Random Idea in regards to changing the culture...

[UNTstormchaser]

I definitely agree that winning is the best way. Nobody knew who Boise State was 15 years ago, and now they're a household name. But at the same time, there needs to be something to supplement the winning, and right now the best we have is family weekend and homecoming. With 5-7 home games per year in college football, you need to take advantage of the few non-home opener/home finale games per year with gimicky bullcrap. Luckily, this year we have the ESPN2 game on a tuesday night to do that. But that's a blessing that we can't rely on having more than once a decade.

[GL2Greatness]

how about running the Gangnam Style offense?

[Monkeypox]

You're over-simplifying it my friend. Obviously, one random game promotion doesn't change the culture, no. I didn't say it would. Establish it as a tradition, give everyone something unique to look forward to every year, get the community involved with promotions from day one, and eventually, it's a part of the culture. Hypothetically, let's say it's always the 3rd home game of the year, starting next season in 2013. By 2020, it's something we're all used to and something everyone knows about and looks forward to. The community knows about it and the promotions that come with it. The students get excited to have another excuse to conform to what everyone around them does. Looking even further ahead, it's an established tradition that no one would want to do away with.

It's a borrowed "tradition," which renders it meaningless an ineffective. I think the overwhelmingly negative response to the idea has less to do with Dickey than it does the fact that it's not original and actually has the potential to alienate alumni and fans who believe that, despite the fact it's been a different shade of green every few years, we're the MEAN GREEN. The idea has been discussed ad nauseum in our yearly 300 uniform threads.

North Texas needs its own tradition, not something taken from other schools. And, as said before, it's a promotion. Your suggestion goes in the "promotions" basket. It is a one game promotion. It's once a year. It won't change the culture of North Texas in any tangible way. Your basically hoping for a short term attendance boost. We already have promotions (though not enough, and not enough good ones). What we don't have are unique traditions. At least if you'd said "everybody wear a fake eagle on their head" game, then it would be fairly original. The schools that have the best traditions built those traditions organically.

You're confusing promotions with traditions.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Monkeypox

[Green Otaku]

I had already suggested a white out in a previous thread.

Seeing as how there are people talking about it its at least worth a look at by the Athletic dept. Plenty of teams do colored games, and they are a big success. Anyone who argues that its just copying other schools should also think that we should't play football at all. After all we didn't originally create the game so why should we copy another school right?

[RushnStudies]

I'm the kind of person who roots for my schools whether they win or lose, so I'm not the person you need to market to. To market to the masses, it will take winning, and winning consistently. Things tend to fall into place when you win consistently.

However, I love the live mascot idea. I think it's really cool when a school has a live mascot.

My junior year of high school, we went to FCA Day at Rice; Grant Teaff spoke to us kids pre-game, and then we stayed for the game. Everyone talked about the real bear cub Baylor brought. I think Rice may have had a real owl, too. My first year of undergrad was the last year Houston had a live cougar, and people were in awe when she held court at the games.

Sorry, didn't mean to digress... I love Scrappy; he does a great job and my kids have had many fun photo ops with him. But a live eagle would be a really cool thing to have.

[Green P1]

how about running the Gangnam Style offense?

Laugh Out Loud

[shaft]

4. You're damn right I did. Where's your idea?

I'm on record for baby oiled bounce houses.

[wardly]

Traditions are had to start when you have never had one. I would suggest the the officers of The Mean Green Club meet with the officers of The Student Council and come up with something that both alumni and students can buy into. Joining CUSA next year would be a good time to start. Also,I would like to see us start a" trophy game" with either UTSA,UTEP, or Tulsa simular to TCU/SMU's game for the "Iron Skillet". Perhaps an" Armadillo" as a traveling trophy.

[SilverEagle]

Traditions are had to start when you have never had one. I would suggest the the officers of The Mean Green Club meet with the officers of The Student Council and come up with something that both alumni and students can buy into. Joining CUSA next year would be a good time to start. Also,I would like to see us start a" trophy game" with either UTSA,UTEP, or Tulsa simular to TCU/SMU's game for the "Iron Skillet". Perhaps an" Armadillo" as a traveling trophy.

There are officers of the Mean Green club? I don't remember getting a ballot. Maybe you were thinking about the officers of the North Texas Alumni association.

I like the idea of starting a trophy game with one of our new conference mates. I would much prefer Tulsa over the others, because of logistics and past history (I know we have history with UTEP but we used to have more rivalry-like games with Tulsa).

New traditions? How about exploring some of our old ones that fell by the wayside because of apathy. When it comes to traditions (except for apathy) I'm all for not re-inventing the wheel if possible.

How about everyone who has ever been part of campus life here at North Texas post some of the traditions that were going on when you went to school here?

Jack? Wardly? Island?

I'll start with one. What ever happened to the Green Jackets?

[Cougar King]

Reaching out to the locals is a great way to increase support. I observed UTSA's method and what they did worked out great. UNT is Denton's team, so what better way to show that than getting the locals more involved.

