Mailbag on Ranking UNT's Class

[Harry]

I have taken a pretty good bashing for my take on how UNT did in recruiting this year. I gave UNT a B for its class that is ranked in a tie for sixth place by Rivals.com. Scout.com updated its rankings and has UNT in fourth, although I have a hard time taking that list very seriously when it still includes Andrew McNulty.

Again, I think it was a solid batch.

Expectations were just too high, largely due to UNT opening up its new stadium. Apogee is great and helped quite a bit, but it was not going to make top-rated kids come running to UNT to play for a team that has had seven straight losing seasons, plays in the Sun Belt and has a perception problem in DFW.

Dan McCarney said at his signing day presser that UNT isn't exactly the easiest place to recruit.

I never understood the idea that a new stadium was going to be the fix-all. It helps, but there is a lot else that goes into it.

UNT has several good recruiters -- I heard the names Justin Gaines, Mike Canales, Mike Simmonds, Kent Riddle and Anthony Weaver a lot from recruits. Not to mention McCarney.

Those guys really busted their behinds to put this class together.

Click Here to Read More: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/archives/2012/02/mailbag-on-ranking-unts-class.html

[UNT90]

It gives me great confidence in this coaching staff that they have so easily manipulated the beat reporter for this program. This is a good sign for recruiting going forward.

I don't know if it is BV's continued hate for Dodge and the perceived injustices that BV thinks he received during the Dodge era, but his subjective positions are pretty laughable for anyone observing with any type of neutral position.

It seriously gives me a lot of faith in this staff.

[eulessismore]

It gives me great confidence in this coaching staff that they have so easily manipulated the beat reporter for this program. This is a good sign for recruiting going forward.

I don't know if it is BV's continued hate for Dodge and the perceived injustices that BV thinks he received during the Dodge era, but his subjective positions are pretty laughable for anyone observing with any type of neutral position.

It seriously gives me a lot of faith in this staff.

Well, there you go. A recruiter has to sell the program, and Mac was known for recruiting Texas long before he came here as a coach. That Texas recruiting acumen was what a newly acquired in-law told me about last summer, a Hawkeye fan who sometimes plays golf with Hayden Fry, so I tend to take him at his word. This Hawkeye fan's wife was coach Mac's high school English teacher back in Iowa City, and her opinion of McCarney was not so charitable. Strange how two people so close could have such a different opinion of someone they both knew. But, hey, Nancy was glad to hear that Mac's career was back on track and that he had remarried, and many of us had those critical English teachers, looking back.

My opinion of Mac may be different from yours; I honestly think he can make the right things happen here, so I guess I also have some of that faith. Yes, I'm glad he's a salesman; I'm kind of indiffererent to whether he has sold Vito, few people really are objective if you listen to them. North Texas is a great product; we do need the great sales staff.

[UNT90]

Well, there you go. A recruiter has to sell the program, and Mac was known for recruiting Texas long before he came here as a coach. That Texas recruiting acumen was what a newly acquired in-law told me about last summer, a Hawkeye fan who sometimes plays golf with Hayden Fry, so I tend to take him at his word. This Hawkeye fan's wife was coach Mac's high school English teacher back in Iowa City, and her opinion of McCarney was not so charitable. Strange how two people so close could have such a different opinion of someone they both knew. But, hey, Nancy was glad to hear that Mac's career was back on track and that he had remarried, and many of us had those critical English teachers, looking back.

My opinion of Mac may be different from yours; I honestly think he can make the right things happen here, so I guess I also have some of that faith. Yes, I'm glad he's a salesman; I'm kind of indiffererent to whether he has sold Vito, few people really are objective if you listen to them. North Texas is a great product; we do need the great sales staff.

I think you and some others may misunderstand. I believe Coach Mac is right for this situation. This has nothing to do with Coach Mac, other than to just recognize the fact that he has done yet another thing that TD failed miserably at, and that is controlling the beat reporter. And that is said with admiration for Coach Mac's ability to do so.

The frustrating part as a fan is that BV is the only source of supposedly unbiased information on UNT football, but ever since Coach Mac came to town, reading BV is no different than reading Meangreensports.com.

It shouldn't be that way.

[NT03]

I think you and some others may misunderstand. I believe Coach Mac is right for this situation. This has nothing to do with Coach Mac, other than to just recognize the fact that he has done yet another thing that TD failed miserably at, and that is controlling the beat reporter. And that is said with admiration for Coach Mac's ability to do so

The frustrating part as a fan is that BV is the only source of supposedly unbiased information on UNT football, but ever since Coach Mac came to town, reading BV is no different

than reading Meangreensports.com.

It shouldn't be that way.

Maybe because he was basically blackballed by the AD & UNT when he was justifiably critical. Was given very little to no access for telling the truth. He has to get info somehow. It sounds like kissing ass , but I think it's him trying to save his own job. Just my opinion .

[Mean Green 93-98]

Maybe because he was basically blackballed by the AD & UNT when he was justifiably critical. Was given very little to no access for telling the truth.

Throwing out unsubstantiated racism claims was justifiably critical and telling the truth?

[NT03]

Throwing out unsubstantiated racism claims was justifiably critical and telling the truth?

Wow, really going to bring something up that happended 5 years ago ? Vito didn't claim racism , Green did. It was a news story and Vito is a reporter. Green filed a complaint with the NAACP , not sure how you can blame Vito on that.

