PlummMeanGreen

Senior moment! It was 1975 or 1977, "Judge" meanjoe. (And congrats to you with that honor---Your Honor)! GMG!

Whoops!

Senior moment! It was the 1975 game, "Judge" meanjoe. (And congrats to you with that honor, your honor)! GMG!

Many of us have worked around SMU alums who were wealthy but you would have never known it with their humble and gracious attitudes? If one thinks about it, if one who has been ble$$ed with big money (whether earned or inherited) has to keep reminding those around that they have personal riches, how many true friends could such a person have; whether they attended SMU or not? Lest we forget, SMU'ers don't have a corner on the market with wealth. We have many alums who (themselves) have been as ble$$ed and some of whom that may even have a propensity to flaunt it while others are as humble about it as the Reverend Billy Graham. FWIW, don't many of our attitudes about some SMU alums come from message boards such as this one? .................................................................... SMU vs UNT @ Texas Stadium/A Mean Green Win! This 1975 (or 1977?) game Dallas Green referred to in his aforementioned post was also one of my all time favorite Mean Green wins thru the decades. UNT's QB Kenny Washington (brother of OU All American Joe Washington) was as flawless as a heart surgeon as he surgically carved his way thru the Mustangs defense. You almost knew after the 1'st half that this would be a Mean Green victory (in Dallas) or at least, in Irving, Texas.

Thank you for that TV viewing tip, 'MarkCiz'... GMG!

Thank you for that TV viewing tip, 'MarkCiz'... GMG!

I think we all found out just how much more recruiting we really needed to do back in that era stealth or no stealth recruiting methods. DD had better facilities than any other head football coaches in UNT's history, although we still know how far we're behind in that area. We all know what we need to do to keep folks like Todd Dodge around MG Country a few years because if you worked at J.C. Penney's for $100K a year but Neiman Marcus offered you $500K to do the same job anyone would have to think about that--if nothing else you would have to listen to such an offer if you had a family to consider and support.

tsufan, there are many of us who really do admire what your school has done in such a short time at the NCAA D1-A level. Yall have a "can-do" spirit that I feel UNT is beginning to regain (in some areas). We all watched with amazement when yall opened your stadium with a national televised win over the #17 ranked Missouri Tigers. FWIW, we were all TU Trojans that night. Actually, there was another era when Mean Greeners everywhere believed we could beat just about anyone on our schedule and many of us now think those happy days are here again. Good luck in 2007 (except you know which Game Day). PS: And tsufan, tell all my Alabama cuzzin's in Bessemer, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and the Birmingham area (from my late mother's side of the family) a good old fashioned Texas..................HOWDY! GMG!

I believe it was Harry who ran a thread asking if any SBC school would ever go to 4 bowl games in a row. I would have said that that could have been Troy U had he asked that question about the middle of last season; but with our hiring of Todd Dodge, I don't think Troy U will get a 4 year bowl run. One thing I think we have all noticed is how the SBC has (probably) improved across the board as far as better "in conference" football competition is concerned. We should keep in mind that new Mean Green HFC Todd Dodge will (most likely) have a tougher SBC to compete against in this first few seasons than his predeccessor did during most of his 8 years in Denton). We have solved one of our major problems at UNT with the hiring of Todd Dodge, but he will not hang around Denton for long if we don't convert lip-service to foot-service and get him (and all of us) a new (legitimate) NCAA D1-A football stadium; you know, just like the one that Troy U has (but hopefully ours about 10K seats larger). GMG!

Agree... We know the problem...who will keep trying "non-stop" to come up with the solutions?

And this kind of thing will get us listed even moreso on future Top 100 lists yet with more signings from those who list us.

And I'm sure a matter that has rendered you totally, uh, sleepless in Seattle, too, right cooley? ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION: Yes, DC'sTF are now available at most northern Texas Walmarts. GMG!

