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MGB: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/07/breaking-unt-picks-up-commitment-from-junius-king.html/

read more: http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/harry-minium/conference-usa-kicks-off-two-day-football-media-event-today/article_84319471-6923-5e34-bea3-bb108e7b6e2a.html Boy could the timing be worse for us? We need our new AD out there shaking hands and kissing babies right now. Maybe Hank is filling the void?

Dated, as this was when he was at Memphis (He is interim at Missouri now): When he was 26 years old, he was the youngest school principal in Oklahoma. When he was 27, he was the first athletic director and men's basketball coach at a state school transitioning to a four-year university with eyes on NCAA membership. When he was 32, in the first few months of his tenure as athletic director at a Division 2 power, he was tasked with replacing a retiring legend of a coach and then replacing the new coach after his sudden death. So, yes, Wren Baker, the new No. 2 man at the University of Memphis athletic department, has had his share of quick studies. How he's handled them is what impressed Tom Bowen, the Tigers' athletic director, and led to his hiring last month to oversee all of the department's external operations. "This young man is a rising rock star in this business," Bowen said. Baker, 34, arrived in Memphis just a few weeks ago. He's still getting settled into his second-floor office near the Hardaway Hall of Fame, in the school's relatively new offices for development staff. With the Tigers, he will have a hodgepodge of roles, including oversight of the department's fundraising, marketing, licensing and ticket office. His background in college basketball, though, is of particular interest to Bowen. Baker was involved in helping to execute last week's decision by Bowen to extend coach Josh Pastner's contract. And Baker fondly recalls staying up late with Pastner a few weeks back talking shop. "I will be very involved in the basketball program," Baker said. "That's what Tom's indicated he wants me to do. That's a good fit." Baker's career in college athletics began ever so appropriately for the new No. 2 at Memphis: with a FedEx overnight envelope. read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/new-memphis-deputy-ad-wren-baker-has-been-quick-riser--and-quick-study-ep-362197754-326793631.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2016 Contact: Jordan Stepp jordan.stepp@unt.edu/940-369-8329 MEAN GREEN FOOTBALL Kishawn McClain Named To Preseason All-Conference Team McClain Was Selected By The 13 Conference USA Coaches IRVING, Texas – Junior safety Kishawn McClain was selected to the 2016 Conference USA All-Conference by the league’s 13 head coaches, the conference office announced Wednesday. McClain was the Mean Green’s leading tackler in 2015 and is expected to help lead North Texas, as the program begins the Seth Littrell era, when it opens the season on Sept. 3 against Metroplex rival SMU at Apogee Stadium at 6 p.m. McClain ranked third in C-USA with 110 total tackles in 2015, 77 of which were solo. Additionally, the Rosenburg, Texas, native forced a pair of fumbles, recovered one which was returned for a touchdown, and intercepted a pass during his sophomore season. Fans are encouraged to follow along with Mean Green Football on social media throughout the season. Get live updates during games on Twitter @MeanGreenFB, or look for updates and photos on Facebook at Facebook.com/MeanGreenFB. Fans can also log on to MeanGreenSports.com for full game recaps and the latest news on the football program.

The Mean Green Game Day goals are important to reiterate because they demonstrate how Hank Dickenson thinks and works. This campaign thrives, as do many other civic projects he leads, because of Hank’s relationships in Denton. Mean Green Game Day is one of many ventures on which Hank and I have collaborated over the years. He has chaired the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and currently sits on the CVB’s Advisory Board, both roles where he’s been intricately involved in our initiatives. He has invested in Denton for more than 20 years, and not just to tout the Mean Green (though he never misses that opportunity). The fact is he loves this city and UNT. Recent changes in the North Texas athletics landscape have altered Hank’s title from deputy athletic director to acting athletic director. It’s my understanding that a nationwide search is underway for the new one. I just wonder, though, why everyone doesn’t see what I see. We’ve got our guy! Of course, this is only my opinion and should not be taken as the opinion of the Denton Record-Chronicle just because you are reading it in this newspaper. Like hundreds of you, I’m a Hank fan. He’s in the trenches with us, giving more than his 100 percent to uphold our Denton way of life. I don’t pretend to know what the experts look for when seeking the next Athletic Director, but I do know Hank Dickenson. He knows sports and bleeds them all. He’s been wrangling UNT athletics for more than two decades, through ups and downs, wins and losses. And he’s still here. As the team readies and Mean Green Game Day ramps up for year five, let’s do it with the best man on top. Go. Mean. Green. read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/business-tech/denton-business-headlines/20160618-kim-phillips-dickenson-the-right-person-for-unts-athletic-director.ece

