UTSA gets big NIL donation

[Pseudo Nym]

12 hours ago, Glad To Be Green said:

Well I promised I would stay off the Board unless it was informational and this is. Our original Twitter site was hacked a while back and apparently whoever did it made it impossible for me to get back in or shut it down! I know there were political barbs flying back and forth and I promise you that none of that content was produced or condoned by any member of the LTTC and never would be. Anyone that really knows me or the members of our Board realizes that this type of behavior is against our general respect for people. Our goal as a Collective is to create opportunities for student-athetes and build a Collective that will help retain and attract top athletes so how would those messages advance that effort? We are still working with Twitter to  remove the messaging and hope it will happen soon.

My question is why do some of you take this misinformation, totally unsubstantiated and beat the drum one more time? Just because you don't like me. if that's the case then there is nothing I can or want to do about it.  But how do you think that breeds anything positive about this collective and its' importance?   

As long as I have started, I am going to address some other things in this thread. I know many of you will not like it and probably create more threads to demean the comments, but in all honesty it won't bother me because I know the information to be true. 

First I took this position not because I love the University, but more because I believe in young people and want the best of them to come to North Texas. I believe in the men who asked me to take the challenge on because together we built nearly every facility our student-athletes play in today. I did it because, despite your beliefs, I knew I was capable of making this happen becasue everywhere I have been in my life I have done so. And while I don't count you in that number, there are a lot of people, coaches and administrators who do believe in me and I am doing it for them. And I do love this University.

Secondly, I did raise money while I was here...lots of money. We convinced Ron Warranch to donate the entire amount, right at $1.5 million to build our tennis facility shortly after I arrived and we never stopped. Check the list of people who are our largest donors and you will see that they were brought on board during our tenure. Families giving million and multimillion dollar gifts to help build the Athletic Center, buy and renovate the Liberty Christain property and eventually erect Apogee Stadium. That cultivation has fueled their continued participation. The naysayers will try to say someone else did all this but if that's so then why didn't they do it before we got here.

As far as my ability to lead, in under 60 days, we incorporated an organization, went through the appliaction process for tax exempt status, built a new website from scratch, created banking relationships, put together a strong board, traversed through the many steps required to run an NIL, created a business platform, initiated a successful kickoff event, developed programs and partnerships to provide student-athletes with opportunities to earn compensation, created and then offered contracts and raised a significant amount of money to meet those obligations. Many schools took 8-10 monts to do the same thing. Not bad for someone that, according to you, can't run an organization effectively. And when we get that $300,000 donor we will have no problem holding a press conference.

Finally, I am not going to quit because you think I should. Many people don't feel the same way and are helping us grow. So now go and take all the shots you want, make remarks about syntax and perpetuate myths for your own benefit. What I would humbly ask is that you lose the personal grudges and think about the future of the program because it's not about me or you. It is about North Texas. 

So back to passing on information. Since the Twitter account was compromised, we have created a new Twitter site - The Real Light The Tower Collective@LLTCED2022 and will begin posting regularly soon with student-athletes providing a lot of the content about the process but also the nonprofits and charities we will be working with. I hope you will check it out and also hope you will consider joining our group to help complete the already fast start we have had. You can go to our website www.lightthetowercollective.com to get more information or make an online donation because every dollar really does help. One hundred $100 donations adds $10,000 to the fund and 200 at $500 gets us an additional $100,000. Those kinds of dollars paired with an already impressive balance from higher level gifts will help us create a solid and strong Collective so important to our athletic program.  If you would like to talk about a recurring gift, please fill out the Contact Us section on the site and I will get right back to you.

In closing, we don't have to agree, we just need to make a difference.

Let's Light The Tower and Go Mean Green!

P.s. By the way, we had the box for that Garth Brooks concert "donated" by a gentleman who comitted $40,000 and two others who committed a combined $30,000.   

Our goal as a Collective is to create opportunities for student-athletes and build a Collective that will help retain and attract top athletes so how would those messages advance that effort? 
They don’t and that is why people were/are upset that the individual responsible for the twitter account behaved in such an irresponsible manner and called it out.

We are still working with Twitter to remove the messaging and hope it will happen soon.

It’s one thing to lie, but to then double down on it with a patronizing statement that “we are actively doing something to remedy the situation” is absurd to everyone that understands social media and an entire generation who grew up with it.

