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As far as I can tell, he was a great president, both for athletics and academics. Not only did UNT invest more in athletics than ever before and had the necessary investments in place to make the jump to the AAC -which so far does look like a n improvement on the C-USA and sunbelt experience - it also reached Tier one status under his watch, with being well on its way to even more and recently successfully lobbied the state for more money in the new fund (although you could obviously argue that it still gets nowhere near what the UT and A&M sysetms get).

This will ultimately lead to a much better situation for a tiny sliver of athletes and destroy the opportunity of the vast majority entirely

Always comes back to this thread when we're down, but nowhere to be seen when we started 4-0 in conference.

We've been dealing with some rather significant injuries as of late. There are no guarantees of course, but with a full roster we don't lose four of five.

I didn't see this news mentioned yet, so... https://news.unt.edu/news-releases/unt-president-smatresk-announces-intent-step-down DENTON (UNT), Texas — After a decade of transformation, University of North Texas President Neal J. Smatresk today told the UNT community that he intends to resign the presidency Aug. 1, 2024, to focus on what he loves most — teaching and mentoring students. Smatresk, who joined UNT in February 2014, said serving as UNT president has been the highlight of his career. “When I first took on this role, I knew we had the potential to achieve great things, and because of the dedication, passion and hard work of our faculty and staff, we have flourished in ways that are nothing short of remarkable,” he wrote to the faculty and staff at UNT. President Smatresk has guided UNT’s transformation into one of the largest Tier One research universities in the nation with a decade of record-breaking enrollment — from 36,000 students to nearly 47,000 students in Fall 2023 — and more than 85,000 graduates have entered the workforce making an important impact on the economy. UNT System Chancellor Michael R. Williams thanked Smatresk for his service, saying, “I am proud of the many notable accomplishments President Smatresk has made over the past decade on behalf of UNT. He has created a strong foundation and legacy that will empower UNT to achieve great success in the years to come. We are thankful for his leadership and unwavering commitment to UNT and our North Texas community. During President Smatresk’s tenure, UNT has not just grown its student body and alumni ranks but also has experienced growth across many fronts: Earned Carnegie Classification as a Tier One research university and later rose in the ranks from 118 to 86 among the best and making UNT the highest ranked Tier One institution in the North Texas region Earned Hispanic- and Minority-Serving Institution status Closed the gap in minority graduation rates from 7% to 2.2% Launched new programs to keep university costs affordable while ensuring students have necessary support through programming such as the UNT Food Pantry, the First-Generation Success Center and the UNT One Stop to provide better admissions and financial services help to students Focused efforts universitywide on strengthening educational excellence and creating career-ready graduates to provide Texas with a strong workforce while helping ensure students have the knowledge to achieve their professional goals, which included expanding UNT Career Center offerings through the newly opened Satish and Yasmin Gupta Career Center at the UNT at Frisco branch campus and The Wilson Jones Career Center in the G. Brint Ryan College of Business Opened a branch campus in Frisco to close the gap between higher education and industry to create increased opportunities for student learning and pathways for a career-ready workforce Created important partnerships with numerous high-profile entities across the region and state, including the Dallas Cowboys, the PGA of America, Toyota, JPMorganChase, Google, Amazon and many others Funded 100 new doctoral lines to help build UNT’s research output and make UNT’s graduate programs more competitive with top tier institutions Reached $86 million in FY 2023 — the highest ever — in research funding from national agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation Secured the creation and approval of Texas voters for the Texas University Fund (TUF), which will help accelerate research innovation, keep top talent in Texas and propel UNT further into national prominence Joined the American Athletic Conference in July 2023 and won 23 conference championships since 2014, making many post season appearances such as winning the NIT championship in spring 2023 Improved the campus through more than 17 major building or renovation projects such as the opening of a new University Union, two residence halls, the Biomedical Engineering Building, the College of Visual Arts and Design, Texas’ largest Advanced Air Mobility (UAAM) Test Center, as well as numerous athletic facilities through donor support Learn more about the progress UNT has made under President Smatresk’s leadership. Before joining UNT, Smatresk served for four years as president at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he led the charge in helping UNLV become one of the nation's most popular universities among students and an essential resource in one of the country's fastest-growing cities. He served as the chief academic officer for the University of Hawaii at Manoa before joining UNLV. While Smatresk grew up in Buffalo, New York, he spent the first 25 years of his career in Texas, mostly at the University of Texas at Arlington. During his years at UTA, he served as a faculty member as well as chair of biology and dean of science. A biologist, Smatresk earned a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College, a master's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He conducted post-doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has published more than 50 papers and book chapters about his research in cardiorespiratory physiology and earned many highly competitive grant awards from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. Smatresk and his wife Debbie have two children and five grandchildren. Read President Smatresk’s Full Bio.

