2017 Coaches Caravan in review

[UNT 90 Grad]

5 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

How was the turnout?

Solid showing by the Mean Green faithfull.   It would have been nice to have a larger room or setup differently.   It was a long room and they had the stage setup along one of the long walls, making it where most did not get a straight in view of the presentation.  Not complaining; just an observation. 

[Lurker]

Did anyone happen to get any pics from last night?  Looking for a picture of Scrappy in particular. 

[MeanGreen_MBA]

53 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Did anyone happen to get any pics from last night?  Looking for a picture of Scrappy in particular. 

you got a thing for Mascot's, or Scrappy in particular????  Just curious.....

[Lurker]

20 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

you got a thing for Mascot's, or Scrappy in particular????  Just curious.....

Yep.  I know someone on the mascot team.

[EagleMBA]

 

4 hours ago, Lurker said:

Did anyone happen to get any pics from last night?  Looking for a picture of Scrappy in particular. 

 

3 hours ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

you got a thing for Mascot's, or Scrappy in particular????  Just curious.....

Avian fetish? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Whatever turns your crank!

Edited May 9, 2017 by EagleMBA

[Marty]

Was the Liberty series discussed?

[KRAM1]

On May 8, 2017 at 10:04 PM, Mean Green 93-98 said:

How was the turnout?

Turnout in Plano was OK....I would guess 150-200.  On the other hand, turnout in Dallas was horrible last night.  Great venue...Dot's Hop House...owned and operated by UNT guys and big supporters of the program....and leaving out staffers and football players and Cheer team members I am going to guess 75 "fans", and mainly the same faces one sees at most every event.  I was shocked at how poorly this caravan stop was attended.  On the other hand, due to the terribly disappointing attendance, coaches and players were easy to get to chat with one on one.  I had excellent conversations with Coach Littrell, Coach Mitchell (met our new women's assistant), Coach McCasland and Wren Baker.  Mason Fine was a treat to chat with for a moment as well. In addition, at Dallas, women's golf, volleyball and track were all represented with coaches.  Too bad UNT fans do not care enough to find a way to make it to these events.  

I can guarantee you that if OSU had a Caravan stop last night at Dot's there would have been at least 750 to 1000 fans in attendance.  At least.  We, as UNT fans, really do need to find a way to support these events.  If, of course, we want to see them continue.

Fun evening for the few who made the effort...for $5 we got food a free drink and lots of fun.  By the way...I was home by 8:45pm back in Denton, so not late at all...even for a "school night".  Here's hoping for a solid turnout tonight in UNT's Denton backyard.

Oh, and don't bore me with another "win and folks will show up" mantra...after our HOD win under the McCarney team with season tickets and attendance declining the next year, that old dog "win and folks will show up" is getting pretty lame when it comes to UNT fans.

I am guessing turnouts in Houston and San Antonio will dwarf Dallas figures.  Sure hope so. Heck, I am thinking Little Denton will dwarf "Big D's" sad excuse for a turnout.

Let the excuses begin to flow......

[Ben Gooding]

8 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

Turnout in Plano was OK....I would guess 150-200.  On the other hand, turnout in Dallas was horrible last night.  Great venue...Dot's Hop House...owned and operated by UNT guys and big supporters of the program....and leaving out staffers and football players and Cheer team members I am going to guess 75 "fans", and mainly the same faces one sees at most every event.  I was shocked at how poorly this caravan stop was attended.  On the other hand, due to the terribly disappointing attendance, coaches and players were easy to get to chat with one on one.  I had excellent conversations with Coach Littrell, Coach Mitchell (met our new women's assistant), Coach McCasland and Wren Baker.  Mason Fine was a treat to chat with for a moment as well. In addition, at Dallas, women's golf, volleyball and track were all represented with coaches.  Too bad UNT fans do not care enough to find a way to make it to these events.  

I can guarantee you that if OSU had a Caravan stop last night at Dot's there would have been at least 750 to 1000 fans in attendance.  At least.  We, as UNT fans, really do need to find a way to support these events.  If, of course, we want to see them continue.

Fun evening for the few who made the effort...for $5 we got food a free drink and lots of fun.  By the way...I was home by 8:45pm back in Denton, so not late at all...even for a "school night".  Here's hoping for a solid turnout tonight in UNT's Denton backyard.

