Terrible

[Christopher Walker]

A lot of the students left and the elementary kids all hid in the wing zone concourse. I have pictures.

Uhh.....

[Stan R]

Meh. Student side was disappointing but they were baking. They missed a hell of a second half. Alumni side was worse than usual but I wouldn't go so far as to say terrible.

[Christopher Walker]

The attendance after half was miserable. I'm sure some on the student side went to sit on the alumni side, but not that many.

The attendance after the half on the alumni side was incredible and you can thank the students for that, bub.

[Green Mean]

Quite a few students left when we got down 20-3. Some of them may have moved but some of them left the game completely. By halftime a more sizable portion of the student side left. I honestly would have expected much better attendance but then again it will take some time for more and more people to care and come to our games. I'm sure promotions has to take some blame but a lot of apathy still exists at North Texas.

[Side Show Joe]

14,737. That is terrible. About a third left when we went down 20-6. Bet they wish they would have stayed now.

[Green Mean]

Speaks to how the student body really feels about the athletics program here. I had a professor who said it best: "People come to UNT to get away from football."

That is just sad when he says that when it's this institution that signs his check. That professor is an absolute douche.

[KRAM1]

Yes THE TEAM did a great job winning the game. The crowd was terrible, and that is someone's job. You can be proud of the team and upset at promotion, it's possible.

Go re-read his post...he is not talking about promotions...he is referring to the BOR and their handling of RV's contract. It really isn't that hard to understand. And, can't take anything you say seriously as we don't know which of your split personalities is actually posting or why. :-)

[untjim1995]

That is just sad when he says that when it's this institution that signs his check. That professor is an absolute douche.

The saddest part is that most of the faculty up there in Denton feel this way. It's just that ugly part of the culture. I've said it before, but if a guy like Coach Mac cannot turn it around here, with his enthusiasm and experience, I am not sure it can be done. He is that special of a coach, if he can just keep the program on the road to becoming a winner on a consistent basis.

[KRAM1]

The saddest part is that most of the faculty up there in Denton feel this way. It's just that ugly part of the culture. I've said it before, but if a guy like Coach Mac cannot turn it around here, with his enthusiasm and experience, I am not sure it can be done. He is that special of a coach, if he can just keep the program on the road to becoming a winner on a consistent basis.

Do not believe this is a correct statement any longer. I know profs who recently gave extra credit for attending games, and I saw several profs and faculty members at today's game. Sure, there will always be that sort of stupid prof who s too full of himself or herself to care about anything but their own greatness, but this attitude is changing as the top administrators are leading the ways are quite a few deans. It will take awhile to turn it all the way around, and some will just have to retire and get out of the way, but the attitude of which you speak is not nearly as common as it once was at UNT.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I truly hope you lost a pair of shoes in his ass.

The attendance after half was miserable. I'm sure some on the student side went to sit on the alumni side, but not that many.

Need Something To Help You Sleep?

Take Sominex or Just Read Epistle #12,991 Below:

This: (Do we still have room for a 2,000 bandsmen Band Day at Apogee Stadium next Fall like UH and Ohio U did this Fall)? (OK, enuf' of all that Band Day lagniape from me---someone else take the baton on that one).

TODAY'S ATTENDANCE & THOUGHTS ABOUT THINGS WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL:

First of all....all these things that contributed:

(1) Game was televised "live" in the DFW area....we lost fans because some said "why drive up to Denton when I can watch this game in the comfort of my living room and when I need a beer I can go to the 'fridge."

(2) It was still hotter than hell for those who had to sit in the sun....it just wasn't as cool today as we all hoped it would be. I felt sorry for the Green Brigade who stayed in the sunshine all game as well as the Ball State fans.