Read in the DMN and FWST today (or yesteday) that T. Boone is soon to invest $6 billion (yes, I said "BILLION" folks) into wind energy projects out in the Texas Panhandle (or somewhere out there where the deer and the antelope play). Must be nice to have someone like T. Boone Pickens as an alum, eh? Also read in the FWST SportsPage today that Mark Cuban is wanting to buy the Chicago Cubs (of which BB Commish' Bud Selig was believed to have said concerning that): "Over my dead body." Wonder if Mark ol' boy needs a local college to invest the kind of bucks he has at a school that would probably appreciate it more than any other D1-A school in the entire sovereign state of Texas? Wouldn't it really be fun to have the mulit-millions he has to play "real life" Monopoly?

If Darrell Dickey had had any 2 of his 4 bowl teams ranked in a Top 25 poll (no matter which part of the season), I would have been somewhere toward the front of the parade with many of you saying: We have to do what we can to keep this goat ropin' son of a gun on the UNT payroll. Well............... 4 bowl appearances ='ed..........No Top 25 Rankings ='ed...............Bye bye... All of DD's condescending post-game radio comments his last few years, then calling many of the Mean Green Nation at a practice (knowing fully they were there) a bunch of Mutha'F'ers and then..............topped off with the black jerseys caper completely caused DD to run out of every bit of capital he had compiled with 4 bowl appearances; albeit bowl appearances with non-ranked teams. PS: Actually, shouldn't we just all wish him good health and a happy fresh new beginning as USU because after all, don't we all need such things to happen in our own lives from time to time?

Probably just the NCAA powers-that-be trying to help those schools who you could hardly ever say are located in U.S. mega-population centers? Still wonder why OSU was able to do that right here in our own Lone Star State, though. Sounds like a good reason to have a good old fashioned bar-room brawl to me. Festus? Doc? Matt? Chester? uh.............Ms. Kitty?

Just another reason UNT needs to upgrade across the board (and across the prairie at the Mean Green Village). Maybe its those sort of things that will help our HS seniors-to-be early committments suddenly gain an extra star from recruiting services? Those recruiting gurus are enamored with Big Time Schools and sell their services mostly to their constituencies, not a handful of non-BCS schools. Rivals knows where they need to put all their star power (so to speak). Boise State (from what I've read) has rarely had any of their recruiting classes ranked high by Rivals. Well.......................so what? Boomer Barry Switzer said more than once during the OU/BSU bowl game that OU had recruited not even one Boise State football player; although, he did seem to slow down on that particular theme as the game continued. PERHAPS THE UPSIDE OF ALL THIS NO MATTER HOW RIVALS RANKS OUR EARLY RECRUITS? And that is new Mean Green Head Football Coach Todd Dodge & his fine staff of assistants will develop many 2 star recruits coming out of high school into 3 and 4 star college football players. Guess that is when all this star power business will really add up the most for UNT, right? Also, I think we will be able to depend on our UNT coaching staff (over recruiting gurus) to know which HS players out there have the true pedigree to make it at the NCAA D1-A level. GMG!

THAT MAKES THREE OF US WITH YOU SILVER EAGLE AND DALLASGREEN... ONE QUESTION, THOUGH................Did we actually actively recruit Abner's grandson might be the question? Sure he (or the print media) might have listed UNT since (after all) "Grandpa Abner" attended here, but did UNT actually recruit Abner Haynes's grandson?

Thet wood B...................L-A-G-N-I-A-P-E- (aye suh'pose aye shood no bedder thin inee'wun). gmg!

Tennessee HS Football versus....................... Texas High School Football? IT'S APPLES ............................. & ......................... ORANGES DIFFERENCE! (And when Hollywood decides to produce a movie about HS football, just which U.S. state do they take their own experts advice as to who has the best high school football in the entire USA)?

