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Found cap in downtown Fort Collins, Colorado.

"Some mid-major jobs are viewed as very desirable. This is one of them." This is PERCEPTION. And that perception is based on a lot of factors (compensation being a huge part of it). That same PERCEPTION is around the Athletics department as a whole, which is why NT would be a nice addition to either MWC or AAC.

I would not be surprised if the MWC commissioner was forced out. One of the reasons the AFA and CSU gave for entertaining a move to the AAC was lack of confidence in Thompson in today's changing environment. I believe that the MWC will expand, that Texas is the only direction they can go, and that UNT and Rice will be invited to join. I just don't see SMU moving to the MWC from the AAC. UTSA should get an offer from the AAC unless Rice gets one instead. The Roadrunners and Owls might be in the best position as they should get invited to either the AAC or MWC, while our only option appears to be the MWC unless SMU goes crazy and moves there instead. Things should clear up in a matter of weeks as the AAC is moving forward after being spurned by the MWC. October looks to be an interesting month for realignment junkies like myself.

We are staring at a third consecutive four win season.. at best. how is this bailing on seth? at what point would it be safe to move on.

SMU is not going to the MWC. I don’t believe the AAC will take UTSA because of lack of facilities and investment. The only option for the MWC is UNT , Rice and maybe UTSA. We have the facilities and Rice has the $$$!

That seals it. MWC stocking future opponent apparel. GMG

Although I have no knowledge on the veracity of the source, this is basically what I've been saying. UTSA operates on a Sun Belt budget, plays in a rented stadium 20 miles from campus, and their basketball team plays in a HS gym. Any conference that comes calling is going to want to take a look at their plans for increasing their budget, building an on campus football stadium, and replacing their basketball arena. People on message boards want to latch onto UTSA being 5-0 this season and being 'the only game in their market' despite being closer to Austin than College Station is to Houston. They're not ready to move up, and they may never be ready.

Just renewed and moved my seats from behind the baseline to along the sideline.

If the MWC wants the Dallas market we are good either way. If SMU goes then we are a shoe in to replace them in the AAC. Otherwise it would be us to the MWC (which is my strong, strong preference).

I did & my source (& I) think we were close to an MWC offer, but even a couple of national bloggers said the same thing, too, right? Along with UNT, the national boys would add Rice (& the Houston market). My source said the same. I still believe all that was said. Quite frankly, the 4 who vowed to stay with the MWC (for now) screwed this all up. That could change tomorrow. (Stand by, UNT). We so want something good to happen at UNT since it has at other outposts who just seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. (Liberty U being at the top of that list). After awhile, one would think UNT would start copying success & then hiring those who created it; that is, those who turned start-ups & “non-traditional” NCAA powers into Top 25 (or close to it) level programs. Seems the budget is there for UNT to do so. I told a UNT higher up 10 or so years ago that we should hire the La Tech recruiting coordinator & then hire their best recruiting assistant coach. Hell! And back then—just hire Holtz!😊 Their recruiting lists produces winners while they were too many times kicking our butt recruiting in Texas. They out-recruited us back when they were in the WAC, too. What the hell gives? Some things just defy logic. Yet at UNT, we’ve trodded right along sometimes like the over-grown, “bumbling-stumbling” Baby Huey of old cartoons fame. That also defies logic, too. My source said to not elaborate so I didn’t so can we move on? I should have said nothing on this forum in the first place. Now I feel like I‘m going to be “Joe Manchin’ized” & eaten by my own! 😆 All this has turned out just about how I thought it would. After all, 48 years of North Texas you begin to detect a definite trend & Lady Luck has rarely been involved with any of it, but like some have also said: “You make your own luck.” A UNT alum & MG fan has to try to not stay negative. Those who continue posting on this forum I secretly admire. When they stop would be the problem. Our fans do seem to jump on & off bandwagons quicker than most compared to other schools, but maybe their fans just haven’t had the same road we’ve travelled, either— right? 🦅

With possibly a few exceptions, the goal of every G5 program is to get a seat at the table of the P5 feeding trough. Movements among G5 conference members can be thought of as the proverbial rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic, but in the end, it's all about positioning and preening and hoping for that tap on the shoulder that may never come. Prior to the most recent moves, the AAC was slightly ahead of the MW in terms of value as evidenced by where the B12 went shopping. The AAC is now wounded and the inability to woo any MW members into the fold added salt to those wounds and elevated the MW to the top of the G5 heap. The AAC will now need to look to C-USA, the Sun Belt and MAC (in that order) for fresh blood...the same pond the MW will go fishing if they want to expand. This could become a first-movers situation or even a bidding war if the AAC thinks the MW is going after one (or more) if its targets or vice versa. Just a guess, but when the first shot is fired, I think things happen fast.

