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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/24/2023 in Posts

  1. Was thinking of Jackson. I’ll be quiet now.
    8 points
  2. DENTON, Texas – Accomplished athletics administrator Dr. Connor Smith has been named UNT Athletics’ new Associate Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Vice President and Director of Athletics Jared Mosley announced Tuesday. “I’m excited to welcome Connor, his wife Cami and their daughters Coraleigh and Copelynn to the Mean Green family!” Mosley said. “Connor brings a wealth of leadership experience that will serve our student-athletes, coaches and staff well as we transition into the American Athletic Conference and continue to build on the momentum we have within our programs. He is highly respected across the industry and will be a great resource for us here at UNT.” Smith, who joins the Mean Green following a stellar eight-plus years as Director of Athletics at Dallas Baptist University, fills the position vacated by Mosley when he was promoted into his new role by UNT president Neal Smatresk on December 10. “I am thrilled and honored to join Jared Mosley, UNT Athletics, and the entire Mean Green family,” Smith said. “I look forward to serving and working alongside the incredible student-athletes, coaches, staff, and community as we strive to Build Champions and Prepare Leaders. The future is incredibly bright for the Mean Green, and I can't wait to get to work in Denton, Texas.” A native of Cedar Park, Texas, Smith was named Director of Athletics at DBU in June 2014. He was promoted to Vice President and Director of Athletics in November 2022. During Smith's tenure as the program's Director of Athletics, DBU won its first NCAA Division II National Championship when the women's golf team captured a national title in 2021. The Patriots also won 47 conference championships, advanced to seven NCAA Division I Regional appearances in baseball, including one Super Regional appearance in 2021, 21 NCAA Division II National Championship appearances, one NCAA DII Final Four appearance in women's soccer, and became one of just seven men’s basketball programs in the country to reach five consecutive NCAA DII tournaments. Additionally, the DBU Cheer and Dance programs both captured back-to-back National Championships (NCA and NDA) during the 2022 competitive season. At the conclusion of the spring 2022 semester, DBU Athletics earned a 3.4 cumulative grade point average across each of the NCAA varsity athletics programs, which marked the second highest average GPA in department history. A few of the additional academic honors for DBU Athletics during Smith's tenure as Director of Athletics included a baseball program record for NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR), Women's Academic Award of Excellence, NCAA President's Award of Excellence for an Academic Success Rate of 90% (earned in back-to-back years) and the Heartland Academic Award of Excellence. Additionally, Smith and the Patriots launched Patriots Prepared during the 2019-2020 academic year with leadership programming that prepares and equips student-athletes for life and their professional careers after graduation. Furthermore, Patriots Prepared helped provide networking opportunities for internships, employment, and aids with NIL education for DBU student-athletes. Under Smith's leadership, Patriot Athletics experienced unprecedented growth in revenue generation, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising. In March of 2019, Smith and DBU Athletics launched the Patriot Athletic Fund, the departments first-ever annual fund and department-wide booster program to support and advance all 25 intercollegiate athletics programs. During Smith's first year as athletic director, Patriot Baseball introduced a new booster fund program called the Dugout Club with the goal to advance the University's sole NCAA Division I program. Since its inception, the Dugout Club has experienced consistent growth and membership for the university's Division I baseball program. Growth was a constant theme under Smith's leadership as DBU Athletics continued to provide new opportunities for student-athletes through new sport additions. From 2014-22, the Patriots added six new sport programs and increased the total number of student-athletes from 301 student-athletes to 449. He also played an integral role in the development and completion of more than 15 capital campaign projects and facility renovations during his time with Patriot Athletics in addition to guiding the department through a pair of conference transitions joining the Lone Star Conference in 2019 and baseball competing in Conference USA in 2023. Smith was also instrumental in the launch of the Patriot Broadcasting Network, the department’s sports broadcast and streaming platform. He oversaw the negotiation of DBU’s first-ever television agreement with Bally Sports Southwest to televise multiple baseball games and a full DBU Athletics rebranding project which produced three new athletics marks along with a multi-year agreement with brand management and licensing partner IMG College Licensing (IMGCL); the first-ever athletics ticketing platform and website, DBUTickets.com. Smith has previously served on the Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2ADA) Board of Directors, the NCAA DII Regulatory Affairs Committee, was a mentor in the D2ADA Mentoring Program, and on the NCAA DII Volleyball and Women's Golf Regional Advisory Committees. Smith is also a past Chair for the Lone Star Conference Council of Athletics Administrators as well as an advisory board member for the sport of STUNT, the YMCA Grand Prairie, and AD's for Christ. Smith is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) as well as the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD). He was a four-year letterman for the DBU Golf team from 2005-09 and served as the team captain in his junior and senior seasons. Following his playing career, Smith served as the team's Graduate Assistant Golf Coach in 2009. He got his start in collegiate athletics as Assistant AD for Internal Operations at DBU from 2011-13. Smith earned a pair of degrees from Dallas Baptist with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management from in December 2009 and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Project Management in December 2011. He completed his Doctor of Education in Higher Educational Leadership from TCU in November 2022. Smith and his wife, Cami, have two daughters, Coraleigh and Copelynn. https://dbupatriots.com/staff-directory/connor-smith/47
    7 points
  3. This is the second administrator that has been hired from a lower classification school. Jared Mosley's experience was at Abilene Christian, where he was VERY successful at fund raising. Dr. Smith seems to have been successful at fund raising at a much smaller school. In both cases I'm assuming they had to work harder (and I assume smarter) and with fewer resources to become successful. My experience has been that those type people don't make up excuses for not being successful and reaching their goals. I could be wrong, but I am anticipating a significant culture change regarding how the athletic department is going to be run.
