Thoughts on UNT heading to Iowa in 2015

Harry · June 4, 2013

Iowa released its schedule for the 2015 season yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to comment on it until now.

UNT is headed to play at Iowa on Sept. 26, which was previously mentioned in the Mean Green’s spring prospectus.

We can debate all day whether or not how it will work out for UNT in terms of home-away balance.

UNT is on record saying that it will try to keep a six-game home schedule and that it wants to play a major conference team every year. This season’s “money” or “opportunity” game, depending on your point of view, is at Georgia.

Going to Iowa in 2015 and 2017 is as good a pick as any, especially considering UNT’s connection with the Hawkeyes. UNT and Iowa have never played, but Iowa did manage to steal Hayden Fry after the 1978 season.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/06/thoughts-on-unt-heading-to-iowa-in-2015.html/

emmitt01 · June 4, 2013

"In case you don’t believe me, just talk to an older UNT fan or two. You don’t even have to ask about Hayden Fry. Just mention that you cut your grass yesterday or that you saw a white squirrel run across the road.

That will likely launch you into a “that reminds me of one time when Hayden Fry” story."

Good to see I'm not the only one who experiences this.

UNT90 · June 4, 2013

Superficial analysis. I expected better.

SilverEagle · June 5, 2013

"In case you don’t believe me, just talk to an older UNT fan or two. You don’t even have to ask about Hayden Fry. Just mention that you cut your grass yesterday or that you saw a white squirrel run across the road.
That will likely launch you into a “that reminds me of one time when Hayden Fry” story."
Good to see I'm not the only one who experiences this.

So some people are tired of positive stories about a previous coach and a previous era. Imagine that. North Texas alums not comfortable with other people's fond memories. Sorry some of us have them.

VideoEagle · June 5, 2013

So some people are tired of positive stories about a previous coach and a previous era. Imagine that. North Texas alums not comfortable with other people's fond memories. Sorry some of us have them.

I was there for much of the Hayden era. I've got several Hayden stories to tell. But my father has stories of growing up in the Depression and those get old after a while. Like salt, a little Hayden is good but too much ruins the meal.

UNT90 · June 5, 2013

That sad thing is that the Hayden Fry era and the Dickey bowl run are basically the only eras worth the stories.

Don't know why people are surprised by this.

GrayEagle · June 5, 2013

Back to the topic before I digress. I would've been ok with one away game at Iowa but anymore than that should be home-and-home. Given that McCarney played and coached there and Fry earned Hall of Fame credentials coaching there I would yield to one five game schedule but not two.

Now, to digress. I was around for all of these scenarios and some were enjoyable and others horrible. I grew up during the depression and there were few good memories so I will not talk about it unless asked. The only good memories of World War II were how we pulled together as a nation. North Texas football under Odus Mitchell had more good memories than bad as did early Rod Rust. We then fell into a chasm and were it not for Hayden Fry and Jitter Nolan we'd be playing Division II football, if at all. Corky Nelson certainly gave us some memorable moments with his giant-killing and they should be treasured. Except for 3-1/2 of the Dickey years our return to 1-A has been disastrous. But, we still need to talk about the good and the bad; just don't overdo either.

Harry · June 5, 2013

Back to the topic before I digress. I would've been ok with one away game at Iowa but anymore than that should be home-and-home. Given that McCarney played and coached there and Fry earned Hall of Fame credentials coaching there I would yield to one five game schedule but not two.

Now, to digress. I was around for all of these scenarios and some were enjoyable and others horrible. I grew up during the depression and there were few good memories so I will not talk about it unless asked. The only good memories of World War II were how we pulled together as a nation. North Texas football under Odus Mitchell had more good memories than bad as did early Rod Rust. We then fell into a chasm and were it not for Hayden Fry and Jitter Nolan we'd be playing Division II football, if at all. Corky Nelson certainly gave us some memorable moments with his giant-killing and they should be treasured. Except for 3-1/2 of the Dickey years our return to 1-A has been disastrous. But, we still need to talk about the good and the bad; just don't overdo either.

