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I think a larger budget for assistants needs to happen. I don't want us to get too excited about Littrell and start giving him a raise and end up with an albatross of a salary like Mac.

I think any time that you follow a one-win season (that included a blow-out loss to Portland State) with a five-win season, you can call that a "highly successful" season. Kinda off topic, but does anyone else think that college football is out of control when the linebacker coach gets paid more than many professors, the defensive coordinator gets paid more than some deans, and the head coach is the highest paid public employee in the state?

It's just as obscene with the big boys. These are, for the most part, state universities. No coach, even at UT or TAMU, should be paid ten times what a tenured professor in business, physics, or engineering is paid. Athletics are a valuable part of the university experience but are not the university's reason for being. You're right about the probable course of affairs in college athletics. I would hope that that 'second tier' would end up being more compelling than the semi=pro first tier. College athletics should be for student athletes. Students who play for their college and for the love of the game. Screw the Alabamas & Oklahomas, and the athletes who skip their last college game to avoid an injury that might compromise their draft position. Rant over.

Does that mean they are thinking about upping it or prolonging it already? It was a decent improvement this season, but given the recruiting that seems a bit early. I would much rather they discuss the contract of Benfords successor. On the other hand, I am happy the track thing seems to be moving along.

The women win! Win streak now at 5! The girls are definitely closers (exactly what the boys are missing)! That was the third OT road win of the year.

Maybe they are upping Littrell's salary to what it was supposed to be before he took a pay cut to get better assistants.

At the men's game on Thursday I was approached by the head of concessions. He introduced himself and, unsolicited, asked me to notify him if there was anything that could be improved...food or service. That isn't big like breaking ground on a baseball stadium, but it's a clear indication that this new regime wants to listen. I have seen multiple small steps just like this. I truly believe that Wren understands the things that RV never could, namely that athletic events are an EXPERIENCE. Winning and losing makes all the difference in the world to the die hards, but everyone who buys a ticket wants a good experience. It's why people like Mark Cuban (even when Dallas wasn't very good) pumped games full of giveaways, contests and entertainment...until you're winning sell the experience, after you're winning sell the team.

I hope Baker is not going to make the same mistake, RV made with the McCarney contract. McCarney had one good year and got a big contract boost despite not showing any ability to recruit. Littrell's first year was very promising based on the mess he inherited. However, if you look at the details; who NT beat and how non-competitive they were in many of the games; everyone should know NT has a long way to go. I hope Baker waits until a pattern of success is established before making a significantly bigger financial commitment.

I like this one. He was Ruffin's DL coach and Ruffin knows the DL.

People steal ATMs from Rudy's. They steal whole briskets from Bet The House. Feel free to draw your own conclusion...

This is a fantastic hire. Many ECU fans I know loved that guy.

The bolded part and maybe a bump on recruiting money are the only thing I currently really would like to see. I do think it is too early to extend, but getting him more resources to actually succeed could only be good.

Welcome aboard Coach Yellock.

Bring these Back!

MGB: Discussion of budget and scope of new track venue also on agenda http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2017/02/unt-regents-to-discuss-littrells-contract.html/

Considering he came in right before the beginning of the new fiscal year (Sept 1 to Aug 31) there's only so much maneuvering Wren can do with the budget. That right there limits him on being able to make a "splash" impact. There are some small changes that have been made. I expect more changes with the start of the next football season. You might see about scheduling a phone call or a meeting with Wren to see if anything has been done in regards to the report since it was released.

I don't profess any knowledge of how football contracts should go. He has already been given a $35K handshake after the bowl game, per Vito's research. I suspect a one-year contract extension, a percentage bump on the base, or perhaps extra perks not already provided. It is also possible they would grant him a bigger budget for assistants and/or staff. Just SWAG.

man. you grown. you gotta proofread, brah.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the color/lighting profile on this image is darker than it should be. @TheWestie can confirm.

what does it matter anymore. WB wasted this year dithering and evaluating, might as let the dumpster fire finish off now, just do not complain when the crowds do not return for the next year even with a new coach. UNT Administration showed they were absolutely fine with letting Benford completely destroy MBB.

The men are leading by 5 at the half. The women just put in a buzzer beater 3 to get it to overtime and try to put their winning streak to 5

Good win for the men. Glad they finally stepped on somebodies throat when they were in the lead. Not sure what would have happened had it gotten close in the end, but I would not have been too optimistic.

Great half time recognition for the 2007 sun belt championship team. There are a good chunk of fans at the pit and we are leading. The team alwaysmpkay better with a lot of fans. It was interesting to see some of the videos of the 2007 run and see the pit less full than it is now though. Hopefully we can hold on to the lead considering we are a horrible second half team. Maybe it's a good sign that it looked like Todd Shelton was making some calls out of the tunnel with the team. Maybe they decided Benford should not lead he half time pep talk haha

Perry must have been hired at Nevada, he's tweeting out a lot of Wolf Pack stuff.

NT lost 3 coaches to P5's, NT is not going to raise staff pay enough to counter this or should they even attempt to. Losing coaches is just part of the job at the G5 level. NT got hit hard, but it's not like NT is getting raided by peer programs.

I remember fun.

