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Threads often shift topics wildly, so I'd like to make one with a high level focus rather than a detail like baseball, uniforms, sushi etc. WB came in and "evaluated" the situation. In talking to him and looking at his public comments a major theme is being overlooked. It is very difficult to evalutate employees and programs when they haven't been given the tools to perform. Look at what WB said about Benford: essentially I am going to see if we can fix up a few things and give him some help then make a decision. They tried, it didn't work and they made a move. Grant is a tremendous hire. He has experience across multiple levels, winning at every stop and he has a great coaching staff around him. The team will take a huge step forward, some @ UNT I have spoken with think 18+ wins is the year 1 expectation. I think WB views everyone in AD department in this way, give them the tools and see what they can actually do once they have them. That is not a shortcoming it is the sign of a good leader. Ben and UNT90 are spot on that there were people underperforming in the department under RV, this is difficult to dispute. But were they underperforming more than our facilities, fundraising, AD leadership etc? Why were they underperforming? As some have pointed out that is a much more difficult question to answer. WB takes heat for "evaluating" and moving slowly, but if you look at things closely a big shift is already happening. The AD department has over 100 employees when coaching staffs are added in, but for simplicity let's call it 100. Already there has been a fairly large turnover over 20 people and probably closer to 30. There have also been multiple hires to senior roles. To me this sends a clear signal that everyone needs to step up their game or be replaced or be demoted. I like this type of management. Here is more money, more support, go hustle and win - if you don't someone is going to take your place. College athletics is a small world. You don't gain a lot by publicly announcing that all of your employees are a dumpster fire and then canning them before setting foot on campus. You not only look like a jerk, you lose respect of others in the atheltics landscape and it hurts your ability to recruite future talent. WB is taking actions, just because they are not incredibly public doesn't mean they aren't happening. A similar thing happened with the Denton campus as a whole. There are a lot of parralels: new leadership came in, fixed large fiscal and structural problems, started raising more money then began replacing people that needed to go with ones who were better fits. Most top positions in the school have been turned over. This did not happen instantly but just a few years later 8 of the 10 cabinet positions have been turned over. Finally, yes not everyone will always support all decisions but the negativity towards WB pisses me off a bit. His major hires (Mosley and Grant) look like home runs, and he has articulated a clear plan to his adminstration to secure more funding. The old AD never did this as simple as it sounds. The adminstration has in turn supported him, working collaborativley with athletics. He has negotiated better deals with vendors and contracts to fix merchandising shortcomings and to save money... the list goes on and on. Look if he flubs something up then by all means be critical of him, but aside from not instantly firing people that are generally disliked by some on this board I don't understand where the criticism is coming from. Building major facilites takes a bit of time, it is not an instant process. We finally have a solid AD, he is calculating and if there is a problem he will commit resources to step in and resolve it. He is building a deep team, gathering more resources, and hiring coaches who will win. He is also unifying major donors. Guys like CDS who were firm RV supporters are now supporting him publicly in the paper and folks like EK who lobbied hard to hire another AD candidate are behind him as well. I see the signs of leadership from WB and I am supporting the department for these reasons, both finanically and on this board.

#NewdEnton

Can I be in some kind of weird, logical middle ground, where I don't allow myself to call anyone who hasn't coached a game here a "home run" or praise an AD one year in, while still feeling generally optimistic about the direction our program appears to be taking? I mean, I like our recent hires and our direction on paper, but without major strides, I'm not going to get a Wroner about anything yet.

This site isn't the end all be all, but they're usually pretty solid in their evaluations. They have us with #39 Jordan Redfearn from Aubrey who more than likely is a swing guy for us as a OT/OG, #35 Cole Brown from Conroe HS, AND #33 Daizion Carroll from Waco Midway. This is pretty impressive haul in my opinion.

"New Denton" is more than just a 2 year thing. It can mean so many things. It's an evolving frame of mind. You can't change how people view UNT in only 2 years, and if players and recruits are continuing to embrace it, why would you stray from it? Keep hammering it until you get where you want be.

#NewAndImprovedDenton ... ? #AlmostAt85ScholiesNowDenton ... ?

Time to start getting some Ole Miss transfers.

After the first year does #NewDenton really make sense? I mean I can buy it for the remainder of the season, but after that I feel like we need a new marketing direction for the team. I'm open to suggestions I just think it's losing its accuracy. Some other ideas for Marketing hashtags.

Literally only one person didn't want Tauaefa and now they're fired. For exactly this kind of decision. Everyone here wanted to offer the dude. If you're up for transferring we're here for you my dude cause we don't care about that crap.

