MGB: Villarreal -- "We have things we need to finish here"

[Eagle-96]

Again, you guys must be newbies.  The student vote was well orchestrated by the athletic department.  It was passed after it had failed once before.  The stadium should be named after Jeff Kline.

Listen genius. The student vote was well orchestrated by members of this board. We all know who they are. It failed the first time because your boss presented the vote in a flawed manner. 

[BillySee58]

Winning is important.  But in this day and age it's not as important as facilities.  Our next coach will be stronger than the last, and that is partially due to the fact that facilities are in place and he will have a competitive salary.  This wouldn't have happened prior to RV.

This also would've happened by now if we would've hired an actual good AD back in 2001. 

[meangreenacct]

It might be interesting to see how many MGC memberships and season tickets hang in the balance here from the "minority". Could that question be structured in poll format? Or, is that number being an unknown a strategic advantage for us minorities?

I know one MGC membership and set of season tickets that hangs in the balance...I can only speak for myself though,

[Cr1028]

There it is.

Are they though? We're in the same spot in football we were a decade ago.

No, Texas State is in our spot from a decade ago. Except they have a much nicer stadium and a better offense than we had a decade ago.

[gangrene]

I think RV and the BOR have the charts upside down again:

 

 

[untjim1995]

Winning is important.  But in this day and age it's not as important as facilities.  Our next coach will be stronger than the last, and that is partially due to the fact that facilities are in place and he will have a competitive salary.  This wouldn't have happened prior to RV.

Ignore function is awesome...it was made for posters like yourself.

Edited October 19, 2015 by untjim1995

[UNTDoc]

Winning is important.  But in this day and age it's not as important as facilities.  Our next coach will be stronger than the last, and that is partially due to the fact that facilities are in place and he will have a competitive salary.  This wouldn't have happened prior to RV.

Because recruits want to play for a losing team in a nice stadium? Because fans will fill up a nice stadium to watch a losing team? How's that working out for us?

[Cerebus]

I've made an addition to the spreadsheet, the growth between 2002 and 2004. You can see that between those two dates we added 864 MGC members, and 4,285 season ticket holders.

Now, of course we need some context for this growth. The latest alumni numbers I have seen from the University state 300,000 alumni, with 225,000 of them living in the area. Of course most of those people became alumni long before the current AD was here.

Enrollment has grown from ~29,000 in 2002 to ~36,000 in 2014. Everyone of those students pays the Athletics Fee, but it's not by choice.

I think recent grads are the best metric to compare MGC growth. Unfortunately I don't have official numbers for the number of alumni who graduated between 2002 and 2014, but I do have numbers for 2008-2013¹. In those five the University awarded 41,102 degrees, an average of 8,220.4 degrees a year. Lets round that off to 8000 to be conservative (even though we know it's too low). I know 2014 degrees are "over 8000" but I don't have an official final number. So I think 8000 is an overly fair number per year for the last six years,

This still leaves us with no data official data for the first six years. We know enrollment grew about 24% over those years, so we could take that percentage off the average degrees awarded number, but I am going to be extremely conservative and say that we take off a full 50%. So lets assume for the first six years we awarded 4000 degrees per year.



That would leave us with an estimate of 72,000* degrees awarded 2002-2014. Again, I think that is a very low ball number, but I wanted to be conservative since we only have date for half the range.

We stated off with 211 MGC members in 2002. Some of those members stopped giving, some of them went to that great big stadium club in the sky. New members joined and by 2014 the MGC totaled 1075.

In the period of 2002-2014 the MGC grew by 864 members, while the university added (conservatively) ~72,000 new alumni.

If anyone has better data sources, or sees any flaw in my numbers or logic, please advise.








¹UNT Publication: Institutional Research and Effectiveness 2013-2014 Fact Book
*((8000x6)+(4000x6))

[Eagle-96]

I remember the good ole days when RV just sent people to spy on the board. Now he's getting his minions to POST on the board to further his agenda. Now THAT's progress. 

[UNT90]

You guys must not have been around the last couple of decades.  North Texas is light years ahead of where we were even five years ago.  Yes, there are problems that have to be addressed but having large donors for RV to answer to is not one of the problems.

The very small amount of large donors for a university our size is ABSOLUTELY one of the problems. We should have many more than we do. 

Because there are so few, it allows the AD to personally manipulate each donor through friendship and special perks, leading to at least the appearance (and it may be reality) that the large donors care much more about keeping their elite status and perks than winning or increasing donorship. 

I mean, 300 large donors probably couldn't all meet with President Bush at the SMU game, after all.

[MG 93]

The very small amount of large donors for a university our size is ABSOLUTELY one of the problems. We should have many more than we do. 

Because there are so few, it allows the AD to personally manipulate each donor through friendship and special perks, leading to at least the appearance (and it may be reality) that the large donors care much more about keeping their elite status and perks than winning or increasing donorship. 

