PlummMeanGreen

Stebo, thanks for this thread. It has stirred me so and is so refreshingly heart-warming for a change that it makes me want to sing Bobby Knight's all time favorite hymn "Shall We Gather At The River." Of course, The General (who turned 65 today) did change up the lyrics just a tad on that hymn when you hear him sing it on The Ticket on his radio show). Seriously, what Stebo has scribed is how I wish more of our concerned fans (which is just about every single one who posts on this forum, friend & foe alike) would consider adopting as each of our philosophies for at least a year. Do we trade 1 bad year for 4 good ones and start over with an unknown quantity or personality who may make Darrell Dickey seem like a Knute Rockne? I've seen it happen just that way before and so have some of you. As the say, be careful what you wish for? We all know there needs to be some attitude adjustment in some areas of our campus and some careful tweaking of our football program in general, but lets just all pull for the good stuff to start happening at NT for a change. We sure as hell all deserve it no matter what era we attended NT, no matter how much we give or don't give to NT, no matter how many frequent flyer miles you have or don't have for this program and that's for damn sure. GMG!

Rick, whoever the hell you are hinting and talking about here, just give me his name and address and I'll have my cousin Guido come over from Sicily and take care of the sumbich'! BTW, good to know how steadfast and consistent you are when it comes to most anything relating to NORTH TEXAS. Keep up the good work.

Well, Bill, in that case, why not just leave out the lemonade?!?!? GMG!

The 2'nd half of the La Tech game showed some promise to those who see promise or something that this team can build on for the balance of this season going into next Fall. Sure we got slobber-knocked last Saturday, may even do so this Saturday but so what, the underclassmen of this Mean Green football team will do some slobber-knockin' of their own in due time and we all know that. Isn't it the valleys in all our lives that make those mountain top experiences extra special? We have many positives going for us at NORTH TEXAS and some of you who are way down on all this right now know that in your heart of hearts. All in the NT constituency have to take these lemons and truly turn them into lemonaide and I think we will at the University of North Texas. OK, enough of the Zig Ziglar stuff! Look for future announcements on more exciting things to come in Mean Green Country that will take all the present "stinkin' thinkin' " out of all of our well meaning fans and alums. It is encouraging that we have so many who care about all this whether their posts are positive or not so positive. We need to all be concerned when the not-so-positive posts cease to exists. On the other side of that coin, we also need to al be ever concerned about saying things that are totally uncalled for, of a destructive nature and counter-productive for the cause--our coach's cause--our team's cause, hellsbells, FOR ALL OF OUR CAUSES as bonafide enthusiast for the University of North Texas and its football program. This too will pass? Hmmm? PASS? GMG!

Amen and Amen and Amen! GMG!

Actually, it has been my understanding that Flanagan really does call all the plays, but that DD has power of veto on any of them and can change a play anytime. We need personel who can run the old Big 8 style "3 yards and a cloud of dust" type offense that DD has at NT. Our OL this year I feel for some reason are keeping that from happening. Hope there are 2 or 3 JUCO OL out there who will sign with NT who can help us out very quickly next Fall. We need such JUCO offensive linemen who will be enrolled at NT this January as to play Spring football next semester So proper offensive adjustment to the personel you now have would be a good thing right now at NT. Saw in a sports publication last week that 95% of NCAA D1-A offenses have the forward pass as an integral part of all their offense. If anyone noticed, it was passing that kept us from getting shut out the other day in Ruston, so there really must be something positive about such trick plays, eh? GMG!

