PlummMeanGreen

I know all this "proposed" business we read in the DFW and Texas print media can be interrpreted 1 of 2 ways, but our "unbelieving" sports media may tend to make all this appear as: "Well, this is only a proposed stadium idea but it really might not ever happen in Denton." Well...........most across our great sovereign state of Texas (including some of the media) still don't understand or realize the Texas Department of Transportation has already claimed (for their future usage) I35-E interstate frontage property almost adjacent to the Fouts Field Press Box side as their own by the laws of imminent domain so to all you new lurkers and visitors to www.GoMeanGreen.com----- ..............THIS NEW FOOTBALL STADIUM AT UNT WILL BECOME A REALITY--IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! Right now, its only merely a matter of the time-table aspects of all this, but many are now hearing even more possible good news which may facilitate all this new stadium business happening much sooner than later. The Future Is Bright In Mean Green Country! Bank On It!

J-Mo showed us things his freshman year many of us who'd been around a few decades had never, ever seen at UNT and many of us also feel his senior year will be the icing on the cake for his Mean Green career with much of that due to a fresh new start for him and all his teammates with a new coaching staff who will probably bring in an offense that will utilize his "healed hamstring" talents. Picking up a couple of solid heralded JUCO offensive linemen in our winter recruiting probably wouldn't hurt things, either, for Super "J." . GO! GO! SUPER JAMARIO!

THIS IS BIG! (insert Handel's Hallelujah Chorus)! And the Denia Duck Pond (across interstate from Fouts Field) will be near the northwest part of the north endzone part of the new stadium and remain intact, right? And just look at all that prime inter-state real estate between the 2 Texas interstates on that rolling Texas prairie, too! A picture is truly worth a thousand words now isn't it? Maybe even more than a thousand words in our case! HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN! CONGRATS TO ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE, TOO. PS: Anyone else smell a new stadium dirt turning ceremony much sooner than much later now?

But UNTSIG, Todd Dodge (former UT QB) is coaching at a HS located right here in the DFW Metroplex--same place our school seems to be located last time I checked. We do need to find the right true fit, though, no matter who our new HFC turns out to be.

Like many of you, I, too, am one tough sale but... ...yall have convinced me that Todd Dodge is the way to go for our new UNT head football coach. Probably doesn't hurt that he's already had 2 years at UNT albeit has been several years ago. Wonder if he could recruit his blue chip QB son to come to UNT next year? In fact, what is the skinny on that kid as far as his D1-A collegiate potential? If you can go by his stats, he will surely be highly recruited next year (if he isn't already). One thing for certain is that the Dodge kid does have those good genes.

Amen, bro'! I wonder what part of "winning several more win-able OOC games" and having an NCAA D1-A 4 time SBC conference champion of which (lets say even just one) of those could have been ranked in the Top 25 Coach Dickey just does not seem to be able to fathom? Didn't some of us see some of these personality traits of DD that have really begun to rear its ugly head big time quite a while back? Hellsbells! Some of our UNT elect who kept telling me all this of which I was relunctant to accept at the time; anyway, many of them saw all this from DD a few years before my own light bulb finally turned on after I finally stepped back away from all this and could really see the trees for the forest. To Rick Villarreal and Dr. "B": Please just hire a new coach and sign him to a 6 year contract that if he succeeds with Top 25 Mean Green football teams much sooner than later that it will cost some Big Time U type of school a small fortune to hire said coach away from us. Now that is what most of us at most non-BCS schools would call a pretty good deal for both parties concerned, eh?:rolleyes: And to re-iterate an email just sent to me by one of our fellow alums: WHY IS THIS CHARACTER BEING ALLOWED TO COACH ANY GAME FOR UNT THIS SATURDAY? ANY ANSWERS OUT THERE? OF MORE CONCERN FOR MANY IS: WILL OUR SCHOOL CONTINUE TO OPERATE IN THIS KIND OF MODE?

