1994

[UNTexas]

I've got a question or perhaps just a request. I know it's been a long time but there was a reunion of the 1994 football team around the turn of the century. I was wondering if anyone knows if there will be a 20 year reunion coming this upcoming season. The significance, other than it being 20 years, is it was a conference championship team but arguably more important it was the team that got us back into Division 1 football. If anyone hears anything about another reunion can you please post it here because some people weren't tracked down last time and I know some guys missed out that would have loved to seen everybody last time. Not just players either. I can promise y'all coaches, equipment managers, trainers, Athletic Department staff, fans, ect where a huge part of that team. It was a really special group of people and I would love to see people from that year. I saw some at the HOD Bowl and it was great. Some of the old timers who follow UNT football would agree it was a great group of folks and a damn good team.

Hopefully this is a good off season post!

Edited January 25, 2014 by UNTexas

[KRAM1]

I've got a question or perhaps just a request. I know it's been a long time but there was a reunion of the 1994 football team around the turn of the century. I was wondering if anyone knows if there will be a 20 year reunion coming this upcoming season. The significance, other than it being 20 years, is it was a conference championship team but arguably more important it was the team that got us back into Division 1 football. If anyone hears anything about another reunion can you please post it here because some people weren't tracked down last time and I know some guys missed out that would have loved to seen everybody last time. Not just players either. I can promise y'all coaches, equipment managers, trainers, Athletic Department staff, fans, ect where a huge part of that team. It was a really special group of people and I would love to see people from that year. I saw some at the HOD Bowl and it was great. Some of the old timers who follow UNT football would agree it was a great group of folks and a damn good team.

Hopefully this is a good off season post!

Great idea! Are you an ex-player from that era? If so, the Letterman's Association could be a big driving force in setting up just what you are talking about. I believe Reggie Johnson in the athletic department head's up the Letterman's Association and Lance White and Charlie Smith are both on the board of the Letterman's Association.

It is not too early NOW to start moving that ball forward. I would personally love to see this happen! Anything I could possibly do to help...count me in.

[Mean Green 93-98]

That was a great season. I know we were still just 1-AA, but we had a great winning team, an exciting style of play, Mitch Maher at QB, packed stands at every game, and a kind of excitement that has probably only been matched a couple of times since. That McNeese St. game was epic.

[wardly]

We played only 4 home games[10 game season] that year and averaged 19,500 per game in attendance. Lost at Oklahoma State by 2 points, and at Boise in 1aa playoff by 4 points.

[Mean Green 93-98]

We . . . averaged 19,500 per game in attendance.

Are you sure about that? I thought we had to average 25k that year to jump back up to 1-A. 19.5k might be the actual "butts in seats" count, but I'm pretty sure the official number was at least 25k. And it was probably the most consistently full the Fouts stands ever were.

[CMJ]

Are you sure about that? I thought we had to average 25k that year to jump back up to 1-A. 19.5k might be the actual "butts in seats" count, but I'm pretty sure the official number was at least 25k. And it was probably the most consistently full the Fouts stands ever were.

I thought we only had to average 20K.

[PlummMeanGreen]

1994, 2002 (topped off with a MG bowl win over U of Cincinatti) and our HOD Bowl team of this last Fall are my 3 favorite years watching Mean Green football. (I'm still shaking my head with all the Mean Green fans who very impressively showed up on New Years Day at the Cotton Bowl stadium).

1994 was the only year Mean Green football (and basketball) were on KTCK 1310 "The Ticket."

The Mean Green post game show on 1310 AM after each game with Mark "something'tine kept the phone lines lit up, too, as I recall.

I hope we can very soon get 1310 AM and 96.7 FM back as our main radio stations because God knows we can deliver more Metroplex listeners since we are this region's largest public/regional university. LIsteners en mass? Isn't that what radio stations still actually want to buy soap (so to speak) from all their sponsors?

GMG!

__________________________________________________

Wanna' get a real belly laugh? Then read all the sports teams this write-up link says about KTCK 1310 "The Ticket" and see which 2 area schools are glaringly missing on this list and all the others who quite amazingly made their list of schools and teams. (As they say.............you just can't make this kind of stuff up).

http://www.onlineradiostations.com/radio-stations/usa/texas/dallas/ktck-1310-sports-radio/details.html

Edited January 25, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

[Mean Green 93-98]

I thought we only had to average 20K.

I'm really thinking 25k, but it's been 20 years, so you could be right. Either way, that 19.5k couldn't be right as an official count, or we wouldn't have been admitted to 1A.

[SilverEagle]

We played only 4 home games[10 game season] that year and averaged 19,500 per game in attendance. Lost at Oklahoma State by 2 points, and at Boise in 1aa playoff by 4 points.

That's the game where we were driving in the last minutes for a go ahead score and Mitch Maher was intercepted by a one armed DB. That's when you knew that it just wasn't mean't to be.

[akriesman]

I'm really thinking 25k, but it's been 20 years, so you could be right. Either way, that 19.5k couldn't be right as an official count, or we wouldn't have been admitted to 1A.

I am sure it was not 25k. It was 20k or even less (could have been as low as 15k). I went to all those games and we were nowhere near 25k that year. But, I do remember everyone saying that we were right on track after each game.

