untjim1995

Math is hard?

He has literally no chance at UNT of becoming our HFC.

Texas isn't really all that down in basketball, though.

Wardly gives you a thumbs up for only considering name coaches who have won NCs and never been fired to come to UNT and the SBC!!! You never know until you ask...

Mack Brown or June Jones?

Most of us are pretty much used to stuff like this by now. Its why a lot of people fret about the two newest WAC schools in Texas doing the same thing over the course of the next decade. Hopefully not, but we know our history.

Do you think this because of his campaigning and our history of poor hiring or is there more to the story? I ask because I totally agree with your sentiment for the simple fact that Chico will be cheaper than hiring anyone else. BTW, I want Fran, Kragthorpe, or Leavitt. If all three of these names say no way, then and only then does Chico make sense as the choice.

Yeah, I have issues. The first one is that I don't like reading or listening to condescending idiots tell me how much better my _______ will be if I just do what they tell me. The second one is that I hate the University of Missouri. That about covers it for this thread.

OK, Antler, you're game has gotten very old here. I realize Leavitt was your ol' college buddy and he will probably hire you to become a member of his staff if he was to get hired here. You coming over to here to our site and calling out, in such a snarky manner, our alums and fans because of your perceived view of being such an educated football fan from an AQ league is beyond ridiculous. How long would I last if I did that on tigerzone.com (or whatever your idiot fans post on) by flaming your intelligence? Not long--and I know because I read the way your fans talk to Nebraska fans and KU fans when they go on there and talk about Mizzou. Speaking of Mizzou, how is that you guys have never won a football championship in the last 40 years, when you are the ONLY division 1 school in a fairly large state, with two bigger markets to get support from? Here at UNT, we are the 10th Division 1 school in the state (unlike USF in Florida being #5 in FL when they moved up to CUSA--which was already above #4 UCF), and we have never been in a league that has been close to a mid-major level, much less an equivalent to what Mizzou has been blessed with forever. Yet, here you are, even with your kush conference affiliation (which will change soon enough), to tell us little folks what to do to get our program turned around. Thanks a whole lot. By the way, let me give you some unsolicited and unwanted advice, too. Keep Gary Pinkel for a looooooonnnnnggg time. He is one of the most overrated coaches in the NCAAs. Chase Daniel made him. So did Nebraska's decline, which of course ended when they hired--wait, for it, a never-been-head-coach other than a bowl game, but was a hell of a defensive wizard. Voila, now Nebraska is back to jack-hammering you and the rest of the B12 North. Good thing they will take your place in the Big 10 that your idiot chancellor so coveted and all your idiot fans bragged about getting on every message board around the country, huh? But since you didn't get it, and since Illinois wanted no part of you joining, while Nebraska, quite easily, convinced the rest of the B10 that they can deliver the KC market just as easily as Mizzou would, you guys won't have to worry about Nebraska anymore. That will really help you guys out a lot going forward, since you now have to play every Texas and Oklahoma school every year until Texas decides to go independent and they destroy your league. Don't worry, though. CUSA or the MWC will be a great league for Pinkel to compete in down the road. You might even get that conference championship that somehow has evaded your AD trophy case all these years. See, pal, how fun it is to get lectured about how your program is supposed to go and about "affording to take risks" to build up your status? It ain't much fun, antler. But I bet you already knew that.

So if WKU gets a bid, they get an 10-13 seed, yet we get a bid and we are alwasy projected at 15. I know WKU has a lot of tradition and a winning streak in NCAA play over the last few years, but really? If we do what I think we will this year and the best we get is a 14 seed or worse, that will make absolutely no sense to me. But, then again, it made no sense to me last year that we got a 15 seed against the top #2 seed, while SHSU got Baylor, and UH got a 13 seed and played Maryland.

