MGB: Key questions UNT’s new AD will face Part III — What’s the scheduling philosophy?

[Keith7]

Seemed like every game last year was a body bag game. We must have made a fortune.

[untjim1995]

10 minutes ago, Keith7 said:

Seemed like every game last year was a body bag game. We must have made a fortune.

Well, we did get over $2.1 million in donations after the Homecoming debacle...

[MeanGreenTexan]

Just now, untjim1995 said:

Well, we did get over $2.1 million in donations after the Homecoming debacle...

Every single one of those came before the drubbing... and really, before the season even started.

Brint's came the previous year (2014)!  ...but recognition is nice, and deserved.

[UNTLifer]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 6:53 PM, FirefightnRick said:

There is no telling where we could help ourselves budget wise?

 

1. Stop staying in high end hotels for home games.

2. Work to better negotiate contracts that benefit North Texas rather than benefitting XYZ P5.

3. End wasteful contract extensions and bonuses where they are not warranted.

4. Stop wasting money buying 3-5 different uniforms every year.

5. Actually work at sales and promotions like your career depends on it.

6. Don't make promises you can't keep.  Donors and customers don't like this and tend to walk away when it happens. 

7. Deliver product people pay for.

 

Rick

Eliminating or cheapening #1 or #4 would be used against us in recruiting.

[TreeFiddy]

3 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Eliminating or cheapening #1 or #4 would be used against us in recruiting.

Agree.

The more things change...

 

Get on board.  #NewDenton

[UNT90]

Hire an AD that can do what almost all other ADs in Texas can do.

It shouldn't be that complicated, but this is UNT.

[untjim1995]

2 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Hire an AD that can do what almost all other ADs in Texas can do.

It shouldn't be that complicated, but this is UNT.

It will take a person who can look at this situation and see ways to succeed here at raising funds and winning in revenue sports--and get reassurances from the administration and BOR that the university won't torpedo the efforts that are going to be needed.

Similar to how I've always felt about conferences above our current situation, its going to take someone who can see the potential here and actually believe in that so much that they will take on the job because he or she believes completely in our future being much better than the past.

[caseyorourke]

Personally, I think they should look for somebody who either has Texas / C-USA roots, but has also spent time at other institutions or somebody from another part of the country who still understands Texas, but not so married to the Texan mindset that he/she isn't afraid of unconventional ideas.  I was looking at the bio of our new AD and noticed that he grew up in Louisiana, played football at LA. Tech, but he spent time at lots of institutions.He had a connection to Oregon through 4 years at Oregon State and had a Texas/ C-USA connection through  UTPA (now UT-Rio Grande Valley) and LA Tech.  AD Rountree has brought a new mindset, new ideas and has set Portland State on a direction that an AD from Oregon or the Northwest may not have envisioned.

Quote

THE MARK ROUNTREE FILE
Portland State Director of Athletics

Alma Mater: Louisiana Tech, 1991, BS, History
Playing Career: Louisiana Tech football
Hometown: West Monroe, Louisiana
Date of Birth: 8/22/69
Wife: Jennie

 

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
2013-14    Miami (OH), Deputy Athletics Director
2008-13    Georgetown, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations
2004-08    Oregon State, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance
2000-04    Towson, Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance
1997-2000    Maryland, Compliance Coordinator
1994-97    Texas-Pan American, Assistant Athletics Director
1991-94    Louisiana Tech, Director of Academic Support

Barnum says AD Rountree is the most unique AD he has ever worked for, he likes to cook a big pot of chili or jambalaya for tailgates, enjoys having a few beers with the fans after a win, isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty.  Evidently he wasn't shy about using our relationship with Nike ( a PSU grad created the Nike swoosh) to get them involved in our rebrand.

That is the type of guy you need for an AD.

Edited June 3, 2016 by caseyorourke
re-wording

[FirefightnRick]

6 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Eliminating or cheapening #1 or #4 would be used against us in recruiting.

Your right, we can't have that.  We might then end up going 1-11.

 

 

Rick

[UNTFan23]

12 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Your You're right, we can't have that.  We might then end up going 1-11.

 

 

Rick

Sorry, but correlation does not imply causation.

[Aldo]

26 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Sorry, but correlation does not imply causation.

While I see where he is going with it, cheaper hotels and uniform cutbacks aren't going to save us $10 million.

Winning, marketing, and increased booster membership could help.

[UNTFan23]

1 hour ago, Aldo said:

While I see where he is going with it, cheaper hotels and uniform cutbacks aren't going to save us $10 million.

Winning, marketing, and increased booster membership could help.

Winning makes marketing and increasing booster membership easier. Winning should be the main focus for all programs which hopefully then leads to progress in lots of other areas.

Making cuts to budgets is never easy and many times you end up cutting muscle instead of fat. Cutting things like hotel stays for home games and additional uniforms may seem like the right thing to do but when everyone else is doing the opposite, it makes us look like we're running a low rent program to the athletes we hope to recruit.

Edited June 3, 2016 by UNTFan23
Finish a thought

[UNTLifer]

22 minutes ago, Aldo said:

While I see where he is going with it, cheaper hotels and uniform cutbacks aren't going to save us $10 million.

Winning, marketing, and increased booster membership could help.

@FirefightnRick, my point being is that those two points are an expectation of today's players we will be recruiting.  Why make it more difficult to improve on 1-11 by hurting our recruiting efforts for better players who expect these things?

[wardly]

We went 8&5 in 02' with bag games against Texas,Alabama,Arizona, and TCU, whom we nearly beat.Fast forward to 16', and we are down to one bag a year.Our goal should be to eliminate that $1.2 million[or so] shortfall in the next 5 years, moving us to about $2 million in giving annually for the athletic department. How hard is that going to be? Breaking it down, we would need 10,000 new fans donating an average of $12,000 each annually. I just don't see that happening. Door number 2, is to hope the "Gang of 17" and new  A.D.can bring in a few big fishes, existing donators increase their giving, and we expand our fan base. In my opinion it is going to take all of us working together to accomplish this stated goal. Finally, winning cures a lot of ills, and we must put a team on the field that wins more often than not.It is just impossible to be financially successful off the field if we are not successful on the field.Just an old man's opinion.

[MeanGreenTexan]

26 minutes ago, wardly said:

We went 8&5 in 02' with bag games against Texas,Alabama,Arizona, and TCU, whom we nearly beat.Fast forward to 16', and we are down to one bag a year.Our goal should be to eliminate that $1.2 million[or so] shortfall in the next 5 years, moving us to about $2 million in giving annually for the athletic department. How hard is that going to be? Breaking it down, we would need 10,000 new fans donating an average of $12,000 each annually. I just don't see that happening. Door number 2, is to hope the "Gang of 17" and new  A.D.can bring in a few big fishes, existing donators increase their giving, and we expand our fan base. In my opinion it is going to take all of us working together to accomplish this stated goal. Finally, winning cures a lot of ills, and we must put a team on the field that wins more often than not.It is just impossible to be financially successful off the field if we are not successful on the field.Just an old man's opinion.

Couldn't have said this better.