UNT 100 series wrap-up thoughts, Top 25 out

[Harry]

I said a couple of days ago that I would post some thoughts on my series on UNT’s 100th football anniversary on the blog.
Here’s all three parts.

After talking with more than a dozen people over the course of several months, I came away with the feeling that there is a lot of excitement among UNT officials, boosters and fans about the future of the program.

There is also a sense of trepidation.

UNT is on the cusp of arriving at the Promised Land in terms of a conference home with its move to Conference USA. In one way or another, UNT has spent around a decade trying to make that switch from the Sun Belt.

The question now is how UNT will take advantage of all its has in place.

You never get all your good quotes into a series like that, even one that runs three days and more than 6,000 words. I had 24 pages of single spaced material to work with. This is one comment from UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal that I didn’t find a place for that stuck with me:

“You don’t make this investment to just have a nice place for people to come. When you build [a new stadium], you expect to recruit better players and draw more fans. There needs to be a payoff. In what we do, it’s measured in wins and losses.”

Villarreal went on to make that point that the investment UNT made in other programs like tennis paid off eventually.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/08/unt-100-series-wrap-up-thoughts-top-25-out-recruiting-tidbit.html/

[letsgiveacheer]

"Villarreal went on to make that point that the investment UNT made in other programs like tennis paid off eventually."

Not to belittle the tennis team's accomplishments as they have been one of the few bright spots in UNT sports in recent years but while they have done very well in the Sun Belt, they lost most of their out of conference games this year and went out in the first round of NCAA play.

I hope this is not our benchmark.

[JesseMartin]

"I want to share my thoughts on what I wrote. I could have shared the thoughts when writing the rest of what I wrote, but then I wouldn't have anything to write today. And it's my column, so bite me." If I was in Vito's position, that's totally how I would have put it. You know, just to be crystal clear.

[untjim1995]

"Villarreal went on to make that point that the investment UNT made in other programs like tennis paid off eventually."

Not to belittle the tennis team's accomplishments as they have been one of the few bright spots in UNT sports in recent years but while they have done very well in the Sun Belt, they lost most of their out of conference games this year and went out in the first round of NCAA play.

I hope this is not our benchmark.

I hope its not our benchmark because tennis brings in no money or attention. Bad ADs always trump up non-revenue sports that are winning when your money sports suck. The Aggies had Bill Byrne as their AD for a while--they were awful in football, but good to great in everything else, even winning national championships in golf, track, tennis, etc...there is not one Aggie I know that wouldn't trade what they have now in Sumlin and Hyman as their HFC and AD for what they had previously.

Winning in tennis and golf and other non-revenue sports is great--I just don't want that being trumped by the AD as proof that we are doing well in collegiate athletics. Those sports could go winless if it means that our football team and basketball teams are great. Those sports bring in waaaayyyy more money and attention than anything else the university does if they are winning programs.

Edited August 2, 2013 by untjim1995