Oh lighten up

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

I was ready to post my King Arthur image, but I'll hold it for now. You knew Akron was a good team. How did they get good all of a sudden out from nowhere? I don't know. Look, until our school gets serious about raising money for sports (Can they even enter the lottery?), we are where we are. Now NT did lose a game by more than 30 points right from the start of the season, and I really didn't want to see that. But they did beat SMU and you see how that could have turned out instead. Come on, that was HUGE. Getting a couple of extra games over a winning season would make up for the Texas going over 30 margin, so I'll still give them the chance of making it right. With the budget we have, what can you expect? There were some signs of life in this game. (Obviously some things to fix too.) A solid win over MT would certainly get things going in the right direction. I'm not SATISFIED with that status, but we will all be a lot happier to beat MT than the alternative. So get over this game, and try to provide some positive energy.

I will finish with this, for those on the 'fire the coach' bandwagon, and I've been there, I would submit to you that until the school is ready to at least triple the salary, it would not be a good move. Heck, maybe if they did, Coach D would find some extra fire in his belly.

[NT80]

I will finish with this, for those on the 'fire the coach' bandwagon, and I've been there, I would submit to you that until the school is ready to at least triple the salary, it would not be a good move. Heck, maybe if they did, Coach D would find some extra fire in his belly.

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Sure, a name head coach would command $$. But would an up and coming assistant turn down $200K to coach a 1-A team and build his name up? (1-A for the sake of hiring purposes). And couldn't any new coach do as good a job as what we have now?

"I've seen the enemy, and it is our current system!"

Edited September 24, 2006 by NT80

[CaribbeanGreen]

I was ready to post my King Arthur image, but I'll hold it for now. You knew Akron was a good team. How did they get good all of a sudden out from nowhere? I don't know. Look, until our school gets serious about raising money for sports (Can they even enter the lottery?), we are where we are. Now NT did lose a game by more than 30 points right from the start of the season, and I really didn't want to see that. But they did beat SMU and you see how that could have turned out instead. Come on, that was HUGE. Getting a couple of extra games over a winning season would make up for the Texas going over 30 margin, so I'll still give them the chance of making it right. With the budget we have, what can you expect? There were some signs of life in this game. (Obviously some things to fix too.) A solid win over MT would certainly get things going in the right direction. I'm not SATISFIED with that status, but we will all be a lot happier to beat MT than the alternative. So get over this game, and try to provide some positive energy.

I will finish with this, for those on the 'fire the coach' bandwagon, and I've been there, I would submit to you that until the school is ready to at least triple the salary, it would not be a good move. Heck, maybe if they did, Coach D would find some extra fire in his belly.

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Agreed. We are what we are - some people don't get that. Look at our facilities - look at our history - look at the performance in other sports. We have an AD dedicated to making a positive change, and a football program that, on its level and in its conference has been the most wildly successful thing we've got. We had one bad year - and I don't think any of us can admit we haven't seen marked improvement from that.

We underrate Akron and Tulsa and even SMU (how does Arkie State feel tonight?).. Akron went into Raleigh and beat NC State - who beat #20 BC tonight on the same field. We played Akron a helluva lot tougher than we would have last year, and no one can say there's any reason we shouldn't be one of the favorites in the Belt this year.

Sure, we'd all like to win every game. We'd all like to be Texas or TAMU or even UH... but we're NOT. We're trying to get there, but we're a Sun Belt school on a Sun Belt budget with 1-AA facilities doing the GD best we can... those kids are busting their asses out there, and sometimes you just get beat. They carry the banner of MY school, of MY university, the place that I love and left some of the best memories of my life - and like it or not, they carry our banner, Darrell Dickey and Rick Villareal carry our banner, and we call the Sun Belt home. Every single school in our conference would trade places with our football team over the last five years in a SECOND. EVERY ONE OF THEM. And we sit here and bitch and moan about how terrible it is, how much we suck and our coaches just don't really want to win... it's disgusting. Many posters seem to be more excited to spew their venom after a loss than share their joy after a win. Sure, we're all frustrated when we lose. But we've had a damn good run and we're heading in that direction again -- in OUR conference, for OUR school. Let's build the SBC up instead of wasting time trashing it. Let's appreciate the fact that we have a string of titles any school in our conference would kill for. Let's stay the course and put faith in this current athletic administration, the same one which has COMPLETELY changed the culture, atmosphere, and facilities beyond recognition since I arrived on campus in the Big West days.

