DRC: Report -- ODU to receive $1.32 million to play Liberty

UNTLifer · May 16, 2017

1 minute ago, Arkstfan said:

Hey I understand not wanting to give up Army but it's like your AD got rooked.

Is your AD still throwing fits over our "rooked" AD taking your basketball coach?

Ben Gooding · May 16, 2017

5 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

You have no idea what the details are so stop acting like you do. Calling people apologists because they don't share your view is tiresome. It is alright to have a different point of view without belittling other's. Try it some time.

WB I'm sure is aware of the unhappiness. If he wanted to shed some light on his grand scheme then he very well would. Until further notice, I'm going to criticize the dog shit for what it currently is. No one with any school respect would argue what has CURRENTLY transpired as nothing short of poo. If so, they are indirectly apologizing on the behalf of the athletic department. There is currently no sweetener to what has happened. The deal that ODU cooked up coming not even a week from our series announcement has packed the wound with salt.

And I wasn't belittling anyone.

11 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Is your AD still throwing fits over our "rooked" AD taking your basketball coach?

Why take shots? From what it appears, WB got babied in THIS deal.

Aquila_Viridis · May 16, 2017

I am still expecting that from all this Liberty is going to do something to help our AD make this look good from strictly a deal standpoint. However, no matter how good it looks from a deal standpoint, it means we are no different from Liberty in how they act to advance, and that will never be worth it.

untjim1995 · May 16, 2017

1 hour ago, Ben Gooding said:

WB I'm sure is aware of the unhappiness. If he wanted to shed some light on his grand scheme then he very well would. Until further notice, I'm going to criticize the dog shit for what it currently is. No one with any school respect would argue what has CURRENTLY transpired as nothing short of poo. If so, they are indirectly apologizing on the behalf of the athletic department. There is currently no sweetener to what has happened. The deal that ODU cooked up coming not even a week from our series announcement has packed the wound with salt.

And I wasn't belittling anyone.

Why take shots? From what it appears, WB got babied in THIS deal.

BG, remember when I told you that one day you'll wake up after loving our teams and believing they want to win only to realize that they don't know how or even worse, don't care, about winning?

Because right now, unless WB pulls something great out of his ass, this is a prime example of what I'm talking about...for 25 years, I truly believed we would build up some kind of winning program in this state, for all of the reasons we beat into the ground. Yet, here I am, 22 years removed from graduating in the same year we moved up to I-A. And I've seen Helwig, RV, and now Wren Baker act as ADs and make decisions that no other FBS school in Texas would make. And since 1995, we are 89-184, under 6 head coaches.

To expect a deal better than the one we just signed with Liberty and changed with Army just exacerbates the reality that our alma mater cannot or will not ever figure out how to build a winning program that people care about. I've given up expecting anything different. I just watch our games now for the fun of knowing how our alma mater is doing, not because of any belief we will turn it around. 4 winning seasons out of 22 I-A/FBS seasons and 17 seasons with 7 or more losses will cause most people to realize what we are and what we are not.

DentonLurker · May 16, 2017

Deadspin is reporting Liberty is paying the $1.32M to guarantee a home opener for their first FBS game. My guess is that offer was not on the table for other games.

KRAM1 · May 16, 2017

3 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

WB I'm sure is aware of the unhappiness.

He definitely is aware that there is the usual portion of the fan base that will complain about every move he makes to try to adjust and correct a schedule that will be entertaining to the fan base, have a decent opportunity for wins that are sorely needed to increase such fan base and that will make room on a packed schedule years out for those corrections. As easy as some feel scheduling is...because, you know, Texas State did it....until you give it a shot (and not just pontificate with "I would or would not do this or that", what looks like something you call "dog poo" may be just the thing needed to start the fix of a not so exciting home schedule. All remains to be seen. Wren has indicated that this Liberty series is 1/3 of an overall "first step" in correcting that schedule. Might be nice to see what the other 2/3's might be before throwing Wren to the gutter in typical GMG.com fashion.

