$30.4 Million 2014 UNT Athletic Budget (Proposed)

[FirefightnRick]

As a student leader at the time, i can say for a fact that Flyer and his group got the ball rolling and we tried to keep it rolling. It was hard at times, but DAMMIT we got that passed and my a good margin. They day i heard it Passed was one of the greatest green days of my life!

And as long as I'm breathing I won't ever forget it nor will I let anyone else.

Rick

[Christopher Walker]

HELL NO IT'S NOT TODD FREAKING DODGE'S LEGACY!!!

Are you nuts?

It's the student's legacy, and in particular the student leaders that found a way to overcome a terrible anti-athletic culture at UNT and get the student vote passed. Without that vote, we don't have Apogee.

The only student leader that I know is UNTFlyer, so I give him all the credit in the world. I give Todd Freaking Dodge ZERO!!

Do you conveniently forget the 1st student vote in the early 2000s? Do you not understand that RV (and every other person that has ever looked at Fouts Field from the outside, much less sat inside the stadium) realized that we badly needed a replacement? Do you conveniently forget that RV was trying and failing to get a new stadium with that student vote? Do you honestly believe the high school coach had to point out to a guy who had been in the ADs at Southern Miss and TCU that we needed a new stadium?

I mean, really?

The athletics fee increase being sent to ballot referenda was my second vote ever in the SGA Senate. The first being the We Mean Green Fund fee.

These are two of my proudest contributions to the university, and really enjoyed helping to shepherd the WMGF as its Chair in subsequent years. We put a lot of proposed ideas into tangible actions and infrastructure, and I'm damned proud of it.

[UNT90]

As a student leader at the time, i can say for a fact that Flyer and his group got the ball rolling and we tried to keep it rolling. It was hard at times, but DAMMIT we got that passed and my a good margin. They day i heard it Passed was one of the greatest green days of my life!

The athletics fee increase being sent to ballot referenda was my second vote ever in the SGA Senate. The first being the We Mean Green Fund fee.

These are two of my proudest contributions to the university, and really enjoyed helping to shepherd the WMGF as its Chair in subsequent years. We put a lot of proposed ideas into tangible actions and infrastructure, and I'm damned proud of it.

I had no idea you 2 were involved. No matter what revisionist history some try to throw out, I will always be grateful to YOU GUYS, because YOU GUYS did the heavy lifting and did something truly amazing considering that the economy was the worst it had been since the early 70s and the product put on the field by the high school coaching staff was abysmal.

I wish Flyer would have won in his run for Denton City Council, because I have no doubt that the almost non-existent partnership between and UNT would be MUCH stronger with him on the council to provide leadership.

Truly amazing thing that happened in 2008, and something that gave me a lot of hope at the time.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I had no idea you 2 were involved. No matter what revisionist history some try to throw out, I will always be grateful to YOU GUYS, because YOU GUYS did the heavy lifting and did something truly amazing considering that the economy was the worst it had been since the early 70s and the product put on the field by the high school coaching staff was abysmal.

I wish Flyer would have won in his run for Denton City Council, because I have no doubt that the almost non-existent partnership between and UNT would be MUCH stronger with him on the council to provide leadership.

Truly amazing thing that happened in 2008, and something that gave me a lot of hope at the time.

If history is not being revised then might the one who says it is be the one who is actually doing the revising?

First of all, I don't think Todd Dodge's record at UNT has been the subject matter of any of this thread for those who want to bring that up. I think we all remember quite well what it was.

Still....there was this:

UNT coach Todd Dodge reiterated Monday his hope and desire to be in a new stadium no later than 2010.

"I’ve been told we’d open (a new stadium) in 2010," Dodge said. "That’s when I’m holding them to it. For this program to go where it needs to go, we’ve got to get a new stadium." (a Fort Worth Star Telegram quote from new UNT head football coach Todd Dodge's press conference)

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/774327.html

GMG!

