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Jitter Nolan transferred money illegally from a designated fund for a new music building to the athletic department. He was forced to resign in disgrace and came very close to having criminal charges filed against him. [Google it.] I don't know of any modernization under Fry except for the construction of a 3,000 sq. ft. athletic building which was the only dedicated athletic facility built at UNT since Fouts Field until R.V. arrived. I never heard of Nelson or Hope donating to our athletic department although Rex was arrested for drug trafficking. The average home attendance during Fry's tenure was 13,300, which is not exactly what the SWC was looking for. Fry had an overall record of 40-23-3,basketball did well under Blakely as did men's soccer . But no way in hell were we considered for admission to the SWC except in Hayden's mind.

You are absolutely correct in that academics was his priority and athletics was not a major concern nor perceived as a benefit. However you need to understand that a previous administration took money that belonged to academics and applied toward athletics. There were only so many beans in the pot and he used the resources that were available to him. I don't believe that your statement " rightfully belonged to athletics" is appropriate as it implies that departments within the university were somehow due an amount of the overall budget. The athletic department was bleeding money so it was probably a easy decision to curtail their spending and apply the money elsewhere.

Yes they had a budget, but saying that Hurley took money from athletics would require some proof . I assume that you can provide it.

I am 80, and the last time I heard UH called Cougar High was decades ago. Yes we beat Cincy in the New Orleans Bowl about 20 years ago, which is the only time we won it. If memory serves no one in their conference wanted to play in the Sun Bowl and Cincy was forced to play with less than a weeks notice. The Bearcats were unhappy ,played like it, and really didn't care. After the loss their coach said something to the effect that " who gives a shit." The Cincy basketball team was having a good season so their fans who attended could have fit in a Volkswagen Beetle.

I really can't blame them. They got left behind plus the AAC lost Houston,Cinncy, and UCF who all had national name recognition. These three programs were replaced by UNT,UTSA,Rice, UAB, FAU, and Charlotte. Of these six additions, UTSA's football plus UNT's and FAU's basketball programs are the only ones that ring a bell. We bitch about SMU but when they bail to the PAC 12 whoever replaces them will probably have just another mediocre athletic program.

In addition they can get more "exposure" off the field as well. Just say CHEEZE!

What money? Athletics had no money.

Well I think life in college football would be easier if we had Division 1,1A, and 1AA. The D1 programs would be the existing P5's, 1A would be existing G5's, and we would still have the existing 1AA Division. This would allow the 1AA programs [aka G5's] to have their own football playoff system similar to the one used by 1AA except we could tie ours in with our existing bowls. Would this permit lower ranked football programs the ability to move up or down? In my memory[ hey, I am 80 so cut me a little slack] only Idaho has dropped back to 1AA while a stream of other programs have moved up from 1AA to G5 [Division 1A] status. Also only BYU,Houston,UCF, and Cincinnati have moved up to P5 [Division 1] status. Basically we would be slotting football programs by conferences while high schools do it by student enrollment. In my perfect world college football would be assigned a Division based upon its athletic budget. For some reason it just doesn't seem logical to me for ULM with a budget in the teens to be in the same Division as UT whose budget is $100 million dollars or more greater. However, logic doesn't seem a consideration in college athletics. '

He didn't say that UNT didn't contact him. What he said was that he is interested in a number of P5 programs and that he lives 15 minutes from SMU. Just because we are not on his list doesn't mean lack of effort on our part. It seems that when a local prospect doesn't include UNT as a school of interest a few members of this board automatically blames our staff for not doing their job with no basis for their post.

Just an old man's opinion, but I think the G5's would be best served by having a playoff system similar to 1AA's but tied into the second tier bowls that we now play in. Also, we beat Indiana at home in 2011. My son and I went to the rematch in Bloomington in 2014 on a very cold day. How cold was it? Well we had sideline passes and at half time noticed some men retreating through a doorway beneath the stadium. It was the stadium's electricians who always worked the game in case of an electrical problem. It was warm,UNT was getting pounded, they were watching Old Miss vs Miss St.[ Its been 9 years so I may be wrong about the game on tv], so we stayed there for the 2nd half. Nice guys.

I hope you are right but just wondering what this is based upon. A lot better defense?

I THINK La Tech has beaten us 8 of the last 10 times we have played. I also THINK Arkansas State has beaten us the last 10 times we have played. I am too lazy to look up but am sure someone will correct me.

We also beat Purdue a year or so ago in the NCAA's and they were nationally ranked. However I thought this conversation was about P5 football ,not basketball, since that's what started this back and forth. I remember us beating Indiana at home in football but no other P5 in the last decade. If you can count your P5 wins in both football and basketball on one hand you have answered your own question. We don't have a P5 program in any men's sport except perhaps golf, and I think our women's soccer, volleyball, and softball will break through before the men do.

It's a better job if you are paid more under the same or better working conditions against much better competition. While UNT and Auburn are in the business of football I doubt the Tigers consider us a competitor and won't until they start losing starters to us.

For some reason I believe that playing in the SEC is a step up from playing in CUSA or the AAC. In addition, you probably are getting paid more money than you would get at North Texas, if any at all. College athletics, especially football, has become a job where the opportunity to play and be paid is a major consideration. A number of these young men don't come from homes with the financial means to have spending money for clothes, dates, etc. Being fairly compensated in today's college environment seems more than reasonable to me.

Now why would you say that? When an employee at your company gets a better job offer and moves on do you hope they fail? Grow up.

True. It's similar to us predicting football W/L record.

I didn't know we had a polo team let alone won a national championship so I don't know if you are joking or not. I know we won the NIT, which I am very proud of, and its certainly a big step up from the CBIT [I think that is correct but not sure] we won before,but it's not the NCAA tournament. Tulane had a pretty good year. I guess it all depends on your definition of " sports championships " and "sports schools." We have come a long way in women's sports with good softball,soccer, and volleyball programs and men's basketball. However I stand by my statement that we are a school that has sports, not a "sports school."

Fan support, cheeks in the seats, financial contributions to athletic department. We average 20,000 fans in a 30,000 seat football stadium, 4,000 fans in a 10,000 seat basketball arena despite have great success the past 5 years, and towards the bottom of the Texas G5 barrel in alumni giving to athletics. I have and continue to support UNT athletics since my freshman year of 1961 but in my opinion North Texas is a G5 school that has sports as opposed to one that is a sports school.

I see no reason to rank us higher than 9th.

If we were really a basketball school attendance would have really jumped the past few years. However winning didn't move the needle at all. I have about decided that based upon lack of football and basketball fan support and we are just not a sports school.

In the bottom 1/3

You lost me. I assume you were writing about the Rice coach, Bloomgren, not the Houston coach. Holgorson. If so, then my take is that if Rice can't compete in CUSA they certainly can't compete in the AAC. As to funding, they have been funding a cellar dweller for decades, ever since the SWC imploded, and don't seem to be bothered by it.

I was as prepared for college as Pompeii was for lava. No goals, no study habits, no direction, just a lot of no's. I just turned 80 last month and if I had one ''do over" in life it would be to have signed up for the draft after my high school graduation in 1961. Viet Nam was not hot, I would have gotten some structure and discipline in my life , and been eligible for the GI Bill. Having said that I did pretty well in life in spite of myself.

Why is it negative? We lost a lot of players so we are rebuilding, not reloading.