I am against the Banner

[MeanGreenD]

 

 EVERYBODY hated that guy. RV is nowhere near as bad as Patterson and if you think he is, you haven't been well-informed on Patterson's tenure.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25218362/report-many-at-texas-unhappy-with-athletic-director-steve-Patterson

"5. He does have some support. It's not like everybody associated with the school is approaching with torch and pitchfork. There are some who just think that the people at Texas just need to adjust to a new leadership style after dealing with former athletic director DeLoss Dodds for over 30 years.

“I think Steve Patterson needs time to implement his initiatives,” said prominent Texas booster and former player Bob Moses. “Change is hard. We all know that. But sometimes change is necessary.”

Still, while Patterson may have his supporters, they don't seem to be nearly as vocal as his detractors. It will be interesting to see if Patterson suffers the same fate Dave Brandon did at Michigan, or if success on the field in the future will help everybody deal with the new way of doing business in Austin."

 

 

Apparently, not EVERYBODY at Texas.  Much like that situation...  RV does have some support.   It's not like everybody associated with the school is approaching with plane and banner.  There are some who just think that the people of North Texas need new leadership after dealing with athletic director Rick Villarreal for 15 years.

[Army of Dad]

Ben and CBL are out walking in the middle of nowhere when they happen upon a massive dumpster fire. Ben, who just so happens to be carrying a small bottle of Ozarka Spring attempts to douse this blaze with his 6 ounces of water...a portion of the fire flickers briefly, a bit of smoke, but on the whole it does very little.

Ben: "well, now what?"
CBL: "I don't know...more water?"
Ben: "NO, butt-face...I just tried water...can't you see the fire is still burning?"
CBL: "I guess. we could just let it burn out...I mean, I don't like the environmental ramifications, but surely this thing can't burn for much more than 18 months"
Ben: "you are such a butt-face. no...I know...I'm going to dump this drum of kerosene on it. that'll surely fix things"
CBL: "I was wondering why you were carrying that. this is the last time you and I go for a walk"

just because I don't have a solution for you, that doesn't make your idea good.

but here...let me toss a few more out there...have you tried to get an audience with Vito? he is our biggest public pulpit and, at least by his standards, has already expressed his displeasure with the AD. or, perhaps if Vito is too limited by the DRC and, you know, wanting his job...this NT Daily kid has two hours worth of RV ramblings and is seemingly willing and able to be a voice of dissent. 

Or...the more I think about it...if you're married to the plane...the more I like the idea of continuing to rabble-rouse and posture for the next week, and then fly a banner in support of UNT...another "Go Mean Green", or what not...it shows where your loyalties lie and will have more of an impact after two weeks of puffing your chest out. 

as for a public statement of intent...Smatresk already stated he plans on taking an active role in the new hire and how many athletic directors around the country are about to enter the last year of their contract with zero expectation of an extension? (I'm really asking...don't have the slightest idea) to me, that's a pretty strong indication of intent and I don't view his not holding a presser to back/hack RV as "hiding in the shadows" but rather tact. 

and I feel this needs to be pointed out to so many here...Neal Smatresk is the president of the University of North Texas. he is not the president of athletics...and while he has made clear the value he places on athletics, there is still an entire academic institution he has to helm. 

The problem with letting that dumpster try to burn itself out is that it's likely to catch all of the trees on fire and scorch the Mean Green earth. Green that won't recover for another 3-5 years after the dumpster finishes burning out in 18 months... 

[VideoEagle]

Ben, who just so happens to be carrying a small bottle of Ozarka Spring attempts to douse this blaze with his 6 ounces of water...a portion of the fire flickers briefly, a bit of smoke, but on the whole it does very little.

First, I'm a little concerned about you walking in the middle of nowhere with Young Ben. 

But the quote above does make me wonder how many letters were actually send during the "failed letter writing campaign." We know of a couple that got passed on to RV, but how many were actually send. 

[EagleMBA]

How can you say the two underlined apply to RV? Those show a lack of control, not just poor hiring practices.

 

I didn't say they applied to RV...didn't even imply it. He has built up enough goodwill, and this has not yet become a personal thing with anyone I know. But you bring up an interesting point because who knows what's under the rocks? None of us wants to go there. Tennessee smelled smoke and looked for the fire.

