Conversation with Bobby Ray

Huff · November 28, 2005

I had an opportunity to visit briefly before the football game last Saturday with Board of Regents Chairman Bobby Ray. Some of what he said will be pleasant, some will be unpleasant, and some will depend on your point of view on the subject he addressed.

We started by my asking about the search for a new President. He said that the process was coming along well. He said that it is a slow process that must be done carefully but that we had several quality people who were interested in the position. He did not name any names and I did not ask for any names. I told him that a lot of people are concerned that we might get a new President who would not have a real commitment to athletics at North Texas. He gave me a stern gaze and said "Don, do you really believe that I would allow that to happen?" He was very firm in stating that there would be no retreat from the emphasis that had been placed on our athletic program in the past several months. He named some names of members of the Board of Regents who felt as he did, but finally said that they all felt the same way. I asked him if I could quote him on that. He said, "Yes, please do".

We then talked about Darrell Dickey. I asked if there was any possibility of his being replaced as a result of the poor football season in 2005. He said that there was no possibility of that happening. He said that one bad season out of the past five years is not a reason to be terminated. He said that they (I am not sure exactly who he meant by this) would meet with coach Dickey at the end of the season to see what he needed to get things back on track (my words, not Bobby's). I got the impression that he supports Coach Dickey and would try as hard as possible to get him what he needs in order to be successful. We did not talk about any other football coaches or their specific situations.

We then talked about the possibility of a new football stadium. I asked where we stood on getting a new football stadium. He gave me a one word answer - "Nowhere". He went on to say that while efforts are being made to attact a major donor it had not yet happened. He said that it would take just the right company to make a major contribution and that had not yet happened. He said that the university continues to work to find the funding for a new stadium but that it had not happened yet. I told him that Rick V had told people that we would be in a new stadium by 2009. He said that he believed that for us to be in a new stadium by 2009 we would need to have the money lined up today. I got the impression that fund raising for the stadium might not be as far along as I had believed. Once again, that is only my impression.

At that point some other people walked up and the conversation turned to other things - like the restaurant that was providing the Bar-B-Q before the game. I got the impression from my conversation with Bobby that the emphasis that would be placed on athletics would not decrease in the future. It would not surprise me to see our next President as someone from a university with a strong athletic tradition. He did not say that, but it was an impression that I got. I don't see the legacy that Dr. Pohl will leave as being in danger.

As I said at the start of this post, some of this will be good news, some will be bad news, and some will depend on your point of view. Regardless of your feelings about these subjects I felt that it was information that this group of North Texas fans should hear.

Don Hufstedler

Azle, Texas

MeanGreen61 · November 28, 2005

Thanks for sharing.

GreenEddieNT · November 28, 2005

Keeping DD is a big mistake and it will negatively affect the efforts to obtain money for a new stadium. Right now UNT could be going after a high-profile out of work coach like Neuheisel or at least an up and coming young head coach from the 1-AA level. Heck, even someone like Chris Hatcher, the coach at D-II Valdosta State, would be an improvement over DD. We need a coach with a proven track record as a head coach. Our problem at UNT is that with rare exceptions we've always gone after unproven assistants to fill our head coaching positions and most of these, including DD, have been in way over their heads for a job like this.

KingDL1 · November 28, 2005

Keeping DD is a big mistake and it will negatively affect the efforts to obtain money for a new stadium. Right now UNT could be going after a high-profile out of work coach like Neuheisel or at least an up and coming young head coach from the 1-AA level. Heck, even someone like Chris Hatcher, the coach at D-II Valdosta State, would be an improvement over DD. We need a coach with a proven track record as a head coach. Our problem at UNT is that with rare exceptions we've always gone after unproven assistants to fill our head coaching positions and most of these, including DD, have been in way over their heads for a job like this.
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What do you want, DD vacations with Bobby Ray. Bobby Ray should have no say in it because of his conflict of interests. RV should be the person that determines when a change is made.

TIgreen01 · November 28, 2005

What do you want, DD vacations with Bobby Ray. Bobby Ray should have no say in it because of his conflict of interests. RV should be the person that determines when a change is made.
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Is Bobby Ray not also a UNT alum? There are quite a few people on this board that rant about having too many high-up administrators that have no ties to UNT (me included!). I agree that it is RV's job to run our AD, but I'm not going to also rail against an alum like Bobby Ray who I have no doubts has only the best interests of UNT in mind. (*I'm not saying that KingDL1 was railing against Bobby Ray here in this post, but I thought this would be a good enough place to comment)

