lean green

Aquila_Viridis · April 9, 2018

There should be no shame. Other schools of every description are pushing to rise above. The extent of it would come as a shock to most alumni. And many of them would ask ‘What’s the point?’ And it is a really legitimate question. NT and supporters need to have a good answer.

MrStrange18 · April 9, 2018

There are some great points being made here. A couple thoughts...

One, is that there is some hard truth to what @wardly is saying. What we have been putting on the field in recent history has been bad. In fact... the long history of UNT football has been bad for the most part. Why would you be interested in that? It has been a part of the culture for years. Most students on campus think "we suck at sports." Have they looked to see how we are doing? No. Have they ever tried going to a game? No.

Are things turning around? Yes.

I think we are headed in the right direction. We are not selling the same dog food. The dog food tastes different... better.

This current administration in the has a lot to undo while trying to promote something better. That is a big hill to climb. That hill is worth climbing though. If we keep on the track we are on, we will have students who have spent their years at UNT with a winning program. Then you will be surprised at all the alumni coming out of the woodwork. Remember when Baylor went on their run a few years ago? No alumni would claim their allegiance to that team... a few winning seasons and it was sic em bears all over the place.

We can get there, and I think the juice is worth the squeeze.

GMG!

MeanGreenTexan · April 9, 2018

15 minutes ago, MrStrange18 said:

There are some great points being made here. A couple thoughts...

One, is that there is some hard truth to what @wardly is saying. What we have been putting on the field in recent history has been bad. In fact... the long history of UNT football has been bad for the most part. Why would you be interested in that? It has been a part of the culture for years. Most students on campus think "we suck at sports." Have they looked to see how we are doing? No. Have they ever tried going to a game? No.

Are things turning around? Yes.

I think we are headed in the right direction. We are not selling the same dog food. The dog food tastes different... better.

This current administration in the has a lot to undo while trying to promote something better. That is a big hill to climb. That hill is worth climbing though. If we keep on the track we are on, we will have students who have spent their years at UNT with a winning program. Then you will be surprised at all the alumni coming out of the woodwork. Remember when Baylor went on their run a few years ago? No alumni would claim their allegiance to that team... a few winning seasons and it was sic em bears all over the place.

We can get there, and I think the juice is worth the squeeze.

GMG!

I agree.
NT has been in the desert for a long time. Every once in a while, a mirage would show up: DD's early 2000's, JJ's late 2000's, DMac's 2013. Other than that, it's been a rough go over the past several decades since the move back up to D-1A.

There's an old saying in Texas... probably in Tennessee, that says, "Fool me once, shame on... you. Fool me... can't get fooled again!"

What kind of evidence can anyone show to all the skeptics out there that would prove without a doubt that what Littrell & McCasland did this year aren't more mirages like the rest of them? We need Littrell & McCasland to sustain their recent successes. Then, once they are poached by P5's (let's face it, if they're successful here, they will be), we need WB to hire replacements that can keep the momentum going. 1 or 2 seasons of success do not prove anything if your history just shows that you'll be back in the toilet soon.

Salsa_Verde · April 9, 2018

I understand why some get impatient about how fast the program is moving toward where we all want it to be. I really don’t want to be talking about the same problems at age 65 that we are talking about now, for some on this page, that is reality. But things didn’t get this way overnight and they won’t get fixed overnight either.

GMG

wardly · April 9, 2018

34 minutes ago, Salsa_Verde said:

I understand why some get impatient about how fast the program is moving toward where we all want it to be. I really don’t want to be talking about the same problems at age 65 that we are talking about now, for some on this page, that is reality. But things didn’t get this way overnight and they won’t get fixed overnight either.

GMG

At age 75 I am beyond impatience. I just hope to live another 5 years or so to see another conference realignment binge.

wardly · April 9, 2018

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 2:26 PM, Side Show Joe said:

I think you bring up a few bad comparisons.

UTEP is the only game in El Paso... or within a million miles of El Paso. There is no competition for the attention of the general population. The people of El Paso can either support and watch UTEP or sit on their porch and watch the tumbleweeds roll into town.

Rice is a very small exclusive private school, whose graduates go on to earn large amounts of money. They have an annual generational donation campaign that raises tons of money for the university. And the smallest group is the older alums. Although they are severely outnumbered by the younger alums, they always raise millions more then the others.

UAB just came back from the dead. I like our situation much better.