ANOTHER BIG BLUNDER FROM UNT'S ATHLETIC HUMAN RESOURCES DEPT? Wouldn't that have been another "passed over" applicant by the name of Dennis Francione (with Dennis Parker chosen over him)? And thus the reason many of us on this board start getting very nervous when UNT officials start their quest in hiring varsity head coaches, specifically head coaches for our football program. Just check the records, folks, its not a good record at all and all that going on now for about a quarter of a century (which is a long time for any school to just keep on consistently screwing up football coaching hires). If more of us on this board had (collectively) demanded excellence the last few years, we would have never, ever accepted just SBC wins to get to bowl games as our stop-gap measure of success . Did those 4 bowl games (no matter who we had to beat to get to New Orleans) serve a purpose (or two) for UNT? Sure they did, but we didn't need to dwell and just stop with SBC success as an end-all panacea for MG football but rather we should have set as our next goal in order to help us climb the NCAA D1-A ladder which would have been to win some OOC games over some Top 50 schools (of which Baylor and Cincinnati were not part of that group when we beat them as I recall). AND...................if Todd Dodge were to take the UNT job (if offerred), he would by now know that just merely beating SBC schools would not take either UNT or his own career to the next level of NCAA D1-A; and if we were to hire Todd Dodge, we surely need a very nicely worded contract that says whichever school who might hire him away from UNT after (lets just say for example) 3 years of success in Denton will have to pay a very nice figure to hire him away from Mean Green Land. This is probably the only down part of hiring a very young success Texas HS football coach as our coach is that we might get another Jerry Moore scenario (2 years as the UNT coach) on our hands. Of course, that one eventually came back to bite Texas Tech in the butt. Yes, I know, I am projecting success for someone (Dodge) who has not even been hired at UNT, but a young coach such as Todd Dodge will not want to stay at any non-BCS locale for too many years. Ask DD about that as he never had a choice to leave UNT for a higher profile job even after 4 years of success, but all that only at an SBC level. Ironically for DD, it was the formation of the SBC football portion of the league that probably gave him about 5 extra years at UNT as it was. That is why all parties reaching the next level is vital, because there is no future as far as growth of our football program (attendance & fundraising?) in just winning a Sun Belt Conference football championship and playing the 4'th place CUSA team in the Big EZ that will keep real bonafide NCAA D1-A college football fans interested for long. Isn't it normal for anyone to want to go to the next level once you've reached a certain plateau for a few years running? Probably a reason some of us still sorta' like that short era when we actually beat a few schools people had really heard of and many of our (very naively) thinking that NT would make the next step up after even doing that. YET.................all that back in the day did make a very big impression on many of us when we were at that most impressionable age you might say?

Aren't many of us going to squirm a bit if both FAU and FIU beat us in all this new stadium business? It seems that Troy U already (somewhat) has. YET...................even DFW area mega-churches memberships know to build their new sanctuaries, worship centers, or whatever they now call them much larger than what their present memberships are. Hopefully, UNT will soon act like its actually a part of the "almost 6 million citizen populated" DFW Metroplex and look at all those others who expect to grow (even other than just those mega-churches) and learn by their example on how we should probably project to build the capacity of our new football stadium. Folks, we ain't always going to run certain aspects of our school as if it were a JUCO, but preferably we start acting like we (actually) are the 4'th largest university in the almighty sovereign state of Texas (projected to be 3'rd largest in the future) and only behind you all know which 2 other schools and then our starting to hire those who would really be a contributing part of a school our size. Still looking at our UNT System's very anemic $45 million endowment (for the size of our school and the number of years our school has been in existence), it seems our new upper echelon leaders need to first begin by hiring such talent who would be our school's general fundraisers.

