Brett Vito

Considering the circumstances, the atmosphere around the North Texas locker room seemed almost out of place late Saturday night.

The Mean Green was disappointed after yet another loss, this time a 35-23 setback to Louisiana-Monroe that dropped UNT to an unsightly 0-7 on the season. And yet there was a sense of optimism that glossed over that malaise.

UNT students threw the Mean Green’s football program a lifeline in the form of a yes vote on a student fee that will be used to help build a much-needed football stadium to replace Fouts Field. For at least one night, the talk was not so much about how UNT would dig itself out an ever-growing hole on the field, but how a new stadium would help pull the program out of it.

“It’s huge for our university and the future of Mean Green football,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “I want to say thank you to our student body for coming out and voting yes on the stadium.”

UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal spoke about the commitment the school’s students showed to the athletic program by setting the groundwork for the fee to go in place when the stadium opens, hopefully in 2011.

Villarreal and UNT officials will now turn their attention to raising the private funds it will take to complete the stadium. Final figures are not back, but UNT will have to come up with another $30-40 million to supplement the funds it will receive from the fee.

Villarreal didn’t seem too concerned with meeting the challenge.

“The students have shown their commitment,” Villarreal said. “We will be able to compete with the programs we are up against that have similar fees.”

Villarreal indicated earlier this year that UNT’s problem has always been that it hasn’t carried through on promises — whether they were to improve the quality of the programs or the facilities its athletes play and practice in.

UNT began to change that over the last few years with the opening of the Mean Green Athletic Center and a few other venues. The school moved closer to fulfilling its biggest promise of all with the addition of a student athletic fee.

Now that the groundwork has been laid, it seems like only a matter of time before those who were skeptical of whether UNT would come through will jump on board with the project.

There is little doubt that everyone with an interest in Mean Green football will want his or her name somewhere on the stadium, whether it’s on a brick or a luxury suite.

When the stadium opens, Villarreal and UNT president Gretchen Bataille will both be remembered for their roles in the process, and rightly so, but there are a few more people who played big roles who deserve some credit as well.

UNT student body president Jeff Kline and fellow student senator Derrick Murray both played key roles in championing a cause that wasn’t all that popular with everyone on a campus where athletics are often an afterthought.

The roles each played were at the forefront of not only Dodge’s mind, but those of his players as well after Saturday night’s game. Seniors Isaac Thomas and Brock Stickler probably know better than anyone just what a new venue could do for the Mean Green’s program.

“Hopefully it will go through,” Stickler said of the final steps needed to build a new stadium. “That way we will get the recruits we need to start winning ball games at North Texas.”

That goal seemed like it was a long way off again after the Mean Green’s latest loss, one that saw UNT fall behind 28-0 in the early going.

However, unlike before, there seemed to be a reason to believe in the future of the program.

UNT had hope when Dodge was hired as the Mean Green’s head coach in December 2006, but that hope had faded in rapid fashion over the last year or so. That happens when a new head coach struggles to the tune of a 2-17 career record.

Another loss was tough for the Mean Green to take. The consensus is UNT is one of the worst teams in the country.

The difference on Saturday was that there was a glimmer of hope about the future, thanks to the work of a handful of UNT officials, Kline, Murray and the school’s students who voted in favor of an athletic fee.

That small hope made all the difference in the world for UNT.

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