Shout out to McNatt and Lovelace

tmjerm · February 9, 2020

Back to the original topic of this thread, yes bravo to them and we are very fortunate for their generosity. The IPF is an incredible asset and huge factor for our ability to stay competitive with facilities. Also a great sign of donor confidence growing. Things take time to develop but these are good times in Denton.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · February 9, 2020

On 2/7/2020 at 12:07 PM, UNTLifer said:

To have a facility named after Dickey and none after first Odus Mitchell or Fry is a crime. Hell, if I were DD, I would be embarrassed.

I've always wondered why nothing was named after NT's most successful coach...

DeepGreen · February 9, 2020

Mitchell Field at Apogee Stadium. Of course the AD would like money in exchange for naming the field after someone. Anyone know what the going price is? GMG could set up a Go Fund Me account. I would donate.

Edited February 9, 2020 by DeepGreen

Salsa_Verde · February 9, 2020

54 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

I've always wondered why nothing was named after NT's most successful coach...

Probably because he’s so synonymous with Iowa football. It might look a little tacky. Just an opinion, don’t know what kind of relationship he kept with the school after he left. Same thing with DD if he was elected to the HOF who knows if that guy would show up and if he did who knows what he might say.

UNTLifer · February 9, 2020

2 minutes ago, Salsa_Verde said:

Probably because he’s so synonymous with Iowa football. It might look a little tacky. Just an opinion, don’t know what kind of relationship he kept with the school after he left. Same thing with DD if he was elected to the HOF who knows if that guy would show up and if he did who knows what he might say.

I don’t think he was referencing Fry.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · February 9, 2020

2 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I don’t think he was referencing Fry.

Yep I was referring to Mitchell

wardly · February 9, 2020

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2020 at 7:50 PM, El Paso Eagle said:

I believe his coaching record was something like 42 and 65. If you think that is worthy of a Hall of Fame career then I guess we can agree to disagree what a Hall of Fame standard should be.

Everything is relative. You need to note the number of body bag games he was forced to play in order to keep the program above water.

ADLER · February 10, 2020

UNT indoor for print 1

The facility is beautiful, its a sign of the the university's commitment to athletic excellence to all that see it from the interstate, and it advertises the program to millions every day when it is shown during weather reports from Denton. It is already showing as being incredibly beneficial in recruiting and should remain so for decades.

Thank you McNatt and Lovelace families.

Salsa_Verde · February 10, 2020

It’s awesome at night

greenminer · February 10, 2020

7 hours ago, wardly said:

Everything is relative. You need to note the number of body bag games he was forced to play in order to keep the program above water.

I couldn't find it, but @TheTastyGreek posted years ago about how we perceived Fry versus how we perceived Dickey. Something to the effect of how ridiculously we negate Dickey's accomplishments, but dare not apply that magnifying lens to Fry. It went into good detail. I thought it was pretty revealing.

Our reverence for Coach Fry is astronomical. To the point that, we just automatically assume the positive: he would have many, many more wins if they were not body bag games, and don't you dare suggest anything else.

Lots of coaches worked under challenging circumstances not within their control. How many others would benefit from this kind of positive assumption, and how much?

Edited February 10, 2020 by greenminer

greenminer · February 10, 2020

BTW, Fry's record at NTSU was 43-23-3 (from Wiki, FWIW)

wardly · February 10, 2020

Since 1913 we have had 3 coaches with winning records.According to UNT "All Time Results",Fouts was 23-14-2, Mitchell 122-85-9, and Fry 40-23-3.We have not had a coach with a winning record since Fry left for Iowa in 1978.

DeepGreen · February 10, 2020

46 minutes ago, wardly said:

Since 1913 we have had 3 coaches with winning records.According to UNT "All Time Results",Fouts was 23-14-2, Mitchell 122-85-9, and Fry 40-23-3.We have not had a coach with a winning record since Fry left for Iowa in 1978.

Very sad, indeed. But, on the bright side, we now have an Administration in place that seem to "get it". Finally.

Edited February 10, 2020 by DeepGreen

Graddean · February 10, 2020

SL is 27-25 through four seasons.

wardly · February 10, 2020

1 hour ago, Graddean said:

SL is 27-25 through four seasons.

