Side Show Joe

I have to agree with you about UTSA. They are in the club now. The time for being dismissive of them is over. As for changing our culture... we need to be looking at what Houston is doing. I believe they are a fairly good blueprint for us to follow.

Funny, but I think they need to keep the Beyond the Green name. It already has 2 years of brand recognition from Fox Sports, and would make it easier for fans to find on the web.

Enjoyed the podcast and I look forward to seeing the new version of Beyond the Green.

Can't blame Houston for trying to protect their staff from getting picked apart by some of the larger universities. Last season they were 8-5 with a bowl win over Pitt. We did something like this after Mac won the HOD, only on a much smaller scale. It didn't work so well for us. We still lost a few coaches, and went 4-8 last season. I highly doubt the pay increase will get Houston any closer to a P5 invitation, and I'm not sure Houston has earned it either. Utah, Louisville and TCU scored BCS bowl wins, and Rutgers played in the first college football game ever. Houston has none of those advantages or accomplishments.

Does North Texas have to wear the new uniforms? I assume we still have the old ones, and I'm fairly sure Nike isn't paying us to wear these. Could the athletic department simple leave them on the shelf and let the team suit up in last seasons uniforms? Just wondering.

I'm not impressed. It isn't that it's a bad looking uniform, it just isn't special. Several universities will be wearing this same design, just in their school's colors. Appy State's are just like these but in their colors. That's not cool. I would have rather keep last season's uniforms. At least ours would be different. I certainly would not have made a video just to unveil the same uniforms other schools are wearing. I like the green helmet with the SOW on it. We should wear it every week. We need to build some brand recognition.

Nice. By the way... has anyone organized a day to go around the Denton area and hang poster?

Does anyone know when the season tickets get mailed out? If I remember correctly, they usually send them out about now.

Glad the podcast is back. What will be the topics this week?

It isn't very comforting when a local sports writer picks a 1-11 team over us. I hope coach Mac posts Gosselin's quote in every locker.

Great to see this happening! Everyone should be forwarding this information to every recent grad they know that might be on the fence about getting season tickets. Let's get this 125 seat section sold out by Friday. Thank you East Side.

I didn't give any excuses. I said our situation was different from Boise's. No two programs have exactly the same issues. I listed what I believe we need to do.

I try to be an optimist, so I'll look on the bright side of these stats. At least our numbers are slightly better. And I think it is important to study what they are doing in San Jose... and make sure we don't do it too.

Excellent point. At that time Dickey was on a roll, taking the Mean Green to 4 straight bowls, but he was never able to consistently beat P5 programs, and never beat a ranked team. He struggled and in December 2006 we spent peanuts ($225,000) to hire Dodge (6-37). I assume we believed we were getting the next Art Briles. It was a gamble and we lost. Two very different paths over that time period.

I wasn't aware of that. SJSU can't seem to get over the hump either.

I had to vote other, for lack of the "None" option. Sadly, after a hundred years of football, we have no rival. In my eyes a rivalry is an established series of games, and requires a fairly even number of wins on by both sides. I'd like to see us develop a true rivalry with Rice. Representing the two largest cities in Texas, this would be the most logical rivalry and it would be best for C-USA.

I don't believe there is a G5 program out their with the same set of circumstances North Texas faces. What other G5 program is located in a top 10 media market that has two other FBS level programs and an NFL team? I'm not saying this is an excuse. I just think it is a different set of issues from what Boise had to deal with. Also, I really didn't read anything new in this article. We all know what North Texas needs to do. 1. Out recruit the other G5s in Texas 2. Win consistanly 3. Improve scheduling 4. Increase marketing throughout the North Texas region If we do these thing, attendance takes care of itself.