My question is why do some of you take this misinformation, totally unsubstantiated and beat the drum one more time? Just because you don't like me. if that's the case then there is nothing I can or want to do about it.  

I can only speak for myself, I don’t have a problem with you as a person, at all.  Professionally, I think your leadership is lacking in the areas of project management and fundraising, at times in leadership roles at UNT you have proven to be untrustworthy.  This NIL Collective was always going to be challenging for many schools, particularly UNT, so the roll out of any collective for UNT was going to be a monumental task with little room for error.

If you want a gold star for starting the collective, kudos to you.  The criticism in this thread is specific and warranted.  Shortcuts, lack of attention to detail, frivolity, poor messaging, and lack of awareness are no longer tolerated in the world of athletics or fundraising.  Over the past decade, the bar has been set higher because there are more people capable of doing work of a higher standard with little margin for error; move aside and let others who are more capable with a more refined skillset and more serious approach take the reins.  There is a good chance there are people on that board already who are more capable.

But how do you think that breeds anything positive about this collective and its' importance?   

Criticism is part of growth.  I imagine when interviewing folks for positions in the athletics department, a standard question is “how do you take constructive criticism or feedback?”  There is nothing positive of adolescent misuse of social media when it pertains to a serious venture such as an NIL Collective.  The damage was not done by those who pointed it out and perhaps had the individual in question had a track record of strong attention to detail, accountability, holding and living up to high standards, then a pass would have been given.  In the minds of many who expressed their opinion, this is not the case, thus criticism and feedback was warranted and given.

As long as I have started, I am going to address some other things in this thread. I know many of you will not like it and probably create more threads to demean the comments, but in all honesty it won't bother me because I know the information to be true. 

Really? Sure, let’s talk about you some more shall we.  This is part of the criticism of your leadership, it’s more about shining a spotlight on you.  

First I took this position not because I love the University, but more because I believe in young people and want the best of them to come to North Texas. 

No one has the monopoly on love for the university or belief in our young people or student-athletes, it is shared in the most passionate way by many of this board who are also capable of holding opposing views in the best interests and paths for our department, teams, and student-athletes.

I believe in the men who asked me to take the challenge on because together we built nearly every facility our student-athletes play in today. 

To use a word from a younger generation, this is one of the “cringiest” statements I have ever read.  To take “we” not “you” stance when it comes to facilities being built flies in the face of every student that has ever attended the university.

I did it because, despite your beliefs, I knew I was capable of making this happen becasue everywhere I have been in my life I have done so. And while I don't count you in that number, there are a lot of people, coaches and administrators who do believe in me and I am doing it for them. And I do love this University.

Wow.  We talked about servant-leadership when I was in school at UNT and not just in classes, but also in departments all across the University.  It’s the refrain from one to all, this permeates “me over we”.  One of the quotes that I still use today with my teams is:

 “A Leader is best when people barely know he exists.  When his work is done.  His aim fulfilled.  They will say: we did it ourselves.” – Lao Tzu

Secondly, I did raise money while I was here...lots of money. We convinced Ron Warranch to donate the entire amount, right at $1.5 million to build our tennis facility shortly after I arrived and we never stopped. Check the list of people who are our largest donors and you will see that they were brought on board during our tenure. Families giving million and multimillion dollar gifts to help build the Athletic Center, buy and renovate the Liberty Christain property and eventually erect Apogee Stadium. That cultivation has fueled their continued participation. The naysayers will try to say someone else did all this but if that's so then why didn't they do it before we got here.

All that needs to be said here, is the degree to which you did your job in raising money, was not up to the standard of which the University Administration and Board of Regents deemed adequate.  Your job performance in this area was deemed to be substandard.  You were rewarded for doing your job, that’s how it works, for everyone.  It was your job to raise money, cultivate donors, grow the MGSF and so forth.  You were paid for this work; this was not done out of the kindness of your heart of pure love for the University.  It was determined that you were not meeting the expectations of your job, including in the areas of fundraising, and because your job performance was substandard, the decision was made to replace you with some one else who could do the job better.   

The naysayers will say you did your job with regards to raising money and the report card issued by the Administration and Board of Regents reported a failure on your part, in your abilities, and lack of confidence in your leadership.  Effort and passion was there, but the results fell short of expectations.