Edited August 23, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[oldguystudent]

I was studying with undergrads in the fall of 2008. It was Flyer, not Dodge, not Ford, not Buick. It was all Flyer. Truth be told, many of the students couldn't even name the head coach at the time, but they still voted for a stadium. Only credit due to that malfunctioning product of a unionized Detroit assembly line is that he brought initial attention to the fact the UNT even had a football team when he unveiled the "football plan" in 2006, By the end of the Oklahoma game, any benefit from that little hoopla was pretty much over.

[UNT90]

If history is not being revised then might the one who says it is be the one who is actually doing the revising?

First of all, I don't think Todd Dodge's record at UNT has been the subject matter of any of this thread for those who want to bring that up. I think we all remember quite well what it was.

Still....there was this:

UNT coach Todd Dodge reiterated Monday his hope and desire to be in a new stadium no later than 2010.

"Ive been told wed open (a new stadium) in 2010," Dodge said. "Thats when Im holding them to it. For this program to go where it needs to go, weve got to get a new stadium." (a Fort Worth Star Telegram quote from new UNT head football coach Todd Dodge's press conference)

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/774327.html

GMG!

So stating the obvious gets you credit for causing a new stadium to be built? In his statement, he even says the process is already underway.

Hey, UNT needs a baseball program and stadium, and I'm holding them to that!!!!!!

Now, can we name the place UNT90 Stadium?

Edited August 23, 2013 by UNT90

[Mean Green 93-98]

So stating the obvious gets you credit for causing a new stadium to be built? In his statement, he even says the process is already underway.

Hey, UNT needs a baseball program and stadium, and I'm holding them to that!!!!!!

Now, can we name the place UNT90 Stadium?

Sheesh . . . saying that the students and SA are responsible for passing the student athletics fee that funded the construction of Apogee is stating the obvious. It's a much-appreciated fact, but an obvious fact. And it is also a fact that Todd Dodge's public comments played a part in getting the ball rolling. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but it played a part. Why does that offend you so much?

[Cerebus]

Lol UNT is going to heavily subsidize students in order to do this. The stadium barely passed. I can't see this passing, the anti athletics culture is too strong. Inb4 a certain admin deletes my post because they don't want me exposing the truth.

[Harry]

Gus reference +1

[UNT90]

Sheesh . . . saying that the students and SA are responsible for passing the student athletics fee that funded the construction of Apogee is stating the obvious. It's a much-appreciated fact, but an obvious fact. And it is also a fact that Todd Dodge's public comments played a part in getting the ball rolling. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but it played a part. Why does that offend you so much?

Dodge is responsible for raising some eyebrows around DFW for a very short time and involving some alums (like me) and others that were not involved with UNT athletics.

He had nothing to do with Apogee.

[laxtonto]

I love that the 2.8 on the PowerPoint is under "other sports" and the money is not going to be going towards anything that would not involve additional non-sport specific staffing support.

This post has been promoted to an article

[Stan R]

Seems to be mixed information on this, but it sounds like it is happening to me. If true, we are WAY under-celebrating this.

[rws69]

Somebody was talking last Saturday about how potential softball recruits prefer a school that also has a baseball program. Looking past baseball for a moment, I wonder if this is also true for women tennis or soccer players?

[MeanMag]

Lol UNT is going to heavily subsidize students in order to do this. The stadium barely passed. I can't see this passing, the anti athletics culture is too strong. Inb4 a certain admin deletes my post because they don't want me exposing the truth.

Want some truth?

Do you know what subsidize means and how to use it in a sentence? Because I think you f'd it up, son.

[outoftown]

Hmm can somebody explain to me the difference in football between 2011 budget (5.48 mio) to 2012 and now (12 mio). honest question. Is this money in the stadium or is this money in the coaches or in recruiting?

[glick1980]

Hmm can somebody explain to me the difference in football between 2011 budget (5.48 mio) to 2012 and now (12 mio). honest question. Is this money in the stadium or is this money in the coaches or in recruiting?

I would venture to guess that it is debt service on the stadium and the increased salaries with the new staff.

[UNT90]

I love that the 2.8 on the PowerPoint is under "other sports" and the money is not going to be going towards anything that would not involve additional non-sport specific staffing support.