I think that other mandate was that the stadium had to seat 30k, which I believe is when the metal end zone bleachers went into Fouts.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I am sure it was not 25k. It was 20k or even less (could have been as low as 15k). I went to all those games and we were nowhere near 25k that year. But, I do remember everyone saying that we were right on track after each game.

I think that other mandate was that the stadium had to seat 30k, which I believe is when the metal end zone bleachers went into Fouts.

Super UNT alum Charn ???????? from SE Asia purchased 5,000 (or was it) 10,000 season tickets as I recall, so I have no idea how those figured in the equation. I think it really was actually closer to 20K per home game recalling the good fan support AND..............the unbelievable DFW media coverage. Amazing how winning even affects that sorta' thing in this part of Texas.

GMG!

Edited January 25, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen

[meanrob]

Pretty sure the barrier to I-A was a 30k stadium, average 17k (for the first year and once every four years after that?)and offer a certain number of athletic scholarships. The attendance part kept changing, which led to ridiculous things like ULM playing home games in Little Rock and Idaho using Wazzu's stadium.

1994 was great. If you get a chance, watch the highlight video from that year, it's a good.

I still think Simon should've punted instead of taking the safety against OSU.

[FirefightnRick]

I still think Simon should've punted instead of taking the safety against OSU.

....or at least place someone back to field the damn thing instead of letting it hit at the 20 and roll to the one inch line.

Damn that was a long drive home!

Rick

Edited January 25, 2014 by FirefightnRick

[CMJ]

That's the game where we were driving in the last minutes for a go ahead score and Mitch Maher was intercepted by a one armed DB. That's when you knew that it just wasn't mean't to be.

Boise State made the title game that year...and I think that DB had an INT there as well.

[UNTexas]

Great idea! Are you an ex-player from that era? If so, the Letterman's Association could be a big driving force in setting up just what you are talking about. I believe Reggie Johnson in the athletic department head's up the Letterman's Association and Lance White and Charlie Smith are both on the board of the Letterman's Association.

It is not too early NOW to start moving that ball forward. I would personally love to see this happen! Anything I could possibly do to help...count me in.

Yes sir. I played for all four of Simon's years. (94, 95, 96, & 97) 94 was a very good group of players. Two a Days ran off a lot of players. The people left were guys who wanted to play football and win. I was too young and stupid to realize Simon was trying to make people quit. He called it Camp Sparta. We stayed in West Hall and so many people quit and left a in the middle of the night the coaches left a box to leave your keys in at the front desk. We called it the Midnight Train. A camp like that would be illegal now. It was misery. But damn could that team play. We almost took down Oklahoma State and should have beaten Boise State who went on to lose in the National Championship game. Very fun and memorable season. Letterman's Association is a good idea to contact. I can't believe it's been 20 years. Edited January 26, 2014 by UNTexas

[wardly]

To remain at the 1a level you had to average 20,000 home attendance per game in 30,000 seat stadium. This is why a successful alum donated enough money to put 10,000 bleacher seats in our stadium, none of which ever saw a butt.

[FirefightnRick]

To remain at the 1a level you had to average 20,000 home attendance per game in 30,000 seat stadium. This is why a successful alum donated enough money to put 10,000 bleacher seats in our stadium, none of which ever saw a butt.

I remember Charn buying tickets. So who paid for bleachers?

Rick

[UNTexas]

To remain at the 1a level you had to average 20,000 home attendance per game in 30,000 seat stadium. This is why a successful alum donated enough money to put 10,000 bleacher seats in our stadium, none of which ever saw a butt.

I only recall one time a good number of people were in the metal seats. Montana State. They came to Fouts as the #1 or #2 1aa team. Both end zones had some people in them but all would have fit in the main structure of seating. Maybe there were other games this occurred at after I was relegated to no man's land by the G for a decade before I returned to the metroplex. I didn't catch many games until ESPN3 allowed it. The facilities have come a very long way... It's hard to think how bad they were. Edited January 26, 2014 by UNTexas

[CMJ]

To remain at the 1a level you had to average 20,000 home attendance per game in 30,000 seat stadium. This is why a successful alum donated enough money to put 10,000 bleacher seats in our stadium, none of which ever saw a butt.

That's false...I went to a game that year after taking a standardized test (can't remember if it was the SAT or PSAT) and I definitely sat in the extra bleachers with several hundred other people.

[UNTexas]

That's false...I went to a game that year after taking a standardized test (can't remember if it was the SAT or PSAT) and I definitely sat in the extra bleachers with several hundred other people.

Come to think of it Oregon State in 95 was the same situation you describe. We won too. Huge win that year because it was such a beat down season.

[JesseMartin]

The bleachers were intended to be paid for by a fee the Student (Government) Association got passed, but there was some sort of glitch in how it was assessed so they couldn't use the money for that. So instead the money went into a scholarship endowment fund and other means had to be used to get them installed. Bill Miller was the guy who had tried to make it happen and told me the story once. Some of my friends and I used to sit in the end zones because we could be loud, and especially when it was really full on either side, you could still be down pretty low in the endzones.

Also a year or two ago somebody put up all the info on what it took to make the 1A hurdle, it was 17K or 18K, I remember because I thought that seemed so low.