TIgreen01

Yep. ...and I really, really don't want to root for Devil Fran (who is a lock to be the next coach should we not win 7 this year).

Our biggest strength just became a possible glaring weakness....hopefully the experience on the line will help buffer the new coach, but what happens IF we do win 7 games and Dodge gets to stick around? in 2011 we'd need to coach up some of the inexperienced players to fill holes----which is without a doubt the biggest year in the program's history. Looking back, there was certainly not a win/win decision for RV to make last November. Cut Dodge loose and you risk sending a message that we don't give coaches enough time to build a program, keep him without extending and you kill job security and recruiting. Losing coaches, like Lefty, was a risk that we chose to take. I don't like that he chose to leave so close to the season....and probably wouldn't be comfortable ever hiring him back at UNT. Which is unfortunate b/c he was one of our our best assistants.

Agreed. I don't think Tuberville lasts long at Ttech. He is already setting up his out by coming out against the new Big12-2 revenue distribution. Doing such has setup a built-in excuse for losing to UT/OU/Tamu now...

We need to make more of the $100 million we're in the middle of spending on athletics. That is the simplest way to get the point across that UNT IS actually moving forward, athletically. Most of our alums that badmouth the program have all attended games in the biggest dump football stadium in all of D1. It's hard to not come away with a bad impression, honestly. The new stadium will change that....and telling our alums that we're actually getting up off our butts and supporting the program in words that they can plainly understand. $$. Oh...and winning cures all. ...but usually, winning requires having first spent $$.

The timing for closing down Fouts couldn't have come at a better time. Without that happening, I wouldn't have been shocked to see us struggle mightily to get just 15k avg. this year. During the middle of last season we had a couple of 11k games and it looked like all the losing had finally caught up to us....then Army came and saved the season average. I think the same thing is likely to happen this year....we're going to struggle in the middle of the season but should have great crowds for Rice and Kansas St. I'm not sold on the winning happening, though.

Agree 110%. This article reads like RV, or someone within the AD's office, dictated it. The biggest thing I took away from it, though, was that we are content to wait on CUSA....our leaders feel like that conference is going to blow up and there will be opportunities in the next couple years. Obviously, this is a risky time for us. Our freaking football team needs to nut up. Anyone wonder if RVs decision, last November, to keep TD around for next year might have been different if he knew then what we know now? Conference realignment is the hot topic....might it have made more sense to go ahead and make a splashy coaching hire? Or still better to tie it all in with the stadium opening, if it comes to that (ie--Dodge doesn't get to 7 wins)?

Game, set and match?

You're right...you can't compare the 1995 Big West with the 2010 WAC. The cost of gas, alone, has more than doubled since 1995. I'd imagine jet fuel has seen a similar spike. It makes LESS sense to join a conference, any conference, as far flung to the west coast (and includes trips to Hawaii) than it ever has in history. We have a lot more cost to make up than we did back then....tv and bowl money is better, but does it cover everything? We need cold hard numbers to get posted so that this can be answered once and for all....

Excellent point....then the "new" WAC would be strictly about survival of the program. No?

B/c: 1) you eliminated the truly unrecognizable teams from the SBC (F?U/ULM) 2) kept the better teams from the SBC that are improving their programs and that our fans now look forward to playing (MTSU/Troy/ASU) 3) establish a rivalry with LaTech 4) get the NMSU rivalry going again 5) get the benefit of the casual fan's ignorant perception that the WAC is still better than the SBC.

Good grief....I can't believe all the angst over comparing the WAC to the SBC. What possible good does it do UNT for our fan message board to denigrate the conference we are currently associated with?? Anyone who truly believes that the WAC or MAC are markedly better conferences than the SBC is either kidding themselves or uneducated. PERIOD. The only thing I can make of all of this recent talk is that something really is up at the AD/President's office. Too many of the longtime gmg board die-hards who have inside sources are suddenly blasting the SBC and promoting the WAC/MAC. It definitely has me worried about what is going on behind the scenes...

I'd, certainly, change my vote to 'Yes' in that scenario....

Kind of a difficult question to answer unless you read nothing into it and assume that joining the WAC means joining it in it's current state and exclude the notion of bringing along more central time zone teams should we join. Unless someone provides some hard numbers that say otherwise, you have to say 'no' on the WAC for now.

