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DRC: http://www.dentonrc.com/business-tech/denton-business-headlines/20170302-rick-villarreal-to-open-sushi-restaurant.ece

The Mean Green Game Day goals are important to reiterate because they demonstrate how Hank Dickenson thinks and works. This campaign thrives, as do many other civic projects he leads, because of Hank’s relationships in Denton. Mean Green Game Day is one of many ventures on which Hank and I have collaborated over the years. He has chaired the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and currently sits on the CVB’s Advisory Board, both roles where he’s been intricately involved in our initiatives. He has invested in Denton for more than 20 years, and not just to tout the Mean Green (though he never misses that opportunity). The fact is he loves this city and UNT. Recent changes in the North Texas athletics landscape have altered Hank’s title from deputy athletic director to acting athletic director. It’s my understanding that a nationwide search is underway for the new one. I just wonder, though, why everyone doesn’t see what I see. We’ve got our guy! Of course, this is only my opinion and should not be taken as the opinion of the Denton Record-Chronicle just because you are reading it in this newspaper. Like hundreds of you, I’m a Hank fan. He’s in the trenches with us, giving more than his 100 percent to uphold our Denton way of life. I don’t pretend to know what the experts look for when seeking the next Athletic Director, but I do know Hank Dickenson. He knows sports and bleeds them all. He’s been wrangling UNT athletics for more than two decades, through ups and downs, wins and losses. And he’s still here. As the team readies and Mean Green Game Day ramps up for year five, let’s do it with the best man on top. Go. Mean. Green. read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/business-tech/denton-business-headlines/20160618-kim-phillips-dickenson-the-right-person-for-unts-athletic-director.ece

https://jobs.unt.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1466457927307 Responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to: * Provides leadership and serves as the primary spokesperson for the intercollegiate athletic program. * Submits recommendations and supporting documentation to the President and Board of Regents as necessary to make decisions regarding goals, academics, capital expansion, staffing, budget appropriations, and other aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Responsible for implementation and communication of Board directives, including maintenance and control. * Establishes policies and procedures to ensure compliance with National Collegiate Athletic Association, Conference, and University of North Texas rules and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools regulations and inculcating in both the coaching and administrative staff an understanding of the importance of these norms. * Ensures that coaching and administrative staff actively support the Department and University's joint commitment to academic achievement which entails helping each student-athlete to make normal progress in completing his/her degree and to graduate within a five-year period. * Oversees the operation of the varsity sports programs in football and men's basketball through the head coaches. * Coordinates and supervises other sports programs (excluding football and men's basketball) through designated staff members. * Responsible for overseeing all fiscal and administrative operations through the appropriate staff members. Promulgates budget guidelines and approves final submissions for each area. Monitors conformance to budget and personal expense accounts. Oversees the operations of the Ticket Office and the Business Office through the appropriate staff members. * Oversees the Marketing, Communications, and Media Services Office through the Sr. Associate Athletics Director. * Directly supervises Director of Sports Medicine and Director of Strength and Conditioning in providing services to student-athletes for all intercollegiate athletics programs. * Develops long-range plans to determine need for and feasibility of constructing or upgrading athletic facilities. * Leading and coordinating, with the Office of Development, fund-raising efforts to provide for scholarships, facilities, and equipment. * Coordinates scheduling for sports events involving Conference participation or revenue contracts. Coordinates and assists on football and men's basketball future scheduling. * Supports the institution's commitment to goals set forth in the Texas Educational Opportunity Plan and the University's affirmative action plan by taking appropriate actions within the Athletics Department. Establishes goals for Athletics Department, with appropriate University officials, for gender equity in athletics programs in accordance with Title IX of Office of Civil Rights Regulations, and takes appropriate actions to work toward and to achieve those goals. * Provides leadership and oversight of institutional effectiveness efforts in intercollegiate athletics including the use of evaluation results and linking results to planning. * Keeps the Athletics Council informed as to all significant current actions (both pending and accomplished), and as to long-range planning for the athletics program. Prepares an annual report for the Athletics Council, by November 15 of each year, for the academic year just completed. * Serves as a member of the President's Staff, working with the Athletics Council and the Faculty NCAA Representative, and carrying out such other institutional duties as the President may assign.

