Mean Green Not Representing

[All About UNT]

So this Saturday I saw floats of so many schools and Alumni groups but nothing that represented UNT. OU came through and everyone booed them.... DFW Notre Dame Alum had a pretty sweet float come through (saw my ex on it). I couldn't help but to think that since I had tallied no less than 10 "Go Mean Green" shouts being directed at me while wearing a UNT shirt that if we didn't pony up and represent at this parade we are wasting a great opportunity.

It has been said that engaging the younger and more recent alumni to get back into the fold and actually attend games is our goal. Not to mention that we need them to write checks as well. Well with over 100k people there and so many of them are alum.....how could we not represent at this parade? Does anyone know if we have ever sponsored a float there before?

[untbowler]

hmmm, sounds like par for the course still. Just sad that the school just does not seem to get it with 100K alumni living in the region.

[DeepGreen]

Each month when I read a Texas Monthly, I see ads for Texas State-San Marcus, TCU, UTSA, UTA, SFA, and some of the other Texas universities, but no North Texas ad. So not having a St. Pat Day parade float representing the 3rd largest university in the state does not come as a shock to me.

[Eagle1855]

I rarely ever see flyers posted on campus. If kids don't know about the games, how will they get inside the building?

[greenjoe]

Parade where ? Was the OU float sponsored by the University of Oklahoma ? The Notre Dame float sponsored by that university ? I'm certainly not connected with the goings on around the Metroplex, but I'd help decorate a float next year if I was given a bit of notice before hand.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Each month when I read a Texas Monthly, I see ads for Texas State-San Marcus, TCU, UTSA, UTA, SFA, and some of the other Texas universities, but no North Texas ad. So not having a St. Pat Day parade float representing the 3rd largest university in the state does not come as a shock to me.

I'm thinking the two are very much not related.

The lack of advertising in Texas Monthly may have something to do with the University's priorities in advertising, but a float in a parade? C'mon... this is more along the lines of an Alumni Association thing.

To blame the University for not having a stupid float in a parade is ridiculous.

[All About UNT]

I'm thinking the two are very much not related.

The lack of advertising in Texas Monthly may have something to do with the University's priorities in advertising, but a float in a parade? C'mon... this is more along the lines of an Alumni Association thing.

To blame the University for not having a stupid float in a parade is ridiculous.

Agreed in some aspects...however it would have been a great way to spend $600 plus float creation costs to advertise the new stadium in front of the type of people that could fill it. Whether it be the school...the Alum group or even just 5 diehard fans....it still would have placed VERY CHEAP PR in front of 100k people. You don't sound like you attend parades or at least this one in particular so I guess you wouldn't get the value of having noticed all the other Alum groups and schools out there that did float by. I am not referring to some 5k person parade for Denton County... but one that actually had roughly 5-10k of our Alum standing on the side of the street watching. If it's not the school's responsibility then roger that... but it would be our Alum's responsibility to have representation at such an event.

[greenminer]

I think this is on the Alumni Association.

[KRAM1]

This seems to come up every year after the Dallas St. Pat's Day Parade. I wonder if such an effort is worth the time and dollars spent? I wonder how many of the alums watching the parade from UNT are actual dues paying members of the Alumni Association? I would bet that both OU and N. Dame have many many more dues paying members than does UNT. I would also guess that both floats were done by local area chapters and funded by the local area chapters donors. I am, however, simply guessing about that. What I do know is that the UNT Alumni Assoc. is placing its precious few disposable dollars into the construction of the new UNT Alumni Pavilion being built alongside the new stadium. BTW, was TCU, SMU and UTA represented with floats in the parade?

Some of this is about resources of both the monetary and personnel variety. Both of which are severely lacking for UNT's Alumni Association. In fact, I am constantly amazed at all the great stuff the Alumni Association is doing these days with such a small budget and small staff. If memberships were to anywhere near represent the alumni base UNT has in the DFW area, such projects as this just might not be that impossible to pull off.

I would love to see UNT represented in the parade as I am sure everyone here would. It's just priorities and money and personnel. If anyone wants to take this project on for next year and start a fundraising effort and volunteer committee/workforce I would be happy to participate. I think greenjoe has said he would help as well.

Any takers to start the ball rolling as fundraising/committee head?

[cwb]

Agreed in some aspects...however it would have been a great way to spend $600 plus float creation costs to advertise the new stadium in front of the type of people that could fill it. Whether it be the school...the Alum group or even just 5 diehard fans....it still would have placed VERY CHEAP PR in front of 100k people. You don't sound like you attend parades or at least this one in particular so I guess you wouldn't get the value of having noticed all the other Alum groups and schools out there that did float by. I am not referring to some 5k person parade for Denton County... but one that actually had roughly 5-10k of our Alum standing on the side of the street watching. If it's not the school's responsibility then roger that... but it would be our Alum's responsibility to have representation at such an event.