It is so neat to have your historical and knowledgable perspective on here. I just find it very interesting and wanted to give you my appreciation for sharing it with us.

untjim1995 · June 5, 2013

Back to the topic before I digress. I would've been ok with one away game at Iowa but anymore than that should be home-and-home. Given that McCarney played and coached there and Fry earned Hall of Fame credentials coaching there I would yield to one five game schedule but not two.

Now, to digress. I was around for all of these scenarios and some were enjoyable and others horrible. I grew up during the depression and there were few good memories so I will not talk about it unless asked. The only good memories of World War II were how we pulled together as a nation. North Texas football under Odus Mitchell had more good memories than bad as did early Rod Rust. We then fell into a chasm and were it not for Hayden Fry and Jitter Nolan we'd be playing Division II football, if at all. Corky Nelson certainly gave us some memorable moments with his giant-killing and they should be treasured. Except for 3-1/2 of the Dickey years our return to 1-A has been disastrous. But, we still need to talk about the good and the bad; just don't overdo either.

I've never met you, but you seem like one heckuva guy and UNT fan. I've been a fan since 1990 and I can tell you that it has been nothing but heartache and a beating, except for 1994 and those 3.5 years you mentioned under Dickey. I never cared much for either Simon or Dickey as people, but they had their own small successes here and they should be treasured, just as you all remember fondly the Corky Nelson years of beating major programs while operating on a shoestring budget.

Our return has been disastrous because we weren't really ready to make the jump to 1-A, IMO, in 1995. Sure, we pieced together Fouts with donated alumnum seats to get just over 30K, but the administration didn't care to put anything into the program. I'd love to believe that we should have done what we did earlier than 1995, but the reality is that the 1-aa purgatory was self-inflicted and was encouraged by the administration, BOR, and the community, so as much as I hate to say this, I think our best time to have moved upward to FBS was probably when we got Norval Pohl here as President, which was in 2000 IIRC. He wanted football to be something at UNT, which put him in a very small group of leaders in our history. I believe that he would have found a way to have gotten a new stadium built earlier than it did, if it had been with a promise to move up to FBS ball. Matt Simon might have actually been a better head coach if he had time to continue building his program in the old SLC for more than one year.Maybe Darrell Dickey would have been hired to take over a program that was more ready for FBS ball than what he got, with attendance at home games in the years 1998-2000 as abysmal as you could get (See NMSU game in 2000 at Fouts). Maybe DIckey doesn't get the anti-UNT stance in his brain that so irked the few diehard fans still around.

We haven't been very good at football, both on the field or off, since Hayden Fry left. That's why I am jealous of the guys who have the stories to tell about them. I encourage you to always tell us about the wins over Tennesse, San Diego State, Houston, SMU, OSU, and all the others in that time. That is the only time North Texas even became a blip on the college football radar. Even Dickey's years were shrugged off as nothing by everyone in college football because of the SBC being looked at so negatively--which is why a guy who basically performed a miracle in Denton never got that head coaching offer he thought was coming from anywhere else in I-A at the time. Our timing has never been good, nor has our funding--both are leadership failures from all responsible parties, but it hits on the fact that the university hasn't ever put any priority on athletic success. Whether its short term (since 2007), intermediate term (1995-2006), or long term (since 1979), we showed the entire college football world that we just didn't give a crap about football success. And unless things turn around big time in the next 5 years, I suspect that we will get back to the equivalent of FCS ball again. And the question will be asked over and over if Apogee was worth the cost to build for a program that was never close to being an AQ school. To me, it should have been built 20 years earlier, but the naysayers of Denton that hate football are going to go crazy screaming about the $78 million dollars spent to build that stadium and the tuition hikes even louder than now if we go back to being a FCS team again.

Edited June 5, 2013 by untjim1995