wardly

the following are sagarin ratings for top 4 teams in each conference, both who received only 1 ncaa tourny bid: memphis #6, tulsa #61, houston #80, and utep # 85 vs. western k. #87, ualr# 123, n. tex. #156, and s. bama #166. this is out of 347 teams rated. between all 3 tourny's, nearly 1 in 3 teams participate post season.

wk and middle tenn are the only teams that travel well and bring a large # of fans. wk had 3 times our #, and middle twice as many. besides nt and daytrippers from ualr, not much respresentation from rest of conference. any potenial change in tourny venue will be futher east to accomodate middle and western, as it should.[ having no mens team from la/monroe and neither from a/state didn't help attendance]

remember, you don't have to be dead to sell caskets.

the bottom line is that when it comes to alumni giving, the " mean green " becomes the "lean green." aproximately 98% of our grads are all mouth and no money, and its not the exclusive responsibility of the administration to raise funds. we need to put up or shut up, and my guess is that we will do neither. we have an underfunded athletic program, and will continue to until we individually accept responsibility and pay something back to the university.

this is just a guess, but it would not susprise me if this hotel chain was the major "naming rights" stadium donor we have been waiting for. again, i have no insite on this except a hope and a prayer.

jeff sagarin preseason rankings have us 119th out of 120 division 1a football programs. personally, i think we are overated.

i disagree that a reporter's job is just to report only the good news. its a fact that some students want a re-vote. are we so afraid of its results that we pretend it isn't in process and stick our heads in the sand? smacks of censorship to me, something we experienced under our most recend axis of evil, bush, cheanny, and rumsfeld.

how is it negative when a reporter mentions our ytd record in article where he states we are playing well, has a chance to win 20 games with a young team, and perhaps a chapionship? some of us need to get off b.v.'s back. i for one thinks he reports what we need to see, not just what we want to see.

it is my understanding that in order to get the green light from the state that we must have $5+ million cash in hand by may to gain approval, and that we are a few $million short. this is as per ann clinkscales, senior director development, intercollegiate athletics. i would encourage all of us who plan to pledge and are finanically able to make your contribution now. as a retiree on a fixed income i realize that our timing could not have been worse due to the economy, but if we don't get this stadium done i fear it is the end of football at unt. i for one don't want to go back to 1aa. if you would like to discuss personally with me , call 214/417/9735 or e/mail wardly@tx.rr.com. every $ counts. thanks, ward white

ann clinkscales, senior director development, intercollegiate athletics, as per our conversation at the signing day event at poterhouse.

i would think that usta, and lamar for that matter, would initally play in the southland. if texas state wants to move up to sunbelt, they would be a welcome addition. however, it is still not clear how drastic budget cuts in louisiana will affect la-tech,monroe,and ull. i believe la-tech's athletic budget is similar to ours, with the other 2 schools in the $8 to $6 million range. also, i would hope that a larger sunbelt will at some point not include us, although i don't anyone else that would except perhaps the wac. finally, our whole football future depends upon a new stadium, which is not necessarly a done deal. it is my understanding that we need $5+million in cash by may to move forward, and we are a few million short. if you can make a cash committment in the next 90 days, please do so and encourage others to do the same.

actually i think we are overated at 119. if you were to combine 1aa teams with the 120 1a schools, we would be about 150th.

i may be wrong, but it's my understanding tune graduated and is not coming back for his last year of eligilibty.

i would hope that a 5 year contract with t. d. means just that. while i am disapointed in last years performance, and think we took a step back, i think we should stick to our original committment, as a coaching change now would only futher hurt our program .rember that we lost 5 scholarships, which puts us at a recruiting disavantage. while i am a d.d. supporter, i think t.d. can grow into the job. he just needs to show more loyality to north texas than his southlake coaches on staff. in summary, i would hope 3 to 4 wins in 09, 5 to 6 in 10, and a winning season in 11. you eat an elephant a bite at a time.

check the ratings. this was a bad loss to a bad team. we did the same thing last year, loseing to inferior teams on the road. i might expect a road loss at ualr. wk, or usa, but not uno, who is nearly as bad as denver or the louisiana and florida schools this year.

we have an adquate number of coaches, with the exception of a dedicated strength coach, which i think is being adressed. the problem with our existing staff is two fold; 1] basically a southlake high school staff with little college coaching experience, they are learning as they go, and learning curve taking longer than anticipated 2] t.d. is loyal to his staff to a fault. i entered ntsu in 61', and have been an active alumn since graduation. our present team is the worst college,[ not just north texas], team i have ever seen. i also consider myself a friend of darrell dickeys. having said that, i believe we should continue to hope for the best, and give todd dodge his full 5 years to turn the program around. goals and objectives should be reasonable and obtainable with a little pie in the sky. i think 3 to 4 wins next year is realistic, and 5 to 6 a real stretch. i have faith that r.v. will get us to where we need to be.

what is his status with us since atkinson must wait till spring to transfer?

it probably is asking too much to be bowl eligable next year. our ocg's nect year are alabama, ball state. ohio, and army. assuming we are 1&3, i don' t see us anywhere near 5&3 in conference. based upon our lack of improvement in 08,[actually we took a giant step back] and no changes to the coaching staff, expect more of the same. also, we make as much money home & home with mac teams than a home only with 1aa schools. if we can't compete with the mac, then we might as well drop back to the southland.

i think b.v.'s article hit the nail on the head, especially with the lack of assistants with college coaching experience. while i appreciate t.d.'s loyalty to his high school staff that came with him, if his performance is based upon the performance of "others", which it is, the he better improve the "others". this is a make or break year for him, which will be used against him in recruiting. two problems:1] what quality players would go to a 3@21 program with the coach on the hot seat?2] what quality assistant coaches with college coaching experience would do the same?

actually, north texas is more like ball state than others mentioned. it's about a hour from indy, has no t.v. station, in a second tier conference, and in a town [muncie] about the same size as denton. based upon 05' data, its athletic budget is simular to ours. i don't know about their athletic facalities, or whether indiana uses taxpayers money for college athletics, but their student enrollment is probably half ours. our biggest problem is a lack of "generious" giving by out alumni, refered to as the "lean green". perhaps this is to be expected from a former teachers/commuter school best known for its music department.

t.c.u. won't play us period. we need to develope an intrastate rival. my choice is texas state.

with out a doubt, special teams, especially kickoff responsibility.

i stand corrected.[ meaning last 4 years, we are 8 and 39.] regarding conference championships, between 1913 1nd 1973 we won 19 conference championships. between 1974 and 2004 we won 6 conference championships. maybe you are right. a conference championship every 5 years is a good thing. however, the last 4 years we have been pretty sorry.

we should finish the season 1&11, which would be 3&21 under t.d., and 9&59 the past 5 years. what a sorry program.

w.k. does not begin conference play until next year.