Don't put the cart before the horse. We all want the best for our university. We're all proud to be Green, even if many of us don't act like it after a loss. But we need to gain some perspective on where we are right now and what defines a success. From where I stand, we've been doing pretty damn good and I'm more than proud to be Green.

Beat MTSU!

[KingDL1]

Agreed. We are what we are - some people don't get that. Look at our facilities - look at our history - look at the performance in other sports. We have an AD dedicated to making a positive change, and a football program that, on its level and in its conference has been the most wildly successful thing we've got. We had one bad year - and I don't think any of us can admit we haven't seen marked improvement from that.

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That is the worst loser negative post yet!

Maybe you should tell Tulsa and Akron that they play way too well for the shape that their facilities are in. Because guess what our facilities are better.

Edited September 24, 2006 by KingDL1

[untbowler]

and the apologies keep on coming. Guess what guys DD/RF will hurt UNT in the long by staying then by shelling out some dough for a good Coach who wants to win. As for Triple Salary, take a look at Dennis Erickson, he I believe is only making around $250K.

Tired of this loser whiny mentality, oh poor us, our history is not good. We lost to a CUSA/MAC champion, even tough they are no where near as good as they were last year.

Wish UNT would actually give a damn and quit making excuses.

[CaribbeanGreen]

That is the worst loser negative post yet!

Maybe you should tell Tulsa and Akron that they play way too well for the shape that their facilities are in. Because guess what our facilities are better.

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Really? across the board? You're saying we have had better facilities and athletes in here routinely than Tulsa and Akron? You're saying we should have won those games, that we're on the same level athletically? Tulsa, a perennial bball power, CUSA member (where we're trying to go), and a football team that's really turned the corner the past few years... and Akron, who is the defending MAC champion, sent their last QB to be a NFL starter, beat NC State on the road, and played Penn State tough in Happy Valley? NO ONE with half a brain in their skull would have picked us to win either of these games. NO ONE. Look at the lines.

It's called realism, folks. End of story. You are who you are -- to the less than lucid, this has ZERO bearing on not wanting to progress and not wanting great things for the university -- but we are who we are, and we need to understand that and be happy when we make strides. This doesn't all happen overnight?

So all of you naysayers can honestly walk around campus and ignore the BEYOND dramatic improvement in our athletic facilities in the last 5 or 6 years? You can honestly dispute we have a worse conference affiliation than we did in our last conference 5 or 6 years ago?? You can honestly say we haven't come light years further than other universities in that time span??

When I got to NT in 98, the atmosphere was totally different than it is today. No game day atmosphere, half the facilities, no regional rivalries, NO semblance of winning. Did beating Texas Tech a couple times and sucking all over the Big West do a DAMN thing for us nationally? 500 NTSU's later says the obvious answer is no... and that's a load bigger than any Akron or Tulsa win. We all got so spolied with constant SBC titles and NO Bowl trips that now we can't see the forest for the trees. It means a hell of a lot more than beating La Tech. Time, I believe, has proven that.

If you had told me, in 2000, that 6 years later we'd have 4 conference championships in 5 years, Fouts would look like it does , the campus would look like it does, and game day would be like it is, I'd have called you the biggest nutjob I'd ever met. If you then told me we'd have fans "writing off the team for good" and demanding firings, I'd keel over laughing. Or crying. Not sure which one.