I agree with you on this point. I suppose that is what you have to see in Franchione if/when you interview him. I just know that he had a lot more success building up very downtrodden programs in non-AQ leagues than he did at Bama and certanily at A&M. I just like that you could feasibly get a two-for-one deal with his son if things go right. Of course, I think that about Leavitt and Canales, too. But, as it stands right now, I believe that Canales will get the job if we win another game this year and don't get blown out. He will be cheap and he will be able to sell RV and the BOR on having made strides with the team. Is that a good thing? I have my doubts, but I have come to realize that at UNT, it is always going to be about the $$$. Even with additional funds available from the new stadium, it seems that you could get Canales for around $300-325K per year. I would prefer a bigger name to bring in just because we have done the same type of hire that Canales would be, but I do like his energy and how he represents UNT. We could certainly do worse--and usually have done worse over the years.

I think that there are alot of folks here that have heard from many of the Aggies in their family. Fran was a bad match at A&M because of his perceived lack of fire in his belly. But if you talk to most TCU fans, they will tell you that he was the perfect fit there because he could go into a room full of players and fans and tell them how they were going to start winning, in part because he had that success at UNM and SW Texas State. Even at Alabama, he had two good teams, but the probation he was about to inherit was not going to lower their fans expectations. I think he would be the best hire here, but I don't believe he is on the list, based on some of the goosip that gets posted here at gmg.com. As a matter of fact, I am becoming more convinced that Canales will be the HFC here next year. RV probably sold him on coming here based on the fact that if Dodge didn't win here, he would get fired and he would have his chance. So far, he has been impressive, and for RV and the BOR, Canales represents something very important in this search--he's gonna be cheap compared to the other names listed.

PMG--believe it or now, I am a young gun alum and I usually read your posts because I apprecaite your spirit and history as a UNT Football fan. But, for every reason mentioned plus a few that haven't been mentioned, please leave JJ and the hoops team out of this argument. Western Kentucky has made the Sweet Sixteen and were in an eyelash of another Sweet Sixteen berth in 2008 and 2009. South Alabama got a 7 seed in 2008. It can be done in the SBC because it has been done. This isn't football that you are looking back at. The SBC is a quality mid-major league. I still cannot understand how we only got a 15 seed last year, but that's another story. This league is heads and tails better in mens hoops than football and it probably always will be.

This is what gets me about just hiring Canales and everything else will fall in line if he wins. Well, at UNT it will only happen if we beat non-SBC teams that PEOPLE KNOW. For example, we have to win OOC games against former SWC teams because PEOPLE KNOW THEM. We have to perform reasonably well against the AQ-BCS teams becasue PEOPLE KNOW THEM. It has been proven that winning in the SBC isn't enough for the simple reason that the other teams do not resonate with fans. Oh sure, winning would probably get us to average 20k or more per year in a new stadium, but we realistically need to get to 25k as the minimum for UNT to even begin to gain attention in other circles. Obviously, there are no guarantees anywhere on the next hire. We could hire Fran or Leavitt and it could turn out to be horrible, just like every other hire we have made since Fry. But the on thing we know we haven't tried since Fry is to hire an experienced HFC that people know of and has a history of winning. Its why we really should try this route first, IMO.

Seriously, this is just stupid. Why can't we at least play abodybag game against a team from the Big Ten? Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, etc...At least those scores can be kept somewhat closer with the slowness of the Big Ten. I just don't get playing the top end of the best conference on earth for college football, much less playing Texas or Oklahoma. Play A&M or Ole Miss--just stop with the Alabama, Florida, LSU, OU, and UT scheduling.

Basically, we were losing 13-7 and our one offensive TD that day was from the defense. Anyway, there is under a minute to go, we have the ball, and we complete a long pass to a streaking LaDarrin McLane who is runnning to the end zone with no one in front of him. This will give us the chance to steal another win in Lubbock from Tech for the 4th straight time. However, as he is getting to about the ten yard line,a DB named Curtis, I believe, catches up to him and punches the ball out of his arm, which somehow stays in bounds. Another DB chasing the play recovers it in front of McLane and returns it to about the 50 to basically seal the win. We were that close.

