Rick Gosselin: Football is Back at North Texas. Big Time Football.

[Cerebus]

Thanks for actually reading my post and not just telling me to get off your lawn.

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Fair enough. You make a good point, I can't really disagree with you because that is true as well.

Thanks for actually reading my post and not just telling me to get off your lawn.

Okay, now that that's settled:

[SSP]

The toolery (I may have just created a word?) on here never fails to astonish me.

At least I am not the only one that takes the bait from time to time. Ok... I almost always do...

GO......

MEAN....

GREEEEEEN!!!!!!!!!

[Quoner]

Where is Ben Gooding in all this? This is not what I signed up for.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Akron, Idaho, New Mexico State, UAB... To say we're a worse job than any or all of those (just off the top of my head) is flat wrong.

Turning around a program that's one of the 10 or 20 toughest places at the time you were hired is an amazing achievement. Saying it's the worst is just hyperbole, and not necessary, because the actual accomplishment is fantastic enough. Not that Mac did, but it's the point of disagreement at the moment.

Anyway, we're getting away from the real point. Dan McCarney, a deaf-mute afflicted with leprosy and two kinds of hepatitis, managed to make this program a winner in just three years. Even when his genitals were destroyed by that flesh-eating bacteria and the mad cow disease started destroying his brain, he didn't give up. And we're in a much better place for it.

Fan-speak!

And when I found McCarney in this condition, I asked myself, "Why not Dan McCarney?", and worked tirelessly to heal him of these afflictions. I'd say 9 out of 13, including the extermination of Mad Cow in the Heart of Dallas is pretty good. Y'all are welcome, but we have more work to do, and I need more people to come out and cheer me on.

[SSP]

Where is Ben Gooding in all this? This is not what I signed up for.

LOL

[Cerebus]

The toolery (I may have just created a word?) on here never fails to astonish me

At least I am not the only one that takes the bait from time to time. Ok... I almost always do...

[Mean_Green09]

Kent St., Idaho, New Mexico St, and Buffalo are a couple of places that are far worse off than UNT was. It would take an SMU/SEC level of cheating to win consistently at those schools.

Mac has done a great job of guiding the program in the right direction. He has dug us out of a pretty deep hole. I'm glad he is our coach. He has put us back to a respectable level on the field. He hasn't done anything out of this world. He hasn't taken us to a BCS game or won a conference championship yet. He has done what I thought he was going to do when we hired him.

When he arrived we did have talent. A lot of those guys that helped him right ship weren't his recruits. He helped those guys realize the talent that they had.

[SSP]

WHAT. UP. CEREBUS?

Slow afternoon?

[Army of Dad]

This thread is still here?

[GOMG2013]

So we are going to take the "cupboard was bare" and "the worst program" literally? Of course there was talent here and there's a few scrub programs that were ranked lower.

The point still is the same. Not much talent, one of the sorriest teams in the nation. Yay...not #124 sorry. Just 102...really?

[Cerebus]

This thread is still here?

My advice to the admins:

[Cerebus]

The point still is the same. Not much talent, one of the sorriest teams in the nation. Yay...not #124 sorry. Just 102...really?

My point is that every single coach says that. And if he is winning, or the fans thinks he is going to win soon, everyone ignores it or accepts it. When he loses, those same words are used to hang him.

Situations change the interpretations of words. Words don't mean the same thing today as they do tomorrow.

Anybody want to talk about existentialism and their favorite place to get pizza?

[SSP]

My advice to the admins:

No, I actually think that everyone's made some progress this afternoon...

[UNT90]

Would you say ULM's fans have the same expectations as we do?

Our problem is, in the past, the fans want what the team has been unable to provide.

Maybe it's just students now (seriously doubt that) but everyone, the alumni included, are really hungry. They have pride in their school. Not sure that's the same over there. Don't know the history of it, but it seems like that's the issue. The 6,000 students that live in the student life of NT are invested. They leave and become paying alumni. Some get fed up and leave. It's a never ending cycle. Mac and the AD are trying to turn everyone else, and I know from talking with the department (because I'm trying to grab an internship), into those fans but keep the ones who get frustrated. We want results. We haven't had commitment from the top before and now we do. Look at how active this forum is. Is there another G5 forum as active as ours? Not too sure about that.

Problem was, like I've said, we demand results. Administration didn't. Thus difficult job. See: the infamous Flanagan confrontation I've heard legends about, the black jersey debacle, Dickey's interviews and comments, Todge's desperation...our admin accepted mediocrity and I'm not even talking about RV. Higher up the ladder. Argue about Benny all you want but they don't now, IMO. but the fans refuse to accept mediocrity. That's what sets us apart. You should know that, of all people.

We all need to enjoy the ride and let Mac do his thing. Will it succeed? I know so. But if you don't, just enjoy the ride and hope it does.

What the hell do expectations have to do with the worst job in football?

If that were true, I would nominate TTech for the honor.

[CMJ]

Anybody want to talk about existentialism and their favorite place to get pizza?

I think Kierkegaard would dig J&J's.

[Cerebus]

I think Kierkegaard would dig J&J's.

Freud would be interested to know into why you think Kierkegaard would be interested in J&J's, especially the blatantly obvious Oedipal undertones of that thinking.

[CMJ]

What the hell do expectations have to do with the worst job in football?

If that were true, I would nominate TTech for the honor.

I do think expectations are part of the calculus. Like, going with basketball (my sport of choice). I think the best job is Kansas. They have all the benefits of being a Blue blood program, but their expectations don't seem unreasonable. Generally speaking, they want conference titles and nice runs in the tourney more often than not. If Self did at Kentucky, what he's done at Kansas (one title, one other championship appearance, a ton of regular season titles, but numerous early NCAA flame outs), their fanbase would have his seat warm every year. Big Blue Nation wants a National Title every four to five years, and if you don't make it happen, they turn on you. Tubby Smith had all sort of success there, but the last several years he was fired in the press numerous times.

That's why he finally fled to Minnesota.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I just read this entire thread. For those who have yet to do so, I would heartily recommend against it.

[Quoner]

My child, when there was only one set of responses, that's when I carried you.

[Stan R]

You didn't go to games back then. We ANNOUNCED 19K fans a game. Our bean counters made SMU's look legit. If you take out the neutral site game vs A&M that season, or attendance was very poor. The last game of the season vs Utah State (one of the best games I ever saw in person BTW) had no more than 4K people.

Tops.

Anyone who attended most of the games during this season gets instant GMG.com cred from me. I'll say it again I truly believed there was no way that the NT football program would survive more than 3-4 years after that season.

[GOMG2013]

My point is that every single coach says that. And if he is winning, or the fans thinks he is going to win soon, everyone ignores it or accepts it. When he loses, those same words are used to hang him.

Situations change the interpretations of words. Words don't mean the same thing today as they do tomorrow.

I get it. Ima go UNT90 & Ben gooding on them fools if we lose next year...but...

I thought we won THIS year...

[Cerebus]

I get it. Ima go UNT90 & Ben gooding on them fools if we lose next year...but...

I thought we won THIS year...

Any time a coach says those things, even if he is winning, there is 10-15% of the fan base who will call them out for it. The rest of the people are just so happy to win they wouldn't care if Mac went to the 50 yard line at halftime and called their mom a whore.

However, when they lose, that 15/85 splits starts to head to 50/50, and if they keep losing, it ends up 85/15.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Cerebus

[UNTFan23]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJQVlVHsFF8

[Cerebus]

If Mac called my mother a whore at half time of a home game, I would be incredibly offended and would demand he be fired. If he did it at the half time of the BCS bowl in which we had a 21 pt lead over Michigan? I could live with it.