Mike Jackson

I definitely don't mind P5 "Body Bag" games against Big 12 and SEC Schools that region basically covers our entire realistic recruiting region. Also those are team that most recruits in Texas are familiar with. We shouldn't ever have to play a body bag game without a return visit to Apogee against a Big 10 opponent other than Nebraska, Michigan, or Ohio State. And I only include Nebraska because of its Big 12 history when most recruits can't remember when Nebraska was in the Big 12 I would exclude them from the return to Apogee requirement (1 for 1 or 2 for 1). So I would estimate that 2020 recruits probably can't remember that therefore if Nebraska is on the schedule anytime after 2019 I would want a 2 for 1 or home & home. ^^ These are almost exactly my positions. I could see keeping FCS teams on the schedule if they meet certain criteria. 1. former UNT rivals when we were at the FCS level. 2. Recognizable name to most alumni over 30. 3. Within the state of Texas. [Meet 2 of those 3 criteria and I have no problems when scheduling one of them a year.] AT&T Cowboys Stadium: "Neutral" site game at Jerryworld is a fantasy. Baker could make it happen but it would be far from neutral. Any team P5 we brought in there would be from this region and bring way more fans to the game than us. But if we split the revenue 50/50 it would be better than a home game depending on what Jerry's fee is. Cotton Bowl: I think many of us have been stupid and pig headed dismiss the opportunity the State Fair of Texas provides. If New Mexico and Air Force believe it worth their wild to schedule a game at the Cotton Bowl during the Fair, why don't we? It is reasonable to believe there would be several regional G5 teams that would have considered signing a long term Cotton Bowl series with us. And it isn't out of the question less glamorous P5 teams like Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Kansa, or Oklahoma State would be interested depending on what the state of their program at the time they are approached with the opportunity. Baylor before their success under Briles would have jumped at it I bet. La Tech before we joined CUSA probably would have been interested also. Texas Tech might have been interested also in Mike Leach's early days there. Rival: I believe it is absolutely critical to develop another long term rivalry with a stable program that goes beyond conference affiliation like we are starting to develop with SMU. It needs to be a school we have a few things in common with to have sustainable long term interest. And I would prefer it not to be a totally new upstart program like UTSA. Ideally it would be regional P5 school like Texas Tech, Baylor or OSU. At G5 level I am interested in Tulsa and Houston. El Paso (UTEP) is just too far away with little historical success in their football history for most to be interested.

I think the better question and more impactful for the program is, when do we get a sellout at Apogee. That we be a much harder goal to achieve based on everything I have seen as fan of the program since 1996.

I think logistically it would be better to have them next to the visitor section. And they can drown out the cheers from the visiting team's fan too.

Ideally this is should be the case. But when your team is known not to beat many opponents who come to town then you have to depend on those other factors to get fans in the seat especially in a market with some many other things going on. Balloon Festival, Grape Fest, and now this week State Fair. This team need to achieve regular mediocrity at with a 50% winning percentage to hold fans accountable. My kids would rather go to Euless Trinity Highschool football games instead of Mean Green games. Hard to convince them to come when the team is regularly not competitive with teams they never heard of when they come to town.

A better way to express your discontent is not to buy that extra hot dog, beer or etc and walk out with most of the 4th quarter left. I have never expected the Mean Green to win all its home game or even be competitive in all of them. But Dam It for conference home games you need to be competitive enough in all of them that the outcome is in real doubt in the 4th quarter. Anything less is TOTALLY unacceptable. MTSU is a good program and we have several others in the conference. But unless they are ranked in the top 25 their is no excuse for getting outclassed at home.

Maybe we could start at a smaller level for say an award for the best defensive lineman in UNT's conference or maybe even the best defensive lineman from a G5 program? Because we already have the Outland Trophy which is for he nations best interior defensive linemen. But the Mean Joe Green award could be for all defensive lineman or best in the front 7 (lineman & linebackers).

Also I don't think it would be a wild conspiracy theory to propose that UNT's early integration of its program hurt factored into the program never being seriously considered for an invitation join the SWC. I read story stating definitively that it cost the program its OOC series with Ole Miss. And remember if you are under 45 you we are talking about our grandparents or great grandparents generation. A generation that could be quite petty when came to issues of race and not conforming with the status quo. Did not mean to suggest that Fry coached Mean Joe. However with the amount of reverence that Fry, I think that even most casual Mean Green Fans would wrongly assume that he did if you asked them who coached Joe Green. The documentation on the internet and the DRC retelling UNT"s integration of top level College Football in Texas is evidence to the contrary in my opinion. As a native of Denton, MGC member for years, I never heard of Odus until I dug into UNT History about 3 years ago. I am 2008 graduate by the way to give you a time perspective. If you readily find something on the internet properly acknowledging his entire legacy please share.

