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Please let the thought of UNT only on our helmets die of solitary confinement.

So as a few of you know, and most of you don't, I'm a musician of the singer-songwriter variety. I released my very first album on January 18th, which is titled "Old Denton Roads", a nod to some of the best times of my life and the source of several songs on the album. The songs are alt-country, country, and kind-of-not country. So if you like any of that, you might like it. (If you don't like it, don't tell me... I have a fragile ego) OMG how is this football-related? Okay, chill; I'm getting to that. As I was saying, I loved Denton and my time at UNT. So naturally, when I finished the album I wanted to think of a way to give back. Since I spend a good amount of my internet free-time on this fabulous resource we know as GMG, I figured this would be a solid way to realize that ambition. Andrew Smith was QB during my last years at UNT. It was a profound loss by the entire Mean Green community, as well as many families, friends, and his home town. I'd love to donate to this worthy cause, but I'm a cliche, broke, wandering musician. What I can do is donate my craft. I'll donate EVERY cent I make from downloads from CD Baby for the rest of this month. CD Baby offers me a rate of 70 cents on each dollar sold through their website- the highest of the online retailers. It also has the quickest turnaround for payment. So downloading an album ($10) results in a $7 donation to the Andrew Smith Memorial Fund. To download go to http://www.cdbaby.co...rantleecroucher I'll provide complete transparency to the board throughout the process. The sale will commence today and run through April 30. Thanks for your time, support of local independent music, UNT Athletics, and GMG! -Brant '03

More disliked around here: HoopManX or, though we haven't heard from him in a while... TulsaFaninTexas Some folks here need to simmer down a little. Obviously this guy has connections to the local hoops scene, so his knowledge/information is somewhat valuable. He's a Pony fan... oh well, take his posts with a grain of salt and move on. He's a little back-handed sometimes, and that's to be expected. Some of you fools do the same things (or worse ) on their board. He comes here because there is relevant basketball talk going on. And, despite the constant bashing, keeps coming back for more. I kinda think he likes us!

With the football team changing to NIKE, do you think the basketball team would also change. IMO, I think the basketball unis are worst than the football ones. Nike makes a good looking basketball jersey that could use a much needed upgrade.

The Washington State and TCU uniforms are horrible. If this is how Nike rewards its schools for winning and moving up in conferences, then I prefer we go with another vendor. TCU had great, classic uniforms and now they have this mess.

The offense will put up crazy numbers again as usual. Looking forward to getting Keenum back. He hasn't played as all world since that horrendous bowl game in 2009 where he threw all the interceptions, but at a minimum he'll be solid. Hopefully he'll be great again. I think he's been trying to do too much which leads to bad passes. Hopefully he'll trust his teammates more to make the plays and play within himself. If he does that he'll be amazing. We're worried about his knee. One of his biggest strengths is the ability to create on the move. He's not the fastest QB but he has an AMAZING pocket presence that keeps him out of trouble. Hopefully his knee will allow him to still do that. The WRs will be deep as usual, but a little less experienced than in the past. Patrick Edwards will be great again this year as the primary receiver. If you want to lose your lunch, watch the youtube video of him breaking his leg 2 years ago. It's worse than watching the Theisman video. I don't know he came back and still seems to be as fast as ever. One of the surprising bright spots will be the RBs. We'll be getting Sims back who was CUSA freshman of the year in 2009. He's very explosive. The main workhorse back Beall was CUSA freshman of the year before that. And we have an all around back that got a lot of time last year. The OLine we don't know much about yet. We lost plenty there but hopefully they'll at least be average. If they can do that, it should give Keenum enough time because he is such a fast decision maker. A new Center is scary is this offense because the snaps have to be on. The defense will determine whether UH is good or great. If the defense is even average, UH will be great this year. If they're anywhere near as bad as they've been the last couple of years, we'll be good. We can score with anyone even with a bad defense, but if we have a decent defense, no one can keep up with our offense. Run defense has been the Achilles heel. And even worse, running QBs really hurt UH. I'm curious how Dunbar will do against the UH D. I'm sure he'll get his yards. He's too good not to. But if that's all UNT has, UH will be able to outscore them. I can't wait to see Carrier returning kicks again. You don't want to miss him if he touches the ball on kickoffs. He's returned 6 kicks for TDs in his career including 4 in 2009 and is looking to break the record. He runs track for the UH track team and is one of the fastest guys in Track, not just football. He's a solid receiver too. This post has been promoted to an article