Would rather see the $600 plus spent on the cheerleaders or more trees on campus or... And if we need a float to help fill the new stadium, I am concerned.

[forevereagle]

Each month when I read a Texas Monthly, I see ads for Texas State-San Marcus, TCU, UTSA, UTA, SFA, and some of the other Texas universities, but no North Texas ad. So not having a St. Pat Day parade float representing the 3rd largest university in the state does not come as a shock to me.

Before we go off the rails on advertising, I think that there is something to consider here. Are these ads effective? Do they actually gain enough to offset the cost? I have discussed this before on other forms of advertising. There needs to be some research dollars spent to determine if a particular ad placement is even worth the money. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean that it is actually effective for them either. I would rather the school advertise smart than have them just throw money out there so we call all have a warm fuzzy feeling about a page in a magazine.

[KRAM1]

I am not referring to some 5k person parade for Denton County... but one that actually had roughly 5-10k of our Alum standing on the side of the street watching. If it's not the school's responsibility then roger that... but it would be our Alum's responsibility to have representation at such an event.

WOW! 5-10K UNT Alums in that parade group? Really? How did you come up with that number? That's impressive, indeed. And, to think if those 5-10K would have actually joined the Alumni Association as dues paying members, the Alumni Assoc. may have just had the "free cash" to help sponsor such a parade float. The TOTAL paying membership of the UNT Alumni Assoc. is in the 8000 range...and you say 5,000-10,000 UNT Alums were along that parade route. Just think what might could be accomplished if those alums supported the UNT Alumni Association with as little as the $45 annual dues cost. WOW! A lifetime membership is only $500 ($600 for joint). You don't have to expect to live too many years to make that a great deal...and you can set up a payment plan.

Do you go to the parade every year? Are you willing to take up the challenge and be the fundraising and work committee organizer for the event next year? I'm game to help. I know you personally do a lot to support UNT, so I am definitely not calling you out or anything like that...but you seem to have a passion for this event and think UNT should be represented...I do not disagree, but can't step in to be the "front man" for this event. It needs more of a Dallas presence. Can this be done for next year?

You say it is $600 plus the cost of the float...if the float isn't too elaborate it sure seems doable to me...what do you say?

EDIT: OK, I see I got a -1 for this post. Please do tell me what was worthy of a -1 here? You can PM me if you would like. Please do tell. Did something I wrote land a little too close to home for someone?

Edited March 14, 2011 by KRAM1

[Green P1]

Did UNT Dallas have a float?

[KRAM1]

Did UNT Dallas have a float?

Good question...Royce West and Lee Jackson could be front and center on that float. Where was UNT Dallas in all of this?

[All About UNT]

WOW! 5-10K UNT Alums in that parade group? Really? How did you come up with that number? That's impressive, indeed. And, to think if those 5-10K would have actually joined the Alumni Association as dues paying members, the Alumni Assoc. may have just had the "free cash" to help sponsor such a parade float. The TOTAL paying membership of the UNT Alumni Assoc. is in the 8000 range...and you say 5,000-10,000 UNT Alums were along that parade route. Just think what might could be accomplished if those alums supported the UNT Alumni Association with as little as the $45 annual dues cost. WOW! A lifetime membership is only $500 ($600 for joint). You don't have to expect to live too many years to make that a great deal...and you can set up a payment plan.

Do you go to the parade every year? Are you willing to take up the challenge and be the fund-raising and work committee organizer for the event next year? I'm game to help. I know you personally do a lot to support UNT, so I am d

efinitely not calling you out or anything like that...but you seem to have a passion for this event and think UNT should be represented...I do not disagree, but can't step in to be the "front man" for this event. It needs more of a Dallas presence. Can this be done for next year?

You say it is $600 plus the cost of the float...if the float isn't too elaborate it sure seems doable to me...what do you say?

EDIT: OK, I see I got a -1 for this post. Please do tell me what was worthy of a -1 here? You can PM me if you would like. Please do tell. Did something I wrote land a little too close to home for someone?

Wasn't me. Before we go off the handle here.... I am not insulting the school, the very proud but few active alum or anyone else who shows dedication to the school and our programs. I am merely suggesting that the cost seems nominal in comparison with how many people you get to display your float in front of. I have seen pictures today of floats in the past at other parades less attended by the DFW Community and I see some really great stuff here:

so the question is...since we have obviously prepped floats before for other parades (besides homecoming) should we also not at the very least entertain something to get lined up for next year? I can only imagine a decked out UNT Float complete with some Dancers, Members of the Pit Crew, Scrappy etc... and getting out there and showing a predominately younger crowd like the one assembled Saturday that we are out there and proud. People shouting Go Mean Green at me and some others asking about the new stadium just because I wore a UNT t-shirt tells me that people are interested. I was (in retrospect) a bit disappointed that we didn't use it as an opportunity to remind people that our kick-ace new stadium opens in September and that Coach Dodge has been replaced with someone that I think we can all stand behind (not to mention the staff).