SilverEagle · November 28, 2005

He said that they (I am not sure exactly who he meant by this) would meet with coach Dickey at the end of the season to see what he needed to get things back on track (my words, not Bobby's).
We then talked about the possibility of a new football stadium. I asked where we stood on getting a new football stadium. He gave me a one word answer - "Nowhere". He went on to say that while efforts are being made to attact a major donor it had not yet happened. He said that it would take just the right company to make a major contribution and that had not yet happened. He said that the university continues to work to find the funding for a new stadium but that it had not happened yet. I told him that Rick V had told people that we would be in a new stadium by 2009. He said that he believed that for us to be in a new stadium by 2009 we would need to have the money lined up today. I got the impression that fund raising for the stadium might not be as far along as I had believed. Once again, that is only my impression.
Don Hufstedler
Azle, Texas
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I would be interested in knowing what sort of feed-back we have been getting when we approach companys and/or big donors about providing funding for a stadium. In particular, what these company's/donors are concerned about regarding their potential investment. In other words, what feed-back (if any) have we been given about their reluctance?

As to seeing what Coach Dickey needs? How about better assessment skills of potential recruits? In recent posts, it was pointed out that several players were not with us because they showed up for a few days and then left to go home.

Look folks, some of our best players in recent years have been walk-ons. I don't know what some of those players had to do in order to get a chance, but I DO know how "approachable" our coaching staff has been on at least one other.

If that is ANY indication of how walk-ons have been treated in the past, then God help our program.

meangreen11 · November 28, 2005

What I take from this letter is what a jewel we have in Bobby Ray.

Bobby Ray has been a godsend for this program and there is not a bigger fan. The guy bleeds green and truly cares.

I trust that he will give DD whatever he needs to get things on track.

meangreenfreak · November 28, 2005

God Bless Bobby Ray! While I may not always agree with him on every subject, he is a great person to have as Chairman of the Board. I hope no one on this board ever doubts his love and committment to the Univerisy. I think he will help lead the board to a quality selection in our next president.

MeanMag · November 28, 2005

Look folks, some of our best players in recent years have been walk-ons. I don't know what some of those players had to do in order to get a chance, but I DO know how "approachable" our coaching staff has been on at least one other.
If that is ANY indication of how walk-ons have been treated in the past, then God help our program.
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Care to elaborate?

I had a friend approached in the Rec that was asked to try out, I think by another player. They can't be that close minded to walk-ons?

Michael Scott · November 28, 2005

Care to elaborate?
I had a friend approached in the Rec that was asked to try out, I think by another player. They can't be that close minded to walk-ons?
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He has elaborated in the past - if you doubt this, contact the AD's made number, pretend to be a coach representing a player or an interested walk in and see how much you are bounced from voicemail to voicemail if you are even acknowledged. Then, it won't be hearsay....

Or, just go ask an area coach about it.

eulesseagle · November 28, 2005

Plummeangreen must be fuming right now after what Bobby Ray said.

I willing to give DD 1 more year....got to agree with BR on that.

No donors lined up for the stadium???? If we had a donor today the stadium would be completed by 2009??

I get a strange feeling that there will be no stadium.

hope24 · November 28, 2005

I don't think it's entirely surprising that there appears to be a delay in securing donors for a new stadium considering the season we've had this year. If we want to have donors competing for their name on our brand new stadium, or even CONSIDER donating, they're going to want to see a great recruiting class this spring and considerable improvement next season on the field. I wouldn't be surprised if this football season has put us even further behind in recruiting donors than we were this past spring when we heard Rick talking about it at the AD quarterly meeting.

MeanGreenEngineer · November 28, 2005

What do you want, DD vacations with Bobby Ray.
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Yes, utterly true, and PlummMeanGreen is a communist conspiracy. Here is the proof.

This "fact" is one of the many things I have seen be mentioned by one random person, and then repeated as the holy truth by other posters. Without one shred of evidence. Where are the vacation slides?

If the vacation slides do not exist, then chewbacca is a wookie, the vacation never happened, and PlummMeanGreen is chairman of the Denton Communist League.

GreenEddieNT · November 28, 2005

Plummeangreen must be fuming right now after what Bobby Ray said.
I willing to give DD 1 more year....got to agree with BR on that.
No donors lined up for the stadium???? If we had a donor today the stadium would be completed by 2009??
I get a strange feeling that there will be no stadium.
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No one is going to put up money for a 50K seat stadium when we can't even average 20K in the 30K seat stadium we have now and we won't as long as DD is the coach. You can also forget about CUSA. Like I said in another thread, we aren't ever going to hit the big-time as long as we continue to think and act small-time.

GMoney · November 28, 2005

be going after a high-profile out of work coach like Neuheisel

That's a joke right?

We could get Hal Mumme as his assistant and sign the Tark for head BBall coach. If we didn't win on the field at least we could have the most corrupt program in the country.

ntsumgspe · November 28, 2005

I get a strange feeling that there will be no stadium.
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I fear the same thing. Speaking of stadiums, what's the latest on the baseball stadium ?

greensteve · November 28, 2005

Now that's funny!!!