MGB: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/05/breaking-villarreal-out-as-unts-athletic-director.html/

UNT already has undergone one search for a key hire in its athletic department during Smatresk’s tenure. The Mean Green were in the market for a new football coach after parting ways with Dan McCarney five games into last season. UNT used the search firm DHR International while looking for a replacement for McCarney and eventually lured former North Carolina assistant coach Seth Littrell to Denton. Smatresk was heavily involved in the search that led UNT to hire Littrell. UNT’s president could look to hire a search firm again. A firm could help with the search process by vetting candidates and helping facilitate meetings with school officials. read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/sports-headlines/20160524-unts-process-to-pick-ad-to-take-weeks.ece

http://collegead.com/athletic-directors/

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/football/article41992233.html Read the part about "I never take credit" then go read the Hattiesburg Hustler's online bio/resume on gomeangreen.com Ya, whatever you freaking con artist. Read this article again, folks. Look how it says Littrell was purely a Smatresk and Villarreal hire. Hold BOTH men accountable when the inevitable occurs.

What kind of season will RV need to see to extend Benford, which gets him an extension, as well? .500 or better? Top half finish in CUSA regular season? Remember, this isn't what you think he should accomplish to keep his job, its what RV thinks he needs to see to keep Benford as the coach? My guess is that he has to finish at .500 by the end of the regular season and needs to finish the regular season in the top half of CUSA, meaning 7th place or higher. If this is correct, can Benford somehow jump up that bar?

http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article69313582.html You see, the captain doesn't change the oil, but the military recognizes he is responsible for those that do. That's why he was relieved of command. But if the current BOR or Presdent of UNT had been his boss, he would have been given 14 more years to "prove himself."

Since it's going to be tough getting more than 500 warm bodies in the pit for games next year, and since Rick Villarreal couldn't promote the 1988 dream team, I thought we could offer our own promotional ideas. I'll go first: Tony Benford Unused Suit Night - there will be a drawing at halftime to give away one of the unused suits Benford bought to each conference tournament in which he coached. I mean, he doesn't need them, right? This will also have the side benefit of increased concession sales for those showing up to hopefully win the suit. The other advantage is, by my count, Benford has 11 unused suits. That means you could have Benford Unused Suit Night for every conference home game plus 2 OOC home games. It's the gift the keeps on giving and can even be combined with other promotional ideas because, well, there are almost as many unused suits as home games. And it's not like Benford will have any future use for these suits. This is only semi-tongue-in-cheek. If you are going to choose to be awful, embrace the suck. Poke fun at your failings. It's not like anyone at UNT would care, and you just might generate a gate from those who come for the humor.

With UNT students having the student fee increased while UNT fails at every major athletic sport, how long until the students demand not to pay for athletics anymore? A bad football season this year and I think you see a student led campaign to discontinue the athletics fee. I may be mistaken, but I think since it was voted in place by students, it can be voted out. Maybe @UNTflyer can shed some light. That will kill UNT athletics, and will be the legacy of Neal Smatresk and Rick Villarreal. Watch and see.

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/03/benford-confirms-his-return.html/ Posted in the basketball forum, but this huge chunk of abdicating responsibility by RV and silent endorsement by Neal Smatresk, who at this point is just another in the long line of presidents at UNT who is all talk, deserves to be posted on the most active forum. This is all about protecting RV, a coward who can't even announce this to the press. Enablers like @flyonthewall care more about Rick Villarreal staying employed than they do about UNT athletics. Never more evident than with this idiotic retainmemt. Enjoy 13 wins next season and zero recruits because NO ONE is going to sign for a coach simply playing out the last year of his contract. Also, expect THE most watered down out of conference schedule in UNT basketball history next season as Benford schedules Patsy after Patsy in an attempt to keep his job. Remember, coaches do the scheduling in basketball. North Texas has once again publicly told its alumni "we don't give a shit about athletics." I'm going to start accepting their actions and stop donating one dime of my own to athletics. I will also encourage any other UNT alum to do the same if I'm asked. I will warn alums to stay away from something that so clearly hates itself. Rick Villarreal should be fired for allowing this to occur. He won't, because he has people like @flyonthewall manipulated to the point of literally drinking the poisoned Kool Aid. Enjoy losing, North Texas.