[CaribbeanGreen]

And I offer again -- in our peer group, the SunBelt... name one school that wouldn't swap football performance with us in the last 5 years in a freaking HEARTBEAT.

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

but we are who we are, and we need to understand that and be happy when we make strides. This doesn't all happen overnight?

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What strides have been made in the past few years that are getting you so excited about our future?

We have been to the NO bowl, won the NO bowl once, and nothing has progressed since then. In fact, there has been regression. We beat Tech a couple of times not too long ago, and that was before the conference championships. If we played them now we would be happy if we didn't get blow out by 5 touchdowns. We have a new athletic center, yet there has been no progression as a result. No excuses there. Face it, we peaked in the 2002 New Orleans bowl, and it has been downhill since. Don't get all pissy when people are frustrated that there has been no progression since that point. People are sick and tired of the mediocrity that is accepted within our athletic department. Some of us aren't just happy with competing for the championship of the worst conference in the country. We look and see what teams like Boise State, Utah, and Louisville have done and want to know why we can't strive to do the same. Heck, even UTEP has blown by us in the past 2 years. Those aren't the kind of strides most people are happy with.

And I offer again -- in our peer group, the SunBelt... name one school that wouldn't swap football performance with us in the last 5 years in a freaking HEARTBEAT.

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Wow, teams in the worst conference in the country want to swap records with us? How flattering!

It's not where you have been, it's where you are going. You would be a fool to think that Troy hasn't passed us in terms of prestige and in the eyes of better conferences that are looking to add teams. They haven't won a conference championship, but they go out and more often than not make a good showing for themselves against teams that would, and have, absolutely kill us. They beat a ranked Missouri team and almost beat highly ranked LSU and Florida State teams. We are estatic when we get shut out 27-0 against UT and find positives in 20 point losses to MAC teams.

If you are happy with where this football and athletic program as a whole are going, and enjoy following mediocre sports, then you are at the right place.

Edited September 24, 2006 by e-bone ver2.awesome

[MeanMag]

What strides have been made in the past few years that are getting you so excited about our future?

We have been to the NO bowl, won the NO bowl once, and nothing has progressed since then. In fact, there has been regression. We beat Tech a couple of times not too long ago, and that was before the conference championships. If we played them now we would be happy if we didn't get blow out by 5 touchdowns. We have a new athletic center, yet there has been no progression as a result. No excuses there. Face it, we peaked in the 2002 New Orleans bowl, and it has been downhill since. Don't get all pissy when people are frustrated that there has been no progression since that point. People are sick and tired of the mediocrity that is accepted within our athletic department. Some of us aren't just happy with competing for the championship of the worst conference in the country. We look and see what teams like Boise State, Utah, and Louisville have done and want to know why we can't strive to do the same. Heck, even UTEP has blown by us in the past 2 years. Those aren't the kind of strides most people are happy with.

Wow, teams in the worst conference in the country want to swap records with us? How flattering!

It's not where you have been, it's where you are going. You would be a fool to think that Troy hasn't passed us in terms of prestige and in the eyes of better conferences that are looking to add teams. They haven't won a conference championship, but they go out and more often than not make a good showing for themselves against teams that would, and have, absolutely kill us. They beat a ranked Missouri team and almost beat highly ranked LSU and Florida State teams. We are estatic when we get shut out 27-0 against UT and find positives in 20 point losses to MAC teams.

If you are happy with where this football and athletic program as a whole are going, and enjoy following mediocre sports, then you are at the right place.

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You people are amazing. Where was all this talk of mediocrity while we were in New Orleans playing Memphis? Not until will have a 2-9 season do people get pissed off about not hanging with Texas. Are you kidding me? Do you realize how rediculous this actually is?

Back when we hung in games with every non BCS school and were winning conf., no one said we were mediocre. Now, you are telling me you are mad that we didn't win them after a 2-9 season... It's unbeleivable to me how you can pass yourself off as wanting to be above mediocre now and complaining about everything you were soaking in 2-3-4 years ago.

