Smatresk

untjim1995 · September 21, 2015

So I'm pretty much going all in on the idea that Neal Smatresk is our only hope to get things changed at the athletic department, from the AD on down. So my question is this:

What if the BOR won't pay to get rid of RV, even if Smatresk wants him gone? That means RV gets to choose if Benford stays or goes, as well as who his replacement will be. It also means that McCarney's seat doesn't get hot until the end of 2016.

What will your line in the sand be for stepping back from following the program as closely as you do right now? I'm gonna draw this line in the sand. There is not much that can be done about Mac's situation because of that ridiculous extension that runs thru 2018. But if Tony Benford gets to coach one day at the Super Pit after this upcoming season, assuming that we don't end up in the NCAAs or NIT, I am out until RV is gone.

The man may get rave reviews from the half dozen big monied donors around here, as well as the BOR, but his hires have been just atrocious in the three revenue sports. How you can be this bad in basketball and football, while sitting in the freaking Metroplex and playing in the Super Pit and Apogee just defies logic...

Edited September 21, 2015 by untjim1995

MeanGreenTexan · September 21, 2015

So I'm pretty much going all in on the idea that Neal Samtresk is our only hope to get things changed at the athletic department, from the AD on down. So my question is this:
What if the BOR won't pay to get rid of RV, even if Smatresk wants him gone? That means RV gets to choose if Benford stays or goes, as well as who his replacement will be. It also means that McCarney's seat doesn't get hot until the end of 2016.
What will your line in the sand be for stepping back from following the program as closely as you do right now? I'm gonna draw this line in the sand. There is not much that can be done about Mac's situation because of that ridiculous extension that runs thru 2018. But if Tony Benford gets to coach one day at the Super Pit after this upcoming season, assuming that we don't end up in the NCAAs or NIT, I am out until RV is gone.
The man may get rave reviews from the half dozen big monied donors around here, as well as the BOR, but his hires have been just atrocious in the three revenue sports. How you can be this bad in basketball and football, while sitting in the freaking Metroplex and playing in the Super Pit and Apogee just defies logic...

I don't think Smatresk would need to have BOR approval unless he's asking for budgeted money for the buyout. If he can glad-hand his way into private buyout funds, then he can do it on his own, correct?

Ben Gooding · September 21, 2015

If RV isn't gone by what UNT90 said, February 1st (which seems like a good timeline), I will be pretty surprised. Dan Mccarney was his golden ticket hire. It has failed. He will be fired or he will walk away. There is no way for the sake of business that UNT keeps him around and allows more hiring decisions be placed on his shoulders. I just can't see it happening.

MGNation92 · September 21, 2015

I only had experience with Rawlins and Smatresk as a student. It seems to me Smatresk is much more aware of what needs to happen for the University to be successful, including athletics. He is much more tuned in to what the student body wants as well. I have faith that he will make the correct changes to right the ship

flyonthewall · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.

This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.

Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this i know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.

Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

UNTcrazy727 · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.
This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.
Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this is know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.
Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

If I could do a gif, meme, etc. Insert a man beating a dead horse here.

He can have the greatest vision in the world, but as long as he keeps making disastrous hires, while there is little to no growth in seasons tickets and the MGC, we aren't going anywhere.

Ben Gooding · September 21, 2015

Fly, results are in fact expected. Where are they?

Seriously, there is no sign of success in either basketball or football this season. Do you see any success next year? I personally do not. The recruiting is so bad right now the guy that will quaterback UNT to another bowl game is probably an 8th grader right now (and lord willing he isn't an Iowa native). Why hang on to the people that made these decisions? We are failing and failing pretty horrendously in both sports right now. So, we should just trust a guy that has made the decisions to put the people in place that have diminished even hope of success in the near future (this year and next) and long term future? Which, our long term future of this program is sitting at about 345th in recruiting right now...just so you know.

Cr1028 · September 21, 2015

Let's be clear that our head football coach beat the only head football coach hired during Smatresk's tenure at UNLV in the HOD bowl. UNLV doesn't exactly scream athletic success just because Smatresk was the prez there for 4 or 5 years.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Cr1028

Christopher Walker · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.
This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.
Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this i know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.
Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

That's great!

But you know what? The rest of us plebeians would love to know this vision. Because what we get is a defensive attitude from the man himself and massive ineptitude from everyone else immediately around and below him. He has yet to make in-roads with anyone in his purview that make less than six or seven figures and that's, well, most of us.

