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The following is a recap from North Texas Head Coach Tony Benford’s speech at the UNT Coaches Caravan stop held at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas, Texas on May 7th, 2013. After an introduction from UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal: Benford said that he appreciated “Coach V’s” support but after a long meeting today he told RV, I’m a big guy – of course I need to drop some pounds and I’m working on that (audience laughter) – but no, what I said was coach, I can take care of myself -I’m a big boy and I’ve been doing this a long time and I know what it takes to win and what I have to do to get this program to the level that we aspire to be at. He personally thanked Ernie Kuehne (called him the Godfather of North Texas basketball) and Julie (wife of David) Anderson from Texas Capital Bank who helped to set up the event to the applause of the crowd. He said he appreciated everyone's support and would do his very best to build a program they could be proud of. On the new Ernie Kuehne practice facility: The facility is phenomenal, what Mr. Kuhne and others have done for us is unbelievable from a recruiting standpoint. We have a building that we can sell. The one thing I tell recruits all the time is we are going to invest in them, not only as a person but also on the court in terms of their game. With the new practice facility – there’s no excuses. With the facilities we have and the new Jumbotron and some other things that we’re doing there are no excuses. We have a phenomenal institution – we just have to get the word out and we’re doing that. read more:

T.J. Taylor, who won third-team junior college All-America honors last season for Paris Junior College, will take his talents this fall to the University of North Texas at Denton. He announced Tuesday on his Twitter account that he will be play basketball for the Eagles. “I Terrance Taylor will be taking my talents to the University Of North Texas for my last 3 years of college basketball,” Taylor wrote. About 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, he added on Facebook: “North Texas Mean Green … Triple Blessed. Thank you Lord.” The 6-4 Taylor, who played high school basketball in Denison and was the MVP of the 2010 Texas High School Coaches All-Star Game, played with PJC last season after transferring from Oklahoma University. Even before his first game for Paris, he signed a letter-of-intent to play at Marquette, which is in Milwaukee, Wis. Taylor enrolled at the school this summer, but was granted a release and left the school in July. Tony Benford, who recruited Taylor for Marquette, is the new head basketball coach at North Texas, and he convinced Taylor to follow him to Denton. Taylor will have three years of eligibility remaining. Taylor averaged 14.1 points and 2.9 assists a game last season while leading them to the regular-season title of Region 14, a conference of 14 junior colleges in the eastern half of the state. “There is no question that if T.J. plays up to his potential, he can help them,” said Mike Kunstadt, the publisher of TexasHoops.com, a website that covers high school basketball and recruiting in the state. Read more: http://www.eparisextra.com/sports/2012/08/01/former-pjc-basketball-star-t-j-taylor-signs-with-university-of-north-texas/

T.J. Taylor, a former Denison standout who spent time at Oklahoma and Marquette, is on an official visit to UNT today. A UNT source confirmed that the 6-3 shooting guard is on a visit to the school Thursday afternoon. Taylor said earlier in the day via text message that, “nothing is set in stone” as far as where he will continue his college basketball career. New UNT head coach Tony Benford is a former Marquette assistant and recruited Taylor to the Big East Conference school. Taylor arrived at Marquette in early July and left the school in a matter of days to return to Denison. “We are in complete support of his decision and we wish him all the best in his future as a student-athlete,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said in a statement after releasing Taylor. read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2012/07/taylor-on-campus-today.html/

Read more: http://meangreenblog...or-update.html/

A prior relationship with Buzz Williams, as well as Williams’ track record with junior college players attracted Taylor to Marquette, where he said he was looking forward to proving people wrong playing the underdog role. But it didn’t last long. Just two weeks into his stay in Milwaukee, Taylor left the program. He couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, but rumors have floated about the Texas native feeling home sick. A source also said Tony Benford, Taylor’s lead recruiter, leaving for North Texas’ head coaching position did not help matters. Taylor has enough talent to latch on elsewhere, perhaps closer to home (perhaps at North Texas with Benford). Regardless, Marquette now finds itself in a bind in the back court, a statement which would have been laughable two seasons ago. read more: http://painttouches.com/2012/07/19/what-t-j-taylors-departure-means-for-marquette/