Jump to content

AD is posting real donor numbers


Recommended Posts

I believe that the AD stated that this year was our greatest year for fundraising.  I believe that a figure of $8.9M was quoted.  So we have some decent sized donors; we just need more to participate.  

A good place to start would be to follow Wren's suggestion...increase last year's amount by 10%.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Green Crazy said it best.  Embarrassing.  

If your name is not on the list, please join those who have committed to make Mean Green Athletics the best it can be.  

There is plenty each of us can do.  Please don’t look for a reason not to help.  Even if it’s $25. per year.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So anywho, the point of the post wasn't for us to shit on current numbers.  

Way I read this whole thing is that we've long known the numbers have been shitty.  

Now the athletic department is putting it out there for all to see, which says to me complacency isn't the rule of the day -- they've got a public scoreboard to increase.  

That's how I read it.  Call me Pollyanna, I guess, but as a former sales dude, public comparisons like that would motivate the hell out of me. 

  • Upvote 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This isnt new information.  This has been posted to that site for some time now.  The tough part is... this is sort of preaching to the choir, us talking about it here.

They recently put out some incentives for current members of the MGSF to recruit members.  I like the idea of it, but the incentives to me arent that motivating to get after it.  Dont get me wrong. I would love Hub Club tickets, but I dont know if I could 15 new members by June 30th to do.  What do you guys think?Capture.PNG.3874f9d38d1899399960c9782e844ed9.PNG

Edited by MrStrange18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, greenjoe said:

Green Crazy said it best.  Embarrassing.  

If your name is not on the list, please join those who have committed to make Mean Green Athletics the best it can be.  

There is plenty each of us can do.  Please don’t look for a reason not to help.  Even if it’s $25. per year.

Ha! You sound like one of those feed the impoverished children/SPCA ads.  

For just 7 cents a day (yes, that's the actual amout) you too can help an underfunded athletic department. With your donation we'll send you a picture of your adopted student athlete.  If you dont help, who will?

🤣 I laugh to hide the pain. 

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things will get better as long as we keep winning. The future OOC schedules are better than they have been since the early 00's, which helps brings in other fans who might not be otherwise interested in coming to Denton for a game, but will entertain coming here for SMU, Army, Houston, Wyoming, Cal, Memphis, Texas Tech, etc. This is why the OOC games with FCS spares (basically anyone but SFA or SHSU) are just horrendous, though--until you get more fans to show up to games and create demand, these games give you nothing. 

I remember the Nicholls State game in 2014 at Apogee. We beat a team that didn't look like they could play Denton HS close, 77-3. People on here were just super excited about a mobile QB named Dajon Williams. Game didn't draw anywhere close to what was announced in attendance that day, probably about 13K in butts in seats, and although we got a win, that game didn't help us in any way other than getting to 4 wins instead of 3. Dajon Williams couldn't play against FBS competition, just like the other QBs on the roster couldn't. The point is that a huge "win" on the scoreboard didn't produce anything of real value to us. And, of course, the next season, at Homecoming, against FCS Portland State, we got murdered in the worst loss in modern college football history, 66-7, when even the few fans who come back for a game because of the homecoming stuff just shook their heads and left Apogee, thinking this was no different than playing at Fouts and getting killed by some SLC or SBC team back in the decades previous.

Wren Baker is a breath of fresh air--he wants to succeed, he wants to be open about the situation. He's basically shown to be the opposite of his predecessor. Whether he can fix the .28% athletic donor from the alumni base figure to even just double within the next few years remains to be seen. Its very, very possible that it just can't be done here because of the culture and location of the school. But I believe he will give it his all and will do anything he can to make this place care about sports as much as it wants to care. The previous AD didn't, and he got a pass from the BOR and administration for about 10 years too long, because he cozied up to the right people to make sure he stayed within budget. Thank God those days appear to be in the past--in almost every way imaginable, too..

  • Upvote 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

fans who might not be otherwise interested in coming to Denton for a game, but will entertain coming here for SMU, Army, Houston, Wyoming, Cal, Memphis, Texas Tech, etc. This is why the OOC games with FCS spares (basically anyone but SFA or SHSU) are just horrendous, ...

Wren Baker is a breath of fresh air...

When he drops Army to schedule Liberty he is doing exactly what you point out - rightly, I think - is the problem.  I don't like playing Liberty for personal & philosophical reasons, but it's also a bad choice for the reasons you state early in your message - the average UNT alum couldn't care less about watching that team.  Army, on the other hand, would interest a broad array of fans. Bad decision.

  • Upvote 1
  • Thanks 2
  • Downvote 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, GTWT said:

When he drops Army to schedule Liberty he is doing exactly what you point out - rightly, I think - is the problem.  I don't like playing Liberty for personal & philosophical reasons, but it's also a bad choice for the reasons you state early in your message - the average UNT alum couldn't care less about watching that team.  Army, on the other hand, would interest a broad array of fans. Bad decision.

Liberty again?
Coach Littrell & Staff did not want to play the Army games.  It's as simple as that.   
It had nothing to do with gaining fans' interest.

Sorry you hate Liberty's philosophies, but it's a football game.   If we want to see UNT win games, we schedule a punching bag that is moving up from FCS this season, and drop a game that takes your team out of its rhythm for 1/12th of the season.
If we want to try and accomplish what Boise St. has done, we need to follow the Boise St. model for winning games.