Ben Gooding · September 21, 2015

That's great!
But you know what? The rest of us plebeians would love to know this vision. Because what we get is a defensive attitude from the man himself and massive ineptitude from everyone else immediately around and below him. He has yet to make in-roads with anyone in his purview that make less than six or seven figures and that's, well, most of us.

He said it himself...can't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of the people that make donations that have six 0's are the ones that matter. He then quickly backtracked and said "the other donations matter too."

GreenTexan13 · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.
This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.
Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this i know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.
Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

Why do we have to wait for this so called vision to finally happen? Rick has done some good things, but the state of our football and basketball program is not good at all. He cannot hire a quality coach, and we need someone who is going to advertise our University with the success of our athletic program. I honestly think Rick should just step down... And I don't think I'm being unreasonable by wanting him to do that. The cold hard truth is.... The fact that, as long as RV is UNT's AD, that vision is going to remain a vision.

Edited September 21, 2015 by GreenTexan13

UNTexas · September 21, 2015

We could hire Chip Kelley. He'll be on the market soon.

untjim1995 · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.
This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.
Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this i know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.
Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

I am a financial advisor myself, so I don't recommend rash moves in the stock market. however, I do look at performance over a full business cycle or two, which is usually a 5-7 year term. I'm looking at two to three business cycles here for the AD--if he were a mutual fund, I'd have recommended a sell a long time ago...because this manager would have easily been in the bottom decile compared to his peers.

You can recommend buying more 1-star holdings because you believe in the money manager. But most people are going to keep it in cash until they see the changes they want to see, or even worse (which is precisely what has happened), they walk away and give their funds to another money manager, usually one that is so big that they aren't even feeling any sort of personal connection, just because it isn't losing...

oldguystudent · September 21, 2015

This is the fifth year of Apogee. You would think the luster would've worn off by now, but it hasn't. Every time I drive by it, every time I look at it from Google Maps, every time I walk up to it, regardless from which direction, every time I walk the concourse, view the sight lines from various angles, see the clean, modern restrooms, the spacious concessions with quite a variety of offerings, I think to myself, "Damn, this place is beautiful!" And don't even get me started on the club level. I feel like a better person the moment I set foot off the elevator. First class top to bottom. I still marvel at it.

I voted for Apogee. I paid student fees for Apogee. I contributed a stadium gift to Apogee. I think of Apogee as MY stadium. I am a true stakeholder in it.

Comparatively, the interior of Gerald Ford looks like it was designed by disgruntled employees of the DMV hell bent on obscuring your view of the field as much as possible. LaTech looks like they forgot to buy locks for the trailer doors. Nevada and FIU look like their stadiums came with a crappy IKEA wrench and a label that says, "Ages 5+ Fun for the whole family!" The only redeeming quality of UNLV's stadium is the plethora of drunken coeds meandering about who are..ahem..."Working their way through college."

But Apogee is gorgeous. It looks like a stadium that houses a real football team in a real athletics program. It's intimidating in the best sense of the word.

So while I'm exiting the stadium, UNT down by 24 points, I think to myself, "When will all these resources pay dividends? We built it, when do they come?"

I'll reserve certain cynicisms I hold in this public forum because to vent them would be classless. But if things don't turn around at some point, there will really only be Diamond and Platinum donors in the program. The rest of the riffraff will eventually tire of paying their regressive share of income for a crappy product and an indifferent service staff best skilled at circling wagons.

Edited September 21, 2015 by oldguystudent

Dr. Seuss · September 21, 2015

I have already drawn my line in the sand. I am going to support the long term plan of building a place that everyone can be proud of. I didn't bail out of the stock market last month, because I refuse to knee jerk.
This athletic director has sold me and my wife personally on a vision for this universities athletic department. He has implemented this plan while working through 4 university presidents, and one interem. This is a minor miracle.
Pulling support now would be shortsided and very damaging to this long term plan. Rick villarreal will not be the a.d. forever, this i know. They come and go. Presidents come and go, but I am confident that we have all, you included, have contributed to a lasting foundation to build on.
Sit back and let people do there jobs, facilities are built, results are now expected.

I didn't get out of the market, I just bought a lot of puts against the SPX

MeanGreenTexan · September 21, 2015

Every time Rick's accomplishments come up, they're always around facilities.
Every time Fly brings up accomplishments, they are of the facility variety.

While facilities are important, and Rick has been a rockstar with facilities during his tenure, they are not the representation of an Athletic Department's success. 'Success' comes in the form of wins on the field/court/pitch/pool/course/etc...

