CUSA Action (3/23/15)

Ben Gooding · March 24, 2015

No need to kick the horse Rick. I am just trying to manage expectations. We've dug a hole that we need to climb put of in football and basketball.

How do you foresee that climbing going in the near future with the current pieces in place?

97and03 · March 24, 2015

No need to kick the horse Rick. I am just trying to manage expectations. We've dug a hole that we need to climb put of in football and basketball.

Isn't that was this place has become?

GreenGonzo · March 24, 2015

We had better teams when we were North Texas State. Hope that changes soon.

FirefightnRick · March 24, 2015

No need to kick the horse Rick. I am just trying to manage expectations. We've dug a hole that we need to climb put of in football and basketball.

I wouldn't kick it if there wasn't a need to.

Rick

foutsrouts · March 24, 2015

We had better teams when we were North Texas State. Hope that changes soon.

In the pretty much 27 years of UNT money sports, we've basically had the the 3-4 year DD run, the 1 year DM run, and the 5-6 year JJ run, so I can't argue much with your statement.

UNT90 · March 24, 2015

In the pretty much 27 years of UNT money sports, we've basically had the the 3-4 year DD run, the 1 year DM run, and the 5-6 year JJ run, so I can't argue much with your statement.

And we have been fine with it

greenminer · March 25, 2015

I wouldn't kick it if there wasn't a need to.
Rick

We have a crapload of problems to take care of internally. I know I don't need LaTech to remind me of that.

FirefightnRick · March 26, 2015

We have a crapload of problems to take care of internally. I know I don't need LaTech to remind me of that.

I'd kick in the ODU thing as well, but I haven't been there yet and have no idea what they have to work with compared to us. Maybe they have more money, better facilities and a greater location to recruit to than us? I have no idea?

Rick

untjim1995 · March 26, 2015

I'd kick in the ODU thing as well, but I haven't been there yet and have no idea what they have to work with compared to us. Maybe they have more money, better facilities and a greater location to recruit to than us? I have no idea?
Rick

La Tech also has a few huge advantages over us. That location of theirs plays to their favor--they don't have anyone to really compete for some great talent in northern Louisiana. Not ULM, not Grambling. Basically, they are the TCU of those three, with Grambling and ULM playing the part of us and SMU. Players want to play there because they take winning in football and basketball, both men and women, very seriously. We don't.

Also, even with our "superior" location, facilities, and more money from a larger student body and alumni base, La Tech never told their alumni and students that they should just give up and drop down to the old i-aa for 12 freaking years. We lost generations of fans--those that had graduated from UNT, were going to UNT, and those coming to UNT all the way thru the early 00's. We didn't even try to give it a quarter-ass effort until the early 00's with our funding, personnel, and scheduling. Yeah, we know Corky did more with less in the 1-aa years, but 99% of the UNT "fanbase" literally didn't care because of the i-aa thing, especially while the SWC was still very strong. While we were playing int he SLC for 12 years, La Tech went out and recommitted to I-A Football and would soon see wins over Alabama and Michigan State on the road, making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament with their women's teams, and their men's basketball teams have usually been very good. And I really believe our location is more of a hindrance than a plus--yes, we are on the outskirts of DFW, but we still get all the local NCAA competition we can handle, plus the pro sports that dominate our media and fans' interest. TCU has done very well because they started getting Ft. Worth to adopt them as the "hometown" team in the mid-90s and then made football into a big winner, so they created their niche, but we don't have that in Denton--at all. Dentonites don't look at UNT as the hometown team because they think of the pro teams as their hometown teams, as well as following the P5s closely. Maybe its because Ft. Worth wants to have something as its own over Dallas, maybe its because Denton just is more about music and arts, as well as high school sports...I don't know. But that location we are always told is a huge untapped advantage has only shown me that local kids don't want to come here as their first choice for several reasons and all of the local HS coaches and parents look at UNT as a place that just doesn't care about sports, so they rarely help get their kids to come this way. I am of the belief that if we were in Wichita Falls or Sherman, we would be better off as an athletic program than being in Denton. We are just too close to DFW to get true support from the locals or to get any hometown treatment like even schools like La Tech gets or even a school like SFA gets in East Texas. That adds to the college experience of getting away to a more traditional college atmosphere for students and athletes.

FirefightnRick · March 26, 2015

Players want to play there because they take winning in football and basketball, both men and women, very seriously. We don't.

I've been all over their campus and am well aware of their history and ours and know exactly what advantages they have and don't have over us. If you wanted to make my point for me you could have simply ended with this statement above.

Rick

Edited March 26, 2015 by FirefightnRick

DeepGreen · March 26, 2015

Good evaluation untjim1995.

UNT needs to evaluate whether or not they want to compete at the highest level in football, basketball, and women's basketball. If the answer is yes, then come up with a plan to do it. Our new President should head the whole effort. If the answer is no, then drop back down to FCS in football.

If we could ever get a couple of winning football seasons, a competitive basketball team, and create excitement in Denton, Tx, then maybe we hardcore fans could get excited too. Can't get the Denton HS students interested, give away tickets in the Wing Zone for every home game, give away ipads at each game for UNT students and HS students in attendance. But, announce the winners in the 4th quarter. Instead of fireworks(win or lose), use the money for ipads(or some other tablet). Do something to get these kids in the stands for home games. Create a game day experience that can influence the kids into believing that UNT is a good place to attend. Shooting a dozen $5.00 t-shirts from an air cannon is not enough. We can do better.

If we do nothing, then nothing will change.

untjim1995 · March 27, 2015

I've been all over their campus and am well aware of their history and ours and know exactly what advantages they have and don't have over us. If you wanted to make my point for me you could have simply ended with this statement above.
Rick

I just think that the location we are in that was supposed to be some huge advantage because of our sitting in this hotbed of recruiting for us to potentially take advantage of has, in fact, turned out to be the opposite. Our location hurts us alot more than it helps us with recruiting--at least it has for several decades now, no matter the head coach, the AD, the stadium, etc...

It remains to be seen if we can ever change that perception within the area, but if a new stadium, new coach, and new conference hasn't moved the needle dramatically for us in average attendance or in substantially better recruiting classes, it really shows how low we are in the area's perception.

And, yes, I know winning would supposedly change it, but in the very few times it has happened here, it hasn't changed dramatically at all...

Edited March 27, 2015 by untjim1995

UNT90 · March 27, 2015

Our location doesn't hurt us. The crap product we have put on the field/court for the majority of our existence hurts us, the cultural of alumni who make fun of UNT athletics because of that crap product hurts us, and the indifference by the UNT administration to that crap product hurts us.

I can't think of one single FBS institution that, given the exact same circumstances, would have tolerated Tony Benford for 4 years. Not a one. Not ULM, not Idaho, not Troy, not anyobody.

Except UNT.

And that's why UNT's own alum make fun of its athletics.

DFW has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Edited March 27, 2015 by UNT90

FirefightnRick · March 27, 2015

Our location doesn't hurt us. The crap product we have put on the field/court for the majority of our existence hurts us, the cultural of alumni who make fun of UNT athletics because of that crap product hurts us, and the indifference by the UNT administration to that crap product hurts us.
I can't think of one single FBS institution that, given the exact same circumstances, would have tolerated Tony Benford for 4 years. Not a one. Not ULM, not Idaho, not Troy, not anyobody.
Except UNT.
And that's why UNT's own alum make fun of its athletics.
DFW has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Agree!

Rick