4,227

[Andrew]

18 minutes ago, Eagle71 said:

1968 The Men's Gym aka The Snake Pit.  At any game, among the 4,500 - 5,000 packed into "The Pit" you probably would see Joe Green, Phyllis George, Bill Schmidt, Meatloaf, Tom "Bone Malone, Steve Ramsey, Don Henley, Ron Shanklin, Peter Weller, Cedric Hardman, Glenn Holloway,,,,

Get on the phone, get them tickets, and bring them in for the next home game. 👍

[Eagle71]

1969 -  Even at 6'2", Lee Winfield could jump out of the gym and was a terror on the boards.  He was a blast to watch.  NT was 15-10 and 8-8 in conference that year.  Over 5,000 at several games that season.  NT averaged 99.8 points per game at home in 68-69 including 120 against Little Rock.

[Eagle71]

1970 - Joe Hamilton.  "The Pit" was packed for every game.  4,500, 4,700, 5,000. Elbow to elbow and we loved every minute of every game!  North Texas was 18-8 (9-5 in the MVC good for 3^rd place) that year even with a three-game stretch where 4 of the five starters were injured (lost all three games) and our tallest starter was ineligible to play in the spring semester.  The team used speed, a brutal defense which included the “karate press’, and “the worst crowd in the nation” – Coach Maury John, Drake to post their best record in many a year.  Joe average 22.3 ppg and two-sport guy, Crest Whitaker averaged 17.3.

Mean Green Maniacs? Amateurs!  The gauntlet has been tossed.  Let's hear your best tomorrow night!  GoMeanGreen!

See y'all in Houston Saturday when we bbq some Owls!

[El Paso Eagle]

14 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

With an equal amount of due respect, was the Pit Crew really a “tradition”?  Sure it was a thing for a few years, but a tradition?
 

It’s not exactly the spirit bell, bonfire, or the eagle claw hand sign.   I was a Talon for 4 years and never once taught incoming members about the tradition of the pit crew.  
 

Let’s not become Aggies and say anything we’ve done twice is now part of school lore.  

Good points 

[southsideguy]

We need to be pulling in crowds like we did for the CBI finals.  The gym was rocking for those games.

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

15 hours ago, Mean Green Matt said:

This is a revisionist minimization of what the pit crew was and did. No, it wasn’t the Spirit Bell, but it was the most significant organized student support for the basketball team since probably the Men’s Gym era. It had a lifespan of around a decade. And despite less basketball success, and a smaller student body, it blows away what the maniacs are currently doing. Will the maniacs surpass it? I sure hope so. But saying “let’s not get carried away, that really successful thing wasn’t as old as the Spirit Bell” is unnecessarily dismissive. We don’t have traditions because we do stuff like this. 

Well at this rate, Maniacs have already done more than the Pit Crew ever. This is only the first month (not even a full month yet) of this organization and student attendance is climbing at all time rates. Heard that student turnout in Frisco should be massive and the last 2 home games should be as well. 
 

You gotta move on from the Pit Crew my guy, it was a good name but that’s OLD NEWS.

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, southsideguy said:

We need to be pulling in crowds like we did for the CBI finals.  The gym was rocking for those games.

I got curious and looked up the attendance for the four games we hosted during the CBI.

Mercer: 2,119

Jacksonville St.: 2,784

San Fran: 4,196

San Fran: 6,291

Average: 3,848

This team deserves to have a crowd similar to the CBI Championship game on average.

[Mean Green Matt]

50 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Well at this rate, Maniacs have already done more than the Pit Crew ever. This is only the first month (not even a full month yet) of this organization and student attendance is climbing at all time rates. Heard that student turnout in Frisco should be massive and the last 2 home games should be as well. 
 

You gotta move on from the Pit Crew my guy, it was a good name but that’s OLD NEWS.

LOL. Not taking the bait today.  Let's Go Mean Green!

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

1 hour ago, Mean Green Matt said:

LOL. Not taking the bait today.  Let's Go Mean Green!

