DMN article on game

OldTimer · November 13, 2005

UNT's chances for Sun Belt title darken

12:24 AM CST on Sunday, November 13, 2005

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Nick Bazaldua thought his kick was going to slide just inside the upright with eight seconds left in North Texas' game against Florida Atlantic on Saturday afternoon.

But like so many other times this season, the Mean Green was just a little off in a 26-23 loss to the Owls at Dolphins Stadium.

Colleges

Florida Atlantic 26, North Texas 23

UNT's chances for Sun Belt title darken

Summary

Saturday's scoreboard

More North Texas

UNT was behind by 17 in the fourth quarter before staging a comeback in its fourth straight loss. The Mean Green's last-ditch effort to tie the score ended when Bazaldua's 47-yard field goal try bounced off the right upright.

The loss to FAU (2-8, 2-4) was UNT's third in Sun Belt Conference play and all but eliminated any hopes UNT (2-7, 2-3) had to claim a share of the league title for the fifth straight year.

"I don't know what the experience is like to go to a bowl game since I am a freshman, but I was looking around in the locker room," quarterback Matt Phillips said. "The guys' faces and expressions show what we are missing out on. They have been to it three or four times. They realize what has happened."

Phillips nearly kept UNT in the race for the conference title by leading the Mean Green on three fourth-quarter scoring drives after starter Daniel Meager was knocked out of the game because of a concussion.

UNT was down, 23-6, when Phillips came on for his second series and rallied the Mean Green.

He threw for 50 yards on a drive he capped with a 5-yard touchdown run to pull the Mean Green within 10. UNT got the ball right back by recovering the ensuing onside kick. Phillips then threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Joel Nwigwe to cut UNT's deficit to 23-20, and UNT tied the score on a 47-yard field goal by Bazaldua.

"That is tough to do when you come in cold and haven't played a whole lot during the season," UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. "We needed to make some plays throwing the ball. He did a very nice job."

Phillips finished with 138 passing yards, all of which came in the fourth quarter. Patrick Cobbs led UNT with 142 rushing yards. Meager had 49 yards passing and 22 rushing. Dickey said UNT will continue to evaluate its quarterback situation.

Phillips gave UNT a chance to win, but its defense couldn't stop FAU after Bazaldua tied the score at 23 with 5:25 left. FAU drove 49 yards on nine plays for Daniel Kennard's 33-yard field goal. UNT allowed a game-winning touchdown drive to Louisiana-Lafayette late in the fourth quarter last week.

UNT's last chance came down to Bazaluda's field goal attempt. "I hit the ball really well," Bazaluda said. "If you hit the ball, though, it's going to draw a little bit at the end and that's what happened."

E-mail bvito@dentonrc.com

DallasGreen · November 13, 2005

"NT will evaluate it's situation at QB"---that says it all about coaching ability. This staff has had going on two years to evaluate it's QB situation knowing that there would be a problem. Our team is not being put in a position to win by the coaching staff and that is all any coaching staff is capable of. UNT deserves better, our players deserve better, and our fans certainly have the right to say that they derserve better. DD instead of in past years being the best of the worst has lead us now to being the worst of the worst. We can not wait 2 or 3 years for this ship to right itself or we will be looking at no program at all. When coaches physically and verbally assualt fans, when thugs threaten to throw out our loyal supporters, and when we have a head coach who continually whines and is a poor ambassador for the university-- IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE NOW (NOT 2 YEARS FROM NOW)!!!

What can be done ?

1) Barrage CBOR Bobby Ray with calls, e-mails, letters, and encourage others to do the same. His loyalty and friendship to DD is admirable, but as a businessman would he allow an employee to continually bad mouth his company and its customers? I think not!

2) Let RV know what you think of the situation. I can not express how greatly disappointed I was in the RV comments regarding the RF atrocity and its whitewashing to fans and press. Any HS would have found grounds for immediate dismissal, but the A.D.'s office yeilds to BOR pressure and craters. Tell the AD you want a leader who stands up as a true leader of the A.D.'s office not as a puppet to this new regime that threatens to destroy the progress of returning our programs to their rightful place in D-1 athletics.

