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When we got word a while back that there was giant news about a big time recruit coming to North Texas, I was super pumped at the thought of a five star football recruit joining our team. Then, the news came out that it was Tony and even though it was the biggest recruit to ever commit I was severely disappointed. I thought, how dare Vito get us all excited about a big recruit and it be something other than football. I could not see at the time how much this could benefit our school. Well.....I could not have been more wrong and I would like to apologize to Tony for ever being disappointed in him. In the end I believe he will do more for this school than any football recruit could have ever done. He's getting all sorts of publicity to our school by being a possible top 5 pick in next year's draft, he might possibly get the team into the top 25, he's helping bring in a lot of good recruits and single handedly raised attendance. This next year is going to be great and we owe it all to Mr. Mitchell. Thank you Tony!!!

Just got to where I could take a few minutes to share some tidbits from the outing. First, as I said, most people were quite receptive...because they were approached. Holding a stack of schedule posters at Apogee and waiting for people to pick them up does no good. I talked to several former season ticket holders who have not yet stepped foot in Apogee. They're just a gentle tug away and the new experience will see itself. I don't say this to brag or pander for "praise" as Eppy4Life (and the five fools naive enough to +1 him would believe) but rathe to encourage all of us to extend that invitation. I know that I personally can't stomach whining and moaning about the direction of our program...and doing it from the sidelines. We put up several of the schedule posters on Fry Street..again, we're talkin literally ON campus. I walk into the NT used book store and the girl behind the counter greets me in her UT shirt. NT grad who has always "loved North Texas" but says UT is "her football team". Walking along University we actually has a guy come out and tell us tag we had "skipped" his business. He runs a property rental business (rents to a few of our players) and put the schedule up prominently next to his desk for all to see. He told me he went to the Houston opener last season and didn't like the numbering of the seats. Intersting,albeit petty, complaint. He also said he was upset because NT "thinks they're Jerry Jones". He couldn't understand why it requires a donation to get season tickets on the 50. Folks this is the stark reality of things. To a lot of Dentonites supporting NT is like supporting the local high schools...show up, buy a dirt cheap ticket, drink a coke and call it a day. No connection. No obligation. And we can continue with the "let's behave like the big time and we'll be the big time" line of thinking at our own peril. We can follow the professional promotions handbook and keep the "I you're not in the MGC it's because I haven't called you or you haven't called me" mantra. Ooooor, we can enact a little square one thinking. Use a little shoe leather. What I did yesterday wasn't special, but it jet might be more effective than all the print and radio ads we throw money at. Just two dees who, years removed from being NT students, shook hands with Dentonites where they were and showed that the fire inside the Ut t-shirt alumni exists in us too. Blanketing Denton with schedule posters isn't high tech...but tell me this; which left a bigger impression on you when you visited College Station, Lubbock or even Lafayette...radio adds or seeing their logo and colors everywhere you looked in town? Maybe we shouldn't knock UTSA for the KFC promotions. Maybe giving school kids free tickets for good grades, even thousands of them, is better because it gets them through the gates fir the first time. Perhaps an alumni council that comes together and brainstorms promotions ideas...dirt cheap ones...would work. I see gems of ideas on here all the time.

http://nbadraft.net/2013mock_draft I guess Tony looked pretty damn good at LeBron's camp, because if my eyes are working properly, that says he's the FIFTH pick of the draft. I know it's just a mock, but it's still pretty awesome to see a member of the Mean Green that high on any draft board. Thought y'all would enjoy this. Go Mean Green!

The same praise would be lavished upon you for doing anything similar. Here's your chance: What are you doing?

They're closing 35 from 10p-6a on July 27. Anyone wanna grab some beers and tailgate the erection?

Personally, I'm glad to know about it. And maybe it will provide some motivation to other individuals to do more.

Can you pencil us in a 6th home game?