My thoughts? I'll give him a half point credit for using hookers instead of seducing chicks for fun and maybe causing them to think there might *love* involved. At least kept it a business transaction where everyone got a fair price. He's a helluva coach I am not crazy about guys using their faith as part of their branding. I go to church, I send my church a check every payday, I volunteer, but I don't expect that to be on my performance evaluation at work. If you are at Liberty or Baylor, then it makes sense. Now I drew up tight when the NCAA started crawling all over him and his assistants because nothing the NCAA enjoys more than knocking a little guy around. They started digging in 2012 and actually started over women's hoops. By December 2013 they had enough to chase Louisiana Lafayette over assistant David Saunders and that wrapped up January of 2016. Clock ran out on anything he did at AState on December 4, 2015, so they didn't find anything, but he came to AState in 2010 after signing day and his only class at AState was mostly guys Roberts had been recruiting. Wasn't a notable bunch, rated 4th in the Sun Belt and 102nd in the nation. I was stunned when he had his superclass at Ole Miss because I hadn't seen any signs of him being a megarecruiter, I mean his starting QB at Ole Miss the first three years was a kid who quit at AState because he not only wasn't starting, he wasn't playing and got mad at then OC Freeze when Freeze shut him down when he claimed he was the best QB he had. I mean guys who are second best at AState aren't exactly the guys you expect to start 39 games in the SEC, Freeze wasn't at AState when either were recruited. Terribly stupid way to embarrass your family and on top of that, everyone who took a job with him at Ole Miss will be on the chopping block come December, the kids who signed to play for him don't get that. Pretty much everyone who put faith in him loses because he liked hookers. Now come 2021, I'll stand up and clap for him and the players who make it back when we honor the 10th anniversary of his team but beyond that it's his life to repair. Not a chance. Guarantee you Kiffin is thinking, have a good year and I can get the Ole Miss job or whatever decent P5 opens. He's not going to saddle himself with Freeze. Why should he have stayed at AState? Unless he went crazy with the money he has more banked than he would have made if he had stayed at AState.

DRC: http://beta.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2017/07/21/unt-basketball-notes-reese-expected-play-grad-transfer-trainer-departs

Yep, in more than one way.

Escort service got the call and she is on the way! Bringing her own beer too!

https://meangreennation.com/2017-cusakickoff/ Impressions, links, quotes. It was fun but tiring. I think next year I would rather do a live broadcast from there rather than do table-by-table interviews. Some of that would be duplicating the stuff Thulin was doing though. Only La Tech had radio guys (one guy) there doing a remote. No local radio guys (outside of Liddle from MGRN) were getting audio. I understand why, but like, geez.

For sure. But everything has to be put under the microscope, not just the culmination of wins and losses over 1 sport. I can live with .500 programs if the athletic department is being proactive rather than reactive. And visible progress is being made to lay a real foundation for sustained success. Though wins and losses are important, our programs need to have a baseline of success and a trend pattern has to be maintained for said foundation to be poured properly. The baseline has been established in football. Hopefully a positive one is set in basketball this upcoming season.

I'm with you. Where do I sign up.

#NewDenton is fine... I get why it rubs some people the wrong way until I consider how long we have sucked and how little most people think of our university... any denton is gonna be new denton to most of the kids we are going after, even in the metroplex. If they succeed this year like I am anticipating, I think it will change to something else. let the youngins do their thing with the hash tags!

#hitfiveplusagoodapr

#NewOldMarriotParkingLotRemainder

Hey now, I'd love it if they would talk to me about something like that. But I'm not going to pay for it myself!

Media savvy grads who don't give a rats ass. We've got thousands of Craig Millers out there. Not just radio front men, behind the scenes guys/gals as well.....

Has anyone written a book yet called, "The Restless Penis: How It Gets Men Of All Ages, Education Level, Income Level, And Social Status Into Trouble." If not, Hugh Freeze should be considered to write the Forward. It all goes back to The Ticket's Gordo and his constant referral to men getting into trouble over that one small part of the female anatomy. If they would all just heed Roxette and listen to their hearts instead of their penises. In all seriousness, though, the denial from Hugh Freeze is the icing on the cake. Losing a very public $5 million jobs to the inability to police up his penis, though, maybe denial is the first stage in admitting he has a problem.

We're also in the top 5 for Kameron King, #26

I think coach Stockstill is a little perturbed by all of Kiffin's attention. Expect a major beatdown in Boca Raton on 9/30. Like 55-10 with starters still in late 4th quarter beatdown.

