My Question for Jared Mosley

[El Paso Eagle]

We have all heard good things about Jared, and most have thought he was the likely next in line. Since they have seen him work, the one question I would like to hear his answer to is:

What are the top three things you feel need to change to help UNT athletics move to the next level?

If his answer is something like "we need to keep moving forward with the plans we have in place" he is not the right man for the job. Not to dump on Wren, but there are areas that need to be improved.

 

[Clinetort]

Number one thing that needs to be added is baseball.  We will be a second rate institution until it is added.  

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 minutes ago, Clinetort said:

Number one thing that needs to be added is baseball.  We will be a second rate institution until it is added.  

I agree that we need baseball. I disagree about 2nd rate institution part. 

But, for the life of me, how do sooooooo many other (small time programs: Sul Ross, UTPB, ETC.) athletic departments have baseball and we're just financially not able. I'm just not buying the notion that we're financially hamstrung (or Title 9) that were not able. We have chosen not to field a team. And it's a choice that needs to be corrected. 

[DentonLurker]

What better way to get alumni to support adding baseball than calling UNT a second rate institution?

That’s a bold strategy.

[MeanGreen4Life1998]

1. Need to make the football program respectable. Getting blown out by non conference FBS teams across the board is unacceptable

2. Need to improve marketing and merchandise. The current fan gear is complete garbage

3. Add baseball. I have this at 3 simply because im not even confident it’ll ever actually happen but id love for it to

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, Clinetort said:

We will be a second rate institution until it is added.  

Tell me you're desperate for baseball without saying you're desperate for baseball.

[MeanGreen4Life1998]

9 minutes ago, DentonLurker said:

What better way to get alumni to support adding baseball than calling UNT a second rate institution?

That’s a bold strategy.

 

[Hunter Green]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreen4Life1998 said:

1. Need to make the football program respectable. Getting blown out by non conference FBS teams across the board is unacceptable

2. Need to improve marketing and merchandise. The current fan gear is complete garbage

3. Add baseball. I have this at 3 simply because im not even confident it’ll ever actually happen but id love for it to

1 and 2 for sure.

[NT80]

20 minutes ago, MeanGreen4Life1998 said:

1. Need to make the football program respectable. Getting blown out by non conference FBS teams across the board is unacceptable

2. Need to improve marketing and merchandise. The current fan gear is complete garbage

3. Add baseball. I have this at 3 simply because im not even confident it’ll ever actually happen but id love for it to

1. and 3. for sure.

Football should be competative with SMUt, UNLV, Memphis and UTSA types.

Baseball would make us an All-sports school, like majority of AAC schools are.

 

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I agree that we need baseball. I disagree about 2nd rate institution part. 

But, for the life of me, how do sooooooo many other (small time programs: Sul Ross, UTPB, ETC.) athletic departments have baseball and we're just financially not able. I'm just not buying the notion that we're financially hamstrung (or Title 9) that were not able. We have chosen not to field a team. And it's a choice that needs to be corrected. 

Many of these smaller schools, UTPB for instance, had baseball and no football for years. They only recently made the commitment to football realizing baseball made zero money. Besides, their baseball program is terrible and plays on a terrible field. 

This is my issue with the folks behind the baseball initiative. The majority of them  would rather just see us drop down and play the old Southland schedule to add baseball which would be detrimental to the entire program. The leader recently made comments mocking the firing of Littrell stating they we were trying to be the next Alabama or Notre Dame in firing a coach that just led his team to the conference championship and another bowl game. He fails to mention that we have been 0-fer in all those games under SL. 
I want baseball but I want our expectations to be excellence across the board, and not to add it at the expense of other programs. 

[ADLER]

I know there's a lot of "never improve a product until it consistently sells out" pundits out there, but...

A top priority needs to be the expansion of Apogee Stadium. The UTSA game this past week clearly illustrated the increase in demand with a winning program, and we need to prepare as if we plan on winning. The future annual schedules against AAC schools should be enough to incredibly bounce attendence, and the scheduled home games against Big XII teams like Texas Tech could be a real embarrassment if our stadium is too tiny to properly host them. Our 45,000 students are all required to pay athletics fees, does anybody believe that there's not going to be a shit-show if they aren't granted admission to the games they finally want to attend?

With Charlotte's announcement May 24 that they are doubling seating capacity at Richardson Stadium, that will leave North Texas and Tulsa as the smallest stadiums in the new AAC at 30K each. Tulsa has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,728 so a 30K stadium might work for them, but it doesn't for us.

Another reason is we really need to be proactive in creating separation between us and the flood of schools in Texas preparing to join FBS football. SHSU is already joining CUSA for next year, SFA, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Rio Grand Valley are planning to move to FBS in 2025, while Houston Christian (formerly HBU) and Incarnate Word are evaluating making the jump.

That's 18 FBS schools in Texas by 2025: WAC teams moving to FBS with others possible soon after.

