Light the Tower Collective - North Texas Mean Green Collective

Longtime UNT booster Don Lovelace and Rick Villarreal, the university’s former athletic director, helped organize the Light the Tower Collective in July 2022. UNT’s collective has already formed a board, contacted more than 150 people and hopes to execute NIL deals with UNT athletes across a number of different sports. “This is the No. 1 priority to move the program to where it needs to be,” Villarreal told the Denton Record-Chronicle. “We are going to step into a conference where the competition and the recruiting process are tougher. We need to have every tool we can to attract top student-athletes and retain them.” Villarreal will serve as the CEO of the collective, which has registered as a nonprofit organization. The group has 12 directors who include several prominent boosters and former UNT athletes, including Craig Robertson, a UNT linebacker who went on to play nine seasons in the NFL.