2-9 last season, we are half way to tieing our record last year, and conf. hasn't even begun. That's not a fun stat, but after a 2-9 season you people expect to hang with Texas and Tulsa and Akron? FUNNY!

Yes, I long for the days that on any given Saturday I can turn on the TV and watch the Mean Green hang tough and be in every single game they play. But after a 2-9 season, you folks want everything to change in 1 freaking year. Did you really expect to be 2-2 at this point?

You folks choose to ignore the fact that last year was a BIG step back, and a lot of it was close games with conf. opponents.

You also choose to ignore the fact that last year we had absolutely NO experience at the QB position last year, which can be attributed to the sad death of Andrew Smith. We only lost be less than a TD in every single game. Had we not gone 2-9 last season, I doubt you people would act so high and mighty and would be so vocal about "going above and beyond", or taking the high road and saying "we expect more".

You people had your chance to be vocal in New Orleans when we played Southern Miss and Memphis and you blew it because you chose to stand silently and enjoy it like the rest of us. It slays me that you would pick now to be so blatently unsupporting of your program.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Really? across the board? You're saying we have had better facilities and athletes in here routinely than Tulsa and Akron? You're saying we should have won those games, that we're on the same level athletically? Tulsa, a perennial bball power, CUSA member (where we're trying to go), and a football team that's really turned the corner the past few years... and Akron, who is the defending MAC champion, sent their last QB to be a NFL starter, beat NC State on the road, and played Penn State tough in Happy Valley? NO ONE with half a brain in their skull would have picked us to win either of these games. NO ONE. Look at the lines.

It's called realism, folks. End of story. You are who you are -- to the less than lucid, this has ZERO bearing on not wanting to progress and not wanting great things for the university -- but we are who we are, and we need to understand that and be happy when we make strides. This doesn't all happen overnight?

So all of you naysayers can honestly walk around campus and ignore the BEYOND dramatic improvement in our athletic facilities in the last 5 or 6 years? You can honestly dispute we have a worse conference affiliation than we did in our last conference 5 or 6 years ago?? You can honestly say we haven't come light years further than other universities in that time span??

When I got to NT in 98, the atmosphere was totally different than it is today. No game day atmosphere, half the facilities, no regional rivalries, NO semblance of winning. Did beating Texas Tech a couple times and sucking all over the Big West do a DAMN thing for us nationally? 500 NTSU's later says the obvious answer is no... and that's a load bigger than any Akron or Tulsa win. We all got so spolied with constant SBC titles and NO Bowl trips that now we can't see the forest for the trees. It means a hell of a lot more than beating La Tech. Time, I believe, has proven that.

If you had told me, in 2000, that 6 years later we'd have 4 conference championships in 5 years, Fouts would look like it does , the campus would look like it does, and game day would be like it is, I'd have called you the biggest nutjob I'd ever met. If you then told me we'd have fans "writing off the team for good" and demanding firings, I'd keel over laughing. Or crying. Not sure which one.

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Let's start with Tulsa and Akron. Neither are Top 50 teams. Both are where they are today, however, because of COACHING. Neither are invulnerable. Tulsa was taken to two overtimes yesterday and finally eked out a one point win over Navy. Navy? Until they got Johnson as head coach (who by the way was turned down by North Texas at one time) they were the pits. Now they are respectable. Even won a bowl. Akron had lost to Central Michigan the week before. Central Michigan is certainly not the worst program in the MAC but I don't recall them winning championships or ranking in the Top 50 lately. Both were winnable but our coaching staff couldn't find much offense except for when the game was out of reach at Akron. Even then we couldn't score.

I'll certainly admit that the athletic center is greatness. When the tennis center gets its center court it will also be one of the finest in the land. The women's facilities have improved greatly. Those are givens but have they helped in recruiting? Although soccer is the only women's sport that is well above average, I see no problem with most women's sports this year. The other campus improvements have nothing to do with athletics.