Dream big is dreaming of the WAC? I think we happen to have a better chance of moving up and out by staying in the Sun Belt over joining the current WAC lineup. Boise had it's own bowl game for goodness sakes. If that's about to happen for us if we were to join the WAC then I'd be all for it. Either way...you're one of the better connected folks on this board. Maybe you know something I don't and joining the WAC means that we do take Tulsa/UTEP/ASU with us....if THAT were on the table, and LaTech was staying WACky as well....then I'd be THRILLED to join that conference. I just want to see us making moves that create natural rivalries. Short of that, I'm not unhappy with staying in the Sun Belt while we continue building up. I do have to wonder why you think either Tulsa or UTEP would leave CUSA for a backwards move to the WAC? I thought UTEP would never be caught dead in the same conference as NMSU? Tulsa,also, seems to be a good fit with the other private schools in the western CUSA division. Why would they leave?

One thing is for sure...more talk about UNT realigning from both the media and some of the more "connected" members of this board sure looks like smoke to me. What's esp. interesting is that this talk has been picking up more and more even AFTER the Big 12 didn't implode. You'd think that realignment talk for us would start tapering off, but instead it's picking up. Are our leaders working behind the scenes to try to couple our new stadium opening with a shiny new conference membership? Make no mistake, I want no part of the WAC. Anyone who thinks we'll make a Boise like leap out and up from that conference is kidding themselves. There were too many built-in advantages that helped Boise along the way....namely the city and bowl game backing.

Don't we kind of want Baylor to be included if the Big12 splits and goes West? That takes one more big school out of this region that would definitely be chosen over us in any other conference expansion. I'm confused as to why UNT wouldn't be trying to help them get on that westbound train....

I've seen this repeated on the board over and over again this offseason (after Riley was moved to WR). I'd like to know why several people think Nathan Tune or D. Thompson's arm strength adds anything more to our offense than Meager or Vizza's arm strength did in T. Dodge's first 2 years. The offense that we've been running doesn't work "well" if the QB isn't efficient/effective at both abilities---running and throwing. From everything I've seen, Tune cannot run and Thompson seems to be about as good a runner as Vizza was. Unless Canales changes things up dramatically, switching back to a strong-armed QB who doesn't also present the threat to run doesn't add anything more to our offense than what we saw the first 2 years. Are you also banking on the fact that our oline is better and more experienced than in those first 2 years and that will help us establish the run? Very few teams that stand their lineman up are able to do this....why will we be different? I'd honestly like to know...not trying to be a smart-@ss.

HOF order: Cobbs, Booger, Hall, Brewster. All 4 should be in, impo.

TCU's attendance numbers do not help SMU, btw....that or years and years of historically poor attendance even while they were in the SWC. Come to think of it....it probably doesn't help us sell our case either. Those 2 schools poor attendance reflects poorly on all DFW area colleges....even if we have a higher ceiling due to the simple fact that we are not a private school.

If the field is expanded to 96 teams and most of the mid-majors remain one bid leagues (whereas the entire ACC could make the field many years), which is worse?? Remember that would effectively shutdown every other post-season bball tournament---so most years, the Sun Belt would be worse off. Seems like the same people are basically behind both operations.

Lots of footage there...thanks for the link! He's clearly got a strong arm. Running ability kind of reminds me of Vizza. Did a good/decent job of avoiding the rush in the videos shown. It will certainly be a battle between him and Tune.

If Thompson wins the starting job and we get to 5-6 wins with what is basically a freshman QB, RV is going to have a tough decision to make.

I think we already saw what this offense looks like without a viable running threat at QB for the 2 years prior to Riley starting. Vizza and Meager both had good enough arms to stretch the field but we couldn't run the ball to save our lives. We very much looked like Texas Tech. Heck, we even saw the same thing last year in the games that Tune started.

Disappointing news. I think our running game just took a major hit. We just went from hoping the TE and over the middle plays would help us keep the defense honest to absolutely having to get production there to keep the running game from getting clogged at the line.

I think we're going to really regret missing out on Javai Hall. I hear all the stuff about Thompson, but at his size I question how well he can really move. Quotes like "he moves well for a guy his size" don't exactly help. I like Tune, but the offense we're trying to run HAS to have a viable run threat at QB. With that extra running, obviously come extra hits....it is inevitable that any QB in this system is going to get injured---it's just a question of whether or not he can play through it and do we have a backup that can run the same system if not.