So you're the AD...

drycreek · May 24, 2016

2 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

-Build a solid relationship with the univeristy.

-Clean up the mess RV made out of our football schedule. You can start by dropping the Army series and a couple of those FCS games.

-Fire Benford.

-Use marketing and sales as tools to build our athletic programs. Not as annoyances that you have to tolerate. This was one of RV's biggest faults. Your job is bigger than cultivating a few big donors and building facilities.

why drop the Army games?

greenjoe · May 24, 2016

1. Find people that can sell tickets and MG memberships and hats and be professional and polite doing it.

2. Hold a "meet the AD" event and actually schedule Mean Green Club meetings quarterly.

3. As soon as possible, schedule a well known visiting team to Apogee and then build on that. Oh, and schedule a concert to raise money for Athletics.

TreeFiddy · May 24, 2016

9 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

1. Find people that can sell tickets and MG memberships and hats and be professional and polite doing it.

2. Hold a "meet the AD" event and actually schedule Mean Green Club meetings quarterly.

3. As soon as possible, schedule a well known visiting team to Apogee and then build on that. Oh, and schedule a concert to raise money for Athletics.

I saw some graduation pictures from Apogee. It appears that the university has purchased (rented?) some materials to cover the turf (a supposed $250k expense as to a reason that concerts could not be held).

UNT90 · May 24, 2016

1 minute ago, TreeFiddy said:

I saw some graduation pictures from Apogee. It appears that the university has purchased (rented?) some materials to cover the turf (a supposed $250k expense as to a reason that concerts could not be held).

If the $250k number came from the hustler, you can disregard it. It was most certainly a lie.

meanrob · May 24, 2016

Stop worrying about the schedule. It's about tenth on our list of problems. The obsession with the schedule is like worrying about weeds when your house is falling apart.

Quarterly meetings are a dumb idea. A real AD should be able to get his message/ideas across through the media/social media.

Ben Gooding · May 24, 2016

1. Win

2. Market

3. Win

4. Market

5. Win

Censored by Laurie · May 24, 2016

5 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Call Ernie, Brint, Don, C.Dan, et al. and assure them they're in good hands. I know what I'm doing, but I need your help.

Gotta keep those guys in the fold before you look to 'bring back' or 'add to'.

but aren't those guys a part of the seventeen who, through their shady financial influence, were protecting RV in his position as a means of treating UNT athletics as their own personal country club?

or...are we just totally dismissing that conspiracy theory now?

4 hours ago, Dr. Seuss said:

When a new CEO comes in, they don't clean house and scare people about having a job. The tell them about their vision for the program and what their expectations are. The ones that want to learn and change with their new leader, will. The ones that don't change will just have to change employers; change will happen in some way or form.

I'm not saying no one will be fired or leave but the reason why we're where we are is because of RV. Now he's gone, most people in the Athletic Dept are happy to learn and develop their careers from someone else.

I do see guys like Capper leaving. He'll bring some of his guys in but I don't see him cleaning house.

the idea that there is no one of talent/ability/passion within the current AD is borne solely out of spite. a good hire will recognize that, keep a balance of present employees, a handful of his own outside hires and hopefully a small batch of young, recent UNT alums to round out the staff

UNTLifer · May 24, 2016

1. Reconnect with the lettermen and rebuild that organization.

2. Clean house and hire people that are passionate about seeing UNT reach its potential.

3. Hold open houses at Apogee and invite every former and current season ticket holder, MGC member, single game ticket purchaser, HOD Bowl game ticket purchaser, recent grad and current student. Share my vision for tne department and stress the importance of their involvement to reach these goals.

4. Speak to every Denton civic group, church group, club, etc... and sell North Texas athletics and The benefit it will have on the community.

5. Provide our coaches with the support they need to succeed. Replace Benford and Kee immediately.

6. Market this program professionally and get rid of the dead weight in this department.

TreeFiddy · May 24, 2016

I hope the Prez puts some specific requirements/goals in the language of the new contract.

UNT90 · May 24, 2016

10 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

but aren't those guys a part of the seventeen who, through their shady financial influence, were protecting RV in his position as a means of treating UNT athletics as their own personal country club?

or...are we just totally dismissing that conspiracy theory now?

the idea that there is no one of talent/ability/passion within the current AD is borne solely out of spite. a good hire will recognize that, keep a balance of present employees, a handful of his own outside hires and hopefully a small batch of young, recent UNT alums to round out the staff

No one in the current AD needs to be the new AD.

Nitardy needs to go. He is collecting a check. I also don't think long term, high ranking members close to RV will be retained. The new guy will want his managers that he knows are loyal to him, not the former AD.

Everything else is left up to the new guy. I hope he/she is extremely clear about EXPECTATIONS and CONSEQUENCES when those expectations are not met. That has been a problem for a long time.

As far as the big donors, they will either stay on board or prove that they were a fan of a man, not a program. I don't think they are going anywhere, especially since RV was "allowed to resign." If they do, thanks and see you later.

bloodstunt · May 24, 2016

Bring back the Worm

Find a Basketball Coach

UNT90 · May 24, 2016

16 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

1. Reconnect with the lettermen and rebuild that organization.

2. Clean house and hire people that are passionate about seeing UNT reach its potential.

3. Hold open houses at Apogee and invite every former and current season ticket holder, MGC member, single game ticket purchaser, HOD Bowl game ticket purchaser, recent grad and current student. Share my vision for tne department and stress the importance of their involvement to reach these goals.

4. Speak to every Denton civic group, church group, club, etc... and sell North Texas athletics and The benefit it will have on the community.