I don't think our problem is a lack of interest. As stated in you original post. We have more donors, we just don't have as much money being donated. I think the real problem is a lack of engagement. Although we engage more alums then other universities, we could engage many more. Our alums can't give like Rice. Most do not earn the salaries that many Rice grads do. Our fans can't be fleeced like UTEP. There are just too many other entertainment options in DFW. Because many of our alums will be donating at lower levels then our Texas peers, we must engage more of our alums. The good news is that we have many more alums then the other Texas C-USA programs. Again we must do a better job of marketing.

What bad comparisons? Out of 14 CUSA universities we have the most Alumni at 380,000[Charlotte 2nd at 130,000], the fewest athletic donors with 1,000, [UTSA has 2,000] and the least amount of annual fund contributions ,$1.2 million[ODU gets $4.5 million,UTSA $2.6million, ]. You can compare our donors and dollars with every team in the conference and we are still Dead Ass Last. Its time to quit making excuses for our inability to compete financially with our peers and hold administration accountable .Just an old man's opinion .

flyonthewall · April 9, 2018

52 minutes ago, wardly said:

Its time to quit making excuses for our inability to compete financially with our peers and hold administration accountable .Just an old man's opinion .

And how long does the administration of G. Brint, Dr. S. and Baker and company have to fix this, before they own it?

KRAM1 · April 10, 2018

On 4/8/2018 at 1:22 PM, wardly said:

I don't think we all get it . UTEP,Rice,UAB,Charlotte have all sucked for some time, yet they get a lot more from a lot less.[ By the by, our average men's B.B. regular season attendance in 2017 was 2,100 vs CUSA average of 3,600].I have supported UNT since my freshman year of 1961, and as I approach 75 I am sick of excuses for the lack of financial support for athletics by our alumni . Even the 6 years Fry was head coach our average home attendance was just a little over 13,000.[we averaged 5 games per year played at Fouts during Hayden's tenure].Bottom line: I don't pretend to know what the answer is, but I know what the problem is. Lack of interest.

Is UNT90 back? 😂😂😂. Just pulling your leg a little. Just completed our best fundraising year ever in athletics. Yes, to your point, still not nearly enough donors, but the sales/marketing folks are, indeed, making headway and against a very strong head wind as well. Do we need more donors? Yep..you are 100% correct, Sir! Do we need donors to give more? Roger that as well. But, it does, in fact, appear that progress is being made on the field and in donor relations.

KRAM1 · April 10, 2018

1 hour ago, flyonthewall said:

And how long does the administration of G. Brint, Dr. S. and Baker and company have to fix this, before they own it?

I get the feeling from them that they “own it” now.

flyonthewall · April 10, 2018

1 minute ago, KRAM1 said:

I get the feeling from them that they “own it” now.

That's what I think too. I guess the question is.....how long till the dew burns off the lily?

Side Show Joe · April 10, 2018

On 4/8/2018 at 2:26 PM, Side Show Joe said:

I think you bring up a few bad comparisons.

UTEP is the only game in El Paso... or within a million miles of El Paso. There is no competition for the attention of the general population. The people of El Paso can either support and watch UTEP or sit on their porch and watch the tumbleweeds roll into town.

Rice is a very small exclusive private school, whose graduates go on to earn large amounts of money. They have an annual generational donation campaign that raises tons of money for the university. And the smallest group is the older alums. Although they are severely outnumbered by the younger alums, they always raise millions more then the others.

UAB just came back from the dead. I like our situation much better.

I don't think our problem is a lack of interest. As stated in you original post. We have more donors, we just don't have as much money being donated. I think the real problem is a lack of engagement. Although we engage more alums then other universities, we could engage many more. Our alums can't give like Rice. Most do not earn the salaries that many Rice grads do. Our fans can't be fleeced like UTEP. There are just too many other entertainment options in DFW. Because many of our alums will be donating at lower levels then our Texas peers, we must engage more of our alums. The good news is that we have many more alums then the other Texas C-USA programs. Again we must do a better job of marketing.

2 hours ago, wardly said:

What bad comparisons? Out of 14 CUSA universities we have the most Alumni at 380,000[Charlotte 2nd at 130,000], the fewest athletic donors with 1,000, [UTSA has 2,000] and the least amount of annual fund contributions ,$1.2 million[ODU gets $4.5 million,UTSA $2.6million, ]. You can compare our donors and dollars with every team in the conference and we are still Dead Ass Last. Its time to quit making excuses for our inability to compete financially with our peers and hold administration accountable .Just an old man's opinion .

I'm not making excuses for our lack of donations, just pointing out that the dynamics of our situation are very different from the other C-USA programs, even our Texas peers within the conference. Due to those differences, I believe our solution will probably need to be different too. In my opinion because our situations are very different, I believe those programs are bad comparisons.

