Asking The Right Questions?

[kingwoodgreen]

Just as in any issue in life self examination is a viable tool. It is best used to break down the problem, find a resolution and correct if possible so that the issue possibly is not repeated. I believe our current financial crisis is a repeat of greed and ethical issues on wall street and our politicians. But that is not my focus for this board but UNT athletics is.

Is our problem been a history of leaders that did not value athletics as it rose to big business stature. By that I mean as a strong revenue source for the school as well as exposure. Did we just miss the boat during the time we moved down (IAA) instead of moving forward. How far back did that set us. Too big a hole? We missed conferance affiliations and had a void of vision (and success) that has probably lost many potential alums for good.

Or is our problem that we are a liberal arts school that just will never be supportive of a div. 1 caliber program (with all its costs). It has been said before but we do not provide some degrees that graduate donors that some other schools have. Just a fact but I am hoping the engineering program to help this cause. Since we have been a mainly music and teaching school from the past this gives us a disadvantage. Nothing negative about any of this just the facts that relate to $$$ of giving back. Personally I am not sure people should be giving millions of dollars to athletcis programs but we have elevated college sports to this level. Of course this again is an interesting subject itself but one for another time.

Related to above. Do we have a student body that just does not relate to what we consider school spirit. by that I mean enjoing going to games, supporting thier fellow classmates in various sports and having pride in our performances. We all see "gameday" as a big deal. And by the way thanks RV for making this happen. On this subject I am least proud of my school when I tend to view the attitude of what I have seen as arguments against the stadium. Yea I did some stupid things back in my day but I was not stupid. Most of the opposition's ranting do make for good debate. Are the the flip side of most schools? 70-30 enjoy their school's athletics, are we 30-70? or some such proportion. If so are we right in trying to make UNT something it is not?

Are our current frustrations levels so high because we cannot turn around something that is so far behind. Too many donors disconnected over a span that should have provided for some level of foundation over the last 30 years. Or does our school really value athletics. If we all enjoy our connection with UNT and still would like what all our friends that wnt to UT,a&m, etc have then did we just pick the wrong place? Sometimes I feel that way but when I was entering school in 79 we were coming off of Hayden's success . We were certainly not top 20(but close) but we were not 120.

I think given the constraints above RV has one tough job. Even though communication about certain things could be better I believe he may not know just how to tell us how bad things really are. AS far as Dodge is concerned any coach deserves four years probably. This ship is in trouble, but is RV and Dodge to blame for the big picture. I dunno, just thinking as I watch my savings dwindle...

[LAZER]

Just as in any issue in life self examination is a viable tool. It is best used to break down the problem, find a resolution and correct if possible so that the issue possibly is not repeated. I believe our current financial crisis is a repeat of greed and ethical issues on wall street and our politicians. But that is not my focus for this board but UNT athletics is.

Is our problem been a history of leaders that did not value athletics as it rose to big business stature. By that I mean as a strong revenue source for the school as well as exposure. Did we just miss the boat during the time we moved down (IAA) instead of moving forward. How far back did that set us. Too big a hole? We missed conferance affiliations and had a void of vision (and success) that has probably lost many potential alums for good.

Or is our problem that we are a liberal arts school that just will never be supportive of a div. 1 caliber program (with all its costs). It has been said before but we do not provide some degrees that graduate donors that some other schools have. Just a fact but I am hoping the engineering program to help this cause. Since we have been a mainly music and teaching school from the past this gives us a disadvantage. Nothing negative about any of this just the facts that relate to $$$ of giving back. Personally I am not sure people should be giving millions of dollars to athletcis programs but we have elevated college sports to this level. Of course this again is an interesting subject itself but one for another time.

