What Makes Brett Vito A Football Guru?

[DirtySavage]

Vito gets no respect from the team. Players use him as a figure of mockery. The way he portrays the team and the things he writes builds distrust with those he is covering. No player wants his quote twisted into a negative slant or put in a negative story. After the andrew smith incident happened half the team refused to ever give him a quote again. The team just has a hard time trusting the guy and he is viewed as a lurker waiting for something bad to happen so he will have his next story.

[greenblooded43]

There are very few working sports reporters who would describe themselves as "fans" of the teams they cover. If Vito said he was a Mean Green fan, as you seem to wish he should, he'd be opening himself up to considerable mockery within journalism. To each his own, but I think a team beat reporter who is a "regular cheerleader" isn't doing the job right. Let the team and school sing their praises. Reporters should cover the teams good and bad.

I will be waiting for observation deck on Monday March 9th for some more negative output.

7 Negative opinions as of to date.

My favorite reporting incedent was when Geraldo Rivera ask a wrestler, "is wrestling fake". Well, we all know what happened. A bloody nose for Geraldo and the wrestler said," is that fake".

Edited March 8, 2009 by greenblooded43

[NT03]

Vito sure don't help the fan base and recruiting.

The fan base has had YEARS to grow , but it still hasn't. Please tell me your joking about the recruiting comment.

Edited March 8, 2009 by NT03

[Green Dozer]

I think the blame for the nasty streak in Vito that we see can be blamed on the athletic dept. You may recall that Jerry Jones fired Hansen as the color analyst for the Cowboys. Since we have seldom seen Dale reporting from Valley Ranch, but Jones is savy enough to still work with him and aleinate him. We need all the publicit we can get, and it is not smart to alienate the local paper even if it is no better than a roll of charmin.

[Censored by Laurie]

The fan base has had YEARS to grow , but it still hasn't. Please tell me your joking about the recruiting comment.

You know, the Nazis had pieces of flare that they made the Jews wear...

[greenblooded43]

The fan base has had YEARS to grow , but it still hasn't. Please tell me your joking about the recruiting comment.

First of all, not only Denton reads the news but all of Dallas too. So who would want to come play at UNT with the negative trash that is in the paper every week? Actually this spring we lost two good recruits due to his little comments. One of those players was an All District 4A safety. But again his negative comment about the kid having only one college offer, North Texas. This comment shyed the player away from us and him ending up walking on at a D1-AA college. The player had not even put on pads for UNT and he was already put down by the super football Guru Vito.

NT03 If you think that having a sports writer that has to view his negative opinions all the time is good for this program and the recruiting, your WRONG!!!

AND THE DENTON FAN BASE!!! After some of the people in the area read the Chronicle I wouldnt go watch them play either.

If this was USC, the newspaper wouldnt want this clown writing for the USC football team and Pete Carroll due to his lack of knowledge of the game. USC and the alumni would run this little man out of town. But the problem is, this is not USC and this is why this guy has this job writing negative and opinionated crap on our football team. His job is to report what is going on the field not to put down the players or players the coaches are trying to recruit. How does he know whos good enough to play or not??? HIS JOB IS TO REPORT THE NEWS, NOT TO RECRUIT OR MAKE THE DEPTH CHART!!! This is why this topic started. I will not stop until either this guy is gone or the news is not this negative crap or I get kicked of this forum!! ha ha He has a grudge against UNT Football so I have a grudge against him.

Edited March 8, 2009 by greenblooded43

[Green Dozer]

First of all, not only Denton reads the news but all of Dallas too. So who would want to come play at UNT with the negative trash that is in the paper every week? Actually this spring we lost two good recruits due to his little comments. One of those players was an All District 4A safety. But again his negative comment about the kid having only one college offer, North Texas. This comment shyed the player away from us and him ending up walking on at a D1-AA college. The player had not even put on pads for UNT and he was already put down by the super football Guru Vito.

Would you please elaborate on this? Not saying it could not happen, but it makes no sense that a beat reporter from the Record Chronicle has that much influence. And if it is true, then why not report it. Maybe we see some talent that others did not see, I don't know. Many times you hear commentators say that so so was recruited only by State U when they make a big play. Since you played ball in the day, then you probably played with a couple. Are you speculating or do you this young man personally?