There’s been a focus in Houston lately around the Houston Cougars, their chances of jumping to the Big 12, one of college football’s power conferences. The Cougars are looking to secure their future in college athletics, and school officials doubt they have a bright future as a member of the American Athletic Conference. But while UH fans, athletes and administrators might feel otherwise, the school is in a good position, no matter what happens. While the American Athletic Conference is relatively new, it’s rather stable when compared to some of the other non-power conferences. The conference provides lots of primetime television exposure on ESPN and its family of networks. The television money, while not as lucrative as in conferences like the Big 10 or the SEC, is decent. This is not the case in the other non-power football conferences. Take for instance Conference USA which once was situated much as the American is now. Many of its major members, UH, Cincinnati, Memphis and Louisville, have been poached by other conferences. That has meant the loss of major television markets, meaning less conference interest and a much lower profile. And while the American has a somewhat high profile deal with ESPN, Conference USA just entered into new media rights deals with four different parties that result in less revenue for member schools than before. This results from C-USA being the first of the minor conferences to renegotiate its media deals during a time of industry belt-tightening. The Big 10 might be entering into new major deals and the NFL and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament might be selling broadcast rights for tons of dollars, but other sports and leagues have been taking major financial hits. read more: http://www.houstonpress.com/news/uh-might-be-looking-to-upgrade-conferences-but-what-about-rice-8509673

https://jobs.unt.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1466457927307 Responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to: * Provides leadership and serves as the primary spokesperson for the intercollegiate athletic program. * Submits recommendations and supporting documentation to the President and Board of Regents as necessary to make decisions regarding goals, academics, capital expansion, staffing, budget appropriations, and other aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Responsible for implementation and communication of Board directives, including maintenance and control. * Establishes policies and procedures to ensure compliance with National Collegiate Athletic Association, Conference, and University of North Texas rules and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools regulations and inculcating in both the coaching and administrative staff an understanding of the importance of these norms. * Ensures that coaching and administrative staff actively support the Department and University's joint commitment to academic achievement which entails helping each student-athlete to make normal progress in completing his/her degree and to graduate within a five-year period. * Oversees the operation of the varsity sports programs in football and men's basketball through the head coaches. * Coordinates and supervises other sports programs (excluding football and men's basketball) through designated staff members. * Responsible for overseeing all fiscal and administrative operations through the appropriate staff members. Promulgates budget guidelines and approves final submissions for each area. Monitors conformance to budget and personal expense accounts. Oversees the operations of the Ticket Office and the Business Office through the appropriate staff members. * Oversees the Marketing, Communications, and Media Services Office through the Sr. Associate Athletics Director. * Directly supervises Director of Sports Medicine and Director of Strength and Conditioning in providing services to student-athletes for all intercollegiate athletics programs. * Develops long-range plans to determine need for and feasibility of constructing or upgrading athletic facilities. * Leading and coordinating, with the Office of Development, fund-raising efforts to provide for scholarships, facilities, and equipment. * Coordinates scheduling for sports events involving Conference participation or revenue contracts. Coordinates and assists on football and men's basketball future scheduling. * Supports the institution's commitment to goals set forth in the Texas Educational Opportunity Plan and the University's affirmative action plan by taking appropriate actions within the Athletics Department. Establishes goals for Athletics Department, with appropriate University officials, for gender equity in athletics programs in accordance with Title IX of Office of Civil Rights Regulations, and takes appropriate actions to work toward and to achieve those goals. * Provides leadership and oversight of institutional effectiveness efforts in intercollegiate athletics including the use of evaluation results and linking results to planning. * Keeps the Athletics Council informed as to all significant current actions (both pending and accomplished), and as to long-range planning for the athletics program. Prepares an annual report for the Athletics Council, by November 15 of each year, for the academic year just completed. * Serves as a member of the President's Staff, working with the Athletics Council and the Faculty NCAA Representative, and carrying out such other institutional duties as the President may assign.