Rick Villarreal said there would be accountability if Benford failed this season. That message was echoed by his shills on this board, most notoriously by @flyonthewall. I guess we now know what both their words mean. Absolutely zero. We also know that protecting RV is job one for Ernie, Fly and the like. It isn't about providing a chance to be competitive for student athletes, it's about protecting a man they consider a close, personal friend. Have fun losing, North Texas. Then again, it is what you do.

We should probably start this thread now. I don't know how long he will make it past the football hire...

Tony Benford was Rick Villarreal's hire (No matter how much anyone will later try and tell you differently). It was extremely clear very early to anyone that has ever played basketball at any level that Benford was EXTREMELY out of his depth. Many of us called for a firing after the 1st year because it was evident that Benford couldn't coach. Rick Villarreal defended Benford. Again and again and again, always pointing to the next year as the year Benford would turn this around. And here we sit. Year one was 12-20. Year four was 12-20. That is the definition of zero improvement. None. Nada. Zip. This program was pulling in 4K a night the year before Benford. Now we inflate attendance numbers and can't even get to half that amount. This program was poised to become a highly respected mid-major with the talent on hand to do so. Rick Villarreal had promised fans no more inexperienced head coaches. A team loaded with talent that begged for an experienced college head coach was instead handed an experiment. A guy who had interviewed about 20 times for a head coaching job with zero success. For these reasons alone Rick Villarreal should be fired. Throw on top of it all the other terrible hires, the compulsive lying, and the long term losing in football, and any other FBS program would have fired him last fall. But not at UNT. Benford has 3 losing seasons, two 20 loss seasons, and one .500 season. He has had plenty of time and has shown zero improvement. Both should be fired, not because I "hate them," but because they haven't done their job. If they aren't, every single donor should walk away from this program and withhold money until that happens. I know this is an impossibility, but that is what logic would dictate. Sadly, being a sports fan has very little logic involved.

When UNT losses one more game, the men's basketball program will be guaranteed of another losing season. Does Benford get fired or extended? It seems like an outrageous question, but we are UNT and Rivk Villarreal is still AD. It should come the day after the end of the season. Will it?

@Brett Vito now is the time for the question "What is the future status of Tony Benford?" to be asked to Rick Villarreal. His answer, or refusal to answer, will tell us a lot.

So say UNT retains or even extends a disaster of a head coach. What is your response? Will you keep giving at the current level? Will you renew basketball season tickets? Will you walk away? Will you protest naked in front of the athletic department? Or will you do what UNT fans have done for decades: just lay down and take it?

Saw on the news this morning that UNT is posting signs around campus for how people can receive mental health help. A reliable source has told me the first batch of these signs will be posted in and around Apogee and the Superpit. The same source has told me none of these signs will be posted in the suite level of Apogee due to every mental health professional in Denton County agreeing that those folks were beyond any help and clinically insane as defined by Einstein. As you can see, the first one was posted at Apogee: http://www.fox4news.com/news/97077061-story