Went to grade school through high school in Mesquite, and went to UH from 1986 to 1991. 1st season at UH we went 1-10, but it got better. I was there for the best run and shoot years. I was there at the 95-21 SMU game and the Rice game when they announced the Heisman winner. UH isn't like UT, aTm, or even TT and TCU. We have never had many t-shirt fans.

After looking over the entire branding campaign ASU put together I'm even more proud of what we got several years ago. I still love it all.

The Mavs can beat anybody (except the referees) if they play defense and Dirk gets some help. Every game I watch I get less and less interested in the NBA due to the officiating. I think Pro Wrestling is more of a sport at this point.

Well, I do know that MGC memberships and renewals and total dollars pledged and committed through the MGC are ahead of pace as to where they were at this time last year. The MGC is doing this campaign much earlier than in prior years. In prior years it is my understanding (from contact with MGC paid staffers) that the majority of new memberships and/or renewals came in much later in the year...mostly around the time when season ticket sales geared up...July/August time frame. Being significantly ahead of that pace is an accomplishment. In addition 100% of the boxes have been sold at the new stadium and well over 490 of the 800 club seats. It is only mid-May. Also...season ticket applications are ahead of pace from last year. I'm am not saying that these folks are God's gift to the marketing world, but they are definitely more in number and significantly better at what they do than what we have ever seen before at UNT. I appreciate your perspective, I just see people working on development much more and much better than I have ever seen before. Remember, when we, as fans, are at games or evening functions having fun, these folks are still on the clock working...often seven days a week. Could it be better or smarter, probably so...could they use additional training? Sure, couldn't everyone in their positions? I understand your "they stand around and talk to each other" thing as that has been a pet peeve of mine for many years...but not just with UNT folks. Let's see where the MGC memberships are come Sept. 10th (and the scholarship dollars raised) along with the season ticket numbers before we are too "shocked" at the numbers. I guess I am comparing what I see going on and the numbers I have actually seen to those I witnessed the past many years. And, from my perspective, while improvements can always be made, it just seems the effort and success rate is way ahead of where it has been in previous years. Just as a small bit of perspective, in my Mean green Club Rep work I am seeing increases in giving levels far outpace any reductions in giving levels (in fact I have had only one reduction with eight increases in giving levels so far). I am told this is not that unusual for a Mean green Club rep. I know of another rep who has several...really more than several...brand new members already signed up and paid.

I saw on CBSsports.com that Arizona State and Washington State had revealed their new Nike unis. Arizona State (with all new branding): http://www.nikeblog.com/2011/04/12/new-arizona-state-uniforms-logo/ Washingington State: http://www.wsucougars.com/genrel/040811aad.html - This site has a link to a gallery of the new unis. Hopefully, ours are not too far behind.

I see some of the figures that the possible new Womens HC was getting at her previous gig. She was probably getting around 175k all total. I'm assuming that NT will be competitive with what she was getting. So that got me to thinking about how much JJ is getting. For some reason I think he is only at roughly the 150k mark.