[10Eagle10]

Here's the deal: Dan McCarney is gone. We need a new coach. The athletic director hires the coach. If Ricky V. were to be fired it could take up to six months to find a permanent replacement if the university conducts a thorough search for the right person. It would be irresponsible and cause more damage if the University were to take even 2 months to hire a new athletic director then have that new AD immediately hire a new coach. All available time for the new coach to recruit would be lost. It just doesn't make sense. 

It's a dark time in UNT athletics, but firing the athletic director right now would ensure it becomes darker. There is a time and place for everything. Right now is not the time to fire Rick.

 

Texas A&M fired Mike Sherman and hired Kevin Sumlin 9 days later. According to many insiders, Bill Byrne did not lead the committee who vetted and signed Sumlin. The following spring, Bill Byrne was also shown the door, AND Bill Byrne is a significantly better AD than RV; his facilities built, hiring, and the Olympic sports performances under his watch dwarf RV's. If North Texas is taking athletic seriously, then RV should have no say whatsoever in the hiring of our next football or basketball coach, and he should be packing his bags to ride off into the sunset. If you truly want what's best for this university, then this underperforming, in-over-his-head athletic director is not the answer.

RV was a great Sun Belt athletic director, but guess what? We're not in the Sun Belt anymore. 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7304629/texas-aggies-fire-football-coach-mike-sherman

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7337943/houston-cougar-kevin-sumlin-leaving-texas-aggies

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7905201/texas-aggies-athletic-director-bill-byrne-retires

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8112716/south-carolina-gamecocks-eric-hyman-texas-aggies-athletic-director

 

[10Eagle10]

List of Conference USA athletic directors by tenure:

Charlotte - 1990, Judy Rose: http://www.charlotte49ers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=205348044&DB_OEM_ID=23200

UTEP - 1998, Bob Stull: http://www.utepathletics.com/genrel/stull_bob00.html

UTSA - 2000, Lynn Hickey: http://www.goutsa.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=613789

North Texas - 2001, Rick Villarreal: http://www.meangreensports.com/genrel/rick_villarreal_848277.html

MTSU - 2005, Chris Massaro: http://www.goblueraiders.com/staff.aspx?staff=10

FIU - 2006, Pete Garcia: http://fiusports.com/staff.aspx?staff=15

Marshall - 2009, Mike Hamrick: http://www.herdzone.com/genrel/hamrick_mike00.html

Old Dominion - 2010, Camden Wood Selig: http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=208409304

Western Kentucky - 2012, Todd Stewart: https://www.wku.edu/admin/staff/todd_stewart

Florida Atlantic - 2012, Patrick Chun: http://fiusports.com/staff.aspx?staff=15

Louisiana Tech - 2013, Tom McClelland: http://www.latechsports.com/genrel/071613aaa.html at only 31

Southern Miss - 2013, Bill McGillis: http://www.usm.edu/news/article/bill-mcgillis-named-director-athletics-southern-miss

Rice - 2013, Joe Karlgaard: http://news.rice.edu/2013/09/09/leebron-announces-joe-karlgaard-as-rices-next-director-of-athletics-2/

UAB - 2015, Mark Ingram: https://www.uab.edu/news/student-experience/item/6026-uab-announces-mark-ingram-as-athletic-director

 

[10Eagle10]

RV is going to have a pretty nice retirement package from the state of Texas. Maybe hitting 15 years in April will spring some next level bonuses that we don't know about?

I meant to post this earlier: Bill Byrne was willing to go down with his coach, Mike Sherman, because he didn't agree with the decision to let him go. RV, on the other hand, has shown a penchant for throwing others in front of the bus if he believes it will save his own skin. Is that really the type of leader you'd like to have?

I have spoken to dozens of former athletes over the last decade and most will tell you what they think of RV...and for the most part it ain't glowing. I had secretly been holding out hope for several years now that a successful businessman like fly would one day realize he was being hoodwinked, but his recent posts have convinced me that this necessary move of relieving RV will not be done by the big money donors.

[HarringtonFishSmeller]

Good for Harry.  Another UNT grad able to see the forest and the trees. 

[Aldo]

ULL is sitting at 2-4 while paying their hfc $1M/yr after beating 1-5 FCS Northwestern State and 1-4 Texas State. ULM sits at 1-5 after only beating FCS Nicholls(you remember them right?).