IF YOU HAVE AN EXTRA HOUR ON YOUR HANDS, READ THIS LATEST INSTALLMENT FROM ONE ALUM WHO HAS BEEN AROUND THE MEAN GREEN SCENE ("...and seen everything except childbirth" to quote Bill Blakely) & AROUND THE MG SCENE LONGER THAN SOME OF YOU ON THIS BOARD HAVE BEEN ALIVE {BUT NOT QUITE AS LONG AS OTHERS}. (and if you make it thru this epistle, please do tell me what part of this is not close to being correct)? If you are good to go with yet another year of 15,000 per home game @ Fouts Field, then you are not the one that needs to read any of this. Disclaimer: I (as I know many of you) feel our UNT AD, ie, Rick V, our UNT Head Football Coach (Dodge) and Head Basketball Coach (Jones)--our 2 "money-maker sports" are true NCAA D1-A level talents; its just that many of us don't know who of the UNT ancillery staff meet a similar criteria.............and a major barometer at most schools of their collegues success is usually measured by (increasing) attendance figures (or at least they probably need to be increasing to show yearly positive efforts in that key area of any NCAA D1-A school. Many of us thought Rick V should have all but cleaned house when he arrived in Denton, but by not doing so many feel his talent is being dragged down to the level of those who cannot begin to match his energy and talent level. ........................................................................... To Rick V: 15K per game averages during prime time ticket selling times (4 bowl years running?) we know didn't meet your own personal expectations from a campus that state of Texas forecasters are saying will be the 2'nd largest in enrollment in the entire state of Texas in due time AND...............with 5-6 million population within 1 hour (give or take) of the Mean Green Village may be a strong indication that sometimes you just might need to consider blowing some things up in some key areas of your athletic department in order to rebuild it back the way you probably wanted things to be when you first hired on at UNT................. ..................and such a "blowing up" effect which would give all of us in the UNT community (including you as our AD) a fresh new beginnning here on the eve of Dodge-Ball (and perhaps a better opportunity) to start doubling our present per home game averages to reach 30,000 plus averages. We all appreciate the fact that you've already put some key personnel in place (namely Todd Dodge) when you have been having to grin & bear it the last few years with Dickey Ball. Yet for such growth (30K per home game) to have more than a fair chance to materialize, don't we really have a need for ancillary athletic employees on our campus whose talent might give us a real chance to succeeed? Do we have some presently on staff who have had more than ample time to prove themselves yet years later still have not? No one at UNT wins when we have those who have proven they cannot do the job --not even the ineffective employee(s) themselves who might very well be more successful elsewhere by getting a fresh new start at some other collegiate outposts other than the one they've been employed for years. ............................................................................ SO WHAT IS OUR MAIN BAROMETERS OF SUCCESS FOR UNT FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL ANYHOW? If it's not attendance, then someone please enlighten the rest of us as to what is being used in Denton that measures our ancillery staff's success? Is it all the new facilities we've seen rise on that Texas prairie in recent years? Certain cause for brief celebration, but (for heaven's sakes, folks) without them where would UNT be in context to any school that operates at any division of NCAA? If we don't get those new facilities at the MG Village, wouldn't we be out of the inter-collegiate sports business? So I suppose we can keep on celebrating those (hardly new anymore) facilities and maybe get a bit overboard extolling all the virtues of those bare minimum required facilities out at the MG Village, but aren't they still everything we need to even stay at the NCAA D1-A (or any) level for that matter? Lets move on beyond all the extolling of things we needed 10-15 years ago because haven't we all observed that if you stand still at the NCAA D1-A level, then you are