Mr. Tom Benson c/o the New Orleans Saints New Orleans, Lousiana Dear Mr. Benson: I know way too much about America revolves around money--who has it/who don't/who might get it/who won't BUT.............if it is true, Mr. Benson, that you are a Texan by birth, then you should lose your Texas birth-rites over this possible idea of yours of jumping off the ship when it appears to be in sinking mode if you (in deed) move your team out of New Orleans, sir, especially now. The timing of this could not be any worse. I'm sure Mr. Art Modell would welcome this move on your part, Mr. Benson, because you can then take his place and take the award of "NFL Chump Owner of the Decade Award" away from him, of which I'm sure you would be its recipient hands-down. So please, Mr. Benson, don't kick the Big Easy when things have been Big (time) Difficult these days on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and for its people of which your birth state has tried to play a small part in helping many, many of them get back on their feet in this the toughest time of their lives; by the way, many of these displaced Americans here in Texas are the very ones who used to fill the Super Dome to watch your team (and add to your coffers). Your franchise's situation, sir, now kinda' reminds me of a college coach I know of who gets kicked around when his team is having tough times. Not always sure what kind of friend one would make when times get tough for the other friend who is down-trodden and in despair, Mr. Benson. So, sir, if its true that you began your life as a Texan, please don't tell anyone and thanks in advance for that. Sincerely...... PS And its like that old saying goes that I used to hear from my own Texas HS football coach, Mr. Benson: Tough times don't last---but tough people do. Do the right thing, sir. GMG!

President George W. Bush calls it building up personal capital to be able to draw from in tough times. 4 bowl games in a row is some pretty nice capital for DD. I am a novice college football fan as I'm sure many of you might even admit, but at NORTH TEXAS with our shaky fan base that can exceed well over 20,000 a game when times are going great guns and much less in bad times, we do need to consider the philosophy that we are (in deed) in the entertainment business here in the DFW Metroplex and treat it as such. Of course, I've been saying that for about 2 1/2 decades or since Hayden Fry left us for Iowa. GMG!

IMO, we don't need to get rid of a coach who just took our school to 4 bowl games in a row (never-minding it wasn't the Rose Bowl); but I feel DD needs to replace his Offensive Coordinator and then...............Coach Dickey needs to go out and get his dad's old Kansas State U playbook that featured much more passing (which is what 95% of today's NCAA D1-A teams are all doing if that statistic has slipped by a few of you). We just need have the kind of offense that allows our team to have a chance to catch up when we get 2 or 3 touchdowns behind and we don't have that kind of offensive playbook right now. Just my .02 on the subject.

O Ye of this Village Who Have Just In Recent Years Arrived On The Mean Green Scene Please Lend Your Ears Here: As long as SMU stands for Southern Methodist University and not S & M U & as long as they are located in Dallas, Texas, America.......please do read the rest. NORTH TEXAS COULD: ** HAVE A NEW FOOTBALL STADIUM WITH A RETRACTABLE DOME (like I wish the Chicago White Sox had tonight). ** MAKE THE PRINCETON REVIEW AS ONE OF THE TOP 5 ACADEMIC SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTHWEST ** GET A $ BILLION GIFT FROM MRS. LAMAR HUNT (an NT grad) ** COULD TELL SMU'ER's THAT ALL NORTH TEXAS EXES ARE GOING TO JOIN THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH BUT...... .............In my life time and most likely most of you young gun alum's lifetimes, NORTH TEXAS will never get the SMU vote or lobbying effort because their Old Timers still haven't made that slow ride out to Laurel Land, are still kickin' (and are still pissed over the demise of the SWC and the associations they wish they stilll had today) AND..........SMU Old Timers are still mostly full of the perceptions of yester-year than than realities of today and the future (BTW, that one of the reasons they weren't considered for Big 12 membership or CUSA membership on their first shot at its membership when TCU went into that league alone). IMHO, NT still proceeds with what we need to do with the Mean Green Athletic Village (and FIWIW, what other bright spots do we have going at the moment?), our Mean Green football team develops and starts another string of winning seasons, we start beating the "beat-able" OOC schools on our future schedules AND just (in general) take care of the business we do have control. If you don't do this or somthing very similiar to this, many of our elect are setting themselves up for another major disappointment on all this conference re-alignment business again. Those of our fans/alums who boycott the balance of the season by not attending the last 3 games at Fouts will be the ones who hurt our chances more than any one thing becaue attendance will still be the major barometer whether its CUSA or another possible league. NORTH TEXAS doesn't have the luxury of coming into any league as part of a consortium like SMU did along with Rice, UTEP and Tulsa. We have to be the Lone Ranger on all this again as always. Although, I willl say I do agree with NT80 inasmuch as this is a refreshing change of pace from those on GMG.com trying to fill a head coach's position that is not vacant. GMG!

