DRC article on DD/ Mattress Mac add, Presidents/

OldTimer · November 13, 2006

Benevolent UNT booster supports Dickey

For his $1 million gift, mattress mogul wants field named for coach

09:55 PM CST on Sunday, November 12, 2006

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

DENTON – Houston businessman and North Texas athletic booster Jim McIngvale criticized the school's administration for firing Darrell Dickey and requested that UNT name its practice field after the outgoing head coach.

UNT has plans to name the field after McIngvale, who donated $1 million toward construction of the Mean Green Athletic Center in 2004.

McIngvale made his request in a full-page advertisement addressed to the school's administration in Sunday's editions of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

In the ad, McIngvale voices his support for Dickey – whom he believes was unjustly fired – and asks that his $1 million donation be redirected to UNT's One O'Clock Lab Band if his request is not honored.

"I just think both sides of the story need to be told," said McIngvale, a former UNT linebacker who owns Gallery Furniture in Houston. "People need to know that you need to have big money to get big wins. You don't go to a gun fight with a knife."

McIngvale paid nearly $5,000 for the ad.

Dickey was fired Wednesday with three games left in his ninth season at UNT, a tenure that has had highs and lows. UNT won the Sun Belt title and played in the New Orleans Bowl in four straight seasons from 2001 to '04 and posted a 26-game winning streak in conference games.

UNT has struggled to build on that success the last two seasons. The Mean Green went 2-9 last season and is 3-7 this year following a win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.

Dickey is 42-62 overall at UNT.

UNT has faced nine nationally ranked teams since Dickey took over in 1998 and has not played more than five home games in a season during that time. Dickey has described the Mean Green's circumstances as some of the most difficult in the country.

He has declined to comment on his firing so he can focus on helping his team finish the season on a positive note. But Dickey said he appreciated McIngvale's comments. Dickey was dismissed just weeks after he had a heart attack Oct. 12.

"A year ago, Mr. McIngvale made a very generous $1 million investment because he believed in what we are doing," Dickey said. "He is entitled to his opinion. It's nice to hear that people have some good things to say."

McIngvale said he has supported the Mean Green for the last several years because of his friendship with Dickey. In 2004, McIngvale paid for UNT's entire team to travel to the funeral of quarterback Andrew Smith, who died in a car accident days before the beginning of fall practice.

UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal declined multiple requests for comment, but UNT president Gretchen Bataille said she has no problem with renaming the Mean Green's practice field after Dickey.

"We appreciate the funding McIngvale has provided," Bataille said. "Donors can ask to name facilities after anyone. If he wants to name it after coach Dickey, that's fine."

UNT regent Burle Pettit said he was disappointed that McIngvale might discontinue his support of the athletic program but that the decision was the right one for the future of the program.

Jeff Roeling, a 1986 UNT graduate and athletic department booster, echoed that sentiment.

"Coach Dickey is an important part of the history of North Texas football," Roeling said. "I would go to a party to celebrate his career today, but we needed a change to excite fans and move the program forward."

Edited November 13, 2006 by OldTimer

GoMeanGreen1999 · November 13, 2006

In 2004, McIngvale paid for UNT's entire team to travel to the funeral of quarterback Andrew Smith, who died in a car accident days before the beginning of fall practice.
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Can someone explain to me how this is not a violation of NCAA rules?

November 13, 2006

While I appreciate the fact that Mac has contributed mightily to the program, I find it a little odd that he would support the program only because of his friendship with Coach Dickey. I would hope that he would support the university regardless.

In any case, the university needs to establish much broader support. I did not see the wacky ad that was mentioned, but I would like to know what 'other side' there is to the story. I think you only have to look to the recent 'green team' concept. Looks like some kind of genius to some, but really the fact that NT has had to resort to such irregular shenanigans is a clear sign of how screwed up the situation was.

MeanGreenBuzz · November 13, 2006

Can someone explain to me how this is not a violation of NCAA rules?
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Find out the cost of travel. Donate that amount. Team gets to travel.

ipEAGLE · November 13, 2006

The only thing that needs to be said to Mattress Mac....

Dickey is 42-62 overall at UNT.

VideoEagle · November 13, 2006

In any case, the university needs to establish much broader support.
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Yes! That is clearly the answer!

SilverEagle · November 13, 2006

One of the scary things in MM's ad/manifesto was the statement that Dickey planned to spend the rest of his coaching career here. That sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore.

I want coaches to be here that get hired away from us...... especially the head coach. We just need to have the next one (who has a very similar personality and football knowledge) waiting in the wings when that happens.

You know, as I was telling FFR earlier this evening, naming the practice facility ater Dickey is fine with me.