    7 points
  4. Baseball would be nice, but it's not more important than improving our current facilities/sports to compete as soon as possible in the American. I hope we get baseball too, but let's be real about the timeline of when that's actually gonna happen. Looks like Dr. Smith has some fundraising chops, so lets hope he hits the ground running at UNT to make these improvements as quickly as possible.
    7 points
  5. Those of you wanting to add Baseball, this should be your knight in shining armor.
    7 points
  6. Every seat was taken and an overflow had to sit in the aisles. The fire marshall wanted to move them but finally gave up. I'm sure it looked good from the court but it wasn't very comfortable due to the narrowness of the seats. I didn't even try to go to the concession stand at half-time. It was bedlam but it was fun...a great experience looking back.
    7 points
  7. We have two left to announce at the moment.
    6 points
  8. To busy with portal. Recruiting service as well as college recruiting are missing out on a lot of talented kids these days. Fcs and lower G5 are getting some steals. For every p5 portal addition there is one more p5 level hs kid available
    6 points
  9. This is a win. He had 27 offers and we beat several G5 schools for his services. 7 INTs on the season. Great addition to the defense! Offers: Akron, Coastal Carolina, Miami (OH), New Mexico, New Mexico St, North Texas, Old Dominion, Texas St, ACU, Air Force, Navy and 16 FCS offers (Yes 16, I am not going to list them all). https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Brian-Nelson-155044/RecruitInterests/
    6 points
  10. You guys realize that Vito mentioning Aune’s stats repeatedly (cherry picking the TD record specifically) is going to be the new needle he uses for a while, right? He did this with mentioning Dodge’s record and with Derek Thompson’s senior year performance as well. He knows he has something that annoys the GMG fans and repeats it ad nauseum to get back at us for criticizing his articles. Get ready for a couple years of this, especially if we don’t have a good QB next year.
    6 points
  11. This is fantastic @TheReal_jayD. It was getting a out of hand for my little brain. This helps a TON!
    6 points
  12. Not only was he an 11 game starter last year, but he was also versatile starting at two different positions.
    5 points
  13. Per his Twitter, he just committed.
    5 points
  14. I guess I am in the minority of this issue, but building a new smaller arena makes no sense to me. Costs a lots of money and will accomplish what? Better recruiting, better attendance, I doubt it once the new wears off. I always look at UTA, who by the way had to replace their basketball arena; still poor attendance and no notable improvement in the overall program.
    5 points
  15. Saw that as well. How do you not catch the obvious. Anyone with a knob of broccoli for a brain knows carrot goes there.
    5 points
  16. Hey you may just be a fortune teller reading the future.
    5 points
  17. Top Ten Super Pit Crowds 1 UNT vs SMU January 21, 1977 10,600 2 UNT vs DePaul December 16, 1980 9,100 3 UNT vs West Texas State March 1, 1976 8,816 4 UNT vs Louisiana Tech February 26, 2022 8,522 5 UNT vs Western Kentucky February 9, 2019 8,195 6 UNT vs Texas January 17, 1980 8,100 7 UNT vs Texas Tech November 16, 2010 7,105 8 UNT vs Texas-Pan American March 2, 1977 7,100 9 UNT vs Bradley February 28, 1976 7,087 10 UNT vs Louisiana-Lafayette February 18, 2012 6,921 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNT_Coliseum
    5 points
  18. Tobe is doing incredible things lately. If we could get him into this on the production side, it would be huge IMO.
    4 points
  19. I think Morris said one of our biggest weaknesses was OL depth. Manase's cousin (I can't spell his name) and Ethan Miner should address our loss at Center. I bet we have more defensive additions after spring ball. Hopefully we have a few surprises on signing day.
    4 points
  20. I get it, but can you comment on the player this thread is about perhaps? It's disrespectful to his family and friends to ignore that he just committed to us and bitch about defense. thx
    4 points
  21. He's in play, as in they have an OC opening and he's not currently an OC anywhere?
    4 points
  22. Absolute win. This staff is on fire. I'm so confident with these guys, feels like we're more likely to get the commit than not.