And hopefully that will improve.

GreenFlag · February 10, 2020

On 2/6/2020 at 9:26 PM, greenminer said:

What was our budget relative to the rest of the Belt?

It was near the bottom. We were only a few years removed from the Southland (FCS). People sure give RV a hard time but he absolutely raised the bar for us.

Here is how bad it was when RV got here:

Fouts Field was absolutely the worst stadium in FBS football. They had to bring in generators to handle the electrical needs for a game. If you had front row seats on the 50 yard line you were a good 35 yards from the field. Those seats were too bad to sit in of course because they were low and the field had a crown. All you could see was the players asses. People were trying to think up ways to improve Fouts (not demolish it which was the right answer) back then. True story...in the 7 OT game against FIU I just couldn't hold it any longer and went to visit the pee wall. In comes a player with the same issue. Also opposing teams headsets would routinely malfunction so our coaches would have to take off their headsets.

Strength and Conditioning - What S&C? I know there was one but I honestly don't know where athletes worked out before the athletic center was built. Someone please inform me. Our current plan is to greatly expand the athletic center that we have identified as an area to improve. So before the current athletic center was built which was a giant leap forward, athletes did strength training wherever the heck that was.

Meeting space - I remember we had a "big donation" of $100,000 to renovate some space in the bowels of Fouts. That was a big leap forward at the time. No, I'm not kidding.

Sports Medicine - Please see strength and conditioning above.

Practice Fields - I think there were 2(?) fields where the parking lot is between Fouts and Traditions Hall. It was surrounded by chain link fence.

Academic Center - I don't know where that was either, I just don't know if there was some space dedicated to that or not or how many people we had dedicated to that endevor.

Coaching salaries -- Near the bottom of the Sun Belt when we joined. We were at or near the top when we left.

Uniforms - some programs would have to fundraise to buy their own uniforms.

Sports Nutrition - I almost forgot this one. There was none.

Yeah, things were bad.

Edited February 10, 2020 by GreenFlag

Mean Green 93-98 · February 11, 2020

6 hours ago, GreenFlag said:

I know there was one but I honestly don't know where athletes worked out before the athletic center was built. Someone please inform me.

There was a weight room at Fouts.

wardly · February 11, 2020

20 hours ago, GreenFlag said:

It was near the bottom. We were only a few years removed from the Southland (FCS). People sure give RV a hard time but he absolutely raised the bar for us.

Here is how bad it was when RV got here:

Fouts Field was absolutely the worst stadium in FBS football. They had to bring in generators to handle the electrical needs for a game. If you had front row seats on the 50 yard line you were a good 35 yards from the field. Those seats were too bad to sit in of course because they were low and the field had a crown. All you could see was the players asses. People were trying to think up ways to improve Fouts (not demolish it which was the right answer) back then. True story...in the 7 OT game against FIU I just couldn't hold it any longer and went to visit the pee wall. In comes a player with the same issue. Also opposing teams headsets would routinely malfunction so our coaches would have to take off their headsets.

Strength and Conditioning - What S&C? I know there was one but I honestly don't know where athletes worked out before the athletic center was built. Someone please inform me. Our current plan is to greatly expand the athletic center that we have identified as an area to improve. So before the current athletic center was built which was a giant leap forward, athletes did strength training wherever the heck that was.

Meeting space - I remember we had a "big donation" of $100,000 to renovate some space in the bowels of Fouts. That was a big leap forward at the time. No, I'm not kidding.

Sports Medicine - Please see strength and conditioning above.

Practice Fields - I think there were 2(?) fields where the parking lot is between Fouts and Traditions Hall. It was surrounded by chain link fence.

Academic Center - I don't know where that was either, I just don't know if there was some space dedicated to that or not or how many people we had dedicated to that endevor.

Coaching salaries -- Near the bottom of the Sun Belt when we joined. We were at or near the top when we left.

Uniforms - some programs would have to fundraise to buy their own uniforms.

Sports Nutrition - I almost forgot this one. There was none.

Yeah, things were bad.

