Issue with Vito's opinion

[Dr. Seuss]

UNT needs to focus on wins, that's it.  Once the program starts winning, everyone will follow.  I don't care if the head coach is worse than Bo Polini, we need a guy who can get wins first.  Once you start winning, everything else will follow. 

People have been told the same thing for 10+ years, come out and support.  Guess what, they have and UNT has let them down every time.  Until the university can put a consistent product out on the field, we're going to experience some heavy volatility.

 

[Dr. Seuss]

"It couldn’t be any clearer at this point that UNT needs more than a new football coach. UNT needs a glad-handing, baby-kissing, Denton-residing cheerleader to unify the troops who appear to be running to the exits.

Oh, and if he could be the kind of football genius who can figure out a way to win consistently at a school that hasn’t strung together winning seasons since Darrell Dickey led the Mean Green to four consecutive Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-04, well, that would be swell."

 

When did a HC need to start being a salesman to the community over knowing how to win consistently??  Isn't that what RV is supposed to do?   

 

[KingDL1]

"It couldn’t be any clearer at this point that UNT needs more than a new football coach. UNT needs a glad-handing, baby-kissing, Denton-residing cheerleader to unify the troops who appear to be running to the exits.

Oh, and if he could be the kind of football genius who can figure out a way to win consistently at a school that hasn’t strung together winning seasons since Darrell Dickey led the Mean Green to four consecutive Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-04, well, that would be swell."

 

When did a HC need to start being a salesman to the community over knowing how to win consistently??  Isn't that what RV is supposed to do?   

 

Yes but RV is so full of it that he is off putting at times and he is old news in Denton. 

[Dr. Seuss]

In my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong but Vito is the only person who covers UNT.  90% of the news coming from ESPN is from the DRC, Timmy Mac will contribute here and there.  FW Star Telegram has a person here and there and same with Dallas.  He has a monopoly, why can't he ask the hard question?  What other newpaper is going to give them coverage everyday?  Would they fire him because he's doing his job and not letting the University run the MG Blog?

I know the NT Daily has picked up a lot since Scott Sidway came along, hopefully this does something...

Edited November 19, 2015 by Dr. Seuss

[shaft]

When did a HC need to start being a salesman to the community over knowing how to win consistently??  Isn't that what RV is supposed to do?   

Because that's what head coaches do now.  Being a head coach is part mascot, part development director.

Because its going to take 2-3 seasons to rebuild and they have to be able to sell the program to recruits and boosters, before the winning speaks for itself.

[Dr. Seuss]

Because that's what head coaches do now.  Being a head coach is part mascot, part development director.

Because its going to take 2-3 seasons to rebuild and they have to be able to sell the program to recruits and boosters, before the winning speaks for itself.

So you're telling me that Todd Monken was out selling the community and selling to fans more than organizing a football program.. That's why they're 5-1 in conference in his 3rd year after the same program lost 23 games in a row?

I know the HC has to do appearances and stuff but making him act like AD Jr. doesn't seem normal... I could be completely wrong but I just don't see that from other schools.  Again, if I'm wrong, please tell me.  

Edited November 19, 2015 by Dr. Seuss

[Dr. Seuss]

My point is that the fan base wants results.  The community and fans are to the point in which they tried to support but the only thing consistent about UNT is losing.  People don't want to support losing programs just like you don't want to invest your hard money into losing companies; ROI.  

This isn't a program where you can invest now because its a "Falling Knife" and you think it could rebound quickly or take your loses.  UNT has been consistently bad, who wants to invest in a bad product?

I'm using ROI as an example because I'm assuming you want to see your money turn into wins and not just a tax write off.  

 

[UNT90]

What it comes down to is the new head coach will have to do the ADs job while trying to turn around a football program.

Thats the point Vito was so slyly making...

[wardly]

Coaching stops around the metropex seem like a waste of time. I just don't think its the coaches job to be a cheerleader , as if he doesn't win it won't make any difference .

