The SBC will kill our program...

Green P1 · November 20, 2011

Would you rather read another helmet sticker thread? We haven't had one of those in a while.

WkU's helmet stickers looked really nice last night. FACT.

GrayEagle · November 20, 2011

Wrong. Losing in the Belt is killing us.

We have an excuse for every occasion. We've used the Big West, Sun Belt, coaches, weather, unknown opponents, commuter school, hippies, fraternities, Fouts Field, tailgaters who stay outside, SMU, money games, administration (especially Lee Jackson), recruiting, publicity, fund raising, athletic department, lack of donors, no baseball, Denton, Denia Park, and injuries for not winning or poor attendance. There may be a small element of truth in most of those reasons but how many are willing to accept the blame for their lack of effort?

I know that some do what they can toward the success of this program but most don't. We think that if we give to the Mean Green Club and buy season tickets that we have done our share. Financially, some can't afford a higher level but most can. It's a matter of priorities. Even if you are at the highest level that you can afford you can do more. How many others have you tried to get to support the Mean Green?

The Mean Green Club, if indeed it is a club, should organize so that there are stated goals with plans and efforts to meet those goals. For example, the membership committee might have as a stated goal to add members and increase giving so that we can advance to a better conference. I, for one, would not increase my giving if we only planned to continue in the SBC. Put as many as possible on a committee to further the growth of the Club whether it be season ticket sales, attendance, publicity, or another function that would make us stronger. Getting started would be difficult but once rolling it would become easier to perpetuate. Have quarterly meetings (heard of that before?) to keep members informed of our progress and our needs.

We need to quit making excuses and act. Pump the AD staff with ideas and follow through with whether they were accepted or rejected and why. Currently, the student body is not pulling their share and should be encouraged to attend at least one game per season as a show of school spirit. The alumni, many who have purchased season tickets (and even chairbacks) do not attend. There should be someone that they can call so that the seats gets used if they are unable to be there.

Work rather than make excuses. Others have succeeded with a later starting point and less resources than we have. We can do the same if we try.

Edited November 20, 2011 by GrayEagle

VideoEagle · November 20, 2011

Were we not in the SLC before the Belt? The Sun Belt is making people apathetic and our program a joke.

Why are we arguing with a guy who doesn't even know what conferences we've been in?

meangreendork · November 20, 2011

And eventually shove us back to the FCS. Students and alumni don't want to see the freaking Hilltoppers come play. When your opposing team brings five fans total, your opposing team lives too far away. The SBC is just slaughtering our program, and has since we left Southland. This is completely ridiculous. I mean, there's no rivalries with these schools, and ALL the students laugh/joke around about the schools we play because no one's ever heard of them. Furthermore, unless we start tearing it up in the Sun Belt for years, attendance won't rise. People laugh and put us down when we play WKU or FIU or ULL. There are only two schools that are well known nationally. Us, as NTSU, and Troy. I could care less if we went to the WAC or even went back down to Southland. At least I'd care about who we're playing.

Look here, son. UNT was in the Big West before the SunBelt. Get your history straight.

Furthermore, no one really cares about the WAC, and even fewer care about going back to a conference that UNT was never in to begin with.

But hey, since you can singlehandedly fix everything, or seem to be the man with the answers, can you bribe enough people in the CUSA to get in their doors? Can you recruit 3 and 4 star players to bring in the doors here at UNT? No? Then shut the hell up.

If UNT had kept dominating the SBC from 2003-2011, we probably would've had a stadium earlier because it'd be easier to justify the funding. That probably means better recruits would've come in the doors, and beating someone like Houston would be possible, as would beating Ohio, as would beating Navy and Army.

Our conference isn't keeping the team down, the last 2 coaching administrations kept the team down. Can you really expect the CUSA to knock on door to add UNT when our team can't win the current conference? No. Shut your mouth, go to the games. You're frustrating not for being angry, but frustrating because you seem so incapable of grasping what's in front of you.

PlummMeanGreen · November 20, 2011

Look here, son. UNT was in the Big West before the SunBelt. Get your history straight.

Furthermore, no one really cares about the WAC, and even fewer care about going back to a conference that UNT was never in to begin with.

