eulessismore

QUOTE(untcampbell @ Feb 26 2008, 06:37 AM) When North Texas added its school of hospitality management (hotel/restaurant), I proposed building a U-shaped stadium and filling the open end with a hotel. All guests staying on the stadium side of the building are included in attendance. Each room has a balcony, and Marriott or Hilton pays for part of the building of the stadium. Can you say naming rights? I was thinking that this concept existed already at the Texas Motor Speedway. Looking at their website though, I don't see any reference to a hotel at the Speedway. I do wonder if such a combination of facilities might allow for more creative financing, since the hotel/motel would be used as a teaching facility. One place I found where there is some academic use of the football stadium is UNC at Chapel Hill, North Carolina (I was there in Chapel Hill last October on the day of a football game-for a wedding reception-very heavy traffic in the vicinity). Here's a link: Kenan Stadium, UNC Chapel Hill Oh, another link, apparently showing how they handled giving out general admission tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert in September, 2003. I think providing such amenitites to students is only reasonable if they are to be asked to share the cost of building a new stadium. Handling of General Admission Concert Tickets at the UNC Stadium

Darn, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Another thing we could do is have a festival featuring many of the great folk musicians who went to UNT. I bet Ray Wylie Hubbard would show up!

Since I've worked for the City of Dallas for many years, I hate to disagree with you, but I think many in this area have the same opinion as FirefightnRick, who posted: "I would nearly pay double for any event over having to actually go to Dallas." When you think about the time to drive from many parts of this area, even including parts of North Dallas, it might be as fast (and probably easier) to drive to Denton than to Dallas for many. And, looking at the web site for Frisco's Pizza Hut Park, there must be some market for arena sized concerts outside of Dallas; they have Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett booked into that approximately 20,000 seat venue over the next couple of months. If students were to get in free or nearly so to such events, 35,000 seats could nearly be filled, plus students might embrace an athletic (athletic/music?) fee more readily. I was really thinking of an added use as music venue more to host concerts performed by or for the students, but the more I learn, the less far fetched a combined football stadium/music venue seems. And another idea from the Pizza Hut Park web site; hosting high school football playoffs.

To me, it would be a real shame if we didn't try something like that. The last time I went to a Jazzfest in Denton (ok, it was 2001), the Civic Center Park seemed strained to accommodate those attending at certain times.

I'm quite certain that a new football stadium will be built; as to the time line, seating capacity, and design elements, it seems like anyone's guess is as good as the next. The only thing that kind of bothers me about modern football stadium construction is the trend towards single use (although I did notice that Stanford has commencement at theirs, weather depending). Having some personal history with the fabulous UNT School of Music, I can't help but feel that a stadium doubling as a music venue is not that far fetched. On the other hand, who would think that a school where music is such a big part of things would have a stadium such as Fouts, where that no amount of money thrown at it has done anything to improve acoustics; one of my coworkers mentioned that although there was some kind of fee increase to improve Fouts in recent years, the tendency for sound to simply evaporate is still quite noticeable. One other thing I'd like to see, but don't know enough about the transit planning in Denton and Denton County to make informed comments on, is some kind of transit link, whether just using new stadium parking as a remote parking lot with shuttles into the main campus area, or ideally, a regional rail station, with commuter rail such as the Trinity Railway Express that now connects Dallas and Fort Worth (I love taking that train to work every day, and often think back to people saying that would never work in this area). So, any thoughts (even is it's just "hey, that'll never work), other ideas? We might bring some fencesitters onto the new stadium concept if there were other benefits proposed.

When we eventually beat OU in football, it will be reported that OU came in 2nd and UNT came in next to last.

We certainly need effective "lobbying", whether it's in the state legislature concerning academic programs, or in athletic circles concerning conferences and other athletic matters.

I voted yes; after all TXDOT wants at least some of the land where our present stadium is located. Plus, there's a lot of wriggle room in the original post, such as what "have a new stadium by 2011" actually means; i.e, by December 31, 2010, ready by the opening game of the 2011 season, etc. I think the real question is, "What will a new stadium be like, and what kind of input will UNT football supporters have in its design?"