G-Money

gksmith · November 28, 2005

Now that's funny!!!
G-Money
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Dito!

Pierow 2 · November 28, 2005

That's a joke right?
We could get Hal Mumme as his assistant and sign the Tark for head BBall coach. If we didn't win on the field at least we could have the most corrupt program in the country.
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While I do agree they are crooked, look what several crooked programs have done...football and basketball violators

WORST OFFENDERS

University of Alabama 3 times violated

Kansas State University 3

Baylor University (TX) 2

University of Nevada-Las Vegas 2

Michigan State University 2

University of California-

Los Angeles 2

University of Louisville (KY) 2

Washington State University 2

Gonzaga University (WA) 1

Marshall University (WV) 1

Southern Methodist University

(TX) 1

Texas Tech University 1

University of Dayton (OH) 1

University of Kentucky 1

University of Nebraska-Lincoln 1

University of Southern

California 1

University of Texas-El Paso 1

Not saying it's right, I'm just saying that it isn't the end of the world.

PlummMeanGreen · November 29, 2005

I would be interested in knowing what sort of feed-back we have been getting when we approach companys and/or big donors about providing funding for a stadium. In particular, what these company's/donors are concerned about regarding their potential investment. In other words, what feed-back (if any) have we been given about their reluctance?
As to seeing what Coach Dickey needs? How about better assessment skills of potential recruits? In recent posts, it was pointed out that several players were not with us because they showed up for a few days and then left to go home.
Look folks, some of our best players in recent years have been walk-ons. I don't know what some of those players had to do in order to get a chance, but I DO know how "approachable" our coaching staff has been on at least one other.
If that is ANY indication of how walk-ons have been treated in the past, then God help our program.
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Donations to UNT will dip across the board as long as the "most biased toward DD" Bobby Ray continues to blindly lead an (even just as) blind head football coach who is at best a journeyman college football assistant just like his resume' showed us all before the KSU connection boys pulled this hiring coup over a sleeping Mean Green Nation.

If all this kind of leadership (we are all the unwilling recipients of) at NT weren't so sad, I am sure we could find some kind of humor (sardonic as it would be) with all this acceptance of total unadulaterated SBC/Bottom 10 mediocrity by DD's good buddy, one Bobby Ray; and he's the very one who can change all this in a matter of minutes, hours or a day or 2.

Looking at the 2006 schedule with its first 3 games, all our toughest SBC foes on the road next Fall and in light of the DD team we saw this Fall, Bobby Ray has one tough helluva' sell on his shoulders this next summer. I wouldn't blame Rick V now if he wanted to bail out of this 3 ring circus we now have in full display at UNT; that is, a UNT community that deserves better than our Board of Regents are keeping us from having. I can tell you all that there is ONE out there ready to come be a fans' coach, a player's coach and an above beating SBC/Bottom 10 school's (OOC wins? coach who we can get on the NT payroll. We have had such a hire before.

A future NT head football coach's simple "one time" conversation with ex NT coach Hayden Fry would probably be the very thing that would seal the deal with such a higher profile hire that with his presence on our campus would be able to remove the discontent and present acceptance of mediocrity in even his first 24 hours on the NT payroll AND............ remove us from what some are finding acceptable of being toward the bottom 1/4'th of 119 other NCAA D1-A schools AND ................. such low rankings even when we went to those 4 bowl games, folks. We need our NT leaders to aim higher than merely being the Best of the Worst,

GOD BLESS TEXAS!

Edited November 29, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

MeanGreen61 · November 29, 2005

Donations to UNT will dip across the board as long as the "most biased toward DD" Bobby Ray continues to blindly lead an (even just as) blind head football coach who is at best a journeyman college football assistant just like his resume' showed us all before the KSU connection boys pulled this hiring coup over a sleeping Mean Green Nation.
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Curious. How do you know that donations will dip across the board ?

PlummMeanGreen · November 29, 2005

Curious. How do you know that donations will dip across the board ?
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One of the higher ups in the NT Exes group told me that would be what we can expect in 2006 with one more year of Dickey Ball and Dickey Attitude. I think he was merely going by the trends of similar happenings under similar circumstances at other schools like UNT as his example.

GBT!

Edited November 29, 2005 by PlummMeanGreen

MeanGreen61 · November 29, 2005

One of the higher ups in the NT Exes group told me that would be what we can expect in 2006 with one more year of Dickey Ball and Dickey Attitude. I think he was merely going by the trends of similar happenings under similar circumstances at other schools like UNT as his example.
GBT!
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So........ it's really just the opinion of one source and speculation, not fact.

Edited November 29, 2005 by MeanGreen61

FirefightnRick · November 29, 2005

Pretty close to how I felt about the state of things since speaking to BR in Murfreesboro. Still, thanks for sharing this with us Huff. We are lucky to have had BR in charge and I expect he will make the right decisions for us all.

Rick