A Divine Miracle Of Biblical Proportions To Start The 2'nd Half At Apogee:

After the first half and during the Green Brigade's super show today, the alumnus side started filling up with so many more extra fans. Some had to has ask the question:

From whence did all these new fans suddenly appear at this part of the game? (Insert a sublimenal..."they came from the sunny side of the street, I mean, uh, stadium, ie, the student section). That is why the student section all but disappeared for the 2'nd half. You'd had to be there to see what had happened

(3) I didn't realize how heat was suddenly being such a factor for us early in this 2013 football season until I thought of this:

WE ARE NOT USED TO PLAYING THIS MANY GAMES At OUR PLACE IN SEPTEMBER--THUS NO 2 AND 1 RECORDS WITH WHO WE HAVE PLAYED ON THE ROAD SINCE FOREVER! I mean had we only beat Alabama, UT, LSU, OU, etc, etc, etc, all those past Falls just maybe we would have had a chance to start out with a............2 & 1 season record from the git go ? ? ? ? ?

I sat in the club suites area today because one of our great UNT alums gave me a ticket to be their guest, but at half time going inside the A/C area where they have the buffet and stuff I wondered..........."how many freakin' fans (as well as UNT students) must be inside here not watching our game outside on Apogee's veranda seats)?!?!? I could not have counted all those there were so many.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW:

We are doing many things right at North Texas such as "getting them while they're young" with more emphasis with marketing Freshmen Class orientations, Fish camps, etc, etc, etc, and we never, ever used to do that at North Texas except in recent years. Why it took us so long to do this is another thing we have no control.

Also, recall just 3 weeks ago when North Texas athletics had an Apogee Stadium pep really on a Monday evening (in about 100 degree Texas heat) the week of the Idaho game with about 4,000 UNT students (probably mostly freshmen and some of you even posting pics of that big rally proving that estimate fairly spot on). They were not there today but North Texas athletics is giving it the good ol' college try with these kids.

This 2...

Talked to a couple alums in the Big Donor section today and this theme came forth:

Through the decades when UNT students went thru their 4 or 5 year cycle as UNT students then graduated, we just did not retain a large enough percentage of that group who would come back to campus to support Mean Green football. It became their loss and our loss, too. A real lose-lose scenario if there ever was one.

Decades of no real direction for UNT athletics and mostly bad football during much of that time took its toll on that group of our fellow alums who for all practical purposes we can kiss off as future fans. Folks.............had we retained even a modest percentage of our UNT alums last 35 plus years we would have had to build a 50,000 seat Apogee.

Still...............we are just not used to winning of late--yes.............we're 2 & 1 but we are still not used to winning. With the UNT culture, it will take 1 or 2 winning seasons for us to make any headway with those who can dramatcially increase our numbers. It's all about the Freshmen coming back now....that is the real future of increasing our attendance numbers now and in the future. .

How we won today was a real miracle with the football gods thru much of today's game seemedly only smiling on Ball State but.........we still won the gol' darned football game which we needed to do in the worst way.

In fact, we almost beat another MAC contender last week, too, folks. Let me repeat that once more............We almost beat another MAC contender just last week.

If you put 500 North Texas alums in a conference room you might have 500 different ideas on how to market and promote our Mean Green football product but this one thing I do wish our officials would try the balance of this season (and no, it's too late for a Band Day since that requires more planning than you might think) but as one of those 500 (or whatever) why not give this a try:

For Denton and Denton County area kids ages 6 to 12, let them take a seat in the upper Wing Zone by bringing just one canned good as their game ticket that the Salvation Army or Good Will would be at Apogee to collect and then take to a Denton area Food Bank.

We are all embarrassed with bad attendance--we really are; yet if we had even filled just 1/2 of the upper Apogee Wing Zone with kids today would that have solved some of our attendance problems no matter how hot here in September?

Of course, with these kids getting in with a canned good their moms and/or dads would still have to buy a full price ticket to get into Apogee.

Our best attendance games are still to come this Fall with Parents Day, Homecoming, etc, etc, etc, and also with some CUSA schools who will bring more fans than we are ever used to seeing in Denton, but for first part of the season games like today, we just have to keep plugging away with ways to get more of our locals out on Game Day and kids (as well as kids groups) can probably help us do this quicker than adults at this juncture.

GMG!

WAY TO GO COACH MAC & THE MEAN GREEN!

YOU MADE US PROUDER THAN EVER TO BE MEAN GREEN!

To UNT Coaches & "THE" Team:

Please do give us a bit more time and we'll get you significantly more fans inside Apogee so they can see along with the rest of us just what yall are building in MG Country)!