On that note, in 85-86 Judy Nelson's women's basketball team went to a tournament[I think it was NCAA] At any rate the Athletic Department had no money to purchase a banner to hang in the Supper Pit in their honor and asked me for $500, which I gladly gave. I am 77, and just don't think many of you younger alumni realize what a shoestring operation our Athletic Department was for not years, but decades.

greenminer · February 11, 2020

@GreenFlag I thought the pee wall was gone long before that FIU game, but I guess I am remembering wrong.

Good post.

UNTLifer · February 11, 2020

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

@GreenFlag I thought the pee wall was gone long before that FIU game, but I guess I am remembering wrong.

Good post.

It was, and I am sorry, but why would a player end up in there? They would have to walk either through the stands or up around the end of the stands when going to the locker room was just as easy. That post didn't make sense.

meanrob · February 11, 2020

On 2/10/2020 at 1:43 PM, GreenFlag said:

It was near the bottom. We were only a few years removed from the Southland (FCS). People sure give RV a hard time but he absolutely raised the bar for us.

Here is how bad it was when RV got here:

Fouts Field was absolutely the worst stadium in FBS football. They had to bring in generators to handle the electrical needs for a game. If you had front row seats on the 50 yard line you were a good 35 yards from the field. Those seats were too bad to sit in of course because they were low and the field had a crown. All you could see was the players asses. People were trying to think up ways to improve Fouts (not demolish it which was the right answer) back then. True story...in the 7 OT game against FIU I just couldn't hold it any longer and went to visit the pee wall. In comes a player with the same issue. Also opposing teams headsets would routinely malfunction so our coaches would have to take off their headsets.

Strength and Conditioning - What S&C? I know there was one but I honestly don't know where athletes worked out before the athletic center was built. Someone please inform me. Our current plan is to greatly expand the athletic center that we have identified as an area to improve. So before the current athletic center was built which was a giant leap forward, athletes did strength training wherever the heck that was.

Meeting space - I remember we had a "big donation" of $100,000 to renovate some space in the bowels of Fouts. That was a big leap forward at the time. No, I'm not kidding.

Sports Medicine - Please see strength and conditioning above.

Practice Fields - I think there were 2(?) fields where the parking lot is between Fouts and Traditions Hall. It was surrounded by chain link fence.

Academic Center - I don't know where that was either, I just don't know if there was some space dedicated to that or not or how many people we had dedicated to that endevor.

Coaching salaries -- Near the bottom of the Sun Belt when we joined. We were at or near the top when we left.

Uniforms - some programs would have to fundraise to buy their own uniforms.

Sports Nutrition - I almost forgot this one. There was none.

Yeah, things were bad.

There's a lot of horseshit in this post.

MeanGreenTexan · February 11, 2020

8 minutes ago, meanrob said:

There's a lot of horseshit in this post.

Even more truth though.

Cooke County Kid · February 11, 2020

I attended NTSU starting in 1975 graduating in 1980. Hayden Fry was the football coach and Bill Blakely the basketball coach. We rocked. The snow bowl against Florida State, the domination of U of H. We should have beat UT but we did beat the other ut. It was fun, Hayden Fry was a Hell of a coach but was also a salesman and a motivator. We won a lot of games and if we lost it was generally a close game. Those were not body bag games Fry wanted to play with the big boys and we did. Blakely of course was the best, Weasal Johnson, man he could dribble.

GO MEAN GREEN!!

WIN GAMES!!

GreenFlag · February 11, 2020

3 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

It was, and I am sorry, but why would a player end up in there? They would have to walk either through the stands or up around the end of the stands when going to the locker room was just as easy. That post didn't make sense.

The pee wall gone? I believe you. I'm sorry but the only memory I have of those bathrooms has a pee wall and let's just say the memory is not rock solid like it used to be.

Why would a player end up there? I don't know but he did. I assumed he walked there from around the end of the stands where I came from as I resided on the deck those days.

Now let's add "the deck" as premium seating on the list of things that were jacked during those days.

GreenFlag · February 11, 2020

5 hours ago, greenminer said:

@GreenFlag I thought the pee wall was gone long before that FIU game, but I guess I am remembering wrong.

Good post.

I believe you. I kinda now remember we had some sort of new technology urinals that used less water or something after the wall. Yes, we were bragging about...urinals. My bad! The player was very real though.