[wardly]

I think Brad Olson was president of MGC at one time, but at my age it might have been a dream. The Green Jackets were a spirit organization during my tenure from 1961 thru 1966, and went the way of the buffalo. Bottom line is that we need to start a tradition that both the student body and alumi can agree on and buy into, something broader that just a spirit club, though that would be a good start.Just an old man's opinion.

[UNTFan23]

Bottom line is that we need to start a tradition that both the student body and alumi can agree on and buy into, something broader than just a spirit club, though that would be a good start.Just an old man's opinion.

You mean the UNTAA doesn't already do this?

[wardly]

Whats the UNTAA?

[UNTFan23]

Whats the UNTAA?

University of North Texas Alumni Association -- the organization formerly known as the North Texas Exes.

[stryker]

A couple of thoughts here.

First of all, winning is ultimately what changes the culture. Consistent winning is even better.

That being said, Rick Villarreal and co. have a tough sell. I go back to last year when Apogee Stadium opened. UNT opened the new stadium with a new coach and a new rebuilding job and that's not a good combination. Ultimately, RV envisioned Todd Dodge opening the new stadium with a team that would be contending for a conference title and a bowl game. It didn't hapen. Personally, I think UNT made a mistake giving Dodge that 4th season, the final year at Fouts, instead of recognizing that Dodge wasn't the answer, and bringing in a new coach who could at least lay a foundation before Apogee opened. It was a gamble and it backfired.

Going back to the tough sell part, when Darrell Dickey was fired, Todd Dodge was brought in and was promoted as the one who would lead the Mean Green back to their winning ways and would do it when a new stadium opened. Unfortunately, the Dodge regime was nothing short of a diaster, not only the worst hire in UNT sports history, but one of the worst FBS hirings of all time and the reasons for Dodge's failure have been discussed at length so UNT goes out and hires an experienced coach in Dan McCarney. Is McCarney the answer? It's too early to tell, but as far as changing the culture UNT is behind the 8 ball so to speak because of the Todd Dodge debacle, despite the positives of hiring McCarney essentially UNT is saying "look we messed up on the last rebuilding project but this time we're going to get it right."

Unfortunately at this point, when you look at the performance of UNT football over the past six years, promises and new facilities aren't enough. The only thing that's going to change the culture is winning. For UNT's sake, I think it's absolutely essential for the McCarney era to be a success. If it's not, I think that Villarreal's job could be on the line as well because unless you are a school like Kentucky or Duke your athletic department is driven by the football program and our AD has not had a great record in terms of hiring football coaches. Not only that but if McCarney cannot turn it around, it's going to be very difficult for UNT to attract a quality head coach who can turn this thing around.

Edited October 7, 2012 by stryker

[houstonmeangreen]

A couple of thoughts here.

First of all, winning is ultimately what changes the culture. Consistent winning is even better.

That being said, Rick Villarreal and co. have a tough sell. I go back to last year when Apogee Stadium opened. UNT opened the new stadium with a new coach and a new rebuilding job and that's not a good combination. Ultimately, RV envisioned Todd Dodge opening the new stadium with a team that would be contending for a conference title and a bowl game. It didn't hapen. Personally, I think UNT made a mistake giving Dodge that 4th season, the final year at Fouts, instead of recognizing that Dodge wasn't the answer, and bringing in a new coach who could at least lay a foundation before Apogee opened. It was a gamble and it backfired.

Going back to the tough sell part, when Darrell Dickey was fired, Todd Dodge was brought in and was promoted as the one who would lead the Mean Green back to their winning ways and would do it when a new stadium opened. Unfortunately, the Dodge regime was nothing short of a diaster, not only the worst hire in UNT sports history, but one of the worst FBS hirings of all time and the reasons for Dodge's failure have been discussed at length so UNT goes out and hires an experienced coach in Dan McCarney. Is McCarney the answer? It's too early to tell, but as far as changing the culture UNT is behind the 8 ball so to speak because of the Todd Dodge debacle, despite the positives of hiring McCarney essentially UNT is saying "look we messed up on the last rebuilding project but this time we're going to get it right."

Unfortunately at this point, when you look at the performance of UNT football over the past six years, promises and new facilities aren't enough. The only thing that's going to change the culture is winning. For UNT's sake, I think it's absolutely essential for the McCarney era to be a success. If it's not, I think that Villarreal's job could be on the line as well because unless you are a school like Kentucky or Duke your athletic department is driven by the football program and our AD has not had a great record in terms of hiring football coaches. Not only that but if McCarney cannot turn it around, it's going to be very difficult for UNT to attract a quality head coach who can turn this thing around.

Dodge shouldn't have been given yr 3...it was obvious he was a disaster in my opinion....Dan may have a bad season, but might not be considered a disaster and kept for season 3...perhaps half a season...we can no longer wait for 4-5 yrs for a sign of success...you have to look for the winning TREND. Dodge had NO winning trend and should have be given the axe end of yr 2....sh*t...we have a history as being a football JOKE...we can never allow this to happen again.