As far as TCU, SMU and UTA I am not sure if they had floats but I stepped away for about 20 minutes. My friends all joked that I missed the UNT float while I was gone...and until they claimed that we had an actual eagle who's foot was tied to a rope and allowed to fly freely above the crowds did I get that they were making fun of my desire to see our float out there. UTA??? Next time let us not gauge our own participation in events like this with whether or not UTA did so as well. Lol.

All I am getting at is that the cost seems rather minimal to get some good solid facetime with that many people. I am more than confident that students and alum alike would love to ride on that float too. You can count me in to dig deeper into what it would take to make this happen next year but I do not have the old-school connections that some on this board have so their support would be required too.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Floats smell bad.

Anyway, the OU Alumni Association in Dallas is its largest in the country for them. They're accustomed to doing things Dallas-related because of the OU-Texas game. They're in tune with what's happening with around here more than probably any other alumni association in the region, except Texas A&M...sadly.

Look, we are what we are. We're like the kids who come into class late, don't acknowledge the lecturer, then take a seat in the back of the class and fall asleep. We wake up in an empty classroom, drooling, and wondering what happened. Then, we pick up our books - if we bothered to bring them - stumble out the door and head down to Riprocks for pool and beer.

For decades, this was a music and marijuana school. We haven't righted the ship overnight. We're getting there. But....

[forevereagle]

Floats smell bad.

So do sinkers.

[Green P1]

This University cant even round up the money to buy its basketball team into a meaningless post season tournament.... You really think its gonna shell out $600 for a float?

[KRAM1]

Each month when I read a Texas Monthly, I see ads for Texas State-San Marcus, TCU, UTSA, UTA, SFA, and some of the other Texas universities, but no North Texas ad. So not having a St. Pat Day parade float representing the 3rd largest university in the state does not come as a shock to me.

Hey, Deep, is that the free subscription you get by being a member of the UNT Alumni Association? BTW, I do seem to recall a very big spread on UNT in one of its issues last year...I think there was an ad section where many of the local and state universities had full pages or more. UNT was indeed represented.

[greenminer]

Look, we are what we are. We're like the kids who come into class late, don't acknowledge the lecturer, then take a seat in the back of the class and fall asleep. We wake up in an empty classroom, drooling, and wondering what happened. Then, we pick up our books - if we bothered to bring them - stumble out the door and head down to Riprocks for pool and beer.

Yeah, I laughed. The truth can be funny.

[DallasGreen]

I think this is on the Alumni Association.

In the ten years I was on the BOD, executive committee, or president of the alumni association (then known as North Texas Exes) I campaigned voiceferously for the university to have an annual event on St. Patrick's Day. UT has Texas Independence Day (April 1st), the Aggies celebrate "muster" on a certain day, and St. Pat's was a natural for the Mean Green. At one time I had Greg McQueen of Development on board with the idea and having all depts. participate, but getting full agreement on anything has always been the fly in the ointment. IMHO many profs. and dept. heads would rather listen to themselves talk or have multiple boring meetings that accomplish nothing than to get sponsors for a fun event that would over the years come to pay for itself and then could be handed over to alumni chapters to get even more PR. The Alumni Association lacks the resources and manpower to pull this off alone, but I still think it could be a good thing if you could get the admins. on board in at least some capacity. Write President Rawlins,Lee Jackson, or Lisa Boronio and ask them to get on board if you think the idea is viable!!!!!

[UNT90]

Hey, Deep, is that the free subscription you get by being a member of the UNT Alumni Association? BTW, I do seem to recall a very big spread on UNT in one of its issues last year...I think there was an ad section where many of the local and state universities had full pages or more. UNT was indeed represented.

Finally, the question to why I am receiving Texas Monthly is answered. Thanks KRAM, didn't realize this was a benefit.

I pledge $100 for a float next year, as long as I get to be on it with the dance team.

[greenjoe]

Since any "extra" money I have is going to my Stadium committment, I can't help that way. But I'm ready to stuff Kleenex in chicken wire (if that's the way it is still done) to create a float. But we've got to get word out early enough to plan, store, and work on this beast.

And I think North Texas should be the first University people think of when there is a "green" parade. Lemme know. I'll help. And I'm sure others will as well.

[Adub4ever]

everyone was at the 35 conferette... where you should have been spending your money

[All About UNT]

Now we are talking...the gears are in motion!