NorthTexasWeLove

If the rumor of Ross suggesting out best players enter the portal to do what's best for them then my trust tank will start getting holes in it real quick...

Because that takes legwork and forward thinking. Let's not be silly. I started paying attention to UNT in 2011. Got plugged in around 2012, and started to pay very closer attention in late 12/ early 2013. The athletic department has done nothing but prove its a good ole boy system filled with self serving people from top to bottom. I said it a few days ago, but the University has to look into the hiring processes and the hiring of North Texas people must be the next step. Put a lighter on the do nothing leeches and get people in there that care more about the success of North Texas than they do about the success of themselves.

You're spot on. But the university has been playing into that hippy weird BS for a long time, too. And we can bring demographics into this, too. And for good or bad, I don't know; nor do I really care. But conservative white boys/men is the driving force behind the consumption of and donating base to collegiate athletics. The university goes out of its way to diversify the enrollment. Which is fine and all, but it's just another variable pulling away from athletics. And there seems to be a lot of variables, controllable and uncontrollable. Why do you think the SEC can whip whoever they want with money at a moments notice? Answer: White conservative men throwing money at their collectives and scholarship funds.

There are approximately zero reasons to recruit high school players. Let's use China Spring QB for example. He will come in and probably not play year 1. But all year he will eat our food, lift our weights, live in our dorm, attend our school. Then year 2 he might be the starter. Throw for perhaps 3k yards, 25ish TD 10ish INT. And those numbers might not even get us into a bowl game or conference contention. So, we basically just did everything for him with absolutely no ROI, ZERO. Nevertheless, that's enough for him to be relegated to the pros at Utah, or AZ, or Arkansas as a surefire backup making 150-200k a year over the next 3 years. What would keep him here? Do we have 150-200K to keep a P5 backup as our starter? Every year. Year after year after year? Do we even WANT to do that?

UTSA has a better location than us given the fact they are the only football brand in a very large city. They pull better for their games when they are bad than we do when we are good. They have more donors than we do. They celebrate their accomplishments on the boardwalk with thousands of people. We celebrate ours on Twitter as our coaches depart.

I HAVE to assume that his offer got pulled and became illegitimate. It looks awkward having our logo next to those others. I either thought he was just stringing along the other schools to create BS hype for himself OR our offer was no longer good and he was trying to add legitimacy to himself with our logo up there on his graphic. Either way, see ya.

Please understand that our geographic location has never changed. Also understand that our recruiting has always lagged, even behind a few schools you mention. A lot of our facilities have been better or on par to our peers for over a decade. And there has not been a net positive. We spent millions of dollars in a pretty nice IPF. What has that gotten us from a recruiting or performance standpoint? Now, add in the portal and NIL. Psh. I love your optimism for us. It's weird. it's not really warranted, but I like it.

I don't think you're very familiar with UNT athletics, particularly football. Let's just circle back to this conversation in 10 years. I hope you're right.

What is the legality of this? And to think back in 2013 I was banned from this site for like 3 months for suggesting/asking why we don't do $100 handshakes to/for our players. I was chastised as if I was Genghis Khan. It was as if the people closest to this program was completely unaware that it was happening literally everywhere else. Now fast forward a short 10 years and conference administrators are trying to loophole money to affiliated players.

It's not really doom and gloom. It's a pattern of behavior that has led to a pattern of results. We are cash poor, we spend average money, our collective is in the bottom third of our own peers, and we are perceptually a weird, liberal arts college (some truth to that). The Why not North Texas mantra has been ran through by coaches, players, administrators, and alum. There is a list of reasons as to why not North Texas. I don't want it to be this way. I don't like it. But it just is.

