Houston businessman and University of North Texas athletic booster Jim McIngvale criticized the school’s administration for firing Darrell Dickey and requested UNT name its practice field after the outgoing head football coach on Sunday.

UNT has plans to name the field after McIngvale, who donated $1 million toward construction of the Mean Green Athletic Center in 2004.

McIngvale made his request in a full-page advertisement addressed to UNT President Gretchen Bataille, Board of Regents chairman Bobby Ray, chancellor Lee Jackson and athletic director Rick Villarreal in Sunday’s edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The ad describes the reasons McIngvale believes Dickey was unjustly fired and asks that his $1 million donation be redirected to UNT’s One O’clock Lab Band if his request is not honored.

“I just think both sides of the story need to be told,” said McIngvale, a former UNT linebacker who owns Gallery Furniture in Houston. “People need to know that you need to have big money to get big wins. You don’t go to a gun fight with a knife.”

McIngvale paid nearly $5,000 for the ad.

Dickey was fired on Wednesday with three games left in the ninth season of his tenure at UNT that included several highs and lows. UNT won the Sun Belt Conference title and played in the New Orleans Bowl in four straight seasons from 2001 to 2004, produced a pair of national rushing champions in 2003 and 2004 in Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas, respectively, and posted a 26-game winning streak in Sun Belt games.

UNT has struggled to build on that success the last two seasons. The Mean Green went 2-9 last season and are 3-7 this year following a win over the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Saturday.

Dickey is 42-62 overall in his tenure at UNT with 34 of his wins coming in conference play.

The Mean Green have faced nine nationally ranked teams since Dickey took over in 1998 and have not played more than five home games in a season during his tenure. Dickey has described the Mean Green’s circumstances as some of the most difficult in the country.

“I want to emphasize that if UNT wants to have a better athletic program, then the administration needs to step up and produce,” McIngvale said. “They need to go out there and do a better job of raising money.”

UNT’s athletic department raised $12.3 million in the five years after Villarreal took over the department in spring 2001, according to figures provided by the university.

Dickey has declined to comment on the timing or nature of his firing so he can focus on helping his team finish the season on a positive note, but said he appreciated McIngvale’s comments.

“A year ago, Mr. McIngvale made a very generous $1 million investment because he believed in what we are doing,” Dickey said. “He is entitled to his opinion. It’s nice to hear that people have some good things to say.”

UNT has received some criticism for dismissing Dickey just weeks after he had a heart attack on Oct. 12. Dickey had a stent placed in his heart and missed the Mean Green’s loss at Arkansas State University to focus on his recovery.

Dickey returned to the sidelines for the Mean Green’s loss to Troy University on Oct. 28 and has resumed coaching full time.

McIngvale said he has supported the Mean Green for the last several years because of his friendship with Dickey. In 2004, McIngvale paid for the entire UNT team to travel to Bay City for the funeral of quarterback Andrew Smith, who died in a car accident days before the beginning of fall practice.

McIngvale praised the way Dickey handled the situation.

Villarreal declined multiple requests for comment, but Bataille said she has no problem with renaming the Mean Green’s practice field after Dickey.

“We appreciate the funding Mr. McIngvale has provided,” Bataille said. “Donors can ask to name facilities after anyone. If he wants to name it after coach Dickey, that’s fine.”

UNT Regent Burle Pettit said he was disappointed McIngvale might discontinue his support of the athletic program but that the decision was the right one for the future of the program.

“McIngvale’s contributions have always been appreciated, but we can’t make decisions based on what boosters want,” Pettit said. “You have to do what you think is best and hope that people agree. We would miss his support, but he has his reasons.”

Multiple UNT fans said they appreciated all that Dickey has done for the university, but said they thought a coaching change was necessary.

“Coach Dickey is an important part of the history of North Texas football,” said Jeff Roeling, a 1986 UNT graduate and athletic department booster. “I would go to a party to celebrate his career today, but we needed a change to excite fans and move the program forward.”

A few UNT boosters said they believe the university can make up for the loss of McIngvale as a donor by bringing back boosters who had stopped supporting the program or attracting new donors by fostering enthusiasm through its next football coach.

“I don’t have any problem with it at all,” UNT booster Bob Furay said. “I wish coach Dickey well, but the program peaked in 2002 when we beat Cincinnati in the New Orleans Bowl. Rick [Villarreal] knows where we want to go and how to get there. We have to aim higher than the Sun Belt Conference if we want to grow the program. I feel good for the first time in a long time about UNT football.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.