MGB: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/05/breaking-villarreal-out-as-unts-athletic-director.html/

The more I think about this AD hire the more I am convinced it is the most important hire we have ever had in athletics. We may very well be on the precipice of a golden age for North Texas athletics and we can't afford to mess this one up. We need to get this right. Landing Littrell and his staff appears to be a good, possibly great move. I am very encouraged from what I am seeing thus far. Realistically, Littrell and this staff will be heading to bigger things if he is able to turn this ship around quickly. This AD position may be here longer. What I love about Littrell is he saw the potential here. It would have been easy for him to wait it out at UNC where Fedora is building a potential national championship caliber program down the road. He looked at North Texas, at Denton and all of our natural assets and saw the potential launching pad he needed. I would like to see the same mindset from the new AD. Do we need to have someone understand the history of this place? Yes and no. Sure, there needs to be a basic understanding of our history good and bad. I also think a new, fresh approach needs to be considered as well. What we absolutely don't need is someone who wants to feed the new AD with all of the pitfalls and past failures. The past is the past. I have maintained for some time now, that our new North Texas Athletic program started in 2011 with the unveiling of Apogee and when we finally paid a reasonable wage to Mac and his assistants. Don't point to prior as we frankly were running a D-I facade. Denton is a hot town now, the growth throughout DFW is just phenomenal and the university is making huge strides in terms of enrollment, academics and facilities. It's just a different place a different time. It offers a huge opportunity to the right candidate. They need to realize that coming in. Heck even our AD compensation appears to be in the competitive range based on the numbers I have seen. As North Texas alums we have been conditioned over the years to have a chip on our collective shoulders. Those days are over. the new AD needs to clearly understand this. I won't go through a laundry list of items I would like to see, but here are a few of the most important ones: 1). Young(er) energetic, high achiever who has excelled in his athletic or business etc path thus far. I am not beholden to hiring a pure athletic department path candidate per se, I would be open to a business savvy executive who is comfortable interacting with the MANY business and industry leaders we have throughout the metroplex, state and nation/world. We can most certainly hire a support staff who is keen on compliance issues and has the operational experience of running an athletic department. 2). It needs to be a very presentable, charismatic figure who people are drawn to. I frankly do not care if it is a man or a woman, I have come across many capable leaders in both categories. I'm not asking for Jesus here, but if we are paying around 350K we ought to have someone who lights up a room. 3). We need someone who could get the attention of the business community. When we start turning this ship around, it will be paramount that we have a person who can relay a vision, not of where North Texas is but where it will be. There are so many successful North Texas graduates in so many different areas. We need a messenger who can deliver them a tangible vision they they will be compelled by. There are more corporate headquarters here in the DFW area than just about any place in the country. We should actively be reaching out to those who have North Texas grads in their leadership and encourage them to support the cause. Start in Denton and work your way out. Rack and stack the givers and tell the takers to hit the road. 4). They need to understand how extremely important it is to support the coaching staff to achieve their goals of building the program and hold them accountable. It's not enough to give them everything that you think they need, it requires knowing exactly what they need and delivering it with clearly defined expectations at delivery. 5). Full transparency. Donors and stakeholders are much more inclined to participate when they know what is going on and where you are trying to go. 5b). Communication. You cannot have full transparency unless you are communicating consistently with the stakeholders. 6). Tie compensation to performance, but do it with realistic, achievable goals. That's it for now. Feel free to add or subtract as you see fit. I would like to hear other thoughts on this. gmg

"We hear frequently from our fans that it's difficult to find our games ," said Debbie White, a senior associate athletic director at ODU. "It's become increasing more challenging to keep people informed. And it's frustrating for our fans." It's only going to get more frustrating this season, when ODU becomes the first conference with a deal for games on beIN Sports. Never heard of it? You likely aren't alone. Conference USA was the first Football Bowl Subdivision League to re-negotiate its TV rights since viewers began to shift away from cable, and that shift was reflected in a far-more diverse TV package announced last week. In addition to beIN Sports, C-USA will have three other TV partners: ESPN, the CBS Sports Network and the American Sports Network. A fifth is expected to join the list. A large number of C-USA games will also be streamed on ESPN3 and on the one network league officials have yet to announce. Just two years ago, you could find C-USA football on just two outlets: Fox Sports and the CBS Sports Network. read more: http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/got-a-college-degree-may-need-one-to-figure-out/article_6e38751a-a1c5-5ec8-81dd-c9e03de34ede.html

http://collegead.com/athletic-directors/

After day 1: UAB in 2nd (-5), North Texas in 9th (+8), and La. Tech in 11th (+13). Top 6 will go to Championship. There are many ranked teams. #1 Stanford at -14 (and in first), and # 25 North Carolina at +22 (13th).

