North Texas appeases McIngvale

mgsteve · November 17, 2006

Most people give huge sums of cash to university programs in return for having their names put on fancy new buildings.

But Jim McIngvale, who became rich by breaking the discount furniture-selling mold and famous for breaking molds period, has demanded the University of North Texas remove his name from its football practice facility.

Odder still, in its stead McIngvale insisted that Darrell Dickey's name replace it — the same Darrell Dickey whom the university fired as football coach last week after the Mean Green's record fell to 3-7 following a 2-9 finish in 2005.

And why is the Gallery Furniture founder in a position to throw his weight around? Because he gave the football program $1 million two years ago. Its total annual budget is about $3.7 million, according to the Associated Press.

"Darrell's the guy who did great things, not me," McIngvale said. "To fire him for two bad years after he won four (Sun Belt) conference championships in a row, that's not kosher. And they did it to him three weeks after he had a heart attack (on Oct. 12). Even Wall Street ain't that callous."

North Texas officials say they will yield to McIngvale's wishes.

Had the university refused to replace his name with Dickey's, he would have continued to insist the sum be transferred to North Texas' renowned music department. The AP said the music school's annual budget is $8.7 million.

McIngvale recently took out a full-page ad in the Denton Record-Chronicle to explain his actions.

"You have to keep the boosters' best wishes in mind," North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal told the AP. "But I would never put myself in a position as an AD to allow boosters to tell me who needs to be hired and fired."

In Dickey's case, however, North Texas seems to be allowing McIngvale to tell them who should be immortalized, no doubt hoping his pockets will remain deep. But he says they shouldn't hold their breath. Until he sees "more effort" by Villareal "to sell tickets and sponsorships and get butts into the seats, I'm going to stay on the sidelines.

"The message I wanted to send to all the people up there is, until they up the budget for the athletic department and particularly the football team, they can't expect a great football team no matter who they hire."

McIngvale played football for the Mean Green after transferring from UT, where he had been a bench-warmer on Darrell Royal's 1969 national championship team.

Eagle1855 · November 17, 2006

hey this is GREAT. This is the first time I have seen NORTH TEXAS mentioned in the Houston area (with anything more than a passing breath) in pretty much my entire life.

UNTLifer · November 17, 2006

In Dickey's case, however, North Texas seems to be allowing McIngvale to tell them who should be immortalized, no doubt hoping his pockets will remain deep. But he says they shouldn't hold their breath. Until he sees "more effort" by Villareal "to sell tickets and sponsorships and get butts into the seats, I'm going to stay on the sidelines.
"The message I wanted to send to all the people up there is, until they up the budget for the athletic department and particularly the football team, they can't expect a great football team no matter who they hire."

Good point Mac. Let's see, North Texas needs more donors to invest in the program to allow the budget to be increased, but one of the donors, Mac himself, refuses to donate until the budget is increased. Makes alot of sense to me.

Stan R · November 17, 2006

Good point Mac. Let's see, North Texas needs more donors to invest in the program to allow the budget to be increased, but one of the donors, Mac himself, refuses to donate until the budget is increased. Makes alot of sense to me.
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Boy howdy isn't that ironic.

NT80 · November 17, 2006

But he says they shouldn't hold their breath. Until he sees "more effort" by Villareal "to sell tickets and sponsorships and get butts into the seats, I'm going to stay on the sidelines.
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Stay on the sidelines? Like he did for 35 years after leaving NT?

risinggreen · November 17, 2006

hey this is GREAT. This is the first time I have seen NORTH TEXAS mentioned in the Houston area (with anything more than a passing breath) in pretty much my entire life.
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Pretty amazing to get ANY pub from The Houston Chronicle. They usually behave as if we don't exist. And other than mentioning our paltry athletic budget, they didn't even slam us!

FirefightnRick · November 17, 2006

He wants us to raise the bar, but every time we get a chance to reach out to alumni his ringmaster buddy kept pulling the mat out from under us. That's what doesn't make sense, and that convinces me that MM has been fed a load of crap and is completely clueless about the goings on in Denton the past 9 years.

You cannot allow a disgruntled, insubordinate employee run the show and expect it to grow. Ask Mac how he expects his employees to behave when customers walk through his door?