I mean, 300 large donors probably couldn't all meet with President Bush at the SMU game, after all.

Jealousy.  Now the problem is known. 

[Cerebus]

In 2001 the AD set a goal of 3000 MGC members by 2004.  At our current rate we will pass that goal in 2049 or so:

[GreenTexan13]

Winning is important.  But in this day and age it's not as important as facilities.  Our next coach will be stronger than the last, and that is partially due to the fact that facilities are in place and he will have a competitive salary.  This wouldn't have happened prior to RV.

Are you being serious? I guarantee you that is the last thing that matters to the vast majority and casual football fans.

Winning is everything

• attendance goes up
• bowl games gain national attention
• recruiting gets better and kids want to come play here
• we gain more fandom

Yes facilities help, but having a piss poor performance on the field will drive away everyone. Look at all of these hardcore fans skipping out on games and giving up do to the ignorance of an AD you are sticking up for!

[MGNation92]

In 2001 the AD set a goal of 3000 MGC members by 2004.  At our current rate we will pass that goal in 2049 or so:

 

[EagleMBA]

I know one MGC membership and set of season tickets that hangs in the balance...I can only speak for myself though,

OK. So just the two of us brings that count to 2 and 6. And those 6 butts in seats buy stuff on game day, etc.

[Eagle-96]

Jealousy.  Now the problem is known. 

2 quick questions because you are one of two things:

 

1. If you are in the Athletic Department, you DO realize your department is the laughing stock of college athletics and you should probably leave UNT off of your resume if you want to obtain gainful employment in this field.

2. If you are one of the 17 you realize that RV only keeps the top 3 donors on his "A" list speed dial on his Jitterbug phone. Better not expect him to answer the phone if you get a flat tire outside of a VERY empty Apogee.

[untjim1995]

 

[meangreenacct]

OK. So just the two of us brings that count to 2 and 6. And those 6 butts in seats buy stuff on game day, etc.

I buy a lot of beer on game day; however unexpectedly this seasons results have actually made me buy more...so at least this year has been good for them. Next year though, will be substantially less...(most likely nothing).

[forevereagle]

Winning is important.  But in this day and age it's not as important as facilities.  Our next coach will be stronger than the last, and that is partially due to the fact that facilities are in place and he will have a competitive salary.  This wouldn't have happened prior to RV.

Wait...what? What good are facilities if they produce nothing? This is a really dumb post. Facilities are supposed to help with recruiting, which leads to better talent, which leads to winning. If winning doesn't matter and we are winning the facilities race (we aren't, but we are better than we were), then why fire Mac? I mean, he has never coached a home game outside of Apogee and had a higher salary than any other coach in our history, so he is successful in what matters most according to your post.

[rcade]

Why is Brett Vito asking Rick Villarreal if he plans to retire? An AD job is not a lifetime sinecure. It is performance based just like a head coaching job, and if the AD does not produce there comes a day when that executive should be fired. We've reached that day.

Instead of asking Villarreal the absurd question of whether he's going to fire himself, Vito and every other Mean Green beat writer should be asking President Smatresk if he's going to fire Villarreal.

When I hear Villarreal dismiss the complaints as coming from a "minority," it tells me he's completely out of touch with this fan base and alumni. One more reason to show him the door.

Edited October 19, 2015 by rcade

[Eagle-96]

want to put money on that?

There are exceptions to the rule but I would not want RV attached to my name in any way shape or form.

[untjim1995]

This thread is full of exactly why we are a laughingstock of college athletics...

At this point, there is a real part of me that wants to see how RV staying is really going to affect the program. I mean, seriously, the UNT17 are each going to have sections of Apogee named after them and have multiple rows just to themselves in the upcoming years.

It is just so North Texas to figure out a way to fire a coach who just lost by a record-breaking score to a lower division team-- at home-- on homecoming --as the only OOC game scheduled for the year-- five days before we played the best team in our conference--on national tv...it is even more North Texas to go out and do a PR move to KEEP the AD who has presided over this mess, by having the emails to his boss get re-routed to him, have his UNT 17 buddies find out the names of those who want him ousted, and then celebrate that power on a fan website.

 

 

[UNT90]

Jealousy.  Now the problem is known. 

Lol. Ya, that's it, athletic department troll. 

[JRock]

Zero accountability at UNT. 

[EagleMBA]

I buy a lot of beer on game day; however unexpectedly this seasons results have actually made me buy more...so at least this year has been good for them. Next year though, will be substantially less...(most likely nothing).

Exactly! Now expand this to just the little minorities on this board alone, and you start to get a feeling of what the economic impact could be.

Metzler's will miss my jalapeno sausage wrap habit.

Edited October 19, 2015 by EagleMBA