North Texas Keeps Growing...

Coach Bill Lewis · September 11, 2015

The new enrollment numbers are out and UNT now has over 37,000 students. Our athletic department has done an outstanding job of engaging the students since coach Mac arrived. With these kinds of numbers don't be surprised if the Mean Green Nation starts swelling as these kids graduate.

DallasGreen · September 11, 2015

You would hope so but there has to be a product on the field!

James329 · September 11, 2015

Unfortunately, I doubt it. It's not how many, it's who. Not enough of that 37,000 care about sports and if they do, they follow another team. Not all of them, there are some good fans and student turnout has been good, but when they graduate and move they don't pay for season tickets or come back for games. At least not enough. Otherwise our tickets sales would already be increasing. Hope it changes.

untcampbell · September 11, 2015

We have never been as engaged with our Freshman (and those that were Freshman 2 and 3 years ago) as the Coach and the athletic department are now. Fact.

GMG

Ben Gooding · September 11, 2015

We have never been as engaged with our Freshman (and those that were Freshman 2 and 3 years ago) as the Coach and the athletic department are now. Fact.
GMG

This is very accurate. That's why winning at this point is so imperative. We have them engaged, now make them want to stay engaged. Winning does that and nothing else. GMG

North Texas Shep · September 11, 2015

I wish UNT would stop letting so many students in. We have way too many. Smaller class size is the way to go. True it equals money and that is great, but it does not equal a better product (graduate in this case). I do however, like that more students have pride in our university and in our athletics.

MeanGreenTexan · September 11, 2015

Unfortunately, I doubt it. It's not how many, it's who. Not enough of that 37,000 care about sports and if they do, they follow another team. Not all of them, there are some good fans and student turnout has been good, but when they graduate and move they don't pay for season tickets or come back for games. At least not enough. Otherwise our tickets sales would already be increasing. Hope it changes.

I don't think changing a culture of apathy that has been cultivated for decades is going to change in 1 or 2 years. I certainly sense a different vibe from students nowdays than when I was on campus in the early 2000's.

Gotta start somewhere (I think McCarney did this when he jumped on board), and now it needs to grow. It's getting better.

oldguystudent · September 11, 2015

I don't think changing a culture of apathy that has been cultivated for decades is going to change in 1 or 2 years. I certainly sense a different vibe from students nowdays than when I was on campus in the early 2000's.
Gotta start somewhere (I think McCarney did this when he jumped on board), and now it needs to grow. It's getting better.

Agreed. This is a big thing that has been sitting dormant for decades. It is unreasonably impatient to demand a fundamental, wholesale cultural shift in a year. They are planting some seriously groovy seeds today for seriously groovy future harvest. It's an investment plan, and I think it'll pay dividends on the horizon. Let's not get into athletic day trading at the expense of long-term sustainable success.

akriesman · September 11, 2015

We have never been as engaged with our Freshman (and those that were Freshman 2 and 3 years ago) as the Coach and the athletic department are now. Fact.
GMG

One of my sons is a freshman at NT this year. Unfortunately, he is not the biggest FB fan, despite my repeated attempts over the years to convert him. Over the summer Mac left a big impression on him during freshman orientation. He calls coach Mac the "intense guy with sunglasses".

My son said that he understands the importance of attending the FB games because of coach Mac's speech during what he called the "brainwashing session". LOL.

Army of Dad · September 11, 2015

One of my sons is a freshman at NT this year. Unfortunately, he is not the biggest FB fan, despite my repeated attempts over the years to convert him. Over the summer Mac left a big impression on him during freshman orientation. He calls coach Mac the "intense guy with sunglasses".
My son said that he understands the importance of attending the FB games because of coach Mac's speech during what he called the "brainwashing session". LOL.

Orientation-brainwashing; po-tA-to-puh-TAH-to

untjim1995 · September 11, 2015

This COULD pay big dividends for us down the road as the student body of the last 5 years graduate and follow the program, especially when these grads reach their 50s and 60s and actually care about the athletic teams, something we haven't really had in any sizable number since the late 70s.