http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/grace_goodhart_970802.html http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2221102/grace-goodhart HIGH SCHOOL 2014-15 McDonald's All-American Nominee ... Named Most Valuable Player of the Texas 3A State Championship game after leading Sunnyvale High School to a state title following an appearance in the regional final during her junior year ... Capped off storied career as a Raider by averaging 17.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals en route to being selected as the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' (TABC) Class 3A State Player of the Year ... Also received multiple All-State and All-Region honors from multiple outlets and organizations during her high school career ... Played on the club level for Dallas Heroes Elite and coach Mariqus Alexander ... TABC Academic All-State honoree as a senior ... Two-time Academic All-District selection.

A declining cable television market, a growing gap between the major and midmajor conferences and some losses suffered in realignment are about to add up to a significant loss in revenue for Conference USA. The league will soon announce its new television deal, likely in a week at the C-USA meetings in Dustin, Fla., and a number of reports show revenues declining by about half, to around $7 million a year total for the 14 schools from the current amount of just over $14 million. That means the University of Texas at El Paso's cut of revenue will go from about $1 million a year to half that. "We anticipate around that," UTEP athletic director Bob Stull said. "It will be down. We don't know how much." The current deal was negotiated in 2011 and C-USA is the first midmajor conference (a group including the Sun Belt, Mountain West, American Athletic and MAC) to negotiate a new deal since the 2012 realignment. Conference USA won't comment until the deal is announced, but Commissioner Judy MacLeod did make some general statements in a speech to the Norfolk Sports Club last week. "Right now, the television market is horrible," she said in comments reported by the Virginian-Pilot. "ESPN eliminated 300 jobs and Fox Sports is doing away with a lot of its regional staffs. "The way people consume content is rapidly changing. We have young people who work in our office who don’t have cable or DirecTV. The pool of money that's there is going to the big guys. The Big Ten and the SEC are must-see TV." Read more: El Paso Times

Good day, great weather... here are some brief thoughts: - Wow #5 Alec Morris the quarterback impressed the hell out of me. Powerful arm, great touch on the ball... he's the QB we always wanted but never had. Looks like a leader. He's got great size. I like how he wears the lineman,manly-type shoulder pads as opposed to the Garo Yerpremian ones Mini wore. Guy has an attitude and he seemed to be having a lot of fun out there today. - It's interesting to see Littrell (wearing a grey shirt and whistle) and Harrell work together with the offense. It's a very rhythmical thing - they have music of all types (Rap, county etc) going on loudly in the background and things seems to be moving and going constantly, I only saw Littrell go off once, there are not the huge Chico or Mac blowups, no Simmonds screaming. I did not hear Tommy's scratchy voice during special teams section. Much of a lower tone but intense. - -There were some amazing throws and amazing receptions today. Morris had the best throws but I though Shanbour had a couple and even Chumley made a couple nice plays. Morris gets double of the reps of the other guys. Unfortunately, Means struggled. He had one really bad long duck that they pulled him out on. He just doesn't seem to have progressed and his arm pales in comparison to Morris. Tee Goree looked taller to me. He was playing a lot with the 1's. -- Not as much contact as other regimes. In the scrimmage they hit hard but I didn't see the Oklahoma type drills as much. Of course this was one day. All the QB's are wearing red shirts and can't be hit. -- I wish they would put a red shirt on Jeffery Wilson because he REALLY looks good right now. He had a long TD run around the end where there was not anyone who could catch him. - Ekelor is very active and loud. I was surprised, he's actually a little shorter than Littrell but sort of looks like Littrell out there. He was working on a lot of technique items with the linebackers. I liked what Courtney Finney and Braelon Schwartz did today. - Nate Brooks made some nice plays on the receivers and Ashton Preston did as well. - We have a lot more tall athletic receivers than we have probably ever had. - Willie Ivery had an amazing over the shoulder long touchdown catch perfectly placed by Morris that had the entire coaching staff congratulating him. There were more catches than drops and better routes and passing than I saw at many Mac practices. Just seems like this staff is letting the receivers play. All the coaching seems to be technique based as opposed to scheme or plays. Everything play wise seems simple and fluid. EVERYTHING is shotgun btw. - Lines still look small to me, especially d-line. I like the look of Wegeman. I could see him step in for Austin Orr this season. Jareid Combs made a few nice plays. - Tight end is a work in progress. I like the look and attitude of Dillman. I didn't catch much of Kelvin. Just seem young and low numbers there as opposed to recent years. Then again, will he use a tight end. Seemed to me he was focused more on h-back and fullback today. - There is a fullback that Littrell seems to like. I think his name is Cameron Maki. I saw him spending a lot of time with him and coaching him etc. Good looking athlete. Final thought --- really need to keep Morris healthy. He elevates the program to a higher level on his ability alone. After him there is a pretty steep drop off although I think Shanbour won't kill us... it's still an issue to the point of, I am not sure I would let him run too much for fear of having him injured. He is a senior DT right now but with a much higher ceiling because of his accuracy. Second thought -- this team has some decent players. Mac did not leave the cupboard completely empty, It's still too small and way too thin on the defensive line however. I think the skill positions are very competitive for C-USA. The QB position is a HUGE upgrade with Morris however and that is a good reason to be excited about this season. GMG EDIT -- I forgot that #11 Thadeous Thompson had a nice long grab that was close to Ivery's in terms of positive response from the coaching staff. He's a another guy that is impressive in pads and seems to have good speed.

