Mike Jackson

They got rid of that atrocious "carpet turf" that didn't even vaguely resemble natural grass over 20 years ago. I think they switch to natural grass for a while then switch to FieldTurf which from a distance looks like real grass is light years better than "carpet turf"

Where are you getting this information? I think almost 1/3 of FBS stadiums use some kind of surface that is Artificial. I just picked a few big brand PAC 12 school minus USC & UCLA and all them listed on Wikipedia except Arizona State played on some kind of artificial turf. Historical Washington and Oregon don't have a shortage of rain fall and they use articial surfaces at their stadiums. The Longhorns play on an articial surface and so does Baylor. The only two conferences (I think) have 80% or more natural grass stadiums are the Big 10 and SEC. Most of the others have 1/3 to more than 50% on some kind of artificial surface.

I think you are over estimating the impact of a loss. If UTEP blows them out then yes there will be very significant drop in the gate. But SMU vs UNT in Denton only happens once every 2 years. And while SMU prospects of getting a conference upgrade to a “P5 ish” conference from the AAC are slim, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a move to the Mountain West or a conference full of PAC 12/Big 12 superconference rejects down the road. This series could be suspended at anytime. So if they look decent in a loss expect between 21k to 26k. Now if it a miserable 101+ Temperature day with high humidity and we don't look all that impressive in a win or loss we looking at under 20k. Students aren't showing up with that killer sun on them in those conditions unless they excited by the team's play. They will tailgate (preferably in some kind of AC or Tent with fans) and not come into the stadium. And I can't blame them for that. Love my school but I am not having a heat stroke over it. Without the shade on the alumni side on 100 degree days I wouldn't be showing up either.

And even beyond that the extreme heat would still make having the field in first class playing condition for early season games very difficult. (Could they even have a scrimmage event in the stadium in August?) If we are holding on to Seth because of the budget I definitely don’t want them investing in a field change until our second year in AAC. I also think is sacrilegious to have artificial turf in the Big House.

It is really that simple. It is how much money TV executives believe SMU games on TV can generate. They will have to buy their way into 3-4 consecutive 10 win seasons, and cap those seasons off beating a big brand name schools to change their game broadcast revenue projections. They have to have a Boise State like run to even start speculating.

Yep a throw away year. It isn't like he had a great recruiting class with even verbal commits at that point nor did have loaded roster coming back. Offense has decent talent but not a QB or OC to get the best out of them. Phil Bennett will have to make lemonade out of lemons on defense. Even if Aune is somewhat better he is gone when we enter the AAC. So we enter AAC running a completely new scheme with a QB with little live game experience and no experience running the new coaches version of the Air Raid IF the new coach run an Air Raid variant.

That is only a slight exaggeration. As I stated many times before I grew up in Denton. And from "football aware" ages 6-16 I didn't know North Texas played FCS football or that in the past they played FBS Football. Worse yet I Mean Joe's success in the NFL seemed to me all the more impressive because in my impression of UNT Football at that time Joe & company played against local community colleges. But you know what started the change in my perception of Mean Green Football; free ticket I received as a promotion as a student in DISD. Before that I had only been to Fouts Field as home games for Denton High. We definitely need more buy in from Denton residents as only sport team that collectively represents Denton that Dallas doesn't exercise equal claim over. More broadly we might represent DFW+ but Dallas & Fort Worth have their own FBS programs. We should own Collin, Denton, Wise, Cooke, and Grayson counties. That is to say that any FBS fans in those areas not already fans of P5 programs or a family connection to TCU or SMU should be a Mean Green Fan. If we can get to that level bandwagon fans in Tarrant/Dallas county are sure to follow if we start winning consistently. Having a 40k or more stadium that is 95% full most Saturdays would easy at that point.

Really good for them but I would not say “closing in” until they get to 5,000 seats left. Hoping for more than 3,000 walk up crowd on a hot August day in El Paso is foolish. I wonder what they could do with a retractable roof Stadium there? I think big UT would stop any plans for that happening before they started good. But it is an interesting hypothetical.

