other times do you see full page coverage from several beat-writers for SMU, UNT and TCU in the Sunday Dallas Morning News? And all that happening because they play each other.

In a perfect Mean Green World we would get 2 donors (or any corporate combinations) to put up $40 million and then UNT fund-raisers would raise an additional $20 million from other sources giving us the $60 million I believe we are going to really need to build the stadium we need for our particular future (which includes being the future 2'nd largest university in Texas). Again, I did say a "perfect" Mean Green World.

Never say never... After all, I'd bet SMU would trade Moody for the Super Pit in a New York minute (plus they'd need to ante-up about 40 million additional dollars to boot).

Yeppers, we have some money alums, but they (apparently) just did not get involved with Mean Green football while they were students. The best part of all this is that we still only need "ONE" person (or corporation) to step forward and isn't that what most are betting on?

Hellsbells, for what many of these kids spend per week at Starbucks, they could buy their own tuxette! Tuxette? That's a tuxedo with pants to their knees, a la kahki sized. BTW, I just made up the word tuxette. Should I send it on to Websters to make it an official dictionary entry? GMG!

Agree... A huddle offense eating up the clock could have chopped off about 21 or more Sooner points. Of course, it will always show up as a loss no matter the score differential.

Probably more curious about the man at the top of the UNT System with this, Jack. I could hardly question the rest you mentioned inasmuch that I agree with you that they are on board with our new stadium project most pro-actively. I think we'd all agree this project is going to need campus-wide support all the way. Good News Department: A fellow alum called me today and said the DRC reports that our school endowment is closing in on $100 million (in the 90's right now). So for darn sure we will no longer be building a stadium that costs more than is in our endowment. Great job, UNT fund-raisers!

Granted, it is a win-win scenario in many ways, Cooley. I had more in mind the neighborhood improvements in the general Fair Park area that the Dallas Cowboy investment could have played a significant part. It is an area that needs a dramatic make-over and I think most would agree with that part. I suppose the thread is more about how high on the priority list is our new stadium starting at the top in the Chancellor's office, that's all; and what are our upper echelon leaders doing to promote this venture? Surely they cannot expect Rick V to do all this w/o their own "rolling up of the sleeves" pro-active support, right?

I think it is a given that anyone associated with UNT athletics including most all in our athletic department know the short term and long term importance of a new football stadium at the Mean Green Village. Quite frankly, if we are going to remain competitive as a D1-A school in our own state of Texas it is imperative that we prove it with a new stadium (among dozens of other reasons we know we need a new stadium). For those who have sat in Fouts Field for a few decades and have visited other newer D1-A football venues, we know it is imperative to have this new football stadium at the Mean Green Village (no matter what the time-table). Dallas' ex mayor Laura Miller did not have a passion for athletics and what it could do for Big D, and so we (basically) now have the Arlington Cowboys who will play in the best sports venue in the world (until some other city tops it). Ex Mayor Miller could have led the way to improve a very important part of the city of Dallas and that being Fair Park where the State Fair of Texas is annually held. What a statement she could have made to Dallasites as well as Texans who visit the State Fair. Well............she seemed more interested in other things and what those were I guess we'll someday read about them in her autobiography. Does UNT upper echelon leadership have a passion for what athletics can do for a school like UNT? If they don't, folks, then we are going to have to be patient for a new stadium (or for new leadership). It just galls me that as much money there is out there for even a utility baseball player ($40 million), that our upper echelon leadership at UNT don't seem to know where the resources are to find similar monies to get our new stadium jump-started. By the time we start construction on a new stadium, we may need $70-80 million to build what we really need to have to be in NCAA D1-A and to accomodate all the new fans and faces that will gravitate to such a new stadium in Denton. And pleeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............for those who want to project our future based on all our yesterdays and the present, please go out and buy one of those "How To Build For A Future Filled With Growth For Dummies" books (you know, those with a yellow cover and the black lettering) on why you build larger to accomodate expected dramataic population increases like is projected for Denton and our school's enrollment. (As complex as things in today's world can be, to build larger to accomodate future growth seems quite elementary and a no-brainer).

Yes, please do lay off our alums. We have all endured much. UNTFlyer and I don't always agree, but we're always..................MEAN GREEN! You know, I know there will be a special place in heaven for Mean Green fans & it will be there where we put some whoop-arse on the OU's, USC's, Notre Dames, etc, etc, etc, Hmmm? Interesting new signature I see you've created on your IBM dinosauer, SUMG.