EagleD · September 21, 2015

I stand with RV and Mac. Each of them inherited a dumpster fire. RV has created a much better athletic department than I have EVER seen at NT. Mac took the Dodge fiasco and turned it into a bowl champion.

Do they have limitations? Yes. RV has got to learn how to schedule better, and I do question some of his hires, but then again, he hired Aston and Jones. Great hires that only got lured away bc their dream job became available. He also hired Dodge and a few other flops. It's not a great track record but it beats the HELL out of the previous 20+ years. RV raises money and we no longer sacrifice the FB team to support the rest of the department. Just remember the state of the program before 1999!

Mac is a good coach and a good man. I'm not sold on Chico as OC, but I firmly believe Mac will right the ship.

MeanGreenTexan · September 21, 2015

I stand with RV and Mac. Each of them inherited a dumpster fire. RV has created a much better athletic department than I have EVER seen at NT. Mac took the Dodge fiasco and turned it into a bowl champion.
Do they have limitations? Yes. RV has got to learn how to schedule better, and I do question some of his hires, but then again, he hired Aston and Jones. Great hires that only got lured away bc their dream job became available. He also hired Dodge and a few other flops. It's not a great track record but it beats the HELL out of the previous 20+ years. RV raises money and we no longer sacrifice the FB team to support the rest of the department. Just remember the state of the program before 1999!
Mac is a good coach and a good man. I'm not sold on Chico as OC, but I firmly believe Mac will right the ship.

wait... what?

Dr. Seuss · September 21, 2015

Every time Rick's accomplishments come up, they're always around facilities.
Every time Fly brings up accomplishments, they are of the facility variety.
While facilities are important, and Rick has been a rockstar with facilities during his tenure, they are not the representation of an Athletic Department's success. 'Success' comes in the form of wins on the field/court/pitch/pool/course/etc...

Our facilities aren't that great.. Nothing to brag about, they're average against G5 schools and bottom 90% for P5 schools

UNT90 · September 21, 2015

UNT isn't going to stop being the laughing stock of Texas collegiate football by building nice things. The only way to fix it is winning.

It's been 15 years. It hasn't happened consistently through 2 coaching hires. It isn't going to happen with this AD. Thank him for his service and move to the next step.

Seeing people that matter make a point to come on here and defend RV is just so disheartening to the average UNT fan. It gives us the sense that nothing here will change. Ever.

Having a vision and knowing how to complete said vision are 2 entirely different things. I have a vision of being an NFL QB. My body, arm strength, and many many other physical attributes (not even mentioning the mental ones) prevent this from ever happening. This is how I feel about RV and winning.

ColoradoEagle · September 21, 2015

If we end the football season anything short of 5-7 (incredibly likely), and Benford isn't gone at the end of the season, I'll be taking a step back. I can stomach a bad season (I am a UNT fan), and I can stomach .500 basketball. If we have a 2-10 season and Benford is gone, I'll stick around. What I can't do is support something where so little effort is put into caring whether we win or lose, grow, or generally improve in anything outside of facilities.

This department has twice the budget and a much more prestigious conference than a decade ago and has exactly zero to show for it outside of new buildings.

Harry · September 21, 2015

OK -- you guys are making me break out my handy little graph again...

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OK -- so it's not real pretty but it illustrates our current situation from a historical perspective.

Overall the last 10 years have not been kind to UNT football with only one winning season. However, Mac can point to the fact we have been overall trending upward since he arrived in 2011. When you average together Mac's 4 seasons thus far, he is winning 5.5 games a year. This is much higher than his predecessor Todd Dodge who only averaged 2 wins a season in the same time frame.

So - if you look at this historically, Mac has an argument that his 4 years have borne more fruit than UNT has seen from it's football program in some time. And he can point to academics, where he is clearly head and shoulders above really any coach in modern history. The 2013 season really helped Mac in terms of averages.

So this isn't as easy as saying, let's make a change yesterday. Mac has improved things from where they were (I know that's not saying much) and he has done a good job on the academic side of things.