Emmitt's "Do you believe" topic led to further self questioning on my part as to why "I believe in UNT football", but my belief about UNT football isn't specifically about the stadium issue. It was really the head coach at Euless Trinity high school, Steve Lineweaver, who got me interested in following football more seriously. My wife and I met him in the summer of 2005 while walking in the park next to where we live here in Euless. He introduced himself as head football coach at Euless Trinity, which I knew had been playing well, but had not attended their games. I was so impressed by the man that I decided to start following Trinity Trojan football. I began attending their games that year, which culminated with their first state championship in football ever. Of course attending games is easy to do when following a winning program which enjoys national media coverage for their players of Tongan heritage and performance of the "Haka" to begin and end each game. However, let me make this clear; I do not believe that Lineweaver is only interested in winning football games, but in teaching young men how to win in life. I also believe that of a man Lineweaver has praised, Todd Dodge. As far as involvement other than attending games, my wife first came up with an idea to mentor or otherwise support an individual student during a season; I encouraged her to follow up, but said I only wanted to become a booster club member, as being an "ex" of UNT could present problems when working individually with students. When the booster club announced a pancake breakfast fund raiser for yesterday morning, we figured that would be a good chance to talk with the boosters and Lineweaver. It was no big deal for me to sign up for the boosters club, of course, but I was amazed at the immediate interest that my wife's mentoring idea sparked; Lineweaver found some boosters and other family members to talk to her, who expressed concern about a continuing need to get the student athletes to apply themselves academically. I was skeptical about her idea; now I'm convinced she'll get it done. Lineweaver did ask me whether I had any regrets about having become a Trojan fan, and I replied "No, I've told my wife I follow 2 football programs, the Trinity Trojans, who almost never lose, and North Texas, who almost never win". He immediately responded "That will change". Steve Lineweaver has real football knowledge (and he also knows Todd Dodge). If Steve Lineweaver says we will win, I believe it. As far as everything else we want; a new stadium, better conference, national rankings, whatever, it all starts with winning. And yes, that winning will be on the field and in the lives of our players.

Which is one reason I've questioned whether this poll would be meaningful. Those who will determine the future of UNT football (and it's home stadium) are not the relatively small number of those who post on this board, but the far greater number who attended home games in increasing numbers and are going from being less involved to more involved.

Yes, I tried to bring that to people's attention in my "A Cheery Bunch" thread, but maybe I wasn't direct enough. And, maybe I felt stunned at the amount of respect that forum members I have respected were giving Nautique.

I haven't had a good source since I moved away from Denton.

All good points. I do think that being a student athlete is similar to being an employee; cause for dismissal can be less than that required in a criminal proceeding, and the same would go for extending an offer to someone in this circumstance. I think that the kind of charges involved here should bring the highest level of scrutiny. I think the possibility of the charges being false are not out of the realm of possibility, but the overall circumstances which led to the charges being brought in the first place would have to be considered, rather than just the strength of the criminal case. Unfair as it may seem, student-athletes live under a media spotlight. I don't think it's unfair to expect a higher standard of conduct from them. I am definitely opposed to assuming that we are desperate for defensive linemen and should therefore make an offer to this young man simply based on dismissal of the charges originally filed against him. As to the overall best decision, unless proven otherwise, I still have faith in Dodge to make the call.

First of all, I'm no angel myself. Also, I believe there is merit in giving someone a second chance. However, I don't think the idea of UNT alumni leading the way is a good idea. Adler, it sounds like you're saying there is discussion between Dodge and Patterson concerning the young man. From what I know of these two coaches, I'd be happy with whatever decision is reached. I just don't think there's any great need to consider ourselves as desperate, and making this kind of decision from that perspective. Even if he was offered by UNT, I doubt if he would be ready to play soon enough to justify making a decision based on immediate need. I do think Dodge capable of judging character as well academic and athletic performance; let him make the call.

I honestly doubt that we're that desperate. I think that much of the existing talent on both offensive and defensive line can do the job at this level. Of course, it will take extensive work to create effective units by the start of the season, but I suspect we have more than enough talent and coaching ability to achieve that; more than many on this forum are willing to admit. Has anyone posted a list of who we actually have on the roster who has d-line experience or is projected to play defensive line?

