NT Football to Play Texas A&M

Texas A&M vs. North Texas (NTSU at the time) in 1986

The North Texas football team is wrapping up a deal to play at Texas A&M sometime in the 2020 season.

When I first read this on Vito's blog I thought it was a pretty big deal. To face A&M -- who has been a surging team since Kevin Sumlin stepped onto campus -- and a school that a lot of the North Texas students have friends that attend is pretty cool.

Remember the Mean Green played at Texas this past season for the first time since 2006. That was a game that had a whole lot of hope with the Longhorns on a slide, a new head coach in Charlie Strong, and North Texas coming off its best season in a decade.

Of course -- during that game we learned the offensive line couldn't give Josh Greer two seconds to find a receiver, and Texas is still Texas.

The Mean Green has played A&M seven times -- five of which were when both teams played in Division I-A. North Texas has lost every time, with the closest game being the latest one -- a 28-9 loss at Kyle Field.

A&M vs. NTSU in 1986

The squads first went toe-to-toe in the 1946 opener -- A&M 47, NT 0.

This game won't be played until 2020, so for the current students and me it's really not that exciting. I mean, who knows where the heck I'll be in five years? Sure, it would be great to go to Kyle Field for this one, but it is difficult to get hyped for a game five years away.

The college kids who will be playing in this game just passed the eighth grade STAAR test.

So, with that in mind, let's look at some of the future North Texas schedules.

2016 

vs. SMU, @ Florida, @ Army, vs. Liberty

Once again the tradition of playing a cupcake continues with Liberty (has anyone even heard of this school?). Apparently, Liberty is a school in Virginia. Former Kansas coach Turner Gill is the head coach, their nickname is the Flames, and they have a pretty bad ass stadium, too. They've been dominating the Big South over the past seven or eight years and are trying to reach Division I football status. (And, to be fair, Liberty will play at Baylor in 2017).

Liberty's Williams Field holds more than 19,000

The North Texas-SMU "rivalry" series continues with year three, and it'll be the first time for new Pony coach Chad Morris to come up to Denton.

But, follow up that game up with a trip to Florida the next week. It's another homecoming for Coach Dan McCarney of sorts (after playing at Iowa in 2015). Mac helped the Gators win a national championship by coaching the defensive line. Almost everywhere I have seen him, he is wearing his title ring from Florida. It's also one of the last places Mac could see with both eyes. Florida primes up for the Mean Green with a home date against UMass.

A six-year set against Army also kicks off in 2016 -- and this game will be in mid-October at West Point.

2017

@ SMU, @ Iowa, vs. Army, vs. Lamar

Iowa's Kinnick Stadium

Much of the same formula in 2017 -- with the two long-term series against SMU and Army continuing, a hopeful powderpuff opponent in Lamar and another homecoming trip to Iowa for McCarney -- seriously, is this the Coach Mac farewell tour? -- that's assuming he's still in Denton in two seasons. Iowa will be at rival Iowa State the week prior to taking on the Mean Green. Also, for the second year in-a-row Army is scheduled to play an FCS school the week before facing North Texas.

2018

vs. SMU, @ Army, vs. Incarnate Word, @ Arkansas

Army's Michie Stadium

Are you beginning to notice a pattern, yet? This could be a milestone year in the way that this will be the fifth year of the SMU series, a good gauge of how one class of players has gone through four games. The Mustangs are set to the Mean Green's opener for the second straight year -- and SMU will have a busy September with games at Michigan and vs. TCU also in the month. Speaking of Michigan, Arkansas will open the season in Wolverine country.

2019

@ SMU, vs. Army, vs. Abilene Christian

This is the closest opening North Texas has to its non-conference schedule (as long as another program doesn't bail out of C-USA), but you better believe it will be filled with a road game to a Power 5 conference opponent. 

2020

vs. SMU, @ Army, @ Texas A&M

The projected look of Kyle Field after renovations

Keep in mind the match versus the Aggies isn't set in stone, and something could happen that blows it all up. But for now, we're looking at the next available home non-con game in 2020. That is -- as long as North Texas doesn't play five home games like they will this season. 

Is Something Wrong in Denton?