The BOR and Lee Jackson isn't going to call a special session to address this thing right now. Heck, many of these BOR members did not even attend or graduate from UNT. How can we expect them to appreciate the situation? Especially after being shouldered with the accounting fiasco? Michael R. Bradford attended TCU. Courtny Haning graduated from SFA although she is currently attending UNT Law. Milton B. Lee attended UT Austin. Gwyn Shea graduated from Dallas Baptist although her bio says she attended UNT. Al Silva graduated from Texas Lutheran. B. Glen Whitley graduated from UTA. I appreciate and am grateful to all of them and do not for one minute doubt their time, commitment and efforts on behalf of UNT. However, will this board act quickly to make any changes in athletics? 6 of the 10 BOR members did not even graduate from UNT. I say no. I think they will take their time and methodically see how things play out. http://www.untsystem.edu/regents/profiles.htm

There are still a lot of games left to play this season and I think you have to give Mac a chance to play them. Check back in week 6 or 7 and we may have a different situation. Until more data is compiled, I do not think anything will be done.

oldguystudent · September 21, 2015

This is much higher than his predecessor Todd Dodge who only averaged 2 1.67 (prorated for 7/12 season in 2010) wins a season in the same time frame.

If you're gonna go all stats and use decimals for Mac's average wins, then be consistent.

Ben Gooding · September 21, 2015

OK -- you guys are making me break out my handy little graph again...

OK -- so it's not real pretty but it illustrates our current situation from a historical perspective.
Overall the last 10 years have not been kind to UNT football with only one winning season. However, Mac can point to the fact we have been overall trending upward since he arrived in 2011. When you average together Mac's 4 seasons thus far, he is winning 5.5 games a year. This is much higher than his predecessor Todd Dodge who only averaged 2 wins a season in the same time frame.
So - if you look at this historically, Mac has an argument that his 4 years have borne more fruit than UNT has seen from it's football program in some time. And he can point to academics, where he is clearly head and shoulders above really any coach in modern history. The 2013 season really helped Mac in terms of averages.
So this isn't as easy as saying, let's make a change yesterday. Mac has improved things from where they were (I know that's not saying much) and he has done a good job on the academic side of things.
The BOR and Lee Jackson isn't going to call a special session to address this thing right now. Heck, many of these BOR members did not even attend or graduate from UNT. How can we expect them to appreciate the situation? Especially after being shouldered with the accounting fiasco? Michael R. Bradford attended TCU. Courtny Haning graduated from SFA although she is currently attending UNT Law. Milton B. Lee attended UT Austin. Gwyn Shea graduated from Dallas Baptist although her bio says she attended UNT. Al Silva graduated from Texas Lutheran. B. Glen Whitley graduated from UTA. I appreciate and am grateful to all of them and do not for one minute doubt their time, commitment and efforts on behalf of UNT. However, will this board act quickly to make any changes in athletics? 6 of the 10 BOR members did not even graduate from UNT. I say no. I think they will take their time and methodically see how things play out. http://www.untsystem.edu/regents/profiles.htm
There are still a lot of games left to play this season and I think you have to give Mac a chance to play them. Check back in week 6 or 7 and we may have a different situation. Until more data is compiled, I do not think anything will be done.

Again, Harry, that graph is entirely skewed by ONE YEAR! ONE. After you throw 2-3 wi s for this year onto that it is status quo with one extreme outlier.

UNT90 · September 21, 2015

I stand with RV and Mac. Each of them inherited a dumpster fire. RV has created a much better athletic department than I have EVER seen at NT. Mac took the Dodge fiasco and turned it into a bowl champion.
Do they have limitations? Yes. RV has got to learn how to schedule better, and I do question some of his hires, but then again, he hired Aston and Jones. Great hires that only got lured away bc their dream job became available. He also hired Dodge and a few other flops. It's not a great track record but it beats the HELL out of the previous 20+ years. RV raises money and we no longer sacrifice the FB team to support the rest of the department. Just remember the state of the program before 1999!
Mac is a good coach and a good man. I'm not sold on Chico as OC, but I firmly believe Mac will right the ship.

A better turd is still a turd.

No longer sacrifice the football team??? 2 sacrifices this year and RV himself said he WANTS at least one sacrifice a year.

ITS NOT 1999!!! Good Gosh, man.

Aston was here one year. We have no idea if she would have been successful here. JJ was a good hire. So one good hire out of 9 or 10? With one other an incomplete? And you think that's "hit and miss?"

This AD's biggest flaw is his refusal to admit and fix mistakes, from scheduling to coaching hires to AD staff personnel to the ticket office, nothing is ever HIS fault yet everything is HIS responsibility.

RV has been here 15 years, don't you think he should have "learned" how to schedule by now? Are you willing to wait another 10 years to see if he gets it right?

This is the problem with some in our fan base. They think it is better than 1995, so everything is dandy.

STANDARDS