PlummMeanGreen

GrayEagleOne and I have known each other as friends and fellow NT alums for a long time--in fact, I can't believe just how fast all the time has flown right on by. At one time I, too, (like many of you who post now) was an NT Young Gun Alum and GEO was probably in his late 30's to 40's during that time. As he and a few others on this board would tell you, I went after SMU with both barrels smoking and I would hold no quarter for anything Red & Blue or anyone that resided off Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas--better known as "The Hilltop" to many. Many, many, many "Letters to the Editors" that I sent to (then) all 3 area major newspapers every once in a while would focus on what I felt was the condescending nature of some schools in the Southwest. JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE OF HISTORY WITH THIS: My first true initial dis-like for SMU actually began when former SMU AD Dick Davis (who played for the 'Stangs during the Doak Walker era) was on one of those old KRLD Sports Central radio call-in shows--back then hosted by Al Wisk. Quite frankly during one particular evening on that radio show, I didn't like much of anything AD Dick Davis was saying directly about NT as well as what he seemed to be saying between the lines as far as SMU playing NT(SU) in anything whether it be ping-pong or NCAA D1 football. Long story short---------I have been as consistent a basher of SMU thru the decades as anyone connected with North Texas, that is until mostl recently...............that is, when my own personal light bulb (finally) turned on to the fact that it was really a waste of time to do any of this bashing toward SMU at all. We have (rarely) at UNT had much to back up anything that would have suggested that we were even half a light year ahead of anything they were doing and particularly at a higher profile; after all, why brag that we are ranked #100 (out of 119 D1-A school) in NCAA D1-A football while they are ranked #101 or worse? THE LIGHT BULB THAT SHINED BRIGHTLY ABOUT ALL THIS GAVE ME THIS REVELATION .............and that was that we, too, were being just as snob'ish with our own attitudes toward them (in a middle class sort of way) as we know a hardy handful of them have been toward us forever. In a an old cowboy western, some might merely call all this concerning SMU and UNT a good old fashioned Mexican stand-off, that is, no one really significatly progressing or doing something much more grandiose than the other. ...................................................................... THIS IS HOW UNT WILL GET THE SMU's, TCU's, UH's, UTEP's, RICE's,, etc, etc, etc, UN-DIVIDED ATTENTION AND RESPECT QUICKER THAN ANYTHING BECAUSE WE SHOULD ALREADY KNOW BY NOW THAT (verbal) STICKS & (verbal) STONES WILL JUST NOT BREAK ANY OF THIS GROUPS BONES............ IMHO..........A Formula To Gain The Aforementioned Schools Utmost Respect & Ultimate Acceptance (even in a conference with them if we would still be so interested in that): (1) Build a football palace subtantially larger than most of the aforementioned schools. Most of you by now know what my ideal capacity for a new stadium at the Mean Green Village would be. If we build one the same size as theirs, then we just blend in with those we sorta' need to impress and excel above? (2) Then start averaging about 30-35,000 real butts in seats in our football venue (and even when we are playing lower profile name schools such as most of the ones we play the majority of the time). (3) Beat some high profile OOC games (even 1, 2 or 3 of them that are ranked in the Top 25 (which means we must start scheduling "now" such schools). (4) You are more than welcome to list what you feel I have left off of this list. ............................................................... Now during SMU/UNT Game Week in a few weeks from now, the usual banter will be cussed & discussed that leads up to such a local rivalry type of game as it will be (and trust me, SMU'ers will want this game VERY BAD), but during the other 51 weeks that we aren't playing SMU, let's get on with our business at hand of trying to meet some of the above suggested criteria along with ones some of you might want to add to the list.

Good, realistic and sensible post (especially the last 2 paragraphs).

Whichever school wins the SBC in 2007 needs to be like WAC & MAC schools and with their similar traits of having been ranked as Top 25 schools most of their championship seasons as they headed to their respective bowls. At some point, more & more SBC'ers need to also discover the stark realization (if they haven't begun to already) that SBC football championships have yet to translate into national or even regional respect to some extent. Also, there comes a time when Wright Water's creation, ie, the SBC, and most of its membership should start winning some of those higher profile OOC games, too, not just close-score losses, ie, those so-called moral wins. No new revelation with that statement, either. As far as our prediction of last place for the 2007 SBC season, this summer will be the best summer of all future summers for all SBC prognosticators to get their kicks in and aimed at NORTH TEXAS while they can. With all due respect to those doing the forecasting, they did such based (mostly) on our 2 previous seasons. The best thing going for all of us at NORTH TEXAS is the direction Mean Green football is finally headed (once again) in Denton, Texas, America!

Another flood control deal here...

