MeanGreenGlory

Glad we have a commissioner who is vocal about this. Everything in his open letter is true.

Probably the Austin Peay grad transfer WR James Burns, right?

Looks like a great pickup! As an aside, I hope whoever wrote this article/press release is retained by the AD to continue writing these types of pieces because this piece in particular: Tells you what you need to know about Buggs in a concise and compelling way Capitalizes on the recent success of the program by letting people know we're winning Has a direct plug to ticket sales at the end of the piece Thank you!

Wish Shorter nothing but the best. It was always as pleasure to watch him when he was healthy. Hope he lands on his feet, stays healthy, and has massive success somewhere.

SMU realizing they weren’t invited to the PAC-12 and are now ranked below us in a pre-season conference ranking:

A dedicated Marketing and Fan Engagement FTE to develop strategies for enhanced fan acquisition and engagement efforts to ultimately grow the Mean Green brand, drive increased ticket sales and create a premier fan experience?! Hold out for a great one—not just a good one—with some solid direct response marketing chops, and this team member will be worth their weight in gold for the department. Thank you, Jared Mosely & Co.

This is a small, yet valuable, marketing action. We need many many more of these types of marketing actions coming from the AD to truly build the programs. I’ll say it again: UNT will never change the perception of the sports teams unless the AD invests in great marketing. This billboard is a perfect example of capitalizing on a huge win and educating the local community about it to start changing the perception. Bravo. One way I would consider improving this billboard (or similar billboard in the future) is to make it more relevant to the average passerby by implementing a large, clean headline such as: “North Texas Beat Oklahoma State and Wisconsin to Win National Basketball Championship.” Why? 1) You can read that in under 7 seconds as you pass the sign. 2) The average passerby probably isn’t likely to know the NIT name, so there’s risk they assume UNT won an insignificant championship. Mentioning two national athletic brands instantly brings more credibility. 3) A headline like that conveys what happened and spoonfeeds people what they need to know; it provokes the thought, “Oh wow, North Texas must have been pretty good this year.” I bet over 40% of the people driving by the billboard as it is don’t fully know what to make of it because their eye is drawn to all the imagery and then they might catch “champs” at the last second. They might not process the UNT logo or name on the jerseys to know who the champs even are. Good imagery is nice, but good messaging will trump it every time.

I also thought it was higher, but Brett Vito is reporting McCasland's contract has a $750k buyout and that we paid Arkansas State $500k for McCasland when we first hired him. Source: https://dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/mean_green/grant-mccasland-leaving-unt-for-texas-tech-following-win-in-nit/article_a3f3677c-7c9c-5ea9-bdc3-034f97eb4695.html Perhaps I'm missing something?

Assuming best intent and that it really is a family emergency, it must be serious given the duration of time he's been out. Wishing nothing but the best for him and his family, and that he's able to return when the time is right.

Congratulations to Grant. I loved having him here and sincerely appreciate everything he did to build this program -- including bringing home hardware. I think this situation has been handled as professionally as you could ask for, aside from the media sources that failed to respect the embargoed status of the news. I'm also very excited about Hodge becoming HC at UNT and building on this success. I think Hodge has the potential to be the guy who sticks around long-term and turns UNT into a perennial winner, but time will tell. The only thing I'm disappointed by in all of this is that McCasland's buyout only ended up being $750k...that's far too low and doesn't give us much of a boost, especially considering our buyout to Arkansas State for McCasland was $500k.

Agree. Kai has been spectacular, especially throughout the tournament.

I think this only works if a spending cap is implemented for each tier. Otherwise, if Class 1 breaks off, you're still going to have the impact of the "haves" vs. "have nots" and then that will bring up the argument for further consolidation until it's just the 20 largest programs in the country which wouldn't be very fun to follow in my opinion. Formula 1 has implemented this and I think it yields better competition because having the same constraints reveals which teams are more strategic and effective with the resources. I have no doubt that implementing spending caps in college athletics would do the same.

Out of curiosity, did anyone receive promotional material for the OSU game? If so, can you please share it?

Yes, if the AD could get access to the student body email list (which I imagine is an ask, but not a huge ask given the president's support of athletics), this is a very simple, doable, and valuable initiative.

