Mattress Mac

UNTLifer · June 13, 2016

21 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

I got it from common sense to not have anything on your athletic department named for a losing coach who only has his name on that sign because we were held hostage by the donor giving us a million dollars and threatening to take it back. Those fields should be named after either Hayden Fry or Mean Joe Greene. This is an easy thing to correct if the next AD is competent and sees value in the naming rights of those fields. Hell, the field on Apogee could just as easily be named after a huge donor if the right AD gets in there and makes some improvement with the alumni.

I don't think that is how it works. A donor makes a donation for the naming rights to certain facilities, such as the practice fields, as a one time purchase. I may be mistaken, but I think Apogee was a 20 year agreement for $1 million a year. There used to be a list of facilities a person could purchase the naming rights to listed on the athletic department website. These were a one time fee.

baberuthbomber8 · June 13, 2016

On June 11, 2016 at 8:36 AM, Travis said:

Every president has a building named after them.

And a few ADs.. Chances RV gets a building??? Anyone??

Greenrex · June 13, 2016

19 minutes ago, baberuthbomber8 said:

And a few ADs.. Chances RV gets a building??? Anyone??

TheWestie · June 13, 2016

On 6/11/2016 at 6:52 PM, GrandGreen said:

Not sure what your point is. Most of these buildings were built long before big donors were honored with name buildings. Also most were primarily built with state funds so the naming was done to honor past leaders of the university.

Point was that I've been in Denton for 13 years and lived on campus for 4 years and didn't know who the hell Wooten Hall was named after until last year.

I thought everybody would like some insight showing just how many campus buildings were named after people and how big a fish those people were.

SilverEagle · June 13, 2016

15 hours ago, Travis said:

she will eventually.

But hopefully not before Nolan. Jitter Nolan was brought in to get North Texas into the world of fund raising and, he hired the coach (Hayden Fry) who created the Mean Green club.

VideoEagle · June 13, 2016

On President Nolan, I believe he only had a limited academic background before becoming President. That didn't sit well with the faculty and when combined with bringing in Hayden and pushing the very concept of alumni donating it was just too much for the faculty who remember President Matthews. There was some sort of controversy at his departure, but I honestly don't remember what. Yes, he certainly deserves to have a building named after him.

Frankly, EVERY building on a college campus should be named for a person and NOT for the subject matter. That makes moving classes around much more practical. I know at one point there were no speech classes held in the "Speech and Drama Building."

On "naming rights." I think some are confusing the fund raising system of having people or companies PAY for the right to put the name of their choice on something for a specific period of time with the idea of naming a structure after someone. Apogee is paying a fee for the right to call our new stadium Apogee Stadium. When the contract is up, someone else might come in and pay to have the name become something completely different. The Ballpark In Arlington became Ameriquest Field and now is Globe Life Park. However, Wrigley Field in Chicago was named for the man who owned both the Cubs and the chewing gum company. The Cubs have changed hands several times, but the field is still named for the man.

Lastly on Mattress Mac and the naming of the practice fields. I believe he made the naming of the fields a condition of Mattress making what was at the time the largest donation ever to NT athletics. I have been told that in most cases, donations, even donations made with conditions, are not legally binding. They are a gift and once the gift is given to someone they can do with it as they choose regardless of what the giver intended. Now, blatantly ignoring the wishes of Mattress Mac will make others less likely to give, but I think we could change the name if we wanted. However, DD's record at NT is certainly mixed. He had an overall losing record but he won 26 conference games in a row. Who else at ANY school has own 26 conference football games in a row? Not many folks regardless of the conference. He also found a way to get his team to four bowl games in a row, something which no other NT coach has even approached.

untjim1995 · June 13, 2016

21 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

Lastly on Mattress Mac and the naming of the practice fields. I believe he made the naming of the fields a condition of Mattress making what was at the time the largest donation ever to NT athletics. I have been told that in most cases, donations, even donations made with conditions, are not legally binding. They are a gift and once the gift is given to someone they can do with it as they choose regardless of what the giver intended. Now, blatantly ignoring the wishes of Mattress Mac will make others less likely to give, but I think we could change the name if we wanted. However, DD's record at NT is certainly mixed. He had an overall losing record but he won 26 conference games in a row. Who else at ANY school has own 26 conference football games in a row? Not many folks regardless of the conference. He also found a way to get his team to four bowl games in a row, something which no other NT coach has even approached.

I agree with you on this. And those 26 straight wins got us 4 NO Bowls and 3 of the 4 winning seasons we have enjoyed since moving back up to I-A in 1995. But I also just look at the 26 straight SBC wins and match it up with the fact that he beat two I-A teams outside of the SBC in those 4 years, Cincy and Baylor, as well as the fact that Troy was the only SBC team in that timeframe that made a bowl game--nobody else came close. He lost 21 games to other non-SBC teams from 2001-2004.

We shouldn't have anything named after a coach or AD who had left here with a losing record, no matter who made that demand at the time. If Mattress Mac won't come back into the fold as a giving alum to the program, those fields should be up for re-bidding and everyone should be told why they are being up for being re-named.

Hell, even if nobody bid on changing the name of them, the AD should just change the sign and call them the Mean Joe Greene Practice Fields or the Hayden Fry Practice Fields. We may be a colossal loser in football over the last 35 years, but that doesn't mean we have to show the world that we celebrate that losing by naming stuff after the coach who lost less than everyone else during his tenure here, even if its because the university didn't even try to fund the program. If I were recruiting against North Texas, you can bet your ass that I'd be selling the recruits on what a big loser in football they have been and that this is accepted--and I'd point out that the practice fields are even named after a coach who went 42-64 in 9 years, not to mention that you won't have an indoor facility to practice in. Whether its UTSA, Texas State, UTEP, or any other CUSA/SBC Western team, our legacy as a losing program that has been tied up by apathy from the UNT Family would be super easy to use in recruiting battles.