Also, it is hard to see the positive when you are kept outside the fence and the loop as well. UNT can do better on its part as well. It needs to be positive in the home town paper, because this is the one the recruit and player may read at the lobby of their hotel when visiting. Everything counts. But still, why not point a finger at not only Dodge, but how about Randy Cummins (who has been around for to long) and Eric Cappers. They both need to their part in cultivating better media relations in all of the metroplex. Heck, Babe Laufenburg can't even call out the name of our University correctly. The only ones I have seen that really try to help us are Channel 8 (Trahan always gives us air time), and that Kia sports show during the week. Johnny Jones is a regular guest on that program.

Thanks!

Edited March 8, 2009 by Green Dozer

[NT03]

First of all, not only Denton reads the news but all of Dallas too. So who would want to come play at UNT with the negative trash that is in the paper every week? Actually this spring we lost two good recruits due to his little comments. One of those players was an All District 4A safety. But again his negative comment about the kid having only one college offer, North Texas. This comment shyed the player away from us and him ending up walking on at a D1-AA college. The player had not even put on pads for UNT and he was already put down by the super football Guru Vito.

NT03 If you think that having a sports writer that has to view his negative opinions all the time is good for this program and the recruiting, your WRONG!!!

AND THE DENTON FAN BASE!!! After some of the people in the area read the Chronicle I wouldnt go watch them play either.

If this was USC, the newspaper wouldnt want this clown writing for the USC football team and Pete Carroll due to his lack of knowledge of the game. USC and the alumni would run this little man out of town. But the problem is, this is not USC and this is why this guy has this job writing negative and opinionated crap on our football team. His job is to report what is going on the field not to put down the players or players the coaches are trying to recruit. How does he know whos good enough to play or not??? HIS JOB IS TO REPORT THE NEWS, NOT TO RECRUIT OR MAKE THE DEPTH CHART!!! This is why this topic started. I will not stop until either this guy is gone or the news is not this negative crap or I get kicked of this forum!! ha ha He has a grudge against UNT Football so I have a grudge against him.

If you honestly believe that a recruit didn't come here just because of some lil reporter named Vito scared him off , what do you think would of happpended if this same recruit with such a sensitive heart got his ass ripped by Deloach for missing a tackle or an assignment?? Get real

We have had a football team since forever to go along with a piss poor atheltic admn forever and not having a strong fan base has nothing , I mean nothing to do with Vito. The team was here way before he was ever in Denton.

If you think he is negative all the time , then I guess you have never read a basketball story by the man.

Edited March 8, 2009 by NT03

[Green Gas]

If you honestly believe that a recruit didn't come here just because of some lil reporter named Vito scared him off , what do you think would of happpended if this same recruit with such a sensitive heart got his ass ripped by Deloach for missing a tackle or an assignment?? Get real.

We have had a football team since forever to go along with a piss poor atheltic admn forever and not having a strong fan base has nothing , I mean nothing to do with Vito. The team was here way before he was ever in Denton.

If you think he is negative all the time , then I guess you have never read a basketball story by the man.

I think it has been stated very clearly throughout this thread, we are talking about Vito in regards to our Football program.

I do think Vito has been better lately, but he clearly had some kind of bug up his a$$ with Dodge. I just hope it gets rectified one way or another.

Edited March 8, 2009 by Green Gas

[NT03]

I think it has been stated very clearly throughout this thread, we are talking about Vito in regards to our Football program.

True , but most people are MEAN GREEN football fans only it seems and only go the football games and only read the football articles.Vito does a good job a reporting on all other aspects of UNT sports and I'm guessing most do not care about the other sports and fail to read his reports on soccer , golf ,softball etc.

Well what exactly does he have to report that has been positive about MEAN GREEN FOOTBALL on the field of play over the past 2 years ???

So when he reports that player "x" gives UNT a verbal and states that he also had offers from Oklahoma State,Mississippi,West Virgina,etc you get excited right and that's ok ? But , if he reports that we get a verbal from player "y" and states that he has no other known offers it's not ok ?

What exaclty do you as a MEAN GREEN fan want to hear ?