Both quarterback Dajon Williams and outfielder Taylor Schoblocher, arguably the two best athletes at North Texas, have left their respective teams a few days apart. 

Summer is usually quiet around the Mean Green sports front. Once the softball season is over, there really isn't much going on until fall football practice starts up. But after the bombshell dropped of Taylor Schoblocher leaving, another, somewhat smaller explosive, unloaded on campus when it was revealed Dajon Williams is exiting North Texas.

I went in-depth on Scho's departure, but I figured instead of doing the same with Dajon I would look at both of their exits together.

Here's the thing. There is nothing wrong in Denton. There is nothing that is just repelling great athletes away from North Texas. These are just two cases -- unrelated and separate -- that hinge on things that aren't mutually exclusive to North Texas.

Scho left because of differences with the coaching staff -- mainly with hitting coach Natalie Kozlowski. Trust me, head-butting between players and coaches is not something that only happens at North Texas.

Head softball coach Tracey Kee has a no-nonsense approach. And if a player isn't giving maximum effort at all times, then her talent level doesn't really matter. Kee is an equal opportunity bencher. She benched Scho against Oklahoma State, and she's done it to fringe players, too.

With Dajon -- the situation is a bit muddier. A lot of people are trying to throw out theories about why Dajon is gone now. And did he get dismissed from the team or did he leave?

QB Dajon Williams

I'm not going to share what I've heard, but I think it's safe to say Dajon was always going to be a story of 'What If'?

What if he didn't have to be concerned with taking care and raising his young daughter? What if he could have spent more time committed to Quarterback 101? What if he and the coaches got along a bit better? What if he didn't have four turnovers against UAB?

During spring practice Dajon lost the starting job (Did he ever have it coming out of the regular season?) to senior Andrew McNulty, and even dropped behind Josh Greer.

Senior QB Andrew McNulty

And with DaMarcus Smith becoming eligible for summer workouts it only means more competition on a team that has about 17 quarterbacks on the roster.

Yes -- Dajon had a great game against a terribly equipped Nicholls defense that had three different head coaches in the span of six days leading up to gameday. But, he also had a so-so game against Indiana and a really poor one at UAB that led to him getting the hook.

Dajon leaving North Texas isn't really all that surprising. I remember towards the end of the last season, people around the football team were talking about how they expected either Dajon or Greer -- or maybe both -- to not be around during spring practice.

Well, both were around, but one didn't last long after.

There's nothing wrong in Denton. The sky isn't falling just because two great athletes won't be suiting up in the green and white anymore. Will the teams suffer? Yeah, probably, but in the long-run this will be just another speed bump on the way to something better. Hopefully.

Making Sense of Schoblocher's Exit

On Wednesday night, it was tweeted out that North Texas outfielder and super slugger Taylor Schoblocher is leaving the Mean Green softball team. This is really surprising news, and has a whole lot of consequences.

The biggest question -- Why? In Brett Vito's article, Scho says a "hostile environment" was created, specifically between her and coach Koz -- the new hitting coach.

That's all fine. It's not uncommon for players and coaches to butt heads. About 90% of the time players commit to a college because of the coaching staff. When those coaches leave, the players usually want to leave the school, as well. 

But what makes this situation really fascinating is that Scho is staying at UNT -- just giving up softball. Let's take a look at everything she's leaving behind:

• All-Region player after 2015 season
• Named season's first C-USA Player of the Week
• Then a day later, named National Player of the Week
• Breaking several North Texas single-season records

Head coach Tracey Kee has probably been the coolest coach I've ever had to deal with at North Texas, and we have a good working relationship. With that said, it's hard to image a situation so foul that your best hitter would feel it's better to leave the sport altogether. 

Coach Kee and coach Koz have worked together for a long time -- starting at East Carolina. They put together a successful program, but a couple of bad years and then complaints of verbal abuse, among other things, forced them out. 

Kee landed at North Texas a year later; Koz joined her the year after. Could this just same song, different verse in Denton? I don't know.  

I've never brought up the ECU incident with anyone in the softball department. The only conversation I've had was with an NT media relations worker -- who downplayed the situation to me, saying every college coach has to be a hardass to be successful.