1. Tony Mitchell 6’8.5/236 7’3 (Dallas, TX) North Texas -- Mitchell was easily the top prospect in the event. He's an absolute beast and he took his aggression out on the rim on multiple occasions. He also had some jaw dropping rebounds in which he went way above the rim to bring the ball down. He's similar to Thomas Robinson (almost identical measurements) in that he has a chiseled physique and loves to play physical in the paint. He's also got excellent versatility with the ability to knock down mid range shots and also pass the ball. One scout told me he had Mitchell top 15 had he entered the 2012 draft. He could duplicate T-Rob with a monster sophomore season (he redshirted as a FR) and be taken as high as 5th overall. Read more: http://nbadraft.net/2012-lebron-james-skills-academy-top-college-prospects Numero Uno. Go Mean Green! This post has been promoted to an article

I would argue safety is the more difficult spot in secondary due to having to understand rolling coverages and usually having to be the QB of the secondary

If only you could do this without begging for praise

You don't know the difference between begging for praise and giving everyone a heads up that the posters are available? Well, what can one expect from someone that refuses to acknowledge the rightful name of our school's mascot. Emmitt is not the only person that stops by local businesses to give them an opportunity to show their support for the Mean Green. I have a standing reservation for a Mean Green poster at one of the local (and best) Saginaw donut shops......and it happens to be owned by a TCU grad. This time of year the owner's wife always starts bugging me for a new Mean Green poster. Thanks Emmitt for the heads up!

I was more excited than if it were a football player because you need more than one top flight recruit to make a good football team, in basketball one guy can make all the difference.

How is playing the season with all of the firestorm that will surround it be honorable? The very thing Paterno and his co-horts fought to save was Penn State football and his reputation. Abused kids with difficult circumstances in their lives who had been drawn into Sandusky's web with Penn State football was, at most, a secondary thought to them. It's what they loved most and what they protected - so, take it away from them. None of these Penn State fans has done anything honorable. You'd think among their monied donors that someone would stand up and say, "Look, this was embarassing and wrong, and we need to admit it and work to get past it. The focus shouldn't be football right now, but on helping these victims." Have any of Penn State's donors offered to start a fund for the abused kids? Has Penn State taken the step toward reconciliation and begun to offer some sort of recompense for these kids? How about something beyond money? How about offering to pay for the abused kids college or vocational education...at the college of their choice? There are so many things that the "wheels" at Penn State could be doing to show that they give a damn about the victims. Yet, everyone there is still bent on saving the program and excusing deplorable behavior. I don't think reality will hit those people unless what they misguidedly cherish the most is taken from them. NCAA president Emmert made clear in his letter last November that Penn State was being investigated for, among other things, "institutional control." The report yesterday shows that not only did the institution lack control, it refused to acknowledge it. Money and cars for athletes and letting boosters run wild is one thing. Allowing an employee of your institution to use a football program and the power and draw of the Penn State name as a means to abuse disadvantage kids is another. Both should be, and will be, punished by the NCAA. And, I'm sorry, but many people believe that only the most sever punishment will do. What is the price of beguiling a child and stealing his childhood, then covering it up? And, doing so to at least nine other children?

If only you could do this without begging for praise

I don't think that they would do that. The big boys need the little guys. Plus all the "big boys" are not as big as the real big boys. Not all Big 5 budgets are $100 million, there are quite a few teams with $40 million dollar budgets and they can maintain themselves as bigger than most boys in the current alignment. Plus if it was going to happen, it would have happened before this 12 year deal was struck. Breaking away from the NCAA isn't just about football. They would be leaving basketball as well. And the NCAA would not allow them to have their own separate league and then have the NCAA handle all the non-revenue sports. Do the big boys want to set up an infrastructure to handle women's golf and bowling? Because if they break away - they would have to manage all sports, not just football. Finally, a school like Vandy that is middle of the pack FBS would become bottom of the bottom. Every school, no matter the level wants to be perceived as higher than a group of others. We need them to show we are with the big leagues and they need us to maintain separation from "someone"

