Amazing stat on UNT’s NFL draft drought

Harry · April 28, 2013

Another year came and went without anyone from UNT being selected in the NFL Draft.

The last player to be picked from UNT was Cody Spencer, a mainstay of bowl run glory years of 2001-04 (which like a fine wine keeps getting better and more impressive over the years).

UNT hasnt had a player selected since.

And just what does that mean?

Spencer was taken with the 182nd pick in 2004. There were 73 players taken after Spencer that year and now nine drafts have passed since with no one players selected. By my count, that means there have been 2,361 players selected in 10 drafts (including the players selected after Spencer in 2004) since the last UNT player picked.

UNT head coach Dan McCarney has spoken multiple times about how baffling that is for a school in Texas.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/04/amazing-stat-on-unts-nfl-draft-drought.html/

H-towngreen · April 28, 2013

I think Rice ended up having 2 TE's drafted.

MeanGreenDan · April 29, 2013

If you want to feel even worse, go ahead and look at a list of all the undrafted free agents and the schools some of them come from. But still no us.

Green P1 · April 29, 2013

The NFL just doesn't understand our "Stars don't matter" or "Diamond in the rough" recruiting strategy. If only NFL GMs realized that sometimes the players no one else wanted sometimes turn out to be good!

foutsrouts · April 29, 2013

I was about to make a smart ass comment in regard to our former stealth recruiting, and then to our former recruitment of perpetual HS caliber talent recruiting, and then to our current low star player recruiting, but I guess I'll just shutup.

Arkstfan · April 29, 2013

Arkansas State has had a player drafted each of the past seven years and they've ranged from three stars to no stars.

PlummMeanGreen · April 29, 2013

Arkansas State has had a player drafted each of the past seven years and they've ranged from three stars to no stars.

So you want to come over here and high five yourself for your school's NFL draft performance as compared to the one that most of us graduated?

And this begs this question: Do you have some ideas as to why a school located in what most would consider to not be the most progressive state in the Union is head and shoulders (of late) compared to a school that still has a much more impressive NCAA Division One legacy (beginning with our Abner Haynes era) than ASU in spite of our last 2 decades which last count had 3 winning football seasons? Send your ideas for our improving our own NFL draft future to the UNT Board of Regents if you really get inspired because I think they will soon (by special demand) have to start looking at a new and different criteria than what they've been using for what they think will actually create a successful NCAA D1 athletic program in Denton, Texas, America.

GMG!

Edited April 29, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

Arkstfan · April 29, 2013

My point was in response to the sarcastic comments about UNT not trying to recruit highly regarded players. I think a zero star player making a fine living in the NFL establishes that recruiting ranks miss more often than not. The first draftee in our streak was a walk-on from Arkansas who slept on a friend's couch for a semester as he tried to earn a scholarship because he couldn't afford to live in the dorms.

A few years ago USA Today tracked one of their high school all-american teams. Only about 25% made the NFL.

As to my thoughts on legacy...

Legacy is for fund-raising and keeping alums engaged. I'm 47 years old, Abner Haynes played his last NFL game before my second birthday.

You show a recruit a bowl runner-up trophy from when he was 10 years old, that has far less impact that the personality of the coach, the facilities, the reception from the players on the team during the visit, the game day atmosphere of the visit.

PlummMeanGreen · April 30, 2013

My point was in response to the sarcastic comments about UNT not trying to recruit highly regarded players. I think a zero star player making a fine living in the NFL establishes that recruiting ranks miss more often than not. The first draftee in our streak was a walk-on from Arkansas who slept on a friend's couch for a semester as he tried to earn a scholarship because he couldn't afford to live in the dorms.

A few years ago USA Today tracked one of their high school all-american teams. Only about 25% made the NFL.

As to my thoughts on legacy...

Legacy is for fund-raising and keeping alums engaged. I'm 47 years old, Abner Haynes played his last NFL game before my second birthday.

You show a recruit a bowl runner-up trophy from when he was 10 years old, that has far less impact that the personality of the coach, the facilities, the reception from the players on the team during the visit, the game day atmosphere of the visit.

You can call it like you see it, but to me legacy says we actually at one point and over a fair amount of time in the modern era of the NCAA had a real plan for athletic success and excercized that plan.

How old were you when Mean Joe Greene and his North Texas teams (albeit largely unpublicized) were probably as good as it got in the Southwest? Frank Broyles would probably most reluctantly agree knowing (and remembering) how those old SWC war hounds used to be back in the day.

