Alumni and winning

Wag Tag · February 16, 2016

A good friend of mine is on the UNT Alumni Board. A lot of changes have taken place with Prez Smak getting invloved, with one of the biggest steps having the assoc. put under the university umbrella. This gives the alumni chapter a constant budget and mission. He said that Smak is not an academian but more of a marketing and fundraiser type president.

In talking to this board member I asked what needs to be done to drive membership? Easy, WIN at football! Some of the biggest jumps in membership happened when the new stadium was being built and the HOD bowl, I would guess it would be the same for the MGC. A winning team not only effects athletics, but has a positive impact on the whole university and we now have a President that understands this power. This has been proven to me by the firing of Mc and the hiring of Seth.

Al Davis "Just win baby!"

SilverEagle · February 16, 2016

I am a member of the alumni association. Football didn't drive my decision to join. "Down the corridor of years" I've not been interesting in participating in the association because too many reasonable people that I thought of as caring about the University gave up trying to participate because of petty politics.

Another thing NT is known for.

So the Alumni Association has gone from being independent to being under the thumb of one of the most bureaucratic entities I've ever been in contact with. And believe me I know bureaucracies.

Edited February 16, 2016 by SilverEagle

Withers940 · February 16, 2016

KNOCK....KNOCK......is @UNT90 Home?

Hi, I'm with UNT, going door to door asking what everyone thought

Edited February 16, 2016 by Withers940

UNT90 · February 16, 2016

19 minutes ago, Withers940 said:

KNOCK....KNOCK......is @UNT90 Home?

Hi, I'm with UNT, going door to door asking what everyone thought

Your infatuation is... Weird?

Silent Eagle · February 16, 2016

I'll take the bait.

I tend to believe that if we win, people will come. Why? People in the DFW area have proven time and time again that they're front runners and love a winner. We start winning, we'll start getting the crowds, we'll start seeing merchandise, we'll start seeing more alums coming back. Remember when the Mavericks were irrelevant in the late 90s (I counted 917 butts in seats at one game my senior year of HS when we first drafted our beloved German) and all of a sudden boom, toughest ticket in town. Because of the wins. A kick ass game day experience helps, but the wins are what draw people out.

Most of my angst from the current situation comes from the fact that I identify more with the athletic department than I do with my academic time at UNT. I am doing absolutely nothing with my degree, it was just simply a prerequisite to get to where I wanted. I joined the athletic association because I long for the day (albeit at a much smaller scale) when the level of pride at UNT matches that of my wife's azure and gold crowd.

Tyler Maryak · February 16, 2016

This is somewhat of a tangent, but fairly relevant:

I recently started posting an opening for an internship position I've created at work. I bleed green, so I wanted to make the opportunity open to UNT students. I created an account on the UNT Career Center website, as I did for UTA, TCU, TCCC, and DCCD. Several hours later, I was still unable to post the job description on the UNT website. For all the other career centers, I was able to post the position within the hour. I emailed the UNT Career Center about it and, to their credit, they got my account pushed through by the end of the day.

Here is the frustrating part:

When they told me I could finally post the job description, I told them that, as a UNT alumni, I would like to see us bench-marking our performance in all areas against those of our competitors. I told them that it took the other programs less than an hour to which the student employee said she would pass the concern on to someone higher up. When she responded later, it was clear that someone replied to her and gave her a BS bureaucratic cookie-cutter response to shove down my throat. I'm not mad at the student worker for doing what she was told, but I am frustrated that UNT is STILL a culture where the very concept of striving to provide a superior product (or even matching quality) is foreign. The higher ups see everything as a criticism and are convinced that things must be how they are and cannot be changed or improved upon. It wears down on their subordinates until they get out of Dodge or are beaten into submission and fall into line, at which time they promote and the cycle continues. (As a three year employee of the university, I've seen it first hand.)

The point being - there are far too many areas of the university (not just athletics) which are content with mediocrity and it will require nothing short of a comprehensive overhaul of organizational culture in every department's administration for UNT to be competitive with other universities (and thus able to retain its alumni support).

