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Firstly, congratulations Mean Green on your hire of Karen Aston. What you are getting is a coach both difficult and easy to understand. She will demand total dedication from her players, both on the court and in the classroom. If they miss class, they will be suspended. If they don't write a paper on time, they will be suspended. If they disrespect the coaches, they will be suspended. If they don't hustle and play attention in practice, they will be embarrassed in front of their peers. Do not be surprised if some of them can't take all that and decide to transfer. What they get in return for their dedication is a chance to learn basketball and life from someone who has quite an understanding of both. How many people in this world would win 27 games, be in position to contend the following year for a league championship, and give that all up to take on a major rebuild just from a sense of responsibility to family? Not too many. I think. So, welcome her, embrace her, and support her and your team. Some of us here in Charlotte surely wish we still had that opportunity. This post has been promoted to an article

Hopefully, we'll be announcing her hiring in the next week:

I think emmitt meant to say , " Will the new signees be at the tailgate ? "

Odd thread title for the week that begins spring signing period in basketball.

....and the tasteless posts begin in 5, 4, 3, 2,........

Bumper Dumper I would recommend some sort of curtain/partition.

Just an opinion, but I think it is going to take Forrest some time to adjust to this level. Don't think you see him starting to open the season next year. Plus, Kendrick and Alzee are going to have something to say about a couple of those starting spots.

Mitchell! Those were the days.

Big difference between suspensions from anger (if that was the case) and suspensions used as a teaching tool. Young people know that difference at heart, even if they sometimes aren't willing to admit it. Karen's not stupid. She may take into account the team's history in her handling of them. She's also her player's best friend outside of practice. Could be ya'lls girls have been so screwed up as to be beyond repair, but a few recruiting classes will fix that. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

I still love me some Zo. I have high hopes for him next year if he can get healthy. It's hard enough for a juco to come in a find his role on a new team much less having to do it on a senior heavy team while also being injured. Getting a 6'10 / 6'11 low post scorer is hard enough to find in the NBA , much less here at UNT. I don't think the belt as a whole has had one of those since maybe Chris Marcus of wKu. Show me a 6'11 kid who can score and I'll show you the $1,000s of dollars being thrown at him by the recruiters & sports agents

CUSA had two teams in the NCAA tournament where we've had one most years since UNT joined. They appeared in six bowl games last year where the SBC was in three. CUSA schools average just a hair less than 10k per football game more than SBC schools. They average almost 3k more per basketball game than the SBC; 2k more if you remove Memphis from the equation. They just got a $43 million contract with FSN, and I can't find any information about how much the SBC's is currently worth. The SBC is coming along, especially in facilities, but the conference as a whole is not on the same level as CUSA. Now if you're talking strictly perception, I doubt your average joe sees much of any difference between CUSA and SBC, since most average joes are all about the big six conferences. The main problem with the SBC is there are certain schools that underfund their programs either by choice or by lack of options. The smallest athletic budget at any CUSA school is $19.5m at Southern Miss. The smallest in the SBC are Louisiana-Monroe at $10.7 million, Louisiana-Lafayette at $12.3m and Arkansas State at $13.3m. We've been at about $17 million, and next year I'd imagine it'll be $24-25 million. You basically have NT, WKU, MTSU, FAU, and FIU pumping cash into athletics (all spending in the low to mid $20m range), and then it falls off a cliff from there. Edit: Another thought is that the SBC is barely on TV compared with CUSA. An SBC basketball or football game on ESPN is an event, because it doesn't happen but half a dozen times a year for both sports combined. Hopefully that changes as ESPN attempts to put the screws to CUSA and the MWC via the SBC and MAC (or maybe WAC still instead of MAC?). Good timing on our contract being up for re-negotiation. It'd be great to see one of our games this year on ESPN2 or ESPNU. Bet that stadium is gonna look as amazing on TV as in person. This post has been promoted to an article

Looks like Manny Ramirez just called it quits on the heels of a second positive (likely PED) drug test. Instead of taking a 100 game suspension he will take his (shriveled) balls and go home. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

That lame dude gets well into the six-figures? Possibly so, but last I heard all but the top of the heap were making something more like mid-five figures. I know he has been there quite awhile now, but I didn't think that even with their recent ratings success, that nice six-figure salaries had filtered down to his level. He and "Whiner" are the primary reasons that I gradually moved away from listening to that station.

People need to quit deleting their posts. It makes for a frustrating read.

Damn, Theron is even more pissed than I thought.

Rick, I saw you get upset at the end of the game when the fan yelled that our coaches lost the game. You almost lost your cool while starring down the fan. Finally, you just spit on the ground and walked away. Surely, you don't think the players are solely responsible do you. The fan had a valid response, regardless of how he presented it. Do you realize that Todd Dodge is embarrassing to the Mean Green Nation? He has gone 5-33 at the helm with no end in sight. Please fire Todd on Monday and begin the search for a new coach. Sure, it won't hurt to wait until the end of the season to "evaluate the situation", but showing you are in charge and want to lead this team into a new stadium with hope, real hope, is what the MEAN GREEN NATION needs. Lead us Rick. Give us hope. Fire Todd Dodge on Monday.

Do they allow tailgating at C.H. Collins? Time to prepare for football.

Can we nickname him "Major"?

8:40 is a little early to be drinking don't ya think ?

So basically we got a 180 ? Thanks for the post & good luck to the 49ers

If I'd been standing anywhere nearby, I would have complained to security and ask for him to be removed. But I sit in section E where I have since 94 and I not only didn't see or hear him, I don't know who he is. If he behaves like an adult for the rest of the year, no problem.

Kram, this is so on target that I can't want for the Obama supporters to explain this. The mainstream media won't ask him the hard questions, which is the polar opposite of how they treated Bush. Oh, and where is Cindy Sheehan? Shouldn't she be camped out in front of Obama's get-away in Hawaii picketing this war?

Yeah right. This conference is dead!

That is true if the Belt is the extent of your aspirations. But if you want to be a Butler or VCU, or even a Morehead, George Mason, or Old Dominion, you need effective size. On the other hand, if all you want is a 15 seed, never mind.