GoMeanGreen Barbershop Podcast #156

[BillySee58]

It just seemed like someone trying to defend the indefensible on their way out the door. I really hope that is the case. 

I'll believe it when it happens. 

Also, he said it was written by someone last year that it's hard to recruit to North Texas. Thankfully Harry corrected things and said that it was Mccarney himself.

[UNT90]

I'll believe it when it happens. 

Also, he said it was written by someone last year that it's hard to recruit to North Texas. Thankfully Harry corrected things and said that it was Mccarney himself.

Oh, we all know RV just says things to make himself look less bad. Not shocked by that at all and at this point his lying is so well documented, it's hardly even worth the mention. 

I was glad to see RV get sone semi-tough questions this time around. I wouldn't be surprised if from here on out he demands a list of questions before each appearance. Lol.

[Mike Jackson]

Loved the podcast.  From RV's standpoint I don't know why he even comes on.   This program is at a level where he has no clue on how to help it grow.   College Athletics is not the like the "Field of Dreams".  You can't just build facilities and expect great player and loyal fans to come from hundreds of miles away.  Now he is expecting a football coach to fix everything.  Seth might be great but great here just might mean 8-4 and not winning CUSA West.  If Seth takes this team on a 4 year .650 winning percentage run should we expect sellouts at Apogee in year 3 or early in year 4?  RV doesn't even understand the culture at UNT and how a culture is created.  Culture takes time to build.  You have to create something unique beyond just winning that bond alumni and fans together.    An athletic program is more than just a few years of winning football.    He is constantly talking about people giving the program money.  Well when people give you money they expect results.  Has even been successful getting 15K students in Apogee.  Students today are paying alumni fan 4-5 years from now.  While I was a student I don't remember anything significant being done to help make me a future fan of the program.   I think we had a pep rally but that is about it.  Only one my fellow 2007-2008 alumni have been to a game since they have graduated.  He said nothing about making the game day experience more enjoyable.  How about getting students more engaged?  Asking UNT alumni to come up with P5 Conference money to compete in CUSA with your track record is just ridiculous.  Any competent AD should be successful in a conference in which they have the top financial resources.  It is not just the losing that has me leaving the MGC it is RV's lack of leadership and vision.  If you hand me 6 million dollars and tell me to hire a coaching staff, I am sure I could put a good one together.  If you build a program  there always be one of the revenue sport teams doing well.  Moreover if you have a strong culture fans will show up to game in down seasons  also. (They may not sellout but getting 70% of capacity for football and maybe 50% for  weekend Mens basketball games are reasonable).   If RV were gone and we still had a brand new football coach I would be current member and trying to upgrade to a club seat.

[Ben Gooding]

"I'm not sure exactly." 

 

Wow. 

[NorthTexan95]

Loved the podcast.  From RV's standpoint I don't know why he even comes on.   This program is at a level where he has no clue on how to help it grow.   College Athletics is not the like the "Field of Dreams".  You can't just build facilities and expect great player and loyal fans to come from hundreds of miles away.  Now he is expecting a football coach to fix everything.  Seth might be great but great here just might mean 8-4 and not winning CUSA West.  If Seth takes this team on a 4 year .650 winning percentage run should we expect sellouts at Apogee in year 3 or early in year 4?  RV doesn't even understand the culture at UNT and how a culture is created.  Culture takes time to build.  You have to create something unique beyond just winning that bond alumni and fans together.    

There's also a culture in DFW:  fans will support a winner.  In this market there is too much competition for the fans interest to support a continually losing team.  Win and they come, lose and they stay away.  Since this is such a pro sports town, colleges have an even tougher time.  

35,000 UNT fans came to the HoD bowl game ... our one winning season in a decade.  The fans are out there and they just need a winner to show up.  

[Mike Jackson]

There's also a culture in DFW:  fans will support a winner.  In this market there is too much competition for the fans interest to support a continually losing team.  Win and they come, lose and they stay away.  Since this is such a pro sports town, colleges have an even tougher time.  

35,000 UNT fans came to the HoD bowl game ... our one winning season in a decade.  The fans are out there and they just need a winner to show up.  

Before 1996 the Texas Rangers had never made the MLB playoffs.  During their last 6 years at the old Arlington stadium their attendance averaged a little over 60% of capacity.  Mind you that is a losing baseball franchise in the middle of arguably the most football hungry state in the country.  There are also 82 regular season games for the Rangers compared to on 5 or 6 Mean Green home games a year.     So, I look at the "just win" and it will fix everything theory as a little naive.  If  "just winning" means 4 straight years of 9-3 or 10-2 and competitive showing in all the bowl games I agree(and even that is a not a guaranteed long term fix in my opinion).   But is success like that plausible at any program not in a P5 conference with virtually unlimited resources?  A strong culture keep your average attendance at around 20k through mediocre years and subpar 3 win seasons.  And that 20k should be easy because getting 8,000 students out of 30,000+ should not be an impossible task.  You can't get students to enjoy a product they have already paid for by just attending UNT and that to me speaks volumes about how huge of a failure RV has been.  Every fall they should have EA Sport NCAA (the last version they made) up on a big screen in the student Union.  Simulated to show the Mean Green kicking butt on the field in front of 30,000 plus fan with a banner underneath stating there are well over 35,000 student here and we can make this happen but we need all of you.  Hell project it on the side of one the great new building at UNT at night and get our real band playing underneath.

So I hear what everyone is saying about winning.  And yes it will help tremendously however, unless you build a strong culture you will be forever chasing fickle band wagon fans whenever you have a down year.  Let's look at the Dallas Cowboys which is the standard of financial sports success in DFW.  Before Jerry Jones arrived we had Cowboy games blacked out because some of the games weren't sellouts.  If the Cowboys don't win 3 Super Bowls in 4 years and had just be winning but not getting to NFC Championship games the franchise would look drastically different and AT&T Stadium would not be such a grand spectacle now.  

So what would an "early 1990s Cowboys like" run at UNT look like?  National Championship is out the question with he P5 vs G5 playoff selection process.  The holy grail for us would be 2 or 3 consecutive bowl wins with one of those wins coming over an upper level Old Big 12 or SEC School.  That means catching Alabama, Oklahoma, UT Austin, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida or Nebraska (teams we have never beaten before) in a bowl game with at least a 30 year history behind it and beating them.  So essentially to make that happen UNT has to be undefeated or one lost CUSA Champion.  Also during this magical season has to sandwiched between 2 winning seasons.  To get fickle band wagon fans to stick around after a 4-8 season that is kind of winning you need to "fix everything".   I think doing creative things to change the culture and creating new traditions is a far easier task.  But winning has to go along with those effort for those things to work.  Winning is the engine but culture is the turbo charger.