Come on… it was a decent hook 

[UNTcrazy727]

7 hours ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Well at this rate, Maniacs have already done more than the Pit Crew ever. This is only the first month (not even a full month yet) of this organization and student attendance is climbing at all time rates. Heard that student turnout in Frisco should be massive and the last 2 home games should be as well. 
 

You gotta move on from the Pit Crew my guy, it was a good name but that’s OLD NEWS.

Let's wait until the Maniacs fill up an entire section before we pull out the anointing oil. 

[UNTcrazy727]

On 2/6/2022 at 1:08 PM, Mean Green Matt said:

Just because it’s completely asinine that the Pit Crew name wasn’t kept does not mean we don’t want the maniacs to succeed. 

What annoys me about the name change is it seems like it was only done so the leaders of the Maniacs could boost their own egos. They didn't want it to look like they were trying to revitalize the Pit Crew. Instead they want it to look like they are creating something brand new that's never existed. 

[bstnsportsfan3]

The Tech game was our crowning moment for the Pit Crew. We had to fill two upper sections with students! It was a blast! 

[RiseUNT]

So are we saying any student who sat in the student section was part of the pit crew?

[UNTLifer]

2 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Let's wait until the Maniacs fill up an entire section before we pull out the anointing oil. 

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

The Tech game was our crowning moment for the Pit Crew. We had to fill two upper sections with students! It was a blast! 

Nah… OSU game was better….

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, RiseUNT said:

So are we saying any student who sat in the student section was part of the pit crew?

Yeah usually it seemed like a few dozen were part of it. Most students just showed up…

[Andrew]

Just now, texx2818 said:

That game was like half OSU fans, are we really going to count that?

That game was a far better atmosphere. 

[NT80]

3 hours ago, texx2818 said:

Yeah. Let’s not forget the Pit Crew regularly filled up two sections for conference play and had organized jeers and chants planned out prior to the games. Maniacs can get there but the Pit Crew was a natural growth over many years that Tony Benford ran off.

Benford ran off a lot of fans.  Bad coaching will do that to a sport.  Wren better look out, football is heading down that path!

[denton_days]

1 hour ago, texx2818 said:

Seth has just about done it to me, and he’s done it to most of our fans judging by the crowd. He already did it, damage is done.

don't worry, maniacs will build it back

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

5 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

What annoys me about the name change is it seems like it was only done so the leaders of the Maniacs could boost their own egos. They didn't want it to look like they were trying to revitalize the Pit Crew. Instead they want it to look like they are creating something brand new that's never existed. 

Oh my lord that’s quite frankly the dumbest thing you’ve possibly said. Just stop that

[UNTcrazy727]

21 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Oh my lord that’s quite frankly the dumbest thing you’ve possibly said. Just stop that

Unless you can tell us they were told they couldn't use the "Pit Crew" nickname, I'm going to assume what I said has a lot of truth. 

I hope they make it work, but its still dumb they discarded the already existing name. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by UNTcrazy727

[drex]

...and little credit given to the Eagle Patrol...yes, the Eagle Patrol from the Blakeley era who wore green hard hats and raised hell at home and at some away games.  They were thrown out of McFarland after they rolled out a big banner saying 'SMU Sucks.'

[Censored by Laurie]

8 hours ago, UNTcrazy727 said:

Unless you can tell us they were told they couldn't use the "Pit Crew" nickname, I'm going to assume what I said has a lot of truth. 

I hope they make it work, but its still dumb they discarded the already existing name. 

how long has the Pit Crew been dormant? I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Maniacs had no idea the Pit Crew was a thing and developed their own student section. 

[GreenN'walinsVet]

8 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

how long has the Pit Crew been dormant? I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Maniacs had no idea the Pit Crew was a thing and developed their own student section. 

Add another possibility:  The Maniacs are going to be out for more sports than just basketball….

[keith]

Name is immaterial.  Our student numbers is a strength that we need to capitalize on at any cost.  Can you imagine the Super Pit if the dorms, fraternity/sorority houses and surrounding student housing emptied during home games and 4-5 thousand+ *students* were there?  Talk about a rocking atmosphere and home court advantage!