Watched Necessary Roughness last night

Mean'n'Green07 · December 8, 2006

I watched necessary roughness for the first time last night, and maybe some of the elders on this board can help me out here. Who the hell was responsible for building the end-zone seating in fouts? I've always known they are terrible seats because of the poor design, but what were we thinking?

Seeing the stadium without the end zone seating actually made fouts look better. Why on earth didn't we build two end-zone sections right up against the field and try to connect them to the entire stadium?? From aerial pictures the end zones look long enough to do it, its just they are put so far back. Wouldn't it of been easier to demolish the track and build seats where you can actually see the game from the end-zone seats?

Does anyone know who we hired to draw up and build the expansion?

meangreenfreak · December 8, 2006

I watched necessary roughness for the first time last night, and maybe some of the elders on this board can help me out here. Who the hell was responsible for building the end-zone seating in fouts? I've always known they are terrible seats because of the poor design, but what were we thinking?
Seeing the stadium without the end zone seating actually made fouts look better. Why on earth didn't we build two end-zone sections right up against the field and try to connect them to the entire stadium?? From aerial pictures the end zones look long enough to do it, its just they are put so far back. Wouldn't it of been easier to demolish the track and build seats where you can actually see the game from the end-zone seats?
Does anyone know who we hired to draw up and build the expansion?
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In order to be DI-A our stadium had to seat at least 30,000. The metal bleachers were the least expensive route. Happened in 1994.

meangreenfreak · December 8, 2006

I agree that the old end zones with the landscaping were a better look. Frenchy's used to take really good care of all the green spaces at Fouts.

SUMG · December 8, 2006

It was done very cheaply, as I recall. We got those 10,000 seats for less than $700,000 grand.

And the reason they were done that way....was because of the track.

Back then, you had to have the 30,000 seat stadium, and the powers that be did what they could, to get us there.

And those seats aren't that bad, if you have binoculars that are as powerful as the Hubble Telescope.

I watched necessary roughness for the first time last night, and maybe some of the elders on this board can help me out here. Who the hell was responsible for building the end-zone seating in fouts? I've always known they are terrible seats because of the poor design, but what were we thinking?
Seeing the stadium without the end zone seating actually made fouts look better. Why on earth didn't we build two end-zone sections right up against the field and try to connect them to the entire stadium?? From aerial pictures the end zones look long enough to do it, its just they are put so far back. Wouldn't it of been easier to demolish the track and build seats where you can actually see the game from the end-zone seats?
Does anyone know who we hired to draw up and build the expansion?
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GoMeanGreen1999 · December 8, 2006

The long and short was that we needed to get to 30,500 seating capacity for our jump to D1, so that was the cheapest and quickest way to do it. I am sure Plumm wouldn't mind giving you more here (I am serious, shoot him and email and he will tell you - he really does have good info).

Ironically, the seats in the Super Pit were originally Orange because they were cheaper than green.

NT80 · December 8, 2006

No other place to put a track at the time and UNT still hosts regional state HS track meets. The bleachers were a quick fix to a capacity requirement that had to be met to go 1-A.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 8, 2006

And those seats aren't that bad, if you have binoculars that are as powerful as the Hubble Telescope.
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LOL....good one SMUG!

SUMG · December 8, 2006

Ironically, the seats in the Super Pit were originally Orange because they were cheaper than green.

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GBarksdale · December 8, 2006

I watched necessary roughness for the first time last night, and maybe some of the elders on this board can help me out here. Who the hell was responsible for building the end-zone seating in fouts? I've always known they are terrible seats because of the poor design, but what were we thinking?

horrible movie, but fun to see the old stadium.

Mean'n'Green07 · December 8, 2006

The long and short was that we needed to get to 30,500 seating capacity for our jump to D1, so that was the cheapest and quickest way to do it. I am sure Plumm wouldn't mind giving you more here (I am serious, shoot him and email and he will tell you - he really does have good info).
Ironically, the seats in the Super Pit were originally Orange because they were cheaper than green.
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Ok, this all makes sense but wouldn't it have been better to actually put up some money for a lasting investment in the school? Was the school's old leadership really that bad that they didn't have a vision for the future? It seems like they just wanted to build it as cheaply as possible and have no quality at all?