Oh, and don't bore me with another "win and folks will show up" mantra...after our HOD win under the McCarney team with season tickets and attendance declining the next year, that old dog "win and folks will show up" is getting pretty lame when it comes to UNT fans.

I am guessing turnouts in Houston and San Antonio will dwarf Dallas figures.  Sure hope so. Heck, I am thinking Little Denton will dwarf "Big D's" sad excuse for a turnout.

Let the excuses begin to flow......

My excuse: I do not care about these events. These are adoration events for coaches and ADs. They walk around with their hand held out waiting for peasants to grab and kiss. It's for ass kissers. 

[Aldo]

11 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

Turnout in Plano was OK....I would guess 150-200.  On the other hand, turnout in Dallas was horrible last night.  Great venue...Dot's Hop House...owned and operated by UNT guys and big supporters of the program....and leaving out staffers and football players and Cheer team members I am going to guess 75 "fans", and mainly the same faces one sees at most every event.  I was shocked at how poorly this caravan stop was attended.  On the other hand, due to the terribly disappointing attendance, coaches and players were easy to get to chat with one on one.  I had excellent conversations with Coach Littrell, Coach Mitchell (met our new women's assistant), Coach McCasland and Wren Baker.  Mason Fine was a treat to chat with for a moment as well. In addition, at Dallas, women's golf, volleyball and track were all represented with coaches.  Too bad UNT fans do not care enough to find a way to make it to these events.  

I can guarantee you that if OSU had a Caravan stop last night at Dot's there would have been at least 750 to 1000 fans in attendance.  At least.  We, as UNT fans, really do need to find a way to support these events.  If, of course, we want to see them continue.

Fun evening for the few who made the effort...for $5 we got food a free drink and lots of fun.  By the way...I was home by 8:45pm back in Denton, so not late at all...even for a "school night".  Here's hoping for a solid turnout tonight in UNT's Denton backyard.

Oh, and don't bore me with another "win and folks will show up" mantra...after our HOD win under the McCarney team with season tickets and attendance declining the next year, that old dog "win and folks will show up" is getting pretty lame when it comes to UNT fans.

I am guessing turnouts in Houston and San Antonio will dwarf Dallas figures.  Sure hope so. Heck, I am thinking Little Denton will dwarf "Big D's" sad excuse for a turnout.

Let the excuses begin to flow......

I'm here for you

[UNTcrazy727]

17 hours ago, Marty said:

Was the Liberty series discussed?

Wren addressed the Liberty series. He confirmed that we got out of two games with Army and said we have another series lined up with a program everyone will be very excited about. He couldn't go into details because they haven't signed the contract yet. I'm guessing it's a well-known P5 school and the Liberty series was scheduled to give us an "easier" game to offset the low chance of beating a P5. I doubt the games will be played in the same season, but Wren talked about trying to schedule games that get fans excited but also making sure he sets the program up to win as many games as possible.

It's obvious Wren is annoyed the Liberty series was leaked. I'm sure they were waiting to announce both series at the same time. 

[GrandGreen]

1 minute ago, Ben Gooding said:

My excuse: I do not care about these events. These are adoration events for coaches and ADs. They walk around with their hand held out waiting for peasants to grab and kiss. It's for ass kissers. 

 I have not been to one of these in years because under RV they were mostly a love fest within the AD department.  Not a lot of information other than everyone on the staff was great.   However, I never found any of the staff or RV anything but gracious and appreciative of the fans that attended.  

No one forces any fan to go.   NT certainly needs a lot more support at events like these.   Apparently neither you or I have been to a caravan event under the current regime, so I wonder how either of us would be able to criticize the program or particularly the people at it.  

15 minutes ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Wren addressed the Liberty series. He confirmed that we got out of two games with Army and said we have another series lined up with a program everyone will be very excited about. He couldn't go into details because they haven't signed the contract yet. I'm guessing it's a well-known P5 school and the Liberty series was scheduled to give us an "easier" game to offset the low chance of beating a P5. I doubt the games will be played in the same season, but Wren talked about trying to schedule games that get fans excited but also making sure he sets the program up to win as many games as possible.

It's obvious Wren is annoyed the Liberty series was leaked. I'm sure they were waiting to announce both series at the same time. 

We wanted out of the Army series?  I will give Wren the benefit of the doubt, but it must be a heck of a series to cancel two games of what was a growing rivalry between Army and NT and to sign a "nothing series" with Liberty.  