With the new regime on board I hope do more celebrate the athletic history of UNT. After the Joe Green statue, I think next person that should be honored in a bigger way is Coach Mitchell. If Joe is our "Willie Mayes" who came after our Jackie Robinsons :(King & Hayes) would it be wrong to call Odus Mithell our Branch Rickey? Even when I do a Google search on this coach it seems like his legacy is deliberately diminished. He led North Texas to the most conference titles as head coach also. The total is mentioned but the fact that is the most in the history of the school's football program isn't. And the fact is that there are probably no "Mean" Joe Greens on campus for Hayden Frye to coach to greatness without Odus Mitchell making the decision to integrate his team. Or at very the least his decision not to stand in the way of the person who made call paved the way. How instrumental was Odus Mitchell to the integration of UNT Football? I can only theorize because I wasn't there and my internet research has revealed little. Even the DRC article honoring 100 years of UNT football (circa 2013) doesn't even mention Mitchell while documenting the story of Abner and King. It does however mention the JV coach? http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20130728-football-eras-of-success.ece?ssimg=1121938 No offense to the JV coach but I bet his head wasn't going to be the biggest head to roll if integration was a failure for UNT Football.

Great detailed analysis and simple summary in that post sir. I think it is more about they a "scared" of dividing up a shrinking financial pie that UH doesn't grow. There is only one team in America that is not P5 already that will "grow the pie immediately" or offset the financial effect of people cutting the cord. That is Notre Dame. If was the mid or late 1990s and Houston was on a roll like this with the playoff system in place it would be a no brainer for the fake Big 12 to actually try to live up to that number by adding Houston and one other team. If I were in the Big 12 offices I would be pushing for a swap of West Virginia in favor of Houston or BYU. And I don't see why their television partners would blink at the move. It isn't like WVU is a national brand or has huge interest in a major media market. And you could say some hardship on your student athletes by reducing travel time ( but who am I kidding most of these jerks don't give a crap about non-revenue sports and to be clear even Men's Basketball isn't a revenue sport at all but the top 15 basketball schools). But let get move this discussion to G5 UNT in a hypothetical. Would you want UNT to be a P5 conference doormat like Kansas or Iowa State. (I know they had one or 2 good years over the last 10 but the vast majority of the time they don't go to bowl games and that isn't mediocre in a P5 conference that is bad) Or would be rather UNT be a decent G5 team with winning records or at least .500 every year and bowl game appearances 2 out of every 5 years? I ask cause I think the possibility of Houston being a Big 12 threat is equally plausible as they might end up being a poor man's Texas Tech in the Big 12. And that would be horrible in my opinion.

The only and I mean only way a G5 program should be interested in Les is if his agent calls them. Furthermore Les would have to convince me as the AD that he is driven to build something and covet the challenges of G5 program to prove his doubters wrong. A driven Les Miles could do wonders for any G5 program if he is given the resources to some of his valued colleagues with him. I just wish some coach like him would take the G5 challenge and prove they are worth the huge money they get from powerhouse schools. Because I think they are all severely overpaid. Hell they don't even have to go to G5 school for instance I would love to see what Saban could do at Kentucky.

But Houston (or UNT for that matter) is not a "small school". And one year of 5-7 at school that has only known you as the coach to ever take your team to the promise land does protect your job. And I don't think it is an either or thing depending on the coaches' age. Chip Kelly has a legacy at Oregon and a NFL job. Also he basically have any job FBS he wants outside of few unique places with myopic cultures. I think he should stay at Houston about 3 more years at least and maximize program. Winning a national championship at a G5 school makes you an all time coaching legend. Winning a national championship at a historic powerhouse just means you get to keep your job 3 more years max. The only big competitive advantage that should ever make you leave a situation like Houston is now is the opportunity to hire the best assistant coaches and retain them for more than 4 years.

But if you get Houston in the playoff why leave? Even if UH doesn't get an invite to the Big 12 but you have a competitive college playoff appearance UH has one of the easiest paths to the playoff for years to come in the Big 12 or not. You can meet most of your recruiting needs within 250 miles of campus. And if you luck up and actually win it all at Houston you are set for 10 years, nothing would be in your way from doing it again. And as long as Saban has Alabama rolling in the SEC LSU is a hot seat coaching job with very little security. If I were him I would go to the SEC East or not to the SEC at all. If I were him I would wait for the perfect job to leave and LSU in the brutal SEC West is far from perfect.

Let me be more specific. I don't even count bowls that did not exist before 1990. So while I was ecstatic that UNT went to the Heart of Dallas like all other Mean Green Alumni/Fans I hardly look at it as somehow equal to going to a historic bowl with 30 years of history. These new generation of bowls just means your team is average and in several instances below average. So the last Bowl game Army appeared in that was testament to them be really better than average was the 1996 Independence Bowl. Navy has been way more successful during that time but let look at the bowls and their records. So I give them credit for any regular season they completed with less than 5 losses cause throughout the modern history of college football since 1984 a 4 loss season usually meant you get an invite to prestigious bowl. But as I look at Navy's recent bowl history I find a collection of bowl that did not exist before 2000. If the Bowl game you are playing in is not older than most of your players, sorry but I don't hold the bowl game in high esteem as validation of a really good season. There is a reason is for the increase in Bowl game appearances since 2000 for Navy and it has more to do with TV networks, corporations and cities with vacant stadiums in the holiday season trying to cash in than it does to do with Navy being great since 2000. They had a couple of great seasons since 2000 (three 9 regular seasons). Air Force has been the best of the 3 no doubt since 1990. However their success points back to what I referenced in detail about Army. AF makes more accommodations for their football players than the other 2. And their physical fitness test is less stringent. I would get all in the details but I will share that they a run 1.5 mile test (Navy runs 1.5 also) instead of the Army's 2 miles. But I think my original comment was dissected way too much. The main point was that the service academies students have to work harder and make a bigger commitment to be successful students let alone student-athletes. So a scholarship offer from anyone of them is totally different than a scholarship offer from civilian school. And all things being equal I wish I would have entered by career in the Army through USMA West Point instead as enlisted. And that isn't because I wanted to be an officer. I would have like to have the experience and education.