Sure, Scho didn't always give the most amount of effort on the defensive side -- but she was basically the biggest thing coming back for the team. The Green Guys discussed what the softball team had coming back (16:30 mark). 

What could have happened to make a player quit the sport she's most likely been playing since six or seven years old? Maybe Scho really was through the game. Maybe she's burned out after years of putting an amazing out of time and effort into something. Maybe she just wants to start over. 

But with a player as talented as Scho is -- she could have transferred to a whole lot of other teams and been a huge part in a championship run (softball is a sport where transfers don't have to sit out a season). 

Instead, Scho will spend her senior year doing what everyone else her age does -- freak out about what to do after graduation. 

Call to the Bullpen

A while back I mentioned I got an unexpected opportunity to work on a North Texas softball T.V broadcast.

I became the timeout coordinator for the Fox Sports broadcast of NT vs. UTEP on Saturday, May 2. Here's the story behind that.

Just chillin' in the background

I worked as a sideline reporter with the up-start American Sports Network for three Mean Green football games this past season. It was a pretty awesome experience.

Anyways the producer who ran those games mainly works for Fox Sports doing New Orleans Pelicans games and other sports between the end of their season and college football starting

I was hanging around the NT athletic center and I heard that this same guy would be producing the softball game vs UTEP.

So, I reached out to him and asked if I could just hang out in the production truck during the game. I've never been in a control room or truck during a live broadcast and I thought it would be a pretty cool thing to see. Plus -- if anything I could just keep the relationship going and say hi to Dave Barnett -- who was the play-by-play, and also named the new voice of North Texas athletics.

Well, around 30 minutes before first pitch someone alerted the producer and director that the stats guy hasn't shown up. So, the timeout coordinator -- Dave Barnett's son -- was called up to do stats and I became the T.O.C (aka "redhat"). 

It's a super easy job where you basically stand on the field, and listen to the producer for the go-ahead to make sure the teams don't start playing until the TV crew is ready.

 It provided a great view of the game, and a nice line on the résumé. I saw the replay of the game around midnight the same day and was on the look out for some pictures I was in.

The pic at the top of the page is one, and here are a two more:

I'm in gray, UNT's Coach Koz in green

And caught taking a picture on my phone...

Hopefully I'll get to have another opportunity to work with Fox Sports.

Covering the Denton Storms

A tree fell through a backyard and onto a parked car, blocking Oakwood Drive in Denton

It was only the second time I had heard the Denton tornado sirens firing off for real. I was calling my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day when she, coincidentally, asked me if I could hear the sirens from my apartment. 

I told her yeah, in fact, they're blaring right now. I feel like I've kind of gotten used to a chance for heavy storms in the D-FW area. Severe thunderstorm watches can become the norm, and it's not really something that causes concern -- especially when it happens three or four days in a row like the current stretch. 

Studio 6 sign on Ft. Worth Dr. in Denton

Well, the batch of storms on Sunday was pretty gnarly. I was watching Pete Delkus, and remember barely being able to see anything outside because the rain was so heavy. The window became foggy -- the same thing that happened the first time I heard the sirens go off.

After it looked like everything was clear I decided the best thing would be to try to interview people who were in the storms.

It was pretty cool driving around after the storm, trying to find damage and talking to people about their experiences.

The first stop was on Fort Worth Drive in Denton where a couple of buildings had some damage, and trees in the median had been cut in half.

Roof damage to Layalina's Mediterranean Grill on Ft. Worth Dr.

I got some good audio from the owner of the Layalina restaurant, but the best was yet to come.

When I pulled up there were already three or four other people taking pictures, one TV cameraman, and some HAM radio operators.

I heard a Denton Record-Chronicle photographer mention that Denia Park was the hardest hit area so I decided to head that way.


There were a whole lot of knocked over trees and a leaning telephone pole or two.

Here are two pictures of the damage south of McCormick and I-35E:

I don't know if storm chasing would be in my future, but it was a rush to cover the aftermath and see the damage first-hand. Also, some of the people I talked to were very interesting and had colorful comments -- which made for great radio on KNTU news the next day.

Jeter's Death Ruled a Suicide

This morning the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office released its report on the death of North Texas women's basketball player Eboniey Jeter.

