xyresic

To answer Fly's question... They do know about it, my understanding is that it was donated to the school but it ended up costing a good amount for repairs etc. so they were looking into options to sell or retire it with out offending the donor's family. That family has given generously to the university and endowed a chair etc.

Mason finished last season with more passing yardage than any other returning QB in FBS 1-A . He edged out UCF's Milton by 15 yards.

UNT raised both admissions standards and pricing in the past few years while many schools have not. UTA has been subsidizing their growth with more aid and significantly lower in state tuition. I think UNT's strategy will win long term. Since UNT has (in my opinion) a more desirable college town and atmosphere if they ever really want to crank up admissions numbers they can just get closer to UTA's pricing and then grab all of the students they want.

TCU is now looking for one...

I do maintain that it is clearly a viable formula to take a winning HS head coach, give him a few years of seasoning as a position coach or Coordinator and then let him coach a FBS team. The numbers show this to be true. This is vintage UNT90 at work, arguing when the guy you are arguing about (Morris) even has an article on football scoop disputing what you are saying. http://footballscoop.com/news/chad-morris-explains-rapid-rise-high-school-head-coaches-fbs-head-jobs/ Apologies to the board, every few months I forget that he will never actually read what I am writing to try to understand it. I'll hang up and listen.

Facts are facts. The board does not discourage dissenting opinions but it should discourage people from stating opinions and masquerading them as facts. More FBS coaches start out in the HS ranks than any other level besides FBS. That includes FCS, D2 & D3, Juco, NFL, CFL you name it. This year 27 FBS head coaches started their careers coaching in the HS ranks. Guys like Briles, Malzahn and many P5 coaches. I would say that qualifies it as a training ground for future FBS coaches, and that yes in fact it is the same sport. Following your logic Briles HS head coaching experience was not applicable and he was hired as Houston's head coach based on two years of coaching running backs at Tech. I think it stands to reason that Morris gained valuable things from his HS head coaching years: recruiting ties, creative playcalling, experience running a show and experience speaking to fans & media etc. Seth is getting more polished over time, but Morris has a clear advantage over Seth in this area. Some of it is personality and some of it is experience being the head guy. Coaches do not get hired based on the profile of the school they are leaving. They get hired based on what they did to improve the school. PJ Fleck didn't get hired because Western Michigan was a titan. He was hired by a P5 because he took a MAC team that hadn't won their conference since 2000 and went 13-1 in 2016. By the way, Arkansas wanted Malzahn (coached HS from 1991-2005) and ended up with Morris (coached HS 1994-2009). Interesting facts there.

Mason's stats this season: Yds: 3749 - 9th in the nation Rat: 147.8 - 29th in the nation TD's: 28 - Tied for 12th in the nation 6 of the 8 QB's ahead of him in passing yards are Seniors, so Mason will have the 3rd most yards of any returning QB. That changes to #2 if Sam Darnold is a top pick in next year's draft as expected. If I am a High School WR recruit my eyes light up thinking of the stats that are going to get put up the next two seasons. It will be fun to track, a UNT QB leading the country in passing yards has a nice ring to it.

While you are looking through their "profile files" can you tell me how many more years Morris has been coaching than Seth? (hint avg. SEC coaches age at the start of the season was 49 and Chad Morris is drum roll please...49). Since you are the resident Nostradamus here - where in your profile file did you predict Mason Fine as Offensive POY with 28 tds? Or the file where you pegged us at 9 wins? This online persona you put out is a shame since in person you are well spoken and likeable.

Mike, a new group called the Diamond Eagles started raising money with the idea to provide immediate funds to a single project on campus. This is the inaugural year and there are something like 90 donors all contributing 1k or more. The group votes on a few recommended projects brought up by staff or students and this year one of them is building a stage for the bands that play at the pavillion. The idea is to give the bands a larger space, which will also improve seating areas & shade for the alumni. The money is already raised, but if you want to join up I’m sure they’d welcome new members. I believe the voting wraps in December and the project (if it wins the vote) will be completed in 2018.

Cumbie and DM were already Co-OC's before this all happened. Cumbie was the OC for Tech in 13 and then he was hired by TCU as Co-OC and QB Coach in 14. Meachum was WR and Co-OC and did not leave TCU until he became the OC at Kansas in 2017. When UT was tiring kicking and ultimately ended up with Gilbert TCU was rumored to have made Cumbie either the top paid OC in the country (or close to it).

