Fouts Field Finale

With the Mean Green looking forward to a brand new stadium next year, nearly six decades of football at Fouts Field will culminate in the six home games of 2010 — from the home opener against Rice Sept. 11 to the final home game against Kansas State Nov. 27.

Each decade of football at Fouts Field, starting with the 2000s and ending with the 1950s, will be recognized this season with game tickets commemorating a player or coach of each era, videos of “Great Moments in Mean Green History” at each home game, and on-the-field recognitions. Look for special Fouts Field Finale merchandise, and if you’re a former player, don’t forget to stop by the North Texas Lettermen’s Hospitality tents during tailgating and at the stadium.

To order tickets for this historic Fouts Field Finale season, visit Mean Green Sports.

Postseason play

The 2009-10 season was a banner year for Mean Green athletics. UNT brought home two Sun Belt team championships and advanced to NCAA postseason play in four sports. The men’s basketball team set a school record with 24 wins and snagged its second Sun Belt Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth in the last four seasons. Two golfers were selected to play in the NCAA Golf Regional, making the Mean Green the only team in the nation with two true freshman individual players in an NCAA regional. The women’s tennis team won its first Sun Belt championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The team also was nationally ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for the first time in the program’s history. Fifteen members of the track and field team qualified for the NCAA Championship preliminary rounds, and four moved on in two events to the outdoor championships.

Academic excellence

Mean Green student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom. UNT boasts 34 student-athletes with a 3.5 cumulative GPA or better — including 16 with a 3.8 or higher — and 64 Sun Belt Commissioner’s List honorees in 2010.

Five of UNT’s 16 teams scored a perfect 1,000 in the NCAA’s latest APR report, which measures a school’s team-by-team academic progress, and all 16 were above the standard score of 925. The volleyball squad led all Mean Green teams and placed inside the 80th percentile nationally.

Hall of Fame inductees

Four new members will be inducted into the UNT Athletics Hall of Fame this Homecoming: Patrick Cobbs (’05), the all-time leading rusher in school history with 4,050 career yards; Kevin Galbreath, who helped lead Mean Green football to its first bowl victory since 1946 in the 2002 New Orleans Bowl and was named the New Orleans Bowl MVP; Mike Hagler (’57, ’60 M.Ed.), one of the most versatile track athletes in the 1954-55 season as a member of the 880-yard relay team, the mile relay team and the sprint medley relay team; and Ben Moturi (’81, ’85 M.S.), the 1980 NCAA Regional Champion in cross-country, who holds the school record in the 1,500-meter run.

Win new stadium club seats

You could be the lucky Mean Green fan to win a pair of luxurious chair-back stadium seats with prime sight lines for the entire 2011 football season in the new stadium — a nearly $7,000 value — if you hold the winning ticket in the Best Seat in the House Raffle sponsored by the Mean Green Club.

Tickets are $50 each, with proceeds going to a student-athlete scholarship fund in the UNT Foundation. The drawing will take place during halftime at this year’s Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 16. You do not need to be present to win. Purchase tickets by contacting Jon Burkett at 940-369-8916 or jonathan.burkett@unt.edu.