Friendly reminder

[Harry]

In January 2014, we as a football program and fanbase experience what many including myself, have termed our best moment, and I have been following the program closely >20 years now.  We put 40K into the Cotton Bowl on New Years day and we won a bowl game.  Our newly hired president flipped the coin.  It was Dan McCarney's 3rd year.

the 2014 season went downhill fast although we were able to open the season with a win against crosstown rival SMU.  This season has been an unmitigated disaster.  To the credit of the administration, it was dealt with a lot quicker than we would have seen in past years.

My point is this -- we were not that bad that long ago.  It can be done here.  It has been done here.  Has it been done here enough?  Hell no.  And therein lies much of the frustration and angst that we see from our fans right now.

I was watching a bunch a football games yesterday, but there was one which caught my attention.  A&M was playing a team called Western Carolina.  The Western Carolina Coach Mark Speir was sort of pale, had black rimmed glasses, and very animated on the sidelines.  He honestly gave A&M everything they could possible handle in the 1st half of that game.  He would be the antithesis of the young, well groomed offensive coordinator types who frequently get mentioned here.  Frankly Western Carolina scared A&M to death for a good amount of that game.  Western Carolina had good athletes, they just did not have enough depth to last against a program like A&M.

The announcers mentioned he had been an assistant coach at App State, and seen success.  I do not think he had been a head coach.  He was pleased that he was finally in a position at Western Carolina where he could redshirt a few guys and build some depth.  He wasn't quite there yet but heading in the right direction.  He is just one, but there are many very good coaches out there that would love an opportunity to turn things around here.

Dan McCarney turned out to be a bad hire.  We paid a consultant a lot of money to make this mistake.  His 3rd year was an enigma, however it showed us that we can build a program here we just need to hire the right person.  I believe we are closer than many of our fans think.

People say that I am overly optimistic.  That may be true.  I hear a lot of people saying UNT is not a good job,  I'm sorry, I just don't buy that.  I think it could be a very good job.  I think the administration is going to have to step up to the plate and pay a competitive salary.

In 2011, we finally stepped up to play the game at a competitive level.  We paid in the upper half of C-USA salaries.  We had a brand new football stadium.  Despite all of these things we still missed on some key criteria, namely recruiting.  We did not recruit at a level that was needed.  As painful a lesson as that is now, I do believe that it is something that will not be repeated here.  If anything, I think recruiting is the #1 priority in this hire.

Last point, if you think we cannot turn things around take a look at Houston.  There are a lot of similarities between us (state school/good academics/major metropolitan location).  They have not been a good program often since leaving the Southwest conference.  Slowly but surely they have been building.  They built a beautiful stadium after we finished Apogee. They have upped their compensation for coaches.  Their last hire, Tony Levine - despite having an overall winning record was fired.  Now they have Tom Hermann and they may well be the g5 representative in the playoff!  They sold their stadium out last night.  How can UT fans call them Cougar high anymore? They've grown up.  They've earned respect.

Keep the faith.  I think this next hire will catapult us to where we deserve to be.

[Marty]

Fingers crossed Harry. I've been following this program since 1974 & have heard "sleeping giant" used quite a few times. As Mac said: why not North Texas!

Edited November 15, 2015 by Marty

[KingDL1]

RV is putting the Giant in a deeper sleep.

We need to do more than disturb the UNT Sleeping Giant once in a while we need to win win win and work on waking this giant relentlessly and really wake this giant the hell up. I really think we need a New AD with lots and lots of fire and energy to get this waking started. 

[Ben Gooding]

The angst is that we are well aware of what the common denominator is of alllll these years of losing and not a damn thing is being done about it. If anything, people closest to the program get defensive about it and go into robot damage control mode. It's more than obvious that nothing will change until Rick Villarreal is out. You can create these threads all day and night, but nothing is going to change unless real change takes place. 

[UNT90]

The biggest misnomer involving UNT is that we are a sleeping giant.

We are anything but. We are a big school that doesn't care about athletics. We aren't in a slumber, as we have never been born.

Maybe Indiana is a sleeping giant. Possibly even Kansas. Both have a much better claim to the moniker.

Sleeping Giants don't protect ADs with the track record of Rick Villarreal. Tiny Tims do that. That is a much better moniker for this program.

[EagleMBA]

What a great mental image, 90.

[FirefightnRick]

Speaking of Bowl games and Aggies...

I know countless Aggie alumni, many friends, many I work with, live with and am related to.  And many of whom are season ticket holders.  I would say this number is in the tens of dozens?  In fact I was offered 4 tickets to yesterday's game but couldn't go.

These dozens of Aggies usually attend their bowl games too.  In fact my son was taken to the Cottonbowl at AT&T by one of them the last time they played in it.  

Of these countless Aggies I know of I've never heard a single one complain about not getting their tickets in a timely fashion for the season or for their bowl games, unlike the ticket disbursement fiasco our fans usually have to go through.