But hey, since you can singlehandedly fix everything, or seem to be the man with the answers, can you bribe enough people in the CUSA to get in their doors? Can you recruit 3 and 4 star players to bring in the doors here at UNT? No? Then shut the hell up.

If UNT had kept dominating the SBC from 2003-2011, we probably would've had a stadium earlier because it'd be easier to justify the funding. That probably means better recruits would've come in the doors, and beating someone like Houston would be possible, as would beating Ohio, as would beating Navy and Army.

Our conference isn't keeping the team down, the last 2 coaching administrations kept the team down. Can you really expect the CUSA to knock on door to add UNT when our team can't win the current conference? No. Shut your mouth, go to the games. You're frustrating not for being angry, but frustrating because you seem so incapable of grasping what's in front of you.

Again, I think SMU was in the midst of a 15 season in a row losing streak when CUSU invited the 'Stangs.

Of course, like Dana Garvey, ie, the Church Lady from the old SNL series would most likely say about SMU then and now:

"Of course, their "speciallllllllllll."

GMG!

risinggreen · November 20, 2011

We have an excuse for every occasion. We've used the Big West, Sun Belt, coaches, weather, unknown opponents, commuter school, hippies, fraternities, Fouts Field, tailgaters who stay outside, SMU, money games, administration (especially Lee Jackson), recruiting, publicity, fund raising, athletic department, lack of donors, no baseball, Denton, Denia Park, and injuries for not winning or poor attendance.

At least we no longer blame crickets or urinals, so I guess we have made SOME progress.

shaft · November 20, 2011

The SBC is having its best season ever, so why are we hating on the Belt?

Every conference has outliers, once the SBC gets to 12 we would only see the Hill Toppers every other year and have them visit once every four.

SMU played Navy last week and only pulled 21k,is CUSA to blame? The ponies had a nice stadium, better conference, winning record, and name opponent and that's the best they could do.

risinggreen · November 21, 2011

The SBC is having its best season ever, so why are we hating on the Belt?
Every conference has outliers, once the SBC gets to 12 we would only see the Hill Toppers every other year and have them visit once every four.

SMU played Navy last week and only pulled 21k,is CUSA to blame? The ponies had a nice stadium, better conference, winning record, and name opponent and that's the best they could do.

I suspect it's simply about looking around our nice new stadium that we have dreamed of for so long, and regularly seeing massive expanses of empty seats. Considering the team we had coming back, our expectations were pretty high this year.

If that game had been at Fouts, the complainers wouldn't be doing much attendance complaining at all. Let's just hope we get that (those) elusive big name OOC win next year, which will hopefully lead to butts in the seats against no matter who we're playing.

Other than a surprise conference upgrade invitation, winning name OOC games (and SBC titles) is about all we can do at this point. Baseball and great basketball success won't hurt either.

DeepGreen · November 21, 2011

I am completely baffled by the apathy shown by the lack of student turnout against WKU. I'm looking across the field at an almost empty student side, I looked around the alumni side and saw so many empty seats. I figured I must have been the idiot for even showing up for the game. And then I asked myself, why don't the students show up for games? Six home games a year. And someone please tell me who pissed off the Dentonites to where they could care less about a UNT football game? Seriously, this concerns me.

We've had a tough season. But we have a new stadium to fill, and yes, I think conferences look at attendance of prospective members. UNT fans and locals should be filling that new, beautiful stadium every home game REGARDLESS OF WHO WE PLAY OR WHAT CONFERENCE WE PLAY IN.

What makes me, and others, drive over 700 miles RT, get a hotel room for a night or two, yet our own students won't get off their lazy butts and attend a football game? Or a Dentonite taking on a local college football game? What a shame that our university does not have more backing and less apathy. Has anyone ever polled the locals are did a study as to why they don't support UNT football?

Winning cures all. But it's all of this crap in between that just tears me up. Maybe I'm the dummy for wasting my time and lots of money following UNT.

DJstars21 · November 21, 2011

To an extent I agree with rj..

Winning will solve some problems, but not all. Winning will bring some students and alum, but we need more than that to pack Apogee. Casual fans have never heard of the teams we play in the Belt, they have no athletic history or academic prestige, so beating them really does zip for UNT's image. Notoriety brings fans, people will go see teams that are known, for any reason. Rice is known academically, teams like SMU are known because of their athletic history, Marshall is known.. Even though these teams arn't good they are known by most.