Georgia Southern sits at 5-2 after beating 3-3 Western Michigan, 4-2 FCS The Citadel, 2-4 Idaho, and 0-6 NMSU. Fritz keeps padding that resume beating up on cupcakes.

Arkansas State sits at 4-3 with wins over the aforementioned ULL and Idaho, 1-5 FCS Mizzou State, and 3-3 South Alabama.

During Apogee Era:

• ULL - 2011 to 2014 they were 36-16 (including vacated wins with that whole fiasco), 4 bowl wins (included vacated win), and a conference championship
• Georgia Southern - 2014 (first year in FBS, so bowl ineligible) 9-3. FCS 2011-2013 they were ranked and had a 28-11 record, including 6 playoff games.
• ArkSt - 2011 to 2014 they were 35-17, 4 bowl games, 3 conference champioships.

[rcade]

Fritz keeps padding that resume beating up on cupcakes. ... The worst team in our history that we are fielding this season could go and beat both ULL and ULM right now. GSU and ASU could go either way. We are capable of beating them too.

We schedule cupcakes and they hang 66-7 on us.

At the moment we're not capable of beating a 5-2 Georgia Southern. We were steamrolled by the 25th best team in the FCS. Over 50 FCS teams are higher than us in the Sagarin rankings.

[Cr1028]

We schedule cupcakes and they hang 66-7 on us.

At the moment we're not capable of beating a 5-2 Georgia Southern. We were steamrolled by the 25th best team in the FCS. Over 50 FCS teams are higher than us in the Sagarin rankings.

66-7 was a bunch of warm bodies in uniforms. Very few gave effort and that is clear. The team that played WKU last week COULD hang with GSU. McCarney is done and you will see a vastly improved team over the next six weeks now that the restraints have been removed.

[rcade]

66-7 was a bunch of warm bodies in uniforms. Very few gave effort and that is clear. The team that played WKU last week COULD hang with GSU. McCarney is done and you will see a vastly improved team over the next six weeks now that the restraints have been removed.

I hope you're right because I'd like to see these players achieve some success (and our giant freshman class to see its first win), but our defense is giving up basketball scores. That puts a lot of pressure on an offense which is still a work in progress.

Edited October 23, 2015 by rcade

[Censored by Laurie]

 

Texas A&M fired Mike Sherman and hired Kevin Sumlin 9 days later. According to many insiders, Bill Byrne did not lead the committee who vetted and signed Sumlin. The following spring, Bill Byrne was also shown the door, AND Bill Byrne is a significantly better AD than RV; his facilities built, hiring, and the Olympic sports performances under his watch dwarf RV's. If North Texas is taking athletic seriously, then RV should have no say whatsoever in the hiring of our next football or basketball coach, and he should be packing his bags to ride off into the sunset. If you truly want what's best for this university, then this underperforming, in-over-his-head athletic director is not the answer.

RV was a great Sun Belt athletic director, but guess what? We're not in the Sun Belt anymore. 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7304629/texas-aggies-fire-football-coach-mike-sherman

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7337943/houston-cougar-kevin-sumlin-leaving-texas-aggies

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7905201/texas-aggies-athletic-director-bill-byrne-retires

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8112716/south-carolina-gamecocks-eric-hyman-texas-aggies-athletic-director

 

Sherman and Byrne weren't fired together? 

A&M wasn't attempting a search for a head football coach and a new athletic director simultaneously? 

Byrne wasn't actually fired, but allowed to leave "on his terms" with his dignity, perhaps as reward for his past accomplishments? 

The problem with letting that dumpster try to burn itself out is that it's likely to catch all of the trees on fire and scorch the Mean Green earth. Green that won't recover for another 3-5 years after the dumpster finishes burning out in 18 months... 

I'm not going to try and extend out that metaphor, but how long could that 3-5 year recovery take if UNT does a rush job in hiring a new AD and he/she in turn does a rush job in hiring a new head football coach?

[Army of Dad]

Sherman and Byrne weren't fired together? 

A&M wasn't attempting a search for a head football coach and a new athletic director simultaneously? 

Byrne wasn't actually fired, but allowed to leave "on his terms" with his dignity, perhaps as reward for his past accomplishments? 

I'm not going to try and extend out that metaphor, but how long could that 3-5 year recovery take if UNT does a rush job in hiring a new AD and he/she in turn does a rush job in hiring a new head football coach?