This could be the game that ends the chances of making the conference tournament. If Southern Miss and FAU both win and the Mean Green loses, there aren't enough games left in the schedule to overcome the difference.

Good news. Anytime we are able to allocate more financial resources toward the program it's helpful. This could include, but not be limited to: coaching salary pool, support or administrative salary pool, strength staff pool, operational budget increase (equipment, nutrition, training, etc.), etc. It's great seeing this being discussed by the BoR.

FIFY

Only at NT would the beat reporter call a five win season "highly successful"

I like the way Seth has refilled the staff!

Ever seen varsity blues?

SMU receiving the death penalty...again

Like the hire. Welcome to Denton and UNT Coach Yellock.

So basically: I'm just glad he's alive, let alone able to play football!

Similar to the smash n grab jobs from the coaches we've hired?

Awesome. Why is this topic here?

Only clue found at the scene was an extra large suit. Appears to be unworn.

This game again shows, that there is talent and the team isn-t actually as bad as the record. If it had a coach that knew how to teach it how to finish, win in tight situations and close out teams, it could actually have a decentish record.

DD recruited better than those that came after him but lets not act like he was a good recruiter. He just sucked the least.

I totally agree with the "win the schedule you're given and don't worry about anything else other than coaching your players to reach their maximum potential". I don't know how every person currently going to North Texas, or all the previous graduates and "previously attended" people feel about what constitutes a successful season and/or historical program. What I do know is a conversation I had with my son ( a North Texas graduate) while we were sitting down at a local sports bar to watch the NT/So Miss bowl game. My son's favorite college team when he was in HS was Nebraska. He keeps up with the Cowboys, but he doesn't care one way or another if they win. He is very knowledgeable about sports and can rattle off lots of stats about a lot of players in various sports. He played football at Boswell for four years and started his senior year. He has yet to go back and attend one game at Boswell since graduating in 1999 (that's kind of a cultural thing at Boswell. I'll explain if you like). He indulged his old man and agreed to watch the game with me at the sports bar. I mentioned to him that this would be NT's fourth straight bowl game, and I casually mentioned that I was disappointed that that fact didn't seem to energized students/alums to show up to games in greater numbers. He just looked at me with a little bit of (kind) amusement on his face and said "And how many of those bowl games have they won? And does anyone really think that anyone in Texas, or North Texas for that matter, even knows anything about Cincinnati (our one win) much less cares about the win over them? He added, "If North Texas wants to get noticed by the casual fan and/or the fence-setting North Texas potential fan, they better start beating NAME schools......ideally ranked in the top 25. I hope my son doesn't represent the attitude of most of the recent (last 20 years or so) students/graduates out there. If he does, North Texas has a much tougher sell on their hands than they ever imagined. NOW, having said that. I will repeat my rant on the subject that everyone has heard for the umpteenth time. Any coach that we hire might be able to change the "culture" of the football team, but unless they conduct workshops/town meetings with students and faculty staff, on campus, with free food, on a regular basis, they are not going to change the UNIVERSITY'S CULTURE. THAT HAS TO START FROM THE TOP AND WORK IT'S WAY DOWN. This being the revival season here in Texas, I'll use a Texas church analogy to make my point. After all, football IS considered a religion here in Texas. All the old SWC schools here in Texas were raised by administrators and active alumni to (metaphorically speaking) ALWAYS ATTEND CHURCH ON SUNDAY AND REGULARLY TITHE. That's a tradition that has gone back as long as they first started fielding organized sports at their respective schools, and it's reflected in just about every High School program in Texas. IT'S THEIR CULTURE! NORTH TEXAS HOWEVER WAS RAISED BY A SERIES OF ADMINISTRATORS WHO WERE AGNOSTICS AND/OR ATHEIST WHEN IT CAME TO ORGANIZED SPORTS. They were (at best) tepid in their attitude about attending sporting events, and they were adamant in their negativity about giving back to the school. Hayden Fry started our Mean Green club back in 1973/74. And I don't know when our endowment fund got started.......much later I'm guessing. THIS culture has to be changed at the same time that the individual cultural changes take place with our various sports teams. Our last great attempt to make this cultural change (everyone who knows me can start rolling their eyes now) took place during the Jitter Nolan/Hayden Fry era. But Hayden finally got tired of beating his head against a brick wall and left, and Jitter Nolan was shortly thereafter run out of town by the old school atheist/agnostics. IMHO, there's the situation.

I am very excited to see Ryan Woolridge play his career out at North Texas. Him and Lawson, both. I don't know who our coach will be, but we have a very bright future with those two in our backcourt. Heartbreaking finish, and it hurts even more with so many rowdy UTEP fans in attendance.

You could always start talking about how it must have been some border wall jumping Russian hacker black lives matter supporters trying to stop global warming with gun control. ?

I found this interesting on Football Scoop. FAU: Source tells FootballScoop, Lane Kiffin is hiring Clint Trickett as his new tight ends coach. Trickett previously coached at East Mississippi CC and had been scheduled to join Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. Pulled him away from 'Bama? Say what????

WTF

Stretch Run For North Texas Starts Against UTEP On BeIN Sports North Texas To Host Four-Straight Home Games Just got an email with the above headline. "Stretch Run" usually implies competitiveness. Fake news?