We may not have liked the travel or the fact that we did little winning but the Big West was a higher-rated conference than the SBC is now. It's true that we won four championships in a row. We should have. The combined record for our conference opponents during those four years was 97-205. Yep, our opponents didn't even win a thrd of their games. Our OOC record during those four years was 4 wins; 14 losses. One win was over a 1-AA team. Makes me want to swell with pride.

Academically, I'm not sure that any have surpassed what NT has accomplished in the past 5 or 6 years. Athletically, although we had such a low starting point, we have moved up the food chain a little only to fall right back down again. We had a couple of years where we were ranked in the 60s but last week we were ranked at #108 and you can't get more than eleven spaces below that.

[CaribbeanGreen]

Let's start with Tulsa and Akron.  Neither are Top 50 teams.  Both are where they are today, however, because of COACHING.  Neither are invulnerable.  Tulsa was taken to two overtimes yesterday and finally eked out a one point win over Navy.  Navy?  Until they got Johnson as head coach (who by the way was turned down by North Texas at one time) they were the pits.  Now they are respectable.  Even won a bowl.  Akron had lost to Central Michigan the week before.  Central Michigan is certainly not the worst program in the MAC but I don't recall them winning championships or ranking in the Top 50 lately.  Both were winnable but our coaching staff couldn't find much offense except for when the game was out of reach at Akron.  Even then we couldn't score.

I'll certainly admit that the athletic center is greatness.  When the tennis center gets its center court it will also be one of the finest in the land.  The women's facilities have improved greatly.  Those are givens but have they helped in recruiting?  Although soccer is the only women's sport that is well above average, I see no problem with most women's sports this year.  The other campus improvements have nothing to do with athletics.

We may not have liked the travel or the fact that we did little winning but the Big West was a higher-rated conference than the SBC is now.  It's true that we won four championships in a row.  We should have.  The combined record for our conference opponents during those four years was 97-205.  Yep, our opponents didn't even win a thrd of their games.  Our OOC record during those four years was 4 wins; 14 losses.  One win was over a 1-AA team.  Makes me want to swell with pride.

Academically, I'm not sure that any have surpassed what NT has accomplished in the past 5 or 6 years.  Athletically, although we had such a low starting point, we have moved up the food chain a little only to fall right back down again.  We had a couple of years where we were ranked in the 60s but last week we were ranked at #108 and you can't get more than eleven spaces below that.

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So you're saying Vegas was wrong making us huge dogs to Tulsa and Akron then?

Sagarin-whatever ratings in the preseason have very little consequence with the overall health of the athetic department.

Also, what makes you think "we should have" won 4 straight SBC titles? Our 2/3 wins every year in the Big West?

[Eagle-96]

And I offer again -- in our peer group, the SunBelt... name one school that wouldn't swap football performance with us in the last 5 years in a freaking HEARTBEAT.

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I'm sure that I could find 7 skid row panhandlers that would trade places with me in a heartbeat but that doesn't make me Bill Gates.

Guys and Gals. We won 4 straight conference championships by being better than 7 of the worst teams in the nation. When we made the jump back up to 1-A in 1995 we were the worst team in the nation and now we have moved up 7-8 places. That sure is progress on the field. At this rate we ought to be consistently ranked in the 40's by the turn of the next century. And your great-grandchildren will be able to see it all happen at Fouts Field because there aint any donors lining up to pony up millions of dollars for a new staduim. And don't mistake anger at a stagnant program with being a bad fan. The anger that is being displayed by a few honest fans is there because they are tired of being the joke of the college fotball world. I want to see North Texas succeed in all sports. I want the fans to be angry at losing to a MAC team by 20 points.

GMG!!!

Beat Muts!!!

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

So you're saying Vegas was wrong making us huge dogs to Tulsa and Akron then?

Sagarin-whatever ratings in the preseason have very little consequence with the overall health of the athetic department.