Year 1 excuse : 1st year , Mendoza doesn't know what he was doing ( I get that)

Year 2 excuse : "We were too young" , not enough Dodge players in system yet

Year 3 excuse : Brett Vito

Edited March 8, 2009 by NT03

[greenblooded43]

Would you please elaborate on this? Not saying it could not happen, but it makes no sense that a beat reporter from the Record Chronicle has that much influence. And if it is true, then why not report it. Maybe we see some talent that others did not see, I don't know. Many times you hear commentators say that so so was recruited only by State U when they make a big play. Since you played ball in the day, then you probably played with a couple. Are you speculating or do you this young man personally?

Also, it is hard to see the positive when you are kept outside the fence and the loop as well. UNT can do better on its part as well. It needs to be positive in the home town paper, because this is the one the recruit and player may read at the lobby of their hotel when visiting. Everything counts. But still, why not point a finger at not only Dodge, but how about Randy Cummins (who has been around for to long) and Eric Cappers. They both need to their part in cultivating better media relations in all of the metroplex. Heck, Babe Laufenburg can't even call out the name of our University correctly. The only ones I have seen that really try to help us are Channel 8 (Trahan always gives us air time), and that Kia sports show during the week. Johnny Jones is a regular guest on that program.

Thanks!

I have a friend that knows this recruits son.

[NT03]

His blogs are opinions that I know for a fact are not on the money

99% of all blogs on the internet are not on the money

I have a friend that knows this recruits son.

So 3rd hand knowledge or does the actual recruit you talk of already have a son ? I'm going to guess you meant to say you have a friend who is friends with the possible recruits father/mother ?

Your friend should tell his friend who has a son who was going to come here on scholly for free to man up and not listen to a beat reporter so he doesn't have to now pay for his or her son to walk on @ a FCS team.

I'll stop here , you don't like the guy and I do. We don't agree so I'll just say I'll agree to disagree. We all our entitled to our opinions and we all won't always see eye to eye on certain subjects so I'll call a truce on this and we can focus on something more positive about our program.

Edited March 9, 2009 by NT03

[Green to the Bone]

I suggest that people read and watch more sports journalism to get a wider idea of what's what. I suggest that they watch Around the Horn. I suggest that they learn something about what people write and say about some of the consistently top-ranked college teams. You'd think they were the sorriest messes of woe in history.

Once you get some wider experience, you might understand that what North Texas gets is the mildest coverage imaginable.

I also suggest that people stop thinking about football for a few days and concentrate on the outstanding play of Mean Green basketball.

[eulessismore]

I think it has been stated very clearly throughout this thread, we are talking about Vito in regards to our Football program.

I do think Vito has been better lately, but he clearly had some kind of bug up his a$$ with Dodge. I just hope it gets rectified one way or another.

Hard to resist some juvenile humor with that.

[Green to the Bone]

Hard to resist some juvenile humor with that.

It was wearing a kick-me sign. It would have been wrong not to act.

[greenblooded43]

99% of all blogs on the internet are not on the money

So 3rd hand knowledge or does the actual recruit you talk of already have a son ? I'm going to guess you meant to say you have a friend who is friends with the possible recruits father/mother ?

Your friend should tell his friend who has a son who was going to come here on scholly for free to man up and not listen to a beat reporter so he doesn't have to now pay for his or her son to walk on @ a FCS team.

I'll stop here , you don't like the guy and I do. We don't agree so I'll just say I'll agree to disagree. We all our entitled to our opinions and we all won't always see eye to eye on certain subjects so I'll call a truce on this and we can focus on something more positive about our program.

Actually, NT03 You want the same thing I want, a good program. If this guy is mad at Dodge get over it. There are good players here and future players that will come here as well. Players and Recruits need a good mind set. Brett Vito is probably a good guy however, I would like him to take a different route in his reporting this spring. Be positive with the players and give them a chance. If he sees a guy throws three picks then report it and leave it at that. Don't go into well last year.

If the MeanGreen Nation becomes one (Alumni,Fans,Students, Players, City of Denton & surrounding small towns ,Coaches and media) Watch out !!!!!

If Vito doesn't see it or want this for his hometown then he hurts all of us.

There are bright spots on this team. Coach Ausmus, the new D line coach, Kd back, Linebackers, The new JC Safety and ect.

NT03 Hopefully, this stuff gets resolved.

Greenblooded

Edited March 9, 2009 by greenblooded43

[eulessismore]

WOW!!!