Ron Shanklin told me in a Fort Worth restaurant back in the mid 80's how a few of the players from Broyles team who received an early Christmas gift in its game against North Texas in '68 got some good ol' southern fried home cookin' one day at Memoral Stadium in Little Rock (of whom some on this board were at the game) anyway, how they said to our late, great friend and fellow alum........."Ronnie, you guys actually won that game against us that day and we were embarrassed by that terrifically bad call." And by the way, the next year, most of that same Broyle's team played in the "Game of the Century" against DKR's Texas Longhorns in Fayetteville. That, O wise counselor, was the quality of Mean Green football during part of that decade. Sorry I was not around to see it.

And how old were you when Hayden Fry's Mean Green teams were making a national (not just local or regional) but national waves as a "football program on the rise" and one to be reckoned with and that in the mid to late 1970's.

No, we didn't win any NCAA national championships in any of our past legacy and history, but we were hardly chopped liver by any means.

And without wanting to add to my reputation with what I understand with some on this board is that of being a smart ass (which I might add sure beats the hell out of being a dumb ass without a clue or having the foggiest idea as to what a successful NCAA athletic program actually looks like anymore)..........yet at age 62 I'm still trying to remember what those ASU Indians (now Red Wolves is it?) were doing in the 50's, 60's and 70's which some call the NCAA's first 3 decades of its modern era?

GMG!

Edited April 30, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

meangreener · April 30, 2013

Dude, why be a jerk? Arkstfan is a really cool poster.

Arkstfan · April 30, 2013

You can call it like you see it, but to me legacy says we actually at one point and over a fair amount of time in the modern era of the NCAA had a real plan for athletic success and excercized that plan.

How old were you when Mean Joe Greene and his North Texas teams (albeit largely unpublicized) were probably as good as it got in the Southwest? Frank Broyles would probably most reluctantly agree knowing (and remembering) how those old SWC war hounds used to be back in the day.

Ron Shanklin told me in a Fort Worth restaurant back in the mid 80's how a few of the players from Broyles team who received an early Christmas gift in its game against North Texas in '68 got some good ol' southern fried home cookin' one day at Memoral Stadium in Little Rock (of whom some on this board were at the game) anyway, how they said to our late, great friend and fellow alum........."Ronnie, you guys actually won that game against us that day and we were embarrassed by that terrifically bad call." And by the way, the next year, most of that same Broyle's team played in the "Game of the Century" against DKR's Texas Longhorns in Fayetteville. That, O wise counselor, was the quality of Mean Green football during part of that decade. Sorry I was not around to see it.

And how old were you when Hayden Fry's Mean Green teams were making a national (not just local or regional) but national waves as a "football program on the rise" and one to be reckoned with and that in the mid to late 1970's.

No, we didn't win any NCAA national championships in any of our past legacy and history, but we were hardly chopped liver by any means.

And without wanting to add to my reputation with what I understand with some on this board is that of being a smart ass (which I might add sure beats the hell out of being a dumb ass without a clue or having the foggiest idea as to what a successful NCAA athletic program actually looks like anymore)..........yet at age 62 I'm still trying to remember what those ASU Indians (now Red Wolves is it?) were doing in the 50's, 60's and 70's which some call the NCAA's first 3 decades of its modern era?

GMG!

Interesting stuff. Tell it to an 17 or 18 year old recruit and watch his eyes glaze over.

Hayden Fry left coaching 15 years ago and coached his last winning team 16 years ago and left UNT 35 years ago. How many people in that sweet spot of ages 26 to 35 to become season ticket holders are going to buy UNT season tickets because of Hayden Fry.

Plumm Arkansas State cannot compare to UNT in football I've got nothing to counter your pronouncements

Except to say eight in a row.

TheColonyEagle · April 30, 2013

Interesting stuff. Tell it to an 17 or 18 year old recruit and watch his eyes glaze over.

Hayden Fry left coaching 15 years ago and coached his last winning team 16 years ago and left UNT 35 years ago. How many people in that sweet spot of ages 26 to 35 to become season ticket holders are going to buy UNT season tickets because of Hayden Fry.

Plumm Arkansas State cannot compare to UNT in football I've got nothing to counter your pronouncements

Except to say eight in a row.

+100

greenminer · April 30, 2013

If it hasn't already happened, then we are entering a new recruiting era where the kids don't even know about our NO Bowl trips. And some here want to think that kids are going to come here because of a legacy that we had 30 years ago?

If you're point is that we have had our moments, then I'm totally with ya! But so has every other program and lately we are not exactly an easy sell for recruits. Even Apogee has not really done much for Mac.

Graddean · April 30, 2013

Arkansas State was ranked number one at the end of the 1970 in the College Division making them the national champs. They went 11-0 that year and won the Pecan Bowl which was a regional College Division Bowl game. This was the third consecutive appearance in the Pecan Bowl. I realize this was not the equal of what is now D1, but just to point out AState does have some history.<br /><br />But Plumm is right about the Joe Greene era teams. Our starters were as good as anyone's. Our problem was depth. He is also right about us getting hosed Little Rock in 1968.

untjim1995 · May 1, 2013

You can call it like you see it, but to me legacy says we actually at one point and over a fair amount of time in the modern era of the NCAA had a real plan for athletic success and excercized that plan.