Kinda like the Dodge-era teams scoring a ton of points on offense but then giving up a bunch on defense, the results weren’t favorable, and he was replaced.

As far as my ability to lead, in under 60 days, we incorporated an organization, went through the appliaction process for tax exempt status, built a new website from scratch, created banking relationships, put together a strong board, traversed through the many steps required to run an NIL, created a business platform, initiated a successful kickoff event, developed programs and partnerships to provide student-athletes with opportunities to earn compensation, created and then offered contracts and raised a significant amount of money to meet those obligations. 

People with experience in this area can appreciate the work that was done; however, they would not try to build up incorporating paperwork, applying for tax exempt status, building a website, working with a bank, organizing a board, formulating a business plan, and planning a launch event as more than it is.  

Non-profits or animal rescue, homeless programs, community church organizations do this all the time, infect in a shorter amount of time, with less experience and have more success.  

There is one area that deserves recognition here and that is developing programs and partnerships as the world of NIL Collectives is still in its infancy and we are seeing many creative ways and programs in how to do this.

Many schools took 8-10 months to do the same thing. Not bad for someone that, according to you, can't run an organization effectively. And when we get that $300,000 donor we will have no problem holding a press conference.

Doing it fast and doing it right whilst maintaining high standards are two very different things. (I can’t believe I actually have to point this out).

Finally, I am not going to quit because you think I should. 

As a matter of fact, I think the board should have the ability (fortitude) to see through the nonsense of hacking, and how this was addressed with a farcical lie and if it had any standards at all would hold the individual responsible accountable and remove them from the collective.  

Further, if the individual responsible had any sense of dignity, pride, and integrity, they wouldn’t try to pass off poor judgement, I’ll even go so far as to say a momentary lapse in poor judgement and lack of understanding social media and twitter, as anything more than it is, and take accountability for it and certainly not run out the “I was hacked” line.

Many people don't feel the same way and are helping us grow. 

Many people do feel the same way and are also working to help us grow, again, no one holds the monopoly on passion for the University or working to help move the program forward.

So now go and take all the shots you want, make remarks about syntax and perpetuate myths for your own benefit. What I would humbly ask is that you lose the personal grudges and think about the future of the program because it's not about me or you. It is about North Texas. 

I hope you’ll find in the preceding responses, fair and accurate criticisms and as constructive and honest feedback, void of any perceived personal grudge as I simply don’t have one.

After spending a significant amount of time in this post making it about you, we can all acknowledge that it is indeed not about you. In fact, many of the views you may perceive as slights against you are more about UNT moving forward in a better direction that may not include you in a leadership role.  There are fair distinctions in that.

So back to passing on information. Since the Twitter account was compromised, we have created a new Twitter site - The Real Light The Tower Collective@LLTCED2022 and will begin posting regularly soon with student-athletes providing a lot of the content about the process but also the nonprofits and charities we will be working with. I hope you will check it out and also hope you will consider joining our group to help complete the already fast start we have had. You can go to our website www.lightthetowercollective.com to get more information or make an online donation because every dollar really does help. One hundred $100 donations adds $10,000 to the fund and 200 at $500 gets us an additional $100,000. Those kinds of dollars paired with an already impressive balance from higher level gifts will help us create a solid and strong Collective so important to our athletic program.  If you would like to talk about a recurring gift, please fill out the Contact Us section on the site and I will get right back to you.

No serious person is buying that the twitter account was “compromised”, and I’ve made a separate post explaining that.  I mean, do you really take people to be so foolish, I can’t believe for one second WB and Smastresk can continue to take you seriously after this clumsy attempt, let’s just call it what it is: a bold face lie.  

Serious people up and down the administration and board of regents, see right through this, it pains me how desperate of a joke this has become.  I expect this from an immature student-athlete who made a mistake, but from someone in your position to flat out lie, it’s disgraceful.  It’s sad. It’s just pathetic.  I feel sorry for you, as the respect people had for you before, including myself, is certainly diminished now.  

I’m sure many, myself including, will be watching, following, and identifying ways to continue supporting the University, the Athletics Department, as well as new initiatives, including NIL collectives.

In closing, we don't have to agree, we just need to make a difference.

Again, no one person has the monopoly on passion, pride, or wanting to make a (positive) difference for our University, Athletics Department, and student-athletes.  
Clearly there are many things we all don’t agree on.

