Why Is Unt A Hard Place To Win?

[MeanGreenGlory]

I have recently seen a number of people write that North Texas is a hard place to win.

I understand that our recent record is terrible and that our fan base, alumni support, student support, and individual donations have been pitiful as a result. I understand that we have to recruit against regional powerhouse programs and as a result we don't get high profile talent on a regular basis. I understand that the university name and logo has changed a number of times and as a result people across the country have a hard time recognizing who we are. I understand that we are in the Sun Belt Conference and as a result other schools and fans view us as insignificant.

Yes, all of this is true. Life isn't fair. I get it.

However, I also understand that we now have top of the line facilities. We have a hungry fan base who is craving to support a good team. We are in a great location for recruiting and an even better media market. I also know that our recent record is in the past and was the result of a hire that didn't work out. Even though the high profile players tend to go to other regional power house programs, we still get respectable players, especially for the conference we are in. And this is where I think we have a huge opportunity.

While some may look down at us for being in the Sun Belt, I think it provides us with an amazing opportunity. When you are a team in the Sun Belt, you don't have to have the biggest, fastest, strongest, or most athletic players to win. What you need to win in the Sun Belt is a smart game plan and a team composed of well taught players. If you have those two things (provided by a good HC), you can win a lot of games. When you win a lot of games you will win the conference. When you win the conference you get better recruits. When you get better recruits and pair them with a smart game plan and well taught players, you start upsetting ranked teams. When you start upsetting ranked teams, you turn heads and get a lot of attention. When you upset ranked teams, get attention, have phenomenal facilities, quality academic standards, a large student body, a great media market, and a hot bed of athletic recruits in your backyard, you get invited to a higher profile conference. When you get invited to a higher profile conference you start to become a regional powerhouse. When you become a regional powerhouse and retain all of the other qualities that the University of North Texas has, you can become a national powerhouse.

Yes, it will be a lot of work. Yes, it will take time. Yes, there will be bumps along the way.

But, we have a lot of GREAT things going for us. With the finalization of a new head coach, we will have all of the pieces to the puzzle.

Stop making excuses. UNT is not a hard place to win. UNT is an easy place to win and will be an even better place to win when all of these things start taking place. We have what it takes to become a national powerhouse. All we need is a head coach who will strap on his boots, get in the trenches, teach every single player on the field to make smart decisions, and create intelligent game plans.

We should have that piece in place on Monday or Tuesday. The rest will be history.

Go Mean Green.

[Winters]

I think you answered it by saying Sun Belt

[PlummMeanGreen]

Good post, MeanGreenGlory! (What year did you graduate from UNT? Just always curious with our newer posters--my grad year was 1976).

Whoever coaches us next Fall should have a competitive team in the SBC and maybe when it. The ULM game sorta' opened my eyes that we were still shy some athletes and we sure do lose a bunch of Texas HS products to ULM, ULouisiana and LaTech..

I don't know how our 2011 team speed will compare with our OOC foes starting with the Houston Coog's who will help us open our new stadium. Of course, a bit early to be talking about that game.

First thing I noticed when Boise played OU in that exciting BCS bowl game a few years ago is how they matched the Sooners "player to player" with their team speed. Team speed with talent, too, of course.

[oldguystudent]

my grad year was 1976).

Good God! I'd just graduated to the big boy potty!

First thing I noticed when Boise played OU in that exciting BCS bowl game a few years ago is how they matched the Sooners "player to player" with their team speed. Team speed with talent, too, of course.

That game winning trick play was the single ballsiest thing I've ever seen in sports. I'm glad for Boise that it worked and sometimes wonder what might have become of their program had it not.

[MeanGreenGlory]

I think you answered it by saying Sun Belt

You think that being in the Sun Belt makes it hard for UNT to win? We should be dominating the Sun Belt year in and year out. Yes, we are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of college football, but being in this conference should help us. It should be relatively easy for us to get to the top of this conference, gain momentum, gain recruits, gain a winning record and thus become more attractive for a higher profile conference to pick up. The Sun Belt is an okay place for us right now.

If we got thrown into the SEC tomorrow it would be a hell of a lot harder to win and we would probably suffer through a long period of embarrassing growing pains until we were up to par wit the other SEC teams. By working our way up from the bottom we can make those growing pains far less embarrassing. As a matter of fact, we can make those growing pains enjoyable and entertaining. We need to start a winning tradition somewhere and build on it. I think the Sun Belt gives us an excellent opportunity to do that.

Good post, MeanGreenGlory! (What year did you graduate from UNT? Just always curious with our newer posters--my grad year was 1976).

Whoever coaches us next Fall should have a competitive team in the SBC and maybe when it. The ULM game sorta' opened my eyes that we were still shy some athletes and we sure do lose a bunch of Texas HS products to ULM, ULouisiana and LaTech..

I don't know how our 2011 team speed will compare with our OOC foes starting with the Houston Coog's who will help us open our new stadium. Of course, a bit early to be talking about that game.

First thing I noticed when Boise played OU in that exciting BCS bowl game a few years ago is how they matched the Sooners "player to player" with their team speed. Team speed with talent, too, of course.

I graduated last year.

The OOC games will continue to be tough for us for a little bit. But look at the Clemson game from this year. If we play good OOC teams and make announcers say things like "this game was a lot closer than the score reveals" or make reporters write "the Clemson coaches would probably admit that they were out coached during parts of the game," I think that's a great start. We need to show up with a smart plan and play great games against superb teams to build the respect of other fans and teams. If we do that and win our other OOC games against the likes of Army and Rice...well I think that will definitely get us climbing the ladder. Quality attention against top notch teams and more wins all around will get us better recruits. After that you just rinse and repeat the process with a higher standard.

[Graddean]

MeanGreenGlory has an excellent point. In order to have credibility, we have to dominate the conference we are in. Currently, the conference is the Sun Belt. As long as that is our conference, domination of the Sun Belt should be our first goal. If we don't reach that goal, how can we hope to accomplish any of the other goals we want to reach.