[NT03]

I'm not saying Vito is a all american beat reporter , but he sure does take a lot of heat for things that go wrong with UNT. It seems to me it's a lot of misplaced anger. UNT has 99 problems and I don't think Vito is 1.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Wow, really going to bring something up that happended 5 years ago ? Vito didn't claim racism , Green did. It was a news story and Vito is a reporter. Green filed a complaint with the NAACP , not sure how you can blame Vito on that.

I'm not sure why it's surprising that I brought it up, because that's where the animosity stems from. That's not the only reason, mind you. But if Vito had not taken the National Inquirer-style "report first, ask questions later" approach to it that he did, things might be a lot different between the two sides.

I'm not saying Vito is a all american beat reporter , but he sure does take a lot of heat for things that go wrong with UNT. It seems to me it's a lot of misplaced anger. UNT has 99 problems and I don't think Vito is 1.

Agree--Vito is not UNT's problem. He's his own problem, and the DR-C's.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Mean Green 93-98

[NT03]

I'm not sure why it's surprising that I brought it up, because that's where the animosity stems from. That's not the only reason, mind you. But if Vito had not taken the National Inquirer-style "report first, ask questions later" approach to it that he did, things might be a lot different between the two sides.

the bad blood is from the failed drug test incident

[NT03]

Agree--Vito is not UNT's problem. He's his own problem, and the DR-C's.

That's the problem with all media tho right ? We no longer live in a society where we can hide stories to see if they are actually true or not first. It's wrong. I don't like it , but it's the world we live in

Vito's style has gone very stale the last few years. I think he got bored and bitter from being left out of the loop on so many things. I also think he has to put things in his blog to ruffle feathers just to get hits. Newspapers are going to be a non existent in the years to come , I think they just do what they have to do to survive in this day and age.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I'm not saying Vito is a all american beat reporter , but he sure does take a lot of heat for things that go wrong with UNT. It seems to me it's a lot of misplaced anger. UNT has 99 problems and I don't think Vito is 1.

Agree...

Some of our Vito-bashers have way too much time on their hands to let one beat writer get their undies in such a wad. Hey, he is "one" beat reporter with the D/RC now a subsidiary of the Belo Corp (of Dallas Morning News fame).

Apogee Stadium? As much as I love this college football stadium and as much as I have praised the famous (Gil Brandt, Chuck Neinas, ESPN/UNT alum Dave Barnett, Mean Joe Greene, etc) who have praised our Taj Mahal of a football stadium, I too, never thought Apogee Stadium alone would be our miracle drug.

Fact is, Apogee Stadium had to happen very soon or we would have really been down Shit River w/o a paddle. It's here now but those 7 losing seasons still put a cloud over her and I predicted a year before Apogee's debut that we would not sell out that first game. Folks, if we don't have the machinery on campus to even give free tickets away such as was exhibited for the MUTS game then what made anyone think they would get out there and do what was necessary to sellout the first game?

In fact, take the UH fans out of our stadium's debut game and then you see just how hard those on campus of whom this is part of their job description worked last Summer in selling tickets to the masses of Denton, Denton County & beyond. This program is never going to be one of those "just add water and watch it grow" kind of programs. It will always have to be cultivated daily for it to expand or grow. In fact, every home game in any kind of year (winning or losing) must be promoted as if some jobs depended on it.

GMG!

Monday PM Addendum: I'm with you GrayEagle on the Denton Chamber of Commerce repeating their "all summer" effort and because of their focussed efforts brought out a record-setting crowd for a Baylor game at Fouts back in the day.

In fact, had the UNT athletic dept. merely gone back to their think tank and simply come up with the question at their round table meeting of "what promotion helped us put the most fans into Fouts Field," maybe they would have gone back to the Denton C of C well one more time and had it been for the Apogee Stadium debut, we would have more than likely had SRO for the Unversity of Houston game.

Edited February 7, 2012 by PlummMeanGreen

[UNT90]

I'm not saying Vito is a all american beat reporter , but he sure does take a lot of heat for things that go wrong with UNT. It seems to me it's a lot of misplaced anger. UNT has 99 problems and I don't think Vito is 1.

But Vito is supposed to report the 99 problems. He is the only source of unbiased (supposedly) information on UNT athletics. If he is nothing but a shill for the football program, how are we supposed to find out about the 99 other problems? The rumor mill? GMG.com? Not exactly reliable sources.

Agree...

Some of our Vito-bashers have way too much time on their hands to let one beat writer get their undies in such a wad. Hey, he is "one" beat reporter with the D/RC now a subsidiary of the Belo Corp (of Dallas Morning News fame).

Ya, he is the ONE reporter in the metroplex that covers UNT athletics. THE ONLY ONE. We need more from him.

[Harry]

Apogee and the Athletic Center are fantasitic facilities...and game changers for us. Let's keep in mind in many ways we are catching up in an arms race that started a long time ago. It's really quite amazing when you think of it. The other nite we had a fan reception in the elegant Club level of Apogee stadium with 400-500 people...I can remember 8-9 years ago when we held post recruiting events in a dark and musty Fred McCain room under Fouts, metal chairs, a cooler for drinks and about 20 in attendance on a good day.

This article on UTSA and where they sit facility wise sort of puts it in perspective: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/local_colleges/article/UTSA-recruiting-an-uphill-fight-2339462.php

We are finally at a point where it appears that we are funding this program to the level that is required to be successful. Good things are already happening but it won't happen overnight. I really like that Coach Mac is building this thing on a sturdy foundation of high school talent and that we continue to build on our success in basketball and other sports. This place is about to get very fun.