[Aldo]

7 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

 We wanted out of the Army series?  I will give Wren the benefit of the doubt, but it must be a heck of a series to cancel two games of what was a growing rivalry between Army and NT and to sign a "nothing series" with Liberty.  

Growing rivalry?

Don't get me wrong, I like playing Army (ESPECIALLY over Liberty) but it's only been two games in one season. One of them a pretty critical one.

I think we are confusing "rivalry" with "teams we enjoy playing against".

I know, I know, there aren't many of those, but we need to be more judicious with the use of the R word.

[UNTFan23]

40 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

We wanted out of the Army series?  I will give Wren the benefit of the doubt, but it must be a heck of a series to cancel two games of what was a growing rivalry between Army and NT and to sign a "nothing series" with Liberty.  

Travel to/from Army is a challenge and most teams that play Army have a poor defensive game against the next team they play. We looked awful against UTSA after playing Army the prior week. Army is also a tough to to prepare against since they are practically one of a small handful of teams that run that offensive style. We were lucky in that we had an off week prior to playing Army which gave the team 2 weeks to prepare.

Edited May 10, 2017 by UNTFan23

[Aldo]

32 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Travel to/from Army is a challenge and most teams that play Army have a poor defensive game against the next team they play. We looked awful against UTSA after playing Army the prior week. Army is also a tough to to prepare against since they are practically one of a small handful of teams that run that offensive style. We were lucky in that we had an off week prior to playing Army which gave the team 2 weeks to prepare.

Yeah you lose one (or two) good weeks of implementing your normal defense.

And to your other point, West Point can be up to 2 hours away from the airport.

[SilverEagle]

1 hour ago, KRAM1 said:

Turnout in Plano was OK....I would guess 150-200.  On the other hand, turnout in Dallas was horrible last night.  Great venue...Dot's Hop House...owned and operated by UNT guys and big supporters of the program....and leaving out staffers and football players and Cheer team members I am going to guess 75 "fans", and mainly the same faces one sees at most every event.  I was shocked at how poorly this caravan stop was attended.  On the other hand, due to the terribly disappointing attendance, coaches and players were easy to get to chat with one on one.  I had excellent conversations with Coach Littrell, Coach Mitchell (met our new women's assistant), Coach McCasland and Wren Baker.  Mason Fine was a treat to chat with for a moment as well. In addition, at Dallas, women's golf, volleyball and track were all represented with coaches.  Too bad UNT fans do not care enough to find a way to make it to these events.  

I can guarantee you that if OSU had a Caravan stop last night at Dot's there would have been at least 750 to 1000 fans in attendance.  At least.  We, as UNT fans, really do need to find a way to support these events.  If, of course, we want to see them continue.

Fun evening for the few who made the effort...for $5 we got food a free drink and lots of fun.  By the way...I was home by 8:45pm back in Denton, so not late at all...even for a "school night".  Here's hoping for a solid turnout tonight in UNT's Denton backyard.

Oh, and don't bore me with another "win and folks will show up" mantra...after our HOD win under the McCarney team with season tickets and attendance declining the next year, that old dog "win and folks will show up" is getting pretty lame when it comes to UNT fans.

I am guessing turnouts in Houston and San Antonio will dwarf Dallas figures.  Sure hope so. Heck, I am thinking Little Denton will dwarf "Big D's" sad excuse for a turnout.

Let the excuses begin to flow......

Thank you Mark. Another convert to my "we've got to change our culture" mantra...........that I've brought up again and again for over a decade.

1 hour ago, Ben Gooding said:

My excuse: I do not care about these events. These are adoration events for coaches and ADs. They walk around with their hand held out waiting for peasants to grab and kiss. It's for ass kissers. 

Ben, do you feel the same way about your family's reunions? I've always regarded these gatherings as an opportunity to discuss my agenda face to face with some of the decision makers in the department. When we had our first "national signing day event" right after Coach L took over, I took the opportunity to test his knowledge of NT history. I asked him where we got our nickname and he responded "from Joe Greene". He seemed so pleased with himself, and I hated to burst his bubble. HOWEVER, after educating him about the history of the nickname, he saw it as an inspiring/motivational story to present to the team. Now, he may have been BS'ing me, but at least he heard the real story. Something he wouldn't have gotten from our (then)  "fake* Sports information department".

