Mean Green

I'm going Steve in the study with a wrench.

Seriously, though, this is a tough break for UNT to see Gretchen Bataille step down in such an odd fashion.

I spoke with Rick Villarreal for a story about Bataille's impact on the athletic department that will run in the next couple of days. He left no doubt. Bataille was there for the UNT athletic department and played a key role in helping the school's efforts to build a new football stadium come to fruition.

The stadium drive was just one of the milestones UNT reached during the Bataille era. UNT also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in men's hoops and enjoyed some success in other sports. The UNT tennis team posted its first win over a ranked opponent just a couple of days ago.

UNT had been building toward those goals for years, but it got there under Bataille, which says something.

One of the biggest concerns among UNT fans when Bataille came on was that the pro-athletics atmosphere that was established under Norval Pohl would soon be gone.

That wasn't the case.

Bataille was at games just like Pohl was, helping support an athletic program she always said was important to the university.

Villarreal said she helped him move the entire athletic program forward.

That's a contribution worth noting as Bataille departs stage left.

There were a couple of good questions either posted on the blog or sent my way in e-mail on UNT basketball.

Here goes.

First off, when I counted up the number of scholarships UNT had left for this class, I was going under two assumptions. The first is that Dominique Johnson will be granted a redshirt by the NCAA.

You never want to say anything is a done deal with the NCAA, but I don't see anyway this doesn't go UNT's way. Johnson had a shoulder injury at the beginning of the year and then broke his ankle against Rice.

I am almost certain the rule is players can't play more than 25 percent of a team's games to be eligible. Johnson is well under that total.

UNT's coaches have been operating under the assumption all season that Johnson will be back next year.

Which brings us to our final point.

When I counted up players on scholarship yesterday, I didn't count Cam Spencer, who transferred to UNT from SMU and joined the team as a walkon. UNT has since put him on scholarship.

UNT is one and done in recruiting for next season.

With that being the case. Alonzo Edwards is an even better get for UNT because he fills the one hole the team had in its lineup at power forward with Eric Tramiel set to graduate. UNT has Jacob Holmen in line for that spot, but with a two-year window of opportunity with a loaded lineup with Josh White and Tristan Thompson and Shannon Shorter set to come back, it makes a lot of sense for UNT to pick up an immediate impact player.

UNT has a real shot at the NCAA Tournament this year and next.

It only makes sense to load up and go for it in the final year of that window.