BillySee58

Oh man, you’re right. Misread that as a total over the 5 years.

I know Adam at MeanGreenNation has pointed this out before, but our fanbase seems to be very conditional with how much support we are willing to give. Not being judgmental, but it’s just the truth. Every fanbase is like that to a degree but it feels more true with us than others. Everyone is entitled to their own qualifiers and financial decisions, I just think we need to be honest with what our realistic expectations are going to be for our program as things currently are. I feel like there’s an opportunity being missed here at a crucial juncture in the college football landscape. For context, that UTSA roster was put together pre NIL. If we are going to get ranked, it’s going to happen in a post NIL world.

Definitely

Going off of what JayD said as he has proven to have very reliable sourced info in the past. Plus they are the only school in the country with a 4-year starting QB who has spent their entire career with that school. That doesn’t happen without substantial NIL based on what we hear for the QB transfer portal market. And we know FedEx is funding their NIL for all sports at $1 million annually. https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/united-states/fedex-announces-nil-program-for-university-of-memphis-student-athletes

We both know the analogy here is lacking until college athletes are paid by the University directly. Again, you can look at this as I “why should I have to give to the players directly when I already give to the school” situation if you want. It just seems like a prevalent mindset that objectively is resulting in a missed opportunity for our programs. Even if the logic is fine. I agree.

I’m not trying to be the arbiter here of who can or can’t complain. Again, it’s a nuanced topic and I think there are a lot of angles of discussion here. If you want to make it a black and white issue then it’s not going to be a very productive conversation. My personal stances are: 1. Why are we acting surprised when we fail to surpass teams whose fans have done more to give them a competitive advantage than we have? 2. Why are we getting so wrapped up in why NIL is bad instead of recognizing it as an opportunity to help us get where we very clearly want to be? 3. Why do so many on here spend so much time bitching about our program(s) while knowing about 1 and 2 above and choosing not to help that matter? Again, these aren’t meant to be rhetorical. There are good arguments on both sides.

For sure. I prefer NIL in those avenues as well. Wish the official NIL jerseys looked better. Would be cool to see a bunch of Morris jerseys around DATCU but the current available version looks atrocious. Also, I think at our level the NIL it takes to be competitive isn’t all that much. You could probably pull a solid FCS defensive lineman away from those schools for like $15k. Not chump change but also not a hard number to reach through a collective either. A good, legal advantage that I feel like we are missing out on currently.

Not trying to minimize these things. More trying to point out that we know our NIL isn’t up to some of these top teams in our conference yet it feels like there’s an expectation we are going to compete with them while burying our head in the sand with our NIL situation. Feels like there’s a bit of a disconnect there.

Wow! That’s awesome! Way to go!

All very good points. I think that highlights a huge issue with the crowd funding efforts historically. Much easier to get that measly $10 per month if there’s proof that everyone else is doing so and there’s a material total number behind it.

These are valid qualms with NIL.

For sure

Nope. I’m of the opinion Caponi should be fired. Wondering why we aren’t directing more of our fan passion and energy towards NIL and holding paid AD staff accountable for their body of work are not mutually exclusive stances.

The cost of season tickets equates to more than what I considered as having skin in the game. Especially considering how many years you stated. Look, people who don’t contribute to NIL took this as a personal attack. That’s not the intention. It’s more of a “what do you expect?” conversation. Not contributing to NIL, watching us fall behind (in NIL) the teams we want to beat on the field, then spending our weekends angry that we didn’t beat them just feels like a very predictable cycle. But again, it’s supposed to be a conversation because it’s a nuanced topic with multiple stances that can be taken.

They have so far though, right? The school we just lost to has guys making more in those positions. Yes I would say they do, based on the Frank Harris situation. Not to mention all the other guys the retained over the years.

This is the approach I don’t understand why it’s not more widely adopted. Feels easier than hand wringing over the system and how screwed college football is and how broken system etc etc etc

I agree. It’s why I also find it weird how much whining I have seen during a 5-2 start. Again, my question is more why so many passionate fans are not jumping at the new opportunity to take us to heights we haven’t reached.

Yes. This is illegal currently. Not against the system you are proposing but that’s a different conversation. Not blaming fans. More wondering why so many of our die hards would rather be mad online than contribute to our collectives to put together a better roster.

It feels like we have a large contingency of die-hard fans who are both not on board with contributing to NIL, but also still feel entitled to demand an AAC championship level team here. JayD pointed out that Memphis team had about $1M more in NIL “salary cap” on that roster than we did. Like it or not, we as fans now have a very direct and tangible impact on the talent level of our roster. I get not everyone is in a place of tremendous financial stability, but we can’t do $100 or so here and there? 2,000 people doing $100 one-time gets us more than we currently have going to our roster, from what JayD said. We have over 400 comments in our game day thread and over 20K people going to games. The numbers people wise seems to be there. I’m not gonna fully say you can’t complain if you don’t contribute, but why wouldn’t you want to help be part of fixing these issues and shortcomings with our program? You think we should fire Caponi, that seems like an argument you could make with substance behind it. By all means, criticize bad decisions by the Athletic Department or coaching staff. They get paid to represent our University and put a good product together to raise its reputation. That being said, don’t you feel like if you’re upset with performance you have much more right to be upset when you actually have some skin in the game with the roster versus just watching on TV? Not coming from a place of hostility here.

On an individual game basis, sure. But it is helpful information that can be part of the basis that predicts future performance.

I just love countering the idea that the real ideal North Texas fan is a grown man who spends his Saturday night mad online bitching when we lose. If I don’t fall in line with that archetype then I’m enabling the mediocrity, something or another. I want Caponi gone too. Just pointing out some information that I think most fans are unaware of.

Where did I say “but we’re 5-2, anyone would’ve taken that at the beginning of the season” in my post?

The record for most CAREER 400-yard passing games here at North Texas is 3. Tied between Chandler Morris and Mason Fine. I know we’re all mad at the defense right now, but Chandler and DT are both on insane runs right now. 3 guaranteed chances left to see them play at home.

Disagree. Old Denton DIDN’T recognize moral victories. That’s why those teams were losing double digit games. We have to understand the almost-winners mentality to take the next step and it looks like we are.

Yes