GreenFlag

They deserve a ton of credit. So do many, many more over the last 20 years. This didn’t happen overnight. It was boosters, previous Athletic Department leadership and staff, former Presidents, and members of the board of regents.

Yes, the issues would have still come up. I haven’t been upset about the game at all. We all had a pretty good idea what the outcome would be.

A quick note to the clowns reading this that can't handle any criticism: I believe Wren and Neal are both a big net positive. Ok? Now on to the rant. Wren had to send the email, ok? There was no fantastical epiphany on accountability. Wren did his job really, really bad on Saturday. This has happened before. Not only has this happened under Wren before, but this EXACT SAME BULLSHIT happened under RV. And oh yeah, under a different President as well. We are either unable or unwilling to pull our collective heads out of our collective asses. For those of you in the "just get there earlier" or "it didn't happen to me" crowd, I wish you would consider a few things. I wish you would empathize with those who had significant issues on Saturday. These are significant issues for some, not all. They are still significant issues. They really happened. These issues are serious enough to drive potential fans away forever. An answer of "just get there earlier" or "it didn't happen to me" only hurts in finding a solution to this bullshit. It's the same old shit. Our AD is one of the highest paid ADs in the country. Yes, country. Like top 30ish. I expect him to document and resolve issues like these for all future ADs. This is basic job responsibility stuff. Again, it's the same old shit. We gave a negative gameday experience to some potential fans who will never, ever come back. Not only am I pointing the finger at the AD, but I'm also pointing the finger at Neal. Hey Doc, act like you're smart and find a solution to this. You two are capable of great things but the amount of ego and selfishness is appalling. It's almost as if you two don't give a douchebag about the future as long as you look good now. It's almost as if you want to make the guy following you have a tougher job, so your legacy looks better. You two receive well deserved praise in a lot of areas but both of you get a resounding "F" in change management. So do your predecessors. Just 100% terrible. Change management is a real thing and you should really look into it. Neither of you will be around forever but you need to act in a responsible manner. You need to find solutions AND put systems in place to ensure this never happens again...whomever is the AD or University President. I know it doesn't fulfill your selfish needs right now, but it is the right thing to do. I don't give Wren or Neal a pass. This is just the same old shit. Wren and Neal, c'mon fella's we like you! Now it's time to get your shit together.

The University and NIL are to remain separate entities. Doing what you suggested would be NCAA violation. Not that it matters because are there really any violations anymore? This is sports anarchy right now so eff it, divert the funds to NIL. I say this in jest.

Dan McCarney says “hold my Grey Goose and I’ll show you how it’s done”.

The traffic and parking was so, so bad yesterday. Who knows how many people just peeled off and didn’t bother to make it inside the stadium. Was it 100? A 1000? 3000? I sit in a suite. I always get there right as the suites open 90 minutes before kickoff but yesterday was an exception. I hit the stadium traffic at 5:45. I didn’t get to my seat until after 7:00. Is it always like this when attendance gets to around 25k? Who the heck would put up with this more than once? I’m kinda in shock of just how bad it was. Wren, you owe us an apology and a commitment to get this corrected.

Since it's North Texas: 940, 682, 817, 214, 469, 972, 430, 903, and 254.

I predict 6-7.

One of the Von Erich’s.

I was in Lubbock watching the #6 Red Raiders beat the #1 Longhorns with the Crabtree touchdown. It was early in that game and I was looking at my phone for play by play updates. I just knew the Hilltoppers were going to punch it in making it more likely we would end the season winless. It went from 45-40 to 51-40 game over on my phone with North Texas as the victors. I was so confused. It took a couple of minutes for me to figure out what happened.

Level of competition matters as does the product on the field/court. I've seen some great crowds over the past few years in FB and MBB against competition that isn't a big draw. I think 30K at a football game and 9K at a basketball game is a leap forward. We've also done very poorly at times when our team and or opponent just aren't very good. I disagree about Dentonites, they show up when there is a good product or when the opponent is a household name...just like everyone else.

My first upvote ever for the Queen.

This is totally the way to go. I do the same for bowl games as well. Pros from buying at the North Texas ticket office: 1) Our AD gets a small cut. 2) You get to sit by other North Texas fans. The Cons: 1) Probably the worst tickets available. You will be able to score much, much, much better seats from the other ticket office, including on the North Texas sideline. 2) Unpredictable delivery. They say they will be available on Tuesday, but you are still looking for them on Friday, which we will all be forced to read your posts about this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. 3) You don't know until you get the ticket exactly where you will be sitting (and the seats will suck). 4) Increased level of dread and frustration about the future and direction of the athletic department and even the University as a whole.

Garrett Marino, what an absolute pleasure of a human being.

Dude, just stop. RV should be assessed on how it was when he started to how it was when he left because that was, you know, his job. We weren't just awful; we were ULM awful. We passed many a school during his tenure in terms of big boy business stuff like facilities, revenue, and willingness to take on debt. That's the big boy business stuff that gets you into better conferences instead of ABC State who does a lot with a little who can't understand why they got passed by because they had a better win loss record than UNT and then blame it on markets. I was right here when that bullshit report came out. Yes, we needed to improve on some things. We still do and we don't need another "report" to make it true.