"The gathering served as an impromptu sendoff for C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky, who is stepping down after 13 years. But its real purpose was to celebrate the founding of the American Sports Network. C-USA media day was originally scheduled to be held in Dallas, where the conference headquarters is located. But two months ago, Banowsky decided to move it to South Florida to coincide with the opening of ASN’s headquarters in West Palm Beach Although ASN pays all production costs for C-USA broadcasts – estimated at $3 million – it does not pay the conference a rights fee, meaning that beyond providing exposure, it’s not contributing to the conference’s bottom line. C-USA has more lucrative contracts with Fox Sports and the CBS Sports Network that pay the league a combined $14 million per year. All three of C-USA’s TV contracts expire at the end of the 2015-2016 season. The league has hired the Wasserman Media Group out of Los Angeles to negotiate new TV contracts. Maintaining that $14 million in TV will be the trickiest part of the negotiating process. While it’s a pittance compared to the huge dollars raked in by bigger leagues such as the ACC and SEC, it’s a critical source of revenue for schools struggling to keep up with the Power Five schools." http://hamptonroads.com/2015/07/american-sports-network-primary-tv-outlet-odu-football-now-reaches-94-million-homes Interesting article about the relationship between C-USA and the ASN.

That is interesting. I think the booming economy and rising housing market in North Texas could end up being an advantage and lead to a higher COA for our program. Here are the numbers of other Texas universities. I have arranged them in the current order of highest to lowest. At $3,100 UNT would be tied with UTEP, just behind Baylor. But It wouldn't surprise me if we came in a little higher. http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2015/06/a-look-at-the-financial-impact-of-additional-benefits-texas-colleges-will-be-able-to-provide-scholarship-athletes/#33649101=11 1. Texas Tech $5,100 2. TCU $4,700 3. Texas $4,310 4. Baylor $3,882 5. North Texas $3,100 (Projected based on your university numbers) 5. UTEP $3,100 7. Houston $2,994 8. Texas A&M $2,706 9. SMU $2,700 10. UTSA $2,500 (Projected) Rice (TBD) Texas State (?)

Some in college football enjoy looking down their nose at what they like to call "Directional Schools". They tend to believe that a North, South, East, or West in the name of a university makes the institution less important or impressive. That got me thinking, just how large is the region UNT serves? And how much potential does the Mean Green Nation have for growth? Some of these facts might startle you. I learned not all "Directional Schools" are equal. The North Texas region is made up of 20 counties, and their closest Texas public university playing in the FBS is UNT. There are no FBS public universities between us and Oklahoma or Louisiana. Heading south you won't run into another until you get to Austin, 226 miles away. Going west the next public FBS program is Tech in Lubbock 295 miles away. North Texas covers over 16,000 square miles. Our region is larger then 9 states. Combined, New Hampshire and Vermont are roughly the size of North Texas. The North Texas region has a combined population of around 7,000,000 people. That means North Texas has a larger population then 38 states. Despite what some think of "Directional Schools", we should be proud of the "North" in North Texas, and we should enlighten others to these facts about the home of the Mean Green Nation. If we just focus on building a positive and recognizable brand in our 20 counties, the Mean Green Nation will enjoy a very bright future. Go Mean Green!

Is this how other universities in C-USA are handling it? I would think the big three (football, men's and women's basketball) might get a larger portion. All I know is we at least need to be paying at the levels of the other Texas C-USA and AAC programs. I believe we have the third largest athletic budget in C-USA, behind ODU and Rice. As much as I regret college football adopting the COA policy, I hope we can pay near the top in C-USA. I believe COA stipends play a large part in which G5 programs will succeed in the new landscape of college football.

14. We get Rice, UTEP, and UTSA at Apogee.

I'd like to believe RV looked for an FCS to play us on opening day and not subject our team to 12 straight weeks of games.

I don't believe we ever sold out Fouts in its 30,000 seat configuration, but I'd like to think we had some sellouts when it only sat 20,000.

Maybe Portland already had their game against Washington State scheduled for Sept 5th before we signed our game. Believe me, I prefer we play FCS teams in week 1 too. But, I don't know the circumstances involved in scheduling Portland State.