 

 

 

 

 

God I hate using anything Trumpish to make my point.

[GrandGreen]

54 minutes ago, Aldo said:

Growing rivalry?

Don't get me wrong, I like playing Army (ESPECIALLY over Liberty) but it's only been two games in one season. One of them a pretty critical one.

I think we are confusing "rivalry" with "teams we enjoy playing against".

I know, I know, there aren't many of those, but we need to be more judicious with the use of the R word.

By definition any team you are competing with is a rivalry.   I think the term rivalry in the context of OU and UT is an old concept.  There are some historical rival series: Army/Navy, UT/OU: but even those can be eclipsed by games that matter a lot more in any particular year.   Yes, the Army and NT game series for the length of the contract was definitely as close to a rivalry game has NT has except SMU.   And no that SMU game is not a rivalry ether in the OU/UT sense.    

25 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Travel to/from Army is a challenge and most teams that play Army have a poor defensive game against the next team they play. We looked awful against UTSA after playing Army the prior week. Army is also a tough to to prepare against since they are practically one of a small handful of teams that run that offensive style. We were lucky in that we had an off week prior to playing Army which gave the team 2 weeks to prepare.

So Army is now just too tough a game for NT.  The Army win was as big as NT has had away non-conference since probably Texas Tech.   If your thing is easy wins than NT should have plenty of those of the schedule.   Yes, currently Army's offense is hard to defense, but their defense is far from stellar.   There are more and more teams using run option offenses, should NT shun playing any of them and put in the contract that if any team scheduled changes to the run option that the contract is void.   

[UNTLifer]

4 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

 So Army is now just too tough a game for NT.  The Army win was as big as NT has had away non-conference since probably Texas Tech.   If your thing is easy wins than NT should have plenty of those of the schedule.   Yes, currently Army's offense is hard to defense, but their defense is far from stellar.   There are more and more teams using run option offenses, should NT shun playing any of them and put in the contract that if any team scheduled changes to the run option that the contract is void.   

I don't think the point was that Army is too tough a game, but that they are tough to defensively game plan for and throw  you out of a normal routine during the season.

[Ben Gooding]

14 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Thank you Mark. Another convert to my "we've got to change our culture" mantra...........that I've brought up again and again for over a decade.

Ben, do you feel the same way about your family's reunions? I've always regarded these gatherings as an opportunity to discuss my agenda face to face with some of the decision makers in the department. When we had our first "national signing day event" right after Coach L took over, I took the opportunity to test his knowledge of NT history. I asked him where we got our nickname and he responded "from Joe Greene". He seemed so pleased with himself, and I hated to burst his bubble. HOWEVER, after educating him about the history of the nickname, he saw it as an inspiring/motivational story to present to the team. Now, he may have been BS'ing me, but at least he heard the real story. Something he wouldn't have gotten from our (then)  "fake* Sports information department".

 

 

 

 

 

God I hate using anything Trumpish to make my point.

I have a small knit family, a la my immediate family. That's my family. The one's who were there for me from the beginning and every obstacle in between. The others are people that just like the idea of family. In other words, I don't go to family reunions. 

And Littrell saying Joe Greene is more disappointing than maybe the Liberty series. You'd think, like well prepared common folk, he would've actually researched the job he was getting ready to be the de facto CEO of. Either way, it doesn't interest me. I started kissing people's ass never ago, and won't start. Not calling your personal encounter an ass kissing session. I wasn't there. 

And Wren never answered WHY LIBERTY? And why a home n home? He got babied by Liberty's AD. Point blank. 

[UNTFan23]

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

So Army is now just too tough a game for NT.  The Army win was as big as NT has had away non-conference since probably Texas Tech.   If your thing is easy wins than NT should have plenty of those of the schedule.   Yes, currently Army's offense is hard to defense, but their defense is far from stellar.   There are more and more teams using run option offenses, should NT shun playing any of them and put in the contract that if any team scheduled changes to the run option that the contract is void.   

Never said Army was too tough or anything like that. Army presents challenges prior to and following the game. It's hard to account for an outlier like them though. 

I felt like we were a better team than UTSA but the defense looked flat against the Runners.

[Ben Gooding]

1 hour ago, GrandGreen said:

 I have not been to one of these in years because under RV they were mostly a love fest within the AD department.  Not a lot of information other than everyone on the staff was great.   However, I never found any of the staff or RV anything but gracious and appreciative of the fans that attended.  