The closest this guy has ever got to a jock is probably washing them. He looks like a writer for Home and Garden. Do the Home and Garden observation deck. Please Vito, your a peice of work if you have nothing good to report about UNT football, then quit reporting. Go tell Cantly to his face or any other player they can't play (good news or bad news). Your such a physical specimen. Oh by the way, did you get picked on when your little (or now) . Seek some counseling, Please !!!!!!!!! I would ban you from the site and get another reporter. Boycott this guys trash and opinions. UNT football site members and fans are better than this guy.Ban him.

Am I missing something here? Who said Cantly can't play? I couldn't care less what Vito looks like; I would seriously disagree with anyone saying Cantly can't play football, based on everything else I have read and heard about him from people who know him and are familiar with him as a football player.

[rcade]

Go pull up ANY of the other papers covering ANY of the other Belt schools and go back and read the beat reporters work. I do not think you will find any beat reporter using an open records act to "take down" the coach that he covers or constantly reminding the fan base how terrible the team was last year. Who reads the beat reporters work? The fans of his beat. Others just glance over it, probably looking at the title before they move on. The fans, the greenbloods - those are the people that actually read Vito's work. It is not real news - it is beat news. Am I the only one on this board that has ever worked for a newspaper?

I worked for the Star-Telegram for eight years and was a UNT journalism grad. Your understanding of the beat reporter position does not match mine. Beat reporters have to be skilled at maintaining a relationship to the teams they cover, but that doesn't mean they're cheerleaders who never write negative stories. That also doesn't mean they never do things like filing an FOI when the team is hiding something.

Also, these days, any reporter left at a paper is likely wearing more than one hat. So Vito would have to do the tough stuff as well as the daily beat coverage.

Vito seems like a nice guy and has been more of a straight reporter lately - but he needs to kiss and make up with daddy Dodge.

Why does Vito owe anything to Dodge? Dodge owes it to the readers of the DRC and Dallas Morning News to talk to the reporters covering the team in those papers. If Dodge froze him out, he'd be losing the biggest platform he has to communicate with fans, and ultimately hurting himself and the program.

[rcade]

I suggest that people read and watch more sports journalism to get a wider idea of what's what. I suggest that they watch Around the Horn. I suggest that they learn something about what people write and say about some of the consistently top-ranked college teams. You'd think they were the sorriest messes of woe in history.

Once you get some wider experience, you might understand that what North Texas gets is the mildest coverage imaginable.

No kidding. I'm in Florida, and if you think the press is tough on little UNT, you should hear how things get when Florida or FSU are losing.

[rcade]

I will be waiting for observation deck on Monday March 9th for some more negative output.

7 Negative opinions as of to date.

My favorite reporting incedent was when Geraldo Rivera ask a wrestler, "is wrestling fake". Well, we all know what happened. A bloody nose for Geraldo and the wrestler said," is that fake".

Figures. Wrestling *is* fake. You're glad a reporter got his ass kicked by someone who was lying.

No wonder you want Vito to tell you UNT football isn't in the crapper right now.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Brett does a good job. Journalists aren't supposed to be cheerleaders. Besides, Dodge has no idea what it's like to be under real media scrutiny.

Ask guys like Houston Nutt (two losing seasons in 10 at Arkansas, final season: 8-5, Cotton Bowl), Paul Pasqualoni (one losing season in 14 at Syracuse, final season: 6-6 Champ Sports Bowl) or Tommy Tuberville (two losing seasons in 10 years, final season 5-7) who throw together decades of winning seasons and are forced out of their jobs.

Or, ask Gary Gibbs (no losing seasons in six years, bowl in final two years) or Frank Solich (no losing season is six at Nebraska, bowl every year), who won at Oklahoma and Nebraska, but were fired for not living up to the expectations there. Ask Mack Brown who gets critiqued for every small detail, in or out of his control, that surrounds UT. Ask Phillip Fulmer (two losing seasons in 17, final year 5-7) a former Tennessee player who led his alma mater to a national title, but was forced out after one down year.

The list of coaches fired after doing well is long, so the reality of it is this - Dodge is lucky that no one really pays attention to us. If more people paid attention, he'd have already been fired. Dodge has no expectations weighing on him the way the majority of college coaches do. He's lucky. And, if he can't handle one local beat writer reporting news instead of cheerleading, then he's not cut out to be a college football coach (as if the on the field product and off the field circus don't already offer proof enough of that).

