Very Impresssive Coaches Caravan---Ft. Worth

SUMG · June 22

Well done. Loved the place they had it. Had a great free food spread. Everyone got two free drink tickets.

Super impressed by some of the fundraising numbers that Jared gave. They have raised several million toward the new Ath. Center. And he said we've now gone over 2,000 individual donors. (trust me that's great for us).

All three coaches (Burton, Hodge and Morris) spoke and gave glowing reports of how summer workouts are going.

A few tidbits that I picked up on my own:

1) The women's hoops schedule is almost complete....the men's is still far from complete. I did ask.....we're not getting a return game from Boise State.

2) I told Jared the importance of having game programs (football) and at least roster lists (basketball)....since we have so much turnover. He said that they would make sure they have those.

3) There was something on slide that Jared had on the screen.....about some new licensing for Mean Green beer and liquor. Not sure what that meant....but it intrigued me.

4) So much turnover....that Coach Hodge noted that of top 15 players on the AAC All Conference list (basketball)......only two were with their original team.

5) Just like last season....the Coach Morris radio show.....will be on Thursday nights.

A great event. I'm old and don't hear well....so others who were there......and who picked up on other stuff....feel free to add to this.

Edited June 22 by SUMG

NT80 · June 22

44 minutes ago, SUMG said:

Well done. Loved the place they had it. Had a great free food spread. Everyone got two free drink tickets.

Super impressed by some of the fundraising numbers that Jared gave. They have raised several million toward the new Ath. Center. And he said we've now gone over 2,000 individual donors. (trust me that's great for us).

All three coaches (Burton, Hodge and Morris) spoke and gave glowing reports of how summer workouts are going.

A few tidbits that I picked up on my own:

1) The women's hoops schedule is almost complete....the men's is still far from complete. I did ask.....we're not getting a return game from Boise State.

2) I told Jared the importance of having game programs (football) and at least roster lists (basketball)....since we have so much turnover. He said that they would make sure they have those.

3) There was something on slide that Jared had on the screen.....about some new licensing for Mean Green beer and liquor. Not sure what that meant....but it intrigued me.

4) So much turnover....that Coach Hodge noted that of top 15 players on the AAC All Conference list (basketball)......only two were with their original team.

5) Just like last season....the Coach Morris radio show.....will be on Thursday nights.

A great event. I'm old and don't hear well....so others who were there......and who picked up on other stuff....feel free to add to this.

Thanks for the excellent report!

How was the turnout?

SUMG · June 22

50 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Thanks for the excellent report!

How was the turnout?

200....or so.

Matt from A700 · June 23

This was my first caravan. Up till today all my interactions with the AD/coaches have been a quick salute or handshake at The Pit. I enjoyed it because it was an intimate setting with genuine comments from Jared and the coaches. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows that the social media team has to post. And I know they've probably had the same spiel at all three events, but the three coaches seemed to interact and bounce off of each other well.

Jared was brutally honest in that "you may love it, you may hate it, or not feel great about it, but NIL isn't going anywhere" and that we are in the lower third of our conference at the moment.

But I did appreciate his slight at our previous conference when talking about our linear ESPN TV coverage with the American. He said something like those who remember our Conference USA days knew it took a lot of steps to watch our games, and there were 3 or 4 places our games could be. Five linear ESPN broadcasts in football and 11 in basketball this past season.

Ross had no issue mentioning past players who left "for more money" by name but not in spiteful ways at all. He is glad they received opportunities to better themselves or families elsewhere and compared it to when you own a business, you support the employees who go on after making similar decisions and believes respecting those makes you a great destination for the inbound employees/players who have found a new home in UNT. He said though former Mean Green Bryce Zephyr didn't play much for them, he was best friends with recent transfer Atin Wright, and that Bryce told him he should "100% go to North Texas."

He also acknowledged that it's tough being a fan of college sports right now, but encouraged fans to stick with it, "No one was worse off because they gave something their all." whether that's donating or buying season tickets and going to games. He admitted one day in the midst of all of our departures he was "down" then saw how Duke, who could pay any player as much as they wanted, lost their starting PG for Baylor. He concluded this is happening everywhere, and highlighted wins against Purdue and LSU to confirm that there is still hope to compete with the programs with bigger operating budgets.

SUMG · June 23

The coaches also talked about the importance of team bonding this time of year. Especially with so many new guys.

Coach Morris said....they've divided up into teams (not sure how many) and are having all kinds of competitions this summer. He said they'd play basketball soon. And mentioned laser tag. And a few other competitions.

Coach Hodge went on and on about how great of a teammate Matt Stone is. How much Matt loves UNT. He said that they took the entire team up to Matt's grandparents ranch in Oklahoma (289 acres). And that the guys got to go 4-wheeling and do other things like that.

Edited June 24 by SUMG

greenminer · June 23

If anyone is like me and was wondering what @Matt from A700 meant when he said "linear" broadcasts, here's a pretty interesting read about that stuff. Compares traditional linear TV to what they call OTT (Over-The-Top) TV.

https://www.vplayed.com/blog/what-is-linear-tv/

untcampbell · June 24

Grateful to SUMG and Matt for the detailed reports.

GMG

cousin oliver · June 24

The report was greatly appreciated and pleasing to me.

golfingomez · June 24

On 6/22/2024 at 3:11 PM, SUMG said:

Well done. Loved the place they had it. Had a great free food spread. Everyone got two free drink tickets.

Super impressed by some of the fundraising numbers that Jared gave. They have raised several million toward the new Ath. Center. And he said we've now gone over 2,000 individual donors. (trust me that's great for us).

All three coaches (Burton, Hodge and Morris) spoke and gave glowing reports of how summer workouts are going.

A few tidbits that I picked up on my own:

1) The women's hoops schedule is almost complete....the men's is still far from complete. I did ask.....we're not getting a return game from Boise State.

2) I told Jared the importance of having game programs (football) and at least roster lists (basketball)....since we have so much turnover. He said that they would make sure they have those.

3) There was something on slide that Jared had on the screen.....about some new licensing for Mean Green beer and liquor. Not sure what that meant....but it intrigued me.

4) So much turnover....that Coach Hodge noted that of top 15 players on the AAC All Conference list (basketball)......only two were with their original team.

5) Just like last season....the Coach Morris radio show.....will be on Thursday nights.

A great event. I'm old and don't hear well....so others who were there......and who picked up on other stuff....feel free to add to this.

another athletic center?

UNTLifer · June 24

12 minutes ago, golfingomez said:

another athletic center?

Expansion of the existing center.

UNT78 · June 25

How do I contribute money for the athletic expansion project?

MCMLXXX · June 25

3 hours ago, UNT78 said:

How do I contribute money for the athletic expansion project?

Here is a link.

https://lightthetower.com/

Matt from A700 · June 25

Another tidbit from Morris that I forgot to add in my second paragraph - after telling the crowd how the defense had gotten bigger in the offseason, he joked saying "People come up to me all the time saying, you still in that three-man front? That three-man front isn't ever gonna work..." (crowd laughs) "So we spent a lot of time this offseason getting bigger on the defensive side."

Big Z · June 25

1 hour ago, Matt from A700 said:

Another tidbit from Morris that I forgot to add in my second paragraph - after telling the crowd how the defense had gotten bigger in the offseason, he joked saying "People come up to me all the time saying, you still in that three-man front? That three-man front isn't ever gonna work..." (crowd laughs) "So we spent a lot of time this offseason getting bigger on the defensive side."

Well I mean ya coach....our defense sucked