Let's Light The Tower and Go Mean Green!

P.s. By the way, we had the box for that Garth Brooks concert "donated" by a gentleman who comitted $40,000 and two others who committed a combined $30,000.

Here’s a thought:

Since that box was donated, why didn’t you sell raffle tickets (you can even do this online now) for, I don’t’ know, say $5 a piece, maybe more, give each board member a goal to sell 100 of those tickets, if ten people meet their goal of selling tickets at $5 a piece, that’s taking something you got for free and making $5,000 for the collective, to say nothing of the notable PR and buzz this would of generated.

Isn't that the idea of fundraising, starting with nothing and turning into something!
 
Surely such a strong board could of handled selling some raffle tickets to prime seats to a huge concert!

Instead, and now since you’ve made the point to mention it, it was used for self-serving purposes. 

I suppose that picture was also strategically posted by a hacker.

 

[greenminer]

[Jonnyeagle]

12 hours ago, Glad To Be Green said:

Well I promised I would stay off the Board unless it was informational and this is. Our original Twitter site was hacked a while back and apparently whoever did it made it impossible for me to get back in or shut it down! I know there were political barbs flying back and forth and I promise you that none of that content was produced or condoned by any member of the LTTC and never would be. Anyone that really knows me or the members of our Board realizes that this type of behavior is against our general respect for people. Our goal as a Collective is to create opportunities for student-athetes and build a Collective that will help retain and attract top athletes so how would those messages advance that effort? We are still working with Twitter to  remove the messaging and hope it will happen soon.

My question is why do some of you take this misinformation, totally unsubstantiated and beat the drum one more time? Just because you don't like me. if that's the case then there is nothing I can or want to do about it.  But how do you think that breeds anything positive about this collective and its' importance?   

As long as I have started, I am going to address some other things in this thread. I know many of you will not like it and probably create more threads to demean the comments, but in all honesty it won't bother me because I know the information to be true. 

First I took this position not because I love the University, but more because I believe in young people and want the best of them to come to North Texas. I believe in the men who asked me to take the challenge on because together we built nearly every facility our student-athletes play in today. I did it because, despite your beliefs, I knew I was capable of making this happen becasue everywhere I have been in my life I have done so. And while I don't count you in that number, there are a lot of people, coaches and administrators who do believe in me and I am doing it for them. And I do love this University.

Secondly, I did raise money while I was here...lots of money. We convinced Ron Warranch to donate the entire amount, right at $1.5 million to build our tennis facility shortly after I arrived and we never stopped. Check the list of people who are our largest donors and you will see that they were brought on board during our tenure. Families giving million and multimillion dollar gifts to help build the Athletic Center, buy and renovate the Liberty Christain property and eventually erect Apogee Stadium. That cultivation has fueled their continued participation. The naysayers will try to say someone else did all this but if that's so then why didn't they do it before we got here.

As far as my ability to lead, in under 60 days, we incorporated an organization, went through the appliaction process for tax exempt status, built a new website from scratch, created banking relationships, put together a strong board, traversed through the many steps required to run an NIL, created a business platform, initiated a successful kickoff event, developed programs and partnerships to provide student-athletes with opportunities to earn compensation, created and then offered contracts and raised a significant amount of money to meet those obligations. Many schools took 8-10 monts to do the same thing. Not bad for someone that, according to you, can't run an organization effectively. And when we get that $300,000 donor we will have no problem holding a press conference.

Finally, I am not going to quit because you think I should. Many people don't feel the same way and are helping us grow. So now go and take all the shots you want, make remarks about syntax and perpetuate myths for your own benefit. What I would humbly ask is that you lose the personal grudges and think about the future of the program because it's not about me or you. It is about North Texas. 

So back to passing on information. Since the Twitter account was compromised, we have created a new Twitter site - The Real Light The Tower Collective@LLTCED2022 and will begin posting regularly soon with student-athletes providing a lot of the content about the process but also the nonprofits and charities we will be working with. I hope you will check it out and also hope you will consider joining our group to help complete the already fast start we have had. You can go to our website www.lightthetowercollective.com to get more information or make an online donation because every dollar really does help. One hundred $100 donations adds $10,000 to the fund and 200 at $500 gets us an additional $100,000. Those kinds of dollars paired with an already impressive balance from higher level gifts will help us create a solid and strong Collective so important to our athletic program.  If you would like to talk about a recurring gift, please fill out the Contact Us section on the site and I will get right back to you.