Man this was a great post. Escapulates the underlying truth that flavors every comment I make on GMG. Older folks in this space are understandably appreciative of just having Mean Green Sports on the extreme edge of the local sports media radar. But that bare minimum comes from actually putting in effort and investing resources. I WANTED Seth to get hired away. Not because I thought he was a bad coach, or just a little better than mediocre. I knew if he were going to be a truly Great coach Here it would have manifested itself in a Conference title and/or a Bowl Game win against a team with a brand that matters. But he got a raise and extension like he was going to be great. And I don’t closely follow the more prominent G5 programs but it seems to me they don’t hand out raises and extensions out pacing the rest of their conference for anything but the best seasons. Hell Seth with the benefit of a better brand name Football program behind him might have great results. But after the first 3 years with a generational G5 QB talent it was hard for me to understand why almost everyone understood that we only had a good coach here. Moreover if that good coach had a huge injury on his roster, transfer portal loss, or important coach defection that he would not be able triumph over those challenges. The fact that is got 2 raises and extensions without a single bowl win or conference championship is ridiculous. He has ended EVERY season ineligible for a bowl game or losing a bowl game that is uncompetitive for most of the second half or more of the entire game. We want AND need a program bigger than just one good coach. You hand out multiple extensions and raises to coaches that transform your program positively. Seth hasn’t done that so letting him go at the end of 2021 should have been relatively cheap. But we chose to over pay and over commit to someone who only demonstrated he could only get above mediocrity when everything was virtually perfect. And I hate that. Crunch the numbers and you will find that in no one complete season nor at any point in his career has Seth been at or above a 0.700 win rate. I just can not square that with the proportionally high salary he has with multiple raises. What the heck is the goal here?

As much as I have been critical of RV’s tenure as AD, this involvement is good news. He was always working harder behind the scenes than what the on field success showed. The culture he inherited was terrible. Growing up around Denton I never knew the Mean Green ever played the big boys, actually it would have be more believable to me that they played community colleges than they played Ole Miss, SMU, TCU, or Houston. He and a few key donors and UNT leadership changed that culture. At least people now know we play the big programs in the country albeit infrequently. I don’t like NIL but it isn’t rolling back until the salaries of everyone earning a living from college football has their salaries rolled back. NIL came too late for some of the best players post 2000 to have a real tangible impact on revenue at UNT. My hope is that maybe some of those guys get a little something from this collective also. Would this even be possible today without Mason Fine, Jalen Guyton, Jeff Wilson, Brandon Kennedy, Lance Dunbar, Cody Spencer, Patrick Cobbs, Scott Hall, Derick Thompson and a few others that were the leaders of a few our winning teams over the past 25 years? I am not sure it would. I think we need to do a better job collectively embracing those guys after they leave UNT (especially the graduates). I will be proud of whatever small way I can be apart of that effort. And I look forward to the opportunity to donate a some money to collective as meager as I can afford after my MGSF donations. Thank you RV & Company.

Yep this is what I have NEVER understood about their approach to Football Coach salaries. Only the very best proven head coaches should be paid above market for their first contract. Raises over 15% should require a conference championship or a bowl game win minimum. My approach when offering contracts to anyone but the best experienced is the median conference salary adding whatever percentage the cost of living of DFW is above cost of living at the cheapest conference rival’s city. They went super cheap for Dodge and understandably overpaid Coach Mac a proven head coach coming into fix the mess the penny pinching caused. Seth’s extension & raise made no sense. Give him 150k bump max and lower the buyout for another team to hire him away. Don’t like it walk, good luck because the program is bigger than you and you haven’t accomplished anything that the other coaches minus Dodge haven’t already here.

Spare me the pearls clutching of the wives of mafia bosses scoffing at the notion of bribing people. 🙄😂. If it is legal then it isn’t cheating. If anyone in college football is paid way beyond their financial impact it would be Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. College Football is a house of cards or better yet a sausage factory that is now having its manufacturing process brought out into the open. Hot Dogs tastes better when you don’t know what they put in them. Ole Miss, MSU, Vandy, Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky are just in the SEC to collect football media checks. They aren’t relevant 19 out 20 seasons for SEC division titles come the last game of October other than playing spoiler to the big dogs. With OU, Texas, and A&M out spending them for players it will just look worse and programs will start to question $7 million salary.

I don’t feel good about any of the projected wins against FBS Teams except Rice & La Tech. I don’t think we beat both FIU and FAU. I think we split the games against the Florida schools at best. UNLV will be still early season optimistic probably and play hard at home. Teams will also game plan to make sure the running game doesn’t kill them. They are going to try to force the Mean Green to prove they pass efficiently. If they are successful stopping the run and the QB play doesn’t progress we are looking at less than 6 wins.