This post has been promoted to an article

So, the big increase came from the student fee.

I think we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to UNTFlyer, Jesse, Boston and all the other STUDENTS that made this happen.

If only the UNT administration were half as committed as our student leaders, just think where our athletic program would be by now.

Edited August 24, 2013 by UNT90

[flyonthewall]

I still do not understand your hard line stance that "if only UNT admnistration were half as committed as our student leaders". There are two sides that we can be frustrated with and critical of. One side is hiring of coaches. The second side is commitment to facilities upgrades. If you separate the two out and ignore coaching hires and only focus on facility improvement, then tell me how our administration is not committed to athletics. It has been said before on this board, but we cannot fund any athletics buildings with taxpayer dollars. This is why the super pit is a multi use educational facility that our athletic department actually has to pay rent to play in on game day. This is not of any lack of commitment, but because that is the way the laws were written. The fact is we have to do creative things to build anything.

In the last 8 years the lovelace family (who are the chairs of the baseball fundraising committee) have built us a beautiful women's softball park. How do I know this, their name is on the freaking sign in front of the softball park. The Strange family helped complete a state of the art academic center for athletes. Golf has an indoor practice range right behind the walls of the south basket in the Ernie Kuehne basketball practice facility. Womens softball has indoor batting cages. We have a great tennis facility. I could go on, but you know that it is all there.

I have a set of plans in my truck right now of a beautiful baseball facility with artist renderings that will blow you away. Everything that we have built have been very high quality first class division 1 facilities that we can all be proud of.

Now on to coaching hires. Todd Dodge is gone, he was a failure in monstrous proportion. The two that we have left in our major sports are McCarney and Benford. As for McCarney, we increased the salaries for football coaches two fold when he was hired. Is that a "lack of commitment?"

Benford was hired because it was thought that he was the best possible candidate available. It had nothing to do with how much money was available to hire someone.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, that has been in a position of authority and has hired people in this world has made mistakes and ended up firing people. That is the way that it is. If you do not "own your own business" and report up to others, then if you make the wrong decision enough times, then you get fired too. This is a fact of life. Athletics is a business that the majority of time people get fired, they don't walk out on their own two feet.

Being upset with coaching and wins and loss records are one thing, but saying that our administration (meaning the university, not the athletic department) is not committed is just not fair and is misleading.

Edited August 24, 2013 by flyonthewall

[UNT90]

I still do not understand your hard line stance that "if only UNT admnistration were half as committed as our student leaders". There are two sides that we can be frustrated with and critical of. One side is hiring of coaches. The second side is commitment to facilities upgrades. If you separate the two out and ignore coaching hires and only focus on facility improvement, then tell me how our administration is not committed to athletics. It has been said before on this board, but we cannot fund any athletics buildings with taxpayer dollars. This is why the super pit is a multi use educational facility that our athletic department actually has to pay rent to play in on game day. This is not of any lack of commitment, but because that is the way the laws were written. The fact is we have to do creative things to build anything.

In the last 8 years the lovelace family (who are the chairs of the baseball fundraising committee) have built us a beautiful women's softball park. How do I know this, their name is on the freaking sign in front of the softball park. The Strange family helped complete a state of the art academic center for athletes. Golf has an indoor practice range right behind the walls of the south basket in the Ernie Kuehne basketball practice facility. Womens softball has indoor batting cages. We have a great tennis facility. I could go on, but you know that it is all there.

I have a set of plans in my truck right now of a beautiful baseball facility with artist renderings that will blow you away. Everything that we have built have been very high quality first class division 1 facilities that we can all be proud of.

Now on to coaching hires. Todd Dodge is gone, he was a failure in monstrous proportion. The two that we have left in our major sports are McCarney and Benford. As for McCarney, we increased the salaries for football coaches two fold when he was hired. Is that a "lack of commitment?"