UNC-C Women’s Head Basketball Coach Karen Aston Contract: May 2, 2007 – May 1. 2012 Annual Salary: $150,000 Bonuses/Perks: * 5 percent annual salary if the team competes in the NCAA Division I Women’s basketball championship * 10 percent annual salary if team advances past the first round in the tournament * 15 percent annual salary if team advances to the round in which there are 16 teams remaining * 20 percent annual salary if the team advances to the round in which there are four teams remaining * $10,000 if the team wins or shares the regular season Atlantic 10 conference championship * $10,000 if the team wins the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament * 5 percent annual salary of coach is named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year * $10,000 if the combined average GPA for recruited scholarship student-athletes on the women’s basketball team exceeds 2.5 * $15,000 if the combined GPA exceeds 2.7 * $5,000 for each recruited scholarship student-athlete who graduates within one calendar year of the last semester in which the student is eligible to compete * $1,000 per speaking engagement. No more than 10 per year. * University will provide coach with the use of a late-model automobile, including liability insurance and reasonable costs of operation and maintenance. * University will reimburse coach the cost of professional tax return preparation for both N.C. and federal individual tax returns.

Pay the man, Rick!!!!

My TV will now be muted the rest of the Rangers season. I've never heard such horrific play-by-play for a MAJOR LEAGUE team. I always loved Lewin and my dream broadcast crew would have been him and Razor in a booth together (don't care which sport). Sadly, Lewin just isn't translating to radio for me We are incredibly fortunate to have someone as talented as Hank... thanks for all that you do in the booth and your extra-curricular work around town. This post has been promoted to an article

I refuse to believe you till I see pictures.

Like hell it is.

To each their own. Just don't call it a sport.

I would, against Division 1 teams they were .500.

Has anyone else noticed that he calls everyone Elvis Andrus when he can't immediately think of their name?

Which finger(s) do you call "the lead"?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/football-high/

Um, burying the lead here?

I guess we should take it as a compliment. Don't see any posters from other teams tearing down the football program right now. Fear breeds insecurity.

He's a good troll. Comes over here, riles us up well, but never with anything particularly worthy of a suspension. He's sorta like a pebble in your shoe that you can't get out.

this!

OK, so have you been to the last few spring games? How many students did you see attending? I've been going to spring games each chance I get for over 20 years and never has, in my memory, there been any sizable student turnout. I also have to say that your comment about the "10 promoters doing nothing" is a bit out of line. The folks I know who have taken on those jobs seem to me to be working their rear ends off. I see them everywhere and they are going all over the metroplex talking with donors and potential donors. Maybe they have missed an opportunity or two that you have attended or missed a call or two, but I am most happy with the help and support I am getting from them with the Mean Green Rep program (a program UNT never had before they initiated it based on what some of these folks had seen at other universities), the events I have helped to sponsor, the stadium tours, the personal meetings with folks I have referred to them, their working the crowds at the basketball games (first time I have ever seen that happen), the work in the Mean Green Room and pavilion at Fouts, their helping with our Alumni Chapter Mixers (attending and supplying promo items). I understand that this is just from my perspective and you are certainly welcome to your opinion which are based on circumstances other than mine I am certain, but I respectively do think your "do nothing" comment was a bit over the top. These folks are working long hours and sometimes seven days a week. Do you not recall Mandy???? That was the prime example of "do nothing". I think we have upgraded that work area as much as the coaching staffs and facilities in recent days. Just my opinion...not trying to pick a spat here.

It's underrated for sure.

Oh great. When was the last time we hired a coach with true division one experience, upgraded our facilities, or made a serious contract extension offer to lock down a coach that has taken a program to unprecedented success and elevated the expectations of its fans? Wake me up when this Athletic Department gets serious about being big time.