Yep. And if it had been $MU, they would have provided them for him.

I bet if he was 10-3 last year instead of 5-7 it wouldn't have mattered how many escort services he called.

It's ironic because Michael Oher was released today by the Panthers, and the Blindside is on TV right now.

Then I can't tie ASU's improved records and bowl wins to escorts services at ASU based on the 2011 season. Come to think of it, is "escort services in the state of Arkansas" an oxymoron?

Wikipedia says he was OC in 2010 and HC in 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Freeze

Beer before the game and a ride from East Side to the stadium (and back). I did it last year. Incredible value if you make even just three of the games.

Excellent observations from both of you. On top of righting the ship, Wren is still accessible. Some AD's like to keep plenty of distance between themselves and the general public...not Wren. He seems like a very thoughtful and caring guy to me and I hope everyone gives him a chance to shine.

I'm not sure I watched the same video as y'all. Looked like a bunch of freshmen made an OK video for their intro to drama class or something. What's wrong?

Lydia might have something to say about that.

I think its really easy to overhype any team, including UAB. There is very little difference between many of the top teams and the bottom -- MTSU was great until their QB got knocked out then looked lost. Southern Miss had a bad loss every two games or so last season. Marshall imploded. WKU and La Tech were the only wire-to-wire finshers and even they couldn't stop anyone consistently. UAB will not be the typical start-up program, but I do not want to give them too much benefit of the doubt. North Texas would not have gone to a bowl in any other conference aside from the Sun Belt, but the good news is that we are still in the same conference.

Long story. In short, "yes, but no"... unless those extra 5 are walk-ons who have been here for at least 2 years being awarded like what they did with Shanbour earlier this year.

What hashtag would you change it to after the season?

I hope we can hold on to these guys and if we can, its gonna be exciting to watch these kids develop into a mauling offensive line

Where are the other OG's in the 30's, 40's, and 50's committed to?

As far as giant question marks go, I tend to believe they are busts more often than they are diamonds in the rough. Restarting a program is difficult no matter the circumstances. Just look at SMU($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$).

This is partly the result of a law suit by Houston Nutt. He claims the university, the AD, and Freeze disparaged him by telling sports writers privately that most of the NCAA infractions happened during Nutt's tenure. They FOI'd phone records looking for evidence of Bjork and Freeze were spreading this story. Apparently, there was a non-disparagement clause in the resignation agreement. Freeze just got caught incidentally.

Where the Redfern grows #39

Three levels of club seats: Silver, something closer to the middle, and something in the middle. For each seat, you must make a stadium donation. For silver, it's $3,125. For something better, it's $6,250. For something in the middle, it's $12,500. Again, that's per seat. Historically, we've been able to make that payment over five years. You must make a mean green club donation. For silver, I've had to pay $500 a year, but I believe that's gone up to $300 a seat once my initial stadium donation agreement is finished. The actual tickets are $375 per seat per season. The above prices are based on my own experience and may have since changed.

This is spot on. We are all anxious for change but then must realize that Baker is just now finishing year one. We do have to focus on the revenue sports, because success there will lead to increased attendance, increased fundraising, thus creating money to investment in the entire program. I wish we could put off the track/soccer complex, but when we have young men and women coming here to run track and we are putting them on a surface that is not safe things must be pushed to the forefront. I predict in two more years we will be light years ahead of where we are today, but we have to be patient.

Ranked #39 in Texas

@GTWT, you almost have me talked into backing Liberty for admission to C-USA.

They'll catch 2/3 CUSA teams who don't take them seriously.

I'm not convinced one year of recruiting makes much of a difference the following season. I'd say that no reason at all. When I watch our game with them last year the only difference I saw was they lucked into a walk-on quarterback who's pretty good while we had a true freshman quarterback with a bad offensive line. I thought talent levels were pretty evenly matched. Still, I felt we lost that game more than they won it. They still have that quarterback so I can understand the ranking. Ranked 4th sounds about right until we prove something on the field.

I'm very surprised with the trust in La Tech from everyone. Last year they relied on specifically their air attack to outscore opponents and it worked wonderfully. However, they're missing their starting quarterback and two best receivers from last season. Their QB will likely have played little to no competitive NCAA football and a lot of players will need to step up to make up for the production lost to the NFL. I think we're going to be an unhappy bunch come week 12 when UTSA beats them and takes the division championship.

You are absolutely full of crap! Go away..you don't come to games anyway, so you have no clue!