North Texas

[50's PONY]

Brett Vito: Football must win for UNT athletics to keep growing
07:19 AM CDT on Monday, October 4, 2004




Brett Vito
The North Texas athletic department appeared as if it was about to take one giant step backward early Saturday night.

The North Texas football team’s winning streak in Sun Belt Conference play was in jeopardy when Middle Tennessee took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The sparse crowd of 15,913 was dead quiet and the life felt like it had been sucked right out of Fouts Field.

If ever there was a reminder of just how fragile the UNT athletic program and football team is, the moment was certainly it.

The Mean Green have gone on a remarkable run the last three seasons, winning 19 straight Sun Belt games and three league titles. A new athletic center and tennis facility are on the way and better players arrive at UNT every season. Make no mistake, though, this is a program that still has a lot of growing to do.

And that growth won’t happen without the continued success of the Mean Green on the football field.

The world of Division I college athletics is changing on a yearly basis. Teams have moved from conference to conference and new rules are on the books that will go into effect in the next few years that will elevate some programs and sink others.

UNT is one of those programs that could still go either way.

The NCAA passed a rule requiring schools to average 15,000 fans in at least four home games against Division I-A opponents. Pressure from some of the small schools on the block – including those in the Sun Belt – convinced the NCAA to put off penalizing teams for failing to reach the standard.

The reprieve won’t last forever, though. One of these days the rule will be enforced. UNT had better be winning when it does go into effect because the team’s fans are barely supporting the program to a level that will keep it above the attendance minimum during the good times.

UNT posted its best season since the Hayden Fry era last season when the Mean Green won nine games and still couldn’t average more than 18,694 fans a game. The total was built in part when Baylor fans helped fill the house with a record crowd of 29,437 for a non-conference game last season.

The Mean Green have gotten off to a slow start this year and have yet to crack the 16,000 mark in home attendance in two home games.

Just a few weeks ago, UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal questioned what more he could possibly do to bring out fans other than field a team that has won three straight conference titles, add tailgating and offer cheap tickets.

Part of the problem this season can be attributed to an 0-4 start by the Mean Green, but one has to wonder if the bottom would flat fall out if UNT dropped out of contention for a league title and a bowl berth early in the season. Evidence seems to suggest UNT has a rather small fan base, and more than a few members of the group were ready to jump ship at the first sign of trouble when the Mean Green lost their first four games of the 2004 season.

UNT has started slowly before but has always recovered during the Sun Belt era when the team has rolled to three straight league titles and put itself in position to continue making progress as a program. Former UNT linebacker Jim McIngvale chipped in $1 million for the school’s new athletic center, while businessman Ronald Waranch donated another $1 million for a tennis facility.

McIngvale said he made his donation in part because of the respect he has for UNT coach Darrell Dickey and what he has accomplished with the Mean Green.

The UNT football team was also a key selling point in the school’s failed bid to get into Conference USA. UNT made it to the final round of expansion candidates before the league gave its final invitation to UTEP.

C-USA’s decision might have put even more pressure on the Mean Green to keep on winning. The Mean Green won’t be able to just settle into a league with a bunch of Texas rivals and watch its program grow.

UNT is going to have to keep fighting to keep its head above water in the Sun Belt and hope for a second chance to get into a Texas-based league.

The school is hoping to improve its chances for that move by replacing an aging Fouts Field in the next few years. UNT has already kicked off the silent phase of a capital finance campaign to fund the project.

Replacing the field is one of several key moves UNT is trying to make to strengthen its position for the future, including adding a baseball team sometime down the line to match its new softball program.

One of the key selling points for UNT’s football stadium fund drive will be the success of a program that is playing to a half empty stadium

Take away the winning ways of the Mean Green and one has to wonder if the school can continue to build at the rapid rate of the last few years.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/d ... e3641.html

[MrMustang1965]

got the rest of that story?