Above let it be known that this is not your daddy's North Texas where apathy was always a coach's best friend. Don't ever think that DD is not banking on that being his ace in the hole. It is extremely obvious to me that this man does not want to be here. Obvious by his actions toward the fans, his demeaning of the program , and his constant whinning. I will this week begin meeting behind the scenes with donors of the university who also feel that the time has come NOW (not 2 years from now) for a change. WE will raise and earmark the money to allow Darryl Ray Dickey to achieve happiness elsewhere. Our university deserves no less from its loyal fans.

Just remember one indisputable fact-- this regime is higher paid, has had more fan support, has had better leaders in the A D office & the administration, and better facilities than any coaching staff EVER in the history of UNT-- I can name at least a half dozen staffs who have done far more with much less. This is a business--- lack of performance deserves no loyalty and for sure no rewards. Support the movement and encourage your A D to do his job NOW!!!

PlummMeanGreen · November 13, 2005

"NT will evaluate it's situation at QB"---that says it all about coaching ability. This staff has had going on two years to evaluate it's QB situation knowing that there would be a problem. Our team is not being put in a position to win by the coaching staff and that is all any coaching staff is capable of. UNT deserves better, our players deserve better, and our fans certainly have the right to say that they derserve better. DD instead of in past years being the best of the worst has lead us now to being the worst of the worst. We can not wait 2 or 3 years for this ship to right itself or we will be looking at no program at all. When coaches physically and verbally assualt fans, when thugs threaten to throw out our loyal supporters, and when we have a head coach who continually whines and is a poor ambassador for the university-- IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE NOW (NOT 2 YEARS FROM NOW)!!!
What can be done ?
1) Barrage CBOR Bobby Ray with calls, e-mails, letters, and encourage others to do the same. His loyalty and friendship to DD is admirable, but as a businessman would he allow an employee to continually bad mouth his company and its customers? I think not!
2) Let RV know what you think of the situation. I can not express how greatly disappointed I was in the RV comments regarding the RF atrocity and its whitewashing to fans and press. Any HS would have found grounds for immediate dismissal, but the A.D.'s office yeilds to BOR pressure and craters. Tell the AD you want a leader who stands up as a true leader of the A.D.'s office not as a puppet to this new regime that threatens to destroy the progress of returning our programs to their rightful place in D-1 athletics.
Above let it be known that this is not your daddy's North Texas where apathy was always a coach's best friend. Don't ever think that DD is not banking on that being his ace in the hole. It is extremely obvious to me that this man does not want to be here. Obvious by his actions toward the fans, his demeaning of the program , and his constant whinning. I will this week begin meeting behind the scenes with donors of the university who also feel that the time has come NOW (not 2 years from now) for a change. WE will raise and earmark the money to allow Darryl Ray Dickey to achieve happiness elsewhere. Our university deserves no less from its loyal fans.
Just remember one indisputable fact-- this regime is higher paid, has had more fan support, has had better leaders in the A D office & the administration, and better facilities than any coaching staff EVER in the history of UNT-- I can name at least a half dozen staffs who have done far more with much less. This is a business--- lack of performance deserves no loyalty and for sure no rewards. Support the movement and encourage your A D to do his job NOW!!!
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OK ALREADY! OFF GO THE GREEN-TINTED GLASSES & ONTO REALITY HERE!

If we were at the bottom of any other NCAA D1-A league maybe that is opportunity waiting to happen for coach's like Morris at Baylor; but you cannot be at the bottom in the Sun Belt Conference any year because that puts you at a ranking of about #117 in NCAA D1-A.

Yesterday was a disaster for this program. We allowed FAU's "young" team to beat our "young" team and FAU w/o their starting QB. Does that bode well for the immediate future of a Mean Green team that does have some talent? It doesn't with the economic (future ticket sales) part of UNT and that's leaving out all personalities in this situation. Those of us who have been around few decades know this will be the case.

Upon further review and much thought after collecting some data from past NT media guides, this will (in deed) boil down to econmics for UNT Athletics. Oh, we can go the usual route and start firing coordinators and assistant coaches just like other NCAA D1-A schools at higher profile locales might do, but that may not be the answer if you are a member of the SBC and you are ranked close to #117 in NCAA D1-A, subsequently. SBC membership makes this a unique scenario that you probably wouldn't have in any other NCAA D1-A league.

I hesitated to post this because I am such a Hayden Fry fan, but I remember when Fry got fired at SMU with a 7 & 4 record his last season on the Hilltop what happened with one SMU Board of Regent (or Trustee). The Dallas Morning News former sports icon Blackie Sherrod wrote this in a short blurb and I will never forget it as it concerned the great Hayden Fry.

