Best of Luck in the Future Mr. Villareal

[UNTLifer]

Rick,

Thank you for your time and effort at North Texas.  I remember you speaking to my fraternity when you arrived, and you laid out a vision for facility improvements to bring our programs up to speed.  This was something I had never heard from a NT AD and your excitement about the possibilities for and the future of NT athletics was a breath of fresh air.    Most AD's I had experienced, Steve Sloan and Craig Helwig for example, treated the job as a pay check with no vision for the future.  Although the plans changed over the years, you were able to see a lot of these goals accomplished and I thank you for that.  We now have a stadium and facilities that we can be proud of and nowhere to go but up.

I won't dwell on the areas that didn't pan out, but I think this was the right decision at the right time.  You can look back and be proud of where the program was when you arrived and where it is now.  Now it is time for someone new to take the reigns and run with it.  I hate to see people have to leave on a negative note, but that is just the nature of the business.  I hope that when the emotions of the moment and of the last few years become a thing of the past, that you and the fans of UNT will have positive memories of your time here and of your overall efforts to lead the athletic department.  

Thank you and best of luck to you in the future.

Edited May 24, 2016 by UNTLifer

[jdennis82]

@UNTLifer Thank you for perfectly summarizing my exact perspective on this.  As was the case with the naming of the Darrell R. Dickey Football Practice Facility, I am hopeful that RV's contributions to our university is recognized by renaming the Mean Green Village after the man who worked tirelessly to make it possible.

At the same time, I recognize that a fresh perspective may be a good thing at this stage of our program and look forward to hearing the new AD unpack their vision for the program.

[GrandGreen]

Yes definitely reward RV with naming something after him.  Are you kidding?  What are his accomplishments that need to be rewarded.  

As far as Dickey field, that was tied to a donation.  If someone wants to donate a few million and name something after RV, great.  

RV's primary accomplishment is longevity.  Most cite RV's build up of facilities as his major accomplishment.  Compare what NT has done compared to it's peers over a 15 year period and it is a lot less impressive than comparisons with NT's status 15 years ago.   Fouts had to go, and Apogee is a first rate facility.  Give RV a lot of credit but it primarily was financed with student fees and outside construction donations were dismally low compared to other school's stadium construction.    

I think Apogee stands up very well against G5 facilities, but track and field, softball, volleyball venues are not exactly first class.  Not to mention the baseball field, inside training facility and other projects still no more than concepts.  The athletic complex although a great achievement is already behind a lot of CUSA schools.  I do think the updates to the Super Pit are very good, but unfortunately not many have seen them.  

RV's failures to upgrade the football and men basketball programs were his downfall.  However, I actually think that his biggest achievement was an overall upgrade to the so-called non-revenue sports.  Tennis, volleyball, golf and swimming have all improved under RV's leadership.  

I believe that RV will receive some honors, again based on longevity and a loyal group of supporters.   I am fine with that, however my assessment of an almost 16 year career is that RV fail short on too many areas to be praised.   

[Ben Gooding]

3 hours ago, jdennis82 said:

@UNTLifer Thank you for perfectly summarizing my exact perspective on this.  As was the case with the naming of the Darrell R. Dickey Football Practice Facility, I am hopeful that RV's contributions to our university is recognized by renaming the Mean Green Village after the man who worked tirelessly to make it possible.

At the same time, I recognize that a fresh perspective may be a good thing at this stage of our program and look forward to hearing the new AD unpack their vision for the program.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Have mercy on us

31 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Yes definitely reward RV with naming something after him.  Are you kidding?  What are his accomplishments that need to be rewarded.  

As far as Dickey field, that was tied to a donation.  If someone wants to donate a few million and name something after RV, great.  

RV's primary accomplishment is longevity.  Most cite RV's build up of facilities as his major accomplishment.  Compare what NT has done compared to it's peers over a 15 year period and it is a lot less impressive than comparisons with NT's status 15 years ago.   Fouts had to go, and Apogee is a first rate facility.  Give RV a lot of credit but it primarily was financed with student fees and outside construction donations were dismally low compared to other school's stadium construction.    

I think Apogee stands up very well against G5 facilities, but track and field, softball, volleyball venues are not exactly first class.  Not to mention the baseball field, inside training facility and other projects still no more than concepts.  The athletic complex although a great achievement is already behind a lot of CUSA schools.  I do think the updates to the Super Pit are very good, but unfortunately not many have seen them.  