...are we the most honorable program? We joke plenty here about Todd Dodge. I was against his hiring at the outset because he lacked college coaching experience, and he hired an entire coaching staff who lacked college coaching experience. From a pure football standpoint, it was terribly shortsighted. But, let me say this: as I go about town in my Mean Green Nike hat purchase last summer, I can say that I'm proud even of those Dodge years now. Todd Dodge, as bad as his product was on the field, certainly did the right things off the field. Many of us - all of us - want badly for North Texas to be a winning program. Thankfully, however, we haven't had leaders and coaches wanting it so badly that the lives of innocents were scarred. "Winning With Honor" was nothing but a lie at Penn State. We haven't won much, but I'm proud of our program. I'm proud that we are clean. Someday, we'll win again. And, I hope that when those days return again, we will truly be doing what Penn State pretended to do, win with honor. I'm sorry for not being a better supporter during the Todd Dodge years. With the benefit of hindsight, it is always, always, always about more than winning. And, all joking aside, I hope that everyone who played under Todd Dodge, despite their few on the field successes, become those better husbands and fathers he sought to teach them to be. Knowing what I know now, give me the Todd Dodges of the world as the football coach of my alma mater rather than the Joe Paternos. If Todd Dodge ever is crazy enough to read college football message boards, this is for him : Coach, I'm sorry for not supporting you while you were here. I was a horse's ass. Even though the on field results we not always the best, you were doing the the right things behind the scenes. That was more important. And...thanks again for answering my mayo/mustard hamburger question in the chat. Love, Fake Lonnie P.S. - And, Rick, if you're reading, I still say people will stop calling us North Texas State if we go with a UNT logo. Sleep on it.

In Denton right now putting up football schedule posters all over Denton

Rudy taunting Maverick fans 13 months after a championship. I need an old fashioned.

I appreciate you keeping me up on this. I'l be there at 9:30 pitching a tent. Is Johnson coming?

Yes, my cat is in need of a loan and I am willing to drive to Denton to figure out how to make this work, but not if it means dealing with people like this.

That's not a bad point, either. Look, I love the hell out football at this university. But at the end of the day, athletics should always be a secondary priority at an educational institution. Athletics should be a means by which people see the university, it should never be the means, and it should never be the end goal of a university. Penn State forgot that, and now the victim list includes both Sandusky's direct victims, but the average fan, student, alumni, professors, and staff of Penn State, to include those who knew nothing about any of this. You can run a fine balance between the two and many universities do. Penn State is not one of them, and it also serves true the idea that the people who speak most about being clean are more than likely the dirtiest ones of all.

sounds like a normal Friday night for me... although I don't know what 'tailgate' refers to...

Great post, UNTJim1995...You's and I (and others I know on this board and beyond) seem to be from the same think tank. Still..........we have to keep the right perspective on where we've been of late and just hope we don't repeat it. It would be so easy for Apogee Stadium to become our next "high quality' venue a la a Super Pit that sits out there looking pretty and that's just about it. We all know what kind of basketball programs we had decade after decade before Johnny Jones came to town, now don't we? Some said or thought: "what a waste of a beautiful, glorious & "fabulous" basketball facility all those years." Cold, blatant facts are rarely acceptable on this board and even in our country's politics of late but here is one that will freeze your family jewels to their very core: Had our program been located in Ruston or Monroe or Jonesboro................. we would not have gotten a CUSA invite and that would have merely been based on what our media guides of overall performance and attendance figures would have revealed to Brit Banowsky and his staff and I'm talking about our overal performance (at a reasonable NCAA FBS level of quality and annual national ranking out of 100 plus NCAA FBS schools) of varsity athletics of the last 10-15 years. NOTE: For football, see the below link North Texas had no choice but to build Apogee Stadium. Well............duh? Why make heros out of those associated with that absolute neccessity (outside our UNT students) because our only alternative would have been to drop down, drop out or stay forever the same. And look how successful we've been doing the same of late as in SBC football? Many of us bitched for decades telling deaf ears how Fouts Field was visually (from the interstate) a laughting-stock to our entire UNT community least of all what it had been costing us to get better schools to come to Denton and then want to return to Fouts for games (ya' think Baylor ever wanted to come back after electricity went out in their dressing room during a half time for instance); plus the fact that Fouts Field would keep us from ever getting a conference upgrade which I think most would agree it did first time CUSA looked at us. I can only imagine how Hayden Fry had to to do a Fred Astaire dance number with SWC officials when he wanted North Texas in the SWC and all that because of Fouts Field. (It's been a very interesting ride at North Texas for those who've been around since post-Ice Age, folks). Now UNT powers-that-be can keep rewarding those for things that they really had nothing to do with till the cows come home, but it will still always be performance which needs to one day in our sweet bye and bye be the reason for getting bonuses and contract extensions at North Texas (and performance of teams who are rising in the rankings and that also being far away from Bottom 25 for starters). And please.........no more awards at North Texas for merely being on staff up there for a jillion years with mediocre (or less) performance results would be something for our higher echelon UNT powers that be to think about before another one of those kind of awards is freely given out with yet another............pay raise. Performance awards would be so much more meaningful and worth the extra income for those who produced over a fair enough of time. Dan McCarney and Tony Benford give many of us hope for our future in our 2 biggest revenue-producing sports. Outside of that, past performance of others who have produced a helluva' bunch of mediocrity and even been praised for it I would think the jury would still be out as to if they can take this thing to the next level; that is, from an overal poor to moderate success performance at the SBC level in all varsity sports to a much more competitive CUSA level. We need some of that group to re-invent themselves to become something yet unseen for a decade and more or we will I'm afraid in Mean Green Country see much of what we've seen during that same period. Prevention of repeating much of our history of the last few decades will still be worth a ton of cure for our future NCAA FBS and C-USA success at North Texas is how this all just about sizes up...........IMO. ______________________________________________ http://mcubed.net/ncaaf/teams/nt.shtml ______________________________________________ GMG!