Greendylan, I'm over here in the West O' Plex (Tarrant/Parker counties) and so I've spoken with many TCU alums over the years and I've heard a hardy handful of them say the very same thing concerning TCU taking Baylor's place in the Big 12. I've asked a few of them these 2 questions: (1) So what is going to make Baylor just suddenly up and leave the Big 12 and all that TV revenue behind as well so they can become a part of the "much less TV revenue" non-BCS?" (2). "If TCU were in the higher profile Big 12 and yall do what yall did your last 25 years in the SWC (which was not much--while Baylor during that same time was kicking a$$) just who is it that will take TCU's place in the Big 12 when yall are asked to leave (like yall are suggesting will soon happen to Baylor)? FWIW, all this TCU taking Baylor's place in the Big 12 is the kind of message board fodder that gets kicked around on boards like Frog Fan Forum and even GoMeanGreen.com while we all wait for 2-a-days to start in a few weeks.

The last time TCU was in a conference similar to the Big 12, Baylor (in that league's last quarter of a century) excelled and TCU did not. If Baylor could legally get kicked out of the Big 12, doesn't it make sense that Vanderbilt U would have been kicked out of the SEC decades ago? Baylor will be in the Big 12 a long, long time and TCU will be like the rest of the non-BCS; that is, on the outside looking in for a long, long time--sorry, Horned Frog friends, but you who know how all this works know this more than anyone.

Seriously, one has to consider all the DFW area, state-wide and Southwest region contacts Todd Dodge has with not only football people money people as well. It doesn't hurt our cause at all that we have a former Southwest Conference QB for the University of Texas as Mean Green head football coach, either. Sometimes it really does boil down to not only what you know............but...................who you know. GMG!

Only First Lady I ever saw in person; of course, I was one of 50,000 others who saw her (and LBJ) on April 9, 1965, at the grand opening of the Houston Astrodome. Lyndon Baines Johnson is still the only U.S president I ever saw in person. Was at a national convention as a teen in August of 1963 of which John F. Kennedy was scheduled to speak, but Jackie had her baby that died soon after birth and JFK was by her side in the hospital and so he had to cancel out on his speech to our group. Rest in peace, Lady Bird...

Hey "The Jason" thanks for that info. I have a Cingular phone, too. BTW, does anyone know why it seems every "Tom, Dick and Harry" school gets their sports caps at all these interstate Love's stores and we seem to never have ours in their cap bins? I have seen UNT caps but when they are sold out, the don't get re-stocked. To Merchandisers or Buyers: Uh...........duh?

I love a 1'st person, 2'nd person or 3'rd person post!

Hmmm? Nice to know our new Mean Green HFC sorta' resides in that neck of the woods, too, now isn' it?

Fouts! Make Our Day!

Yet the problem no matter what year for Fouts Field is that gol' darned track which has football fans on the 50 yard line still about 35-40 yards away from the field of action and those (forever) teriffically terrible sight-lines. We could gold-plate & diamond-stud every concreted square feet of Fouts Field but we would still have those 2 aforementioned (forever) problems. PS: Anyone think our future stadium would get much less than what that video produced from that company up in (was it) Tulsa? Other than what most of us agree will be a need for a tweaking of the stadium seating sections configuration for the majority of our fans, I think we will still get many of the very impressive ammenities featured in that Okie'-produced stadium video. I have heard one recent rumor that the 7'th calvary is on the way, folks, and that is all I can (and will) say about that. What I think most of us would also agree is that UNT cannot afford to merely jump into building some small number of seats/tin-can'ish kind of stadium we'd regret that we built 10, 15 or 25 years from now.

I know the obvious (forever) answer is Voertmans and the University Book Store....................but what other retail outlets in DFW, Houston/Galveston, San Antonio, El Paso, Longview/Marshall, Lubbock/Amarillo, Waco and so on? How about the Love's near many of your interstates closest to where you live? Is your's carring UNT caps? Hellsbells! I 've seen Love's carry caps from 1-AA schools and once in a blue moon UNT. Also, are there cell phone ringtones of the UNT Fight Song? If so.................what link? To www.GoMeanGreen.com Administrators: Will the lower case letter problems in this forum's subject lines ever be solved? Hopefully...........AND.............. Thanks for all the other super things you do for all our NT Exes/MG fans ability to communicate and express our feelings and opinions about a big passion for 99,9% of those on this board (when we really had no forum to do such before).

Yeah, but when UNT builds what I have been told we are going to build, the tortoise will more than pass the hare in all this stadium race business going on among the non-BCS. How long have I been wanting a new stadium for dear ol' alma mater? How 'bout starting in September of 1973 in the first game I sat in venerable Fouts Field?!?! Just as a short reminder, folks, we are (basically) having to build an entire sports complex (save the Liberty venues already in place of which some of those needed dramatic make-overs). So when is that scheduled date for the Fouts Field implosion ceremony again?