In closing, we don't have to agree, we just need to make a difference.

Let's Light The Tower and Go Mean Green!

P.s. By the way, we had the box for that Garth Brooks concert "donated" by a gentleman who comitted $40,000 and two others who committed a combined $30,000.   

Appreciate your efforts to get this NIL off the ground and it sounds like you are making a lot of progress.  I have a question on the website though.  Is there a way for me to pay for a particular player to get funds or will it need  to go through the collective to determine where the money goes to.  Simply put, is there any plans for fans to be able to earmark funds to the collective?  Thanks.

[CaribbeanGreen]

The absolute audacity to claim that was a hacking and run with it boggles the mind. 

[untphd]

54 minutes ago, Pseudo Nym said:

Our goal as a Collective is to create opportunities for student-athletes and build a Collective that will help retain and attract top athletes so how would those messages advance that effort? 
They don’t and that is why people were/are upset that the individual responsible for the twitter account behaved in such an irresponsible manner and called it out.

We are still working with Twitter to remove the messaging and hope it will happen soon.

It’s one thing to lie, but to then double down on it with a patronizing statement that “we are actively doing something to remedy the situation” is absurd to everyone that understands social media and an entire generation who grew up with it.

My question is why do some of you take this misinformation, totally unsubstantiated and beat the drum one more time? Just because you don't like me. if that's the case then there is nothing I can or want to do about it.  

I can only speak for myself, I don’t have a problem with you as a person, at all.  Professionally, I think your leadership is lacking in the areas of project management and fundraising, at times in leadership roles at UNT you have proven to be untrustworthy.  This NIL Collective was always going to be challenging for many schools, particularly UNT, so the roll out of any collective for UNT was going to be a monumental task with little room for error.

If you want a gold star for starting the collective, kudos to you.  The criticism in this thread is specific and warranted.  Shortcuts, lack of attention to detail, frivolity, poor messaging, and lack of awareness are no longer tolerated in the world of athletics or fundraising.  Over the past decade, the bar has been set higher because there are more people capable of doing work of a higher standard with little margin for error; move aside and let others who are more capable with a more refined skillset and more serious approach take the reins.  There is a good chance there are people on that board already who are more capable.

But how do you think that breeds anything positive about this collective and its' importance?   

Criticism is part of growth.  I imagine when interviewing folks for positions in the athletics department, a standard question is “how do you take constructive criticism or feedback?”  There is nothing positive of adolescent misuse of social media when it pertains to a serious venture such as an NIL Collective.  The damage was not done by those who pointed it out and perhaps had the individual in question had a track record of strong attention to detail, accountability, holding and living up to high standards, then a pass would have been given.  In the minds of many who expressed their opinion, this is not the case, thus criticism and feedback was warranted and given.

As long as I have started, I am going to address some other things in this thread. I know many of you will not like it and probably create more threads to demean the comments, but in all honesty it won't bother me because I know the information to be true. 

Really? Sure, let’s talk about you some more shall we.  This is part of the criticism of your leadership, it’s more about shining a spotlight on you.  

First I took this position not because I love the University, but more because I believe in young people and want the best of them to come to North Texas. 

No one has the monopoly on love for the university or belief in our young people or student-athletes, it is shared in the most passionate way by many of this board who are also capable of holding opposing views in the best interests and paths for our department, teams, and student-athletes.

I believe in the men who asked me to take the challenge on because together we built nearly every facility our student-athletes play in today. 

To use a word from a younger generation, this is one of the “cringiest” statements I have ever read.  To take “we” not “you” stance when it comes to facilities being built flies in the face of every student that has ever attended the university.

I did it because, despite your beliefs, I knew I was capable of making this happen becasue everywhere I have been in my life I have done so. And while I don't count you in that number, there are a lot of people, coaches and administrators who do believe in me and I am doing it for them. And I do love this University.