If this really is the case I don't see how anyone on this board could ever dislike RV.

SUMG · December 8, 2006

Mean and Green '07....

You seem to be missing the point, buddy. The leadership had to get the stadium up to 30,000 seats for the '94 season. They didn't have the time, to worry about quality or long term vision.

So, I have no fault with the leadership back then (on this). They did what they had to do, with the money they had, and in a short time frame.

We qualified for 1-A, so it worked out all right.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 8, 2006

Mean and Green '07....
You seem to be missing the point, buddy. The leadership had to get the stadium up to 30,000 seats for the '94 season. They didn't have the time, to worry about quality or long term vision.
So, I have no fault with the leadership back then (on this). They did what they had to do, with the money they had, and in a short time frame.
We qualified for 1-A, so it worked out all right.
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SMUG is right, they didn't care what those things looked liked, as long as they met the requirments they needed to make the jump to D1.

Yes, I like that we hired Vic for the reason. He made the Super Pit look 100 times better than it did.

Mean'n'Green07 · December 8, 2006

Mean and Green '07....
You seem to be missing the point, buddy. The leadership had to get the stadium up to 30,000 seats for the '94 season. They didn't have the time, to worry about quality or long term vision.
So, I have no fault with the leadership back then (on this). They did what they had to do, with the money they had, and in a short time frame.
We qualified for 1-A, so it worked out all right.
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You're right, I didn't know it was a race against time. Was the rule of a 30k DIA stadium made in 94? If not I would think the administration would have thought in advance. Like maybe in 87 or 88 start a fundraising campaign so they could meet it in time for the 94 season.

Buford_Julep · December 8, 2006

If I remember correctly it was a student initiative that led to Fouts expansion. The students voted to increase fees to pay for thr additional seats so NT could return to 1-A.

I remember students wearing t-shirts with the saying "Division I. It's not just about football". The major selling point was that being Div I in football would help NT's image.

Trilli also painted and repaired the locker rooms that Jankovich destroyed after he was fired.

Edited December 8, 2006 by Buford_Julep

SUMG · December 8, 2006

Buford is correct....the students voted to spend $1 million for the extra seats (they ended up costing less than....$600,000-700,000, as I recall).

Also, once that went through....we then had to go to the Texas College Coordinating Board for approval to do the expansion.

They approved it....under this restriction: The school had to repay the money the students had approved. And, the school did repay (through donations). So, in effect, the money the students voted in, via a referendum....ended up being a loan.

And MG '07.....that rule had been around for a while (the 30,000 stadium rule). What made it a short time frame, was that you had to declare what year you wanted to qualify in. So once we decided on '94.....we had from the end of the '93 season to the start of '94....to get those seats in. It didn't take too long (a couple of months, as I recall).

JayDub · December 8, 2006

horrible movie, but fun to see the old stadium.
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TAKE IT BACK!

Hey, could we get away with covering the endzone seats to look kinda like Baylor of Colorado's endzones? (disclaimer: I don't "want to be like them". Just think it would look good.)

pollock · December 8, 2006

I recently saw about half that movie for the first time. Horrible indeed. Even the great Robert Loggia was just silly.

The worst part was that I was never convinced that there were more than 14 players on the field at any one time, much less 22.

greenjoe · December 8, 2006

I was the Green Seat Chairman back when ever. I had heard so many rumors about the orange seats, I did some research to find the truth.

The designer of the Super Pit was a man named Klutz (?) Yeah. I know. Anyway, he is an architect still in Dallas. The seat fabric choices were for television of the day. The day was 1971 by the way, but the choices were beige or orange. The cost of the color was not a factor. Orange was not chosen because then President C.C. "Jitter" Nolan was a UT alum. Nor were the orange seats left over from the Super Drum in Austin (it hadn't been started yet). Nor because the architect went to Texas. The truth is boring. Orange was thought to show up better on 1971 television.

The seats were sent to a company in San Antonio in 3 or 4 batches. It took almost a year to get all the seats out, recovered, painted, and reinstalled. For much of that year, entire sections of the Super Pit were bare concrete.