Dr. Smatresk is the best leader our beloved school has ever had and I shall be forever grateful to him.

Didn't Alabama have a player that just left HS and early enrolled in January already hit the portal? I don't care if the coach left; allowing players to transfer before they even practice is asinine.

Will stay on till august.

Collectives, Unions, transfer anywhere, anytime. WTF is college sports coming to. A lot of folks will be giving the finger to college sports if they are unionized. I know I will.

We lost to FAU on a buzzer beater, lost to UAB in overtime, and lost to USF by 5. All of this while having key players out with injuries. Had we been playing the weaker teams in conference during this stretch, we probably could have survived it. Just happened to have to play the best teams in conference when the injury bug bites. I don’t think you’re as accurate in your prediction as you give yourself credit for.

best thing that's ever happened to me.

it happens everywhere, though...watching the Kansas/Kansas State game last night (TP with 8 of KSU's 11 in OT...closer) and KU, one of the top all-time programs in the country, is basically on a 5.5 man rotation...had 3 players go 43 of 45 minutes (and had 2 starters foul out super late in OT). it's very abnormal...if not entirely unheard of...to have 12+ players significantly contributing (waiting for @NT80 to say every team is using their entire bench except for UNT)

Very sad day in our history.

Chuck Norris has accepted the UNT president position. He is looking to kick a$$ and chew bubble gum.

It’s crazy to limit this team to only 6 or 8 useable players. We can carry up to 15 on the roster. If the bench guys are not worthy then replace them with new recruits.

When you have a rotation of 8 guys, losing 2 of them is killer. We desperately need more depth next season. This has been an issue that we've managed to get lucky and dodge the last several years. Maybe this is a limitation of our NIL funding/allocation? Pulling in guys capable of contributing surely commands more funds.

How freaking pathetic are you that you constantly come here to post. Go away. Stay away.

Say hello to On Par! 🤣🤣🤣

Folks, whatever you have been wearing for these games, make a change. If you’ve been drinking Coke, time for Dr. Pepper, Coors Light? Time for Miller light, commando? Put on some drawers. Change it all up to change the juju.

https://meangreensports.com/news/2024/2/4/womens-tennis-womens-tennis-defeats-houston-earns-first-win-over-big-12-program-since-2016 The UNT women's tennis program did something it hasn't done since 2016 Sunday, knocking off Houston 4-3 to earn its first win over a Big 12 Conference opponent in nearly eight years. The Mean Green were not done there, however, as they swept Collin College 4-0 in the second match of the day to extend the win streak to four straight.

@CMJ needs a break from posting the game thread, and we as a forum need to do something differently to break this three-game losing streak. We get what on paper looks like a good chance, albeit on the road, against a Tulsa team that is a 3-6 team in conference. However, if you dig deeper, they have played a lot of good teams close. Lost to Memphis by 3, at ECU by 5, at Charlotte by 8, and took Tulane to OT. They shat the bed against FAU today though and lost by four touchdowns + four 2-point conversions.

He has done an outstanding job and will be missed. Thank you for your service and good luck in the future!

if thats the case, shouldn't have married in the first place

This is like inviting the rich kid to hang out because you know he'll tell everybody they can come over to his ranch and ride 4 wheelers. SMU wasn't wanted for the brand, you were "wanted" because you could afford to give up 9 years of media money. I know most schools give up some media money when they initially move up to a new conference but has 9 years ever happened before? Talk about being desperate and nobody wanting you for who you are.

