Mean Green Blog

Shanice Stephens had a chance to make a good first impression during her introductory press conference on Wednesday, when she was officially named the new women's basketball coach at North Texas.

She made the most of the opportunity.

Stephens was engaging, enthusiastic and seemed to connect with the fans and officials in attendance. She seemed like the kind of person people will get behind in Denton and believe in when it comes to high school coaches and players.

In short, Stephens seemed like the kind of person UNT needs to build its basketball program into a power.

There will be a story in tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle about Stephens and the first impression she made after being introduced.

On the men's hoops front, Paris Junior College forward Eric Tramiel turned in his letter of intent today, which allowed head coach Johnny Jones to talk about his latest recruit for the first time. There will be a story on Tramiel in tomorrow's paper with exactly what Jones had to say, but in short, UNT's head coach was thrilled to land the 6-7 power forward.

I had been using 6-6 as Tramiel’s height, but UNT listed him as 6-7 on signing day.

Jones said Tramiel was just what UNT needed to help replace Quincy Williams at the power forward spot. Quincy was listed at 6-7 and Jones said the difference between a player who is 6-6 and 6-8 isn't all that great. The more important factor is strength and knowledge of how to play around the basket. Jones believes Tramiel has both. He called Tramiel a huge get for the Mean Green.

Arkansas-Fort Smith will have its signing day festivities today, so Jones will be free to talk about Dominique Johnson sometime Thursday or Friday. Check back on the blog and in the paper to see Jones' thoughts on Johnson.

One final note of the night worth mentioning is the UNT softball team beat TWU today to set a record for wins in a season at 23. UNT had won 22 games in a season three times previously. At 23-26, UNT still has a chance to make a run at the .500 mark over the last few weeks of the season, which would be a nice step for a program that has struggled throughout its existence.

Post your thoughts on the blog. What were your impressions of UNT's new women's basketball coach?