The one thing that bothers me very much (and has for quite a while on this whole subject of a new stadium)..............which makes me question if our upper echelon leaders will really ever be serious about this as to allow NT Athletics to get any part of our school's "A" list of prime potential "would be" donors to UNT with an attempt to raise $60 million toward a new NCAA D1-A football stadium is this: The entire UNT System last I checked still only had anywhere between $40-45 million in its entire finanancial coffers or endowment. So with those totals will UNT leaders even allow a $60 million facility to be built at our main campus? $45 million total UNT System endowment versus a $60 million football stadium? If you were Lee Jackson (our SMU graduated chancellor) whose main charge by Bobby Ray and his BOR's is to build a free-standing university in south Dallas county, do you think NT Athletics mission to raise $60 million might just conflict with your own plans to (first) raise more monies to increase UNT's very anemic endowment total) and (secondly) build what should really be re-named "Royce West U" (that areas Texas state senator) over in south Dallas County? We all know the state of Texas (Coordinating Board) will allow that campus to do all the necessary things for that school to build all its needed academic facilities, but that school's leadership will also go after other Dallas-based monies to help subsidize other projects that will be unique to that south Dallas County campus as compared to our main campus in Denton, right? Hence, another reason UNT needs (and has needed) for this stadium project one helluva' Big Donor who earmarks his or her or their total donation for a new stadium at UNT's main campus. We can hope for the best with that venture. Another concern is that in our own haste to get something done in the area of building a new football stadium is that we will downsize our seating plans and build what may turn out to be one helluva' 1-AA football stadium. Also (and sorry) but in Denton I don't buy into this "build it small--create a hot ticket" talk I've heard in the last year, either, because..................the caliber of school that we would only be able to get into Denton if we build a small football stadium would never be a hot ticket no matter how hot a ticket our marketing people would try to make it. Now if UNT build a 35-40,000 seat stadium, gets the Oklahoma State Cowboy type teams into Denton for a game, then you have a hotter ticket and a turnstile crowd at a new football stadium at Eagle Point Campus whose revenues will help UNT Athletics pay a heckuva lot of bills (and help us increase the athletic budget). In closing, our school is and will forever be located in a major league sports market that has citizens who expect major league sports competition and anything that appears "minor league'ish" to those masses will never sell in large numbers. So Yes.......We Do Need A Very Big Donor (and I know we all hope that can really happen sooner than later)

To quote retired ABC TV's Keith Jackson: WHOA NELLIE! ............................................................. Even worse is how DD thinks we were also all naive' enough to really believe all the reasons he gave in the paper as to why he allowed it. As some have said: I was born at night, but it for damn sure wasn't last night! If our new Prez' and BOR's allow that practice field to be named after DD, it will be yet another set back for a program that has been in "set back" mode for way too long. We need nothing that will remind us of this man's final days on the UNT payroll or even worse......42 W's...........62 L's. Will Future UNT FB Recruits Laugh When They See That Practice Field And That UNT Seems To Reward Mediocrity? Better Yet..........Will They Want To Be Part of Such A Program? Can't you just hear one of the brigher and more topical potential new UNT Mean Green football recruit in the future who has been told (as recruiting fodder) about "UNT's quest for excellence" and then on his tour of the MG Village he sees the practice fields with Dickey's name on it and then said potential recruit asks his UNT recruiting coach this question: "Oh, I guess he was one of the all time greats at UNT with his name on this practice field, right?" And then said potential UNT recruit continues: "Coach____?____, just curious about this since this practice field was named after Coach Dickey, but just what was his all time W/L record here at UNT that cause this school (who you've been telling me all the time had a quest of excellence) did he have up here what appears to be almost an entire decade of coaching up here ?"

Fact is, ipEAGLE, it shouldn't and that is why it will not be allowed to continue. Many are hoping that DD will not be allowed to go to ULM to further make an ass of himself and our alma mater. Also, many are hoping the UNT BOR's (who have to approve everything done at our main campus) will tell Matrress Mac he should have made his request on the practice field aspects of all this last year when he gave the million dollar gift. The precedent of someone (a donor) wanting to change the rules in the middle of the game (with monies already spent) would not be a good precedent for the UNT BOR's to approve with MM's very belated request to name a practice field after a UNT coach with a 42 Wins.....63 Losses career record. It took last year's Tulsa loss (the worst MG loss in Fouts Field history) to be the light bulb that finally turned on for me on what the real direction of our football program really was. Quite frankly, there are just not many things that are making me proud to be an alum of UNT right now and I've heard others say or post the same thing. The jury is still out on Lee Jackson, the new UNT lady prez' seems to be making some good moves and some brownie points, but I still have to wonder how much our school's financial coffers, ie, our financial endowment has grown since Bobby Ray has been our UNT BOR's chairman the last few years?