McCasland has done his part to create a great product. ESPN+ and TV exposure are not to blame for poor attendance. They're good for the program because they allow folks who live more than a couple of hours away to regularly watch games and stay connected with the program. It also provides broader exposure to non-alumni, which is essential if you want to build a name for yourself. Additionally, I recall the Chicago Blackhawks feeling like TV coverage was to blame for their low attendance numbers sometime in the 2010s so they effectively eliminated televising their games for a while. The result was the opposite of what they anticipated and I am pretty sure game attendance plateaued or dropped. One reason being: If you aren't a season ticket holder and you can't watch the first four games of the season on TV, you don't develop much of a relationship with the team and there's not much that will inspire you to go see game five, six, seven, eight, etc. in person. At this point, lack of attendance falls squarely on the AD. To my knowledge, there has been very little improvement over the past decade regarding advertising and marketing games and the game day experience to students, alumni, and the Denton community. This goes for all sports, but particularly the revenue sports. Until the AD fully embraces the importance of bringing better marketing efforts in-house, we will continue to see lackluster attendance numbers. And no, social media posts don't fully qualify to support these efforts. I'm talking about flyers, emails, billboards, text messages, phone calls, campus booths, orientation talks, etc. that explicitly inform our audience about games with a clear call to action to get tickets and show up in person. After all, how can a consumer be expected to purchase a product they don't know about?

Great get and an excellent offer list. This is the type of recruiting many of us have been wanting for a long time. I know we don't have any on-field performance to evaluate yet...but based on the way things are going so far, Morris & Co. may just be the folks that fully realize the potential of this place and wake up the sleeping giant. Exciting times.

Great game for FAU

I’ve recently seen rumors that Oregon is on board with staying in the PAC12 because they want to make appearances in the playoff and that will be easier to do in a watered-down PAC12. This makes sense to me as exposure from being in the playoff likely counterbalances an increase in conference media revenue. I’ve also recently seen rumors that Colorado State and Tulane are being considered alongside SDSU and SMU as additions. This is interesting because many want Colorado State / Air Force in the AAC.

Maybe I missed this, but what’s currently projected to happen with Stanford and Cal if the BIG10 and BIG12 get their way? Will they try to backfill the PAC12 or jump ship elsewhere?

I currently agree with the service academies. Having Navy, Army, and Air Force in the same conference—the American Conference nonetheless—would be great for many reasons. However, the recent FSU/ACC development adds an interesting wrinkle. The ACC is more aligned with the AAC footprint than the MWC and PAC12. If the ACC crumbles, some solid programs may be looking for a new home, and the AAC would be the next best option. Alternatively, if the ACC needs to backfill, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to expand their footprint and reach into Texas. Food for thought for the AD.

I wish this were true, but unfortunately, I don't think our challenge is invigorating the fan base... I think the challenge is making students and alumni aware of what's happening, when it's happening, where it's happening, and the fun that they're missing out on if they don't show up. The AD has neglected to promote our teams and home games over the years. Winning is certainly the foundation of strong attendance, but we'll never see an increase in attendance (even with a perfect record) until the AD starts making a visible and sustained effort to fill seats and the game experience is fun enough to make people want to return. In short: Winning ≠ Increase in Attendance Winning + Visible and Sustained Promotion + Fun Game Experience = Increase in Attendance The first piece in place. The AD needs to significantly improve efforts in the second and third.

Honest questions: 1) How many marketing pieces have you seen from the AD this year to encourage students, alumni, or local residents to attend a UNT basketball game? 2) Where did you seen them?

1. I like the idea. It may be a challenge to execute with the number of students we have, but I agree with the general sentiment that something can/should be done with the support of the university admin to promote events of all kinds. I think incentivizing students to "attend events outside of their own" is generally good for student growth and experience and something all admin and staff should be encouraging. 2. Another mechanism to increase student attendance is to provide the Mean Green Maniacs with resources to "recruit." That group is great to have at games for home court/field advantage and general atmosphere. They also just look like they're having a great deal of fun. The AD could figure out creative ways to help the Maniacs spread the word about who they are and what they do to bring more and more students to the games. Sometimes the "join us because it's fun" is a better motivator than "attend this for a university credit/challenge." 3. Externally, for non-students, the AD should consider some advertising budget to get the local community involved. It's hard to attend a home game if you don't know they're happening. 4. Externally, for non-students, the AD should consider partnering with some corporations for promotions. People laugh about UTSA's KFC promotions, but I recently talked with some folks from San Antonio (non-UTSA grads), and all four have been to multiple UTSA games. I don't know if the KFC that did the trick, but UTSA got them in and they've had great game-day experiences.

I agree with this.