Thought it would be an interesting time to talk about this since Coach Jones and staff just got a sizable raise, Coach Aston is being brought in after firing Stephens, and of course Coach Mac and his staff were brought in a few months ago. The past couple completed years ('08 and '09), the budget has hovered right around $17.1 million. The student athletics fee goes into effect for the Fall '11 semester. Using the 2009-10 fact book and extrapolating those percentages out to three semesters (Fall '10, Spring '11, and Summer '10), I came up with these numbers. One caveat is that the fact book lists hours in the way of 15+, 12-14, 9-11, etc. For 15 I capped at that since that's the most hours where the fee can be applied. For numbers like 12-14, I picked 13, 9-11 I picked 10, and so on. This is only an educated guess, and may be more or less depending on the enrollment numbers... 2008-2009: $17,184,137 2009-2010: $17,105,046 2010-2011: Not yet reported *2011-2012: $24,031,292 *projected Quite a leap. Obviously half of the new fee will be going towards paying the stadium. I don't know exactly how much the maintenance and operations cost on Fouts were vs. the new facility, but I think saying we have an extra $3.45m for general athletics use wouldn't be too far off. Optimistically, so far about $875k of the $3.45 has been spent. $80k boost for JJ, $500k boost for football assistants, $290k more for Mac than Dodge. These numbers don't include: buyout for Stephens, however much more Coach Aston and her assistants might make, and the salary boost for JJ's assistants. They also don't include any boosts we might receive due to the new stadium from increased MGC membership, higher giving, increased attendance, or increased/decreased conference revenue. Anyways, just bored and happy that we're finally moving into an acceptable budget range. Still a ways to go for a school of our size, but it's already making a huge, tangible difference with the coaches and facilities. Now the next step should be a tangible difference with marketing and promotions which are nearly non-existent outside the campus borders. Here's the math behind it for those interested This post has been promoted to an article

Have we considered an "Anti-Hall of Fame Forum"? Because I have a nomination...

no problem with the raise for JJ and staff but in return I do expect better .500 record in Sun Belt Play and not getting beat by 20 at SHSU.

CUSA had two teams in the NCAA tournament where we've had one most years since UNT joined. They appeared in six bowl games last year where the SBC was in three. CUSA schools average just a hair less than 10k per football game more than SBC schools. They average almost 3k more per basketball game than the SBC; 2k more if you remove Memphis from the equation. They just got a $43 million contract with FSN, and I can't find any information about how much the SBC's is currently worth. The SBC is coming along, especially in facilities, but the conference as a whole is not on the same level as CUSA. Now if you're talking strictly perception, I doubt your average joe sees much of any difference between CUSA and SBC, since most average joes are all about the big six conferences. The main problem with the SBC is there are certain schools that underfund their programs either by choice or by lack of options. The smallest athletic budget at any CUSA school is $19.5m at Southern Miss. The smallest in the SBC are Louisiana-Monroe at $10.7 million, Louisiana-Lafayette at $12.3m and Arkansas State at $13.3m. We've been at about $17 million, and next year I'd imagine it'll be $24-25 million. You basically have NT, WKU, MTSU, FAU, and FIU pumping cash into athletics (all spending in the low to mid $20m range), and then it falls off a cliff from there. Edit: Another thought is that the SBC is barely on TV compared with CUSA. An SBC basketball or football game on ESPN is an event, because it doesn't happen but half a dozen times a year for both sports combined. Hopefully that changes as ESPN attempts to put the screws to CUSA and the MWC via the SBC and MAC (or maybe WAC still instead of MAC?). Good timing on our contract being up for re-negotiation. It'd be great to see one of our games this year on ESPN2 or ESPNU. Bet that stadium is gonna look as amazing on TV as in person. This post has been promoted to an article

This is a dream come true. LA Tech is the logical choice, but the SBC is in the drivers seat and can use NMSU for the 11th spot to play LA Tech vs. Texas State vs. UTSA for the 12th spot. LA Tech has been able to stay in the WAC since the last round of expansion because of the unequal payments and BCS cash. The new WAC is not economically viable for LA Tech. A 12 teams Sun Belt would be a huge financial boost to LA Tech with all divisional games with in a few hours drive.

When was the last time you were a comic book hero?

