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No more Sun Belt. We left the Belt behind for a reason. Let's not turn cUSA into the new reincarnated SBC. It was a mistake to include FAU, FIU, MTSU, & WKY, let's not compound that mistake. Texas State I can take. I'm not happy about adding one more sub-par school (in terms of perception) but at least they're a Texas school & they are a growing university.

Not sure if this has already been posted, but the spring prospectus is now available. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ntex/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/prospectus/prospectus.pdf

Funny stuff, Tony Johnson does a pretty good Mac impression.

ULL should have been added long before several of the other Belt teams that we brought along with us. They are top 5 nationally in baseball and somehow have managed to hold on to a great coach in football---all while still keeping that unbelievable tailgating attendance going and bringing 50k to the New Orleans bowl. In my opinion, they get shafted more than any other school outside of UAB by in-state politics.

It was definitely not a mistake to include MT, and I don't think WKY is a bad addition either.

The NCAA is nothing but the P5's whore and nothing demonstrates that like Pedo St. Part of me wishes the semi-pro teams would just get the F out of college football.

Hookers and booze?

With Tulane leaving, I still think Southern Louisiana is worth having a presence. When I say footprint, in terms of our league's affiliation, I think about it in terms of recruiting and travel for the schools and fans. I agree with you completely on the TV part, though. ULL would be a great conference mate again.

Do you really want our rivalries to be with Sun Belt teams? I would rather have Rice, Southern Miss, or even UTSA as rivals. Rivals are, in one sense, equals. Ark State & ULL are not our equals. Damn. That sounded arrogant.

I would defintiely add ULL, without thinking about it--and Arkansas State, too. But I wouldn't add Texas State, since they dont provide any new footprint for the conference, since UTSA is already there. ULL and Arkansas State would be nice adds to the league, in my opinion. I have no interest in playing anyone in the east, at all, except for MUTS or Marshall. If you have 16 teams in league, you get 7 games in your division, all of which are driveable, then add in two games in the other division and 3 OOC games. It would be a pretty good deal for us to have games against Arky State, Southern Miss, La Tech, ULL, Rice, UTSA, and UTEP every year, with a sprinkling of just two east teams, say MUTS and F_U, each year. Costs go down, attendance goes up, and you can build rivalries easier.

1. Zero New Mexico State is in the WAC/Sun Belt. I think you meant New Mexico. And Nicholls St isn't all lose-lose. It's a chance for another home win at Apogee, which is always preferable to a road game. It's also a chance for Mac to work out any kinks from the first three games, and first conference game, before taking a week off. Many fans love to watch the young guys get in there... an FCS school or lower FBS (a la Idaho last year) allows us to see some of our future Mean Green stars.

Alright, so perception is that the MAC and MWC is better than CUSA. Those are conferences that we can pass up over a span of a handful of years. Very doable.

It almost seems like it's intentionally in there - like this story is meant to make you feel both inclusive and a jerk for no real reason. If you fall on the tolerant side, you walk away feeling good, but ready to...yell at an Anglican? If you're on the non-tolerant side, you walk away wondering why this is being celebrated...more than usual. If you're SE-66, you wait 2 days, then just say something pointless. See, there's really something here for everyone.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/28/report-conference-usa-buys-bigger-slice-of-bahamas-bowl-pie/ Thoughts?

Harper is ready for football and soccer... She loves her Mean Green towel. It is like her blanky.

Oh...they forgot to mention, that was the other thing the girlfriend/wife is required to do.

Lol! Ya, me too.

Actually, UNT will have three crossover games in 2014....In my humble opinion, C-USA should have been content with 12 teams. Replace Tulane, Tulsa, and East Carolina with WKU, then call it a day. That gives us two 6-team divisions, allowing for 5 division, plus three crossover games per year. The three crossover games allows us to play each team out East twice over a four year period.

Although he was an utter failure as a college HC, don't think Dodge couldn't have had his pick of jobs in the high school ranks. Those Southlake years still carry a lot of cache. I've heard one of the reasons he took the Marble Falls gig was for the family to be close to Westlake and his in-laws. Health issues with the FIL prompted the family to be closer. The move to Westlake has long been viewed as an eventuality Westlake's stadium is named after his FIL.

ULL and Arky State would be the best additions. ASU has shown the ability to recruit and they have decent facilities. ULL and their bowl game attendance speak for itself. I would not want Texas state in there because they are another team that is new to the fbs level. ULL is something that needs to happen. arky state would just be a nice bonus.