When Bill Mercer was in his prime, he was as good a sports broadcaster as there was in the Southwest IMO. As I recall, he was one of the first (if not the first) members of the Dallas Cowboys radio broadcasting team. He and Don Drysdale were the first broadcast duo tandem of the Texas Rangers in 1972 and of course, those Saturday night wrestling matches from the Sportatorium. The very first NT Mean Green football games many of us ever heard broadcast were by Bill Mercer, the original Voice of the Mean Green. On one of anniversaries of the JFK assassination, our DFW local PBS affiliate KERA (Ch. 13) ran hours and hours of film footage of the happenings of that black Friday for many of us who still remember where we were when we heard the news. In old Dallas City Hall (or was it the Police Station?) the cameras were panning the crowd as they brought Lee Harvey Oswald in to a side room for questioning. Among some of the faces that day in the pandemonium that was taking place was a very young Bill Mercer who I believe was a newsman for Channel 4, ie, KRLD-TV (as known then). Also among that crowd that day with the camera man panning the room were very, very young (and unknown) future broadcast icons such as Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, former Dentonite Jim Leherer (sp?) of the McNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS and Bob Schieffer, the TCU alum of which his alma mater named their journalism school. BTW, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald called Schieffer over at the Fort Worth Star Telegram when he was a cub reporter and actually asked him for a ride over to Dallas. Whoops, I've started rambling now haven't I? Congrats Bill Mercer! We Have Not Forgotten You!

Whoops...

What sorta' bothers me the most is how so many are using one game, ie, the OU game as our new barometer for TDodge. OU has beaten Big 12 schools worse than our school's team. I think what most are excited concerning TDodge has to do with long term and not quickie fixes and the full meal deal he brings to UNT such as: Positive thinker, positive comments on any radio broadcast he will most likely ever be on while he is in Denton; his knowledge (and acceptance) that he will need to be our point man with numerouos promotions and fund-raising activities that need his presence to be ultimately successful. PLUS......... the fact that TDodge has been at the pinnacle of one of our Lone Star State's premium programs (UT) and was even its starting QB gives him a perspective that not even being what one of the FSN commentators called "the national HS coach of the year" for a couple of years would not give him. It also doesn't hurt that he did spend 2 years as our offensive coordinator and like the Mean Green Radio Network guys were saying back in the day: "Matt Simon initial successes had much to do with the coaching staff that had preceeded him along with the recruiting (including Mahr) that they had done. You know, some out there get to plant the seed while others get to do the harvesting. I supported Darrell Dickey for 6 of his 8 years in Denton, but it just came down to the worst loss in Fouts Field history (versus Tulsa) and that after a 4 year bowl run with what should have been some talent left-overs and then the loss at La Tech which became the icing on the cake that made this NT Ex feel we just needed a new direction. I don't like all that I said about DD during that 2 year span of time when things just seemed to be going even further south, but I think more now know how a whole bunch of us felt during those 2 years. This could have never been personal toward DD because (quite frankly) I only met the man on 2 occassions. I feel as good about this program as I did Hayden Fry's football program (and direction) even after Oklahoma State had bombarded us to the tune of about 61 to 7. It's just that the upside looks so much better now than before. Just my .02...

I love all the icons, Phil. Now just start working on larger letters with color!

I know where you're coming from with that statement, Bill, but at least..........SMU "Pony Up'd" a $60 million football palace while in Denton we continue slapping paint on our red-headed step-child, ie, our venerable, aged, ever-persevering Fouts Field. Best part of it all is as each day goes by we are (obviously) closer to our own new stadium; albeit as each day goes by, construction costs also continue to rise. One bright, beautiful, sunshiny day in Mean Green Country, though, the Mean Green Nation will have a very big reason to celebrate. Gut feeling says we will have "one" (and one is all we need) who will step forward and will give UNT the kind of money paid out to some pro athletes ($40 million) which will allow our new stadium project to get jump-started. Money in the world of athletics is everywhere and our day will come to get our fair share--the law of averages just has to work in our favor with this, now doesn't it? As far as SMU? Their true fan support started to (glaringly) show when the 4 Big 12 Texas schools stopped coming to Dallas (University Park) every other year. If the game this Saturday between SMU and UNT draws 22,000, that should be considered a victory (of sorts) for 2 teams that did not show too well on the scoreboard in their 1'st game of their season. Of course, #8 ranked OU was a pretty big reason for us and I still don't remember ever seeing so much speed & quickness (across the board) with this 2007 version of the OU Sooner football team. If they don't repeat as Big 12 champions, I'd be very surprised. If they don't stay in the Top 10 all season and possibly contend for an NC I'd be even more surprised.

Just seeing if anyone was reading? Jeez, as many times as I've seen Gone With The Wind. Thanks for the correction and another senior moment (which seem to be more often as of late).

Again, DD's first 3 years with mostly players he did not recruit he went 3 & 8, 2 & 9 and 3 & 8 while he had his 1'st above .500 season in his fifth year in Denton. I know most coaches (as in most jobs) a new employee gets some semblance of a honeymoon period. We all want early success for our school especially in light of all the national publicity we received upon the hiring of Todd Dodge, but TDodge may have to endure his own 2 (or 3) seasons of time to get the kind of players that will fit in his system (just as DD had to endure the same). Granted, we are in the "micro-wave oven" era of college football where we all want instant success. My bet is that that will begin next year as far as what we call Dodge Ball-style offense will begin because our coach will now actually have a full year to recruit which he did not his 1'st year in MG Country. And won't he probably want to add 2 or 3 key JUCO's to his young team in his 2'nd season)? IMHO.........4-5 wins this year will be a bonus using the last 2 previous seasons as a barometer and with the (apparent) continued improvement of the Sun Belt Conference (and I thought 4-5 wins in 2007 for TDodge not long after we hired him). Lest we forget, this is not the same Sun Belt that we marched thru its first 5 years of operation just like Stonewall Jackson marched thru Atlanta. We have seen our league improve (UT 21 Ark St. 13 just last Sat) to the point that we've only been able to put 5 wins in the record books our last 2 years. This is what TDodge knew he was inheriting when he took our job, and I think he will handle this initial adversity like few others we could have hired. I defer to the below signature...