How old were you when Mean Joe Greene and his North Texas teams (albeit largely unpublicized) were probably as good as it got in the Southwest? Frank Broyles would probably most reluctantly agree knowing (and remembering) how those old SWC war hounds used to be back in the day.

Ron Shanklin told me in a Fort Worth restaurant back in the mid 80's how a few of the players from Broyles team who received an early Christmas gift in its game against North Texas in '68 got some good ol' southern fried home cookin' one day at Memoral Stadium in Little Rock (of whom some on this board were at the game) anyway, how they said to our late, great friend and fellow alum........."Ronnie, you guys actually won that game against us that day and we were embarrassed by that terrifically bad call." And by the way, the next year, most of that same Broyle's team played in the "Game of the Century" against DKR's Texas Longhorns in Fayetteville. That, O wise counselor, was the quality of Mean Green football during part of that decade. Sorry I was not around to see it.

And how old were you when Hayden Fry's Mean Green teams were making a national (not just local or regional) but national waves as a "football program on the rise" and one to be reckoned with and that in the mid to late 1970's.

No, we didn't win any NCAA national championships in any of our past legacy and history, but we were hardly chopped liver by any means.

And without wanting to add to my reputation with what I understand with some on this board is that of being a smart ass (which I might add sure beats the hell out of being a dumb ass without a clue or having the foggiest idea as to what a successful NCAA athletic program actually looks like anymore)..........yet at age 62 I'm still trying to remember what those ASU Indians (now Red Wolves is it?) were doing in the 50's, 60's and 70's which some call the NCAA's first 3 decades of its modern era?

GMG!

I hate to break it to you, but telling recruits and their parents in today's world that we were once pretty good (as in ranked or close to it) when the only methods of playing music involved a record player and an 8-track isn't going to help your case. It actually hurts it more. Telling a recruit that we have been a ranked team when the only way to talk to someone on a phone was to use either a phone at your home or a payphone is not going to help. Telling thatm that we haven't been good since before the Iphone came out isn't going to help.

I'm proud of the legacy stuff here, especially being the first school in the SW to be integrated. But that literally doesn't rank in the top 100 reasons that a recruit will come here. Heck, most of our recruits have parents that range in ages of probably 35-55, so they have known UNT to be absolutely irrelevant (thanks i-aa) or mostly just full of suckitude since we moved up to FBS in 1995. If I were a recruit today and I was looking at either Arkansas State or North Texas, this is what both schools tell me TODAY:

ASU has gone to bowl games recently and has competed for conference titles over the last 8 years.

UNT has no bowl games and has compiled a sparkling 22-73 record, which includes two wins last year over FCS Texas Southern and SBC newcomer South Alabama.

ASU has hired coaches who have gone on to become head coaches at Ole Miss and Auburn after just one year at that school. They fired their previous coach, who had won a conference title and beat Texas A&M, Memphis, and almost beat Iowa, because they were not content with a 5-7 record.

North Texas hired a high school coach that got fired ONLY when it was affordable to the school to get rid of him--at which point he had compiled a stellar 6-37 record. The last time someone hired away our head football coach was in 1980, when Texas Tech hired Jerry Moore. A 5-7 record at North Texas, since we moved back to FBS, has been matched or exceeded 6 times, which includes exactly 3 winning seasons from 2002-2004.

ASU has sent guys to the NFL by being drafted--player development actually exists in Jonesboro.

UNT hasn't sent a player to the draft since 2004, reflecting the next 8 years of pure futility.

ArkStFan has been a great poster on this board. He gives us some very relevant information on a peer program that has surpassed us (like so many others) in the last decade. I actually appreciate the fact that he can tell us how fun it is to follow a program and a university that decided to fully support their football team. ASU is enjoying more success than they probably ever have as a FBS school. Maybe we can do the same again one day. But for now, in today's world, the only advantages that UNT has over ASU are supposed to be our location and our enrollment. But those advantages, whether they are legit or not, aren't being used by UNT right now. Our recruiting classes have just been awful for a decade now. Our attendance has jumped up some, but that was mostly due to hiring the head coach from a Metroplex HS powerhouse and from opening a new stadium. If we have a losing season again, I suspect that our CUSA games at the end of the season at home will be sparsely attended. For us to get back to being anything worth following to casual fans, we have to get back to beating and outrecruiting the SBC and CUSA schools. Until then, schools like Arkansas State will have full reign to come over here and tell us how it feels to be a winner. We want SMU and Tulsa to be rivals, but right now, ASU would be a much tougher game for both of them.