Rush job doesn't have to be a bad one, right?

If you mean a bad job then the recover period is the same. RV can't do the (comparatively)simple things right and can't hide winning coaches in the big sports. 

Its possible we would find someone else just as bad, but I think it unlikely. Assuming RV's replacement is just as incompetent in hiring then we would still have the same length of time of both delayed results and recovery.

[Mad Hatter]

Couldn't you just fly a banner that says "We Want Change"?  You don't have to publicly crap on a guy to get your message heard.  The powers that be will know exactly what you are talking about, and those that don't will assume it means something to the effect that we, as a fan base, are tired of being on the ass end of the major college sports.  We want change.  We demand change.

[UNT90]

Couldn't you just fly a banner that says "We Want Change"?  You don't have to publicly crap on a guy to get your message heard.  The powers that be will know exactly what you are talking about, and those that don't will assume it means something to the effect that we, as a fan base, are tired of being on the ass end of the major college sports.  We want change.  We demand change.

That wouldn't make sense to a lot of people, particularly a lot of students. 

They would think "well, that's 2 weeks too late. They changed coaches, right?" 

This is meant to highlight RV's role in the major sports athletic programs to the casual public and to express disappointment in that roll. 

Edited October 23, 2015 by UNT90

[MeanGreenTexan]

That wouldn't make sense to a lot of people, particularly a lot of students. 

They would think "well, that's 2 weeks too late. They changed coaches, right?" 

This is meant to highlight RV's roll in the major sports athletic programs to the casual public and to express disappointment in that roll. 

 

 

_{(I believe you mean "role")}

[UNT90]

 

 

_{(I believe you mean "role")}

Lol. Fixed, you insufferable grammar nazi.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Lol. Fixed, you insufferable grammar nazi.

You're the club level seat holder.  I'm sure you guys get rolls up there.  There's probably a tie-in somewhere.

[UNT90]

You're the club level seat holder.  I'm sure you guys get rolls up there.  There's probably a tie-in somewhere.

it's Club Seat Holder, bitches!

Get it right. 

[Censored by Laurie]

Rush job doesn't have to be a bad one, right?

If you mean a bad job then the recover period is the same. RV can't do the (comparatively)simple things right and can't hide winning coaches in the big sports. 

Its possible we would find someone else just as bad, but I think it unlikely. Assuming RV's replacement is just as incompetent in hiring then we would still have the same length of time of both delayed results and recovery.

no...a rush job does not have to be bad. there's some latin on my degree that proves that...but given a week or given a day to complete a task, I'd wager a higher success rate on the week. would you disagree? 

again...I'm not backing RV. I thought he deserved to go once it became apparent Tony Benford was a disaster (so like, 2 games into his tenure). and I certainly don't like the man...in my handful of interactions I've always found him arrogant and, quite frankly, not all that bright. but this whole banner thing appears to me to be neither the proper or even an effective mechanism for removing him.

I mean...so you fly the banner...there it is, "Fire Rick Villareal" buzzing around Apogee for an hour before kick. you point it out to everyone at the tailgate...you high-five one another...you sip your next beer with a real sense of self-satisfaction...you accidentally hold the door for RV on your way out of the men's room and exchange a tense and awkward acknowledgement of the other's presence...you grab Sunday's DRC and maybe even the DMN, flip to page 8 of the Sports Section and cut out that quarter page article on your plane right under the 52-14 loss box score...

then what? what happens Monday morning when you log on here to see that nothing has changed? 

[UNT Five&Dime]

then what? what happens Monday morning when you log on here to see that nothing has changed? 

Who knows? But I can't wait to find out.

 

[MeanGreenTexan]

...
then what? what happens Monday morning when you log on here to see that nothing has changed? 

Duh!   The next gofundme goes up for the next home game.   If at first you don't succeed, keep throwing $1000's at a banner until you do.

[UNT90]

Duh!   The next gofundme goes up for the next home game.   If at first you don't succeed, keep throwing $1000's at a banner until you do.

it is still up. Donors will decide if it flies again. 

[Censored by Laurie]

Duh!   The next gofundme goes up for the next home game.   If at first you don't succeed, keep throwing $1000's at a banner until you do.

maybe they're being too subtle. how much would you need to raise for a car bomb? I mean a really good one?