[Eagle1855]

Ask Phillip Fulmer (two losing seasons in 17, final year 5-7) a former Tennessee player who led his alma mater to a national title, but was forced out after one down year.

One of the more egregious firings, in my opinion. Dude was pure class about the entire affair as well. I live in Vol country. It's absurd listening to some of the fans of these programs. People think our fans are too harsh... On sports stations in Tennessee they were already talking about whether they needed to start considering options for after Lane Kiffin based on his recruiting violation and other issues fresh out the gate. The guy hasn't even coached a down of football yet. Media and fan scrutiny is small-time outside the big 6 conferences.

Related to the original post, I doubt you want to exclude anyone that isn't an ex-football players from becoming sports writers. Writer's write, football players play. This isn't rocket science. Anyone can learn, understand report the basics of the game of football and how it relates to a given team. You don't need first-hand knowledge to do so.

[KRAM1]

I really do not understand why so many folks think Vito has a problem with Dodge or UNT Athletics in general. Sure, he has written some fairly negative stories and has not been a "cheerleader" for the program. OK, I get that. Sure, i wish he would be more positive in each and every story and does bringing up the record the last two years get a bit old, yes, it certainly does and does not show much journalistic creativity on Brett's part. maybe he has a "thing" with Dodge regarding access. Fine...so do lots of media types at other schools. You think Hansen has something akin to a "personal beef" for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys???? Sure, it happens. Do I wish Vito would bury the hatchet and get on with it. Sure.

But, I see no reason to trash him the way some folks here like to do. He is not paid to be a cheerleader for UNT, nor is he paid to be an antagonist either. But, all in all, I do think he writes about as many positive stories as he does negative ones. I think one can "read" into a story what they want to read into it. If one thinks Vito is "anti-UNT" they will see everything he writes in that frame of reference. Same for folks that think he is a local media darling.

I just think he has a tough job, lots of hours, lots of deadlines and all reporters these days seem to want to be a bit more than just someone who reports the news. Too bad...we need more reporters and fewer editorialists. Anyway, the newspaper world is not an easty career these days...you think the DRC is the job Brett dreamed of as a kid? I am sure he would like to move on to a bigger paper, but while he is with the DRC and covering UNT, he has a job to do. Maybe he helps sell maore papers because of the stand he takes from time to time. Anyway, for me, Brett does a decent job. I am just glad UNT has a dedicated reporter...without Brett UNT would get nothing in the DFW area papers it seems. Our score against the MUTS was not even reported on the 6PM news I watched last evening...too bad. The win deserved at least a mention on the local TV sports.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Being someone who favors Alabama when it comes to the SEC, I never was a big Fulmer or Tennessee fan. However, he was part of the whole feel of Tennessee football, whether or not you were a Vol fan. He'd been there as an assistant or head coach since 1980. It just won't feel like watching a Tennessee game without seeing Fulmer there on the sideline. Something's just not right about it.

Some coaches you don't really like adds to enjoyment of beating them. For instance, if we ever beat FAU, I think most of would like for it to happen while Howard Schnellenberger is standing on their sideline. There's something to beating a team when it has a coach as its standard bearer. Beating Texas when it had David McWilliams or John Mackovic, no biggie, or Oklahoma when John Blake was the coach. They weren't the faces of those programs while they were there. You knew they'd be gone someday.

I'll still be happy when Bama beats Tennessee. But, now it'll just be like, "Eh, it's just Lane Kiffin, anyway - what else do you expect?"

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

I am just glad UNT has a dedicated reporter...without Brett UNT would get nothing in the DFW area papers it seems. Our score against the MUTS was not even reported on the 6PM news I watched last evening...too bad. The win deserved at least a mention on the local TV sports.

Exactly. But, in reality, the DFW networks ignore local college sports, no matter who it is. And, there are some pretty good local programs. Dallas Baptist's baseball program is one that comes to mind. We don't get any love from the networks, generally, unless it's a scandal or we're in some post-season tournaments. You'd think they'd be making more of our basketball program's three consecutive 20 wins seasons. How long has it been since any team in this area has done that? Maybe Billy Tubbs at TCU in the late 90s. Still, that's 10 years ago.

Anyway, with so many newspapers nearing bankruptcy, we're pretty fortunate there's still funding for the little ol' DRC! Brett does alot more than just cover football. He's always got something on the other sports at UNT.