Minnesota looked at Gary Patterson before they hired Tim Brewster. That was before TCU was becoming a perennial Top Ten team. He aint leaving Ft.Worth for Minnesota.

That single play stand out as the most frustrating play I have ever watched as a fan--including any sport or team that I root for every day of my life. Nothing beats it. It is 180 degrees from watching Nelson Cruz's home run to beat the Yankees in game 6 of the ALCS this year.

Boise also had a stadium and a city that could host a bowl game, which was attractive to the WAC, especially since their bowl ties-in were evaporating quickly. The winning part was great, as well, which made it an easy sell to the other teams in the conference. The same can be said of Utah. They don't host a bowl game--yet--but their stadium is very nice, especially since the Winter Olympics were there back in 2002, as are their other facilities. In both cases, too, those conferences got another state's major team and their fanbases to get eyeballs watching those games. Idaho may not be a populous state, but if most of its citizens are watching the Broncos play, the whole conference gets extra attention. heck, even if Fresno State is playing Nevada, people in Idaho will watch closely, thus helping ratings and increasing media coverage. It certainly works that way in Utah and Colorado, too, and the Pac-12 will get two growing states in their market now that will help boost ratings and coverage. Without dealing with the headache that would have been UT, even with all of its TV sets and T-shirt alumni, the Pac-12 did just fine in my opinion, especially on the football field, where their teams will still have a very strong chance of playing for a national championship every year. All of this is to say, that even if we ever do start to win in the SBC again, we know that we still have to beat other name teams, as well, and even that still won't guarantee us getting into another conference. I just think that the other Texas schools in non-AQ leagues have very little interest in ever being in a conference with us, just like La Tech feels about the other LA schools. It for this very reason that I want TCU to move up to the Big East and for SMU to take their place in the MWC (small chance). This scenario may very well be our easiest--and only--path to joining CUSA at some point down the line.

PMG, I agree on your goal of having UNT reach for higher aspirations, especially since you personally saw this university do just that back in the 70s. But one thing you wrote caught my attention that I think is wrong. You mentioned that at UNT, we have kept on with doing the same things over and over with our football program, while expecting better results. I think it is fairly easy to look back over the last 30+ years at the university's track record and view of athletics in general and come to the realization that no one expected better results. As a matter of fact, I will argue that most of the administration and alumni didn't care one bit if they got better at all. Nor did the City of Denton. It seems to me that the reason we have to even talk about baby steps in the SBC is because we allowed ourselves to get in this situation. From watching Fry leave, to not hiring his best recommendation at the time to keep progress moving forward, to allowing the program to drop to I-AA, to moving up to 1-A with a toilet of a stadium without any concrete plans to build a new one for 15 years, to hiring 2 HS coaches and 2 coaches with no prior HC experience, to having nowhere else to go but to the SBC to have football even stay alive here at UNT, etc...this place has never even tried to be serious about this program. Yes, we will get a new stadium and it will be very nice. But if we cannot find a coach with name recognition to come here and we cannot even finish in the top half of the SBC, then I expect this university's culture to come fully into effect and keep the program down--in other words, continue to give up. Winning the SBC is a must, no doubt. But before we can even dream of doing that, we have got to figure out a way to finish at least .500 in league play. Sadly, this is why we have to use SBC as a metric now. We have literally no other choice, even if we hire Leavitt, Franchione, or someone like them.

PMG, We don't have any choice for the next few years. This is our home until either TCU or SMU leave their respective conferences, and even then, it might still be the SBC for us even longer.

I'll go ahead and say never on this one and I will feel pretty confident about it. Two blackballings over the course of 30+ years that have kept us out of their conference tells me that this is true. And that series in football will get bought out quickly if it starts to benefit us more than them. Money will always talk.

I think that we should do this, too, but then again, I think UTSA and TSU-SM should both be in the SBC. They both would finally give us a chance to develop some in-state rivalries that will never happen with the other Texas schools.

Don't forget another Texas school---SMU hired June Jones after he took HAWAII to a BCS bowl