UNT Track and Field

Cooley · March 28, 2021

Like most of my friends and acquaintances, football and basketball have clearly been our top 2 spectator sports; while in high school and college. Track & Field has always been third. Curious to know why North Texas has never been serious about its track program. (I’m not interested in any running event longer than the mile. (i.e. cross country)

Just watched the Texas Relays in Austin yesterday and again, UNT was not a factor. For as long as I can remember, smaller colleges and universities (including Juco’s) have fielded better programs. Many of these programs, in certain events, out perform bigger universities; with top times nationally. They also, seem to attract top sprinters from around the world.

UNT’s lack of commitment is reflected with that new track/soccer facility. (That looks like something you would see at the junior high level.) Someone also decided to be cute with the installation of that atrocious green surface. I had hoped that they would have substantially upgraded the facility from Fouts, where we hosted top talent from around the region during the high school regional meets.

I understand the money/donation challenges but if you are not going to be competitive then why even field a program? Replace it with some other non-revenue generating activity. I’m just frustrated and disappointed that we don’t have a decent track program to complement the potential of the other top 2 sports.

CMJ · March 28, 2021

I'm curious why events longer than the mile, say the 5K or 10K, that are run on an oval are considered "cross country." They're definitely track events.

We used to have a great distance running program from the 50's through the 70s. Probably better than any other T&F discipline at NT at the time.

Note: My father ran for NT. In fact I believe he's still technically the school record holder at one of the distances (3 mile maybe?) because they quit running it in NCAA competition shortly after he set the record.

Edited March 28, 2021 by CMJ

DeepGreen · March 28, 2021

3 hours ago, Cooley said:

Like most of my friends and acquaintances, football and basketball have clearly been our top 2 spectator sports; while in high school and college. Track & Field has always been third. Curious to know why North Texas has never been serious about its track program. (I’m not interested in any running event longer than the mile. (i.e. cross country)

Just watched the Texas Relays in Austin yesterday and again, UNT was not a factor. For as long as I can remember, smaller colleges and universities (including Juco’s) have fielded better programs. Many of these programs, in certain events, out perform bigger universities; with top times nationally. They also, seem to attract top sprinters from around the world.

UNT’s lack of commitment is reflected with that new track/soccer facility. (That looks like something you would see at the junior high level.) Someone also decided to be cute with the installation of that atrocious green surface. I had hoped that they would have substantially upgraded the facility from Fouts, where we hosted top talent from around the region during the high school regional meets.

I understand the money/donation challenges but if you are not going to be competitive then why even field a program? Replace it with some other non-revenue generating activity. I’m just frustrated and disappointed that we don’t have a decent track program to complement the potential of the other top 2 sports.

Cooley I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, if you look at all sports at UNT, we are a collective "average", maybe even below average in sports success. Yes, we have success from time to time in a sport or two. But it's not a prolonged success. Some will point to women's soccer, or men's basketball. While true, it's the money sports that are hit or miss.

Why? UNT still has that stigma of being a commuter school, and a reputation of not being on par with other large state universities and private schools like SMU and TCU. Maybe it's just the old Southwest Conference hex that keeps us down.

And here come the down votes.........

Edited March 28, 2021 by DeepGreen

UNTLifer · March 28, 2021

https://meangreensports.com/news/2021/2/21/track-and-field-mean-green-make-history-at-championships.aspx

https://meangreensports.com/news/2021/2/23/track-and-field-unt-lands-record-breaking-11-on-all-conference.aspx

GrandGreen · March 29, 2021

7 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

Cooley I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, if you look at all sports at UNT, we are a collective "average", maybe even below average in sports success. Yes, we have success from time to time in a sport or two. But it's not a prolonged success. Some will point to women's soccer, or men's basketball. While true, it's the money sports that are hit or miss.

Why? UNT still has that stigma of being a commuter school, and a reputation of not being on par with other large state universities and private schools like SMU and TCU. Maybe it's just the old Southwest Conference hex that keeps us down.

And here come the down votes.........

I disagree with your overall premise, NT is consistently in the top tier of CUSA programs in most so called non-revenue sports. Most women's teams including softball, volleyball, golf and soccer are all top league sports. Men's golf is also a plus team. NT has never been really competitive in swimming and diving. Tennis, a sport of who can recruit the best international players is in the mediocre range.

The SWC broke up 25 years ago, very few college athletes were even born then. What has held NT was the lack of investment in sports until the last decade and being in a middle of the road G5 conference at best.

Back to track inclusive of cross country, because it counts for 6 of the 16 required teams, it is never likely to be replaced. The total scholarships for these teams are divided by all 6 teams.

Track is a sport that NT should dominate in the conference. Most athletes are on partial ships, and NT located in a hotbed of talent and having lower tuition than the private schools and many out of state schools should excel.

Last years results seem to show substantially improvement.

I thought NT had an advantage with the new track and the new indoor training facility. Not a track expert but, the running lanes look good to me and 1500 seating is more than adequate.

UNTLifer · March 29, 2021

On 3/28/2021 at 9:16 AM, Cooley said:

UNT’s lack of commitment is reflected with that new track/soccer facility. (That looks like something you would see at the junior high level.) Someone also decided to be cute with the installation of that atrocious green surface. I had hoped that they would have substantially upgraded the facility from Fouts, where we hosted top talent from around the region during the high school regional meets.

Honestly, I am not familiar with track venues of universities, but not sure where the criticism of the new facility comes from. I would argue that the program thinks it is substantial upgrade from Fouts, which was ignored for years and years.

Venson · March 31, 2021

I disagree with your argument about the facilities. The Drake Relays, one of the more popular T&F events is on a blue track. There is nothing wrong with the color. 1500 is adequate seating for T&F because, like soccer, it's not very popular in the US until the Olympics. People in the US don't even watch the World Championships. Sure some of the smaller schools get great T&F athletes, but that's usually one person. As a team, they are none factors. They have one great athlete and the rest are mediocre to down right abysmal. As teams, the schools with best football programs are usually the best in the country. By far, the SEC has the best T&F. The PAC 12 and Big 12 are about even for second. Unless we are going to give T&F athletes full scholarships, to include room and board, I don't see it making many strides. They will probably not do that because it is not a high revenue generating sport. As much as I love the sport, and I mean love, it just doesn't generate the interest or revenue in the USA as it does internationally.