We draw the city of Denton by beating these known teams and generating exposure. When you watch espn and see UNT coverage, you will be encouraged to see UNT play because were relevant. Attendance to the games is about more than just football, its perception of our school. Beating known schools is like saying our school is better than yours, this makes non-sports fans associated with UNT attend the games. Thats how we build the UNT brand..

Known teams+winning+media coverage=Notoriety=>Sell outs.

A Belt team becoming ranked(or any ranked team), followed by us beating them would do more for attendance then us going 10-2 in the belt. Winning the Belt, imo, will not solve our attendance issues. Knowone cares who wins the Sunbelt...

shaft · November 21, 2011

our expectations were pretty high this year.

We were predicted to go 4-8 this season, so what expectations are you talking about?

meangreen2012 · November 21, 2011

Theres a lot of truth in this but it aint new. I was telling people tailgating yesterday that we couldn't pay our friends down in Fort Worth to come join us for a tailgate and a game. When you can't buy peoples tickets and still get them to come.. you might have a problem.

risinggreen · November 21, 2011

We were predicted to go 4-8 this season, so what expectations are you talking about?

Expectations of having butts fill the seats in our brand spanking new stadium on a regular basis this season. Regardless of thread title, what else do you think the majority of these threads have been discussing since the game yesterday? I think many people who bothered to attend the game are even more pissed about the "non-published" attendance than they are about the loss. Oh well.

shaft · November 21, 2011

We averaged 17k last season, we're doing better than that this season.

Folks on here need to calm down and get some perspective. I'm tired of hearing "I'm a fan, that's short for fanatic" when it comes to discussing real numbers. This team is better than anything Dodge gave us.

Quoner · November 21, 2011

What are the WAC policies on fans cussing? We need to explore this.

NM Green · November 21, 2011

The attendance was rough but the experience inside the stadium is always awesome.

I don't try to understand the local fanbase and even many alumni. I literally drove in from Vegas straight to the stadium to meet my tailgate buddies. We had a blast and always will have a blast. Of course another friend alum made it to one game from Dallas this fall. I don't think he will ever care as much as the four hard cores I have tailgated with all season long. Two of them are not even UNT graduates. I have zero respect for his fandom but would welcome him into the tailgate any time.

S crew the conference affiliation argument. My hardcore friends never have any idea who we are playing but they come for the fun. The experience sells itself and frankly I would like the Athletic office to spend their time getting corporate visitors next year. The stadium is open so the focus must shift. People don't need to know who we are playing as much as they need to know they are going to have an easy seamless fun night/day. My alum friend didn't care if he was attending the Indiana or ULM game when he went to Denton (it was ULM). So generous of him to grace his alma mater with his attendance. It obviously wasn't exciting enough to get him back. Oh well, to heck with alums like that. Focus on people who could potentially care, not the indifferent.

Let people laugh at MTSU. We are going to finish 5-7 in year one of a rebuilding project. Are you kidding me! That is great and what a year it has been!

See you all in December.

GMG

TheColonyEagle · November 21, 2011

I'm still trying to figure out where all these fans are going to come from that are so excited to see UTEP play here...

Coffee and TV · November 21, 2011

MAC crowds still have 20K+ in much smaller markets.

hahaha...hah....hahahaha

You seen some of the ESPN televised games in the last few weeks? I think it was in Western Michigan where they had to have had less than 1k for a game. It was pretty pathetic.

rjmunthe · November 21, 2011

I thoroughly love how only the stupid trolls are the ones who disagree. What does it matter if I didn't know what conference we were in? It is FCS. It doesn't matter. I was living in Houston wanting to be a Cougar when we were FCS. I didn't know we existed because we played irrelevant teams. Anyway, I have stats proving our attendance is much better versus regional teams. I'm shocked at how out of touch a lot of you are. People in Florida know UNT. Yet, the people in Florida who know UNT are not going to drive eight hours to watch FAU get massacred here. People in San Marcos would come to Denton to watch Texas State though because they are within a day's distance. Furthermore, people here recognize Texas State so would want to see them play. Why do you think our attendanattendance sucked with Dickey? NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH MTSU. Fact. We don't draw fans just because we're UNT like A&M or UT. Good lord.