How many schools you think are standing in line to play UNT right now and who are willing to drop scheduled games, pick up our games, etc. and come to Apogee or pay us to go to their house within the next 3-5 years? Plus...just tell me how many said "named" schools are drooled NT to come to Apogee with a max of say 30,000? All questions an AD must answer, of course, in trying to "fix" a schedule with teams whose schedules are also pretty well set.

I don't have the answers. If I did I could get AD money somewhere. But, while not excited, at all, about this Liberty series, I will take our new AD at his word and see how it plays into the bigger scheduling picture. And, I will darn sure show up to watch the Mean Green whip up on these Liberty U. guys.

Edited May 16, 2017 by KRAM1

Rudy · May 16, 2017

8 hours ago, TheWestie said:

I still don't want to play for them, for any amount of money.

Garbage school with garbage academics, trying to buy their way into D1 sports and hiring garbage people with no regard for consequences.

As much as we all hate SMU, at least it's a real university with real academic credentials and issues real degrees.

Are you talking about Liberty or NutsaCK?

TIgreen01 · May 16, 2017

1 hour ago, KRAM1 said:

Wren has indicated that this Liberty series is 1/3 of an overall "first step" in correcting that schedule. Might be nice to see what the other 2/3's might be before throwing Wren to the gutter in typical GMG.com fashion.

I'm a huge fan of the smu series, and I liked the Army series. Judging by all the over the top angst on the board it seems our AD may have misjudged the fan's perception of that series. That said, I'm with Kram in that we need to settle down and put away the pitch-forks until at least a few more scheduling moves have been finalized.

oldguystudent · May 16, 2017

The current, ongoing situation slathered in perpetual reasons as to why

Arkstfan · May 16, 2017

10 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Is your AD still throwing fits over our "rooked" AD taking your basketball coach?

You paid us a half million (late but paid) and gave Mac a raise all for finishing 5th in the Sun Belt.

You might want to try this

Edited May 16, 2017 by Arkstfan

Ben Gooding · May 16, 2017

8 hours ago, KRAM1 said:

He definitely is aware that there is the usual portion of the fan base that will complain about every move he makes to try to adjust and correct a schedule that will be entertaining to the fan base, have a decent opportunity for wins that are sorely needed to increase such fan base and that will make room on a packed schedule years out for those corrections. As easy as some feel scheduling is...because, you know, Texas State did it....until you give it a shot (and not just pontificate with "I would or would not do this or that", what looks like something you call "dog poo" may be just the thing needed to start the fix of a not so exciting home schedule. All remains to be seen. Wren has indicated that this Liberty series is 1/3 of an overall "first step" in correcting that schedule. Might be nice to see what the other 2/3's might be before throwing Wren to the gutter in typical GMG.com fashion.

How many schools you think are standing in line to play UNT right now and who are willing to drop scheduled games, pick up our games, etc. and come to Apogee or pay us to go to their house within the next 3-5 years? Plus...just tell me how many said "named" schools are drooled NT to come to Apogee with a max of say 30,000? All questions an AD must answer, of course, in trying to "fix" a schedule with teams whose schedules are also pretty well set.

I don't have the answers. If I did I could get AD money somewhere. But, while not excited, at all, about this Liberty series, I will take our new AD at his word and see how it plays into the bigger scheduling picture. And, I will darn sure show up to watch the Mean Green whip up on these Liberty U. guys.

Oh, I'm not pulling my support. And I know he said there are other moves to be made. But that still doesn't make up for the Liberty series in general, the fact they're paying an in-state university 1.3M to come play them and us $0, and his botched excuse for dropping 2 games of Army. There are moves left, but from where I'm standing with the information that we actually do have, this has been an absolute failure. Until further notice, every real fan should have that stance. At real, self respecting sport playing universities, fans and alum would be going out of their mind if this had transpired at their school.

