North Texas Football Traditions

Sig381 · December 24, 2015

What are our traditions? I personally go to fry drink at least one beer at every bar. Then walk across campus to the eagle statue and give a big caww. Then drink the rest of my campus roadies Then proceed to tailgate.

UNT Five&Dime · December 24, 2015

Losing.

UNT86 · December 24, 2015

One we have stopped doing is when the band would play "It's All Right Now" when the game was over just like Dandy Don would do on Monday Night Football.

I miss that.

UNT 90 Grad · December 24, 2015

Officially, http://125.unt.edu/traditions .

SilverEagle · December 24, 2015

Officially, http://125.unt.edu/traditions .

Our unique Mean Green nickname originated in the 1960s as fans cheered on the football team and its punishing defense. The earliest newspaper references to the Mean Green appeared in the spring of 1967. One of the original Mean Green players went on to a Hall of Fame career in the NFL with a nickname of his own, "Mean" Joe Greene. The dominating lineman became the cornerstone of the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Steel Curtain" defense and a four-time Super Bowl champion. Today, all of our athletics teams are known as the Mean Green.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

The earliest reference was not a reference, but rather, a whole article (by Randy Galloway) ABOUT the origins of the nickname....which was given to us by North Texas alumnus Sydney Graham. Why in Gods name will they not ever give her credit for this?

I'm sorry to say that at this point in time I'm rather sick of hearing Joe Greene's name.

This image under the "Homecoming Parade" segment caused me to chuckle. Their showing a Hayden Fry era band. It's just as well. Our current bloated 400 member band couldn't line up in a traditional formation and march in a parade if their lives depended on it.

Hell, they can't (or won't) even march into our nice new stadium.

University Seal

Edited December 24, 2015 by SilverEagle

UNT86 · December 24, 2015

I'm certainly not a "band" guy.

My dad told me that the score never changes while the band is on the field, so get 'em off the field (exception noted for Cal/Stanford).

That being said, our band IS a football band. They don't leave just because they get a little cold or wet.

But, I would like to see something like other places do where the band makes a grand entrance and it is a bigger part of the game day experience.

HarringtonFishSmeller · December 24, 2015

Losing.

Not so fast, my friend! As those a little longer in the tooth will attest, this hasn't always been the case. And, even with all of the late losing, we still have an all-time winning record:

http://www.winsipedia.com/north-texas

But, at 493-489-33, we need some breathing room.

Here's something: A seven win seven next year gets us to 500 victories all-time. And, another conference title would put us on the doorstep to the Top 10 all-time conference championships. As it is, we sit at #13: http://www.winsipedia.com/ranking/conference-championships

SO...listen up when it is suggested that something more substantive than a little building outside the stadium be named after Odus Mitchell. If we were a school proud of its traditions, we'd honor the coach who gave us the majority of those conference championships, almost a quarter of the wins, and integrated the team.

It is loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong overdue that we name the field Odus Mitchell Field at Apogee Stadium.

Also, if there should be a bust or statue of anyone it should not be of Spiriki alone. The two other busts/statues in the stadium should be of Coach Mitchell and Joe Greene. I'd also argue heavily in favor of busts or bronze plaques of Abner Haynes and Leon King, who were the first two black athletes to play football for North Texas. This is a school known for arts. We have turned out many great sculptors. Why can't we have these things done to celebrate our history?

We have good tradition, as many of us have argued before, we just ignore it.

HarringtonFishSmeller · December 24, 2015

Great interview with Leon King, for those that haven't read it, from 1982.:

http://www.unt.edu/50yearsofprogress/oralhistory/kingl.htm

King:
It really didn't dawn on me that we were pioneers until about eight years ago. It came up in a discussion, and the impact really hit me. But when we went up, if there were any fears, it had to have been on their part because we didn't know any. All I wanted to do was just go up and play football. I think there were some fears among the coaches, and I think they were primarily how would we be accepted because I think Coach Mitchell did say something about having to go to the board of regents to see if it was okay. They knew integration was coming and all.