RV's failures to upgrade the football and men basketball programs were his downfall.  However, I actually think that his biggest achievement was an overall upgrade to the so-called non-revenue sports.  Tennis, volleyball, golf and swimming have all improved under RV's leadership.  

I believe that RV will receive some honors, again based on longevity and a loyal group of supporters.   I am fine with that, however my assessment of an almost 16 year career is that RV fail short on too many areas to be praised.   

 

[UNTLifer]

35 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Yes definitely reward RV with naming something after him.  Are you kidding?  What are his accomplishments that need to be rewarded.  

As far as Dickey field, that was tied to a donation.  If someone wants to donate a few million and name something after RV, great.  

RV's primary accomplishment is longevity.  Most cite RV's build up of facilities as his major accomplishment.  Compare what NT has done compared to it's peers over a 15 year period and it is a lot less impressive than comparisons with NT's status 15 years ago.   Fouts had to go, and Apogee is a first rate facility.  Give RV a lot of credit but it primarily was financed with student fees and outside construction donations were dismally low compared to other school's stadium construction.    

I think Apogee stands up very well against G5 facilities, but track and field, softball, volleyball venues are not exactly first class.  Not to mention the baseball field, inside training facility and other projects still no more than concepts.  The athletic complex although a great achievement is already behind a lot of CUSA schools.  I do think the updates to the Super Pit are very good, but unfortunately not many have seen them.  

RV's failures to upgrade the football and men basketball programs were his downfall.  However, I actually think that his biggest achievement was an overall upgrade to the so-called non-revenue sports.  Tennis, volleyball, golf and swimming have all improved under RV's leadership.  

I believe that RV will receive some honors, again based on longevity and a loyal group of supporters.   I am fine with that, however my assessment of an almost 16 year career is that RV fail short on too many areas to be praised.   

My post was based on what we had when he arrived and what we have now.  The argument that Apogee was built with student fees is just stupid.  Any stadium we built was going to utilize student fees for up to 50% of the construction which is all that is allowed by law.  Heck, half the people that bring this up also complained, at that time, that our student fees were too low and still are.  You can't have it both ways. 

Also, as I mentioned in the original thread, I didn't want to rehash the negatives as that wasn't the purpose.  I just don't see the need to kick the man out the door when he accomplished more than those before him.

[Army of Dad]

4 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

My post was based on what we had when he arrived and what we have now.  The argument that Apogee was built with student fees is just stupid.  Any stadium we built was going to utilize student fees for up to 50% of the construction which is all that is allowed by law.  Heck, half the people that bring this up also complained, at that time, that our student fees were too low and still are.  You can't have it both ways. 

Also, as I mentioned in the original thread, I didn't want to rehash the negatives as that wasn't the purpose.  I just don't see the need to kick the man out the door when he accomplished more than those before him.

Yep, and in time (especially with lots of winning) some of the wounds will scab over.

He did accomplish a lot, but probably hung on too long.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Army of Dad

[UNTLifer]

2 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

Yep, and in time (especially with lots of winning) some of the wounds will scab over.

He did accomplish a lot, but probably hung on too long.

Exactly.

[GrandGreen]

3 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

My post was based on what we had when he arrived and what we have now.  The argument that Apogee was built with student fees is just stupid.  Any stadium we built was going to utilize student fees for up to 50% of the construction which is all that is allowed by law.  Heck, half the people that bring this up also complained, at that time, that our student fees were too low and still are.  You can't have it both ways. 

Also, as I mentioned in the original thread, I didn't want to rehash the negatives as that wasn't the purpose.  I just don't see the need to kick the man out the door when he accomplished more than those before him.

Yes, no other G5 school has ever build a stadium without being heavily financed by student fees.  I have never though NT fees are too low.  Sports at NT have always been primarily financed by students.    Some seem to think different, talking about institutional funds being used without identifying the source which is predominantly student fees.  

I believe there is a difference in not beating a man when he is down versus suggesting naming the Mean Green Village after them.  Not your suggestion, but what I was responding to.  RV has some substantial achievements as well as some major debacles.  He was also fairly well paid for the job.