Benford was hired because it was thought that he was the best possible candidate available. It had nothing to do with how much money was available to hire someone.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, that has been in a position of authority and has hired people in this world has made mistakes and ended up firing people. That is the way that it is. If you do not "own your own business" and report up to others, then if you make the wrong decision enough times, then you get fired too. This is a fact of life. Athletics is a business that the majority of time people get fired, they don't walk out on their own two feet.

Being upset with coaching and wins and loss records are one thing, but saying that our administration (meaning the university, not the athletic department) is not committed is just not fair and is misleading.

I still do not understand your hard line stance that "if only UNT admnistration were half as committed as our student leaders". There are two sides that we can be frustrated with and critical of. One side is hiring of coaches. The second side is commitment to facilities upgrades. If you separate the two out and ignore coaching hires and only focus on facility improvement, then tell me how our administration is not committed to athletics. It has been said before on this board, but we cannot fund any athletics buildings with taxpayer dollars. This is why the super pit is a multi use educational facility that our athletic department actually has to pay rent to play in on game day. This is not of any lack of commitment, but because that is the way the laws were written. The fact is we have to do creative things to build anything.

In the last 8 years the lovelace family (who are the chairs of the baseball fundraising committee) have built us a beautiful women's softball park. How do I know this, their name is on the freaking sign in front of the softball park. The Strange family helped complete a state of the art academic center for athletes. Golf has an indoor practice range right behind the walls of the south basket in the Ernie Kuehne basketball practice facility. Womens softball has indoor batting cages. We have a great tennis facility. I could go on, but you know that it is all there.

I have a set of plans in my truck right now of a beautiful baseball facility with artist renderings that will blow you away. Everything that we have built have been very high quality first class division 1 facilities that we can all be proud of.

Now on to coaching hires. Todd Dodge is gone, he was a failure in monstrous proportion. The two that we have left in our major sports are McCarney and Benford. As for McCarney, we increased the salaries for football coaches two fold when he was hired. Is that a "lack of commitment?"

Benford was hired because it was thought that he was the best possible candidate available. It had nothing to do with how much money was available to hire someone.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, that has been in a position of authority and has hired people in this world has made mistakes and ended up firing people. That is the way that it is. If you do not "own your own business" and report up to others, then if you make the wrong decision enough times, then you get fired too. This is a fact of life. Athletics is a business that the majority of time people get fired, they don't walk out on their own two feet.

Being upset with coaching and wins and loss records are one thing, but saying that our administration (meaning the university, not the athletic department) is not committed is just not fair and is misleading.

So basically the only thing the administration has done is increase coaching salaries for football. An increase that they were forced to make after people like you made the facilities upgrade possible. Everything else has been done by great donors who have contributed money to make these facilities happen. Do you honestly think any college administration is going to turn down free stuff? Of course not.

Lets look at the budget posted, historically one of the worst in FBS. The big bump didn't come from the administration, but from the student fee. Lane Rawlings ask for a 2.8 million increase and has to go to a committee to get it done.

Finally, the wins and losses and coaching hires you talk about. The football coaching hire is still up in the air after a complete failure of a hire in Dodge, the basketball coaching hire right now is a complete failure, and what is the administrations response? A 5 year contract extension for RV. What message do you think that sends to those of us that don't have connections/friendships inside the AD or BOR? It sends the message that winning doesn't matter.

Perception is reality in these type of things, my friend. If you don't want some (and eventually most) in your fan base to question your commitment to athletics, don't give an AD coming off a TERRIBLE hire and a terribly disappointing season in one of your major sports a 5 year extension.

Plain and simple.

Edited August 24, 2013 by UNT90

[oldguystudent]

Will there be pie in Apogee this season?

[flyonthewall]

Perception is not always reality. In a profit and loss business, the money has to come from somewhere. In our case, to build apogee the law states, "no more that 50% of funding for facility can be derived from a dedicated student fee". Since we can't use taxpayer dollars, then the other half has to come from private donations. We have been historically apathetic when it comes to the latter. However these donations have starting coming in and increasing because of a certain hire that was done a decade ago. There was NO OTHER WAY TO BUILD APOGEE BY LAW then a dedicated student fee. So yes, to debt service Apogee the student fee shows up as a major portion of the revenue side.