Its certainly a different feel at UNT than when I graduated in 1995 and when I moved from Denton in 2001. Athletics isn't loathed by 98% of the student body, as it used to be. Obvioulsy, the student body percentage that feels engaged with our teams may not even be as high as 5-10%, but it is at least double or triple what it was when I was in school. Of course, being a 1-aa program for all but my last year in college had a lot to do with that, but I know that the SBC run did bring in more students than had been engaged in decades, as did the hire of Todd Dodge, even though he was an abysmal coach here, just because he had name recognition and ran a wide-open offense. With Apogee, CUSA, and the 2013 HoD win, the student body has showed great improvement, for sure.

UNT's attendance issues today all deal with apathetic alumni and citizens around campus. That's why I say this COULD change things greatly in the coming years, but its going to take commitment by these new or future graduates. I'll say it again, McCarney, when he shows off that uber-positivity and motivation, is a great sell for the university's family, assuming the wins can follow. We need that same thing from a basketball coach--which is why hiring someone who has actually been a head coach before is so important this time. This is why if I were Smatresk, the very first thing I'd be doing as soon as this 2015-2016 season is over for football and mens hoops is to replace the AD, hire one who will be able to get us a basketball coach that could transform our hoops program again, as well as to let McCarney know, assuming that the losing continues and the negative, Dickey-esque comments begin to come out again like they surprisingly did in the middle of last season, his last year to show us something will be 2016 or else.

There is no reason that we cannot be a top level G5 program in the years to come, but we won't be until the leadership decides to make winning athletics a top priority. Smatresk is our great hope right now to be the one person who leads this change.

KRAM1 · September 11, 2015

One of my sons is a freshman at NT this year. Unfortunately, he is not the biggest FB fan, despite my repeated attempts over the years to convert him. Over the summer Mac left a big impression on him during freshman orientation. He calls coach Mac the "intense guy with sunglasses".
My son said that he understands the importance of attending the FB games because of coach Mac's speech during what he called the "brainwashing session". LOL.

You might also remind him that the checkbook can close as easy as it opens and that going to the games just might be good for his "spendable assets". That sort of "discussion" always seemed to work well with my kids when we had a slight difference of opinion over the importance of things. Then again, you might remind him of the short shorts, white blouses and cowboy boot tradition with some of our co-eds. That might do better than the checkbook routine. Either way, the lad just must go...might get to see Dad too!

Edit: a little positive reinforcement for good behavior can't hurt, right?

Edited September 11, 2015 by KRAM1

drex · September 11, 2015

If you want to see professional brainwashing, go to watch A&M.

Evan · September 11, 2015

We discussed a lot of these points on the podcast. We are in a great position. The students that NT is pulling in can be lifelong fans and support the program. They are going for a good education and a good college experience. I graduated in '97 and there was no tailgating allowed. Nothing that said "hey, come back after graduation and hang out with friends and family and enjoy the game day atmosphere. There wasn't even any decent choices for spirit wear. That changed quite a bit in the last 15 years. Huge change. Higher enrollment and student attendance growing yearly, (even with bad football years), means more and more students every year that will follow and come back after graduating.

Other schools are becoming victims of their own academic success and high standards. Schools like Rice, SMU, etc are pulling in very highly academically focused students. They have a lot of international students that don't embrace the college football atmosphere and the low overall numbers of students at those schools don't balance the student body with a huge fan base. High academically achieving students are great, but those aren't typically the students that are into the college atmosphere, tailgating, football, etc. The fan bases at those schools that do remember the average student college life (think old SWC) are aging, hence the old money and smaller group steering the ship at SMU. Texas has become extremely hard to get into, but they have had years of large classes and alums that were involved and they have plenty of other "T-shirt fans".

Cerebus · September 11, 2015

THECB still wants UNT to get to 45K ASAP. The university had better figure out parking before adding any more enrollment. Students are furious as the parking lots are WAY over subscribed.

Parking is always an issue on campus, but this semester the buzz is very angry. UNT will lose students if this doesn't get resolved soon.