Harry · May 16, 2017

Wren knows the low hanging fruit for UNT is selling out Apogee for the 1st time. The closest we have come to doing that was the opener against Houston.

Don't kid yourself, having that occur under Wren's watch would be a huge accomplishment for us and for him professionally.

My guess is that he is trying to get in an opponent who has the ability to sell Apogee out for the first time. Maybe Oklahoma State or Texas Tech?

The usual critics will step in and say "we should sell it out with our fans only.." but you have to take baby steps to get to that point. Not selling out Apogee was a big issue for RV and I really think he underestimated how difficult it would be to do so. He also did not schedule the type of team that would help us make it happen. He wanted to get revenue out of every inch in the stadium and I think he could have been more strategic with his ticketing in the Wing zone.

MeanGreen_MBA · May 16, 2017

4 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

Oh, I'm not pulling my support. And I know he said there are other moves to be made. But that still doesn't make up for the Liberty series in general, the fact they're paying an in-state university 1.3M to come play them and us $0, and his botched excuse for dropping 2 games of Army. There are moves left, but from where I'm standing with the information that we actually do have, this has been an absolute failure. Until further notice, every real fan should have that stance. At real, self respecting sport playing universities, fans and alum would be going out of their mind if this had transpired at their school.

Put the Ring down young Ben....put the RING down....

UNTLifer · May 16, 2017

1 hour ago, Arkstfan said:

You paid us a half million (late but paid) and gave Mac a raise all for finishing 5th in the Sun Belt.

You might want to try this

And he still threw a fit. Are things that slow on the A-State board?

Edited May 16, 2017 by UNTLifer

MeanGreenTexan · May 16, 2017

2 minutes ago, Harry said:

Wren knows the low hanging fruit for UNT is selling out Apogee. The closest we have come to doing that was the opener against Houston.

Don't kid yourself, having that occur under Wren's watch would be a huge accomplishment for us and for him professionally.

My guess is that he is trying to get in an opponent who has the ability to sell Apogee out for the first time. Maybe Oklahoma State or Texas Tech?

The usual critics will step in and say "we should sell it out with our fans only.." but you have to take baby steps to get to that point. Not selling out Apogee was a big issue for RV and I really think he underestimated how difficult it would be to do so. He also did not schedule the type of team that would help us make it happen. He wanted to get revenue out of every inch in the stadium and I think he could have been more strategic with his ticketing in the Wing zone.

That would be me, and I think OKSt would be a fantastic barometer for this.

If OKSt were to show up on the home schedule for 2019, I do believe it would be a sell-out. If Littrell has the team winning 8-9 games/year, I believe the majority of fans for this game will be wearing Green (Something like 2/3 Green : 1/3 Orange).
If Littrell is still middling around 5-7 wins/year, I think we'll see that ratio swapped, and it will not be a good thing.
If Littrell bombs, then it's going to be mostly Orange as I'll bet many of the Mean Green fans will sell their tickets to OKSt fans willing to pay double (or more) what we paid for them (Something like 1/5 Green : 4/5 Orange).

Ben Gooding · May 16, 2017

4 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

That would be me, and I think OKSt would be a fantastic barometer for this.

If OKSt were to show up on the home schedule for 2019, I do believe it would be a sell-out. If Littrell has the team winning 8-9 games/year, I believe the majority of fans for this game will be wearing Green (Something like 2/3 Green : 1/3 Orange).
If Littrell is still middling around 5-7 wins/year, I think we'll see that ratio swapped, and it will not be a good thing.
If Littrell bombs, then it's going to be mostly Orange as I'll bet many of the Mean Green fans will sell their tickets to OKSt fans willing to pay double (or more) what we paid for them (Something like 1/5 Green : 4/5 Orange).

