Coach Mac Show Recap 11-5-12

[Harry]

Start of Show

Skeleton crew with Georgio and many of the Mean Green Network staff out due to a bug. Only the 3rd time in 18 years that George had to leave the Ticket 1310 morning show DURING the show. Just Hank and Mac on the Mac show tonight-- Poppy out too. They all got a bug eating out after the Homecoming game.

Mac said main issues with the loss were in the 2nd quarter - poor technique by the secondary - would not name who said they all were to blame.

Said AState played like champions acted like they had been there before with confidence. Said they had great speed.

Also mentioned turnovers that we hadn't forced a turnover in several consecutive games.

Praised John Hedlund and the Women's soccer team.

Spoke highly of Joey Jones and South Bama. Said he interviewed for the South Bama job and was about to take it when Urban Meyer called and offered him the job at Florida. He knows a lot about their program from those interviews and basically in just 5 short years they have a program that can win against any Sun Belt team.

Said DT and Darnell Smith have a good chemistry. DT is one of the toughest guys he has been around and he will play this game despite being dinged up. Heaped more praise on Thompson's toughness. Said Darnell really stepped up his game. Mike Simmonds had been contacted by Smith who was trying to get back to Texas from Eligin? junior college...hard worker does well in practice and watches a lot of film. 9 catches for 183 yards in the last two games.

Jordan Case spoke with the team last Saturday, said today was a good opportunity for the wide receivers to show what they could do. Mac loves Jordan and says he did a great job with the kids. It was an A+ speech.

Andrew Power 176 yards receiving, most since Andy Blount. Mac thinks he has a chance to play at the next level, not a high level pick but possibly drafted. Will play his last game at home against South Alabama. Very proud of "AP" and the other seniors.

On one of the scoring drives they ran a four- tight end set. Marcus Smith is one of their best tight ends and is out for the year. Tanner Smith the walk-on will eventually earn a scholarship. Power also caught the first pass ever at Apogee stadium.

On the other side of the ball Zach Orr has another big day, should be a first team All-Sun Belt. When they go into recruiting meetings, you talk about does he have the Zach Orr character, mentioning they use the Zach Orr standard when they look at recruits. Averaging better than 9-tackles a game.

You find out more about players during adversity. Zach Orr is an example of how you should handle adversity. Told Eric Capper that any awards that the SID submits for should most certainly include Zach Orr's name.

Mac like 4pm start times. 19,000 this week will break the all-time record attendance for fan average at North Texas. Good weather projected. Hank talked about how the bridge is helping, the Fouts lot was packed last Saturday. Mac said when they bus in from the hotel they see more tents. He knows that when they get more wins and improve the product it will grow more. 5K were walk-up tickets

Open Mike Night Questions

Jay: Blessed to know how hard you and your staff are working, the excitement and works is not indicative of the record. Hedlund has a son in high school who is a very good kicker will you recruit him? Also what about transfers (Brock Berglund Darius Terrell and Reggie Pegram)?

Mac: [Mac distanced from the Hedlund question due to the fact he can't comment on current prospects I think] Brock Berglund , the defensive guys say that he can play...likes his toughness, competitiveness, his feet, he really is a good player - DT is coming back and he won't give up the job easy, McNulty comes out of a redshirt after breaking his hand...[Darius] Terrell (the UT transfer) has lost some weight has gained some speed. He's like all those Desoto guys they just come to play every day they are tough...this is home to him (North Texas) - (key note here he said they would sign specifically ONE high school QB) -- Reggie Pegram from Purdue, defensive coaches and players say his tough has passed out some concussions and stingers just scored two touchdowns in Purdue’s bowl game.

Hank: you can never have enough stockpiling at QB can you?

Mac: You got to have a minimum of 4 - spring ball is going to be fun for these fans.

Fan: I have two stupid questions, one for my wife back there in the green jacket she is scared of you. What do you write on that green piece of paper?