Sun Belt Expansion Uncertain http://www.dnj.com/article/20110408/SPORTS/104080317/1006/McPhee-Sun-Belt-expansion-uncertain

nmsu has big financial problems. the state has mandated cuts that really effect the athletic department, so unless they can save big money by returning to the belt i don't see it happening. they may even have to drop down. la tech brings nothing to the table. they are a small school in a rural market that is already covered by la monroe. also the louisiana schools have financial prblems simular to nmsu. if we are going to add an existing division 1 football program i would assume it would be in a market we don't have a presence in. the only attraction for these 2 schools that i can see is that it would allow the belt to have east/west divisions that actually make some sense, and kill the wac. otherwise, i don't have a clue who/if a 11th school would be. perhaps we should think outside the box instead of focusing on the usual suspects. just an old mans opinion.

If Tech asked they would almost certainly be invited. Unless there is a major change there or ULM leaves, they aren't asking. Take a gander at Sagarin. Of returning WAC schools, the highest rated is below two Sun Belt teams. They are losing three top 50 programs and bringing in the second lowest rated Southland school and a school that has never snapped the ball. Look at the RPI. Outside of an outstanding USU program, the WAC is no big prize over the Sun Belt and one of their prize additions our 8th rated team. Women's basketball? Sun Belt put two in the dance, same as the WAC. Tech is rated a little above MTSU and UALR is rated 46 to Fresno's 45 and Fresno is leaving. Volleyball? Western schools are good but the Sun Belt has been a two bid league the last four years. There is also a sport called baseball. Sun Belt is 6th in RPI WAC 17th, the Sun Belt has had multiple teams invited in baseball for 22 consecutive seasons. Hard to see where the Sun Belt / Suck Belt talk comes from when the pesky facts don't back that up if the comparison point is the WAC. Right now the only bowl they are firmly with is Boise and scuttlebutt is that Boise will pull the plug after this year. While the new rule changes have saved the WAC's auto bid in other sports, the changes still leaves the league one short of conference status in football. That means a BCS payment of $100,000 per team ($700,000) rather than the guaranteed minimum of about $1.8 million. It also means that unless the WAC champ finishes ranked #1 or #2 they don't have to be selected by a BCS game because they go into the at-large pool. I don't know why "fans" trash the best league willing to have their school as a member but given the list willing to invite the school, the Sun Belt is pretty clear winner.

IIRC, his latest contract pays him 200k in salary.

Count me in again this year! Speaking of Scott Hall - thta was definitely the highlight for me last year - getting to catch a game pass from one of the all-time greats. I was living the dream... Thanks KRAM for the great job you do putting this together.

I would be comfortable in saying that our teams, especially the teams from 92 and 93, would have won the SBC every year and probably with ease.

It's true... you've gone from brilliant to transparent in a matter of weeks. You could have had it all.

So you went from absolutely not to probably not. You really made a 45 degree turn there.

Eh loco... choulda been drinkin Tequila and wachin "Nacho Libre" o at least "Necessary Roughness".....

I apologize for my post last night...I had one too many White Russians while watching the new Karate Kid...you understand.

Pandering for -1s.... You brilliant bastard.

When I spoke with the spirit committee in '07 they seemed to be relying on a plan they had with the Green Brigade giving the signal through some tune? But the band isn't always there as I tried to explain to them, and later the attempts at this failed. In talking with one official at the AD dept about this three Friday's ago who also wishes something of this kind could be worked out, he remembered what Memphis did, and that was to simply have their cheerleaders roll their hands and yell as an attention getter to the crowd. Over time, this has been done so many times by their students and alumni that most in attendance see and hear this and know what is coming next, then the cheerleaders pump their fist and the "T-I-G-E-R-S-TIGERS!" chant is done. K State uses their mascot. We could do something very similar if someone in charge would simply put forth the effort? We have one recognized yell that seems to get thrown at you wherever you go. "Go Mean Green!". Somehow that is what needs to be worked into a unified chant that is signaled for all to do, with a beginning and an end. Rick

Keep winning and we'll achieve tier 1 status. A chant would help.

OK, your reading comprehension on what this - and isn't - is not very good. Nothing against any of your ideas, I just think you're yelling at the Chevy plant guys because your Ford broke down. Does this makes us enemies? Is this your unofficial RFP for therapy? Where do I bid?