But really that is a horrible answer that reeks of bad budgeting especially when it comes to Littrell. Leaders should be looking down the road and make cost analysis base on the team being around 0.500. If they see the possibility of a coach failing with multiple years remaining under contract they can’t get from under you let that coach walk. If they are going to be cheap all I want is for them is to pinch pennies smartly. They had the perfect opportunity to do that when Seth flirted with KSU. It isn’t like we haven’t seen coaches do more with less. Even in our own conference we have seen coaches at UAB, and UTSA do better with less. At the that time Seth looked like a good coach but not irreplaceable. I questioned the extension at the time and it just looks worse now because back then like a fool thought they budgeted for the possibility of letting him go at this point in the contract.

Exactly why you can’t hold on the longest tenured head coach is the state while not winning anything significant. That sends a “penny pinching we are not serious” message so why would local alumni take them serious?

I wouldn’t go that far here. I think you really have to be horrible to affect applications negatively. For the most part UNT isn’t competing for applicants for the schools nearest to us. TCU & SMU small private, limited degree offerings, and expensive. If game day experience is a factor we are don’t present the same spectacles that Baylor, and Tech do. What it absolutely does do is reinforce the reputation as a school not serious about athletics. That make jobs in the athletic department less attractive to the best talent. Makes you have to overpay for coaches. And makes it harder to recruit players 2-3 years from now. Maybe if the recruit loves the school more than the coach, that doesn’t make a difference. I do think it is embarrassing to talk football at the sports bar and try to defend the mediocrity with the loyalty to the coach. It makes it look like we aren’t serious about Football and it hard to argue otherwise with people who aren’t invested in the program already.

I have heard that before. And I have always that was BS. Alabama was a football power under other coaches. And most likely if you plug in a guy like Seth you aren't winning multiple conference titles or national titles but you are still winning a lot of games on TV in full stadiums. Also his success doesn't drive the value of the media rights contract of the conference. Also his value is chiefly from being able to bring the best talent to play for him. But that isn't the mission of University of Alabama. Whether Saban's coaching or not if a over 0.500 Crimson Tide team is on the field in Tuscaloosa the stadium will be sold out. And you could say the same for most big brand schools. And some the biggest and best academic schools in the nation don't play FBS football. These guys aren't bigger than the university and they shouldn't be paid like they are. The whole system reeks of massive hypocrisy because the players putting their bodies on the line are expected to play for "love of school/game" and remain loyal or be critized massively if they don't. And a the while these players are not getting paid and the best of them are critized in the media and forums like this. When they put a cap on coach pay (referencing university president & dean pay) that made sense then I might rail against NIL. Also the conference value doesn't make sense when there are a ton irrelevant FBS teams Big 10 and SEC. Those dead weight programs get equal share. We all know the hottest experienced head coaches in football aren't going to Purdue, Missouri, Kentucky, Miss State, Indiana, Kansas, Illinois, Vandy and etc. At best they get failed retreads or hot assistants.

That is an absolute inaccuracy. The system is trying to operate FOR PROFIT and pay everyone associated with the product as if it is a for profit business. Nobody pays to watch Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Seth Littrel or etc coach or these conference commissioners, bowl organizers & ADs do their jobs. Yet most of those people make high six figures or millions while the professors educating the players make 80k and way below. If these programs operated like true 501 community servicing charities no way they are getting high six figure salaries from public funds. Coaches & AD's should NEVER be the highest paid university staff. No coach in the country should draw a salary from the University higher than the school president & school deans. The excess money should always been put back into the school or athletic supporting resources like academic aid staff (tutors), medical care and/or facilities for student athletes. Saban and others near his level should probably be making around 500k max from university/athletic department funds. If the local business want to pay Saban NIL funds on top of that with contracts not dependent on them coaching a particular school fine. Otherwise these coaches are eating off the brand name of the school just like fans are taking issue with the players wanting a piece would be. If anyone here think that Seth or any other coach not getting a team to a New Year's 6 Bowl or Playoff brings over $1.8 million in value to UNT I would like to know how. Hell with right people vouching for me in recruiting I could guide Michigan to 0.500 record and a Potato Salad bowl. The truth is we watch these games for the brands/communities they represent and the performances of the student athletes. It has NEVER mattered who coached them, lead the atheltic departments, or conference adminstration only showing up and playing well game day. And have a compelling product. If Texas and OU could get all that SEC money by playing less than schools inside the borders of our state they would add deliver blowout unwatchable games 95% of the time. When you really understand that you understand why none of their decision have anything to do with what players can actually control. So I don't fault them at ALL. It's the greedy cut throat older adults that got us to the space. Players see the hypocrisy, lack of focus on education and cut throatness they have adjusted accordingly. The only thing to do now that wouldn't be totally hypocritical is the NFL paying a fee to schools for alumni drafted from their programs. And weight the fee by draft position, cost of their education, and athletic support. So a 7th round pick from Alabama has a fee higher than a 4th round pick from UTSA or UNT. Let's see how much in fee these teams are willing to pay for Saban's OJT. Because is high salary would be factored into that draft fee. These leaders inside FBS are taking more value out of them system than they are actually generating just like most CEOs.