Our offense did not rely on a QB last year. We didn't have to, so somebody tell me how we can take the running game we used to have out of our game plan and still expect to win with a passing game when we apparenlty only have 3 passes in the playbook and Flanagan is scared to use those at the right times? No knee jerkin' here but here's another alum who thinks our OC needs to find himself a head football coaching job like he spent most of last recruiting season trying to do. Even with a RS frosh QB, the selection of play calling is questionable. 3 and out, Ramon. How many more of those today? This year? ????? PS: I still can't believe in the first series of this game with 3'rd and 2 he calls time out so he can put in a freakin' dive play.

I really feel Meager is the best QB we have at the moment AND...........Whow knows, the QB of NT's future may be in JUCO now or a senior at a Texas HS. I know we all would still like Meager to catch lightning' in that bottle. Not sure with the wind behind us why Ramon Flanagan calls a run on 3'rd down when you might throw the ball downtown and hope for a defensive penalty; that is, if La Tech gets a penalty today. No defensive line push all freakin' year. I forgot how frustrating rebuilding years can be and I still believe 8 out of 11 on defense constitutes a rebuilding year no matter whats happening on our offense right now. GMG!

I'm sorry, but I don't think we should have called a time out to put in a run up the middle play. Will La Tech get a penalty today? Can we expect to win if we can't get the running game of 2002 and 2003 back into our offense? GMG!

Let's go guys! 31 in a row for Quinn! GMG!

Actually, hasn't DD gotten an extension after each of our last 4 bowl appearances? If that is the case, I think those contracts extend out to, uh, 2025! OK, I know some of you are not laughing about that, but I sure do like where we are now better than any of the 12 years we were in NCAA 1"AA" or our ol' Big West aka WAC days. I know we need to really start winning OOC games, but we as alums need to provide funding annually so when we have a good 4 year run, that our funding makes it possible to have another 4 year run and I don't think we as alums/fans have created that scenario just yet. FWIW, a successful NCAA D1-A football program requires funding. Unfortunately, I think we are funded at the level of the conference we're in. I don't think we come close to most CUSA schools and would be highly interested to see all the CUSA member's football budgets. I don't think DD has as good a team of recruiters as he had during the first part of our most recent 4 year run of bowl appearances, either, and I hope he addrresses that very soon. On the other side of the coin, NT needs to raise the salaries of all our assistant football coaches. IMHO, I do feel we need a new offensive coordinator who will spend more time recruiting DFW rather than spending much of the recruiting season (apparently) looking for a head coach's job. Just my .02. GMG!

Nebraska vs North Texas? That's a toughie on that JUCO QB. It would have helped our case had we had a more wide open offense, though.