 

Rick   

[UNT86]

I don't agree that McCarney was a bad hire.  He did some very good things here.  He did not accept that playing Alabama close was acceptable.  He said that if we are beating SFA for a recruit, it doesn't really matter if we get him.  We need to start beating Colorado State and Iowa State for recruits, and a few times we have.  I think he raised the expectations that got him fired.

RV has done some incredible things for NT.  I NEVER thought we would have a new stadium.  Our facilities are better than they ever have been.  Our conference is better since we are out of the Sun Belt.  We have 5 bowl games under his leadership (with 2 wins). Yes, I know he didn't hire Dickey, but if you want to say Dickey had a losing record and blame that on RV, you have to give him credit for the bowls too.

That being said, I'm ready for us to stop the 1 step forward 3 steps back.  I think this thing is a lot closer than many think.  But I also agree that this hire cannot miss.

I wish some here wouldn't be so negative, but at the same time I'm thankful for an end to the apathy.

[greenminer]

"We were not that bad that long ago"

 

What? We were good once in 10 years.  Granted, I had a lot of fun that year but that is nothing to hang my hat on.  We were not that good for very long.

[EagleMBA]

"We were not that bad that long ago"

 

What? We were good once in 10 years.  Granted, I had a lot of fun that year but that is nothing to hang my hat on.  We were not that good for very long.

Daddy said "The dog that shits fast don't shit long!".

[southsideguy]

and we lived happily ever after lol

[NM Green]

We are not the worst team in college football. We are not complete but we are not the worst.   We will probably lose to middle but now I think we can beat Utep. 

Gmg

[rcade]

Daddy said "The dog that shits fast don't shit long!".

Not a pretty picture. What was your dad feeding your dog?

[Side Show Joe]

Overall, our entire athletics have been bad for a decade. That is completely unacceptable.

Mac was a bad hire because he...

A. Didn't recruit well.

B. Was stubborn as a mule and wouldn't field a modern offense.

and

C. Mishandled our QB position for the last 2 season.

I think North Texas could be a great place to coach football. The sad truth is, at this point, UNT should already be viewed as a great place to coach. The fact that few in the national narrative view our job as desirable, is an indictment of our current leadership and those that choose to stay this course. Lets finish cleaning house, and hold our university to a higher standard.

In 2014, Houston brought in Hunter Yurachek from Coastal Carolina. He is their Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics (their AD). He chaired the committee that sold the naming rights to their new stadium, and worked on the development of their new basketball facility. Yuracheck was also instrumental in the search for coach Tom Herman, who currently has UH undefeated, and their new men's and women's basketball coaches.

Lets be like Houston and bring in new leadership.

[EagleMBA]

Not a pretty picture. What was your dad feeding your dog?

I heard that quote often in the context of Euchre games played in the basement, with lots of Stroh's being consumed. It usually followed one of the opposing partners having a big hand and taking a lot of tricks.

[UNT90]

We are not the worst team in college football. We are not complete but we are not the worst.   We will probably lose to middle but now I think we can beat Utep. 

Gmg

UTEP has shown vast improvement since the first 3 games of the year. I hope you aren't a sports betting man. 

[SilverEagle]

The biggest misnomer involving UNT is that we are a sleeping giant.

We are anything but. We are a big school that doesn't care about athletics. We aren't in a slumber, as we have never been born.

Maybe Indiana is a sleeping giant. Possibly even Kansas. Both have a much better claim to the moniker.

Sleeping Giants don't protect ADs with the track record of Rick Villarreal. Tiny Tims do that. That is a much better moniker for this program.

Totally agree with this. Every time I hear the "sleeping giant" phrase, I always think "you have to be a giant first before you can go to sleep and be reawakened". 

There are a giant number of alumni at this school. But as I've said in other threads, we have no common culture, or more appropriately, a common soul.

If five or six alumni who didn't know one another who found themselves in a bar watching a NT football game and we ended up winning (the main suspension of disbelief in this example) would all five break out into a loud and spontaneous singing of the fight song? I've never seen it happen, and to me, THAT is one of the basic things missing from our alumni base........no discernible soul.

[Christopher Walker]

Totally agree with this. Every time I hear the "sleeping giant" phrase, I always think "you have to be a giant first before you can go to sleep and be reawakened". 

There are a giant number of alumni at this school. But as I've said in other threads, we have no common culture, or more appropriately, a common soul.

If five or six alumni who didn't know one another who found themselves in a bar watching a NT football game and we ended up winning (the main suspension of disbelief in this example) would all five break out into a loud and spontaneous singing of the fight song? I've never seen it happen, and to me, THAT is one of the basic things missing from our alumni base........no discernible soul.

I have and it is one of the best feelings ever.

[mgfan]

Once every 10 years doesn't cut it for me. We have to be at .500 to go to a bowl and we struggle with that. Think about the for a second. Once in 10 years we been .500 or better.