Edited September 15, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[JesseMartin]

Per the "professor" discussion...yes, there are some who didn't like being at big-time football schools and think school spirit is a distraction...but KRAM is right, and if you don't believe that just look over donor lists. A large number of faculty and admin that DID NOT attend UNT not only support scholarships, but also buy season tickets and give money to Athletics. Similar to the student body's shift, faculty and staff are getting on board the spirit train and the next stop is WINNING!

[GrandGreen]

Every school has probably a majority of faculty who dislike sports and resent the monies spent on what they see as folly. Just at some schools they would never be vocal about it, it might be a career altering decision in the SEC for example.

The attendance was bad and looked worse on tv, especially when the students got smart and headed for the shade. NT is just not or have they every been at a place were they can play a hot afternoon game against the biggest college game so far in the year and even their own game on television.

[Eastwood Eagle]

For what it is worth, the crowd sounded good on TV.

[NewUNTFan8]

Terrible crowd, will be around 17K reported. Really sad. The heat was pretty bad on the student section, I moved to the alumni side. TCU had the same problem with an early kick. Oh well. There was no publicity whatsoever, really terrible job by the athletic department. People are already looking forward to Rice and homecoming. A lot of the students left and the elementary kids all hid in the wing zone concourse. I have pictures. The heat was worse than Idaho, IMO.

Agreed on the heat. Felt hotter and worst sunburn ever!!

[JRock]

Oh yes. I'm fried. We moved at halftime out of wingzone but still fried my Irish self.

[NT91]

Speaks to how the student body really feels about the athletics program here. I had a professor who said it best: "People come to UNT to get away from football."

Get a rope.

[JesseMartin]

Get a rope.

Charlie Bronson's always got a rope.

[ragpicker]

We better start worrying about us and stop the wise cracks towards SMU. We have no room to talk.

I agree, UNTLifer, although saw a lot of students come over to the shady side and I don't blame them. Until our attendance improves no one is going to vigorously enforce requiring fans to sit in their designated seats.

[ragpicker]

We were driving around Ft Worth last Sunday and there were TCU and "Fear the Frog" signs on every light standard for miles around the campus including downtown. Looking around our square on Saturday, there was no indication that UNT even had a football team. The shuttle service to the campus was nice but except for a brief article in DMN's Metro section,there was no obvious promotion of it in Dallas. There are two questions that require answers: Do we HAVE a promotional department and if so is it aware that there are two major American Cities thirty miles or so south of Denton that contain tens of thousands of UNT alumni?

[ColoradoEagle]

Do we HAVE a promotional department and if so is it aware that there are two major American Cities thirty miles or so south of Denton that contain tens of thousands of UNT alumni?

We do, and basically all they do is collect a check. I can't decide if Batchelder and his crew are incompetent or unmotivated, but either way, it's the same result. Has been for a decade.

[KRAM1]

We do, and basically all they do is collect a check. I can't decide if Batchelder and his crew are incompetent or unmotivated, but either way, it's the same result. Has been for a decade.

What makes you think Batchelder is responsible for promotions?

[ColoradoEagle]

Nothing except his profile on MGS.

http://www.meangreensports.com/genrel/paul_batchelder_848233.html

Paul Batchelder enters his 11th year with North Texas Athletics. The Senior Associate Athletic Director for Marketing brings 22 years of athletic administrative experience to the North Texas staff. Prior to joining to the Mean Green in July of 2003, Batchelder served as the assistant athletic director at Southern Miss.

His primary areas of responsibility at North Texas involve direction of athletic marketing and promotional efforts, enhancement of student and fan participation, enhancement of game-day atmosphere and assisting with all phases of event management and operations.

Edited September 15, 2013 by ColoradoEagle

[Army of Dad]

Charlie Bronson's always got a rope.

Is that so Rambo?

[greenminer]

Denton does not have enough experience to know how to react to a winning team.

[NT03]

Nothing except his profile on MGS.

http://www.meangreensports.com/genrel/paul_batchelder_848233.html

I always thought that guy had something to do with the band