We had a subscription party to raise money for the seats. We "sold" a seat for $100. each. There's a list of donors near exit D today.

There it is. Boring but true.

A better question is why does the men's BB team sit on the wrong side of the gym ?

Stan R · December 8, 2006

I was the Green Seat Chairman back when ever. I had heard so many rumors about the orange seats, I did some research to find the truth.
The designer of the Super Pit was a man named Klutz (?) Yeah. I know. Anyway, he is an architect still in Dallas. The seat fabric choices were for television of the day. The day was 1971 by the way, but the choices were beige or orange. The cost of the color was not a factor. Orange was not chosen because then President C.C. "Jitter" Nolan was a UT alum. Nor were the orange seats left over from the Super Drum in Austin (it hadn't been started yet). Nor because the architect went to Texas. The truth is boring. Orange was thought to show up better on 1971 television.
The seats were sent to a company in San Antonio in 3 or 4 batches. It took almost a year to get all the seats out, recovered, painted, and reinstalled. For much of that year, entire sections of the Super Pit were bare concrete.
We had a subscription party to raise money for the seats. We "sold" a seat for $100. each. There's a list of donors near exit D today.
There it is. Boring but true.
A better question is why does the men's BB team sit on the wrong side of the gym ?
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You can't even make up a story funnier than that.

FirefightnRick · December 8, 2006

The worst part was that I was never convinced that there were more than 14 players on the field at any one time, much less 22.
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user posted image

Indeed, there were more than 22 players as you can see by this cast and crew photo from the spring of '91. All of the graduating seniors from NT were involved including Scott Davis and Eric Peagram, Sydney Bradford and Shawn Wash. There were 6 guys from TCU, a couple from SMU and the rest from junior colleges around the state. Scott Davis was the double for Scott Bakula. Those are his long ball passes in the movie. In fact, they filmed him throwing I don't know how many times? Possibly 30 to 40 long bombs during a one nights shooting. Plus he took all the hits and did it over and over and over until they looked like what they wanted. There were two weeks of full contact practice srimmaging prior to filming. During those two weeks one player from a JUCO broke a wrist, and an O lineman from TCU blew his knee out and missed the draft. I spoke to him the next year and said the Bears brought him in for evaluation the next year and he couldn't pass. He was in construction last I heard. I was surprised Eric Peagram participated as he was later drafted by Atlanta that year.

When you see Kathy Ireland take that hit in the Kansas game, it was of course a stunt double. The girl that was the double was one of our local sorority babes. They asked her to do that "hit" about 11 times before they got it right, and just in the nick of time. On the last take she fell back and caught herself wrong and broke her own wrist. Her boyfriend who was standing there watching the filming came unglued because he felt she was being asked to do too much.

I hear all the time about how "Necessary Roughness" sucked and how bad of a movie it was. But people forget that in Texas, it actually ran 2 weeks longer at the movie theaters than Terminator II which was the block buster release of the season in late summer of '01. The movie was a parody written about the actuall Death Penalty time of SMU and Paramount approached SMU first to film the movie there. SMU I was told was less than happy about hearing of it and immediately turned them down. The rest is history.

Rick

NCMeanGreen · December 8, 2006

We had to meet a certain seating capacity criteria to meet NCAA regulations, and this was the most cost effective route. From what I had heard at the time, the plan was to "build a new stadium in the near future"...sound familiar?????

FirefightnRick · December 9, 2006

One more thing of interest pertaining to the movie and the current stands.

If you'll notice, there is a tunnel that the players ran through down onto the field during the movie of the first game against Southwest Texas State. That tunnel was built out of plywood and 2x4's and painted to look a part of the stadium and was immediately torn down after filming. It looks very similar to the real tunnel that the team runs through today.

Rick

December 9, 2006

Back then one of the criteria was one year of 17,000 attendance if you had a stadium of 30,000 or four years of 17,000 attendance in a stadium of lesser size. We opted for the quicker route.

As has been told, those aluminum seats were the cheapest quick fix. They are even a little further beyond the track than need be to keep from having to heist a net when attempting extra points and field goals.