Emmitt, While doing the “Lord’s work” have you had a chance to work with that Football coach from SMU?

I see you came out from under that bridge for some sunlight. As twho said no, it was a loan place who said their "corporate policy wouldn't allow it" and a veterinarian who just seemed like a grumpy lady. 90% of the people though were very accomodating.

If I recall, the DA at the time is now governor of PA. Wanna impeach him as well?

Just pointing out that he was not on the staff when you said he was.

You do realize that no one reads your... posts, right? Troll on.

That's already been going down at the rec lately.

And that was pre-LeBron Camp.

You are my new favorite.

Point of information....the men's basketball team under Blakeley was nationally ranked for a few weeks.

Could not agree more, when the news broke out I had my talons up all day walking around campus... Singing the fight song everyhour

You guys are gross. Sorry for trying to deliver new info on the bridge progress. SMH

Top flight FB players are great, but they tend to be much more hit and miss than top flight BB players. We're very fortunate, because I have little doubt that he's going to be the biggest impact player in any sport to pass through the MG Nation thus far. Hell, he may already be after only 2/3rd's of a season. No offense meant by that to Mean Joe, Abner, and a couple of other guys, but in this information age hype and publicity tend to fly to the four corners of the Earth.

Follow the money. If the most lucrative four conferences think they can make more money by seperation there will eventually be separation. If they think otherwise there won't be a break. Like Stebo said about Vandy and I can point to Texas Tech. Just look at the way Texas Tech schedules. They have scheduled 3 or 4 OOC games every year against opponents they think they can beat (throw in a FCS here and there) and they usually win those games. Yes, they scheduled TCU and Houston but that was set up before they were as competitive as they are now. Anyway, if you take out those almost gimme games they are a mediocre team. Texas Tech's record since 2000 when they started their longest bowl run in FBS. 2000 3-5 vs. AQ 4-1 vs non AQ (Bowl loss to ECU and first of three bowls without a winning record against AQ) 2001 4-6 v AQ, 3-0 vs non AQ (Second bowl without a winning record against AQ) 2002 7-5 v AQ and 2-0 vs non AQ 2003 5-4 v AQ and 3-0 vs non AQ (Bowl win against Navy) 2004 6-3 v AQ and 2-1 vs non AQ 2005 7-3 vs AQ and 3-0 vs non AQ 2006 5-4 vs AQ and 3-1 vs non AQ 2007 5-4 vs AQ and 4-0 vs non AQ 2008 7-2 vs AQ and 4-0 vs non AQ 2009 6-3 vs AQ and 3-1 vs non AQ 2010 5-5 vs AQ and 3-0 vs non AQ (Third bowl without a winning record against AQ) 2011 2-7 vs AQ and 3-0 vs non AQ and bowl run over This was the most successful run in their history. If you take out last year they are 60-44 against AQ in their most successful era EVER. They went 34-4 against non AQ. Mike Leach is gone and he ain't coming back. Tuberville is a proven coach and he can't get it done there. That school is at the absolute breaking point right now. They have to have non AQ wins to count for them to stay relevant in their fans minds. If they aren't relevant in ther fans minds, they won't be relevant in a super non NCAA breakaway conference. Although a school like Texas Tech doesn't want to admit it, they need us. Without non AQ, they are no longer "winners" - they are just mediocre. Mediocre doesn't sell well. And remember this, Texas Tech has been a "successfull" program during all of this "mediocreness". If you were to look at the Vandy's, Baylors, Iowa State's, Washington State's type schools their records must be awful.