Feldman at the athletic did a write up about hot seats around the league. Says Littrell is in a hot seat, and UNT is a desirable mid major job. Just some interesting thoughts.

I doubt that the MWC sits pat. If they are going to expand it should be soon, and I think it will include UNT. UTSA will probably get an invitation to AAC along with UAB, FAU, and perhaps Charlotte. One thing that North Texas needs is a travel partner, and while Rice does not "bring" the Houston market anymore that we do DFW, both schools give the MWC the Texas exposure that it wants . For some reason a few sports writers have tried to pair us with Tulsa, who is never going to leave the AAC for the MWC, anymore than Mountain West schools are going to move to the American Athletic Conference. SDSU is hoping for a PAC 12 invitation, Boise and Memphis think they will be in the Big 12 soon, and no one wants to be in CUSA. In fact, I don't know if any SBC members would move to CUSA. I am not saying they wouldn't, but the Belt has a pretty good thing going on with an " us against the world" attitude that has worked well for them so far.

SDSU AD says they are still eyeing Texas for expansion around 13 minute mark. Interviewer mentions SMU and he gets kind of coy, but mentions there are a couple programs that are making big investments and have potential in big markets. I almost assume he’s talking about UNT and UTSA. Hang on, things may still get interesting!

Our Culture Needs to be fixed? Did I miss something in the News? What about our culture needs to be fixed other than finding a coach that can cultivate talent and win games against above .500 teams?

The usual college football hierarchy is state flagship > land grant or secondary flagship > prestigious private school > city school (ie Louisville, Cincinnati, Houston etc.) > regional or directional school (North Texas) > system school (UTSA, UAB). I’m surprised UTSA and UAB is getting this much attention from the AAC honestly.

100% agree. And for those of you mentioning Rice... Look at their endowment, which is just through the roof... then look at their Athletics situation. For a school that is so rich, they sure don't value their athletics department very much: They're not serious about athletics. Neither is UTEP. NT & UTSA are showing a lot of financial commitment, and their locations are prime (sorry LATech). Obviously, NT needs to start winning in football... we have literally everything else going for us. UTSA needs to show a serious commitment to facilities. As a school that has only had an athletics department for about 5 minutes, it makes sense that they're lagging, Rome wasn't built in a day. They have plans, but now need to put those in action... quickly.

At the risk of repeating myself, we really do need to add a SMU section to our forums.

This link below was one interesting page of comments from one forum. https://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?/topic/92358-conference-realignment-thread/page/266/#comments

Well fuk you too.

Dude this season is over. The transfer QB can’t play. Unless I see 250 yards passing in a game that isn’t a blowout at Missouri my expectations are 190 yards a game or less going foward. That might as well be zero cause in the Air Raid offense you can't win that way against FBS competition.

I like to hear why we should keep SL. I was trying to give him every break in the book but after our performance this year that shipped sailed for me. We need new blood in the system because I think SL has run his course here.

As of yesterday, I became a first time bball season ticket holder. Even though I'm not able to make it up to Denton much during hoops season, I felt I could no longer in good faith enjoy the program's upward trajectory without adding to the (hopefully growing) season ticket base.

Wouldn't UTSA have to get Board of Regent approval to exit C-USA and also be required to pay exit fees? And don't they and UTEP share the same BOR as the flagship? And won't UT have to pay some nasty exit fees soon if they wish to move over to the AAC or any other conference? I just think it needs to be stated that these secondary system schools have a distinct disadvantage when it comes to switching conferences. They also have extreme limitations in regards to fundraising as they will always be considered secondary to the flagship when it comes to cultivating the biggest donors. Would think UAB has some issues in that particular regard as well. Is the Alabama BOR going to approve them spending millions in buyout fees to move to a conference that has already been poached of its best teams and will most certainly lose more in the coming weeks as well? As far as them being hot in football or whatever, they could easily lose their coach to a P5 and end up with another Frank Wilson. These conference commissioners are making big dough, like 400-500K salaries and car allowance etc. They will do whatever they can to continue doing that for as long as they can. So they will put ANY deal together that buys them more security and more years of great compensation. That is the only thing that concerns me about all this is that the conference commissioners are looking after themselves and their staff more than the schools they represent.