Just imagine John Lennon if he'd been a Mean Greener may have sung it: "No new stadium news, too?"

Good stuff, DallasGreen... If UNT goes outside the box and builds a 40,000 seat plus sized stadium, SMU will merely become an after-thought; especially with the kind of hire we have runnning our Mean Green football program now. Who knows, maybe even Dodge's eventual successor "in 15 or so years" will be as equally talented or more. The BSU Broncos didn't do too bad with their succession of HFC's now did they?

I think guarded optimism is merely many of our elect not wanting to be disappointed this Fall in those we do believe in to navigate this boat toward waters Mean Green football has not sailed in a long, long time. UNT has its man with Todd Dodge, one who (in fact) will probably play a bigger role than many might expect in this program gaining the necessary momentum for UNT to build our new footall palace at the magnificent Mean Green Village; and all this happening with T'odge because of his "can do" public relation's abilities we have not seen in Denton in quite awhile. Whatever happens in 2007 I feel most will see as a solid building block for seasons to come of which more blocks will be stacked higher & higher from here on out. For those who choose to worry themselves into a tether that someone may steal our Dodge sooner than later, don't waste all the mental energy yet concentrate on the things we do have control. If and when such a time would come, I feel UNT officials will not let Todd Dodge slip into the hands of another non-BCS school too easily--even the 2 other non-BCS schools in the North Texas Metroplex, FWIW. We do have those with NT ties with monies who could probably be convinced to help supplement his salary very nicely, you know? In other words, there are some things (CUSA conference aspirations) that are also out of our hands, but our UNT leaders will have a say about not losing any HFC we have over money--even bigger money than most of us can ever imagine being paid out to a Mean Green head football coach. We are swimming with the (D1-A) sharks as it is already, folks. Probably time we start acting like it before we become shark food.

The Brazos has flooded again.

** First of all, we need to forget DD Ball and the level its so called success (when there was such) kepts us mired in; you know as toward the bottom of the 119 member NCAA D1-A? I think Todd Dodge will have to have higher aspirations for Mean Green football than Dickey or he won't get those higher aspiration job opps down the road. Lest a few have already forgotten, 4 bowl games did not produce for DD not even one higher profile job interview. A Top 25 ranked Mean Green bowl team would have had people knocking his door down. ** Look how many times in past decades UNT played the Texas Longhorns off their hooves and comparing both school's recruiting class rankings back in that day was apples and oranges. (Amazing what a good coach can do with a few good apples, eh)? ** Boise State officials have said they rarely have highly ranked recruiting classes and look what they did in a BCS Championship Series Bowl last January. ** These recruiting gurus seem to never have the ability to rank intangibles such a heart, desire and good coaching (of which that can make heart and desire go a long, long ways in NCAA D1-A football). ** Haven't many on this board sorta' been saying all along we need to be cautious of having such high expectations in T'odge's inaugural year? ** Best part of all this....we are finally headed in the right direction (no matter what our W/L record is in 2007). DD had his 1'st above .500 season at UNT in his 5'th year. I think it would be safe to say Coach Dodge's football program will get to .500 (and over) much sooner than that due to his 24/7 work ethic and schedule. Jeez-Louise, look how many HS kids he's already had at the Mean Green Village this summer for his coach's camps? GMG! PS: For those who don't want to discuss what this board discusses every day but want's football to start tomorrow, simply turn off your computers till 2-a-days would be my suggestion. Jeez...