It's not as easy as it was to be invited to the top anymore. Everyone wants to be up at the top, so universities throw money at their programs hoping it happens. In the 80's if you threw money at your program then you had a real shot. Now, it's all based on brand recognition and perception. Though what you are saying has a lot of credence to it, but I think the downfall of the university's athletics started when the university started to push the "university for all" bullshit. And though I think that's a slogan that's not that dated, that's not what I am referencing. I am more so referring to when the push was artsy and music students, and then this liberal inclusion bullshit. Sport people USUALLY don't share those beliefs and/or interests. And when you're making a gigantic bulk of your enrollment that, well, our student and alum involvement turns out to be the result. The drop down certainly did alienate a large % of fans in that window of time, but in the 21st century our problem is what and who we're catering to.

Very sad. But very well stated.

Sure. But not at these monetary levels. It used to be bags of cash as a sign on bonus, if you will. And that was for the elite of the elite players. Then $100 handshakes by boosters for all, but also geared toward the elite players. Now we will legitimately be having bench players at p5 stay bench players at p5 because the money is better. And g5 head coaches are already resiging their posts and taking p5 coordinator jobs. They see the writing on the wall. They see it up close on a daily basis.

I was reading about this a few hours ago. This is basically the start of revenue sharing... It was the goal. They took a huge step reaching that goal in Virgina. I'm glad I laughed at the notion of "student"-athlete 20 years ago. The idea of student is so far removed it's laughable. I thought it was laughable in the early 00s. It's a clown town joke nowadays. Not all athletes. Because I don't know any player individually. But what I do know is that acceptance standards have been dumbed down to community college levels of acceptance over the last 30+ years, and that goes for some pretty elite universities. Now, those lowly standards are still in place. Then, classes are now exclusively taken online for countless athletes. As of 10+ years ago, athletic departments provide tutors, essay editors, etc. To add, multiple universities have been caught creating made up academic programs to filter their athletes through. Not to mention the universities being caught fudging grades and having their assigned tutors complete their online coursework. And we're sitting here still calling these athletes "student"-athletes all the while trying to keep a straight face.

It's true. In the current format apathy will and has been destroying our athletics. The incentive/wish/hope of "getting there one day" is completely gone.

But those guys are now making more money riding bench than being a starter at UNT. Those are also not NFL guys so if athletics is ever going to pay them, it's going to be now.

NIL can't be disregarded when speaking of recruiting. NIL is recruiting. Many on here and the media talk as if money isn't always it. But I promise you it's always a part of it. And for most, it is it.

Well, I love the optimism. But the reality is damning.

Football is swirling around the toilet bowl. Not just UNT football, but "mid major" football in general. I expect salary corrections at this "level" as well as staff reductions in the very near future. The NCAA's lack of forward thinking going on decades+ attorneys attacking the NCAA and relegating them to a meaningless governing body has damaged the ship. Sinking is next. Basketball at our "level" can continue to tread water due to not needing as many parts to create a competitive product. Until, of course, the major programs start whittling away at that a la NIT rule changes, Sankey openly telling the NCAA tourney committee to tread lightly in their selections, etc. Presumably more to follow.

He was a good player for us. I just looked him up and the guy has played all over the world from Sweden to Israel to Vietnam to Australia.

100%. But, also, and, mainly money.

Dang... after 7 years of success you'd think the company we keep on lists like this wouldn't look like THIS. Embarrassing.

Give you? This player disrespected Longwood and shows no loyalty or commitment. And you're fine with it... . . . . .

I don't disagree.

Bob here has a point... Fund our players, fund our program, buy tickets, pay for parking, overpay on concessions and merchandise.... all while the product inevitably withers away due to all of the rules currently in place. We're getting had coming and going. While the ignorant and rabid fan bases of the big boys can scalp their dumbass alum/fans, I don't think ours will play this game. And if our fans do, for how long? What is the ROI? And I think the pill would be easier to take if we knew the athletic department personnel were truly committed to the university. But we have a long and ugly history of athletic department personnel being committed to athletic department personnel. Outside of Patrick Cobbs, players or coaches or administrators, who really gives a shit about the University of North Texas? I think it's time, more than ever, to start hiring North Texas people. In this new age of collegiate athletics, passion and meaningful work will have to carry the torch. There is no better way to infuse the athletic department with passion than hiring North Texas people.