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The promo and link to the show tonight are below. In case you cannot make it tonight, feel free to post your questions for RV. RV is graciously coming on the show with a very busy schedule so I ask that you be considerate of your questions and keep in mind he is our guest. I know he has a lot of GOOD info to share with us on a range of interesting subjects but we will try to leave open some time for your questions. If you are a guest on here, please note that you will need to register on the site to have access to the chatroom. Registering is easy and free, and you are able to use your Facebook, twitter and google accounts. Click here to Register. ------------------------------------------------ Join us tonight at 9pm cst as we welcome University of North Texas Athletic Director Rick Villarreal. You don't want to miss this opportunity as there is a lot of news to share with the fans. Rick will share his thoughts as we head into the 2015 season as well as take fan questions. BRING ON SMU and the GMG Flag is officially flying over Ford baby! As usual we will cover the latest UNT sports and news topics in a fun and interesting way that allows our fans to participate LIVE. GoMeanGreen.com is proud to offer a fan's weekly take of everything Mean Green Sports with The GoMeanGreen Barbershop Podcast offered up fresh and live on Wednesday nights @9pm CST - before, during and after the Mean Green Football Season. UNT Alums and certifiable Mean Green fanatics Evan Dolezal, Ashton Campbell (Beyond the Green) and Harry Miers host the show and will be providing the latest news and of course their opinions. Fans are free to join in the podcast live and provide their questions, insight and feedback. After the show a complete audio broadcast is available to listen via itunes, windows media or your favorite audio player. If you are a guest on here, please note that you will need to register on the site to have access to the chatroom. Registering is easy and free, and you are able to use your Facebook, twitter and google accounts. Click here to Register. This is going to be an action packed show that you don't want to miss. To join in the fun click here to jump in the chatroom tonight at 9pm cst or thereabouts! GMG!

On February 25, 1987, Chad Morris was an 18-year-old senior at a high school in Edgewood, Texas, a small town 60 miles east of Dallas. That may seem like an arbitrary slice of minutiae with which to begin a story, but this happens to be a story about the football program at Southern Methodist University, and it is pretty much impossible to talk about SMU without referencing February 25, 1987, the day an NCAA enforcement official got so stressed out while announcing that the Mustangs would receive the proverbial death penalty that he literally fainted on the spot. Three decades later, February 25, 1987, remains the defining day in SMU football history. Unless and until Morris rebuilds the Mustangs into a statewide and national power (and since we’re talking about Texas, the two are generally synonymous), it will continue to be so. And so this is one of the first things I ask the first-year head coach, who’s coming off four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Clemson, about when I speak to him on the phone. He tells me that he doesn’t remember where he was on that particular day, though he does remember the emotional weight of that period. He tells me that he grew up taking a bus to SMU games, and that he has distinct memories of those Pony Express glory days, and that he’s spoken to several of the players who were at SMU back then (including Eric Dickerson, who has criticized the school for its feckless approach to rebuilding and supporting the football program in recent years). He says that he is not ignorant of the past but that, in terms of a deeper historical analysis of the SMU program, he “can’t really go any further back than the era I just replaced.” And this is a perfectly understandable hedge from a coach who is seeking to move ahead rather than continually analyze the repercussions of a decision made when he was an adolescent preparing to attend Texas A&M. read more: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-college-football-preview-chad-morris-smu-mustangs-rebuild/

Rewind back to 2013, SMU had been to four straight bowls and when Garrett Gilbert was lost with an injury SMU is 5-5 with two games remaining to win one and reach a 5th straight bowl and had given teams like Cincinnati, Rutgers, and Texas Tech real challenges in 2013 in losses before fading late. In short, they were not any elite team but certainly decent enough to not overlook. forward one year: In 2014 SMU was literally at the bottom of the FBS barrell. With an absolutely brutal non-conference schedule that included Baylor, A&M, and TCU prior to AAC play the Mustangs went 0-11 before beating a bad UConn team to notch their first win. The Mustangs lost their coach two games in, went several games without scoring, and with an average of score 11-41 the Mustangs crashed hard in 2014 for a team that only lost a handful of key contributors from 2013. The big culprit behind SMU's massive drop off was consistently failing to recruit the state of Texas and DFW specifically. The Mustangs lacked the talented standouts like Margus Hunt, Garrett Gilbert, Cole Beasley, Kenneth Acker, Sterling Moore, and others who carried their team from 2009-2013. read more: http://baylor.247sports.com/Article/S11-SMU-Preview-Part-1-New-Defense-38858720