I agree, if we have to add, ULL is a great add. I just don't see ASU as being as good. They have had some success, but unless we are looking to make the conference more regionally palatable for MT, they don't bring what we need. TSU is a better fit for that.

I don't know but if grades were to be a real concern then why did he attend the Nike camp? Johnson is listed on Rivals, Scout and 247 but none give him a grade/rating. Scout is the only one that lists his interest and they list only two...Texas Tech and Florida. Maybe he shot himself in the foot by not trying to sell himself. He looks like the real deal and I hope that we offer him quickly. If grades are the problem we simply won't accept his commitment until he has clearinghouse approval.

lol

I think the MAC is overrated mostly because it is centered around East Coast and Midwest media outlets, as opposed to the SBCUSA. We can and should be better than the MAC over time. I don't think we will be that far from the AAC or the MWC, either, in our best years, but they have some strong teams year in and year out. The worst CUSA years will look like the SBC and MAC are better leagues, though.

If you are going to argue the need to add footprint, then you have to throw out ULL as they don't add footprint either. I hate the idea of needing to add footprint. I understand the concept that it would theoretically add potential TV money, but if we are honest with ourselves, it will not do much to make us more money. Our TV contract isn't going to be significantly improved by adding ASU to get out of the current footprint. This conference should be looking to reduce travel expense for teams to reduce costs and fans to increase attendance. This is a better revenue fix than to attempt a TV play. Given that, I think Harry is spot on with his picks, if the conference is to expand. Personally, I don't think it is needed at this point. No reason to split the pot further. As far as the way that the conference has divided the teams, if you think that UAB is going to move to the West division, why wouldn't you go ahead and make the move now? They can go ahead and begin developing any rivalries with the new divisional opponents. Seems to be an odd decision to me.

Our section could be called the green zone!

I understand MT has one of the nation's top programs in long-haul trucking. Fine university.

Looking at the depth chart it seems to be a few battles that may change in the Fall, or within the first few games. When there is an "or" by a player's name, I assume there will still be competition at that spot. The obvious one is McNulty or Greer. Looks like Erick Evans is solid at #2 for now, but the #3 is pegram or Rollins. Wr I found interesting. I thought kidsy had his position on lock, but he is listed as the #1 or Carl Caldwell. Caldwell had a nice spring game. LT has Antonio Johnson starting or Ryan renfro. I would assume at minimum, renfro will be in a rotation and get some valuable experience for the 2015 season when he can start. Another surprise was #2 DT. Sid moore is listed as #2 behind Lincoln. Sid's name has been mentioned in a positive way several times this offseason. Seems he will still have comp with Andy flusche. As much as they raved about moore, they must really like flusche a lot too. I expect both guys to be in the mix at DT. I also thought Ellis had at olb on lock, but looks like Jamal Marshall is still in the mix and the battle will continue. Either way, I like the speed that both bring at that spot. Whitfield is the starting corner or jjones is the #2. there were rumors that it was going to be a battle for that spot, even before jjones hospital visit. I would not be surprised if whit is the starter and jjones is the nickel. Jjones us going to have to take that spot again. Warner is the starter at fs or Sheldon wade. People have asked about wade on here, but there is not much info. He seems to be in the mix though. Wonder why zed cant move to free safety? Good battles to look out for.

So, in your opinion, has the punishment they handed down been effective?

I hate to say this, but whenever I think about the financial stumble here, I always think to myself, "But at least we're not Penn State." After Franklin, it's more like, "I'm really glad we're not Penn State."

calm down there, triple post. SilverEagle was referring to the '05 game in Austin being at 11AM

What, the, hell. Offer this man right now!

Not at all. CUSA teams need to make it a point to schedule MWC and MAC schools in OOC games. Then just beat them. How many OOC games does CUSA have against those 2 conferences this upcoming season? Would've loved to swap out Nichols with a New Mexico State or a Toledo. Nichols is a lose/lose game scenario for North Texas. Even after/if we win, what then? Pound our chest for beating Nichols? What if Nichols keeps it really competitive, and by god what if they win.

Offer!

Teaser shot of one of these weekly committee meetings. What do you suppose goes on at these gatherings?

Hope I don't get criticized for posting this: http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/mg-club/spec-rel/043014aaa.html

No mention of SMU and their 55 person fan base.

Exactly. Who pays for this? How do you expedite 100's of passports for players and personal from announcement to game time?