I won't belabor this much more. Your facts are largely correct, but you have missed the behind-the-scene nuances. SL was zeroed in on very early on. The number of people making the decision or with insight into the process was not as large as you think. The primary reason the previous Ath Dept even knew that he existed was due to the family I mentioned and the search firm. This would not be the first time in history people put out information to make people arrive at a decision they thought was theirs, when in reality it was not. It is an intelligent way to do business and in this case I think it worked well. I hinted at this in previous posts where due to large conflicts the coach had to be hired before the new AD. So yes NS & BR did not "overrule" anyone they basically lined the power players up in favor of SL and then magically the Ath Dept ultimately arrived at the same decision. There was certainly no sticking out of necks or ultimate sacrifice involved. As for you thinking you have the best sources Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man : ) Appreciate your support of the University. I just want to pass on what happened now that some time has passed, no desire to start an argument or tarnish anyone from the past. GMG

Chris's post is accurate and MGT is incorrect in this case. For a bit more background info, it is surprising the quality of applicants who will apply for our jobs - especially if the process is kept private via a good headhunter firm. For both the AD job and this job there was a deep pool of talent to pick from - despite anything said otherwise. I know some on the board have criticized the use of these firms but the results speak for themselves. Early on candidates were zeroed in on: Cumbie, SF, SL, LR - these were the targets preferred by the firm, Prez and select boosters very early on. Most remember - but despite underperformance there was quite a bit of politics going on relating to our Athletic program. No need to rehash it all. That is why the selection team was such a small group, to make sure that a good decision was made this time around. Cumbie was getting feelers from UT and did not want his name in the hat. Our old guard had a few other ideas including DM and T Franklin, but these were never well supported. LR got leaked and yanked his name from consideration. Leaking was pretty prevalent prior to WB. This really PO'd our top admin and removed any doubt that this hiring would not be a one man process. At this point I don't think there was any belief that Stoops would be retiring. I'm not sure we had the resources to land him, but there was at least a small chance. There was not interest in KB with the clouds forming over that program. That left SF and SL. SL was a top target for the reasons that we are all familiar and it didn't hurt that he had close ties to a prominent supporter of the school. SF was also a top choice of the group. He was getting several looks and UCF jumped on him with a 1.7m+ per year deal.

The financial statements are also interesting. From 2012 to 2016 operating revenue at the school rose from 360 million to 440 million. In 2012 income before other items was a negative 11.2 million in 2016 it was 47.1 million. That is almost a 60 million dollar swing in the right direction. Dorms, Facilities, and Buildings are much easier to construct and maintain when the university is financially healthy.

I agree that the completion of construction around the school will help enrollment at the Denton campus. It is interesting to see how these enrollment ingredients come together. Overall college enrollment is dropping across the country. Texas has a growing population so out of state schools have made a big push to recruit in Texas. Similar to football recruiting everything we need is here in our backyard and that invites competition. The core should be freshman enrollment so it's nice to see that continuing to grow, but yes they will need more facilities to support them. The freshman growth was offset to a degree by things like foreign students applying in fewer numbers (not good but probably out of the schools control) and students graduating more quickly than in the past due to new initiatives (good). I like the strategy of manageable growth with an improved incoming student profile. Just five or so years ago there were unexpected enrollment declines so it's nice to see the gains year in and year out. I think innovative online offerings are the next thing the school needs to embrace. Places like UTA have done a great job with this. It has really juiced their enrollment numbers. Our administration wants to go this route but needs to get faculty moving to adjust to the new reality of education.

They have a new station on TuneIn radio and the app this year for UNT. It has the games, coaches shows etc. you can also listen on KNTU 88.1 via radio or website. I prefer TuneIn if you have it and if you don't it's free.