Good points, UNTLifer... The only thing that bothers me right now about our team is how long it usually takes a new offensive line to mesh and mold into a unit. Last year's offensive line had some veterans in it and that makes a difference. SMU marched right into Fouts Field and into a Mean Green buzz saw last season. I have a fear that the Mean Green are going to march into Ford Stadium and into a Mustang buzz saw. The home field with this kind of game can be a difference-maker. Certainly, we all hope for a win this Saturday against SMU, but we have to keep our eyes on the real prize which we may not be able to attain until TDodge's recruits become 4-5 year residents at the Mean Green Village. We need to hope for improvement this next Saturday night at SMU and if that improvement will translate into a win, that would be a bonus. I defer to the signature below and hope our fans don't put all of their season into one game, ie, the SMU game. What we need to eventually happen in Denton will be much more important than any win over SMU and in any year. Did beating SMU last year really mean much to us toward the end of last season, uh, like during those closing weeks which included BlackJerseyGate? TRIVIA: The last 2 UNT coaches to beat SMU did not return as Mean Green head football coaches the following season, so I guess a Mean Green win over SMU could have hardly been called job-savers, right? Nor will it hardly be called a program breaker if we were to get beat this Saturday--as most of you know by now, we are a work in progress, folks, but when the TDodge foundation has been established at UNT, we hopeully will be looking at Top 25 rankings with our future bowl teams and I think we would all agree that that would be the kind of success we all want from here on out in Mean Green Country.

Perhaps an over-simplication with all this, but like the country song....I am a simple man. Back in the 1980's I was hired to be a D.O.R. (Director of Recruiting) for a tech school over in Fort Worth. It had a sales staff that I inherited and one that I had to work with until I could (eventually) get my own people in there. The sales force I inherited had not been making their numbers collectively for quite awhile, but you can't hardly go in and fire an entire staff. You just work with what you have to work with for the time being until you can slowly (but surely) tweak the deadwood and then bring in your own people, ie, proven sales people from prior schools I had worked. In the tech school business, getting the job done entails reaching quarterly (or monthly) enrollment budgets set by a national Director of Recruiting. Todd Dodge cannot fire all of his predeccessors recruits of the last 3-4 recruiting years, either; in fact, IMHO, TDodge inherited some good players from the DD Era that I believe once everyone (including all of us) gets over last night's shell-shock from an OU team that could very well contend for a national championship, we will begin our foundation building in Denton, Texas, America. All who were excited about Todd Dodge and all the publicity he gave our school after his hiring still need to be just as excited. OU may have had as fast (and quick) a team that I've seen. OU (for those who have forgotten) won the Big 12 football championship last year and who in the Big 12 this Fall is going to take that title away from the Sooners? It's almost embarrassing to read some responses on this message board based on one game and that a game with a Sooner's team that bombarded our alma mater's team; that is, an OU football program that has a history of running up the score against even more established football programs than Todd Dodge's 1'st Mean Green football team--I repeat.............Todd Dodge's 1'st Mean Green football team. Yet.............come on, fellow alums/fans, lets try to be different for a change, that is, lets not be the ususal DFW Metroplex college football fan yet instead, lets all be "un-fickle" fans and thats even when our team gets shellacked by Top 10 football teams or even, uh..................maybe even SMU? What I see Dodge doing in Denton may require some dis-mantling of what he inherited until he can get all his people to put his program together. Yet the other thing we need to build at UNT needs thousands of new (un-fickle) fans for all of this to really come together in Denton and for us to get to the next level even at the turnstiles. We as Mean Green fans/UNT alums will be as much a part of the equation for success jusst as much as what Coach Todd Dodge & his staff will be expected to deliver--in fact, what we all know by now Todd Dodge really wants to deliver and at the top of that list is our taking that "potential" word out of our UNT vocabulary forever. I work most Saturdays and DJ/Emcee a lot of Saturday evening wedding receptions as well , but I will attend as many Mean Green home games as my schedule allows. As a single income sort of guy, you do what you have to do in that deparment, you know what I mean, Vern?

You got it, P&RR ! USE & ABUSE (within the rules, of course) S............M.............U............! ! ! !

Well, if OU had opened their season with TAMU, if could have been worse than 77 to Zip! Thanks for the correction, Green Means Go. Even more amazing that TAMU with all their resources would take such a knot on their head against any school. OU has scored as many points against the Cornhuskers of Nebraska back in the 70's if memory serves me well (and it for sure doesn't serve me as well as it used to).