I agree and they will lose a ton of fans not heavily invested in the blue blood programs. And it will be even worse if after the pair down P5 and they go to a 8 team or more playoff. If all the big brand schools are virtually guaranteed a playoff slot by a preseason ranking in the top ten, it diminishes the importance of the regular season. They are following the path of MLB baseball before their luxury tax/cap system. And MLB still hasn't recovered from that short sighted "you teams financial success comes at the expense of my team's financial success" mindset. This is also similar to the rise alternative world boxing sanactioning organizations watering down what it means to be champion and limiting matches between top fighters. In boxing it is understand because it is an individual sport with brands that are the fighters themselves. The greed is making them make horrible decisions for the long term appeal of CFB that is dependent on its diversity of schools competing. Except in the most rural states in the nation every citizen has a FBS level program to root for that is in reasonable one day event driving distance. I think very few people in major markets are watching mediocre blue blood teams religiously. Especially when they get to the point where a conference title or playoff birth are not attainable. That is when I hear Saban I want to vomit and curse the radio and TV. If all the blue bloods played one game a year in a G5's stadium the financials wouldn't be so dire for many G5 programs. All 130 FBS schools would make more money long term. And millions of alumni never exposed to college football today might have from a blue blood visiting their school while they were students.

No they are monopolizing revenue. This problem has been growing since the end of CFA. When league members aren’t sharing media money equally the product suffers. I think the biggest gripe is that in addition to not sharing revenue is that P5 generally don’t go to G5 yards to play. For instance let say the PAC 12 had required maintain 2 for 1 or home and home series with a G5 opponents in the CST or eastern time zones. A decade of games of PAC 12 teams playing in DFW, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Tulsa, and Miami would have grown the PAC 12 brand and grew programs like SMU, Houston, Rice, UTSA, Tulane, and ours. Then the blow of losing UCLA and USC could have been softened a little. Then maybe Houston tells the Big 12 no in favor of going to the PAC 12. If they wanted to improve Pac 12 network subscription numbers they need a reason for Major market fans in the CST time zone to watch, and you can’t schedule UT, Nebraska & OU every year.

[But it does make for interesting fodder. And consider this: UCLA must travel to Big Ten territory where California law has banned state money being spent for travel and lodging in 22 states, three of which are in the Big Ten — Ohio, Indiana and Iowa.] Very interesting indeed. This maybe be a disaster for UCLA athletics and really make both LA school’s addition to the Big 10 look more ridiculous than it already does.

I think we all need to pause and stop quoting lazy writers. These observations are not coming from the decision makers. Since the dissolution of the SWC, SMU Football/Basketball has remained in the same place as a media product. That is why from a brand recognition standpoint their conference foes are at the same level they were in 1995 CUSA. If market size and academics were so important there is absolutely no way Cincinnati, Louisville, and UCF all get upgraded and leave SMU behind. Those schools COMBINED represent about 3.2 million TV homes in their market and DFW has 2.7 million. These TV executives actually have the data from SMU games on TV so you can’t sell them "potential”.

I absolutely get it but this budget decision may short term purdent but a long term disaster. Now if he thinks that our program is safe from being completely left behind programs like UTSA and AAC level conference will be our highest level fine. But I would rather risk it all in this unstable version of FBS than play it safe. Because I think it is much more likely that any school that isn't a huge brand or not in a P5 conference after Big 10, Pac 12 and Big 12 finalize media deals going into the next decade, may find that FBS Football is financially unsupportable. I am happy that we kept the basketball coach. But unless the team has a few sweet 16 appearances in the next 7 years, I don't see their success pushing the bottom line for athletics forward much.

So this tweet has 60 likes? Sounds like the actual number of fan in seat for their games going into the 4th quarter. They have no leverage on the Big 12. And for the PAC 12 to consider them they would need a partner that bring more to the table than SMU in this region of the country. I really think the PAC ignoring Texas Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State, Kansas, and KSU to get into the central time zone dug their grave. Utah and Colorado didn’t bring much.

Absolutely great point and exactly why I didn’t think we could afford NOT to let him go after the season. That in combination with probably not having proven QB to start AAC play and head coach that has not proven in 4 years that can find a decent replacement for a proven starter.