MDTGGI

You are correct UTEP did drop baseball, in 1985 I believe, but the reason why I think UTEP will get an offer is because of Location. They are geographically located closer and it would make more sense for them to be in the MWC. SMU on the other hand has a better shot at the MWC than UNT because of name recognition. People know the SMU name more than UNT. Being in bowl games the last couple years with a Head Coach that has gotten lots of publicity will do that for you. So if the MWC looks for immediate expansion then SMU is in a better position than we are. I dont like it, and it sucks but right now SMU is higher than UNT on the national media list. Thats why if the MWC wanted to stay in Dallas it would chose SMU over UNT. That being said, I do believe that UNT is putting the right pieces in the right places to grow over the next couple years, but it all depends on why expansion happens. If the MWC holds off for a couple years than UNT could potentially jump up even or ahead of SMU. It all depends on when and if the MWC looks to expand. If its right now then UNT is at a disadvantage, if its in a few years, who know where we will be? Oh and btw if you read the last sentence in the paragraph about baseball, in my original post, it says that SMU does not have baseball either.

I agree that going into the MWC is a reach but it is possible. Even if the MWC only gives us the slightest glance or sniff it will be because of the Media Market in DFW. Right now DirecTV carries the Mountain for free (or at least on one of its most inexpensive tiers) for the DFW area because of TCU being a local team. Since TCU is leaving there goes DFW. The Mountain will be moved up to a higher subscription tier which means that their customer/viewing base in DFW will be severely hit. This matters because with a lower number of viewers they cant sell their spots for commercials for as much money, meaning less advertising revenue. That is why I think the MWC will look at adding a DFW team or Houston because of the media market, they need something that they can sell to advertisers and other companies to help offset the loss of TCU. What hurts UNT in my opinion is that we don't have any baseball. This means that for the most part our sports stop in March once basketball is over. I know that there are still some other stuff going on, such as track, but the Mountain wants to broadcast games so that they can again, sell advertising. Without baseball we don't really offer the Mountain anything to keep their viewers in spring/summer. Meaning that they will effectively loose the DFW market for over a 3rd of the year if they chose us right now. This also hurts SMU since they don't have baseball either. That is why I think that if the MWC wants to add 2 teams from Texas, UTEP and UH will be chosen not UNT. But that's cool because that would leave a slot or two open for UNT, LaTECH and NMSU to fight over and I like our chances against those 2. Just my 2 cents.

Dude that's freaking Bad!! Hopefully the Green Brigade will do stuff like this!

Glad to have this kid on board, but I do wonder..... Hasn't Coach McCarney said ever since being hired "we are going after speed....we are not going to have statues back there" when referring to the types of players and quarterback that will be recruited? Seems like a pocket passer kinda goes against this. Or is this related to us being behind in the recruiting process with the hiring of a new coach and staff that we are simply trying to get the best players that we can and will worry about changing things up later? But in any case glad to have Osborn here, we can always use more talent at QB! Especially after what happened last year

Personally I would like to see molded chairs for the entire Alumni side. Sure put bench seats on the student and visitor side, as well as the Wing but real seats on the Alumni side.

Nice and well deserved! GMG

We are not talking about minor things here. We are talking about catastrophic season and career ending injuries here. Things that can not be prepared for. Things like cramps and pulled muscles can be contributed to lack of training, NOT dislocations, tendon tears, ligament tears and broken bones. Injuries happen. Players get hurt. Is this season unreal? Hell yeah it is, but it sure isnt a "stamina" thing. You want to blame something? Blame UA for their shoes sticking to the turf when players try to cut causing ACL tears. Blame bad luck. Blame Murphy's Law. But its not a lack of preparation. I have a whole big argument about the behavior issues the team has seen but thats another story. However I will say that at the time Dodge was the best hire we could make. And anyone who thinks that all the new media coverage and the building of the new stadium did not get a boost by having a Dodge's name as our coach is kidding themselves. Despite his lack of winning on the field, his name carries weight, especially in Texas and it has helped get more contributors and donors. Having them stay after this year is another story.......... Now all that being said, no excuses this year. If the team does not get 7 wins, then Dodge needs to be gone. He is a great coach, but it did not work here. I would consider giving him a year extension if he gets 6 wins including a win over KSU at the end of the year. I will still pull for my MG and I will still cheer my head coach for every second that he is my head coach. If he does not meet the bar that has been established this year then we will look elsewhere and I will support that coach.

Oh and yes I still believe in the MG! We can still make some noise in conference! COME ON BOYS TIME TO TIGHTEN THE BELT!! GMG

Not to be rude but you do know that to tear an ACL or even rupture a tendon, you dont actually need any contact to occur right? You just need to make a cut the wrong way that your body cant handle and then it just goes. Its not the AT's fault that the team in suffering injuries like these. There is nothing you can do when a player makes a cut and the ACL goes, or if a player is tackled in an awkward position and suffers a broken bone or dislocation. Now if they started pushing kids back onto the field before they are ready or if they pull a Tex Tech and start locking kids in the closet, then you can blame the ATs. But this is just a terrible string of injuries that has fallen on our team. No one to blame except chance.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Boise leaving the WAC for the MntWest? So that tells me that BYU simply wants to be the big dog in a conference so that they can have all the power and influence. I currently live in UT and I must say that the vibe BYU puts out up here goes along with this idea. No disrespect to the school (which is incredible and I highly recommend visiting if you get a chance) but it tends to give off a pompous air about it. Just my 2 cents.

