North Texas Mean Green
North Texas Mean Green | |
---|---|
The Super Pit | |
Mascot | Scrappy |
Nickname | Mean Green |
Colors | Green and white[1] |
Website | www |
North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Texas competed in the Sun Belt Conference and Conference USA before joining the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023. UNT's official school colors are Green and White. North Texas' mascot is an Eagle named Scrappy.
Nickname
The name "Mean Green" was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the
Conference affiliations
NCAA
- Lone Star Conference (1931–1949)
- Gulf Coast Conference (1949–1957)
- Missouri Valley Conference (1957–1975)
- Southland Conference (1982–1996)
- Big West Conference (1996–2000)
- Sun Belt Conference (2000–2013)
- Conference USA (2013–2023)
- American Athletic Conference (2023–present)
Sports sponsored
Men's sports | Women's sports |
---|---|
Basketball | Basketball |
Cross country | Cross country |
Football | Golf |
Golf | Soccer |
Track and field† | Softball |
Swimming and diving | |
Tennis | |
Track and field† | |
Volleyball | |
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor |
A member of American Athletic Conference, North Texas sponsors teams in six men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.
Baseball
In 1984, the university fielded a varsity baseball team until it was discontinued after the 1988 season because of the newly enacted Title IX requiring an equal number of female players to male players.[7] The team competed as a member of the Southland Conference.[8] After starting the program's inaugural season with a 0–19 record, the Eagles won their first game against the Emporia State Hornets, 4–1.[9] The team played their home games at Mack Park in Denton.[9]
The university had planned to revive the program and build an on-campus ballpark. The ballpark would have been home field of both the Mean Green, and Denton Outlaws. The program's revival failed to happen and the Denton Outlaws disbanded after the 2007 season.[10]
The 2014 UNT fiscal budget included $600,000 in start up costs for reviving the Mean Green baseball program. The university plans to construct a new on campus ballpark within the Mean Green Village.[11] Decade long accounting errors by the UNT System have led to the baseball program to be placed on hold indefinitely. The earliest the program could have been revived was in time for the 2016 season, dependent on the facilities' construction beginning in early 2015,[10] but that has yet to happen.
Season-by-season results
Season | Coach | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southland Conference (1984–1988) | |||||||||
1984 | Phil Price | 6–48 | 2–15 | 7th | |||||
1985 | Phil Price | 14–53 | 3–15 | 7th | |||||
1986 | Phil Price | 8–47 | 2–13 | 7th | |||||
1987 | Phil Price | 12–48 | 2–14 | 3rd (West) | |||||
1988 | Phil Price | 14–38 | 8–13 | 8th | |||||
Phil Price: | 54–234 | 17–70 |
Source:[8] | ||||||
Total: | 54–234 | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
Football
Founded in 1913, the Mean Green has won eight
Basketball
Since 1973, the school's teams for men's and women's basketball have played their home games in the
Men's golf
The men's golf team has won four NCAA Championships in 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952.
School spirit
The school's colors are Green and White. The music for the alma mater, "
Facilities
Many of the school's athletic facilities are located at the Mean Green Village, which opened for the 2006–07 athletic season.[16] The athletic village area includes:
- DATCU Stadium (Football)
- UNT Coliseum (Men's, women's basketball
- Mean Green Soccer and Track & Field Stadium (Women's Soccer, Track & Field)
- Waranch Tennis Complex (Women's Tennis)
- Lovelace Stadium (Softball)
- North Texas Volleyball Center (Volleyball)
Alumni
Golf
The era of collegiate prominence in Texas golf began with North Texas winning four consecutive
North Texas students
Football
On September 1, 1956,
Mean Joe Greene, in 1968, was selected as a College Football Consensus All American, the only alumnus in the 110-year history of football at North Texas to win the honor. He went on to the Pittsburgh Steelers where he anchored the Steel Curtain defense that led Pittsburgh to four Super Bowl titles. In 1976, North Texas inducted Greene as a Distinguished Alumnus, an honor bestowed only to twenty-nine others during the then ten-year history of the award. On August 1, 1983, Governor Mark White appointed Greene to the Board of Regents of North Texas, making him the first African American to serve as a regent of any Texas state university.[21] In 1987, Greene was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the only alumnus ever to become a member. In 1988, he was named to the North Texas Hall of Fame.