This is really it. I would have put more credence in your projection if you said "due to injuries" we will be X, but the prediction came from a place of negativity around players and coaching staff, which is certainly not true. It isn't always black and white.

I got out my 2005 media guide and counted the conference championships. We have 25 if you count the Southland Conf. Championships.

Did you project a string of injuries attributing to this? Hope you lose your passport.

Then just ignore him. Seriously, this is about the most inane comment that I have read in a long time. How in the world do you suggest he rediscover his shooting touch? Why do teams even practice shooting? Let him shoot open shots until his arms fall off. Then stick someone on him and let him continue to shoot. You have to help him find the confidence in his stroke. Glad you are just there sitting and watching and not in charge of making the team better.

100%, the injury bug has cropped its ugly head. Look at any other team, even NBA, when you lose 2 starters, you aren't winning games against top of the conference. It's hard enough to win them full strength. To that point, if you look at the way we are still in games with these injuries, says a lot about our resilience and coaching. I believe in Boss Hodge.

We need this one so badly. Losing 4 of 5 is very unlike our teams of recent years.

I'm so happy for Zach! Fantastic player, undrafted, made the Ravens, and cracked the starting lineup. Unfortunately had to retire, but a rapid rise in the coaching ranks is so cool to see! I wouldn't be surprised if Coach Cobbs makes the same rise in the coaching ranks soon too!

The American icon "passed peacefully" on Monday night, a statement posted on his official X account said Tuesday. The singer announced in June 2022 that he'd been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was "receiving chemo, radiation and surgery." "He fought his fight with grace and courage," Tuesday's statement said. It's a sad day for the people that love this country.

Hey Stank, explain how you are making more, foregoing revenue in the ACC, than you are in the AAC? On second thought, I don't care.

Same ole song and dance....

Concerning....

This is a completely delusional position. 😂 The message is that small schools, that don’t win big once in a while and don’t have large fan bases aren’t revenue generators. Having your large donors essentially pay the other schools in the conference for right to be in the conference established a precedent that SMU doesn’t have value to the elite athletic brand schools.

That DOES say something. now to keep up there while increasing the schedule difficulty.

20-year-olds don't think the world existed before them. They don't want to be told about it.

According to a source I found for rating positions in professional football, the easiest position is running back. The second easiest is defensive line. MAYBE, the incoming group will be an upgrade.

I did notice that and also wondered why we didn't just replace the rim. Also, I think it was the UAB game, but the color guy (former coach I think who never stopped talking, but I can't recall his name) mentioned that the rim on the student side of the court was a soft/forgiving rim. He's been around basketball and this was something he noticed and thought it was important enough to mention it during the game.

Stanford and Cal are getting revenue.

At Fouts Field the years we won championships were listed on the bottom of the Press Box. I don't know why that was not done at Apogee/DATCU. I mentioned that to one of the AD's and he was indifferent. I suggested that we include that fact at the beginning of our video presentation before each game but again basic indifference. I would start the presentation with 25 Conference Championships, ___ All Americans (listing the numbers from the beginning no matter what year), perhaps ___ All Conference Selections, etc. I would at least try to show some historical success no matter how far back it goes.

Geez, imagine if you did something crazy, like forego revenue for almost a decade, just to get into one of those leagues. Man, you’d feel pretty stupid and look pretty desperate. But who would do something that crazy?

I wish they would update the music in the Super Pit. They've played the same 5-10 songs for the last 15 years. I know it has little to do with the attendance but this felt like a good place for my one complaint.

We have been right in every one of those loses….top teams in the conference. We win those games with a full roster. We belong in this conference.

Maybe these two should form an advisory council for Basketball

You clearly didn't read the article as about 80% of it is strictly about SMU and how receiving zero CFP payouts would affect SMU since your leaders believed they would receive that money to offset some of the lost revenue from receiving zero ACC media dollars. I'd copy and paste the SMU-related sections but so much of it is about SMU that it'd be reposting almost the entire article.