Mean Green Athletic Support Begins At The Top (as in the Alfred F. Hurley Administration Building) PREFACE.............Let me begin by saying that I fully support Rick Villarreal as our AD and even did when he was not holding those promised quarterly meetings and (IMHO) busting his butt by extending a couple or so varsity coach's contracts mixed in with a few other very minor things. He is a public official and he knows what comes with that territory I'm sure. FWIW............many of us have probably not been the most perfect NT Exes as far as he is concerned, either; so it really is a 2 way street with such things, now isn't it? Yet, to put it bluntly, I think Rick V will have a new lease on life as the UNT AD with a few fresh faces on the UNT Board of Regents. IMO, if you have a pro-active talent like our AD, you don't squelch such talent yet turn him loose and let him use his talents--not allow any UNT official to put their thumb on it to satisfy their own personal agenda. NOTE: People who are pro-active and doing things non-stop full steam ahead tend to goof up at times more than those who are merely going thru the motions, getting their paychecks and doing nothing up & beyond Bottom 25 performance to earn it. Give us those who goof up a whole bunch (in moderation, of course). I do think Rick V needs to tweak some of his present ancillery staff and I am not alone in that department. Proof is in the numbers (or the lack of numbers). One past UNT president used to say "we will give you all that you will support." That IMHO, was about the half of it, because we will ultimately get what UNT leadership sets in motion for us to get. For instance, we will get the size stadium that the talent level, ie, abilities of our campus fund-raisers will allow us to get--that has nothing to do with many of us on this board (unless one of you has been with-holding info that you're ready to be our Big Donor). YET..............we better hope that our present leaders are thinking big; you know, thinking ahead to the future (not basing anything on our past) and with the knowledge that UNT is truly going to become the 2'nd largest university in the Lone Star State (per the Tx Higher Ed Coord. Board down in Austin). 1 Athletic Budget--Presently around $14 million--we need it to be "CUSA-sized" at about $20 million ASAP but for sure no later than 2012 (whether we're in CUSA or not). This is why those who are responsible for our turnstile count and annual athletic fund-raising are so vital for our short-term and long-term success. Are we running at full cylinders in those 2 departments? 2 UNT Human Resources: We Become Who We Ultimately Hire @ UNT..... One Example? Get in a room with about 250 people which includes College Football Hall of Famer Hayden Fry and see who gets most of the attention. Only wish Fry had been around when Denton County had its present population of almost 600,000 instead of the 99,000 rural-ites that the Texas Almanac reported was the demographic of Denton County in one of its mid 1970's editions. (OK, Young Gun Alums, relax, I am through with "Fry Talk" for now). :rolleyes: True NCAA D1-A talent hires in Denton (no more "UNT is a training center for Notre Dame "would be" hires yet whose non-production even at our present level (using as our barometer fundraising, attendance and positive public relations skills toward every socio-economic level of the UNT constituency). If said athletic staff person is no cutting the mustard in Denton, then it may be because being employed at the NCAA D1-A level is not where they're supposed to be, ya' think? If you're setting the woods on fire at UNT as an athletic ancillery staff person, then we should be kicking butt at the turnstiles and setting athletic fund-raising records on an annual basis--the 2 very things that have kept us where we've been the last 25 years or so. If our top leaders are hiring (and morally supporting) ancillery staff members who are not making an impact for UNT athletics as described by whatever their job description may be as well as plenty of years to prove themselves, aren't we (in a sense) doing that person a dis-service persevering their non-production while extending even more time for him/her to do such? Continuing Bottom 25 varsity athletics with no signs of improvement on the near horizon for those who've been around Denton, Texas, America, more than 5, 6 or more years means UNT powers obviously think there is no one else from coast-to-coast who can get the job done OR..............maybe UNT leadership (starting at the very top) are not doing their own jobs for Texas tax-payers by not raising the kind of questions that get asked by many on this very forum. FWIW, Rick V, Todd Dodge and Johnny Jones just cannot do all this by themselves. WE BECOME WHO WE ULTIMATELY HIRE AT UNT... Few of us will be among those who decide if we build a 31,000 seat or 40,000 plus seat stadium in Denton. Yet...............each & every one of us will be the recipients of however many seats our new stadium ends up with for the next 40-50 years, though.

You haven't experienced it all until you spend a few hot July (or Augusts) walking around the Denton courthouse square (and beyond) plastering those schedule posters on the stores that will allow you to tape em' up on their windows (or other places in their stores). Some of us used to even hit Krum, Ponder, Sanger, Roanoke, Keller, Corinth, Lewisville etc, etc, etc, SUMG and I (in another era) used to actually look forward to doing this for dear ol' alma mater each summer. Back then, UNT athletics said: "Sure, knock yourself out and we appreciate what you are doing." I would think that would be the case today. Like Emmitt and some of you other Young Gun Alums, you know how it is--you just have this passion thing going for anything Mean Green and you merely want to spread the word (so to speak). Volunteering to do such things for our dear ol' alma mater gives you the same good feeling you get when you give to a charity or cause. We applaud Emmitt and the rest of you who are doing the plastering of the Mean Green schedule posters now because it is a job that must get done. Those 2007 Mean Green football season schedule posters aren't doing any of us any good if they are in stacks collecting dust in the UNT athletic department. PS: If someone organized it, I'd bet some of us Old Gun Alums would find the time to come up to Denton to help out with plastering those posters on store windows on some given day. For myself, it would have to be a weekday since I work many Saturdays.

Good God! I think Armageddon has officially been put on hold, because it seems Sodom and Gommorah have made a definite come-back. Hey, greenminer, I don't think I want "THAT' kind of love. Harry, Illuvious, JDenver: Please do check out that link to only see if it has stepped over the line. Just my .02 for a www.GoMeanGreen "family-forum" as we should all try to keep in mind as well as remind ourselves that all age groups are reading this stuff. PS: To a hardy handful: Its a sports theme message board--not "Dr. Ruth" or Playboy Forum.

Another flood control issue...