3. Big questions up front — Morris wasn’t very specific when asked about the offensive line at AAC media days. “Taylor Lasecki is one of the guys back that we really hope is the center leader of that group. We’re trying to find the third, fourth and fifth guy and create some depth. Hopefully, we’ll come out with seven or eight guys that we feel confident in,” Morris said. Chauncey Briggs will be a solid piece at left tackle. And Morris also had praise for fellow tackle Kris Weeks, who “changed his life” this offseason. The group did lose Sever Myers for the year. He was expected to compete for the starting job at right guard this season. 4. Not much on defense — Morris didn’t answer very many questions regarding the defense this week. But he did give some insight on what to expect from the unit’s new 4-2-5 scheme. “We’re not going to sit back. We’re going to try to give our guys a chance to be successful and bring some pressure. We want to be aggressive in everything we do,” he said. Morris also had some good things to say about South Carolina defensive tackle transfer Deon Green. “For him to come here and have two years left, he’s definitely going to provide depth and experience. He’s going to push some guys,” Morris said. read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/five-most-important-things-we-learned-about-smu-this-week.html/

On August 30, 2013, former SMU Mustang Craig James was hired by Fox Sports Southwest as a college-football analyst. Two days later, after a single on-air appearance, former SMU Mustang Craig James was fired by Fox Sports Southwest. The cited reason: When he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, the former SMU Mustang said during a debate — featuring former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and Ted Cruz — that being gay is a choice, and that “right now in this country, our moral fiber is sliding down a slope that is going to be hard to stop if we don’t stand up with leaders who don’t go ride in gay parades. I can assure you I will never ride in a gay parade.” (Unlike, say, Tom Leppert, who did.) Said Fox Sports Southwest Senior Vice President of Communications Lou D’Ermilio about the network’s decision not to ride with the former SMU Mustang, “We just asked ourselves how Craig’s statements would play in our human resources department. He couldn’t say those things here.” “Fox Sports fired Craig James because of his religious beliefs about marriage and his expression of those beliefs during a debate when James ran in the Texas Republican primary for United States Senator,” says the suit. It continues: read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/two-years-after-abrupt-firing-craig-james-sues-fox-sports-claiming-religious-discrimination.html/

has anyone seen a line for this game yet? Tough game to predict. I would think we would be favored by a fair amount based on last seasons game but who knows.. We don't play good on the road and SMUnhas a new coach eager to build support for his regime. If there is not a line we should predict what it is. I am guessing UNT -7

I think we all agree that we should likely have a nice crowd in place for the SMU game this year. Is it too early to start thinking about chants or cheers that we could do in unison. Obviously the fight song will be in play. Hopefully often. I know the fall back is always the Nooooorrrrthhhh.....Teeeexxxaaasss one. But in this game we won't likely have too many on their alumni side. Anyone have any good ideas for this? It seems like there could be some good opportunities for us to show our support in a unified way. Also, any of our band alums know if the band is making this game? I sure hope so! GMG

Which team has the best shot at a bowl this year, UNT or SMU? Gosselin: SMU. The quarterback situation at North Texas remains too unsettled for the Mean Green to clear the muck this season. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/smu-mustangs/20150727-gosselin-chad-morris-will-have-smu-back-with-the-big-boys-quicker-than-you-think.ece