"University of Toledo sports law professor Geoffrey Rapp said that until Saturday he didn’t think the crimes that resulted from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State fell under the purview of the NCAA. But that changed with CNN reporting the discovery of an email chain from February 2001 where Penn State officials agreed to speak to Sandusky about “future appropriate use of the University facility” and then contact officials at The Second Mile, Sandusky’s charity, and the Department of Welfare about the case. A day later, after talking to Joe Paterno, they had changed their minds. According to Rapp, if the football coach talked the athletic director — his direct superior — out of handling the situation a certain way, that presents a problem under NCAA regulations." Read the full article: http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2012/06/new_evidence_of_cover-up_shows.html

Na, let the voters take care of him (or not).

They base the mock on last years record, once the season starts they updated projected drafting position based on record.

Impressive spot for Tony. Not sure II buy the Mavs at 17 (they seem to be working hard to earn a lottery pick)

Go with Emmitt God. Peace be unto you. Fixed it. Outstanding job Emmitt!!! Now that's f'n initiative!!!

I've decided that the Penn State Athletic department needs it's own song, separate from the University's alma mater and fight song. And so (from one of my favorite movies "Paint Your Wagon").....here it is! Please substitute the words "Penn State City" for "No Name City"

In Denton right now putting up football schedule posters all over Denton

Doesn't the soccer team do something like this yearly? Call it a "scrimmage", although I'm sure it would get pretty competitive... Maybe have a 3pt competition between Chris Davis, Leonard Hopkins, Calvin Watson, Josh White, Adam McCoy, Brandon Walton, and Mr. 50% himself: T-Mitch.

2010-11 VS 2011-12. Do it. I'd be interested to see if Odufuwa could even halfway corral T-Mitch. I still think TT would be the top scorer on the floor, unless Josh were to have one of his crazy 30+pt nights. Zo, Hogans, & Holmen can chose which team they want to be on, but since Alzee was out 2010-11, he'd have to suit up with last year's squad. Or, imagine 2000 - 2010 all stars VS this year's team? For real, I'd pay more money to see this than I would for any other game on the schedule (unless coach Benford can get Kentucky/Duke to the pit or something).

Too bad Joe Pa didn't live long enough to see the inside of a prison cell. Investigate 2nd mile. Follow the money.

I think this guy would agree with that assessment. http://www.reuters.c...E86B05D20120712 To me, one of the most damning statements from this article. The report said Paterno and others also knew about a 1998 criminal investigation of Sandusky in which he was suspected of misconduct with a boy in a locker room shower. "In short, nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity," Freeh said. Failure to alert authorities allowed Sandusky to continue preying on young boys for years, prosecutors said. At least half of Sandusky's 10 known victims were abused after 1998. And, the really scary part of this is that experts in the field of sexual predators will tell you that Jerry Sandusky has probably been doing this since he was an adolescent.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/99901850/REPORT-FINAL-071212-1#download Full report - 267 pages - on scribd. Don't have time to read it, but just skimming it I don't see how Penn State escape without major sanctions. Full sections of Penn State continuing to give Sandusky access to the footbal facilities and allowing to hold camps there even after the 1998 and 2001 investigations. This was a cover up aided by the athletic department and by the many in the administration. It's shameful that so many grown men could allow it. How could any of them even stand to be in the same room with a guy accused of child molestion, much less continue to alow him to have access to kids with their full blessing on their campus using their athletic facilities? It's gross. Joe Paterno is a fraud. Give me the payment-under-the-table scandals of the 80s over this stuff. This is just horrible. I hope Penn State is given a Death Penalty equal to or greater than that given to SMU in the 80s. Raping kids is worse than giving cash and cars to Eric Dickerson and his pals.

The Feb 07 game will also be in Bowling Green.