Like, seriously, the stupidity here makes me wonder why I came to UNT at all. Denial levels are shocking.

Edited November 21, 2011 by rjmunthe

Daddy Dumpsalot · November 21, 2011

What does that really have to do with anything? UNT has a core die-hard fan base of 13,000 who go to the game no matter what and would go to New Orleans to watch us at a bowl game.

RJ...I agree with you 100% about our program and the suckiness of the belt but you're fighting a losing battle over here.

rjmunthe · November 21, 2011

RJ...I agree with you 100% about our program and the suckiness of the belt but you're fighting a losing battle over here.

Agreed.

MeanGreenHoops · November 21, 2011

I thoroughly love how only the stupid trolls are the ones who disagree.

Name calling is always a good way to debate.

What does it matter if I didn't know what conference we were in?

Totally agree. I mean we've been in the PAC-8 for years now and no one cares about USC. They're too far away.

It is FCS. It doesn't matter. I was living in Houston wanting to be a Cougar when we were FCS. I didn't know we existed because we played irrelevant teams.

You didn't know we existed because of who we played? This one made my head explode. Do you have any newsletters to which I could subscribe ? I need to learn more about your way of thinking.

Anyway, I have stats proving our attendance is much better versus regional teams.

I have stats proving that cheese is delicious!

I'm shocked at how out of touch a lot of you are. People in Florida know UNT. Yet, the people in Florida who know UNT are not going to drive eight hours to watch FAU get massacred here.

Do you have stats that prove you can drive to Texas from Florida in 8 hours?

People in San Marcos would come to Denton to watch Texas State though because they are within a day's distance. Furthermore, people here recognize Texas State so would want to see them play.

If you can find 10 people who either weren't coming already or didn't go to Texas State that would drive more than 30 minutes to see Texas State play football anywhere, I'll buy you an ice cream sandwich. (no offense to Texas State intended)

Why do you think our attendanattendance sucked with Dickey? NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH MTSU. Fact.

Our attendance was bad then because the previous administrations didn't care about football, and ...dang it I actually started to answer your question

We don't draw fans just because we're UNT like A&M or UT. Good lord.

Fact : We're not OU either!

Like, seriously, the stupidity here makes me wonder why I came to UNT at all. Denial levels are shocking.

I deny having ever responded to this thread.

MeanGreenTexan · November 21, 2011

I thoroughly love how only the stupid trolls are the ones who disagree. What does it matter if I didn't know what conference we were in? It is FCS. It doesn't matter. I was living in Houston wanting to be a Cougar when we were FCS. I didn't know we existed because we played irrelevant teams. Anyway, I have stats proving our attendance is much better versus regional teams. I'm shocked at how out of touch a lot of you are. People in Florida know UNT. Yet, the people in Florida who know UNT are not going to drive eight hours to watch FAU get massacred here. People in San Marcos would come to Denton to watch Texas State though because they are within a day's distance. Furthermore, people here recognize Texas State so would want to see them play. Why do you think our attendanattendance sucked with Dickey? NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH MTSU. Fact. We don't draw fans just because we're UNT like A&M or UT. Good lord.

Like, seriously, the stupidity here makes me wonder why I came to UNT at all. Denial levels are shocking.

What are your ideas on a "New Southwest Conference" featuring teams from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas only?

Right now, we're in the Sun Belt. We play MTSU, ARSt., WKY, et... We have been invited countless times to the WAC to join LATech and now TXSt. & UTSA. Sure, they're close and they may travel well to Apogee, but what about Utah State, Idaho, San Jose St...? Are those fans going to travel well? Are UNT fans going to travel to those places? What makes that scenario any better than an improving Sun Belt? Because, unfortunately, we have no other alternatives (keep your fingers crossed for a CUSA invite though!)

Look, if we are counting on other teams travelling fans to Apogee in order to fill the stadium, we're doing something very wrong. Can you agree with that?

Quoner · November 21, 2011

I was living in Houston wanting to be a Cougar when we were FCS.

Like, seriously, the stupidity here makes me wonder why I came to UNT at all. Denial levels are shocking.

So...did you not get into Houston? Did they not like your ***'n essay?

What happened, big guy?

Edited November 21, 2011 by Quoner