Mac: I have notes, keep track of penalties - I'm not smart enough to remember them so I write them down...thoughts that I want to share with the coaches and the team...it’s not for show

Fan: On the home games there are a lot of recruits that come into the south end zone -- how does that process work

Mac: unofficial visits we can’t pay anything but we can give them 3 tickets...when a young man wants to take official visits they get 5 and we can pay mileage, food -- unofficial visits are so important now and that's why I encourage all of our fans to get to games because it makes a good impression...there are so many choice in the state of Texas...there are more and more people that want to come and see our campus and our facilities...we try to make it as positive as we can..the game day experience and atmosphere is very important in the eyes of these recruits.

Fan: What do you think about all these wild uniforms, Notre Dame helmets, Oregon -- I'm wondering if UNT will come out with anything like that for next year.

Mac: What I don't like is changing uniforms, I like stability -- I like people to relate to the uniform -- I like tradition and when we put the uniform together we put a lot of time into it we accentuated the green and white - Now as Hank knows our 100 year celebration is next year and we are looking at some throwback uniforms with Nike for next season but we won't change uniforms for the sake of changing uniforms while I am here.

Final Segment

Hank: You are a big note writing guy...people in the audience should know he likes green and blue - and sometimes pink!

Mac: I do like to write notes, but I will say this at Iowa State we had a really good working relationship with all of the staff and faculty and we are trying to do this here. We all need to work together. I got a call from Mike Peterson the other day and we visited - Tony Benford and I met earlier today - there's real camaraderie here - we care about each other - if the women’s sports do great it’s good for the men and vice versa...

No more coaches show for the next two Mondays because of basketball conflicts.

Hank: you called me to visit with Greg McDermott the head coach at Creighton who you know very well.

Mac: He's just one of those guys - Greg's just a phenomenal friend - we met at Iowa State when he was a coach there. His son Doug used to eat smores out there with my kids - we helped him grow and develop. They've got a phenomenal team and they won about 30 games. GMac has done a great job of building that program. Tony has some great players and I know he will do the same thing here.

Hank: You play against LSU and some of these programs and players can get hurt -- that doesn't happen in basketball and Tony Benford has stiffened up the schedule.

Mac: Should be a great challenge against Creighton and gosh almighty that would be a huge shot of confidence if you could win that game -- I hope it is on TV and if it is I will be watching it!

Hank: Eli Young Band was shooting a music video here at Apogee today! Great music scene and they did a video for you coach Mac which we will show at the game this Saturday.

Mac: Did they buy some football tickets?

Mac: More high school games will be played here as I understand it which is great; Channel 21 will be here doing the game this Saturday. 10 of 12 games will have some type of television. This has a huge impact on our program very positive.

Hank: Dave Barnett and Dougie Anderson will be calling the game. Let's talk about South Alabama. The Mean Green March you were really early this past week?

Mac: It is really neat and very meaningful to our players and their parents...a lot of emotion will be there this Saturday and we hope you will be there between 1:30 and 2pm. It is a neat entry into the stadium. A lot of young kids’ high fiving, all good for North Texas!

Hank: This week against UNT can get back to 3-3 in the Belt. South Alabama is 2nd in the Belt in sacks.

Mac: Mike Grant when he was at Southern Miss got a lot of very good players from Mobile and now South Alabama is getting them so they have some talent. They are playing hard and tough, good speed -- we are going to have a real challenge in this game against a much improved South Alabama team.

Hank: South Alabama leads the Belt in turnovers however.

Mac: We need to get back to not turning the ball over - that's North Texas football right now and we gotta get back to that,

Hank: You have a 4 man rotation at defensive tackle - two of these players were recruited as defensive ends. What are you looking for from the defensive tackle position?

Mac: We are looking for the best athletes we can find. If you can't handle that or play with intensity we don't need you here. I have some insight into that position. I know how important it is. I know what it takes. Lincoln and Boutwell are smaller but they are very active, Cantly and Abbe are bigger and take up more space. We need guys at the position that will play with their hair on fire.

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[foutsrouts]

Thanks for the synopsis!

[KRAM1]

Mac also mentioned that throwback uniforms were being selected for the team for the first game next year! Celebrating 100 years! Way cool.....UNT comes out in throwback uniforms...then, those uniforms will go on sale to the public with the proceeds benefiting the Athletic Dept. Uniforms will be Nike.

