From the Desk of Wren Baker

[Cerebus]

From the Desk of Wren Baker

Quote

Mean Green Nation,
As I reflect on my first 150 days leading North Texas Athletics, I thought this would be a good time to deliver some initial impressions, as well as what I believe is the direction for an exciting future.
I’m extremely grateful for the hard work of our coaches, staff and student-athletes during the fall semester.  While we have made significant strides in a short time, we still have a great amount of work before us.  Each and every day, we are dedicated to providing our coaches and student-athletes with the necessary tools to be successful. Below are the several of the accomplishments and accolades earned by coaches and student-athletes this year:

•    After recording his 300th career win earlier in the fall, John Hedlund directed his women’s soccer team to its 12th conference title in his tenure.
•    Only three active coaches in the NCAA have more consecutive winning seasons at the same school than John, who has 21 straight.
•    We recently extended Coach Hedlund’s contract, keeping the man we affectionately call “Johnny Soccer” leading our program for years to come.
•    Under first-year head coach Seth Littrell, football advanced to the ninth bowl game in program history by participating in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
•    The thrilling overtime game was voted the sixth-best bowl game of this year.
•    We have come to agreement on an extended contract with Coach Littrell. This contract extension was important to continue the forward progress of our football program.
•    Susanna Lynch and Florian Lussy both earned all-region honors in cross country as both teams finished higher in the regional meet than their rankings going in.
•    Freshmen A.J. Lawson and Ryan Woolridge have been recognized as Conference USA freshman of the week on five occasions this basketball season.
•    198 student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the fall semester.  That’s approximately 60% of our student-athletes.

Overall, I believe that we have a very good group of coaches who, when given adequate resources, can win Conference USA championships and raise the profile of our programs nationally.  In order to do that, we must accomplish our goals of raising more money, selling more tickets and building better facilities, all while pursuing and delivering on our mission of “BUILDING CHAMPIONS and PREPARING LEADERS through the pursuit of perfection in academics, athletics, and life.” This updated mission statement will serve as the bedrock of who we are and what we are about moving forward and you will see it repeated throughout our facilities and publications.
Our administrative team is in the final stages of developing our athletics strategic plan which will set the long-term direction for our program, along with addressing more immediate needs that have been identified through discussions with our coaches, staff and feedback from you. I want to encourage you to continue to provide viable suggestions and recommendations to our staff via phone, email, or social media.  Utilizing Twitter to connect with our Mean Green fans has personally been a source of knowledge and enjoyment during my first few months in Denton. 
As we launch into the spring semester, I want to share a few of the projects we are working to complete:

•    Athletic Facility Master Plan that will provide a facility road map for North Texas Athletics for the next 15-20 years.
•    Construction of a new track and field and soccer complex just south of Waranch Tennis Complex to be completed by December of 2017. We hope to release finalized design concepts very soon.
•    “Fast track” design process for an indoor practice facility.  Plans to be completed by May of 2017 with fundraising currently taking place.
•    Athletic Center lobby renovation to better tell the story of North Texas Athletics and our rich tradition and history.
•    Completion of a golf practice facility at Maridoe Golf Club.
•    Revamped Lettermen’s Association to better serve and engage one of our greatest assets.
•    Overhaul of athletic fundraising processes and structure.  We will develop greater accountability and direction in order to meet the needs of a growing Division I program.
•    Restructure of Mean Green ticket office and operations to better meet the needs of our patrons.
•    Develop comprehensive year-round marketing plans for all of our teams and the 2017-18 season.
•    Continue our work in building schedules that are attractive to season ticket holders, fans, current and future student-athletes.
•    Finalize third party multimedia rights deal that will provide new, guaranteed revenue to North Texas Athletics for years to come.
•    Heightened focus and attention in the area of graphic design and our social/digital media platforms in order to strengthen the brand and reach of North Texas Athletics.
•    Launch pilot program in late spring to address training table and nutrition needs for student-athletes.  I believe this to be one of our greatest needs as we develop the talent needed to compete within Conference USA and other national peers.