We may never receive an invitation to join a P5 conference, but we need to do everything possible elevating our program to separate ourselves from being comparable with all these move-ups.

Right now we need to make an excellent hire for the coach, and we need to expand Apogee. Those are equally important.

Apogee's student side should be built up like Virginia Tech's stadium

 

.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by ADLER

[greenminer]

7 hours ago, ADLER said:

That's 18 FBS schools in Texas by 2025: WAC teams moving to FBS with others possible soon after.

Great take Adler.  I had never put those numbers together.

If you feel a little defeated about the idea of never getting a P5 invite, there is another way to stay motivated: make sure we stay ahead of all the new FBS schools.  Note how fast we've seen UTSA rise, and don't discount the possibility that a handful of others around us do the same within the next 10 years.

[wardly]

I don't know that adding a money pit such as baseball , constructing a new basketball arena  when your average attendance hovers around 4.000, or expanding a stadium that has never been full is the best way to spend money that we don't have. Hopefully joining the AAC will increase attendance in a big way but until it does I would prefer to take a wait and see approach. I am not against expansion, just would like for our fans to first create a need.Five of the new members are our old CUSA opponents and with the exception of UTSA generated little interest among our ticket buying fans. Throw in Temple, USF,ECU, and while I hope we see a major uptick with games against Tulsa, Tulane, Navy I have some concerns regarding home attendance. With the "pay for play" era in college sports there will be a separation between" the have's and have not's". The reality is that we can't play players nearly as much as P5 programs nor well healed schools G5 schools such as SMU. I believe that in the neat future universities will be separated into three tiers; Division 1 [P 5's], A[G 5's], and 1AA, all having their own playoffs which now occurs in P5 and 1AA conferences. This will be TV driven and the big dogs always get the most. I think it is unlikely that we will ever be a P5 program but certainly should be a great G5. In summary universities such as UNT with limited resources can't afford to make a mistake with " bricks and sticks" until we are sure which way the wind blows.

[Aquila_Viridis]

That is a great shot of VT stadium. I've been in it, back when they weren't very good.  They have incredible fan support, but there's not much else going on in way southwest Virginia.

[NT80]

9 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

That is a great shot of VT stadium. I've been in it, back when they weren't very good.  They have incredible fan support, but there's not much else going on in way southwest Virginia.

That VT Stadium gets rocking with their "Sandman" entrance...

 

[meanJewGreen]

16 hours ago, Clinetort said:

Number one thing that needs to be added is baseball.  We will be a second rate institution until it is added.  

You work for the university and you’re trying to fundraise for a baseball team, yet you also call us second rate. You seem like a great ambassador for the university 

[ExADofficeIntern]

17 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I agree that we need baseball. I disagree about 2nd rate institution part. 

But, for the life of me, how do sooooooo many other (small time programs: Sul Ross, UTPB, ETC.) athletic departments have baseball and we're just financially not able. I'm just not buying the notion that we're financially hamstrung (or Title 9) that were not able. We have chosen not to field a team. And it's a choice that needs to be corrected. 

We are not financially unable to have baseball… the reason we do not have baseball now is that the AD is putting the money they get into the current programs, adding baseball you are adding multiple other sports for Title 9, increasing coaches across the board.. if people can’t even come up for a football game, why would people drive up to Denton on a Thursday night for a baseball game -_-

I will also point this out there… one of the biggest issues with UNT is also the % of the student body that commutes up to UNT. If only 40-50% of the university stays on campus/in Denton you then have to realize an even smaller % of that student body is even around to go to a game on a Thursday night (if that student isn’t working.)

Edited December 10, 2022 by ExADofficeIntern

[ExADofficeIntern]

1- Expansion of the AD Center, Football Offices, Basketball Offices… 

2- Make it a priority to do what needs to be done to allow basketball to stay successful (GMac could be a candidate to go to WV, and pleasing him/new buy out would be nice). 

3-Find ways to involve students more that are on campus to attend Basketball/Football… Dorms/Greeks/ student apartments across denton, and find a way to pair up events with TWU.. finding ways to bring more on campus students to basketball is very much needed.

Those are 3 quick and apparent things that need to be updated quickly. 

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, ExADofficeIntern said:

if people can’t even come up for a football game, why would people drive up to Denton on a Thursday night for a baseball game -_-

You're really poking the bear with this one.

[ExADofficeIntern]

9 minutes ago, greenminer said:

You're really poking the bear with this one.

It’s simple facts.. spending let’s say 1M on a stadium, another 1M on start up costs in terms of staffing equipment, etc, another 1M for coaches/scholarships… then you have to factor in the other title sports you need to offset.. that’s 3M before you factor in the Womens sports so maybe you’re around 4M cut in the AD budget, when we are moving into the AAC, and needing to improve our football funding, add onto the AD building, and vastly improve the Superpit/basketball facilities to keep someone like GM around since it’s our only other real money maker sport we have.