Wow.  We talked about servant-leadership when I was in school at UNT and not just in classes, but also in departments all across the University.  It’s the refrain from one to all, this permeates “me over we”.  One of the quotes that I still use today with my teams is:

 “A Leader is best when people barely know he exists.  When his work is done.  His aim fulfilled.  They will say: we did it ourselves.” – Lao Tzu

Secondly, I did raise money while I was here...lots of money. We convinced Ron Warranch to donate the entire amount, right at $1.5 million to build our tennis facility shortly after I arrived and we never stopped. Check the list of people who are our largest donors and you will see that they were brought on board during our tenure. Families giving million and multimillion dollar gifts to help build the Athletic Center, buy and renovate the Liberty Christain property and eventually erect Apogee Stadium. That cultivation has fueled their continued participation. The naysayers will try to say someone else did all this but if that's so then why didn't they do it before we got here.

All that needs to be said here, is the degree to which you did your job in raising money, was not up to the standard of which the University Administration and Board of Regents deemed adequate.  Your job performance in this area was deemed to be substandard.  You were rewarded for doing your job, that’s how it works, for everyone.  It was your job to raise money, cultivate donors, grow the MGSF and so forth.  You were paid for this work; this was not done out of the kindness of your heart of pure love for the University.  It was determined that you were not meeting the expectations of your job, including in the areas of fundraising, and because your job performance was substandard, the decision was made to replace you with some one else who could do the job better.   

The naysayers will say you did your job with regards to raising money and the report card issued by the Administration and Board of Regents reported a failure on your part, in your abilities, and lack of confidence in your leadership.  Effort and passion was there, but the results fell short of expectations.

Kinda like the Dodge-era teams scoring a ton of points on offense but then giving up a bunch on defense, the results weren’t favorable, and he was replaced.

As far as my ability to lead, in under 60 days, we incorporated an organization, went through the appliaction process for tax exempt status, built a new website from scratch, created banking relationships, put together a strong board, traversed through the many steps required to run an NIL, created a business platform, initiated a successful kickoff event, developed programs and partnerships to provide student-athletes with opportunities to earn compensation, created and then offered contracts and raised a significant amount of money to meet those obligations. 

People with experience in this area can appreciate the work that was done; however, they would not try to build up incorporating paperwork, applying for tax exempt status, building a website, working with a bank, organizing a board, formulating a business plan, and planning a launch event as more than it is.  

Non-profits or animal rescue, homeless programs, community church organizations do this all the time, infect in a shorter amount of time, with less experience and have more success.  

There is one area that deserves recognition here and that is developing programs and partnerships as the world of NIL Collectives is still in its infancy and we are seeing many creative ways and programs in how to do this.

Many schools took 8-10 months to do the same thing. Not bad for someone that, according to you, can't run an organization effectively. And when we get that $300,000 donor we will have no problem holding a press conference.

Doing it fast and doing it right whilst maintaining high standards are two very different things. (I can’t believe I actually have to point this out).

Finally, I am not going to quit because you think I should. 

As a matter of fact, I think the board should have the ability (fortitude) to see through the nonsense of hacking, and how this was addressed with a farcical lie and if it had any standards at all would hold the individual responsible accountable and remove them from the collective.  

Further, if the individual responsible had any sense of dignity, pride, and integrity, they wouldn’t try to pass off poor judgement, I’ll even go so far as to say a momentary lapse in poor judgement and lack of understanding social media and twitter, as anything more than it is, and take accountability for it and certainly not run out the “I was hacked” line.

Many people don't feel the same way and are helping us grow. 

Many people do feel the same way and are also working to help us grow, again, no one holds the monopoly on passion for the University or working to help move the program forward.

So now go and take all the shots you want, make remarks about syntax and perpetuate myths for your own benefit. What I would humbly ask is that you lose the personal grudges and think about the future of the program because it's not about me or you. It is about North Texas. 

I hope you’ll find in the preceding responses, fair and accurate criticisms and as constructive and honest feedback, void of any perceived personal grudge as I simply don’t have one.

After spending a significant amount of time in this post making it about you, we can all acknowledge that it is indeed not about you. In fact, many of the views you may perceive as slights against you are more about UNT moving forward in a better direction that may not include you in a leadership role.  There are fair distinctions in that.

So back to passing on information. Since the Twitter account was compromised, we have created a new Twitter site - The Real Light The Tower Collective@LLTCED2022 and will begin posting regularly soon with student-athletes providing a lot of the content about the process but also the nonprofits and charities we will be working with. I hope you will check it out and also hope you will consider joining our group to help complete the already fast start we have had. You can go to our website www.lightthetowercollective.com to get more information or make an online donation because every dollar really does help. One hundred $100 donations adds $10,000 to the fund and 200 at $500 gets us an additional $100,000. Those kinds of dollars paired with an already impressive balance from higher level gifts will help us create a solid and strong Collective so important to our athletic program.  If you would like to talk about a recurring gift, please fill out the Contact Us section on the site and I will get right back to you.