Let's start with ODU: 2016: Hampton, UMass 2017: UNC, Open 2018: VMI, Virginia Tech 2019: Buffalo, East Carolina 2020: Wake Forest (1 and 1), Virginia (1 and 1 plus whore game) 2021: open 2022: Va. Tech (2 and 2), open 2023: open 2024: Va. Tech, open Now La. Tech: 2016: S. Carolina St. 2017: Miss. St., Northwestern (La.) St., S. Alabama 2018: Bowling Green (3 road games) 2019: UMass, open 2020: Open 2021: Baylor (2 for 1) Now UTEP: 2016: New Mexico, Army, Houston Baptist 2017: Arizona (3 road games) 2018: open 2019: open 2020: Texas Tech (1 and 1) 2021: open 2022: Boise St. (1 and 1) Now UTSA: 2016: Arizona St., Alabama St. 2017: Southern, open 2018: Baylor (2 for 1), Texas St. 2019: open 2020: open 2021: Texas St., Memphis (1 and 1). Now Rice: 2016: Baylor (1 abd 1?), Prairie View A&M 2017: Army, Stanford (1 and 1) 2018: Houston, (3 road games) 2019: Wake Forest, UT at NRG, Baylor listed as TBD 2020: Army 2024: Boise St (1 and 1) 2025: Northwestern (1 and 1) Now Southern Miss: 2016: Savannah St, Troy 2017: Kentucky (1 and 1), open 2018; Troy, open 2019: Navy, open 2020: S. Alabama, open And a TBA date for a 1 and 1 with BYU Now UAB: 2017: Costal Carolina No future years scheduled Now FAU: 2016: S. Illinois, Ball St. 2017: Navy, Butt Cookman 2018: Butt Cookman, open 2019: UCF, Central Michigan 2020: USF Now FIU: 2016: Indiana (2 for 2), Maryland (?), UCF 2017: open 2018: Indiana, UMass 2019: UMass, Miami (site TBD) Now Charolette: 2016: E. Michigan, Elon 2017: Ga. St., North Carolina A&T 2018: Fordam, Appy St. 2019: UMass, open 2020: Georgia St, open 2021: open, Duke (1 and 1) 2022: open, Maryland (1 and 1) 2023: open, Ga. St. 2024: open 2025: open, North Carolina (1 and 1) Now Western Kentucky 2016: Vanderbuilt (2 and 2), Houston Baptist 2017: Ball St, E. Kentucky 2018-2020: open 2021: Army, Indiana (2 for 1) Now Marshall: 2016: Akron, Morgan St., Louisville (?) 2017: Miami OH, Kent St. 2018: open, NC St. (1 and 1) 2019: Ohio, Cincy (1 and 1) 2020: Pitt (1 abd 1), Boise St. (1 and 1) 2021: E. Carolina, open 2022: Navy, Appy St. Now Middle TN St: 2016: Alabama A&M, 3 away games 2017: Bowling Green, Vanderbuilt (2 and 2) 2018: open 2019: open, Duke (1 and 1) 2020: open 2021: open 2022: open, Missouri (1 and 1) So UNT joins a just stating back UAB and FAU as THE ONLY CONFERENCE TEAMS WITHOUT A HOME GAME WITH A P5 in future schedule. But, of course, FAU did host the U of Miami in 2015... THE WORST THING THIS AD DOES. HANDS DOWN!

Received a letter in the mail from the athletic department: Silver (cheapest) club seats: $300 MGC donation per seat. mid level club seats: $400 MGC donation per seat top level: $500 MGC donation per seat. This is a $50 per seat bump in Mean Green Club donation level for the silver level seat holders. I don't know what the bump is, if any, to the mid and top level holders. i also don't know if the per seat thing is new. I only have 2 seats, so it doesn't affect me that much. If someone does know, please post. I still think the smart thing to do would have been not to raise prices at all, but this bump may allow me to keep the seats for one more year in the hopes that Littrell is the real deal and RV decides to finally leave UNT.

3 more losses and a winning season becomes impossible. How much time is left on the Benford clock? Will RV show us all how much he is AD for life and extend Benford out of foolish pride? Or is Benford gone before the end of February? I seriously think RV extends Benford for 2 years, citing "next year" as the reason. Weeks, if not days, until we find out.

So, it's been about 3 months now and no transcript or audio posting of this interview. And Sidway has been consistently scooping Vito... Will we ever see this 2 hour interview transcribed? Has there been a backroom deal to quash another embarrassing, lie filled RV moment? Or is Sidway just way, way, way overworked? If any of you know him, see if you can get an answer. I haven't been able to get an answer from him through social media...

In podcast #156 Evan, Harry, and Ashton talk about the hiring of new head football coach Seth LIttrell and the excitement it has generated for the fanbase. UNT Athletic Director Rick Villarreal joins the conversation and offers his thoughts on Littrell as well as other items of interest. Brandon Berens joins us from his the UNT campus where he gives us a student perspective on the challenges a student faces during finals. Ashton shares insight from his day spent with Coach Littrell as well as some thoughts on the future of his Beyond the Green series. Click here for the Audio Link to Barbershop Podcast #156