going to soon find yourselves going backwards and members of such conferences as.................well, never mind that one. Just what other barometers are being used for athletic success at our main campus if what we have been selling (even during prime selling time 4 bowl years) is just not attracting the imagination of our 6 million populated DFW area)? Is it winning civic awards in Denton that gets the job done for our alma mater, ie, UNT athletics or do such things sell an extraordinary number of additional season tickets (in order to help us get us past that vaunted 15K per game averages )? Is it good ol' boys who will drink a beer or 2 or 3 with you and call you by your first name? Is it UNT officials who might have a bit too much time on their hands to spend with the many of us who give well under $1,000 in most years? Personally, many of us would rather they be spending such time with those out there who could fund our alma mater a brand spanking new NCAA D1-A football stadium or even a bubble indoor practice facility. Surely at UNT some consider all the personal "first name" attention as an "awe shucks" type of luxury---I do not (and surely most of you have more excitement going on in your life than such attention as that). I think many of us would prefer UNT athletic employees spend all their extra time with those who can and will make a bigger difference ($$$$) much quicker for our school's athletic program and its future than any of us less than $1,000 donors (and also to those who contribue their monies to other campus or academic areas as well). CHAPTER TWO--CUSA MEMBERSHIP FOR UNT (in some of your wildest dreams) So for UNT............just what is it that what will suddenly and magically change the minds of several ex SWC/ CUSA schools most of whom are still bitter because they (themselves) were rejected from the Big 12? BTW, the same very schools who have already rejected UNT not just once (now lets all count this together in unison, math majors), but, uh, twice before for conference membership? Sorry fellas, but 3 1/2 decades of following all this has taught me more than just a few things when it comes to UNT and UNT athletics. I try to wear those green-tinted glasses when I can, but I've also looked at the history of all this, too, and doesn't history usually teach most of us a few things, especially as far as state of Texas NCAA D1-A intercollegiate athletics is concerned? UNTIL..............UNT's does some things very dramatic (such as something just like or even similar to what I expressed in my below signature manifesto); yet until we do somthing very grandiose in football stadium facilities and turnstile numbers, we are merely going to me continue to be all these Texas-based/ex SWC school's "whipping post".................... .....................and yet if we met all the aformentioned steps to impress our Texas/CUSA friends, then we have yet anther possible stumbling-block at UNT and that is the fact that then.................CUSA members will all need to decide if they need yet one more Texas-based school in their league. Some in CUSA have already expressed there may be one too many as it is. So.................why would some from UNT continue to "non-stop" put all our alma mater's future eggs in the CUSA basket? Hasn't TCU shown us there are alternatives to CUSA? Hey folks, I want a fairy tale type/Horatio Algier story for UNT just like the next guy, but I have learned in the past 3 1/2 decades that our thinking what other schools should do on our behalf just because we think that is what they should do will only end in major disappointment and so therefore........... ............I still defer to the "edited" signature below...............and BTW..............anyone else have other suggestions or ideas as to what we can do at UNT that will get the undivided attention of the rest of the almighty sovereign state of Texas D1-A football schools (of which few things we've done in the past have ever really impressed them yet as to what we have previously done at UNT) at.........................a higher profile, of course? CASE IN POINT: After our 4 bowl run to New Orleans, remember the snub (no matter how you slice it) from Houston's Texas Bowl officials as far as our being omitted as possible candidates for their bowl?

