rcade

Smart move. Dickey had the best run of any UNT coach, aside perhaps from Hayden Fry, and he deserves praise for that. But it's time for a change. His offensive strategy was utterly hopeless, the recruiting has been weak in spite of four bowl trips, and his poor-me complaints about fans and lethargic demeanor on the sidelines gave me no confidence he'd ever turn it around. Somebody had to go, and it was going to be either Dickey or RV. I'm glad they sent the turk for Dickey.

Who cares about timezones? TV networks and TV viewers. Other than that, nobody. The WAC had a chance to create a division for UNT and they turned it down. If you're going to dog the Sun Belt in favor of far-fetched alternatives that aren't going to happen, here's one for you: The SEC could create a western division for us that would be WAY better for us than the Belt! The Belt's the worst conference in I-A, but playing well over the course of years in a lowly conference is our best path to long-term success. Did the Missouri Valley Conference look good to UNT fans in the 1970s? Several of our former rivals in that conference stuck around when we quit -- damn you, C.C. Nolan! -- and they're now in CUSA and the Big East.

Aligning UNT with the south is better than the west because it puts us in two time zones, not three, and the geographic distance is much smaller. The WAC's crazy huge, and the teams in it today are only a shade better than the Belt.

So we're not supposed to be happy about this?

What's the biggest comeback in UNT history?

Wahoo! See you later McNeese State!

I voted yes. I predict that the Green Unit will score 17 straight points and save UNT from a rout, bringing hope to a football team that seemed hopeless.

Funny, but give DD some love for coming up with this idea.

The WAC's national rep is entirely based on past conference makeup. Look at the WAC today: Boise State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Idaho, Nevada, Louisiana Tech, Fresno State, Utah State, New Mexico State. Is that really enough of a conference to justify joining a Mountain and Pacific timezone conference, with all of the travel costs and road games that start so late? The Sun Belt's a much better fit regionally and it puts us in the football-crazed South. I think it's a healthier place to be long-term, and expect the league to be better than the WAC in 5-10 years.

How can you assume that Dickey would insist on a full buyout? He'd be leaving UNT with a whimper and would be contractually obligated not to coach anywhere else during that period. I think UNT would have some leverage, should they decide to go another direction and dump Dickey after the season.

FAU might have something to say about that, since they play MTSU and Troy the next two weeks.

Their new coach had them fired up for UNT. I know some of that sideline motivation stuff is BS, but I much prefer that to a coach who looks like a disengaged sad sack during the game (a la Bill Parcells). UNT needs to keep up with Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State and Troy. All three programs have the potential to put together a three- or four-year run through the Belt like UNT did, and we can't afford to be an also-ran for long in this conference.

Tired of thinking about UNT, I've been looking around the Belt to see who might go to the New Orleans Bowl this year. Florida Atlantic laid a 29-0 drubbing at home against Arkansas State, which makes their trip to Middle Tennessee next week interesting. I didn't expect MTSU to be good this year, but I'm beginning to think they'll get the trip that UNT unexpectedly denied them six years ago.

The guy thought a matchup between two Sun Belt teams was "intriguing" enough to attend the game, even though he's not a supporter of either program. I'm glad to hear his take, because it's an unusual perspective.

I got a call from Mandy yesterday and am now a member of the Mean Green Club, subject to NCAA regulations for athletic boosters. Sweet! She said that the mixup was because my call to the athletic office was forwarded, causing them to lose my number, and they couldn't figure out my e-mail address from the message. I'm glad this was resolved, but I wish they'd take new Mean Green Club recruitment more seriously than they seem to be taking it. The Donations link on the official UNT athletics site still doesn't work and the error message has the incorrect number "800-2366" as the place to call if you need help donating. Succeeding in I-A football at UNT is an uphill battle, so they gotta take advantage of opportunities where they are available. It should be dead simple to join and support the Mean Green Club with a credit card online. I know university bureacracy is slow, but how long would it take them to fix this and add a PayPal donation button? I can add one to my web sites in an hour's work. If anyone in UNT athletics is reading this, I'm a web publisher who runs an online store. I can offer technical assistance if needed, even if just to help you know what to ask for when you contact the school's web/IT people.

The NCAA should suspend any player who leaves the sideline during a brawl. It's hard enough for the officials and security to restrain 20+ football players, but when both sidelines got involved, that was completely out of control and could have spread into the stands. The announcer for Miami who celebrated the brawl and wished he could've participated should be fired.

Just read the news and wanted to add my "get well soon."

There's video of this woman acting like a loon at a game: Link

That's what I was expecting to happen. I posted this to see if my experience is typical *and* to call attention to the fact that online donations aren't working.

As a followup to an earlier topic, my attempt to join the Mean Green Club this month has been unsuccessful, and I think it shows some ineptness on the part of our athletic program. UNT's web site for athletics tells people they can make a Mean Green Club donation by visiting this Ticketmaster link. But when you choose to make a donation on that site, you get this error message: "Sorry, the group of plans you have selected is currently unavailable online. Call 800-2366 for more information." That's not the actual number of the department, which is (800) 868-2366. I called and left a message with Assistant Athletic Director Hank Dickenson saying I'd like to join, giving them my phone number and e-mail address. Over a week has passed and I haven't been contacted. Hate to take shots at Dickenson, since I'm a big fan of his color commentary during the games, but I shouldn't have to work this hard to give them money.

Fan opinion matters -- whether they're critics or they type all their comments here with a pom-pom in their other hand. There's a reason the AD visits this board, and it isn't just our charming personalities. I'm not one of the people you're describing. I'm pretty happy with four Sun Belt championships in five years and have been reluctant to support DD's firing. However, after the Middle Tennessee game and the utterly hopeless offensive performance in OT last week, I'm beginning to warm to the idea. I hope we start seeing some offense this year, because if you can't score against teams in the Belt, you're a I-AA offense.

What specific moments are you referring to? We gained 30 yards in seven overtimes!

Damn that kicker! Another 14 overtimes and we might have gotten enough synchronization on offense to find the end zone.

I love how people play the players' self-esteem card any time they don't accept some criticism of UNT football. If players were as sensitive as people on GoMeanGreen make them sound, they'd never suit up. Thirty yards of offense and no touchdowns in six overtimes is a disaster of epic proportions -- a black eye to this program I'd compare to the national ridicule that accompanied our trip to the New Orleans Bowl with a losing record. As I said I'm proud the players gutted it out, and I don't hang the ineptness of the offense on them. This one belongs to Coach Dickey. If this is the kind of offense we get for the rest of Sun Belt play, I'm joining the fans calling for his head.

Those who were at the game had more beer than I did. I imagine that helped.