Edited September 11, 2015 by Cerebus

MGNation92 · September 11, 2015

THECB still wants UNT to get to 45K ASAP. The university had better figure out parking before adding any more enrollment. Students are furious as the parking lots are WAY over subscribed.
Parking is always an issue on campus, but this semester the buzz is very angry. UNT will lose students if this doesn't get resolved soon.

Can confirm. I graduated in August and both my roommates talk on a daily basis about the hour or so a day they spend looking for parking. As much as I love our school and how it's growing, the infrastructure is not growing at a comparable rate and it will be difficult to support more and more students without such changes.

MeanGreenTexan · September 11, 2015

Can confirm. I graduated in August and both my roommates talk on a daily basis about the hour or so a day they spend looking for parking. As much as I love our school and how it's growing, the infrastructure is not growing at a comparable rate and it will be difficult to support more and more students without such changes.

That's why I think the University is eagerly throwing money at the new Track & Field stadium so they can fully tear down Fouts and build a giant parking garage.

Green Mean · September 11, 2015

That's why I think the University is eagerly throwing money at the new Track & Field stadium so they can fully tear down Fouts and build a giant parking garage.

I think the way to go for all parking for the university should be building nothing but parking garages and building up. Land and space will get saved and hopefully more students will be happier. I realize those will cost more to build but I think it'd be a good option.

TheWestie · September 11, 2015

THECB still wants UNT to get to 45K ASAP. The university had better figure out parking before adding any more enrollment. Students are furious as the parking lots are WAY over subscribed.
Parking is always an issue on campus, but this semester the buzz is very angry. UNT will lose students if this doesn't get resolved soon.

Ban freshmen who live on campus from having cars.

Boom. So many problems solved.

Freshmen can't scurry home on the weekends back to mom n dads to have them do their laundry (and with these helicopter kids these days, homework too) so they're stuck on campus. They'll go to games and tailgating. They'll frequent local businesses even more than they do now. They'll be more involved with on-campus things and develop a deeper connection with their university. They'll learn to be on their own more too.

Pretty much ever other major university our size and larger does this. It's stupid that we don't ban freshmen who live in dorms from having cars on campus.

And a lot of what I've seen on twitter about parking problems has to do with kid being pissy that they show up to campus 10 minutes before class and can't find a spot right across from their class. Or that they got back to their dorm at 3am and had to go park at Fouts. THAT is not a new problem.

Harry · September 11, 2015

And a lot of what I've seen on twitter about parking problems has to do with kid being pissy that they show up to campus 10 minutes before class and can't find a spot right across from their class. Or that they got back to their dorm at 3am and had to go park at Fouts. THAT is not a new problem.

that's been the case for 25+ years. Even back in the day we had to park way out near where the sorority houses are now and it was a long ass way. The UNT transit is WAY better now.

Cerebus · September 11, 2015

that's been the case for 25+ years. Even back in the day we had to park way out near where the sorority houses are now and it was a long ass way. The UNT transit is WAY better now.

It's much worse. It's not uncommon to have to show up an hour early and have to circle constantly if you come at peak times. I also had to park on campus, and it was never as bad as it was.

Check out any UNT FB post and the comments are chock full of people upset about parking. Like I said, it's a lot worse than in the past.

Matt from A700 · September 12, 2015

President Smatresk said this was one of UNT's biggest freshman classes in history. But I agree, we need to get them to support the school they go to, even if this wasn't their first choice. And let's get them to show up to our football and basketball games for Scrappy's sake!

greenit · September 12, 2015

Merge/buy TWU already and let's get this thing over 50k.

Every corporate raider knows that mergers and acquisitions is the way to big growth.

UNTLifer · September 12, 2015

Merge/buy TWU already and let's get this thing over 50k.
Every corporate raider knows that mergers and acquisitions is the way to big growth.

Won't ever happen.

Christopher Walker · September 12, 2015

I think the way to go for all parking for the university should be building nothing but parking garages and building up. Land and space will get saved and hopefully more students will be happier. I realize those will cost more to build but I think it'd be a good option.

That cost is more than just higher, it's often times a complete money sink whose debt service is nigh insurmountable.

Won't ever happen.

Nor should it. The current arrangements that were recently established to allow students to share classes between the two flagship campuses should be the extent of things.