No serious person is buying that the twitter account was “compromised”, and I’ve made a separate post explaining that.  I mean, do you really take people to be so foolish, I can’t believe for one second WB and Smastresk can continue to take you seriously after this clumsy attempt, let’s just call it what it is: a bold face lie.  

Serious people up and down the administration and board of regents, see right through this, it pains me how desperate of a joke this has become.  I expect this from an immature student-athlete who made a mistake, but from someone in your position to flat out lie, it’s disgraceful.  It’s sad. It’s just pathetic.  I feel sorry for you, as the respect people had for you before, including myself, is certainly diminished now.  

I’m sure many, myself including, will be watching, following, and identifying ways to continue supporting the University, the Athletics Department, as well as new initiatives, including NIL collectives.

In closing, we don't have to agree, we just need to make a difference.

Again, no one person has the monopoly on passion, pride, or wanting to make a (positive) difference for our University, Athletics Department, and student-athletes.  
Clearly there are many things we all don’t agree on.

Let's Light The Tower and Go Mean Green!

P.s. By the way, we had the box for that Garth Brooks concert "donated" by a gentleman who comitted $40,000 and two others who committed a combined $30,000.

Here’s a thought:

Since that box was donated, why didn’t you sell raffle tickets (you can even do this online now) for, I don’t’ know, say $5 a piece, maybe more, give each board member a goal to sell 100 of those tickets, if ten people meet their goal of selling tickets at $5 a piece, that’s taking something you got for free and making $5,000 for the collective, to say nothing of the notable PR and buzz this would of generated.

Isn't that the idea of fundraising, starting with nothing and turning into something!
 
Surely such a strong board could of handled selling some raffle tickets to prime seats to a huge concert!

Instead, and now since you’ve made the point to mention it, it was used for self-serving purposes. 

I suppose that picture was also strategically posted by a hacker.

 

Thankyou. 

[UNT Five&Dime]

Only at North Texas

[MeanGreenDan]

13 hours ago, Glad To Be Green said:

Our original Twitter site was hacked a while back and apparently whoever did it made it impossible for me to get back in or shut it down!

[GMG_Dallas]

3 hours ago, Pseudo Nym said:

 

Man when I saw this last night, I laughed so hard with a friend who has no connection to UNT what-so-ever, I mean on the floor laughing......

Some of you may be unfamiliar with the working of hackers as it pertains to social media so I'll share why we were laughing so hard:

1) An account a few months old with so few followers (28) is worth neither the time or effort to be hacked

2) The replies in question that "the hackers" posted, two of them, were on July 28 and August 1, the only other replies since then (2) are responses with a name and an email address regarding the business of the collective and response to a UNT student athlete saying Congrats on Sep. 13:

3) The work of hackers for political motivation is to cause chaos, spread mass information, to defame some or an organization, or frame them in some way, I refer you to point #1 as to why this is nonsensical 

4) In the 16 years since Twitter launched, the multi-billion dollar company has improved it's account security ten-fold and account hacking is a claim they take seriously and have taken many steps to combat account hacking as many celebrities, politicians, news organizations, and accounts with millions of followers are targeted often, 28 followers isn't moving the needle for anyone

5) Claims of account hacking when tied to one or two absurd tweets on large and significant accounts is met with severe skepticism as a hacker (or group) has a clear message they want to spread to a large amount of people (millions of people), usually in opposition to what the account or person stands for - again, no ones hacking an account with 28 followers and replying to two people where that message is less likely to be seen as apposed to an actual Tweet/Post

6) Timing.  Within 24 hours of these tweets being discussed on here, all of a sudden "hacking is discovered" but not before the two tweets mentioned in point 2 (give me a break!!)

After recovering from laughing, in conversation I shared how arrogant I thought it was that someone would claim the account to be hacked and that people would actually believe it.

I too had not intended to respond any more to this thread as I thought it was pretty self-evident how farcical this episode had become.