LETS CALL AN ACE AN ACE & A SPADE A SPADE: Win or lose today, this game will not change my mind concerning the La Tech football program and their WAC athletic program in general. "IF" they win today, they will merely tie our all time football series at 5 wins each. "IF" they lose, we go up to 6 "W's" while they stay at 4. Next year, La Tech comes to our house and lets see how graduation will have hit their program and how far along all our 1'st year players have come along this Fall leading into next Fall. In other words, the shoe will be on the other foot in many ways next year BUT..........I still think this 2005 NT football team will have a coming out game when most of our players put their best game together in one particular game. I may be wrong (and have been many times before) but I think our team does this today at Ruston. Whatever the situation, our team "MUST" show improvement in this football game today. Meager really does need to take it up a knotch and I think he will, but he still needs to have time (and good blocking) to do what good QB's do in a football game and that is make plays that can make a difference. $$$$$$$$??????????............Still amazing to me that La Tech can afford to throw away money on throw-back jerseys, but from reading their message board in the past, they have "hand me down" or pre-owned (thats what we used to call, uh, "used") turf given to them (from the Saints, I believe) that they have in some Louisiana warehouse that they can't afford to move out of that warehouse as to finance its installation at their campus football stadium. (Maybe American Airlines taking the Dawgs on their Western Athletic Conference tour is getting all those funds that the cost of such an installation would be)? Who knows what the score is today, none of us are sooth-sayers, but my only regret is that the La Tech "Dawgs" (and the SMU types) who are suddenly showing up on our Mean Green football schedule were both strangely enough never on our football schedules when we had the Booger Kennedy group on our team. Of course, neither of those schools were ever on our football schedule in the early years of the so-called modern era of the NCAA when the Abner Hayne's gang (Sun Bowl bound) were at NORTH TEXAS and for certain neither were on our schedules during the Mean Joe Greene era, either; understandably so for SMU, but did La Tech even play D1 football in the 1960's? Its just always been so ironic how such schools never seem to grace the Mean Green football schedules when we have some of our better football teams in Mean Green Country. La Tech is the original "S M U".....Smoke & Mirrors U.....they are about smoke and mirrors most years and no matter the score today that will not change my mind about what I feel they are all about. I've read similar opinions from several other collegiate outposts about LTU so I am not alone with this one. Yet I am still trying to see how all those high profile victories of their's in recent years (in mostly under .500 seasons, too, BTW) have translated into improving their football facilities in Ruston and FWIW, I see no such proof that there are any or that there are any solid plans on the table for such. La Tech just reminds me of those poor unfortunates out there who are constantly trying to keep up with the Joneses, but really don't have the financial resources to do such. NORTH TEXAS will always have the upside when comparing these 2 programs in the future and even some in Louisiana I think are smart enough to understand that. "IF" they were to win today, they only tie our all time football series at 5 wins each. Yet for those who visit Ruston today, you will see facilities that will soon (if not already) be dwarfed by all of ours that have recently been finished at Eagle Point Campus, those now being built at the Mean Green Athletic Village and those future facilities that will soon enough have well publicized ground-breaking ceremonies. A little Texas braggin' goin' on here? Of course, as a 6'th generation Texan I have some practice but what this mostly means is that NORTH TEXAS will for the first time in my life as an NT alum (30+ years) have football related facilities that will give Darrell Dickey, his assistants or any future Mean Green football coaching staff an even playing field during recruiting season, facilities that will help us recruit against some of the higher profile schools we'd all like to beat in OOC and will for sure move us a light year or 2 ahead of other non BCS schools who are going nowhere fast and have no plans on the table for facilities improvement and expansion. I'll take the Mean Green today on the basis that I feel this is the day they collectively have their "coming out" game, but I am more concerned that this young team shows marked improvement to make a strong November run in the Sun Belt and then lets see how all this plays out then. GMG!

I made the short tour, answered the question and finally got to the vote-stage. Do if for NT--do it for yourselves.

I can think back to a situation that if 1 or 2 of Meager's passes are caught as ESPN2 play by play guy/NT alum Dave Barnett (and as I recall) Hayden Fry thought should have been for a TD) that a young NORTH TEXAS football team would be in the lead today for the SBC football championship and all the criticism concerning our RS freshmen QB at NT would probably not be near as harsh and probably non-existent if we were in the lead in the SBC. Lets still give Meager more time to grow up around a team that's not as experienced across the line as the last 4 Mean Green football teams have been. GMG!