Rick

November 17, 2006

Pretty amazing to get ANY pub from The Houston Chronicle. They usually behave as if we don't exist. And other than mentioning our paltry athletic budget, they didn't even slam us!
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For one thing, the $3.7 million quoted was for the football budget, not the athletic budget. I don't know the expenditures for football and neither do they. The latest report to the DOE (through 8/31/06) shows the following:

Revenue 15.1M

Basketball Exp: 1.9M

Football Exp: 3.2M

All Other Sports: 2.8M

Unallocated: 6.0M

It is not tracked (or at least reported) how much of that $6 million should be for football. Surely more that $500K would be.

We need to increase our football expenditures and maybe our new coach will sell more tickets and raise more funds than anyone previously. Until MM came through with his donation I think that DD had done little to sell tickets or raise funds.

Jimbo · November 18, 2006

Good point Mac. Let's see, North Texas needs more donors to invest in the program to allow the budget to be increased, but one of the donors, Mac himself, refuses to donate until the budget is increased. Makes alot of sense to me.
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So he's the only reliable donor?

Stay on the sidelines? Like he did for 35 years after leaving NT?
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How cute. So why isn't the paper calling you, Mr. Involved?

It is not tracked (or at least reported) how much of that $6 million should be for football. Surely more that $500K would be.
...
We need to increase our football expenditures and maybe our new coach will sell more tickets and raise more funds than anyone previously. Until MM came through with his donation I think that DD had done little to sell tickets or raise funds.
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I completely agree. But the "little" Dickey did amounted to a decent amount.

NT80 · November 18, 2006

So he's the only reliable donor?
How cute. So why isn't the paper calling you, Mr. Involved?
I completely agree. But the "little" Dickey did amounted to a decent amount.
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The Mattress Man writes one check, for DD's sake, and you think he's entitled to run the whole program? Where was he during the 1-AA days and when we needed $ to expand Fouts to return to 1-A? MM showed up too late to the party and now wants his cake too.

NT91 · November 18, 2006

I had dinner tonight with a UT alum. He was making fun of NT and how bad it was for NT to cow down to a NT alum that gave 1,000,000 to the program. NT was a joke to him.

Zeke · November 18, 2006

I had dinner tonight with a UT alum. He was making fun of NT and how bad it was for NT to cow down to a NT alum that gave 1,000,000 to the program. NT was a joke to him.
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Alums from a place like Texas just won't understand what 1 million means to us. Big Time U can see "See ya" to one million, but we can't. We are poor, Big Time U isn't. Those that don't understand this fact probably don't truly understand why college football is set up the way it is.

FirefightnRick · November 18, 2006

I had dinner tonight with a UT alum. He was making fun of NT and how bad it was for NT to cow down to a NT alum that gave 1,000,000 to the program. NT was a joke to him.
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You could have explained what the money meant to this program, and how MM had hinted at future support of NT and it's future "Stadium Plans" as a "Good Idea"....as long as his friend DD was the coach. You could have pointed out to your friend that besides the fact that NT needs every donor we can get the decision was still made to go a different route with regards to the head coach even though our admin KNEW it meant monetary repercussions.

One of the long standing criticisms of North Texas athletics and it's administration has been "When will NT get serious about major college football?". With the past weeks events our university couldn't have shouted it any louder where it stands on that issue.

It's All Good and All Green!

Rick

UNTLifer · November 18, 2006

1So he's the only reliable donor?
2How cute. So why isn't the paper calling you, Mr. Involved?
3I completely agree. But the "little" Dickey did amounted to a decent amount.
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1. No, that is not my point. Mac states that NT needs more and better donors, and he chooses to remove his support because our PR nightmare HC who happens to be his buddy is canned. Like FFR stated, if he is so intune with NT's needs, where has his support been through the years?

2. The posters on this board have been much more involved throughout the years than MM comes close to. Sure, we all appreciated his donation and hoped he would stay around to support his alma mater. Well, MM stayed true to form. He only did it to get his name in the paper and to support his buddy, not the school. NT athletics survived for a long time without MM and can survive in the future without him. It would be much easier with his support, but he should never be allowed to dictate what the AD does. His customers don't tell him how to run his store.

3. Little Dickey could have done much more if he would have recruited better following his three, out of nine total, successful seasons, fired his worthless OC and stopped criticizing his "situation" in the media every chance he got. Oh, and calling the fans Fer's was a touch of class.

Isn't DD's father's name Jim?(bo) Looks like he's got someone else taking up for him again.