As you can see, we’ve had a productive fall and are going to have an extremely busy spring and summer as we pursue an aggressive and ambitious plan.  I want to be clear that pursuing excellence in athletics is critical. We expect to build programs that compete for championships in our conference and are nationally relevant. As a member of the Mean Green family, you are very much a part of our future success!  We hope that you can join us later this spring as we share further updates and details at our Mean Green Caravan events. We will be releasing dates, locations and details in the coming weeks. I look forward to seeing you soon!
 

 

[outoftown]

There are a lot of really nice things here. I applaud also the care for some details that are important, like redoing the lobby to get incoming recruits to be hit with a sense of existing athletics history. Also I am generally impressed by the speed he claims things will go ahead. If the whole new Soccer/track facility stands by the end of the year, than that was really a fast construction.

That said, I wish this would have come days later, maybe then basketball would not have been so conspicously absent with no word on what WBs plans and vision are when it comes to Bball.

Edited March 1, 2017 by outoftown

[EagleMBA]

6 minutes ago, outoftown said:

There are a lot of really nice things here. I applaud also the care for some details that are important, like redoing the lobby to get incoming recruits to be hit with a sense of existing athletics history. Also I am generally impressed by the speed he claims things will go ahead. If the whole new Soccer/track facility stands by the end of the year, than that was really a fast construction.

That said, I wish this would have come days later, maybe then basketball would not have been so conspicously absent.

[Wag Tag]

All is great, but the biggest item is having access and an AD staff that I feel is really ready to listen! GMG

[BTG_Fan1]

 Finalize third party multimedia rights deal that will provide new, guaranteed revenue to North Texas Athletics for years to come.

This makes me wonder if they have something in place already or they still looking.. Would be great to find some more revenue to help in developing the ADept

 

[TIgreen01]

"Overhaul of athletic fundraising processes and structure.  We will develop greater accountability and direction in order to meet the needs of a growing Division I program "

Cynics will ask, accountability to who exactly?  For now, it's at least refreshing to see this even mentioned.

I have no idea how far along the track/soccer stadium was or the new IPF before Wren got here.  It really doesn't matter, because the vast majority of us probably won't ever know.  We'll just give him the credit for the fastest ever facility finance/build-out that most of us have seen at UNT.  Perception on Wren Baker is that he's a mover, and if UNT keeps this up, that will help us build momentum with donors on down to the casual observer as a program on the rise.

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by TIgreen01

[mgfan]

Now those are some clear cut goals I can get behind! It is nice to have an AD speak with the fans not at them. 

[Matt from A700]

Baseballllllll :(

[KingDL1]

This seems like a lot of what I was not wanting to see. On the vague side, skips all the hot buttons.

We need to keep Wren honest or we might just end up with another Rick V eating Sushi. 

I was hoping to see more. 

 

[BTG_Fan1]

3 hours ago, KingDL1 said:

This seems like a lot of what I was not wanting to see. On the vague side, skips all the hot buttons.

We need to keep Wren honest or we might just end up with another Rick V eating Sushi. 

I was hoping to see more. 

 

As in what else? Like dates for the IPF? 

[VideoEagle]

6 hours ago, KingDL1 said:

This seems like a lot of what I was not wanting to see. On the vague side, skips all the hot buttons.

We need to keep Wren honest or we might just end up with another Rick V eating Sushi. 

I was hoping to see more. 

 

 

You mean like an exact date for firing Bedford? A location for Tasty to stand with a sign of insults in Greek to be sure he see it? That kind of specific? 

[KingDL1]

1 hour ago, VideoEagle said:

You mean like an exact date for firing Bedford? A location for Tasty to stand with a sign of insults in Greek to be sure he see it? That kind of specific? 

Something about basketball, Baseball, improving recruiting budget for football, increasing assistant coaches pay. Town Hall meeting. Cleaning out the AD. 

[greenminer]

Baseball is not mentioned, likely for the same reason as men's soccer: not on the radar right now.

[oldguystudent]

I just noticed this part:

Quote

Restructure of Mean Green ticket office and operations to better meet the needs of our patrons.

 

Whoa.  Mind blown! 