The five year contract was simply a business decision that was forced through when Rawlins announced his retirement. If a new president wants a new athletic director, then RV has a little protection in a buyout. With no new contract, his contract would've just expired and he has no new downside protection. Just business. I am not stating anything here that is not obvious if you think through this logically. It is plain to see that you want to clean house, starting from the top. You are entitled to your opinion.

Lastly, when it comes to the gracious donor comment, It has been stated before, but there are a lot of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds who read this board, including people who write six and seven figure checks. Those people don't like some of the things that you say and represent as fact, and take it personally when you talk about lack of commitment. I personally respect your passion. I respect the fact that I see you and your wife at everything. I respect the fact that you demand excellence from everyone. We all should demand excellence from everyone.

I just wish that you would tone down some of your rhetoric. We all know how you feel. This is our place. This is where we went to school. This is where I met my wife, which is the single most life changing event I have experienced. I owe this University my time, my talent (if I have any), my commitment and my financial support.

I just choose to "praise in public, criticize in private".

[UNT90]

Perception is not always reality. In a profit and loss business, the money has to come from somewhere. In our case, to build apogee the law states, "no more that 50% of funding for facility can be derived from a dedicated student fee". Since we can't use taxpayer dollars, then the other half has to come from private donations. We have been historically apathetic when it comes to the latter. However these donations have starting coming in and increasing because of a certain hire that was done a decade ago. There was NO OTHER WAY TO BUILD APOGEE BY LAW then a dedicated student fee. So yes, to debt service Apogee the student fee shows up as a major portion of the revenue side.

The five year contract was simply a business decision that was forced through when Rawlins announced his retirement. If a new president wants a new athletic director, then RV has a little protection in a buyout. With no new contract, his contract would've just expired and he has no new downside protection. Just business. I am not stating anything here that is not obvious if you think through this logically. It is plain to see that you want to clean house, starting from the top. You are entitled to your opinion.

Lastly, when it comes to the gracious donor comment, It has been stated before, but there are a lot of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds who read this board, including people who write six and seven figure checks. Those people don't like some of the things that you say and represent as fact, and take it personally when you talk about lack of commitment. I personally respect your passion. I respect the fact that I see you and your wife at everything. I respect the fact that you demand excellence from everyone. We all should demand excellence from everyone.

I just wish that you would tone down some of your rhetoric. We all know how you feel. This is our place. This is where we went to school. This is where I met my wife, which is the single most life changing event I have experienced. I owe this University my time, my talent (if I have any), my commitment and my financial support.

I just choose to "praise in public, criticize in private".

Because you have the ability to criticize in private.

Why would donors be upset with someone who only praises their contributions and wants as big of a commitment from the administration as those donors have given?

If there is a small buy out in RV's contract, that's fine, but should have been reported, and the extension should have been 3 years, not 5.

As far as wanting RV fired, that simply isn't true. I just don't think he deserves a 5 year extension, especially after the disaster of a hire in basketball and then refusing to fix that hire. Mistakes happen, justification is a huge problem.

The problem is that this program faces the very real possibility of having to replace (if we act like a big boy university) a football coach, a basketball coach, and an athletic director in the same year. You tell me that this administration is committed enough to athletics to bite the bullet and swallow these contracts and I'll take your word for it.

Against all past evidence, by the way.

[UNTLifer]

So basically the only thing the administration has done is increase coaching salaries for football. An increase that they were forced to make after people like you made the facilities upgrade possible. Everything else has been done by great donors who have contributed money to make these facilities happen. Do you honestly think any college administration is going to turn down free stuff? Of course not.

Lets look at the budget posted, historically one of the worst in FBS. The big bump didn't come from the administration, but from the student fee. Lane Rawlings ask for a 2.8 million increase and has to go to a committee to get it done.