    4 points
  23. Sometimes I'm stunned you are sincere, and not a troll job.
    4 points
  24. Yeah, this rendering has been around for years now. Notice it doesn't have the battle flags in the paint. While the new arena will lose overall seating, it will make up for it with amenities, like luxury boxes, and state of the art lighting and audio. I'm willing to trade 2,000 empty seats for a better overall facility. Basically, we will have something similar to SMU's Moody Coliseum.... but nicer and with more luxury boxes. That'll piss off the mustangs.
    4 points
  25. The Lace will be getting new expanded grandstands and new dugouts. Once that is complete, it will basically be a completely new ballpark. There are also plans for a softball clubhouse, so they can have their offices, locker room, and player lounge at the softball complex.
    4 points
  26. 4 points
  27. If I'm confused, and I follow this stuff way more than what would be considered healthy, then this is going to be a beautiful mess.
    4 points
  28. That won’t confuse potential donors at all. 🥴
    4 points
  29. North Texas Big Board Signees Marcus Moore-Coffeyville C.C. (Coffeyville, KS) Defensive Line 6-1 / 295 Landon Sides-Guyer (Denton, TX) Wide Receiver 6-0 / 180 Damon Youngblood-McKinney (McKinney, TX) University of Louisiana Lafeyette Safety 5-10 / 180 Larry Moore-Fort Bend Marshall (Missouri City, TX) Texas Tech Offensive Tackle 6-5/ 275 Phillip Hill-Klein Collins (Spring, TX) UNLV Safety 6-0 / 183 Trey Cleveland-Arlington (Arlington, TX) Texas Tech Wide Receiver 6-3 / 175 Paula Vaipulu-Channelview (Channelview, TX) Georgia Tech Offensive Tackle 6-3 / 305 Chandler Rogers-Lake Ridge (Mansfield, TX) University of Louisiana Monroe Quarterback 6-0 / 194 Unsigned Commits Dietrich Moore-Broken Arrow (Broken Arrow, OK) Linebacker 6-0 / 205 Desmond Magiya-McKinney (McKinney, TX) Offensive Tackle 6-4 / 270 Evan Jackson-North Shore (Houston, TX) Safety 5-10 / 170 Brian Nelson-Shadow Creek (Pearland, TX) Cornerback 6-0 /181 Isaac Sohn-Aledo (Aledo, TX) Offensive Tackle 6-5 / 280 Matthew Moore -Ellison (Killen, TX) Linebacker 6-2 / 210 Kollin Lewis-Gladewater (Gladewater, TX) Defensive Back / Wide Receiver 5-11 / 170 Jayven Anderson-North Shore (Houston, TX) Safety 6-0 / 205 Unsigned Portal Commitments Ethan Miner-Kingswood-Oxford School (West Hartford, CT) Arkansas State Center 6-2.5 / 283 Noah Rauschenberg-Union (Tulsa, OK) Baylor Kicker 6-2 / 185 Pending Offers Keith Smith-South Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX) Defensive Line 6-2 / 280 Taylor Starling-South Oak Cliff (Dallas, TX) Cornerback 5-10.5 / 170 Brody Bujnoch-Hutto (Hutto, TX) Linebacker 6-3 / 220
    3 points
  30. 3 points
  31. I think saying he is "in play" is beyond a statement of opinion
    3 points
  32. Every prospect makes a highlight tape. 27 schools offered him. He had 7 interceptions in 12 games against 6A schools. I can't explain why certain ones did and didn't offer him. It does appear that he was kind of a late bloomer from his junior year until now. Coaches get paid money to watch his full game tapes. I get paid to fill out excel spreadsheets, lead meetings, and post random things on college football message boards lol.
    3 points
  33. Here’s a Coliseum fun fact… Did you know that there are 4 different width seats in the Super Pit ? This was done to provide an even number of seats, per row, as one goes higher and higher up the aisles. The difference per seat is not noticeable until one stops and really pays attention. Take a tape measurer to the next basketball game. Next week, we’ll talk about how cup holders came to be at the coliseum.
    3 points
  34. Anderson, starling, brown-turner are all must gets to save this class
    3 points
  35. Another thing we tend to overlook is what else does the new arena bring? Basketball locker rooms? Basketball training facilities/courts? Basketball weight rooms? Those things can be huge for recruiting.
    3 points
  36. That was De Long's choice. He chose to improve on Lovelace Field, instead of waiting for a new stadium later. Since he chose to stay at the Lace, the program has a new field, walls & outfield fence, batting cages, bullpen, and video board. The athletic department wouldn't have added those facilities if it was just going to be a temporary home for the softball program. The choice was obviously smart, because the girls are ranked #24 heading into the season.
    3 points


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