No comparison they aren't competing on a level playing field. Making a bowl game for them is near impossible for them most years. And with the extra commitments they have as cadets/midshipmen they don't have time to employ "complex" defensive or offensive schemes. Moreover unless they have changed things recently these future officers have to switch from "football shape" to military fitness every offseason. And no good offensive lineman or interior defensive lineman are "fit" according to military standards. "Congrats on a great season with 8 sacks DT Joe Smith now you have 4 months to drop 50 lbs and run 2 miles in 16 minutes for the Army Physical Fitness Test" UNT has no excuses for their ineptitude that are hardwired into the school itself or extra requirements for their student athletes. It all just years of bad perception, alumni apathy, administrative failure and poor marketing that causes the issues here. And we have also have the worst lost to FCS school by an FBS school in history. And App State beat Michigan and ranked Iowa lost to ND State so the point about us losing to them as some kind of justification for your argument lacks legitimacy. Facts are facts and while the recruiting staff and coaches deserve credit for getting this verbal it would be better if the some of competing offers were closer geographically to North Texas. And if they are getting verbals from recruits with P5 offers that is even better. Fresno State and ECU aren't conference rivals or regional rivals. And NMSU is in horrible shape right now being kicked out of the "lowly" Sun Belt. So a competent staff should win most of these recruiting battle with a competing offer list that looks like this one. This kid lives in Texas, not New Mexico, Arizona, Georgia, California, North Carolina, or South Carolina. If he lived closer to one of those schools it would be bigger accomplishment.

Wish I could give this comment 20 up votes.

If you just want an education and play football Air Force and Army Academies aren't for you. It is more than a commitment to play football and do military drills while in school. The military and a career as an officer is still available to these guys if they want it with a degree in hand from any FBS school. I have long thought it would be more appropriate for the Service Academies to play at the FCS level and skip the FCS playoffs like the Ivy League and HBCU Conferences. But as an Army veteran I do love to see them play the "big boys" 10 weeks out of the year.

With the service and rigor of AF & Army it is almost unfair to call them FBS offers. That being said we should be the verbal choice over all these listed team for student athlete in Houston. Fresno maybe nice but that is way too far away for a family to consider for a G5 program.

Green Helmet with white SOW North Texas in Bold Green Lettering above the numbers in the Front Green Interlocking NT on pants (where not sure hips on side of Knee caps) Keep strips off helmets

Florida just had better athletes at DB than we have at WR. However I consistently noticed No. 11 Thompson as being one of the playmakers at that position. And I don't think he was a coincidence he was the only WR to have any success in Florida, merger as it was. They do need to be more aggressive and they should win match-up against secondary's in our conference. The same could be said of our offensive line but they haven't played well against any of the competition so for except BC.

Awesome cause my transportation options are quite shaky

I don't think Rice can muster 31 points against any FBS team with a decent defense and from what I saw this past Saturday in Florida we have a decent defense. I think the score is lower. 31-20 UNT over Rice .

I would like to go but my transportation options are sketchy.

Rice: The play a 4 man defensive line 4-2-5 Base Nickel Defense Play 2 QB (the 2nd QB runs a spread option and rarely passes) Played a decent half against Baylor Friday (defense played well) They have at least 3 good running backs Seem to lack speed at the receiver position Like to use a lot of horizontal misdirection to create running lanes QB's not very accurate down the field and can't drive the ball They have an average pass rush from the front 7 UNT Keys Limit their run game Win on first down Force them to throw the ball down the Field Patience on offense (Fine should have time to throw) Rice Campus Notes Great G5 Stadium Really Good Private School Gorgeous campus with beautiful trees I highly recommend it as an away game trip. Definitely a winnable game and there will be plenty of good seats available.

So what is the record for down votes here? Because this one is flirting with that record I would assume. It was very clear we did not have the athletes on offense to match up with Florida's defense. WR Thompson was the only receiver that look like he belonged on the field with Florida. Regardless of his numbers, I watched 3 quarters of the game and Fine threw on target passes to receivers who could not get separation or win battles for 50/50 balls. The offensive line was just whipped all day. A lot of pressure was put on our defense and they responded well. I am very confident that if the defense plays like they played against Florida for the rest of the year they will be more than capable of putting this team in position to win conference games this year.

Wow, really sad. It hard to figure out why young men with so much potential and so much ahead of them do some the stupidest crap I would not expect from a 12 year old.