No one forces any fan to go.   NT certainly needs a lot more support at events like these.   Apparently neither you or I have been to a caravan event under the current regime, so I wonder how either of us would be able to criticize the program or particularly the people at it.  

We wanted out of the Army series?  I will give Wren the benefit of the doubt, but it must be a heck of a series to cancel two games of what was a growing rivalry between Army and NT and to sign a "nothing series" with Liberty.  

First bold - For the most part these things are all the same. 

2nd Bold - Please tell this is not true. If it is, how does removing Army and almost simultaneously plugging Liberty into those voids bring in a good series? He created gaps in the schedule, awesome. He then filled it with BS, garbage. Our next opening is 2022. I would have much, much rather have kept Army on the board for the NOW then wait 6 years for a series that might be good. Why not get into negotiations with someone for the places he pitted us vs Liberty!?! That would have been cause for a congratulatory email/phone call. Because that would have been being a damn good AD. 

[KRAM1]

2 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

My excuse: I do not care about these events. These are adoration events for coaches and ADs. They walk around with their hand held out waiting for peasants to grab and kiss. It's for ass kissers. 

"I don't care for these events" = totally appropriate response

"it's for ass kissers" = totally inappropriate response 

 

[UNTcrazy727]

2 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

First bold - For the most part these things are all the same. 

2nd Bold - Please tell this is not true. If it is, how does removing Army and almost simultaneously plugging Liberty into those voids bring in a good series? He created gaps in the schedule, awesome. He then filled it with BS, garbage. Our next opening is 2022. I would have much, much rather have kept Army on the board for the NOW then wait 6 years for a series that might be good. Why not get into negotiations with someone for the places he pitted us vs Liberty!?! That would have been cause for a congratulatory email/phone call. Because that would have been being a damn good AD. 

 

I'm guessing you overlooked my post from this morning. Go back and check it out. 

[KRAM1]

32 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I don't think the point was that Army is too tough a game, but that they are tough to defensively game plan for and throw  you out of a normal routine during the season.

And...they cut block as a technique.  Not dirty play or illegal, but tough on opposing teams D-Line legs and knees.  Simply a risk, but a risk of playing the game itself.  Just...do you want to increase the risk of injury playing a team you KNOW will cut block the entire game?  Not just Army, but Navy and to a lesser extent Air Force as well.  Trying to compensate for a smaller O-Line front than most schools they play...including UNT.

[UNTFan23]

5 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

First bold - For the most part these things are all the same. 

2nd Bold - Please tell this is not true. If it is, how does removing Army and almost simultaneously plugging Liberty into those voids bring in a good series? He created gaps in the schedule, awesome. He then filled it with BS, garbage. Our next opening is 2022. I would have much, much rather have kept Army on the board for the NOW then wait 6 years for a series that might be good. Why not get into negotiations with someone for the places he pitted us vs Liberty!?! That would have been cause for a congratulatory email/phone call. Because that would have been being a damn good AD. 

There are other pieces at play but haven't been/can't be announced because the contracts/agreements have not been finalized. These games would be just as good and perhaps even better than the series with Army.

[GrandGreen]

Just now, UNTFan23 said:

Never said Army was too tough or anything like that. Army presents challenges prior to and following the game. It's hard to account for an outlier like them though. 

I felt like we were a better team than UTSA but the defense looked flat against the Runners.

 

6 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I don't think the point was that Army is too tough a game, but that they are tough to defensively game plan for and throw  you out of a normal routine during the season.

No doubt that their offense is currently harder to decipher than the norm.  That is obviously, why the service academies run it to make up for generally lesser athletes.  I, however doubt that performance in the following game is significantly thrown off by playing a run option team.  From what I saw in San Antonio, UTSA was a far superior team in just about every phase.  The same for the following La Tech and WKU slaughters , was NT still suffering from having to prepare for Army?  Or why the complete disaster at UTEP,  a hangover from the USM win?  An UTEP team that lose to Army by over 50 points. 

This debate was spawned by my post questioning losing two games of the Army series and scheduling Liberty to allow some unknown matchup.  I didn't state it was a bad decision but rather it better be a good series that has caused all this schedule maneuvering.    Army was and is a good series based on NT's history, I don't know how that can even be questioned.