Related to above. Do we have a student body that just does not relate to what we consider school spirit. by that I mean enjoing going to games, supporting thier fellow classmates in various sports and having pride in our performances. We all see "gameday" as a big deal. And by the way thanks RV for making this happen. On this subject I am least proud of my school when I tend to view the attitude of what I have seen as arguments against the stadium. Yea I did some stupid things back in my day but I was not stupid. Most of the opposition's ranting do make for good debate. Are the the flip side of most schools? 70-30 enjoy their school's athletics, are we 30-70? or some such proportion. If so are we right in trying to make UNT something it is not?

Are our current frustrations levels so high because we cannot turn around something that is so far behind. Too many donors disconnected over a span that should have provided for some level of foundation over the last 30 years. Or does our school really value athletics. If we all enjoy our connection with UNT and still would like what all our friends that wnt to UT,a&m, etc have then did we just pick the wrong place? Sometimes I feel that way but when I was entering school in 79 we were coming off of Hayden's success . We were certainly not top 20(but close) but we were not 120.

I think given the constraints above RV has one tough job. Even though communication about certain things could be better I believe he may not know just how to tell us how bad things really are. AS far as Dodge is concerned any coach deserves four years probably. This ship is in trouble, but is RV and Dodge to blame for the big picture. I dunno, just thinking as I watch my savings dwindle...

I do not think it is not one problem. I think it is a ocmbination of all these situations in addition to many more that I do not realize. Additionally, I think many of us do not realize that these problems are common to many schools not just North Texas. We all look at the big time programs that get a great deal of media coverage but we fail to realize thier are 120 (maybe 119?) division one FB programs. I would imagine a large majority of them have the many of the same problems North Texas has.

As a side not, while reading this post and "Check Facts" comments on the NT daily article I posted yesterday, I realized something. I know that North Texas does not have many "Professional" programs and as a result do not recieve alot funding from these industries. I know we have Accounting (a good one at that) and a young engineering school but why in the HELL are we sending our new professional programs such as the law school and pharmacy school to the Dallas campus? We should be trying to support UNT Denton right now and building it into a stronger university in the state of Texas and eventually the country. I know that many law schools are not on the "main" campus of the university they are affiliated with, but eventually UNTD will slit off from UNT. As a result, the law school and the pharmacy school will begin to be viewed as part of UNTD not UNT. When I think of UTEP, UTA, UTSA or UTD I do not even think about UT, yeah they are connected but they are differnt schools. Just because you go to UTA it does not make you a Longhorn. Thus, I feel that UNTD will eventually be viewed the same way and as a result they will get credit for any sucess in these professional programs. I just think UNT is wasteing so much money and time on UNTD. Additionally it is hurting itself by not putting these professional programs at UNT denton. The only reason I somewhat understand the law school being placed thier is because the building that they plan on using is histprically interesting and the city of dallas is paying for part of the law school. Nevertheless, I still think it could have been put in Denton with a great location and could have found funding for it. I am proud to be a student at North Texas and I will always support my university, but this is the one thing I really disagree with them on. Can someone please explain to me why UNTD is so important or why we are sending our professional programs their?

PS: Despite the fact I actually agree with "checkfacts" on ONE THING, I still think he is a loser and needs to get a life. Who spends all thier time searching the web for discussions on thier former university that they hated just to write essays about why they suck. DUDE has way to much time on his hands and really needs to get a life. Additionally, I think he needs to check his own facts because he wrong alot of the time and makes awful assumpitions. He has been posting all over the NT daily articles surrounding the football stadium....

[GreenMachine]

Or is our problem that we are a liberal arts school that just will never be supportive of a div. 1 caliber program (with all its costs).

Why are we still considered a liberal arts school when the business and engineering schools are 2 of the 3 largest schools within the university? I think that label hurts us more than most will admit. Also, just curious, are there any liberal arts school in the country that have a strong and well supported football program?

[Green Mean]

Why are we still considered a liberal arts school when the business and engineering schools are 2 of the 3 largest schools within the university? I think that label hurts us more than most will admit. Also, just curious, are there any liberal arts school in the country that have a strong and well supported football program?

I know they are private but USC is pretty awesome in the arts. UCLA is a top school as well.