Agreed. Selling out Apogee would be great. I certainly wouldn't sell my tickets. But it would be a kick in the nuts if Littrell isn't performing well as in he's firmly on the hot seat potentially coaching in a firing season and I'm surrounded by orange. And of course a probable throat punch on the field given the scenario. Yeah, so I'd probably very hesitant to give WB a lot of praise for a sellout of this nature.

rcade · May 16, 2017

I have trouble believing that Liberty would have paid UNT a staggering amount of money to come to their house. Old Dominion is worth a lot more to them because it's a school in their state. As we've seen at UNT, fans want home games against in-state opponents.

Aldo · May 16, 2017

Harry · May 16, 2017

7 minutes ago, rcade said:

I have trouble believing that Liberty would have paid UNT a staggering amount of money to come to their house. Old Dominion is worth a lot more to them because it's a school in their state. As we've seen at UNT, fans want home games against in-state opponents.

I think you are dead on. I read that they intend to add 6000 seats to their 21,500 capacity stadium. Old Dominion will help them fill it up and in their mind give them a winnable game in front of the home crowd. They hired Turner Gill and Ian McCaw the Baylor AD. They have a clear plan and tons of money. I would not be shocked to see them join C-USA at some point in the future as they have the type of budget and resources you can't ignore.

oldguystudent · May 16, 2017

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

I would not be shocked to see them join C-USA at some point in the future as they have the type of budget and resources you can't ignore.

Most likely prior to the scheduled 2021 game. This deal stinks to high heaven long before anybody attaches any moral disgust to the institution.

VideoEagle · May 16, 2017

21 minutes ago, rcade said:

I have trouble believing that Liberty would have paid UNT a staggering amount of money to come to their house. Old Dominion is worth a lot more to them because it's a school in their state. As we've seen at UNT, fans want home games against in-state opponents.

It's not just an in state school, but one with whom they have a significant history having been conference mates before.

Arkstfan · May 16, 2017

53 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

And he still threw a fit. Are things that slow on the A-State board?

I'm here to talk about the subject of the thread but you guys have awful soft feelings to get them so hurt. Maybe instead of RV being your problem, need to be a tougher fan base.

Green P1 · May 16, 2017

its cute when you wanna get over your old boyfriend so much that you force yourself to love everything your new boyfriend does... Even when it really sucks.

Ben Gooding · May 16, 2017

As for the people stating that ODU has more prestige than UNT, just stop it. They have been playing football since 2009. They had a "team" from 1930-1941. Their program ended in 1941 because of "accreditation issues". They have played a total of 175 games. UNT has played 1,015 games. They have been to 1 bowl game, we've been to 9. They have 0 conference championships, UNT has 24. I know recent memory UNT has been driven to the ground of collegiate athletics. But we do have a long standing history. Let's not try to grab straws in a weird way to justify ODU getting 1.3M from Liberty and UNT getting 0.0M.

VideoEagle · May 16, 2017

45 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

As for the people stating that ODU has more prestige than UNT, just stop it.

If you read the original article in the Virginia Pilot, it reads that both ODU and Liberty fans are excited about this game. The teams have played each other before with Liberty fans traveling well to ODU. The ODU AD hopes Liberty will be on the ODU schedule beyond 2018. It also notes this is a single game, not a home and home. Single games always come with a guarantee while home and home only rarely do. ODU also wants to be on Liberty Flames Sports Network with goes to "potentially 80 million homes." ( Don't pretend to know what "potentially 80 million" actually means, but the ODU AD is excited about it.)

It's NOT that ODU has more prestige than NT, it's a combination of in state school plus no return game plus home opener all combinig to make it worth more to Liberty to get ODU than us.

It also appears Liberty now has four FBS home games scheduled for 2018: ODU, NT, Troy and NMSU. As for Liberty not being FBS today, well that ship sailed when the NCAA granted them permission to move up. In the eyes of the NCAA and all football playing colleges in the country, Liberty is FBS starting next year. Some fans might not like it, but that doesn't change the fact they are FBS.