5. Provide our coaches with the support they need to succeed. Replace Benford and Kee immediately.

6. Market this program professionally and get rid of the dead weight in this department.

I support this post completely.

wardly · May 24, 2016

You eat an elephant one bite at a time. If we hire the right A.D. ,once he gets the lay of the land he will know what changes need to be made and what needs to be done. If he needs to be told, we have a problem. One program that has been brought back from the dead is U of H.,but I assume our President already has his short list.

UNT90 · May 24, 2016

4 minutes ago, wardly said:

You eat an elephant one bite at a time. If we hire the right A.D. ,once he gets the lay of the land he will know what changes need to be made and what needs to be done. If he needs to be told, we have a problem. One program that has been brought back from the dead is U of H.,but I assume our President already has his short list.

Personal manipulation is a powerful tool. Sometimes the new guy/gal relies upon the wrong opinions, and that can do real damage. I've seen it first hand. Hearing where the problems lie from reasonable fans who are relating first hand experiences is a necessity. I hope people email the new AD their concerns with previous problems.

I plan on it.

MeanGreenTexan · May 24, 2016

10 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

but aren't those guys a part of the seventeen who, through their shady financial influence, were protecting RV in his position as a means of treating UNT athletics as their own personal country club?

or...are we just totally dismissing that conspiracy theory now?

'Twasn't my theory sir.

Cerebus · May 24, 2016

27 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

'Twasn't my theory sir.

Keep you conspiracy theories straight CBL, it's not that hard.

MGT is a proponent of the Neal Smatresk is a lizard person conspiracy theory:

MeanGreenTexan · May 24, 2016

8 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

Keep you conspiracy theories straight CBL, it's not that hard.

MGT is a proponent of the Neal Smatresk is a lizard person conspiracy theory:

#Lizardgate #Iguanaknowthetruth #WhatsalltheKomodotion

Mean_Green09 · May 24, 2016

Too much work to be done. I'd take a vacation. Id also focus on doing just enough to keep the people with money happy.

MCMLXXX · May 24, 2016

First thing learn the fight song and proper talon gesture with hand.

VideoEagle · May 24, 2016

7 minutes ago, Mean_Green09 said:

Too much work to be done. I'd take a vacation. Id also focus on doing just enough to keep the people with money happy.

You, sir, have management potential!

UNTcrazy727 · May 24, 2016

12 hours ago, drycreek said:

why drop the Army games?

Because all it does is kill our scheduling flexibility. Hosting subpar teams like Army is NOT why we built Apogee. Plus, we already have a long running series with SMU. There's no need for another one with a G5 school.

VideoEagle · May 24, 2016

And agree with those who WANT to keep the series with Army. Alternating years with SMU makes great sense and give us a guaranteed OCC home game every year with an opponent with whom our fans are well acquainted.

TreeFiddy · May 24, 2016

5 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Because all it does is kill our scheduling flexibility. Hosting subpar teams like Army is NOT why we built Apogee. Plus, we already have a long running series with SMU. There's no need for another one with a G5 school.

You may have missed the part where the other P5 schools consider Army a P5 opponent?

Army of Dad · May 24, 2016

2 minutes ago, TreeFiddy said:

You may have missed the part where the other P5 schools consider Army a P5 opponent?

The P5 like keeping the Iowa States, Wake Forests, and Vanderbilts around. Assigning some quasi P5 status to Army is just making sure some of them can get easier "P5" wins...

That said, I like the Army series. Beatable FBS opponent both home and away. The kind of wins a program trying to build something needs, IMO.

mad dog · May 24, 2016

First thing for me is to meet with my bosses (Board and President) and get a sense of what their vision for the athletic department is. Have them paint a picture of what kind of athletic department they want to have. There's no doubt they want the department to be successful, but success can look like different things to different people.

Simultaneously, I'd be moving along parallel processes with current students and current and lapsed fans (include lettermen). Get a couple of focus groups together, pull from various sources and points of view; the only criteria is that they have opinions and be comfortable sharing them. They need to be ready to bring their own ideas for how to solve the problems they see. Keep each group to five or six individuals if possible, and make sure I had representatives from marketing, operations, and finance there to field questions and provide their input. The guiding principle for staff would be to determine how ideas can get done, rather than why they can't. Nothing is off the table at this point - whittling down happens later.

Drawing on feedback from administration, fans, and students, create a summary of objectives, goals, and possible avenues of approach. Include comments from staff on costs, action plans, and lay out all the options. Take this draft plan back to each of these focus groups and get their thoughts. Refine as necessary. Once the plan has a reasonable degree of consensus among all three groups, take a final draft back to the administration. Have them pass a non-binding resolution to accept and approve the plan of action.

To my eye, most of the problem with the department's administration is that it is far too insular. Decisions made in a box without input from stakeholders have considerably less momentum than those made with it. Closed practices, ninja recruiting, media lockdowns... these are all symptoms of a silo-ed organization that believes that they (and only they) have the right answers. For my part, I don't particularly care WHO has the idea if it is a viable strategy. I have felt like the department sometimes talks AT fans, AT students, and AT the BOR, trying like hell to sell them on an idea without ever considering what they all might be feeling.

This is a partnership, not an autocracy. It is a conversation, not a hard sell. It is a story, not an obligation. The AD cannot do their job without buy-in from decision makers and current and future customers. Yes, there are procedural, legal, and financial hurdles, but it's better to open your doors and explain them to people instead of barring the doors and complaining about their ignorance. And who knows, maybe several dozen minds may be able to craft a better solution than one or two. Go figure. :)