Has anyone thought about the irony of SMU hiring former high school coach Chad Morris and our hiring of Todd Dodge back 9 years ago? In familiarizing myself with Morris and the direction he intends to take in the SMU rebuilding project, I took in some videos and articles around his introduction to the SMU community and the media in general. I swear to you, you could have taken clips and sound bytes from 9 years ago when Dodge was announced as HC at UNT and matched them up exactly with the Morris talking points. "I'm a Texas high school coach first and proud of it" or "We've had 100's of area high school coaches sending me texts" or "We open our arms to all of the high school staffs to be a part of this" or "I have an obligation to represent the Texas High School Coaches" etc etc... Make no mistake, there is a lot in common in what SMU AD Rick Hart is trying to do now compared to what UNT AD Rick Villarreal was trying to do almost a decade ago. And honestly, there are some differences. Morris was a heralded college assistant at Clemson and one of the highest paid in the country. Dodge had a quick cup of coffee as an assistant at North Texas before going back into the high school arena. Morris is making reportedly $2+ million a year at SMU and Dodge was making $331,448 a year at UNT. Morris has assembled a very impressive staff with college experience, including recruiting guru Van Malone as well as some young assistants he worked with at Clemson. Dodge brought in mostly high school assistants from Southlake Carroll. I have to say, it's hard not to be impressed with Morris. He is an extremely passionate speaker, and by all accounts very personable and intelligent with a math degree from A&M. He has stated very clearly that it will take all of SMU, including faculty, students and alumni to get the program where they want it to be. But I also find it interesting that he says the reason he took the SMU job was to "get back to my roots" and it was "just a great fit"... come on Chad, SMU gave you a $1+ Million dollar raise and set up your family for life... not that he didn't already have a nice paycheck at Clemson but - let's be honest - the money played a pretty significant role in getting him back here. Let's just say I don't think he would be taking $331,448 a year to rebuild the Ponies. That said, I do think Morris will do good things at SMU. It's a good academic school that has a lot of tradition and it's sitting in huge city and plethora of good recruiting prospects. As a UNT fan you are constantly plagued with the "what ifs". What if we had forced Dodge to hire college assistants? Did he stipulate that he had to remain loyal to his high school staff? Or was our budget such that we we're ok with him bringing in guys who would not command a lot of money? Or was it a mixture of both? What if he had been given more direction and support from coaches with college experience who knew the ropes? Since UNT has a 20-year or whatever contract with SMU, we will get to watch what Morris is able to accomplish on the field of play. We will get to see how the recruiting picks up and how his uptempo offense and blitzing defense fairs as the years go by. Other than our game with SMU, I wish their program well. They have the same challenges all of us non p5's face. I do think Morris can do some really good things there. But, every time I look at or hear Morris speak it will remind me of the opportunity we lost with the Todd Dodge hire. A hire and direction which BTW many of us (including myself) were 100% behind at the time.

The Mustangs in 2015This is truly a new era for SMU: with the hire of offensive guru Chad Morris out of Clemson, a Texas High School football coach for 16 years, there is positive momentum in the program for the first time since... well, the June Jones hire. But this should work out differently; Morris is well liked and well respected by the Texas High School football coaches he worked with for years, and they have no problem encouraging their players to see what's happening in University Park. But when you inherit what was quite possibly the worst team in Division I football a year ago, no amount of goodwill is going to make your program better - you need players, and he doesn't have enough (yet). A strong signing class bodes well for their future in the AAC - led by 4* QB Ben Hicks out of Waco Midway, an early enrollee and has a decent shot to be the starter out of fall camp - but may not translate in to wins in 2015. Leading rushers Davis and Line return, but watch out for redshirt freshman Daniel Gresham (Fort Worth All Saints); the one time Louisville recruit was spurned when Bobby Petrino was hired and is an absolute steal for SMU, having rushed for nearly 1,000 yards a piece in both his junior and senior seasons. Gresham was good enough to attract attention from Alabama, Texas, FSU, and many other top flight programs, but chose the Cardinals (flipping from Texas), only to have his offer withdrawn when Petrino replaced Charlie Strong (who went to Texas). Several freshmen wide receivers have a chance to make a significant impact - including TCU target James Proche - and returning wideouts Deion Sanders, Jr and Darius Joseph. With non conference games against Baylor and TCU, as well as a rematch with the ever improving UNT, the Mustangs will be hard pressed to have a stronger start to 2015 than they did a season ago. But, I also don't anticipate them going 1-11 again, and they have an outside shot to get bowl eligible coming out of the AAC. read more:http://www.frogsowar.com/2015/7/7/8895679/previewing-tcus-2015-opponents-smu