But what happened in Fry's last year at SMU (as Blackie Sherrod reported in his old Scattershootin' column) is that an SMU trustee (regent) went off campus and "outside" the SMU Board of Trustees to a very, very high profile Dallas Cowboy official back during the Murchison-owned Cowboys era and just simply asked this question: "What kind of overall job do you think we at SMU are getting from Hayden Fry?"

The Dallas Cowboy official gave Coach Fry a thumbs down and then Fry was terminated a few weeks later after a 7 & 4 season at SMU. Yet in Fry's case, a lemon became lemonade in Denton, but Hayden Fry also had NT teams ranked in the Top 20 and several high profile OOC wins as well. It was probably those OOC wins that got him a Big 10 job. Had the old Mo Valley had a bowl game, Fry would have probably kept UNT in the Mo Valley and he would have taken several of his very good teams to a Missouri Valley sponsored bowl game; you know, just like one that the SBC now sponsors?

I will trust that our NT Board of Trustees (or regents) will look at the economics of all this longterm, because they are not going to like what they see short-term IMO.

NOTE: If someone can put some easy to link email addresses on this forum to the NT powers that be that Dallas Green mentioned, that would be appreciated.

Edited November 13, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

DallasGreen · November 13, 2005

OK ALREADY! OFF GO THE GREEN-TINTED GLASSES & ONTO REALITY HERE!
If we were at the bottom of any other NCAA D1-A league maybe that is opportunity waiting to happen for coach's like Morris at Baylor; but you cannot be at the bottom in the Sun Belt Conference any year because that puts you at a ranking of about #117 in NCAA D1-A.
Yesterday was a disaster for this program. We allowed FAU's "young" team to beat our "young" team and FAU w/o their starting QB. Does that bode well for the immediate future of a Mean Green team that does have some talent? It doesn't with the economic (future ticket sales) part of UNT and that's leaving out all personalities in this situation. Those of us who have been around few decades know this will be the case.
Upon further review and much thought after collecting some data from past NT media guides, this will (in deed) boil down to econmics for UNT Athletics. Oh, we can go the usual route and start firing coordinators and assistant coaches just like other NCAA D1-A schools at higher profile locales might do, but that may not be the answer if you are a member of the SBC and you are ranked close to #117 in NCAA D1-A, subsequently. SBC membership makes this a unique scenario that you probably wouldn't have in any other NCAA D1-A league.
I hesitated to post this because I am such a Hayden Fry fan, but I remember when Fry got fired at SMU with a 7 & 4 record his last season on the Hilltop what happened with one SMU Board of Regent (or Trustee). The Dallas Morning News former sports icon Blackie Sherrod wrote this in a short blurb and I will never forget it as it concerned the great Hayden Fry.
But what happened in Fry's last year at SMU (as Blackie Sherrod reported in his old Scattershootin' column) is that an SMU trustee (regent) went off campus and "outside" the SMU Board of Trustees to a very, very high profile Dallas Cowboy official back during the Murchison-owned Cowboys era and just simply asked this question: "What kind of overall job do you think we at SMU are getting from Hayden Fry?"
The Dallas Cowboy official gave Coach Fry a thumbs down and then Fry was terminated a few weeks later after a 7 & 4 season at SMU. Yet in Fry's case, a lemon became lemonade in Denton, but Hayden Fry also had NT teams ranked in the Top 20 and several high profile OOC wins as well. It was probably those OOC wins that got him a Big 10 job. Had the old Mo Valley had a bowl game, Fry would have probably kept UNT in the Mo Valley and he would have taken several of his very good teams to a Missouri Valley sponsored bowl game; you know, just like one that the SBC now sponsors?
I will trust that our NT Board of Trustees (or regents) will look at the economics of all this longterm, because they are not going to like what they see short-term IMO.
NOTE: If someone can put some easy to link email addresses on this forum to the NT powers that be that Dallas Green mentioned, that would be appreciated.
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Bobby Ray-2404 Wing Point Ln., Plano 972-881-9193 ; rickv@unt.edu; ljackson @unt.edu; ljackson.pres.admin@unt.edu; pohl@unt.edu These will be censored by DD's Bud Cerebrus so get them ASAP