C Rod

My friend, I would be thrilled to have Deion at UNT. I would love to see UNT with the #1 recruiting class in 2023. I would love for our stadium to be sold out every home game for the first time EVER. I would have loved to see our Spring Game sold out. I would love the millions of dollars in free digital advertising Deion and his son would bring to UNT. If you want to try and color me infatuated, go right ahead. What I won't be is a hypocrite.

If that’s the silly conclusion you want to jump to, have at it. But let’s be honest and rational about this. If you were in Deion’s position (along with the hype and pressure from fans & donors), would you choose to coach a group players with a 1-11 record, recruited by the last failed coaching staff; OR would you rather recruit the #1 recruiting class in 2023 and coach them instead? Y’all’s disdain for Deion is clouding your judgment if you choose the former over the latter.

The term cut is being used liberally. Deion told players to their faces they won't ever play at CU and if they want to keep playing college football, they'll need to hit the portal. That's how the term "cut" is being used by these former players. In reality, scholarships are legal four-year guarantees where a player can only lose it if they commit a felony, break team or school rules, or quit the team. Entering the port is consider quitting the team which is why Deion is being so brazen about it. He can't turn around the program with players from a 1-11 team.

Exactly. There's a reason Facebook is freaking out about losing the youth demo to TikTok because they understand that without the youth, their days are numbered. To get students engaged, we should offer student-only prizes and experiences. Human nature shows us that cash prizes, exclusive experiences, and the fear of missing out (FOMO) are great ways to motivate people to take action. Here are a few ideas, I'm sure the board could also brainstorm some more. UNT Student Suite Create an exclusive Student Suite and deck it out with tasty free food, free swag, loud music, green party lights, and high-speed internet. Sometime during the first quarter, randomly select a few students and allow them to bring a couple of their friends to live it up in the Student Suite. Make it a party. Put a camera in the suite and show the party happening throughout the game. Build a corner with props for students to create TikTok's and Instagram reels, broadcasting the excitement and fun in the Student Suite to their social networks. Create a Mean Green prize wheel that is spun after every touchdown. When the wheel stops, that prize is awarded to all those in the Student Suite. It's not hard to imagine the Student Suite going crazy after every touchdown. Create excitement, create FOMO. Mean Green Money Machine Purchase a money wind machine and brand it "Mean Green Money Machine" At the end of the third quarter, randomly select a student to spend thirty seconds inside the MGMM, grabbing for $20, $50, & $100 dollar bills. Put a live camera on this in-game event, and it becomes engaging entertainment for the entire stadium during a TV timeout. In the end, you'll have a student smiling from ear to ear as they announce their total haul over the loudspeakers. Again, more FOMO. Student Super-fans Create a super-fan rewards program for students who attend every home game and make the reward substantial. Find a way to publicly honor these student super-fans

Deion is not making cuts or taking away scholarships. He is setting the depth chart and being open and honest with players from a 1-11 team about their opportunities for playing time. Players can stay on scholarship and never see the field or they can jump in the portal and play ball somewhere else. Are these tough conversations? Yes. Are players having to make tough adult decisions. Yes. Is Deion breaking the rules, no. https://apple.news/A2lYTK0JHTKevqwUD4y9G4g

Lol, it’s clear you have an axe to grind and Deion makes you BIG MAD. I remember back in December, you predicted Deion was in for a culture shock at Colorado. Since then… “Sanders has indeed added players through the portal, with 247Sports ranking Colorado's class as the best in college football this season. It features several Jackson State transfers, including former No. 1 overall player Travis Hunter, and Alabama linebacker Demouy Kennedy, a fringe five-star recruit from the Class of 2020.” In less than 6 months, the “Prime Effect” has shocked Colorado out of their complacency. CU just sold out their 2023 home games the first time in 27 years and last week they sold out their spring game. Deion has turned CU Football into a must-see event attracting recruits, fans, donors, and of course… a few haters. Like it or not, none of this would have happened without Deion. He’s not worried about losing players to the portal because, as you’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, he encouraged it.

The new mic looks and sounds great! Glad to see it put to good use.

How Light The Beam Became a Sacramento Kings Rally Cry Personally I’d love it if our Light the Tower became a green laser beam to the heavens. Like a bat signal for the entire DFW metroplex to see.

Congratulations on winning in life. I tip my cap to you, good Sir.

Crunching the numbers... The cost to rent out 1611 Golf on a Saturday for 3 hours (10 am-1 pm) is $1,750. Included is all 8 Trackman hitting bays with 4 golfers per bay. This would allow for a 32 player, single-round tournament. If I can land a corporate sponsor to cover the cost for the rental bays in exchange for online and in-person exposure, 100% of the entry fees would go to the LTTC NIL. Big questions is, what is the right entry fee price point to lock-in 32 players while still being able to donate a good chunk of change to the LTTC NIL? Entry fee of $125? (32 players x $125 = $4000) Curious to hear the board's thoughts. Timing wise, I'm thinking Saturday August 26th, one week before we kickoff the season vs Cal.