According to the ME's Office, Jeter died of suicide by hanging. As I've posted about earlier, her body was found in her Mozart Square dorm room Tuesday morning.

From the first time I read about this story I had not even considered suicide. I thought maybe it was a bad heart -- a condition that seems to take many young athletes.

Her age -- 21 years old -- is another thing that makes it so hard to understand. Jeter isn't the first athlete I've covered to pass away, but that doesn't ease anything.

A football player from my high school -- Moses Rhymers -- was killed in a car crash on the last day of my first semester in college. He was a safety and was in his second season at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

I remember that day so vividly because it was maybe the first time someone my age that I've really known died. I had a physics final that morning, and when I came back I saw the news about Moses on Twitter. Most people remember that day as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. Later that night I helped broadcast the Denton Guyer-Tyler John Tyler stat semi-final football game.

I wonder how bad things had gotten for Jeter, that this seemed like a good or the best option. Surely, we don't and can't know everything, but could something have been done? Could something have helped? Could something have made a difference?

This is such a difficult time for the Mean Green women's basketball program to lose someone they spent so much time with and were so close to. It's also hard to feel how difficult it is for Jalie Mitchell, who's trying to start her first ever month as a head coach.

It's a tough situation all around.

Mean Green Softball Bounced from C-USA Tourney

Picture by SID Taylor Brasher (via @MeanGreenSB)

The North Texas softball team's season is over after falling to second seed Florida Atlantic 5-0 in the first round of the Conference USA tournament Thursday night.

The biggest thing in this match-up were the multiple lightning delays in the Miami area. The first delay hit during the top of the third inning and lasted 30 minutes. Just a few minutes after getting back to play, more lightning stopped the action for about two hours. Here's the radar around the start and early portions of the game:

FAU pitcher Kylee Hanson

The Mean Green knew it had a challenge to go up against Owls ace hurler Kylee Hanson. She threw a 1-hitter and now has a 17-3 record this season.

Coach Tracey Kee told me on Monday she hadn't decided who would start against Florida Atlantic, but like I suspected freshman Monique Garcia got the nod. It's a logical strategy because transfer Stacey Underwood has really struggled in her past couple of outings -- lasting only one inning in Game 1 and an inning and two-thirds in Game 2 against UTEP --- and sophomore Kenzie Grimes doesn't usually start and is best at coming into tough relief situations.

Garcia has toed in the rubber in a lot of big-time situations this season, including the season opener, and in road games at #5 Oklahoma, #23 Texas A&M, and #25 Tulsa.

She quickly retired the first two Owl batters before giving up a solo home run.

Hanson only need to toss nine pitches in the first inning to get three outs. In the second frame, FAU put together some timely hitting by smacking back-to-back singles with two outs to plate another run and led 2-0.

Kenzie Grimes joined us on The Green Guys on Apr. 27

A sacrifice fly after the initial weather delay made the score FAU 3-0, Coach Kee decided to go to the bullpen and bring in Grimes with two runners on. A walk later, Grimes gave up a bases loaded single to aide the Owl cause with another run.

The second, longer lightning delay arrived and the teams didn't get back onto the field for another hour and 50 minutes. However, Grimes somehow stuck with it and got out of the jam with three pitches.

The North Texas batters were Antarctic cold for the majority of the game. Mean Green left fielder Taylor Schoblocher punched the only hit of the game, ending the perfect game bid by Hanson two outs shy of completion. But, #SCHOtime's double was not backed up by anyone else.

I'd like to figure the weather stoppages had some affect, but it appears the game went the same before and after the lightning. Hanson continued her attacking in the circle, and FAU consistently chipped away at the North Texas pitching.

The Mean Green ends the 2015 season with 19-31 record -- much different than the program-record 31-22 mark last season.

I think this just shows how important pitching is in softball. The best North Texas pitcher in history -- Ashley Kirk -- accounted for 22 of those 31 wins a year ago. This season, the best record by a Mean Green thrower was Underwood's 8-7 mark with a 3.99 ERA.

What do you think sums up the NT softball season? Let me know in the comments below.

And BTW, here is the link to Kenzie Grimes' appearance on The Green Guys.