It dawned on me however, that some folks unfamiliar with Twitter, social media, and the "I got hacked" claim may not understand how absurd this claim under these circumstances really is.

I then realized that the answer to the question passing through my mind last night of "Does anyone really think people are that stupid to believe this account was hacked?"  Wasn't just "yes, someone believes people are to stupid too see through the lie and absurd claim" but realized it shows the arrogance of the individual to prey on peoples naivety and lack of understanding surrounding social media and hacking.

No on likes a liar, and the claim that this account was hacked is a lie.

More than liars, there's one thing I simply can not stand in life, and it's when people who know better, attempt to take advantage of people who don't know better.  

There's a reason honorable men (or women) fall more than most, and it's because they have the integrity and dignity to hold themselves to account for any shortcomings, mistakes, or momentary lapses in judgement.

It's what real leaders do, it's called accountability.

This episode was a joke from the start, with folks who have seen enough through the years to raise awareness that there are some real red flags in the areas of PR and management, and point those out to the faithful.  At that point, people can make up their own minds.

Regretfully, at the hands of those directly involved and with a platform to fix it, it has now devolved into a sad, undignified, cheap, and dishonorable lie.

Was just about to type up something similar. Long story, short: ain't nobody hacking a 28-follower account with no significant importance to the world-at-large to post a few political tweets and then leave the page. 

I guess we can add to the fiction and say the hacker was an SMU or UTSA student using all their spare time to discredit the NIL and keep UNT down. Must be quite the rivalry!

[MeanGreenDan]

I'd love to know at what date the hacking occurred.

Because I'd first think they'd claim the August 1 tweet was a "hacker tweet".

But then, on August 23, was it still the hacker who was claiming to be Rick V ( @Glad To Be Green)? Or perhaps on September 13 congratulating a player?

Or did the hacker stop the hack after August 1, but then pick the hack back up after the September 13 tweet? Yeah, that was it.

 

 

[MeanGreenDan]

14 hours ago, Glad To Be Green said:

P.s. By the way, we had the box for that Garth Brooks concert "donated" by a gentleman who comitted $40,000 and two others who committed a combined $30,000.   

You realize that picture was posted AFTER the first "hacked tweet", right?

[GMG_Dallas]

23 hours ago, MeanGreenMan09 said:

Seriously, whoever thought it was a good idea to bring Rick back in and put him in charge of something important, like the NIL, should probably also be let go. Let's clean house until we get the results we want. UNT athletics shouldn't be the Rick Villareal retirement fund so he can go watch Garth Brooks for free, and act like he was raising money for our student athletes, gtfoh with that... would love to see if we achieved anything with that night out on the funds checkbook. 

If we can add a "HaHa," a "Ray," and a "Sad" reaction to this post, you'll have received every gomeangreen.com reaction possible on a single post! Might be more impressive than Judge's 62 single-season home runs.

[rcade]

If anyone reading this is affiliated with our NIL collective Light the Tower, could you get somebody to delete the off-topic political tweets that were posted under the collective's account? They have nothing to do with the mission of improving UNT athletics.

I requested this directly but they're still online:

 

[MeanGreenDan]

Head on over to this thread and get your popcorn ready. Ricky V digging the hole deeper.

https://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/topic/155774-utsa-gets-big-nil-donation/

[UNTLifer]

[rcade]

On 10/4/2022 at 12:50 PM, MGNation92 said:

It was probably Rick V's burner/personal twitter account, that out of sheer laziness/ignorance, he decided to change the name to the Light the Tower Collective instead of creating a brand new account all together.

It's a new account created for the collective in June 2022.

[UNTLifer]

Just now, rcade said:

It's a new account created for the collective in June 2022.

Lovelace's son?

[tmjerm]

7 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Lovelace's son?

Exactly where my mind went too.  Probably an account that several involved have access to and he forgot to toggle a couple times back onto his.  I’d probably put money on that. The Twitter thing isn’t a good look.  Setting that aside, I’m simultaneously very appreciative of the Lovelace, McNatt, Villareal and all other families involved in raising significant funds over the past several years for very important projects including the NIL.  More than one thing can be true at the same time.  

[Glad To Be Green]

Well you can all call it a lie but I can not get access to the account and did not post anything other than the concert and logo posts. I have reported to Twitter and have a copy of that. And I am the only one who had access to post. So regardless of what you believe, these are the facts.