Finally, the wins and losses and coaching hires you talk about. The football coaching hire is still up in the air after a complete failure of a hire in Dodge, the basketball coaching hire right now is a complete failure, and what is the administrations response? A 5 year contract extension for RV. What message do you think that sends to those of us that don't have connections/friendships inside the AD or BOR? It sends the message that winning doesn't matter.

Perception is reality in these type of things, my friend. If you don't want some (and eventually most) in your fan base to question your commitment to athletics, don't give an AD coming off a TERRIBLE hire and a terribly disappointing season in one of your major sports a 5 year extension.

Plain and simple.

Sorry to jump in and respond to your questions to someone else, and I'm sure you think it is just the fact that I like to disagree with you, but that is not the case.

Based upon your comments above, the first one's in bold, the administration had to approve, cooridante and administer the fundraising drive for the upgrade to facilities. True, Apogee would have never been built, or would have been delayed for who knows how long, without the approval of the students, but their fees could only support half of this project. The administration had to secure enough donors to proceed with construction and then the AD was able to secure a $20 million donation from Apogee for naming rights in an economic downturn when even Jerry couldn't find naming rights for the Death Star. Acting like all they have done is sit on their hands and approve an increase in salaries is pretty short-sighted. Plus, these upgrades would never happen without their support. It just doesn't work that way. With your comment above, the administration would never get credit for anything.

Second bolded area. Yes, the budget was dismal for years, but we were near the top in the Sun Belt and will be the same in CUSA, so I don't see how that can be held against the current administration or AD. The difference in what RV walked into and what he can look out his window and see now is astonishing to say the least.

Third area in bold. Coaching hires is part of the AD's responsibilities. Again, considering what RV inherited and what he has done, the man deserves the extension. Dickey had to be let go. Sure, the hiring of Dodge was a complete failure, but his hiring did create excitement that led to the student vote and media coverage because many people from the casual fan to the local media believed it was a good hire at the time. McCarney is a well respected coach that has brought in an experienced staff and has undertaken a massive rebuilding job from the crap he inherited from the Dodge failure. I think he has us on the right track, but this year will really tell us where we are and if we are headed in the right direction. The Benford hire, based upon year one, doesn't look good either, but he continues to recruit well and has assembled an experienced and well respected group of assistants. This year will reveal alot about the direction of the men's basketball program. The Peterson hire looks to be a good one and the Olympic sports continue to perform extremely well.

I have watched this program since the 60's and we are in the best position ever to succeed on all fronts. The facilities are now in place to capitalize on our location and we are finally affiliated with a conference that isn't perceived to be the worst in the nation. The next five years will be telling, and if we aren't performing at a high level across the board, then we should look at replacing the AD. In my book, the AD, considering what they have created out of what they inherited, deserves some time to stabilize everything before making a knee jerk decision. Facilities are finally in place and constantly improving, the BOR and university administration appears on board, we have developed relationships with deep pocketed alumni that are raising funds, we are in a more respected conference, have gained traction in improving spirit across campus and appear to have the coaches in place, this year will tell alot about Benford, to succeed in our revenue generating sports and baseball is on the horizon. I choose to believe that things are looking up, as a whole, and are in better shape than at any time in our history. Let's see what shakes out this year, support the teams and be positive about what is happening at North Texas. Will it ever be perfect? No, nothing is, but as a whole, we should be strong across the board.

[houstonmeangreen]

Sorry to jump in and respond to your questions to someone else, and I'm sure you think it is just the fact that I like to disagree with you, but that is not the case.

Based upon your comments above, the first one's in bold, the administration had to approve, cooridante and administer the fundraising drive for the upgrade to facilities. True, Apogee would have never been built, or would have been delayed for who knows how long, without the approval of the students, but their fees could only support half of this project. The administration had to secure enough donors to proceed with construction and then the AD was able to secure a $20 million donation from Apogee for naming rights in an economic downturn when even Jerry couldn't find naming rights for the Death Star. Acting like all they have done is sit on their hands and approve an increase in salaries is pretty short-sighted. Plus, these upgrades would never happen without their support. It just doesn't work that way. With your comment above, the administration would never get credit for anything.