This is an important statistic for sure, but you are GREATLY missing the mark like all of the message board experts who couldn't for the life of them figure out why UNT was invited to the American when in reality we were a slam dunk. It didn't just happen when Wren arrived and the grand summation of all of the previous ADs efforts amounted to a pile of shit. RV deserves a TREMENDOUS amount of credit for seeing the big picture and getting us in a position to get to where we wanted to be. If anyone else could have done it, they would have. They didn't and they are stuck where they are.

They didn't analyze the shit show he inherited from 1999, did they? They didn't analyze before and after, did they? I am very aware of the 3rd party report. Those third-party reports are such performative art. It's not like there was anything in the "report" we didn't already know and if there was, we certainly should have and that's on us. Talk about a waste of money. It reminds me of the American contracting the former B1G guys to give them advice on conference realignment and the American realized the report they received wasn't anything they didn't already know. Remember the bullshit Gene Stallings report on UNT? It was craaaaaaaap. It was only $20K but c'mon.

I don't care if it has been said multiple times, it wasn't my point. My point was that he moved the needle significantly in the right direction by any standard.

Ok, let's swap RV for every other AD we have had in school history. Boom! HOF worthy. Thanks for the layup.

When RV got here, we only "participated" at the FBS level in athletics. We were battling it out with ULM for least resources of all Division 1 programs that had a football program. Think about that. We were amongst the bottom of the newly formed and poor Sun Belt Conference. Our football team played in debatably the worst stadium with the worst field in all of FBS. Our "athletic center" (coaches offices, weight room, etc.) were in the bowels of said stadium. The field had a track around it, so it was also the track and field program headquarters. Our soccer team played their home games at a local park. It might have been at the same local park our softball team played, or maybe they played at the intramural fields? I think the volleyball team played at the old Snake Pit, my apologies to Pits. Swimming and Diving? The old PEB swimming pool. Our tennis team played on the courts next to the Super Pit complete with 1" cracks in the surface. I have no idea where or how the golf team practiced or worked out. The Super Pit, which was the crown jewel of UNT facilities, had bright orange fabric seats that were filthy. As in every single seat had a stain in a color other than the seat was supposed to be. We paid our coaches amongst the worst in the country. We had no "training table". Tailgating was not allowed at football games. RV hired Dodge for $125,000. That was an improvement over Dickey's salary. By the time RV left our HFC was making 7 figures. So, when RV got here, he was battling that kind of apathy. People in RV's position not only have to make the right decisions to move things forward, but they must also convince others with your vision so you can have said money to do the things you want to do. You don't have complete control and autonomy. There was a mindset once upon a time at North Texas that tailgating at football games was a bad idea. That certainly didn't come from an athletic director along the way, right? It probably came from risk management. A university official probably said, "it's not a bad idea since nobody comes to the games anyway so let it be written...no tailgating at football games". RV was effective at starting the ball rolling to where we are now. I am well aware he did not do this alone (thank you to Presidents and BOR members who got it right), but his biggest achievement was getting people to believe we deserved and could do better. Before RV: Fouts, bowels of Fouts, trough urinals (I don't care what #MeanRob thinks he knows, I had a player piss by me during a game at said trough, it did happen), concrete like football playing surface, giant crown on football field, dirty orange seats at the Super Pit, local parks!!!, uneven tennis court surfaces, and a HFC making $85,000/yr.!!!!!!!!!!! After RV: Apogee, green seats in the Super Pit, PEB Natatorium, tennis facility with even surfaces, Lovelace Stadium, Soccer/Track Stadium and offices, academic offices, actual athletic center with weight rooms, offices, and meeting spaces, training table, robust sports medicine, and a HFC making $2MM/year and assistants making enough to not HAVE to make a change every year. The guy is not a God but is a slam dunk for HOF for good reason.

I'm not trying to be combative, but I don't care about that. Run a good program is all I ultimately care about. If he's the next great orator of college football coaches, then great. I'm not going to lose sleep if he isn't.

I'm talking athletes, not mathletes. Both are fine schools. My point is NOT NEAR ENOUGH PEOPLE give a crap about football there, not even themselves. It is truly shocking to see the apathy. Take a look at attendance each game for each school. Their attendance counters and the SMU attendance counter are cousins by the way. As far as butts in seats my guess is that both Cal and Stanford were under 25K for the year.

Do you really think Tulsa and Tulane are going to put more of our fans in Apogee? Yes, they are a more attractive opponent than Arkansas State or Southern Miss. Are Temple and South Florida moving the needle in Denton? No, they aren't. Navy might be the only team we MIGHT see each season (depending on whatever conference scheduling the new AAC adopts) that puts a few extra buts in seats. I see what you are trying to say but let's look at who we played against 10 years ago vs who will be our conference mates next year. There is a big difference, or at least I think so. Ark State vs. Memphis ULM vs. Tulane UL vs. SMU Troy vs. UAB FIU vs. USF MTSU vs. Rice WKU vs. UTSA USA vs. Tulsa Anyone we shared a conference with vs. Navy How much increase? I don't know, 1-2k maybe? It's a lot better for sure but it certainly doesn't fix our attendance by itself.

I think you are a little off base there.