Championship history
National titles
Golf
- NCAA Division I men's golf: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952
Men's basketball
Conference titles
Football
- Lone Star Conference: 1932, 1935*, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947
- Gulf Coast Conference: 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955
- Sun Belt Conference: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
- Conference USA West Division: 2017
Men's basketball
- Southland Tournament: 1988
- Sun Belt Tournament: 2007, 2010
- Sun Belt West Division: 2009–10
- Conference USA: 2020
- Conference USA Tournament: 2021
- Conference USA West Division: 2022
Women's soccer
- Sun Belt: 2001, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012
- Sun Belt Tournament: 2004, 2005, 2012
- Conference USA: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- Conference USA Tournament: 2015, 2018, 2019
Others
- Men's outdoor track and field (18)
- Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- 1923
- Lone Star Conference
- 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1949
- Missouri Valley Conference
- 1967, 1970, 1973, 1974
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2000, 2002
- Men's cross country (10)
- Lone Star Conference
- 1932, 1934
- Southland Conference
- 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2000
- Conference USA
- 2014, 2018
- Men's golf (30)[22]
- Lone Star Conference
- 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
- Gulf Coast Conference
- 1950, 1956
- Missouri Valley Conference
- 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975
- Southland Conference
- 1984, 1993, 1996
- Big West Conference
- 1999
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2003, 2012, 2013[23]
- Conference USA
- 2015[24]
- Women's indoor track and field (1)
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2005
- Women's outdoor track and field (3)
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2003, 2012, 2013[25]
- Women's cross country (1)
- Southland Conference
- 1989
- Women's tennis (4)
- Southland Conference
- 1990
- Sun Belt Conference
- 2010, 2012, 2013
- Women's golf (1)
- Conference USA
- 2021
- Volleyball (1)
- Southland Conference
- 1995
- Sun Belt Conference West Division
- 2010*, 2012
- Conference USA
- 2017
- Softball (3)
- Conference USA
- 2019*, 2021,
- Conference USA Tournament
- 2022
Football postseason
- Optimist Bowl: 1946
- Salad Bowl: 1948
- Sun Bowl: 1959
- New Orleans Bowl: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2017
- Heart of Dallas Bowl: 2014, 2016
- New Mexico Bowl: 2018
- Myrtle Beach Bowl: 2020
- Frisco Football Classic: 2021
- Frisco Bowl: 2022
References
- ^ "UNT Colors". Retrieved March 24, 2016.
- ^ "Eagles are 19-Point Favorite", Denton Record-Chronicle, Sep 21, 1967, pg 10
- ^ a b Coleman, Rufus. "How Our Green Got Mean". The North Texan. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ Ehsan, Azad (September 5, 2013). "Looking back at a century of Mean Green". North Texas Daily. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ Myerberg, Paul (August 15, 2015). "Which nickname came first at North Texas? 'Mean Joe' Greene or Mean Green?". USA Today. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ Mike Cochran (AP), "Mean Green Same as Nickname", The Abilene Reporter-News, Sep. 1, 1968
- ^ Vito, Brett (March 14, 2012). "Baseball: North Texas exploring addition of baseball program". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ a b "Southland Conference" (PDF). www.southland.org.
- ^ a b The Aerie. Vol. 3. North Texas State University. 1984. pp. 222–224.
- ^ a b "Baseball: UNT's financial issues put baseball on hold | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas". www.dentonrc.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014.
- ^ "Notebook: UNT budget includes $600,000 for baseball | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas". www.dentonrc.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2013.
- ^ "North Texas Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
- ^ "University of North Texas Athletics - Official Athletics Website".
- ^ "NTSU Honors International Composer", The Dallas Morning News, May 9, 1970
- ^ "Pianist Will Play Works of Copland", Denton Record-Chronicle, pg 2, Oct. 6, 1957
- ^ North Texas Mean Green (Map). Archived from the original on August 8, 2012.
{{cite map}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Paul Maranto, Maxwell Leading Off as Eagle Golfers Shoot for Fourth NCAA Title, Denton Record-Chronicle, Section 5, pg. 5
- ^ J.C. King and Frances G. Trimble (married to John F. Trimble; née Dorothy Frances Guerra; born 1945), Golf, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, accessed October 15, 2012
- ^ Denton Record-Chronicle
- ^ Ronald E. Marcello, The Integration of Intercollegiate Athletics in Texas: North Texas State College as a Test Case, 1956, Journal of Sport History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Winter, 1987)
- ^ Biographical Sketches, The North Texan, Volume 33, Number 4, Fall 1983
- ^ "University of North Texas Athletics - Official Athletics Website".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "North Texas Wins C-USA Men's Golf Championship". Archived from the original on September 7, 2015.
- ^ http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=1800&ATCLID=207642361&SPID=572&SPSID=9307 [dead link]