[greenminer]

Just now, ExADofficeIntern said:

It’s simple facts.. spending let’s say 1M on a stadium, another 1M on start up costs in terms of staffing equipment, etc, another 1M for coaches/scholarships… then you have to factor in the other title sports you need to offset.. that’s 3M before you factor in the Womens sports so maybe you’re around 4M cut in the AD budget, when we are moving into the AAC, and needing to improve our football funding, add onto the AD building, and vastly improve the Superpit/basketball facilities to keep someone like GM around since it’s our only other real money maker sport we have.

Sure, but I was talking about attendance.  A big talking point for the baseball heads is that there is a small army of them dying to support a team.  Maybe a big army? It's all speculation, IMO, but they feel very strongly about potential attendance.

[NT80]

21 minutes ago, ExADofficeIntern said:

It’s simple facts.. spending let’s say 1M on a stadium, another 1M on start up costs in terms of staffing equipment, etc, another 1M for coaches/scholarships… then you have to factor in the other title sports you need to offset.. that’s 3M before you factor in the Womens sports so maybe you’re around 4M cut in the AD budget, when we are moving into the AAC, and needing to improve our football funding, add onto the AD building, and vastly improve the Superpit/basketball facilities to keep someone like GM around since it’s our only other real money maker sport we have.

Well, then let's re-allocate some men's non-revenue sports ships and athletes.  Do we really need cross country?   It's not a spectator sport.  100 track athletes, really?   Baseball is only allowed a maximum 11.7 scholarships.

[ADLER]

3 hours ago, wardly said:

I don't know that adding a money pit such as baseball , constructing a new basketball arena  when your average attendance hovers around 4.000, or expanding a stadium that has never been full is the best way to spend money that we don't have. Hopefully joining the AAC will increase attendance in a big way but until it does I would prefer to take a wait and see approach. I am not against expansion, just would like for our fans to first create a need.Five of the new members are our old CUSA opponents and with the exception of UTSA generated little interest among our ticket buying fans. Throw in Temple, USF,ECU, and while I hope we see a major uptick with games against Tulsa, Tulane, Navy I have some concerns regarding home attendance. With the "pay for play" era in college sports there will be a separation between" the have's and have not's". The reality is that we can't play players nearly as much as P5 programs nor well healed schools G5 schools such as SMU. I believe that in the neat future universities will be separated into three tiers; Division 1 [P 5's], A[G 5's], and 1AA, all having their own playoffs which now occurs in P5 and 1AA conferences. This will be TV driven and the big dogs always get the most. I think it is unlikely that we will ever be a P5 program but certainly should be a great G5. In summary universities such as UNT with limited resources can't afford to make a mistake with " bricks and sticks" until we are sure which way the wind blows.

Please explain how this is not the exact same "wait and see approach" that kept Fouts from being replaced for 60 years and eventually resulted in us being banished to 1AA purgatory. This is appropriately called the "Al Hurley approach". We really need our student side to be about 30 rows taller. It's going to be a huge black eye for the university if it's not completed by the 2027 game hosting Texas Tech. We need the necessary infrastructure to be able to host our peers.

We're not a tiny university any more. We shouldn't be thinking of ourselves as one or projecting ourselves as one. Can you name any other college in the nation who's stadium capacity is 50% lower than it's student enrollment? Anyone? I'll hang up and listen.

[ExADofficeIntern]

31 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Sure, but I was talking about attendance.  A big talking point for the baseball heads is that there is a small army of them dying to support a team.  Maybe a big army? It's all speculation, IMO, but they feel very strongly about potential attendance.

People can talk, but most people are not going to drive 25-30+ minutes from DFW up to Denton (1 way) then watch a crap team get its butts kicked repeatedly… fans will say they can’t wait but after 1-2 years of losing they will not still be giving the program money, then it’s an even bigger money pit…

12 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Well, then let's re-allocate some men's non-revenue sports ships and athletes.  Do we really need cross country?   It's not a spectator sport.  100 track athletes, really?   Baseball is only allowed a maximum 11.7 scholarships.

So you now want to cut other programs that lose less money for a start up program that will generate a bigger negative… 

[Cooke County Kid]

I'll respond to the original question. 

  1.  Continue to implement the current construction plans of the athletic department offices and facilities

  2.  Marketing of our Athletic program and all that entails and it needs to done correctly and not on the cheap

  3.  Add baseball and the appropriate women's programs, we need a sponsor(s) $$$ alumni and corporate

I was fortunate to attend NTSU during the tenure of Athletic Director and Head Football coach Hayden Fry and Bill Blakely in men's basketball.  Attendance was not a problem because the above mentioned programs were winners.

We will be receiving more money and earning more money when we join the AAC.  I suspect that where there is a will, we will find a way!