Have You Ever Felt Better About Unt Athletics?

[Smitty]

The men's basketball team gave a sensational effort and earned plenty of props from outside the Mean Green Nation. We've got a new football coach with a new stadium on the horizon. Soccer is on the rise, softball is building, and we're getting good performances in track, golf, tennis, cross county, swimming, and volleyball.

Attendance is up, interest is up, excitement is up.

Even during the glory days of Hayden Fry and Bill Blakely, we got no bowl bids or NCAA or NIT bids. But now we've been to and won a bowl game. We've been to the NCAA tournament and competed well at a national level. The national media is beginning to notice us. North Texas is starting to reap well-earned rewards.

Today is a good day to be Green!

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---The SWC is gone... we are no longer the "outsider" in this region. That breakup was very good for us and we have progressed ever since then. .

[GoMeanGreen1999]

The men's basketball team gave a sensational effort and earned plenty of props from outside the Mean Green Nation. We've got a new football coach with a new stadium on the horizon. Soccer is on the rise, softball is building, and we're getting good performances in track, golf, tennis, cross county, swimming, and volleyball.

Attendance is up, interest is up, excitement is up.

Even during the glory days of Hayden Fry and Bill Blakely, we got no bowl bids or NCAA or NIT bids. But now we've been to and won a bowl game. We've been to the NCAA tournament and competed well at a national level. The national media is beginning to notice us. North Texas is starting to reap well-earned rewards.

Today is a good day to be Green!

Very Good Post. Completely agree.

[NT80]

The media we've received is really the best perk of being in the Tourney. Without TCU or SMUt in the Tourney we had 10 days of great local coverage and some national press too. The next step is to repeat but win a game!

[MeanGreenBuzz]

It is definately a good day to be Green. No one can say anymore that our day is coming. Our day is here and it will only get better!

[CMJ]

Definitely a great time. In the past 6 years we have 4 Bowl appearances(one win), and NCAA tournament appearance, and the soccer girls have won league as well.

[PlummMeanGreen]

The men's basketball team gave a sensational effort and earned plenty of props from outside the Mean Green Nation. We've got a new football coach with a new stadium on the horizon. Soccer is on the rise, softball is building, and we're getting good performances in track, golf, tennis, cross county, swimming, and volleyball.

Attendance is up, interest is up, excitement is up.

Even during the glory days of Hayden Fry and Bill Blakely, we got no bowl bids or NCAA or NIT bids. But now we've been to and won a bowl game. We've been to the NCAA tournament and competed well at a national level. The national media is beginning to notice us. North Texas is starting to reap well-earned rewards.

Today is a good day to be Green!

I agree with 99.9% of the spirit of your post, Smitty. Coach Johnny Jones' Mean Green baskeball team came out like block-busters from the SBC Tourney to make us all proud with their efforts yesterday against the hottest team in the NCAA, ie, the University of Memphis Tigers. Is it 23 straight wins for UMemphis now? Even former Dallas ABC affiliate sports guy Verne Lundquist was duly impressed and kept tossing more and more bouquets toward our alma mater, maybe more in yesterday's 2 plus hour national TV showing than he ever did all the years he was the main sports guy over at Channel 8! Nevertheless..............Thanks, Vern!

BUT NOW LETS GET A FEW FACTS STRAIGHT, OK? .................."ONLY" 32 school selections for the the Big Dance during the Bill Blakely era probably had much to do with none of his teams getting selected, Smitty. If there had been only 32 schools selected for this year's Big Dance, how many fine schools would not have made this years March Madness, with you know which school located in the northern part of Texas as probably one of those?

AND................. Hayden Fry never coached a team in an SBC-type consortium of schools with a bowl tie-in, either--wish he would have, though. Seems Fry had a Top 20 football team or 2 and for those who want to even pooh-pooh that about their alma mater, do check your degrees to make sure what school name is at the top of your degree. BTW, I think other coaches back then probably voted for their own schools, too, but probably had to have more than just their own vote to get in those old Top 20 polls?

So lets not completely revise all of our UNT past because our school is finally beginning to act like the 4'th largest university in Texas (and in a completely different era of unprecedented Denton, Denton County and main campus growth which also must be pointed out).

Usually as the years and decades progress, so do most D1 schools athletic programs (if they have good overall campus leadership and true, bonafide D1 talent running those schools varsity athletic programs). Honest to goodness, I don't think anything will stop Johnny Jones from here on out and it couldn't have happened to a nice, better human being who seems 100% sincere with all people and even more important for all who attended UNT, he is very alumnus-friendly.

In hindsight and in retrospect, my only problem with yesterday is that when I was an NT student, we were even in the same conference with our opponent, ie, the Memphis Tigers; also in the old MVC with us were Lousiville, Tulsa, Cincinnati, etc, etc, etc, but all of those schools (just like UNT) left the Mo' Valley for other opportunities which would improve each of their football program's futures and looking at the schools who took all our places in the old Missouri Valley Conference, all that turned out to be a smart move for all our respective schools.

But Smitty, in my opinion, you are right-on inasmuch that the future is brighter than ever in Mean Green Country.

Edited March 17, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[ParksAndRecRick]

Smitty....Well Said! I totally agree...

It is becoming the in thing to be "GREEN"!

The future has NEVER been brighter green.....

Let's celebrate and keep telling everyone our story! The more people hear, the more they jump on the bandwagon. Our time is NOW!

ParksAndRecRick