Unt Men's Soccer

KRAM1 · October 22, 2008

Found an old 1992 UNT Men's Soccer program brochure yesterday in some of my "stuff" at the house. The into gave a bit of history that I thought I might share with the Mean Green fans on this board...Here goes:

The program became a varsity sport in 1976 (I think it was KILLED in about '93 or '94)...UNT had won 182 games through the 1991 season...13 under head coach Richard Lowe who had a personal record in his 12 years through 1991 of 135-64-17...ranking Lowe, at that time, among the winningest coaches in AMERICAN COLLEGE HISTORY!!!!! To 1992 the team had recorded 22 straight seasons without a losing campaignI recall going with the team to play in SMU's tournament during the 1992 season...UNT won that tournament AT SMU and man, did it hack off SMU!!!! Most fun I have ever had at a college soccer tournament. PRICELESS as they say!

By the way, Coach Lowe was the Head Coach, but under Lowe were David Hudgell (current Head Coaching Director for the Dallas Texans Soccer Club) and none other than our own current head women's coach, John Hedlund!

I hope you caught the 22 straight years without a losing season......By the way...some of our Men's Soccer Teams were "young" too! In fact the 1992 team had 21 freshmen or sophomores on the team out of a total of 28 (not all 28 were on the traveling squad). AND THEY WON!!!!!!

OK, better stop here before I get too "misty eyed" recalling this great program...yes, it made the NCAA playoff's too!!!! GREAT STUFF...GREAT HISTORY!!!!!

I do not believe ANY team program in the history of men's sports at UNT can match the success the men's soccer program had! AND THEY KILLED IT! Thanks Title IX (and thanks to a weak athletic administration at the time).

Keith7 · October 22, 2008

at least the women carried on the tradition

Green P1 · October 23, 2008

Found an old 1992 UNT Men's Soccer program brochure yesterday in some of my "stuff" at the house. The into gave a bit of history that I thought I might share with the Mean Green fans on this board...Here goes:
The program became a varsity sport in 1976 (I think it was KILLED in about '93 or '94)...UNT had won 182 games through the 1991 season...13 under head coach Richard Lowe who had a personal record in his 12 years through 1991 of 135-64-17...ranking Lowe, at that time, among the winningest coaches in AMERICAN COLLEGE HISTORY!!!!! To 1992 the team had recorded 22 straight seasons without a losing campaignI recall going with the team to play in SMU's tournament during the 1992 season...UNT won that tournament AT SMU and man, did it hack off SMU!!!! Most fun I have ever had at a college soccer tournament. PRICELESS as they say!
By the way, Coach Lowe was the Head Coach, but under Lowe were David Hudgell (current Head Coaching Director for the Dallas Texans Soccer Club) and none other than our own current head women's coach, John Hedlund!
I hope you caught the 22 straight years without a losing season......By the way...some of our Men's Soccer Teams were "young" too! In fact the 1992 team had 21 freshmen or sophomores on the team out of a total of 28 (not all 28 were on the traveling squad). AND THEY WON!!!!!!
OK, better stop here before I get too "misty eyed" recalling this great program...yes, it made the NCAA playoff's too!!!! GREAT STUFF...GREAT HISTORY!!!!!
I do not believe ANY team program in the history of men's sports at UNT can match the success the men's soccer program had! AND THEY KILLED IT! Thanks Title IX (and thanks to a weak athletic administration at the time).

Dr. Lowe was probably the best professor I ever encountered in the History department at UNT. I took four or five of his Civil War based classes and truly enjoyed each one of them. He told quite a few stories from his Soccer coach days, most centering around the fun they had while working with little or no funding on roadtrips. We actually got him to come out and give advice to our intramural/club soccer team quite a bit. He's written and co-authored a couple books which are pretty damn good if any of you out there are history buffs.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Green P1

KRAM1 · October 23, 2008

Dr. Lowe was not only the "winningest" coach in UNT history he was a great professor of history and a super guy! Anyone know what he is up to these days? You should hear the story about how one of the players was "arrested" as the team crossed into Mexico for a tournament one year....PRICELESS Story! I heard it from the player's brother...had to do with a visa or passport question. Really funny! Those were the days!

Green P1 · October 23, 2008

Dr. Lowe was not only the "winningest" coach in UNT history he was a great professor of history and a super guy! Anyone know what he is up to these days?

He is still at UNT in the history department.

KRAM1 · October 28, 2008

Is Richard Lowe in the UNT Hall of Fame????? If not, why not? I think I'll check that one out myself...if you know...let me know. I should already know the answer...silly me!

Green P1 · October 28, 2008

Student in Civil War class: Dr Lowe, what specifically do we need to know for the test next week?
Dr. Lowe: You should know everything.

Exactly. I heard that same line about 50 times during the course of all the classes I took from him. If you listened he would tell you verbatim what would be on the next test, but when you tried to ask directly.....

KRAM1 · October 28, 2008

Dr. Lowe was one of the BEST!

Green P1 · October 28, 2008

Dr. Lowe was one of the BEST!

No need for was, he still works for the University of North Texas.

http://www.hist.unt.edu/faculty/lowe/Dr.Lowe.htm

And it turns out he is in the UNT Athletics Hall of Fame

http://www.hist.unt.edu/CV/Dr.Lowe_new_cv.pdf

Edited October 28, 2008 by Green P1

Green P1 · October 28, 2008

Dr. Lowe's HOF Bio:

RICHARD LOWE

Richard Lowe served as the head men’s soccer coach at North Texas for 14 seasons, from 1980-93, and guided the Mean Green to a winning record each year. Lowe actually got his start with the soccer team as the faculty sponsor for the team when it was a club sport from 1971-75 and was one of several people who urged the university to elevate the sport to varsity status, which was done in 1976. In 1980, Athletic Director Andy Everest named Lowe the team’s head coach and in his first game at the helm, Lowe led the Mean Green to a season-opening victory at Fouts Field over national power Indiana. The very next year Lowe led North Texas to its first NCAA Tournament berth in any sport and won an opening-round game over Eastern Illinois. Among the teams that North Texas defeated during Lowe’s tenure as head coach were UCLA, Saint Louis, Southern Illinois, Indiana and Connecticut, all former NCAA champions and frequently ranked at the top of the men’s college rankings. In fact, North Texas was frequently ranked in the national polls as well and achieved a top ranking of No. 7.

KRAM1 · October 28, 2008

YEP...just found that out about the Hall of Fame...eneterd the Hall in 2006! Well deserved, if not a bit late! Thanks, Dr. Lowe for the great soccer memories...and for being one of the very best profs in the history of UNT!

LAZER · October 29, 2008

I think we should add mens soccer again. Do you the Dr. Lowe would be up to coaching it again?

KRAM1 · October 30, 2008

I would doubt that Dr. Lowe would want to come out of "soccer retirement" to coach it, but I have a name...we could call on David Hudgell who is coaching director of the Dallas Texans Soccer Club in Dallas and has fielded national championship teams in recent years...and was once an assistant men's coach at UNT! I'll bet he would jump at the chance to rebuild the once proud and successful men's team at UNT.

With all the soccer talent in the DFW area, I would bet that UNT could field a top 20 team within three years! But, I only dream! UNT KILLED the program with the highest winning percentage in its history...GREAT move! UGH! To make matter worse, there is talk of adding baseball in the near future. So it goes!