I'm going to assume the difference between a win against Liberty VS a loss against Army & possibly the next week as well would be the difference in a bowl game & a possible 10-win season VS an 8-win season.  I think UNT fans & recruits will be more on board with a 10-win team (regardless of who they play) than an 8-win team that played Army.

  • Upvote 2
  • Thanks 2
  • Downvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, GTWT said:

When he drops Army to schedule Liberty he is doing exactly what you point out - rightly, I think - is the problem.  I don't like playing Liberty for personal & philosophical reasons, but it's also a bad choice for the reasons you state early in your message - the average UNT alum couldn't care less about watching that team.  Army, on the other hand, would interest a broad array of fans. Bad decision.

We drop Army and get the flexibility to add Houston.  That makes the coaches happy and should make you happy.  Having to do that at basically the last minute meant our options were very small.  

  • Upvote 1
  • Lovely Take 1
  • Thanks 2
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, GTWT said:

When he drops Army to schedule Liberty he is doing exactly what you point out - rightly, I think - is the problem.  I don't like playing Liberty for personal & philosophical reasons, but it's also a bad choice for the reasons you state early in your message - the average UNT alum couldn't care less about watching that team.  Army, on the other hand, would interest a broad array of fans. Bad decision.

So you seriously think that low MGSF membership numbers are because Liberty was subbed for Army? You can't really be serious on that. It's been this way for decades and is more to do with a heavy commuter culture, historically underperforming (win/loss) program and a general lack of brand pride in UNT. It didn't take overnight to get there and it won't be fixed overnight. Winning helps, incentive programs like the one above could help. Making everyone aware of MGSF, what it is and what the benefits are helps. Seems like the Ath Dept is doing a better job at everyone of those. Let's see how the numbers trend over time. We all know you love to play Army and despise Liberty. If officials promise to not let Falwell deliver a pregame prayer, can you move on?

  • Upvote 3
  • Thanks 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, GTWT said:

When he drops Army to schedule Liberty he is doing exactly what you point out - rightly, I think - is the problem.  I don't like playing Liberty for personal & philosophical reasons, but it's also a bad choice for the reasons you state early in your message - the average UNT alum couldn't care less about watching that team.  Army, on the other hand, would interest a broad array of fans. Bad decision.

I think 2 winning seasons over the last 10 years has more to do with the disappointing MGSF numbers than a single game/opponent.

  • Upvote 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Liberty again?
Coach Littrell & Staff did not want to play the Army games.  It's as simple as that.   
It had nothing to do with gaining fans' interest.

Sorry you hate Liberty's philosophies, but it's a football game.   If we want to see UNT win games, we schedule a punching bag that is moving up from FCS this season, and drop a game that takes your team out of its rhythm for 1/12th of the season.
If we want to try and accomplish what Boise St. has done, we need to follow the Boise St. model for winning games.

I'm going to assume the difference between a win against Liberty VS a loss against Army & possibly the next week as well would be the difference in a bowl game & a possible 10-win season VS an 8-win season.  I think UNT fans & recruits will be more on board with a 10-win team (regardless of who they play) than an 8-win team that played Army.

Also, the Houston home and home is only on the schedule because of the Liberty for Army switch. The changing of available dates made that series possible.

Dont much care for the Liberty series one way or another, but if we view it more in the context of adding a Houston - North Texas series, losing a couple games with Army, and tolerating a spare Liberty series, I think we still win. Having H & H’s with Houston, SMU, Memphis and Wyoming (AAC and MWC) are the perfect opportunities to elevate the program in the eyes of our (slightly) aspirational peer group if we keep progressing on the field and win a bunch of those games.

Edited by Green Lantern
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't point to any singular decision/event as a reason for these numbers.  I think the story of UNT and these numbers is a perfect storm of disastrous hires/fires, administration, constant losing, pissing off the wrong people....just about anything that you can imagine to disconnect from your alumni, we've done...consistently for decades.

Do I think Liberty in place of Army is bad? Yes, but I think it's okay if we we get the majority of everything else right.  We don't need to be perfect; we don't need to nitpick every fine detail as if the world is coming to an end.  But we can look for trends that indicate what direction our AD is taking us.

  • Lovely Take 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is preaching to the choir -- for sure. We all give to the AD one way or the other. 

It seems like what we get back from the AD is less over time. Sure, I appreciate the large flag pole. It looks great when I drive to CO once every other year. 

Though for my four tickets on the HUB level, I am getting less and paying substantially more than under RV.  My per seat money went up. The level of competition when down (dramatically). The number of games per year when down. The number of realistically attend-able games has gone down (Thursday night games!). The level of competition makes it impossible to even *give* my tickets away. The AD money it takes to park close to my seat has gone up dramatically - they want rough $500 PER GAME to have ONE spot on the north side of the stadium. 

Note: I am not and was not an RV fan. I think the transparency is great. Definitely better than RV. 

I don't think squeezing blood from a rock is the right way. I know 8 people that have dropped out from the HubClub and plan to just watch TV this year... they are gone. They don't donate to the AD at all anymore. They are likely not to come back. Frankly, I am teetering on that edge too. Trying to figure out if 5-6 game days per year is worth $5000+ dollars.  Hard to stomach 2 home games to miserable programs and then a way late Thursday game... that will require a babysitter and time off of work to attend. 

Down vote all you want. This is a real problem. They need to get their headcount up.. Period. Not try to get me to donate $10k to make up for their poor sales numbers. 

  • Upvote 1
  • Thanks 2
  • Confused 2
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Please review our full Privacy Policy before using our site.