To give you an idea of what the SMU roster looks like with fall camp a month away, we’re breaking it down position by position. RelatedRanking the SMU Mustangs’ roster: Numbers 5-1Ranking the SMU Mustangs’ roster: Numbers 10-6Ranking the SMU Mustangs’ roster: Numbers 15-11 Ranking the SMU Mustangs' roster: Numbers 20-16 Here is the situation at quarterback. A look at the SMU pecking order: 1. Matt Davis, Jr. 2. Ben Hicks, Fr. 3. Jordan Severt, RS-Fr. 4. Darrell Colbert, RS-Fr. 5. Garrett Krstich, Sr. SMU finally has stability at the quarterback position after a whirlwind of a season in 2014 that saw a number of players get their shots under center. Davis emerged as a viable option late in the year. The former Texas A&M signal-caller still needs to improve as a passer, but he was arguably SMU’s best offense weapon. A natural athlete, Davis led the Ponies in both passing and rushing despite starting just five games. Davis had a solid spring and his athleticism makes him a good fit for Chad Morris’ offensive system. With Morris at the helm, Davis should make strides and might be in line for a big season, While Davis appears to be the clear cut favorite to win the starting job, true freshman Ben Hicks will push him in fall camp. The Hewitt Midway product was an Elite 11 finalist a year ago and comes in with extremely high expectations. Read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/smu-quarterback-breakdown-matt-davis-brings-much-needed-stability.html/

After a brutal 1-11 season last year for the SMU Mustangs, new head coach Chad Morris is looking to bring a new brand of excitement to the Hilltop. Here’s 10 things you may not know about the new face of SMU football… 1. All about the numbers The head coach went to school at Texas A&M, graduating in 1992 with a mathematics degree. 2. #PonyUpTempo The guy really, really likes his Red Bull. Don’t believe us? His Twitter feed is full of pictures of Red Bull cans and #Tempo hashtags. 3. Climbing the coaching ladder Morris had an Art-Briles-like career path. He began as a high school head coach, and then got hired as an offensive coordinator before becoming a head coach. He had a 169-38 record at the high school level, including two straight 16-0 seasons and championships at Lake Travis. (Both teams were led by eventual SMU starting quarterback Garrett Gilbert) read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/10-things-to-know-about-smu-head-coach-chad-morris.html/

It is interesting to note that I count 2 junior college transfers on SMU's roster while I count 13 on UNT's roster. SMU did not historically take juco's due to academics and then June Jones got them to soften the requirements to allow some. I don't see Morris being a big juco guy either since he really plays up to his high school coaching connections (even though he has been a college assistant coach for some time and probably has more money than most of them put together).. if anything it appears SMU is distancing from the juco transfer. They had a corner out of Navarro who had committed early but he ended up signing with Tulsa. I think it is worth noting this discrepancy as we inch closer to the game. SMU had a nice 1st class under Morris but it is highly unlikely this all high school group will make an immediate impact on the field. It's going to take a few games. Morris is going to build SMU the right way, and he will not let go of the high school connections he has in Texas until he is forced to... he has a sweet contract and can build. Mac on the other hand needs to win now. He has one winning season in four years. Mac would prefer to do exactly what Morris is doing now but he doesn't have that luxury. You would think this would bode well for UNT in this 2015 game. It will be interesting to see the early line. For the record, I have no issue with what Mac is doing and I think it makes sense given the circumstances. Let's hope that it works.

Chad Morris is into fixing things. So when he arrived at SMU last December as the school’s new football coach, he got to work right away and convinced his bosses to cough up more than $1 million for facility upgrades. Morris’ decorating touch can be seen throughout Gerald J. Ford Stadium, from upgraded weight room equipment to new video and audio technology, wall graphics highlighting the program’s three national titles, wood panels in place of dingy carpet, and an enhanced player’s lounge. In the coming months, the school expects to announce plans for a stand-alone football building that will house an indoor practice facility. Morris, a Dallas native, must now try to fix the team. His predecessor, June Jones, resigned after two games in 2014, and the Mustangs started 0-11 before beating Connecticut in the season finale. SMU scored 10 or fewer points in eight games. For years, Morris had been a hot name for job openings. He led Lake Travis to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 2008 and 2009 before becoming offensive coordinator at Tulsa. From there, he went to Clemson, where he was the nation’s highest paid public school assistant in 2012, earning $1.3 million. He sat down with the American-Statesman to discuss where he’s been, where he is and where he’s headed: What’s been the biggest challenge since you’ve started? I don’t even know if it’s really a challenge, but getting everyone to believe in the vision we have. When you come here, it’s easy to sell the academics, it’s easy to sell a degree from SMU. I haven’t been able to sell the fact this team won 11 games last year or went to a BCS game two years ago or what not. One of the things you sell is we have won 10 games each of the last four years (at Clemson). Everywhere I’ve been, we’ve won. We’ve won in high school in this state. That’s what you sell. I don’t know if it’s so much a challenge as it is to be able to sell the belief. When you’re trying to sell something on a product that was 1-11, you have to change the attitude. Not only were they 1-11, but their coach quit on them. Did you encounter a team with a broken spirit? I don’t know if the word “broken spirit” is right. Loss of direction. I think (interim coach) Tom Mason did an outstanding job, as good of a job as anyone could have done. But when the head coach leaves, players lose the sense of direction, the sense of leadership. You get to the point where the players sense this coaching staff isn’t gonna be here so they kinda lose belief in themselves. I really think it took them six or seven games before they realized, hey, maybe we can win a game. Because of the challenges, were you reluctant to consider the job? Had an awesome job at Clemson. Had a six-year contract. Loved it. I’m a Texas high school coach and this is home. When this job opened up, and because of the location that it’s in, i thought OK, this is the one, this is the one that we can go and get flipped and get turned, show improvement, get this thing on the right track. June had it that way. June went to four bowl games in six years and had Garrett Gilbert not gotten hurt, he would have gone to five in six. I think if they would have put just a little bit more emphasis in recruiting the state of Texas, who knows. When you start looking back to the mid- to early-2000s, SMU and TCU were neck-and-neck. In the last 10 years you’ve seen TCU take off. Because of where I’m from and the relationships I have in this state, that’s what really caused me to believe this is the right fit. If this job had been in Florida or the Carolinas or Georgia or Virginia, I wouldn’t have taken it because I didn’t have the strong bonds and the strong relationships that I have in this state. Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/college-football/the-statesman-interview-smu-coach-chad-morris/nmhQD/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesmanpremium#18f36ec6.3499288.735770