Well..............you're right, Phil. I am wanting to think he (then) never fully got over his hamstring? I know we all hope he has an outstanding Senior year. He's a good kid whose phenomenal freshmen year none of us will soon forget. I think a new coaching regime will benefit Jamario Thomas as well.

I just now read it and sent you a PM back. These days and times, TTG, you never know what people will believe and if they've read it on the internet and don't know me, then some may think it must be true? Peace, The Tasty Greek................and do be careful with those Prevention of Cruelty to Animals folks, they can get pretty vicious, especially if they haven't had their own rabies shots)! (Just kiddin' fellow animal lovers, I am a pet rescuer just as many of you are, too, I'm sure--matter of fact, just had a border collie someone dropped off in the country adopt me and my 2 Great Pyranees).

TTG, gol darn it! FYI: Don't ever put a quote under someone elses name whereas that person never made such a quote. Thats just another level none of us (including yourself I'm sure) don't need to have on this or any other message board. I think we all want what's best for UNT, right?

Ok then, to quote the great Lesley Gore.............. sunshine, lolly pops and rainbows. Hellsbells! I could be a sports writer for the DRC now couldn't I?

Make that, uh, cherry pie, TTG.

For those schools who want to operate their football program at lower levels and who have alums who will accept such, DD might be the perfect hire (for whatever school that would possibly be). style_emoticons/ UNFORTUNATELY FOR DARRELL DICKEY.................even if he were on a "check him out" list of some school looking for a new HFC, word will eventually get out concenring DD's last 3 weeks on the UNT payroll and some of the shenanagannery (new word) that has (and still will) take place since DD has ONE MORE GAME TO COACH FOR UNT! style_emoticons/ And FWIW...........all that might prove to be more than any school's upper echelon may want to take a chance on. And also there is this statistic for those across the nation who don't seem to have the most recent copy of an NT MG Football Media Guide: 42 Wins.........63 Losses (in 9 years of DD Ball)

I think multi-year low expectation has even translated into our coach's search with too many of our best and most loyal, KingDL1; but what you have posted is the truth and nothing but the truth. UNT will be a better job than the TCU HFC seemed to suggest that we were (not) from comments he made couple weeks ago in the FWST (with a subtle back-handed comment as I recall). Of course, TCU would never want to see UNT ever realize its full potential, either, since they were a school who would never play a Hayden Fry-coached Mean Green team. Of course, there was realistic (and probably smart) thinking behind all that from TCU athletic officials of that era, too.

rudy, please tell me that event was not broadcasted over 100.7 KWRD, OK? Lie to me if you have to, but do tell me it was not a live broadcast on that station, OK? To quote one of you: "Only at North Texas..........."

Amen, sir, you are preaching to a much larger choir as of today. UNT has to raise the stakes with higher expectations for its athletics program so it gets much tougher to get nominated for future NT Athletic Hall of Fame inductions.

(Guess I'll miss yet another one for damn sure now, FFR)! And what did DD say at the last year's banquet about how he felt sorry for those who would have to play our "asses" this year? Another nice touch, coach, since I understand their were kids at that banquet of which that is usually not part of their vocabularies just yet. Man O man O man, there were just so many red flags with this coach and many of us still don't understand why that was never seen by near enough and soon enough.