You are proud of your city, El Paso Eagle, and that is good, but I believe Los Angeles is as close to El Paso as Houston and DFW are and I don't think most parents of Texas HS heros in our 2 largest Texas cities have traveling that far in mind to watch their sons play at UTEP. Now if USC or UCLA were to recruit their sons, I am sure they would find a way to fly out to Los Angeles 2 or 3 X's each Fall. Yet, there are a whole bunch of kids (approx. 160,000) who play Texas High School football and I don't worry about any schools outside of UT and TAMU hogging the best ones most recruiting years. Once NT adds a major college football stadium to its repertoire of athletic venues out at the Mean Green Athletic Village, there are going to be some Texas D1-A non-BCS schools that will have to hustle hard to out-recruit the Mean Green and I do try to say that w/o the wearing of those green-tinted glasses. In my opinion, NORTH TEXAS will even become more competitive than ever with Big 12 members Baylor and Texas Tech for recruits once we get our new stadium. TRIVIA QUESTION: Which D1-A school in the state of Texas has not won an outright conference football championship in over 50 years? (answer on the way). Anyway, UT and TAMU will always dominate recruiting in the Lone Star State as this state's 2 flagship schools should inasmuch as since the late 1870's these 2 schools have been given all the political pork or chicken salad (so to speak) by the Texas legislature. It helps if your school has a 28 to 0 lead even before the kick-off and that (basically) is how it is when comparing Texas 2 flagship schools to the rest of its public universities. So all you band-wagon jumper-on'ers and off'er fans out there who buy those Longhorn and Aggies T-shirts non-stop at Wal Mart (and elsewhere) and you've never even been in the cities of Austin or College Station; anyway, every once in a while do our other Texas public universities (subliminal NT) a favor and buy one of theirs (that is, if you can find them at Wal Mart). The part that has amazed me with all this new stadium talk at NORTH TEXAS is how it seems so many of our own cannot dream or project forward enough as to how that facility will mean 10 X's more to the entire UNT and Denton community than the Super Pit ever has. First thing it will do is get Fouts Field off Interstate I35-E and THAT IS A BIGGIE for our perception from those 60,000 who drive by it every day! The History Department of UNT will benefit from a 40,000 seat football stadium at NT because they will get to see more of its alums gathered at one time in a "first class" facility as to tap those History Department alums for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION: In my life time (I'll be 55 next month) Texas Tech has never won (outright) a conference football championship in either the SWC or the Big 12. I have no idea how they did before they entered the SWC in 1956). If the Red Raiders don't win the Big 12 this Fall, will they ever do it in some of you NT young gun alum's lifetimes might be a good question? ...............................................................................

In 30 plus years as a Mean Green fan, I've never seen UNT recruit a kid from Denton who brought thousands more of fan support to Fouts Field. Wish it really would work that way, but I don't think it really does from local recruits at any college town who would recruit from their local high schools. We just need the Denton casual fans to come out even if half our team is recruited from Muleshoe, Texas, or wherever. FWIW, I've been impressed with what I've seen on the press box side of Fouts in our first 2 games and I think Dentonites had much to do with that success. I hope they will continue to support our young football team because a young football team needs all the encouragement it can get and 20K plus fans at Fouts Field is a major way of showing that sincere support. We have some very bright days ahead for those who have forgotten that we've been down before and have risen from the desert sands just like the Phoenix. There can be a certain amount of fun in watching a team develop. After reading the Dallas and Fort Worth papers even today, it seems OU and TAMU are having to do the same thing albeit on a different level, but that just proves that times of rebuilding happens with some of the best programs in NCAA D1-A. GMG! ...............................................................

shaneb, to quote Charleston Heston with his rifle raised to the skies: OVER OUR DEAD BODIES!

Voted for Holman because his long run for a TD from an interception helped us seal the deal with the MUTS. We have to have more play-makers with this team to win some games the rest of this season. Wonder who will step up this Saturday? Hopefully, that will be our QB Dan Meager because we need our MG offensive line to give him ample time as to allow him to take it to the next level and make some strategic plays that will light the fuse of our alma mater's football team this Saturday. GMG!

Quoting shaft: Have we been able to make up for assistant coach turn over? No. I agree. GMG!

MeanGreenPop, it was a great post that I bet most who really needed to read that post probably (in deed) read it. Heck! I lost one of my longer manifestos with that thread! GMG!