Thanks RV

Mean Green 93-98 · March 15, 2013

Fake can get a little rambling and wordy, but his posts are usually worth a read and a laugh or two.

GoMeanGreen1999 · March 16, 2013

Out of the 124 current athletic programs that field BCS (Division IA) football in addition to men's and women's basketball, only North Texas, South Alabama, and New Mexico State have had neither a bowl appearance nor a basketball postseason win (NCAA or NIT) since 2004. South Alabama hasn't really had a chance yet in football, and they did receive an at-large NCAA bid during that span, which we never have. New Mexico State had three NCAA appearances to our two during the past eight years.

Granted, this is only one way of measuring athletic department performance, and I'm kind of arbitrarily picking a year for obvious reasons. Furthermore, I'm neglecting all other sports. Still, I think the facts above show why some of us are starting to get really frustrated with futility in the major sports--especially now that it looks like we're married to a men's basketball coach who may sink the program for years to come, if he's allowed to continue.

That is a pretty revealing statistic. But we have some good new facilities. I mean thats why people come out right?

Dr. Seuss · March 16, 2013

That is a pretty revealing statistic. But we have some good new facilities. I mean thats why people come out right?

Good??? I would say less than average, but if were comparing ourselves to Arkansas Monticello, then yes we have good new facilities.

Green Dozer · March 16, 2013

Would anybody trade our facilities for Louisiana Tech's run the past few years, not to mention a Top 25 ranking in both football and basketball?

untjim1995 · March 18, 2013

This athletic department has never done anything but the bare minimum. The last straw for me was a couple years ago when billboards went up for the new stadium, obviously designed by the same inept designers of all our other marketing material, where "Mean Green" was completely illegible from more than a few feet away. Even when we finally had the funds to do something to get the name out there even a little bit, they couldn't be bothered to spend more than a few minutes in Photoshop.

They can't hire, we know that for sure. But add on top of that they can't market or advertise, fundraise, or sell tickets. They miss opportunities to make money and provide a fun environment for fans. Instead of trying to swell community support by sending someone out to local businesses, they expect those businesses to come to them, etc.

Living in Ft. Worth, I see TCU everywhere. I was honestly shocked. A lot of that is going to be due to TCU being incredibly successful in football, sure. On the other hand, there's a lot more to it than that. I'll see schedules, posters, uniforms, apparel, you name it at restaurants and other businesses, and I'm practically in Keller. Not once in Denton did I feel like UNT's reach went beyond the square outside of Rudy's, and sometimes even then it was lacking. Some of it is about winning, but a lot of it is about effort and persistence.

Point of the post is that this athletic department is not a quality department. I'm sure there are some people doing their jobs or even going above and beyond, but from the outside looking in, the organization as a whole appears to do the bare minimum. RV took over the program 12 years ago, and outside of a student-funded stadium, we're not much better off today than we were when he first started. We had some level of success under Dickey and Johnny, but JJ won more games in his first year than Benford, and DD had the same record in RV's first year as McCarney did in 2012 without having to beat an FCS team to get there.

I'm just tired of this department getting a pass and defended to the death by this board when there's not a single thing that we can point to in recent history that shows improvement. We haven't won a bowl game since 2002 and we've still yet to advance in the NCAA tournament. Doesn't look to change anytime soon on our current trajectory.

Such a terrific post.

I am really coming back around to the line of thinking that the AD is bad because the university just doesn't want to pay any more money to it than they have to. Denton likes music and arts. The university's students and alumni mostly leave Denton on the weekends to go back to the Metroplex. The faculty and administration want the school to focus on education and keeping tuition and fees low so that we can still be a "value".

I thought for a long time that we had put that line of thinking behind us, especially with the new stadium and hiring McCarney as the football coach with a decent contract. But the stadium HAD to be built. Otherwise, we would have probably had to drop football in the next decade because of the decrepit state of Fouts Field. We paid McCarney the going rate for non-AQ coaches at this level that had experience. Now that we have done both, it seems like the BOR and the university's leadership feel like they have done their jobs. Maybe they have, too. Maybe they are really just doing what they know everyone around the unviersity wants, knowing that going in the other direction in funding athletics may cause a riot in Denton. Honestly, I think RV should be fired for this mess. But I'm also certain any other AD in his office would be handcuffed with the same mindset that has caused this mess to be accepted by the university.

Edited March 18, 2013 by untjim1995

Grant.UNT · March 18, 2013

I'll take winning any day of the week and twice on Saturdays

Would anybody trade our facilities for Louisiana Tech's run the past few years, not to mention a Top 25 ranking in both football and basketball?

MeanGreenTexan · March 18, 2013

Would anybody trade our facilities for Louisiana Tech's run the past few years, not to mention a Top 25 ranking in both football and basketball?

No, if it means we'd be stuck in Fouts forever.

Also, I believe the Soccer ladies were playing on the intramural fields for a long time before their facility came up. The Swimming team also had to use a foreign venue because the lap pool at the Rec was not standard size. These other teams deserve what they have now.

Green Dozer · March 18, 2013

No, if it means we'd be stuck in Fouts forever.

Also, I believe the Soccer ladies were playing on the intramural fields for a long time before their facility came up. The Swimming team also had to use a foreign venue because the lap pool at the Rec was not standard size. These other teams deserve what they have now.

Thank you for letting me know about the inconveniences for ladies soccer and the swim team. Now, I feel so much better about all the losing in football and basketball lateley. You, know I have access to an excavator, maybe I should dig a new cement pond for the swim team.

MeanGreenTexan · March 18, 2013

Thank you for letting me know about the inconveniences for ladies soccer and the swim team. Now, I feel so much better about all the losing in football and basketball lateley. You, know I have access to an excavator, maybe I should dig a new cement pond for the swim team.

Hey, I'm just answering your question of:

"Would anybody trade our facilities for Louisiana Tech's run the past few years"

I think I'll take everything over at the village over LA Tech's records "the past few years". And by "the past few years" you mean 2 years of winning in football (they were 5-7 in 2010), and one year of a better record than us in basketball (they were 18-16 in 2011-12). Or, are we to include those middle-of-the-road records in our trade of Apogee and all of our other nice new facilities?

I want UNT to win just as bad as the next guy. But winning comes and goes (as we've seen here in the 2000's). Apogee and everything else at the MG village are assets that will last much longer than winning/losing.