I agree that the increase since 2015 is not great. The thing I do like is that it's revenue so it's not something like giving away tickets and then touting that the numbers are up. Remember this is only season tickets revenue and a few more packages are likely to be sold this week with the prorated plan. In my mind 12% more revenue when compared to 2016 is a good step. I didn't say we should unveil the Mission Accomplished banner or anything yet. We need these types of increases annually. Regarding the high salary comment: 1. You are assuming they are high salaries, I don't believe you actually have the numbers. 2. Athletics has brought in a lot of money from donors and that plus Learfield and some other changes have more than offset the new positions. All of the metrics are now about increasing revenue. Our previous budgets looked big for for CUSA because they included the stadium, which most schools do not. The staff changes brought in new blood but we are finally on an even playing field with our peer universities. 500k in salaries doesn't matter from a cost perspective when you brought that in with Learfield alone. Those salaries begin to matter when ticket sales ramp up and when the fans and athletes are part of a better program and product. Just my 2 cents.

Hadn't seen this mentioned yet. Season ticket sales were up 15% in 2016 and they are up an additional 12% this season over 2016. Club ticket sales are up high single digits this season as Kram mentioned. I think the emphasis on drawing large groups will be helpful. The 20 or 21 suites sold out completely. Lots of new faces and names in that level. I don't remember them being all full in past seasons. Still work to be done but it's nice to see hard numbers coming out showing progress.

You are right - to better state things: most didn't want the contoversy this would bring. My point was simply that it is one thing for him to speak in Dallas to a group, but the school isn't deriving any benefit from attaching their name to the event. Interstingly enough the venue doesn't want their name publicly linked to this. I've also heard the namesake of the event is having second thoughts, although the original force behind it hasn't had a change of heart. I find the distinguished lecture series speakers the students help to select to be not only more diverse, but also more interesting. I think this lecture series could benefit by having a deeper bench help with future selections if they are going to use the UNT name.

Chris hit the nail on the head. Our BOR head is personal friends and an advisor to Trump on taxes. He set this up to happen. The school has been lobbying against it for awhile as most would if given the choice. Admin, staff, fundraisers, students - none of them want this to happen. Talking to some of the brass they were trying to get Jerry Jones or Jason Garrett before things went south. Its unfortunate that the series has morphed from "national security" to polarizing conservatives. It is a shame because you would think donors would want to bring positive press rather than negative. Unfortunately this seems to be a case of donors helping themselves which is counter to what we need.

I take this as a win. No education experience means there is a bit of an unknown, but she is a much better candidate than the other front runner. Overall, I think we will see her as an improvement over her predecessor. Although as some have pointed out that may not prove to be terribly difficult. NS has been a big step up from LR. The admin hasn't been perfect, but they have tackled difficult core problems that others kicked down the road. It will be nice if this hire keeps that momentum rolling.

To GrandGreen's point - UH has been thriving so I think you inadvertently helped to support my point. The school that took an experienced candidate is crushing it athletically, academically and in community outreach and fundraising. It is more instructive to look at the schools not named UT and A&M. I agree that a really heavy hitter from outside academia could perform well but the remaining candidates mentioned did not seem to fit that bill which caused my original post.

If you watch the show season one shows a clip of our old defensive backs coach there recruiting.

Rosemary Haggett - secretary to BOR 214.752.5533 Rosemary.Haggett@untsystem.edu Lindsey Vandagriff - BOR coordinator 214.752.5545 Lindsey.Vandagriff@untsystem.edu These contacts will be able to pass on messages/emails to the entire BOR.

Harry brought this up in another thread but it deserves its own discussion. There is a rumor that the leading candidate for chancellor has taken their name out of the running, late in the process. They had unanimous support. Now the front runners are candidates that have business/government/political experience rather than actual experience in higher education. In my opinion it is very important to not make this mistake again. Denton needs to be the focus, it is the bell cow for this thing. We don't need a new guard building up another layer of costs in Dallas. If you want this thing to keep trending the right direction it's critical to let the regents know that we want someone with experience. We could really continue to build if we had someone with experience who could hit the ground running. Contact the regents, let them know this matters or I'm afraid we will have a disappointment momentarily. No one is talking much about this, but it's going to move the needle in a big way. Up to the Mean Green alums out there to make sure it ends up being a positive for the System.

6'1" and also holds TCU and SMU offers. Great handles and can really score. 247 has him ranked #82 nationally in his class and I have seen him ranked in the top 15 Texas players by multiple sources. Check out his highlights if you get a chance, he would be a fan favorite here. AAU teammate of recent offers Chris Harris and Bryce Okpoh.