[Eagle-96]

Winning football games on a consistent basis is the greatest cheerleader of all time.

[Mad Hatter]

Agree.  It should be RV's job to work in the community.  The coach needs to win.  People will come out of the wood work if it appears we've changed our stripes.

[untjim1995]

In my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong but Vito is the only person who covers UNT.  90% of the news coming from ESPN is from the DRC, Timmy Mac will contribute here and there.  FW Star Telegram has a person here and there and same with Dallas.  He has a monopoly, why can't he ask the hard question?  What other newpaper is going to give them coverage everyday?  Would they fire him because he's doing his job and not letting the University run the MG Blog?

I know the NT Daily has picked up a lot since Scott Sidway came along, hopefully this does something...

Vito isn't going to get fired from the DRC if he asks those questions. He will get frozen out by the UNT athletic department, which will hurt his access to the programs. Belo won't fire Vito for that, they'll just ask him to cover more Denton County high school stuff and cover UNT almost like a correspondent.

And then we would have nobody to give us any decent coverage of this place.

[Dr. Seuss]

Vito isn't going to get fired from the DRC if he asks those questions. He will get frozen out by the UNT athletic department, which will hurt his access to the programs. Belo won't fire Vito for that, they'll just ask him to cover more Denton County high school stuff and cover UNT almost like a correspondent.

And then we would have nobody to give us any decent coverage of this place.

Then will RV finally get fired?

[untjim1995]

Then will RV finally get fired?

Nope...he survived this mess, he is good until he wants to retire. The UNT 17 love him because RV gives them access to the athletic program and the BOR loves him because he keeps us within the budget they give us without complaining. Nothing else matters.

We will have the Rick Villareal Athletic Department next to the Darrell Dickey Practice Fields when RV retires, if not before then. Not embarrassing at all...

[RBP79]

I want to win....I am to old and beaten down by this FB program to start all over...That's all NT does is start over!  

[forevereagle]

Nope...he survived this mess, he is good until he wants to retire. The UNT 17 love him because RV gives them access to the athletic program and the BOR loves him because he keeps us within the budget they give us without complaining. Nothing else matters.

We will have the Rick Villareal Athletic Department next to the Darrell Dickey Practice Fields when RV retires, if not before then. Not embarrassing at all...

He did? This mess is over? I don't think it is accurate yet to say that he has made it through and his seat isn't hot. Just because it hasn't happened on the immediate time frame some on this board have called for does not mean that it will not happen.

[UNT90]

The fact that Smatresk wouldn't give him a vote of confidence after he publicly asked for one doesn't bode well. Hopefully Smatresk is busy getting donors on board and the ax falls at season's end.

[EagleMBA]

He did? This mess is over? I don't think it is accurate yet to say that he has made it through and his seat isn't hot. Just because it hasn't happened on the immediate time frame some on this board have called for does not mean that it will not happen.

 

Beside making me nostalgic for my fraternity years, this movie always leaves me with some inspiration. This clip is worth three minutes of your time as you translate it to the current situation in UNT athletics.

Edited November 19, 2015 by EagleMBA

[Brett Vito]

MGB: Follow-up thoughts on why winning won't fix everything at UNT, mostly because it never has before

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/11/follow-up-thoughts-on-a-salesman-as-a-coach-why-winning-wont-fix-everything-at-unt.html/

[Dr. Seuss]

MGB: Follow-up thoughts on why winning won't fix everything at UNT, mostly because it never has before

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/11/follow-up-thoughts-on-a-salesman-as-a-coach-why-winning-wont-fix-everything-at-unt.html/

Understood, but what did UNT's HC have to do to bring 40k fans to the Cottonbowl on Jan. 1? Win.  They didn't have to come up with some strategic marketing strategy to get fans.  I dont know of a coach that will sell to the community more than Mac.  Mac just oversold and under delivered. 

The HC did his job by getting to the bowl game.  The Athletic Dept. did not do their job by getting those people to buy season tickets the next year.  That's on the Athletic Dept, not the HC.