I write letters, go to events, email people, and donate money to try to affect change. As a recent alumni, it's tiring and I don't know what more I can do. I can see why people who are less die-hard about UNT than I are driven away.

Edited February 17, 2016 by Tyler Maryak

KRAM1 · February 16, 2016

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

A good friend of mine is on the UNT Alumni Board. A lot of changes have taken place with Prez Smak getting invloved, with one of the biggest steps having the assoc. put under the university umbrella. This gives the alumni chapter a constant budget and mission. He said that Smak is not an academian but more of a marketing and fundraiser type president.

In talking to this board member I asked what needs to be done to drive membership? Easy, WIN at football! Some of the biggest jumps in membership happened when the new stadium was being built and the HOD bowl, I would guess it would be the same for the MGC. A winning team not only effects athletics, but has a positive impact on the whole university and we now have a President that understands this power. This has been proven to me by the firing of Mc and the hiring of Seth.

Al Davis "Just win baby!"

The change in the Alumni Assoc. structure did not happen under Dr. Smatresk's watch, but rather Dr. Rawlins. I was on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association and was 100% active in the negotiations to create our new structure. The Alumni Association remains an independent 501C3 organization and operates with an independent board of directors under its own charter.

You are correct that the Association gets more university support than it did under its previous structure, and you are also correct in saying that Dr. Smatresk is very supportive of our efforts and interested in growing the Association's reach. We are extremely happy with the new structure and the support we now enjoy from the highest levels of the university.

You are also correct in that winning in athletics brings positives across the spectrum of the university as a whole...including the Alumni Association. There is no argument on this point within university personnel across the nation.

Since you have a friend on the board, I do hope he has made sure that you are an Alumni Association member.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · February 16, 2016

1 hour ago, Tyler Maryak said:

This is somewhat of a tangent, but fairly relevant:

I recently started posting an opening for an internship position I've created at work. I bleed green, so I wanted to make the opportunity open to UNT students. I created an account on the UNT Career Center website, as I did for UTA, TCU, UTA, TCCC, and DCCD. Several hours later, I was still unable to post the job description on the UNT website. For all five other career centers, I was able to post the position within the hour. I emailed the UNT Career Center about it and, to their credit, they got my account pushed through by the end of the day.

Here is the frustrating part:

When they told me I could finally post the job description, I told them that, as a UNT alumni, I would like to see us bench-marking our performance in all areas against those of our competitors. I told them that it took the other programs less than an hour to which the student employee said she would pass the concern on to someone higher up. When she responded later, it was clear that someone replied to her and gave her a BS bureaucratic cookie-cutter response to shove down my throat. I'm not mad at the student worker for doing what she was told, but I am frustrated that UNT is STILL a culture where the very concept of striving to provide a superior product (or even matching quality) is foreign. The higher ups see everything as a criticism and are convinced that things must be how they are and cannot be changed or improved upon. It wears down on their subordinates until they get out of Dodge or are beaten into submission and fall into line, at which time they promote and the cycle continues (as a three year employee of the university, I've seen it first hand).

The point being - there are far too many areas of the university (not just athletics) which are content with mediocrity and it will require nothing short of a comprehensive overhaul of organizational culture in every department's administration for UNT to be competitive with other universities (and thus able to retain its alumni).

I write letters, go to events, email people, and donate money to try to affect change. As a recent alumni, it's tiring and I don't know what more I can do. I can see why people who are less die-hard about UNT than I are driven away.

Dude, the incompetence in administration is University wide and so infuriating. The president has to know this and knows there's a long road ahead. There are some very good individuals but it seems like UNT is two steps behind everyone else in MANY areas.

Wag Tag · February 16, 2016

8 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

The change in the Alumni Assoc. structure did not happen under Dr. Smatresk's watch, but rather Dr. Rawlins. I was on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association and was 100% active in the negotiations to create our new structure. The Alumni Association remains an independent 501C3 organization and operates with an independent board of directors under its own charter.