Second bolded area. Yes, the budget was dismal for years, but we were near the top in the Sun Belt and will be the same in CUSA, so I don't see how that can be held against the current administration or AD. The difference in what RV walked into and what he can look out his window and see now is astonishing to say the least.

Third area in bold. Coaching hires is part of the AD's responsibilities. Again, considering what RV inherited and what he has done, the man deserves the extension. Dickey had to be let go. Sure, the hiring of Dodge was a complete failure, but his hiring did create excitement that led to the student vote and media coverage because many people from the casual fan to the local media believed it was a good hire at the time. McCarney is a well respected coach that has brought in an experienced staff and has undertaken a massive rebuilding job from the crap he inherited from the Dodge failure. I think he has us on the right track, but this year will really tell us where we are and if we are headed in the right direction. The Benford hire, based upon year one, doesn't look good either, but he continues to recruit well and has assembled an experienced and well respected group of assistants. This year will reveal alot about the direction of the men's basketball program. The Peterson hire looks to be a good one and the Olympic sports continue to perform extremely well.

I have watched this program since the 60's and we are in the best position ever to succeed on all fronts. The facilities are now in place to capitalize on our location and we are finally affiliated with a conference that isn't perceived to be the worst in the nation. The next five years will be telling, and if we aren't performing at a high level across the board, then we should look at replacing the AD. In my book, the AD, considering what they have created out of what they inherited, deserves some time to stabilize everything before making a knee jerk decision. Facilities are finally in place and constantly improving, the BOR and university administration appears on board, we have developed relationships with deep pocketed alumni that are raising funds, we are in a more respected conference, have gained traction in improving spirit across campus and appear to have the coaches in place, this year will tell alot about Benford, to succeed in our revenue generating sports and baseball is on the horizon. I choose to believe that things are looking up, as a whole, and are in better shape than at any time in our history. Let's see what shakes out this year, support the teams and be positive about what is happening at North Texas. Will it ever be perfect? No, nothing is, but as a whole, we should be strong across the board.

Some lack perspective. I was in school back in the Fry days and to see what we have now and the progress we have made in the past 10 yrs is just astonishing. RV has had some pretty bad hires...Dodge for example, but that is not as disturbing as keeping him on board as long as we did...that pissed me off...so we have to wait and see how Mac does, I'm thinking we will do better than expected this year, but if Dan doesn't beat UTSA or only wins 3-4 games, I personally would send him down the road. This situation would be telling, esp being beat by UTSA. So , I don't expect that to happen and I think Mac will do well...I sure hope so, he's a great guy.

The last game I went to in Fouts was when we were hammered by Tulsa. I brought 2 people to the game, an TCU x and Texas x. Everything about that event was a disgrace...they even confiscated my friends umbrella's because they might be terrorist? I was pissed and said I would never go to Fouts again...and I didn't. I only started going to games on campus after Apogee was built, even though I went to out of town games. Fouts was just a big pile of sh**t, no way around it. Hopefully our admin and the AD have grown up...the future will tell.

[oldguystudent]

I don't think I've seen a single instance of admission that the women's coach has been a pretty good hire.

Donations: I don't think the number of digits in the checks is such an absolute as some would make it out to be. I think all parties involved here are giving at levels just beyond comfort, so we want some return for our money. It's all relative. I've got a pretty good knowledge of how much coin various parties are putting in here and can weigh it against what they do for a living. Everybody is sacrificing. Everybody is really on the same team, and that is for the embetterment of UNT as a university and the embetterment of its athletic program.

That we all see different paths we'd like to take to get to the common destination that we all want is fine. That we would call anybody out personally in public probably isn't. I was guilty of that in the past. I guess age has mellowed me.

UNT as a university, my academic department therein, and UNT athletics has been much, much, much better to me than any of those from my other alma mater. UNT does care. At all levels it consistently reaches out to me as an alum, asks for my help, and I gladly give back to it what I'm capable of, come good, bad, and sometimes ugly. I see myself as indebted to UNT, not the other way around. Anything that does come back to me is gravy.