University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Identity Breeds Championships
8/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Eric Capper, August 16, 2009, 7:48 a.m.
I understand it is still very early in the season, but I would like to pose a question to the Mean Green faithful. What will be the identity of the 2009 football team? It is my belief that a team has to have an identity to be a championship caliber team and this is a team in search of that identity. When you look back over the history of the program, the great teams had an identity. Conversely, it is difficult to describe the teams that were not so successful with a single word.
Here is the chicken or the egg question. Does the success breed the identity or could it be that the success is a product of a team realizing and exploiting its own uniqueness. Let's look at some of the best teams in Mean Green history. The one-loss 1967 team that won the Missouri Valley Conference championship was probably the best defensive team in school history. Players like Joe Greene, Charles Beatty , Johnny Mata and Bob Tucker held opponents to just 15.3 points and 202 yards of total offense per game. Identity: Dominating. How about the 1994 team that won a Southland Conference championship behind the arm of Mitch Maher, who threw for a school record 3,103 yards and 26 touchdowns. Identity: Explosive. The 2001 team that started the season 0-5 before defeating a 5-0 Middle Tennessee team; spurring a stretch of five straight wins, a conference championship and a New Orleans Bowl appearance. Identity: Resilient.
Does a team have to have an identity to be successful? Not necessarily. I look back to the 2003 and 2004 championship teams and while both were loaded with great players, I can't think of a single word that describes the personality of those teams.
The problem is, over the past four years, there has been no identity and little success. Will success automatically come if we simply put a label on this team? Probably not. I do, however, believe there is some truth to self-fulfilling prophecies. It is incumbent upon the players on this team to decide that what they read and hear from football prognosticators will not be true this year. THEY have to decide what their identity will be and to make it happen. It's not as easy as a coach stamping a team with a cliché description.
The identity has to fit the individuals on the team and it requires a consistent commitment from each player. The players have to believe that the identity is an accurate resemblance of their personalities in order to buy in. Joe Greene believed he was dominant. Mitch Maher trusted his explosive ability. Brad Kassell embraced his resilient qualities.
North Texas football is suffering an identity crisis and has been for more than a few years. With every year it is getting harder to recall the time when the Mean Green was thought of the preeminent team in the Sun Belt Conference and Ron Maestri was referring to the New Orleans Bowl as the North Texas Bowl.
An identity is what this team needs. It needs its own calling card in the annals of North Texas history. The team has to come together to decide how it wants to be remembered. I watch practice every day and I see a group of 18-22 year old men who are willing to come together to end the losing. What will their identity be? I have no idea, but I hope we are seeing the genesis of its development. Their identity can resolve itself, but it can't be given, it has to be earned.