I guess the thing that stands out more in my mind about the situation was the fact that through the years North Texas had always played Ole Miss the first football game, and they always played them in Mississippi; and Abner and I just happened to have gone by in the coaches' office when Coach Mitchell was talking to the coach at Ole Miss, and he explained to them, "Next year I will have two on my varsity." The coach evidently told him, "Either you leave them there, or we don't play anymore," because Coach Mitchell told him, "We just won't play you guys anymore." From that day since, I don't think North Texas has ever played Ole Miss. But that was quite gratifying to hear him say that.

SilverEagle · December 24, 2015

I'm certainly not a "band" guy.
My dad told me that the score never changes while the band is on the field, so get 'em off the field (exception noted for Cal/Stanford).
That being said, our band IS a football band. They don't leave just because they get a little cold or wet.
But, I would like to see something like other places do where the band makes a grand entrance and it is a bigger part of the game day experience.

What? You don't like the shuffling out on the field and lining up like some Jr. High Band before they start their pre-game as their GRAND ENTRANCE?

Well, neither do I.

Now watch as my -1's pile up.

Eagle-96 · December 24, 2015

Hell, we can't even get the Eagle Claw right. That one's for you FFR!

UNT 90 Grad · December 24, 2015

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!
The earliest reference was not a reference, but rather, a whole article (by Randy Galloway) ABOUT the origins of the nickname....which was given to us by North Texas alumnus Sydney Graham. Why in Gods name will they not ever give her credit for this?

So what year did the Galloway article come out? Just curious since you are challenging the sequence of events.

Christopher Walker · December 24, 2015

The GB marches in a straight line just fine.

Hell, we can't even get the Eagle Claw right. That one's for you FFR!

Eagles don't have claws, they have talons.

FirefightnRick · December 24, 2015

So what year did the Galloway article come out? Just curious since you are challenging the sequence of events.

1967....and discusses the turnaround that started when we won the Mo Valley in 1966. It also gives Mrs. Graham credit for the defense' name and gives nicknames to some of the major defensive players...including "Big" Joe Greene.

And thank you to Christopher Walker and Eagle-96 for the great references. You two brought a smile to my face.

Rick

Eagle-96 · December 24, 2015

Eagles don't have claws, they have talons

Uhhhhh could you please stop being correct.

Rudy · December 24, 2015

Our band has a tradition of beating down the entire stadium at the beginning of each 4th quarter.

Starting the 4th with momentum, an energized stadium, and in the red zone? HELL NOOOOO! Let's play "Hey Baby".

Mike Jackson · December 29, 2015

Honoring Coach Mitchell is long overdue. The question is why something like the things we are mentioning haven't already happened? We lack powerful traditions and the leadership has done a poor job of emphasizing the positive aspects of UNT Athletic History. It really sad when you watch documentaries about the breaking of the color line in college football and UNT is rarely mentioned, if mentioned at all.

kj86 · December 29, 2015

On 12/24/2015 at 5:22 PM, Rudy said:

Our band has a tradition of beating down the entire stadium at the beginning of each 4th quarter.

Starting the 4th with momentum, an energized stadium, and in the red zone? HELL NOOOOO! Let's play "Hey Baby".

Aside from the losing, this is the biggest beating of going to games. To me, that song is synonymous with losing. Seems like, if we aren't already behind when they play it, it just spells the doom that is to come.

greenjoe · December 29, 2015

I gave Rudy and kj86 a +1 but I think "Hey Baby" with a big lead is fine. When the game is tight or NT is losing, I think it's out of line. But I guarantee if asked, Dr. Williams would say the (band) students love it. I thought it was cool as well until I heard every high school band in the land play it.

I also hate hate hate the "um pa pa" version of the fight song. Is there anything more likely to flatten the defense more than an um pa pa song. Any um pa pa song.

One of my favorites is,

GO MEAN GREEN

SilverEagle · December 31, 2015

Here is an interesting link. The fight songs and Alma Maters of all the teams in our conference. They also include other songs that they traditionally play at games.

http://fightmusic.com/confusa.html

Can you guess by the number of spirit songs on their list which schools have a 100 year tradition of football, AND has one of the highest regarded schools of music in the nation?

I found it interesting that one school had 12, and they don't currently play football.

Edited December 31, 2015 by SilverEagle