I was hoping that they would have a win by the time we played them last year; I'm sure they were truly hungry for one by then. I was suspecting many in the Mean Green Nation were considering them an easy "w".

I wasn't saying that there are no exceptions to HIPPA protection, but that those posting in regards to injuries on such forums as these should be aware that there may be legal limitations on such information. It would certainly be understandable if those maintaining public forums chose to delete or lock threads due to irresponsible posting about medical conditions. Again, I think that common sense could be used to call into question whether the original poster of the original thread on this matter was behaving responsibly by inviting speculation about "a big time player" being injured. Parents of players (many of whom may think their child is "big time") read this board, and unless players have more perfect communication with parents than I suspect, such speculation might lead to cause unnecessary anxiety to such parents. Regarding Franchione, I don't think his actions (if you're referring to his private newsletter listing player injuries) helped his career any; it seemed that the A&M administration was truly furious with him.

I think that anyone providing, or encouraging others to provide health care information about any individual on a public forum such as this should be aware that there are federal and state laws that apply to the disclosure of such information, and the penalty for illegal disclosures of such information can be severe. The following link is a SUMMARY of the federal HIPAA act, which, as far as I can tell, preempts state law in most case, with exceptions, notably for for minors, for which Texas state law applies. I know of one recruit who will only be 17 when next season starts, so one should be aware of federal AND state laws (as well as case law and opinions by the Texas Office of the Attorney General) concerning medical records privacy in order to avoid potential liability for illegal medical records disclosures. Of course, common sense might also guide someone considering specualating, or encouraging others to speculate about an individual's medical condition or other information which might be considered "private" or otherwise sensitive. If nothing else, consider the well being of the individual, his or her family, and others who may suffer anxiety from inappropriate information disclosures. Please remember the considerable stresses placed on the families of many college students due to the unfortunate tragedies occurring within only the last year. Summary of Federal Medical Records Privacy Law (HIPAA)

I first experienced waterless urinals another location; the Marfa Lights Viewing center. I don't remember where I read this, but I think the local High School kids in Marfa designed it. I LOVED those lights, but man was I impressed by those waterless urinals and that the local kids designed such a place. There's a picture of it in this link: Another waterless urinal site

Forgive me, but I only watched 3 games this year (SMU, MTSU, and Navy). No cable, so only watch in person, and was on vacation for some of October. I can't remember anything in those 3 games that, from anything I've heard or read about punt returns, could be blamed entirely on the punt return man. MTSU and Navy really killed us by downing punts near our 1 yard line (1 for MTSU and 2 for Navy, as I recall). Each of those resulted in a safety and an 8 to 10 ten point swing. However, those weren't touched by the returner (Roman, as I recall). Again, only what I've read or heard about punt returns, he shouldn't have attempted to field them, since the conventional wisdom is not to field a punt within the ten, since it may roll into the end zone for a touchback, and there's a great risk of an immediate 6 point swing from a mishandled punt in that area. I'm just wondering as to whether or not Evyn Roman actually should be blamed with all that went wrong on the punt return team this year, or if there was some combination of problems with that unit or otherwise (consistently bad starting field position throughout the game?), and that he was the most obvious player in those situations.

Now I'm confused; I have been thinking of Todd Dodge as Moses. Is he really Noah? I guess he did give his "family" atmosphere some credibility by recruiting students for his first class in twos from different high schools.

I did wonder why we should be like those on the SMU board, knocking those employed by a legitimate business, doing what at best is just hard work. I think "nautique" could mean a number of things...a frenchified version of a brand of clothing, whatever. I do have problems with people hiding behind screen names generating potentially harmful information. Perhaps one useful practice could be that whenever someone posts something almost certain to stir things up, look at the person's profile to see if that's just how they attract attention to themselves. If noone responds to threads, they become parts of pages 2 through whatever. Dwayne Taylor

This suspense is KILLING me!

If Norah Jones came back to North Texas to coach football in some capacity, I would volunteer to keep her supplied with diet coke or any other liquid refreshment she prefers.

Maybe you were among those busy looking for the failures.