Way cool...let the speculation begin....Fry era lime green with the Flying Worm on the helmets? Have no clue but Mac is a Fry guy....so, could be, right? That game the last Saturday in August will be something to see....must see in person for Mean Green fans everywhere.....make plans now!

BTW...good show tonight...even with a few of the broadcast team missing due to illness. Great stuff for the crowd during breaks as well...pretty funny at times.

Anyway....bring on the throwbacks!

[UNTFan23]

I was happy to hear Coach doesn't like changing the uniforms each year. The idea of a special uniform for the 100 celebration sounds cool though.

[filmerj]

Said AState played like champions acted like they had been there before with confidence. Said they had great speed.

They have... 8 straight times against us.

thanks for the recap, Harry.

[NT03]

Looking forward to the throwbacks !

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Thankful that we won't jump on the weekly uniform change bandwagon. It has led to some hideous results for Oregon, Tulsa, Boise State, Maryland, and all involved.

Throwback needs to be Worm.

[KRAM1]

Forgot to mention...Hank said that the Eli Young Band was at Apogee this afternoon filming a music video...And that they will have a little video on the main board at Apogee for senior day this Saturday...way cool....Eli Young Band is full of UNT guys! Cannot wait to see the video Saturday...really like this band! Love it even more that they are art of the Mean Green Nation!

[UNT90]

Forgot to mention...Hank said that the Eli Young Band was at Apogee this afternoon filming a music video...And that they will have a little video on the main board at Apogee for senior day this Saturday...way cool....Eli Young Band is full of UNT guys! Cannot wait to see the video Saturday...really like this band! Love it even more that they are art of the Mean Green Nation!

Eli Young also performed on the recent CMA awards show. Lead singer was a memeber of NT40 when he was in school.

REALLY good to see that they have gotten involved. Hopefully we could see a concert in the near future.

[UNTFan23]

Eli Young also performed on the recent CMA awards show. Lead singer was a memeber of NT40 when he was in school.

REALLY good to see that they have gotten involved. Hopefully we could see a concert in the near future.

I took a couple classes with the lead singer. He was a cool guy.

[NorthTexan95]

Really appreciate the recap, Harry.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Eli Young also performed on the recent CMA awards show. Lead singer was a memeber of NT40 when he was in school.

REALLY good to see that they have gotten involved. Hopefully we could see a concert in the near future.

Mike Eli bleeds Green. NT40. greek. worked in the SAC office. Good guy.

[Stan R]

Eli Young also performed on the recent CMA awards show. Lead singer was a memeber of NT40 when he was in school.

REALLY good to see that they have gotten involved. Hopefully we could see a concert in the near future.

awesome awesome AWESOME! I've actually heard of this band! Can only be a positive for attendance for our last game which has historically been a big challenge.

[Stan R]

Great song here. I had no idea these guys were UNT alums!

[Stan R]

Damn they have two songs I love - "Always the love songs" another great one!

[Stan R]

Post-game concert??

Wishful wish. No info.

[aztecskin]

Throwbacks = awesome

[Mean Green 93-98]

Harry, thank you for the recap--great job, much appreciated.

Thankful that we won't jump on the weekly uniform change bandwagon. It has led to some hideous results for Oregon, Tulsa, Boise State, Maryland, and all involved.

Throwback needs to be Worm.

My thoughts exactly. Amen and amen.

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

I gotta say, I just really like coach Mac. He is a guy you just want to get to know. He's the type of guy that you want to have praise from.

[meaniegreenie]

Mac also mentioned that throwback uniforms were being selected for the team for the first game next year! Celebrating 100 years! Way cool.....UNT comes out in throwback uniforms...then, those uniforms will go on sale to the public with the proceeds benefiting the Athletic Dept. Uniforms will be Nike.

Way cool...let the speculation begin....Fry era lime green with the Flying Worm on the helmets?

OMG I would LOVE to see that. I started at UNT the year it changed, so never got any "worm" stuff. Other than at McDonalds, I really don't even remember seeing much of it. Anybody from that time remember what it was like? Was there an active "purging" of all of the worm stuff in the stores and an embracing of the new eagle? I don't even know if it occurred to me at the time that there was a change going on.