You are correct that the Association gets more university support than it did under its previous structure, and you are also correct in saying that Dr. Smatresk is very supportive of our efforts and interested in growing the Association's reach. We are extremely happy with the new structure and the support we now enjoy from the highest levels of the university.

You are also correct in that winning in athletics brings positives across the spectrum of the university as a whole...including the Alumni Association. There is no argument on this point within university personnel across the nation.

Since you have a friend on the board, I do hope he has made sure that you are an Alumni Association member.

I have been a Life Member for approx 5 years! Thanks for all your hard work!

8 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

The change in the Alumni Assoc. structure did not happen under Dr. Smatresk's watch, but rather Dr. Rawlins. I was on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association and was 100% active in the negotiations to create our new structure. The Alumni Association remains an independent 501C3 organization and operates with an independent board of directors under its own charter.

You are correct that the Association gets more university support than it did under its previous structure, and you are also correct in saying that Dr. Smatresk is very supportive of our efforts and interested in growing the Association's reach. We are extremely happy with the new structure and the support we now enjoy from the highest levels of the university.

You are also correct in that winning in athletics brings positives across the spectrum of the university as a whole...including the Alumni Association. There is no argument on this point within university personnel across the nation.

Since you have a friend on the board, I do hope he has made sure that you are an Alumni Association member.

I have been a Life Member for approx 5 years! Thanks for all your hard work!

KRAM1 · February 16, 2016

Just now, Wag Tag said:

I have been a Life Member for approx 5 years! Thanks for all your hard work!

Thank you, Sir. Your support is very much appreciated!

Tyler Maryak · February 16, 2016

7 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

Dude, the incompetence in administration is University wide and so infuriating. The president has to know this and knows there's a long road ahead. There are some very good individuals but it seems like UNT is two steps behind everyone else in MANY areas.

You're too right, man. @KRAM1 I enjoyed reviewing the alumni association annual report and really liked the dedication to transparency. There is a clear improvement from previous years.

KRAM1 · February 17, 2016

2 hours ago, Tyler Maryak said:

You're too right, man. @KRAM1 I enjoyed reviewing the alumni association annual report and really liked the dedication to transparency. There is a clear improvement from previous years.

Thank you. We tried to be just that...transparent in highlighting both some of our successes and pointing out some areas where we need to do a better job. In fact, it is the first such annual report sent to our membership. We have strides to make, but, we are taking those strides seriously, and hope our alums will recognize our progress.

TripleGrad · February 17, 2016

I first graduated in 92 on a 6 year plan. North Texas was always pretty terrible at football during that era. I didn't care, I was a member of Talons and bled green at the time. That said, the current terrible record isn't why I'm disconnected from the school. There are basically three reasons:

1) The current school doesn't 'feel' related to my school at all. What used to be a commuter music school is now a Borg-like entity eating that entire section of town.

2) Someone changed my mascot and logos, and then picked a high-school color to replace our nice green.

3) The only time I ever heard from the school for the first 10 years after graduation was to ask for money.

The Alumni Association better focus on their recent grads and try to build some school spirit while the kids are there, because they don't have much chance with folks like me.

Edited February 17, 2016 by TripleGrad

Christopher Walker · February 17, 2016

9 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

A good friend of mine is on the UNT Alumni Board. A lot of changes have taken place with Prez Smak getting invloved, with one of the biggest steps having the assoc. put under the university umbrella. This gives the alumni chapter a constant budget and mission. He said that Smak is not an academian but more of a marketing and fundraiser type president.

In talking to this board member I asked what needs to be done to drive membership? Easy, WIN at football! Some of the biggest jumps in membership happened when the new stadium was being built and the HOD bowl, I would guess it would be the same for the MGC. A winning team not only effects athletics, but has a positive impact on the whole university and we now have a President that understands this power. This has been proven to me by the firing of Mc and the hiring of Seth.

Al Davis "Just win baby!"

I was going to correct your oral transcription errors, but @KRAM1 beat me to it.

I will however point out that your board member buddy is quite wrong about the bolded portion above. Smatresk is a pretty robust professor of biology and plans on resuming teaching whenever the timing is right.