Outside of about 2 or 3 names, the list of potentials this time around reminds me so much of what we've been having on our prospective HFC long (& short) lists of the last 2 or so decades unless it really is true that Barry Switzer actually did make a serious inquiry about the Mean Green job (after his years of boredom sitting on his Norman, OK, sofa) and all that after Dennis Parker was fired. Personally, hope of eternal hope is that our new lady prez' is made of the similar stuff that the UTEP and Idaho upper echelon types were (obviously) made of when they put their own "usual" list of prospectives inside the desk and did something different for each of their respective schools. Blueprints of a new D1-A football stadium at Eagle Point Campus tht we are getting closer to turning dirt on each succeeding year could help UNT raise the "higher profile" stakes with our search, too. After all, no matter what year we turn dirt we are getting closer to that date, right? And with DD Ball a thing of our past (as it should have been 2 weeks ago), don't' most of us think we are even now getting closer to some corporation (or person) who might want to invest into something that has a chance of succeeding at a higher profile? Some of us are holding out for what could turn out to be a couple (or more) surprise late entries in this Mean Green HFC's race once the season is over. With what we must have as DD's 2007 recruiting check list (of probably mostly SBC or 1-AA "only" level potential recruits) I don't think the wait is going to hurt a school like NORTH TEXAS in the long term. We need to get a Mean Green HFC who is going to be the right choice for all of the UNT community (you know, just sorta' fits in with an attitude that proves it?) years from now and not completely worry about this winter's recruiting class** (since we haven't been worrying about it the last few years outside a few really good sign-ups). DD has recruited some good players, but its always been a case (save one year) that we've never recruited near enough good players to complement the handful of good ones we did have on campus. NOTE: I'd love to watch Super Jamario run wild again with a complete offensive line (and maybe his even getting some good coaching which many of you have even told me you didn't think he really ever got during the DD era). ** Of course, the higher profile hire can catch your recruiting up very fast when he gets his "Texas oriented" staff of assistants together and Texas HS football prospects (and each of their dads who keep up with this kind of thing) know exactly who the UNT coach is without needing the next 4 or so years to get that message across if we were to hire a Lone Star State unknown commodity, that is.

And to you who still think all this deserves a practice field to be named after Darrell Dickey should consider joining the many of us who now (because of last nights actions by DD) have turned 180 degrees with this entire thing and only hope the new UNT president AND.............. ..............Bobby Ray (who hath wrought to us all the continuance of this DD business in the first place) along with his Board of Regents would make (even) this Monday AM a public statement or press release that would state because of the actions of our HFC on Saturday night in front of the students and home crowd and upon further review of the entire situation, the practice field will have no name attached to it at this time. And maybe a note to Mattress Mac similar to this: Sir, a most heartfelt thanks for the gift but that million dollars has long been spent and you really needed to have made such a request to name a "practice field" after your buddy right after you initially made that donation. AND..............If we set another precedent like that up here, MM, then we may have others who gave long ago wanting to switch names on other venues or areas of our campus. Uh...........................Duh? And yes, to some of you who would have the 'nads: Many, many, many of us will accept many of your heartfelt apologies and admissions from you who long ago said we were ALL WRONG ABOUT DARRELL DICKEY...........but now the few, the brave and the bold of you who would possibly 'fess up to it today that we were pretty damn close to being right-on target concerning even further bush league tactics or low class stunts from the man and the coach who would be named Darrell Dickey. There are just so many trends at UNT of the variety that few universities would want to keep perservering that our people just cannot seem to ever detect (or admit that they are happening); who knows, maybe its just one of those "they can't see the trees for the forest" type of deals, but it is making a school that already suffers from a tremendous Lone Star State inferiority complex (from some---not all) look even more riduculous. BTW, speaking of, uh, production? Another thing DD has yet to produce is a win over a (yes Silver Eagle, you, too, were also right) a better coached (by Schnellenberger) football team with the FAU HFC who could out-coach DD Ball even if he had a bunch of North Koreans playing football for their first time (after a week of practice). But as has been said before the last 2 or so years, Coach DD Ball has yet to beat a school (FAU) who hasn't even been in the football business all that long. So what would be a handul of your spins for that, eh? NOTE: Some should be reminded that 2 future SBC schools beat DD Ball during 2 of those 4 bowl years, too. ←

A much shorter & revised version below AND.......This shorter/revised post (mostly) for main campus lurkers to ponder upon and smoke on for awhile. For the rest, enjoy another cup of Sunday AM coffee and (like me) try to understand what the hell is really going on at our alma mater; you know, the one we used to have a slogan concerning athletics that said: Mean Green & Proud of It?