It's never too early to plan out your road trips although for the game it may be a home game for our fans living in Dallas. I do recall the last game we played against SMU in the Dodge regime. I remember it being a fun game, good tailgating and actually a pretty exciting game although we lost. Who all is planning on attending this game and what are your plans?

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A couple of days ago, UNT and SMU went head-to-head in a recruiting battle for East Texas running back/safety Kevin Johnson. Johnson committed to SMU, which in the large scheme of things wasn’t a huge issue for the Mean Green. UNT has plenty of good running backs coming back next season from veteran Antoinne Jimmerson to sophomores Jeffrey Wilson and Willy Ivery. What could get interesting is the bigger picture. Just to be clear, UNT is doing a good job recruiting and building relationships with Texas high school coaches. There were a ton of high school staffs that came through during UNT during spring practice. Texas high school coaches like Dan McCarney and his coaches. Let’s face it, everyone likes McCarney. He’s kind of like Johnny Jones in that way. Jones was the unofficial mayor of Denton for half a decade or so before he left for LSU. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/05/could-smu-with-morris-become-a-problem-for-unt.html/

Quarterback Quick take: Matt Davis appears to have the edge on true freshman Ben Hicks at the quarterback position. While Hicks is a special talent and will almost certainly be the guy down the line, he looked the part of a first year player at the spring game. Meanwhile, Davis appears to have made strides from last season and is a good fit in Chad Morris’ offense. Remember, Davis led SMU in both passing and rushing last season. The former four-star recruit has potential, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Morris mold him into a pretty darn good football player. With that said, Hicks will push him in fall camp. Read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/a-closer-look-at-smus-post-spring-position-battles.html/

SMU vs. North Texas (Football) — Simply put, SMU and North Texas do not like each other. The schools have played 33 times dating back to 1922 — SMU won the first game, 66-0. In fact, SMU has been pretty dominant, leading the series, 28-5-1. The rivalry is often referred to as the “Safeway Bowl.” Its name is derived from a challenge from former UNT head coach Matt Simon, who said his team would play on a Safeway parking lot during a break in the series. SMU and North Texas took a break after the 2006 season, but renewed their rivalry this past season. Read more: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/battle-for-the-iron-skillet-headlines-smus-top-five-rivalries.html/

SMU quarterback Neal Burcham has sustained a torn ACL and will likely miss the entire 2015 season, according to the Dallas Morning News. Burcham was named the Mustangs' starter in fall camp last year but sustained a season-ending elbow injury after two games. He threw for 158 yards and two interceptions against Baylor and North Texas before the injury. Kolney Cassel took over for Burcham before being replaced by Garrett Krstich. Sophomore Matt Davis eventually became SMU's starter and played 10 games last season, throwing for 855 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions and adding four touchdowns on the ground. Read more: http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/02/02/smu-neal-burcham-tears-acl