Phil, I rode to that bi-district game with my HS football coach & his wife (Harold & June Humber). Afterward we had a post-game dinner at a restaurant built over the water near shore. A good memory among so many. On March 9, 1969, after they spent a Sunday visiting the Houston Alief head football coach & on Highway 6 near Missouri City— Coach, June & their 9 yo daughter were all 3 killed in a head-on. Honestly, not sure all these years later that I ever got over that. I was a tri-captain on the last team that he’d coach. Still think of them often.

I think we can all honestly agree that we are selling our potential right now. Hundreds of thousands of Alums and many of them in DFW means if the MWC can help build us up to ideally a Boise St. style run we can pull a good chunk of eyes. Also don't forget that these teams value Texas recruiting, a team in Texas opens up more possibilities for every team in the MWC.

SMU might listen to the MW, but ultimately it doesn't make sense for them. They would have to pay 10 million (minimum) in exit fees, at this time a lesser pay out, more travel, and they would move away from their small private peers (Tulsa, Tulane.) I just don't see how it benefits them enough to make the move.

Great post, fingers crossed. 🍻

IF the MWC is serious about growing their brand they need to plant a flag in DFW,Houston, and perhaps San Antonio. At some point they know they will both lose Boise and SDSU and must be pro active now to survive.

When our passing offense can't do jack squat, Missouri won't really need to be worried about it. They can simply load up the box and help their weak run defense with #s.

I believe something like this is exactly why the AD has plans to move our scoreboard. It would be great if we could build another club-like level in the south endzone.

OK, 8 instead of a handful [5] of games with attendance over 25,000. My point is that after 10 years if you can count them there are not very many. I think the chart with average attendance over the last decade is more telling.

If offered admission, for UNT going to the MWC would be a slam dunk over staying in a C-USA that is highly likely to lose at least one and potentially multiple members to the AAC. However, I could imagine the following: Thompson lets SMU know that the MWC is seriously looking into adding UTSA and SMU, and if adding SMU fails, adding UNT instead. For Thompson this could be a try at dealing a death blow to the AAC and Arrescos narrative of it being the best non A5 conference and carry that mantle yourself. After all Arresco and the AAC just tried to seriously hurt Thompsons conference. If you are SMU you now have to think about whether you are going to stay in an AAC that is currently down to 8 members, may get poached further, and may get fairly east heavy with new additions, plus have your high potential next door neighbour who never puts it together improve in their recruiting acumen, or instead move MWC that pays less and is at least as much travel, but is stable and may easily gather a better reputation than what is left in the AAC if you move. I don't think the SMU answer to Thompson is a slam dunk in either direction in this scenario. Maybe the answer is for SMU then to push for UTSA to get admitted to the AAC instead?

Maybe I misunderstood your comment (or I'm misunderstanding this one), I thought you were saying you knew some inside info on the UNT side that confirmed we were close to the MWC. 😅

Good news! Thanks UNT 90 Grad! I will see you there!

Plummer, that is such a true statement. Bridge City is between Port Arthur and Orange, Tx. You cross the Rainbow Bridge(tallest bridge in the South) to drive over there. Wooster was a legend in SE Texas.

I think you’re confusing the “confused” with the “eye roll”

Good for Siggers.

Really hope it happens. Any other tidbits or hints you could give us would be greatly appreciated. 👀

W/ the earlier comment about how close UNT was to joining, there’s no way they’re not talking about us. Making me feel pretty good about this!

I have no idea how his X-and-Os are, but Deion is magnetic. Kids want to play for him, and his preacher-like speeches get his athletes fired up. They are running through brick walls for him.

Cincy has made some excellent head coaching hires since 2002

So frustrating. Early SL felt like we knew we had sprinkling of talent but, for the most part, Fine and opportunistic defenses were saving us. We had some players that were playing over their heads. Gave me so much hope for us. Now I feel like the talent pool is rich, but player development has fallen off the chart and our teams seem completely unprepared this year. We are smack in the middle of realignment moves. I can't believe how bad the timing is for us.

No, I thought I would do something unique and order on line, picking a couple of available seats from a seating chart, paying with my credit card. Geeze.

If we are hiring a new coach: Not sure who it would be, but a celebrity middle-ager hire would hasten our progress, slow down portal transfers & enhance those from other schools who might come our way. With our venues North Texas is hardly what I’d call a difficult sale. ••• App.State has a very nice end zone facility that would look nice at Apogee & at a (winning) UNT football program.

Was the finger pointed back at himself?

This wouldn't even be a consideration if we had a coaching staff that could coach these current players up to their potential to dominate the CUSA.

We don’t care.