[UNTFan23]

8 hours ago, KingDL1 said:

Something about basketball, Baseball, improving recruiting budget for football, increasing assistant coaches pay. Town Hall meeting. Cleaning out the AD. 

Because announcing layoffs always improves morale in a company/business.

[UNT90]

11 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Because announcing layoffs always improves morale in a company/business.

There will be no lay offs. There will be no consequences for anyone in the worst AD in America. That becomes clearer by the day.

What has become crystal clear is that Wren Baker isn't going to rock the boat. Ever.

Edited March 3, 2017 by UNT90

[UNTFan23]

2 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

There will be no lay offs. There will be no consequences for anyone in the worst AD in America. That becomes clearer by the day.

So great having you back.

[UNT90]

1 minute ago, UNTFan23 said:

So great having you back.

Truth hurts your pro AD narrative, I know.

[UNTFan23]

1 minute ago, UNT90 said:

Truth hurts your pro AD narrative, I know.

Something tells me I'd hate for you to be my boss. I'd likely welcome getting fired if it meant not having to work for you any longer.

[UNT90]

Just now, UNTFan23 said:

Something tells me I'd hate for you to be my boss. I'd likely welcome getting fired if it meant not having to work for you any longer.

See, you can personally attack me like this all day long and the mods won't do one thing about it. That banner still burns your ass, doesn't it? Your poor little buddy had to go into the dead fish business. 

If you worked for me, your sucking my ass would get you no where. It would be time that you weren't doing your job. Something tells me you are very skilled in this department. Your lack of production would get you fired. Lol. 

I reported your post. I expect nothing to be done because I am fair game. Hell, I'll probably get banned for this response. 

[UNTFan23]

1 minute ago, UNT90 said:

See, you can personally attack me like this all day long and the mods won't do one thing about it. That banner still burns your ass, doesn't it? Your poor little buddy had to go into the dead fish business. 

If you worked for me, your sucking my ass would get you no where. It would be time that you weren't doing your job. Something tells me you are very skilled in this department. Your lack of production would get you fired. Lol. 

I reported your post. I expect nothing to be done because I am fair game. Hell, I'll probably get banned for this response. 

I couldn't give two craps about the banner. It was a waste of other people's money. Word on the street was RV was toast well before that banner flew over the campus.

Go ahead and report my post. My "attack" is far milder than some of the indirect attacks you have done to people. This place is absolutely no fun when you're here posting because you're always so negative.

[UNT90]

7 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

I couldn't give two craps about the banner. It was a waste of other people's money. Word on the street was RV was toast well before that banner flew over the campus.

Go ahead and report my post. My "attack" is far milder than some of the indirect attacks you have done to people. This place is absolutely no fun when you're here posting because you're always so negative.

Oh boo f'n hoo. You care more about a freaking web site than winning. You never spoke up against RV. Never a bad word about your buddy. Freaking hanger on-er to the end.

And you don't believe the BS revisiononist history that RV was long gone before way before fans with balls got pissed, you are just doing your good little errand boy job of propagating the President's backdoor narrative. Major donors have debunked your cute little story. In personal conversations. 

Edited March 3, 2017 by UNT90

[KingDL1]

38 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Because announcing layoffs always improves morale in a company/business.

It is all in the wording.  

[KRAM1]

20 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

It is all in the wording.  

Please tell us all how to word a layoff announcement that would give employees "warm fuzzies".  I have had to create such announcements and then announce them, and try as I may have, not once did I soon after see an improvement in morale.  I would love to know how to have done it so to have improved morale.  We can all benefit here if you would let us know.  Perhaps there is someone on this board who is either having to craft such a notice or is currently under such a notice at their place of employment. Seriously, if you know how to do it let us know. In my experience, at the very least it creates uncertainty and angst within the ranks of the entire staff.  I wish I had known that it was "all in the wording".  I might have done better.  In your experience, how did you word it?

Edited March 3, 2017 by KRAM1

[El Paso Eagle]

56 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

There will be no lay offs. There will be no consequences for anyone in the worst AD in America. That becomes clearer by the day.

What has become crystal clear is that Wren Baker isn't going to rock the boat. Ever.

 

The hate and anger you have are sad.