Dan Wolken is probably in line to be the next Eric Capper if he ever leaves UNT... Todd Dodge, Shanice Stephens, and Tony Benford for head coaches in the 3 revenue sports, all hired by the same AD. And said AD just received an extension... Congratulations, RV--you have to have the most secure job of any AD in America. I'm not even kidding, either.

It will take a lot of coordination, and luck, to pull this off. Amtrak's Texas Eagle is packed during the summer months. On a normal train there would be little, if any, excess capacity to handle Mean Green fans for the trip to Austin and return. For this to work Amtrak would have to allocate passenger coaches to deadhead from Chicago to Dallas/Ft. Worth to pick up Mean Green fans. Since the trip would require fans to leave on Friday and return on Sunday, it would be necessary for Amtrak to disconnect the extra cars in San Antonio and put them in siding from Friday night until Sunday morning (since the Friday train would be returning to Chicago on Saturday morning), and then add the cars to Sunday morning's train north. After our fans departed the train at Ft. Worth and Dallas, the cars would then have to be deadheaded back to Chicago. An additional problem is Amtrak has a shortage of excess equipment, especially in the summer months when most of the extra equipment is added to its various trains to handle the summer crowds. Amtrak might possibly be willing, but it would take a lot of coordination among a lot of entities for it to occur. The Amtrak employee to contact to get this started is Griff Hubbard at the Longview, Texas station. Griff is the Revenue Manager for the Texas Eagle train (Chicago to Los Angeles) and would be able to help begin the process to pull this off - if it is possible to do so. BTW, the last Mean Green Amtrak fan trip that I am aware of was in late September, 1979, when Mean Green fans, cheerleaders, and Scrappy boarded the Lone Star train at the old Sanger depot. Amtrak had agreed to stop the train (Houston to Kansas City) in Sanger (Sanger was not a normal stop, but for Amtrak, and us, it was a simpler time) and load us for the trip to Lawrence, Kansas where the Mean Green played the Kansas Jayhawks. Jerry Moore was the NTSU coach and we lost rather badly - and the Kansas fans were real asses to their visitors. While it was not a pretty sight, the fans had a great time on the trip north and then roaming downtown Lawrence that Saturday night following the game while waiting for the 2 am arrival of what was the LAST Lone Star train going south. The train was eliminated from Amtrak's schedule the following day because of budget issues. My group spent our evening at Paul Gray's Jazz Place. Great Jazz and it was the first place I had ever encountered INTELLECTUAL graffiti on the walls in the men's room - only Plato's and Aristotle's phone numbers found their way to the walls of that men's room. GMG

Is it just me, or is the big pitch on cheap education a little overblown? UNT: Tuition's about $8726 http://essc.unt.edu/saucs/UGRDDentonFall2013nonresshort.pdf Texas A&M: Tuition's about $9006 https://financialaid.tamu.edu/Cost/COA_Undergrad.aspx Texas Tech: Tuition's about $8956 http://www.depts.ttu.edu/gradschool/funding/tuition.php Really not that much cheaper.

BBC News: Russia condemns US 'Iron Curtain' sanctions For you internet kids, let me translate:

No! RV gets credit for all good things (even if unwarranted) but is not responsible for anything negative. Get ready for the wrath from a few RV bootlickers on here.

Might have to wait until next year to go. Had something come up during the summer that I may be using vacation for.

Can we just get a commit? Just to get our feet wet! Do we have a young guy involved in recruiting? Mid to late twenties. They seem to know how to talk to high school guys rather than an older guy hurrying up a home visit for a colonoscopy appointment.

It is difficult to believe that Amtrak, given sufficient notice, would not gladly provide extra cars for an event like this. It a train, after all. not a stadium or theatre and cars can be added. Whether some part of the administration has the forethought, imagination or even the intelligence to pursue this or not, I will be disembarking at Austin station around six- thirty friday afternoon, fully refreshed following an afternoon nap and perhaps a few cold ones in the club car. I will be ready to rock and roll. For those of you who will be stuck in the traffic hell of 1-35 outside Austin following a tedious and dangerous four hour drive at that time, good luck and I will see you at the game. Oh, did I mention the ride home? I'll be snoozing and cruising. GO MEAN GREEN.

Is Jon Daniels looking to get the Austin Westlake job?

this is real humor. Lol, probably some middle school band teacher UNT alum down there in flower mound.

So now it's official. Dodge didn't go to Marble Falls to retire, he just couldn't find a better job. Got it.

13% chance he takes the Westlake job.