Sorry about the double post, yet you're right Smitty (IMHO).......... ........... AND............... even more the reason UNT must out-do all those schools with our football program and our future new football stadium. Surely we won't build a new stadium in Denton that just seats 500 more than Fouts Field? What a terrific, bonehead mistake that would be which would only bogg Mean Green football down for another 2 or 3 generations. Do we really want the next 25 years to be like the last 25 years have been; that is, of non-Top 25 ranked MG football? We have to be bigger and better than this group of CUSA schools, folks. That is the only thing that will really impress them and bring us into CUSA (for you who think that league is our ultimate panacea--of which I do not). Keep in mind, most of those schools have already voted twice to keep UNT out of both the SWC and CUSA. (Anyone really don't think an out-dated track stadium call Fouts Field didn't play some part of of that)? U OF HOUSTON OUT-DID MOST ALL THE SWC WHEN IT WANTED IN : Superior performance and an impressive football stadium were (part) of the very things that got UH voted into the old Southwest Conference. The Coogs' didn't just merely equal everything SWC schools were doing to get in, but they exceeded most all of the SWC schools plus they brought an impressive football stadium into the SWC fray; namely the Astrodome (then a novelty that many called the "8'th Wonder of the World" and an impressive recruiting tool for UH to boot).

Personally, I'd like to see all of the Okie schools supply of Texas talent be reduced to zilch; of course, had that happened the last 60 or so years, there would be no NC banners at Owens Field in Norman, now would there? Of course, we'd still love for many of those Okies to enroll at UNT. All of this with Todd Dodge & staff is exceeding anything that any of us could have ever expected at this juncture. Wonder if he could accompany our fund-raisers when they go out trying to land the Big Donor for "you know what" that hopefully seats 40,000 (minimum)?!?!?!? PS: Still deferring to the "edited" signature below.

Yet they were WAC champs that made it to a BCS Championship Series Bowl only to beat a school that would have most likely been a Top 5 school had they not been rail-roaded out of a win in Oregon early last season. WAC membership did not cause Boise State athletic officials or their football coaches to say: "Well, we're in the WAC so we can only do, uh, WAC'ky things at a low profile and then only go to WAC-type bowls to play unranked teams." MG football has been low profile (unranked and Bottom 25) for so long a time that I feel too many of our very best alums & fans feel that is our rightful and only place we can ever co-exist. Case in point: How many on this very board were even upset with the hiring of Todd Dodge (trust me, there were some who were) and from reading their posts during the DD era (even in its last days) would have been just fine with DD Ball getting a 10'th, 11'th or 12'th year to try to reach .500 in career wins at (no matter that he was proving to be a continual public relations disaster)................ ...............and many of those PR gaffes and insults to the very ones who were paying him being broadasted on the radio airwaves on post-game shows the last few years).Would new UNT Prez' Dr. B have allowed much more than one such post-game radio show to ever be repeated with similar themes we were all sorta' getting used to without there being some serious repurcussions? Doubtful................. but all that was yesterday.....................and yesterday's gone. ........................................................... PS: Yes, UNTflyer, we agree..............it was (in deed) arguably the best bowl game of the last 50 years. What Boise State did was give a whole bunch of schools like UNT a helluva' lot of hope as to what can happen when all your athletic dept.(with not just a good AD and HFC or HBC, but talent across the board all trying to prove themselves for a move up the 1-A chain (why not that, we all try to do the same thing out here in the non-academic work world); but as far as UNT athletics is concerned & "OUR" alma mater's athletic program's ultimate success, too-----no slackers with sub-par performance at UNT & with a cushy retirement in Denton in mind). Anyway, a UNT athletic department with all cylinders running full steam ahead with the common purpose of raising our school's stature among the rest of the 119 member division we compete should always be our school's aim (IMHO).

2 words, UNTflyer: Boise State? But I do get your drift on the SBC aspects. We are totally over-shadowed in Texas by the Big 12 and ex SWC/CUSA schools (and now to a certain extent, even over-shadowed by a 100,000 seat billion dollar stadium over in Arlington); thus a very big reason of why I say what I say in my below signature (of which I actually know others who feel the same). We'll just have to do things a bit bigger & bolder in Denton, Texas, America, in order to get recognition and our fair slice of the inter-collegiate football pie in the state of Texas (especially with our being 1 of 10 NCAA D1-A schools based here in the Lone Star State). GMG!

And DallasGreen, some of our Young Gun Alums should ask those of us who were crazy enough to drive from all quarters of the Metroplex (in the snow--not always a safe thing to do in Texas) to witness this game! Funny how UNT played a small part in the revival of not only the Kansas State U football program, but in a sense, even Bobby Bowden's Florida State football program--a football program that never looked back again after that season, too. Oh that UNT would soon do the very same thing, yet at higher levels than has ever been done in the entire history of our football program, too.