[TheWestie]

Understood, but what did UNT's HC have to do to bring 40k fans to the Cottonbowl on Jan. 1? Win.  They didn't have to come up with some strategic marketing strategy to get fans. 

B.S.

 

There were 40k Mean Green fans at the Heart of Dallas Bowl because the university as a whole marketed the hell out of the game. Hell even the alumni association were marketing the game to get people out there. And we only got 40K because the game was in Dallas and convenient for our apathetic fan base. 

Winning will solidify the fandom of current students and recent grad who live close by. But that's not what we need to worry about. We need to worry about the tens of thousands of alums who graduated between 1978 and 1998. 

There are three types of Mean Green fans that I can identify. They were students during the Missouri Valley Conference days when we were pretty damn good (and this includes the Mean Joe Greene era, students during the Hayden Fry years of the Flying Worm, and students during the last 15 years, the Dickey years until now. Notice a gap? Nobody but @FirefightnRicknRick talks about their love for the 1-AA years. (Ok there are a more than a few of y'all on here but you know what Im talking about). This university had a good 20 year stretch where football really WAS marginalized and was a complete afterthought in the grand scheme of things. These alums are at the age where their children are starting to enter college or will soon be and are going to be looking back at UNT for the first time in years. These are people we need to reach and be cheerleaders to. Can we reach every one of them and bring them back to the nest? No of course not, but every one that we can bring in is another butt in a seat at Apogee and dollar for the Mean Green Club that didn't exist before. And one less alum who will be a UT or TCU t-shirt fan. 

Baylor and TCU were the whipping boys of the Southwest Conference for the better part of 50 years. Their recent surge in wins has happened concurrently with massive outreach to alums by their athletic departments and alumni associations, using a winning football team as a convenient reason to get people back on campus and reconnect with the school. That is where we have failed. Mac was out and about around town all the time acting as the #1 advocate of the program because he understood the first place to start was to get any and everyone in Denton who was in anyway connected to the school to get out to the games. Then you can work on the other 237,000 alumni in DFW. 

[UNT90]

Winning isn't good enough. Winning big is what needs to happen. What do I mean by winning big? A season where we beat a relevant P5 and are ranked from game 4 on in the top 25. 

The AD and coach that can do that stand a chance of changing the culture of the fans.

But the current culture of the AD prevents this from ever occurring. A culture that accepts 9-4 and a Heart of Dallas bowl win over a bad UNLV team (they were 7-5 headed into the game) as the pinnacle of success will never get this done. 

A new coaching hire without a new AD is like spitting into the wind and calling it rain...

Edited November 21, 2015 by UNT90

[NorthTexan95]

Understood, but what did UNT's HC have to do to bring 40k fans to the Cottonbowl on Jan. 1? Win.  They didn't have to come up with some strategic marketing strategy to get fans.  I dont know of a coach that will sell to the community more than Mac.  Mac just oversold and under delivered. 

The HC did his job by getting to the bowl game.  The Athletic Dept. did not do their job by getting those people to buy season tickets the next year.  That's on the Athletic Dept, not the HC.

This is what I've been saying.  The people are out there if you win.  "If you win it ... they will come."  

[man-up UNT]

Okay, coach is not a cheerleader or in charge of promotions; his job is recruiting and winning, period! I didn't say he couldn't be inspirational when talking to the alumni, but he must win, that's all that matters. Promotions and advertising is the athletic directors and his staff's responsibility...advertising is a must in the DFW market. We don't do enough of it!!!

[Travis]

I love how Vito will engage the fans with the blog. It is great!  Thanks for that.

 

I think the decline in attendance from 2013 to 2014 was obvious that by the half of the 2014 season we all knew it was a lost season.  I do think winning will solve most every problem... but, mostly it is consistent winning.  The flash in the pan in 2013 is simply not enough for us to get to BSU type numbers.  We need to win, and keep doing it for more than just a 13 week time span.