Practice seemed to be his strength. He was well known for his marathon practices/scrimmages in the spring and fall. The only problem was that game day preparation (attacking your opponent, making changes/adjustments during the game) was not his strength. With the exception of the La Tech game, if we ever got behind, we were never able to come back.

Dickey can have his name on the practice field, but I want coaches who went into their games at North Texas with the expectation of winning regardless of their opponent, to have their names on a new stadium.

The four that some to mind are Mitchell, Rust (using Mitchell's recruits), Fry and Nelson.

Edited November 13, 2006 by SilverEagle

November 13, 2006

Hey, those trips to New Orleans were worth a lot. A LOT of people would have been very happy to enjoy those. As far as I am concerned, they can name whatever they want to after Coach Dickey. Nonetheless, it is time to move on.

MeanMag · November 13, 2006

Can someone explain to me how this is not a violation of NCAA rules?
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The NCAA also makes exceptions for extenuating circumstances. Such as some players from school who have to take care of loved ones, in certain situations.

I read a story in Sports Illustrated about a player (I forget which school it was) who was the legal guardian of his little brother because his mom was a crack addict and his dad was in jail or something and the NCAA ok'd money from donors to help with his situation. They (the NCAA) aren't as nasty as some would like to think.

PlummMeanGreen · November 13, 2006

While I appreciate the fact that Mac has contributed mightily to the program, I find it a little odd that he would support the program only because of his friendship with Coach Dickey. I would hope that he would support the university regardless.
In any case, the university needs to establish much broader support. I did not see the wacky ad that was mentioned, but I would like to know what 'other side' there is to the story. I think you only have to look to the recent 'green team' concept. Looks like some kind of genius to some, but really the fact that NT has had to resort to such irregular shenanigans is a clear sign of how screwed up the situation was.
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Agree, Aquila_Viridis...

What seems odder to me is that the greatest coach in UNT football history who even gave us some semblance of national recognition (with a truly national win) and that over an SEC school (not a CUSA scrub) doesn't have anything named after him at NT. Only at North Texas, folks.

Jim McIngvale is making himself to appear to be a horses butt on all this. If he truly was a letterman under the great Hayden Fry (I, for one, cannot remember him being on any Fry-coached Mean Green football team), anyway, why didn't he throw in an extra million for the very NT coach who gave him an opportunity to be a letterman on a truly D1 football program (at that time) and his being a letterman on his alma mater's football team?

This whole thing that is going on at UNT would make one helluva' soap opera. Maybe ESPN will one day have a "sports oriented" soap opera series and some of us can get together, collaborate and give them about 25 years worth of some pretty spicy scripts? Hellsbells! We could even write-in some of those scripts all the hormonal aspects of what many of us know to have taken place in that athletic department in past decades. This soap could easily be about sex, lies, tapes, video-tapes, locker-room bloops and blunders--the whole enchilada!

FWIW..........I (for one) can live with the practice field being named after DD after further thought on all this. If Mac will give the money for a new footall stadium, I can even live with naming that stadium: "MAC's BOX SPRINGS STADIUM." In fact, might a variation of even that name be a pretty darn good name for a proposed ESPN soap opera, ie...... MAC's PLACE? We all know where ESPN QUATTRO--SPORTS SOAPS can get a good sponsor for this UNT-inspired show, too, right? BUT there is a catch here.............the entire ESPN QUATTRO--SPORTS SOAPS staff will also be held hostage as to have to wear a "Mattress Mac" baseball cap during that new soap's entire inaugural season or...........

..................all bets are off! ! ! !

Edited November 13, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

jimmyjames_99 · November 13, 2006

UNT regent Burle Pettit said he was disappointed that McIngvale might discontinue his support of the athletic program but that the decision was the right one for the future of the program.
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Good to see that the BOR is willing to be quoted in their support of the decision. At least it is a publicly united UNT front!!! Hopefully this is a sign of things to come...

SilverEagle · November 13, 2006

Good to see that the BOR is willing to be quoted in their support of the decision. At least it is a publicly united UNT front!!! Hopefully this is a sign of things to come...
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I'm guessing that RV and Dr. B knew what MM's reaction would be. So I'm sure that they would not (or could not) have made this decision without the support of the BOR.

GrandGreen · November 13, 2006

Agree, Aquila_Viridis...
Jim McIngvale is making himself to appear to be a horses butt on all this. If he truly was a letterman under the great Hayden Fry (I, for one, cannot remember him being on any Fry-coached Mean Green football team), anyway, why didn't he throw in an extra million for the very NT coach who gave him an opportunity to be a letterman on a truly D1 football program (at that time) and his being a letterman on his alma mater's football team?
Actually Jim McIngvale was a pretty good linebacker for Fry.