University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Come One, Come All To Practice
8/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, August 3, 2:55 p.m.
Wanna come watch North Texas practice on Friday? You can. Wanna come to the practice after that, and the one after that? You can. Contrary to some reports North Texas football practices are open to the general public.
Here’s the deal. The practices that are conducted this fall at the Athletic Center will be open and you can watch the practices, you just can’t go into the gated area. I know there has been a lot of confusion in past years about what’s open, what’s not, can we watch, will we get kicked out, etc.
Anyone is welcome to attend the practices at the AC fields. There are a number of practices scheduled for Fouts Field starting with August 10 which is open. The following day, is also at Fouts and you’re welcome to come. The first scrimmage on August 15 at 8:15 a.m. is at Fouts and you are welcome to come.
The schedule after that is tentative because you never know when you might have to make up a practice or two due to weather. Also keep in mind the further into camp North Texas gets, the more Ball State material will be worked on and practices at Fouts will be TBA when it comes to open or not. Check here for details on that as we will keep you posted on that.
And before the e-mails start rolling in about how nobody else closes practices like this, an informal survey was done last year about practices around the nation. Two schools from every Division I conference were polled about their practice policies regarding media, fans, etc.
Of the 22 schools that were polled, 17 conducted closed practices, no media, no fans, nobody. Some allowed for TV and print to take pictures in the first 15 minutes, the rest gave everyone the boot.
Below are the practice times and locations of the first week of North Texas practices.
NT Fall Camp Schedule (through August 15)
Friday, August 7, 3:30 p.m. , AC
Saturday, August 8, 3:30 p.m., AC
Sunday- August 9, Off
Monday- August 10, 7:10 p.m., Fouts Field
Tuesday- August 11, 7:10 p.m., Fouts Field
Wednesday, August 12, 3:30 p.m., AC
Thursday, August 13, 3:30 p.m., AC
Friday, August 14, 8:15 a.m., 4:00 p.m., AC
Saturday, August 15, 8:15 a.m., Fouts Field