How many games does Benford need to win in the 2016 C-USA tourney?

As I was digging around about college rankings in a discussion, I stumbled across this article. Puts Alec as the favorite here and ranked as 107 out of 128, ahead of several of our peers (in terms of QB situation). That perception jump from dead last to over 20 spots ahead is a decent boost. Now let's take the upward momentum and actually do something. *Insert Princess Leia hope hologram gif* I'll go on record as saying I don't think we win a whole lot in 2016, but I sure hope we see a lot of fun football games playing Air Littrell . http://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-footballs-pre-spring-1-128-starting-quarterback-rankings-2016

WKU @ UAB, 12:00 noon ET FIU @ FAU, 2:00 p.m. ET Marshall @ MTSU, 6:00 p.m. ET UTEP @ Charlotte, 7:00 p.m. ET Rice @ La. Tech, 7:00 p.m. ET UTSA @ ODU, 8:00 p.m. ET UNT @ USM, 8:00 p.m. ET

t's hard enough for college athletes to play as true freshmen, but starting in 2016, some will not even have the option. The reason? Academics. In 2012, the NCAA enacted a so-called "academic redshirt," starting with this upcoming recruiting class. Athletes who don't meet certain entry requirements are required to sit out a year of competition, though they are still permitted to practice. High school students still need to have at least a 2.0 GPA and complete 16 core classes to participate in Division I sports, but now, they'll need to have a 2.3 GPA and 10 of their core courses locked in by the start of their senior year to play in their first year without redshirting. Why did the NCAA enact this rule? The NCAA says its goal is to make sure athletes are more prepared in the classroom when it comes time to compete. According to the association, the new rules will likely affect eight percent of men's basketball players, five percent of football players and two percent of athletes overall. "The big thing they're trying to stop is these miracle qualifiers who re-take six core classes their senior year," Arkansas director of compliance Will Landreth said. No longer can athletes make up all the classes they missed in the last year of high school, nor can they slack off early on. "A lot of times, why are these standards put in place?" Todd Leyden, the director of the NCAA Eligibility Center asked. "It’s because of abuse in the system." Indeed, that happens at times in recruiting, according to SB Nation recruiting analyst Bud Elliott. "It's common for players to screw around for their first five semesters and then start caring in the classroom once they start getting college interest," Elliott said. "This new rule will bring an end to that in some respects." read more: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/1/27/10822442/ncaa-academic-redshirt-rule-requirements

Harry Rico smoothfresh unt 88 emmitt01 rob morely meangreencoach2 Vince Thor UNTFan23 Meangreen09 we will win

I knew that they would probably have quite a few transfers and jucos etc but I just saw their updated commitment listing and sure enough.. http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/10/2016_uab_football_commitments.html There are like 30 and they are all juco or transfers! What's the deal? Is it because they are restarting football in 2017 that they are taking this approach? Actually, it seemed like they had a primarily juco transfer roster the year before last. It seems like their coach likes going that route. Does anyone know the particulars or parameters of how the NCAA is allowing them to restart their program? I am assuming there is a strategy to this sort of like what UTSA did when they started theirs up.

We always seem to do well there. Now with Perry back in the fold you know he is going to do some damage. It will be interesting to see how well we do there with this new staff.