Also, what makes you think "we should have" won 4 straight SBC titles? Our 2/3 wins every year in the Big West?

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I'm saying that after nine years of Dickeyball we are still mired in the Bottom 10 of Division 1-A. I'm saying that we don't have the offense of almost all Division 1-A and many Division 1-AA teams. We didn't even cover the Vegas odds in either game but they weren't too far off.

Our Bottom 10 status is the consensus of all of those that rank teams, not just Sagarin. (Actually we are in the Bottom 12).

I guess I based my "we should have" won those titles on our historical won-loss record and 30 years of having been in the top division of NCAA football. The only one with more time in Division 1-A (and its equivalent) was New Mexico State and you know our overall record against them. We had at least twice the 1-A experience of Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State. We were the anointed bell cow when the league was formed.

By the way, a couple of those 2-3 win seasons in the Big West got a coach fired and that was after being a 1-AA playoff team.

[Talon90]

You people are amazing.  Where was all this talk of mediocrity while we were in New Orleans playing Memphis?  Not until will have a 2-9 season do people get pissed off about not hanging with Texas. Are you kidding me?  Do you realize how rediculous this actually is?

Back when we hung in games with every non BCS school and were winning conf., no one said we were mediocre.  Now, you are telling me you are mad that we didn't win them after a 2-9 season...  It's unbeleivable to me how you can pass yourself off as wanting to be above mediocre now and complaining about everything you were soaking in 2-3-4 years ago.

2-9 last season,  we are half way to tieing our record last year, and conf. hasn't even begun.  That's not a fun stat, but after a 2-9 season you people expect to hang with Texas and Tulsa and Akron?  FUNNY! 

Yes, I long for the days that on any given Saturday I can turn on the TV and watch the Mean Green hang tough and be in every single game they play.  But after a 2-9 season, you folks want everything to change in 1 freaking year.  Did you really expect to be 2-2 at this point? 

You folks choose to ignore the fact that last year was a BIG step back, and a lot of it was close games with conf. opponents. 

You also choose to ignore the fact that last year we had absolutely NO experience at the QB position last year, which can be attributed to the sad death of Andrew Smith.  We only lost be less than a TD in every single game.  Had we not gone 2-9 last season, I doubt you people would act so high and mighty and would be so vocal about "going above and beyond", or taking the high road and saying "we expect more".

You people had your chance to be vocal in New Orleans when we played Southern Miss and Memphis and you blew it because you chose to stand silently and enjoy it like the rest of us.  It slays me that you would pick now to be so blatently unsupporting of your program.

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I could handle the losing at the NO Bowl during the 4 year run as I thought in a year or two we would be WINNING bowl games and OOC. The whole point of my frustration and many others is that we should be progressing because of our past success. Instead we are going backwards. Why aren't we recruiting better players than we did 3 and 4 years ago????

[meangreanmick]

We need to get past the references to beating TTech and almost beating UT a long time ago. Those were NOT even close to the same teams TTech and UT have had in the past few years. Its apples and oranges.

I was at UT when UNT almost beat them. UT wasn't very good during that stretch and they couldn't fill up their stadium, which wasn't nearly as big as it is today. TTech, same deal, were just middle of the road at best.

An what exactly did those OOC wins give us that was so great? IMO, not as much as 4 bowl games gave us. Its a tier ladder, we have to consistently (4 years isn't consistency in college football) have success where we are (SBC), increase support for athletics through that, THEN make a move up.

[DeepGreen]

Here, frustrate on one of Scotties posts from the "Dark Side" board. He sums up the Akron game pretty well.

"Akron had a punt blocked on their own 5-yard line, missed two extra points, missed a field goal, shanked a punt onto their own 20, allowed an onside kicked to be recovered at midfield and didn't score a point in the second half....and they beat UNT by 20 freaking points.

Dickey is indeed...the Sun Belt coach of the year."