That's okay because since we're fundraising for a good cause, we could use this to our advantage and encourage players to purchase mulligans for $5 - $10 a pop. Don't like your last shot? Buy another! We could even setup one bay to have a closest to the pin competition with a prize. Everyone who wants to play has to buy in at $50. Each additional shot after that is $35 or purchase four attempts for $100. For those who don't play golf, 1611 also has a gastropub with TV playing sports. A raffle at the door would allow non-golfers to participate and win donated UNT swag prizes. Maybe, just maybe, a generous UNT Hub Club season ticket holder will donate some HUB Club Tickets to raffle away. Would be great to have a GMG corporate title sponsor that could cover the costs of the rental bays and the UNT raffle give-aways.

How many other golfers do we have on GMG? I think an annual GMG indoor golf tournament could be a fun, unique experience and could be setup so the proceeds go to the NIL Light The Tower Collective.

Hwy 380 will be turning into 6-8 lane freeway and they are also building the outer loop to accommodate the growth. Just like Hwy 121 expanded from Lewisville to Frisco, Hwy 380 will do the same from Denton to Frisco. https://www.nctcog.org/getmedia/334fb241-81ef-4343-8489-3b7a41beba84/february2023progressreport.pdf?ext=.pdf

Haha I love the swagger from Coach O!

I'm sure the generous donors will have their say as to where their money goes. Texas is a football state first and foremost and money talks.

I think the season home opener vs Cal will be this year's Arkansas victory. National P5 brand coming to Apogee. September 2nd, hopefully kickoff is right around 3 pm. Sunny skies with temps touching 95 degrees but with a heat index of 108 at field level. Those Cali boys are going to be introduced to the ass-end of a Texas summer. Toughest. Team. Wins.

We agree on this, but that's not what the question asked... The poll asks "Would you prefer we focus all of our resources towards basketball now?" If we focus all of our resources on basketball, that means we leave football out to wither on the vine. Not a smart move.

Which part? Did we not learn anything from Spygate and the lengths teams will go to gain a competitive advantage?

I say 7-5 with wins over Cal, FIU, LaTech, ACU, Navy, Temple, and Tulsa.

I hear you and I too would love a detailed look behind the scenes. But it's a double-edge sword. All of that in-depth content can be used against us by our competition. Player evaluations, sideline & audible hand signals, formations, trick plays, etc would all be out in the open for other teams to scout. Imagine if we discover a rising star in spring practice only for SMU to catch wind by watching our tape, and then they decide to lure him away in May with $36K in NIL money. If I'm a head coach, the last thing I want is for detailed practice film of my team to be online for the world to see. The risk isn't worth the reward.

Call me greedy but I want UNT to make a name for itself as being great in both football and basketball. In this talent-rich market, I don't see why they have to be mutually exclusive. Also, focusing all of our resources to basketball would get us dropped from the AAC. Mike Aresco made it clear the AAC values schools that are serious about both football and basketball. As we all know, these sports are the real moneymakers in college athletics and the AAC needs the bowl game/ March Madness revenue in order to compete. This is not the time to think small and take steps backwards as we head into the AAC. Instead of creating a Sophie's Choice scenario, I think the better question us fans should be asking and debating is: How do we quickly build a robust NIL Collective to compete in the AAC and not have it come at the expense of UNT Scholarship Fund donations? Last I checked, SMU's NIL Boulevard Collective is paying $36K to football and mens basketball players. I had to do some digging to find the official NIL Light The Tower Collective website and it leaves a lot to be desired. The donor packages seem to be duplicated and thrown together when the website launched last year. The LTTC website is supposed to build donor confidence in the NIL collective, not shatter it to pieces.

I’m sure the city of Denton is feeling the pressure from Fort Worth and Frisco. The new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth is doing well with big-name concerts, annual FW stock show, PBR finals, and the AAC basketball tournament. I guess late is better than never… Then there’s the city of Frisco, exploding in population and business with land-values at sky high prices. Free of charge, Frisco donated 100 acres of land for UNT’s new Frisco campus. Now that shows a commitment to a long-term partnership. Imagine if Frisco wants to take the partnership a step further and donates additional land and offers to help fund a new state-of-the-art arena close by Toyota Stadium, UNT Frisco, and the new PGA Headquarters. I could see a mutually beneficial arrangement being made to justify the city expense, similar to how Frisco HS football teams play in The Star. Oh look, they’re finally expanding Hwy 380 which will shorten the Denton to Frisco drive time significantly. Psssst. Hey Denton, Frisco is new personal trainer she told you not to worry about.

Our new AAC conference foe, Tulane just finished 9th in the nation last season and upset USC in the NY6 Cotton Bowl. Back-to-back years have shown us there is a path to playing in a NY6 bowl. We just have to win.