Having stated that, I do believe we are seeing gains. I don't believe Baker is content to remain dead last in fund raising. If he were, I doubt he would have placed our donation numbers our there for public scrutiny.

TreeFiddy · April 10, 2018

At what point does the annual report get send to the donors? From the website, I see that the annual report only goes out to the Victory Circle supporters and above, but not sure when that typically goes out. The link below shows data from 2016-2017 (which is more current than the USATODAY NCAA finances website), but I assume the 2017-2018 numbers are not complete until the end of Spring.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2018/04/09/unt-football-recruits-least-money-texas-public-schools-schools-break

By the way, in 2016-2017 donations were roughly $1M.

xyresic · April 10, 2018

13 hours ago, flyonthewall said:

That's what I think too. I guess the question is.....how long till the dew burns off the lily?

Athletic's record breaking fund-raising year sent out enough heat to start the process.

TreeFiddy · April 10, 2018

I assume the driver for most of the record breaking was funds for the IPF. Do anyone know roughly what was raised this year?

xyresic · April 10, 2018

The number I heard was 9 million and it came close to doubling the previous record. There was either an email or DRC article that had the exact numbers. I believe those were just 2017 numbers, we are only four months into 2018, so I would be surprised if something has been relased for this year.

Edited April 10, 2018 by xyresic

TreeFiddy · April 10, 2018

I assume that they go by school year since that is how I they report to the NCAA, so 2017-2018 will include August 2017 through July 2018 and won't be available until sometime in 2019.

Looks like the reporting deadline for revenue and expenses is in January of the following year for D1 members.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/finances/ncaa-membership-financial-reporting-system

RBP79 · April 13, 2018

If any of the above mentioned schools were in DFW they also would be experiencing the same problems NT does. But the student body not supporting athletics any more than it does is perplexing. Me and future wife went to nearly all FB and BB games because it was free entertainment....course mid to late seventies teams seemed to win a little more.

Pavlovs Eagle · April 19, 2018

On 4/8/2018 at 8:38 PM, meangreenJW said:

Anyyone actively engaged, attending games, functions, donating can see it.

Where are all these "functions" at? I have been to the Collin County Alum mixers, Coaches Caravan, and Spring Game, but other than that it never seems like there's that much going on.

I know they have my name, address, and telephone... The Athletics Department took almost 3k from my bank account for season tickets. It's sad, I get more calls for donating from my undergrad department than I do from the Athletics Dept.

DeepGreen · April 19, 2018

I’ve said this many times, if The Wren could simply squeeze $25.00 a year out of every working and retired teacher that graduated from North Texas we would be in great shape financially.

SilverEagle · April 19, 2018

13 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

I’ve said this many times, if The Wren could simply squeeze $25.00 a year out of every working and retired teacher that graduated from North Texas we would be in great shape financially.

Well, since we still have graduates wandering around out there who ask the question "is NT still in the Missouri Valley Conference?" good luck to anyone trying to find these people, much less getting $25 out of them. To me that question alone sums up the challenge for the athletic department.

Quote

On 4/9/2018 at 6:55 PM, flyonthewall said:

And how long does the administration of G. Brint, Dr. S. and Baker and company have to fix this, before they own it?

I get the feeling from them that they “own it” now.

Don't get me started again.....just review all my rants about culture (or the lack thereof) here at North Texas. BUT, let me just add that the term "owning it" is one term/phrase that you have (historically) heard the least in reference to our University, the organizations associated with it......as well as the students/alums.

Phil, you and I have talked about this before. Historically, the A&M's of the world tend to attract the type of students that are inclined to "own it",........not so much with the students that are inclined to go to school at North Texas. That has everything to do with TRADITIONS.

So if Dr. S. (and company) want to start "owning it", then great! Get with it!

Because, like it is in any family, "owning it" is modeled by the parents. They set the tone/expectation for that tradition.

wardly · April 19, 2018

On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 11:44 AM, Prettylittleeagle said:

It's the simple things in life. This is inspiring to a young lad lack myself.

Glad to have been of help.

flyonthewall · April 19, 2018

40 minutes ago, wardly said:

Glad to have been of help.

Ward you old fart, stop arguing with them, they can type faster than a stormy daniels ass spanking on a future leader of the free world.

wardly · April 21, 2018

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 3:35 PM, flyonthewall said:

Ward you old fart, stop arguing with them, they can type faster than a stormy daniels ass spanking on a future leader of the free world.

Good advice. Think I will take it.