All good points about why we would be attractive to other conferences (media market, recruiting base, ect) but the reason why we are not being courted right now is because we do not make use of these things. We have a great media market, but how often do you hear about us on the radio? On TV? How about seeing a regular season basketball game on a local channel (other than UNT's station)? We do not use our market that is available. Since we do not use our market, no big donors or businesses are going to want to sponsor us because they will not get any worth while advertising for their money. If UNT is not all over the local media markets, then how can we expect high caliber recruits, who have grown up hearing all about UT, A&M and now TCU, to want to come to UNT? Everyone it tickled pink when they see a 30 second spot on the local news about UNT but I say that should be considered an insult. You want to be in a power conference? Go down to Austin or College Station and watch their local TV, see how often you see any new not related to their universities or teams. Its a total different world and that is what we need to strive for. I know that the front office is trying, I do, and I also know that the rest of the campus still has the mentality that athletics are separate from academics and their programs. UNT as a whole does not realize that the university encompasses everything and that all parts should support each other. If you dont believe me, then go talk to some of the heads of the colleges or depts. All they care about is their small little corner which they have direct control over. Think of it this way, you (future conference) are looking at buy 2 cars. One (UNT) is a 1969 Camaro SS, but it is rusted out and missing parts. The owner says that if you buy it they will try to replace some of what is missing. Then the other (UTEP, just for example) is a 2008 Chevy Malibu, great condition, has everything you need, will be able to be used to pick up other people immediately and has low miles. Which are you going to buy? Yes the Camaro has the potential but it will cost the buyer so much time and money that the investment is not worth it. Unless these things change we will NEVER be in a power conference. NEVER. Period. Sorry for the rant guys, but I bleed my green with a passion and I just want to see UNT grow.

Best UNT could hope for would be for TCU to move to the Big 12 then for the MWC to scramble and grab UTEP which would leave a hole for UNT to go to CUSA. If and thats a BIG IF this all happens then I think UNT would fill UTEP's spot nicely because of location, school size, market value, ect. But then again Cowherd has been wrong MULTIPLE times, so take it with a grain of salt.

I actually have a couple of different thoughts on this. First let me say Sturns is a very tallented player and I will never dispute that, but as for him starting and for him starting over Bell, no way. Bell is a much more solid leader at the point right now, especially when the other team presses. Sturns tends to try and finess his way across the court when people put pressure on him. When he does this he tends to lower his head to watch more of what he is doing and not the defense which is why he has run into a couple of half-court traps this year, mainly Tulsa. This leads to the T.O. he has. He has gotten better this year, but when he is feeling the pressure this bad habbit still pops up from time to time. Bell is more controled, slows down and always has his head up watching whats happening on the rest of the court. The other problem I believe that Sturns has is the fact that he relies too much on shooting when "he feels it" and not smart shots. There is nothing wrong with taking a shot when you feel comfortable, but a bad shot weither it goes in or not, is still a bad shot. As my old coach use to say "just cuz your feeling it does not mean you should abandon being a tripple threat player." I do believe that this tends to happen to all of our shooters, but it has gotten better from years past. And personaly I like KD having the ball in the last few seconds of the game rather than Sturns because KD doent turn the ball over near as much. As for the offense, I think that the team in general needs to do a better job of setting up and reading the defense. We dont set up the team with any kind of efficiancey and that leads us to trying to run our offense from 10 feet away from the 3pt line, not good. Now thats not to say our offense is not predictable because I know half the plays that are called by heart myself, but any team that watches film know what the calls are for the other team. IMO its all about setting up and reading the D to get open. Oh and another player that I am very impressed lately with, and who is having a quiet but pretty freaking good year right now is Rich Young.

man, I have a freaking 15in TV i would be willing to donate! I am curious though as to if the refs let the last play happen thinking that "every D-1 school in the nation is sure to have a video replay at the scorer's table."

we got screwed. yes we did not play the way we should have but damn man, to lose on a shot that shouldn't have counted just............man it just sux.

Personaly I like Mean Green but that does not mean we should get rid of scrappy and completely lose our ties to the Eagle name, it kinda bridges us to the past in my mind and I think that its important for us to keep the eagle as the mascot even if we are the Mean Green. Oh and did anyone else hear the plug that the announcers gave about our new facilities? It was actually pretty good and I loved the fact that they were speaking in a way that made it truely sound like we were actually trying to grow as a program. I also thought it was cool that they pointed out that "the new facilities are also being constructed for and used by the other sports not just football" which may seem like a minor thing but hey, if it gets some softball or volleyball players to start looking our way, sweet. GMG

Hell yeah! I can see the headlines on ESPN now "National Championship repeat dreams shattered by North Texas: Jamario Thomas turns heads as he shows that his freshman preformance leading the nation is rushing was no flash in the pan, while Graves, Chapman and the rest of the defense put the Mean back into the Mean Green" GMG!

its true. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2374189 incredible........ Man, I feel dirty and betrayed. Looks like I wont be watching the boys for the next couple years. Jones is such a sellout.

F TO! Winning is important but we can not sacrifice character to do so. NO ONE disgraces the Star! Man I wanted to slap Jones for that bull he said about letting TO sleep on the star. And I agree with UNT playmaker, we need a damned kicker! If we had one last year we would have made the playoffs. Everyone remembers the two plays that let the Skins beat us here at home but not many point out the missed field goal that turns out would have won us the game.

Anyone that knows Coach Jones, or has even talked to him for a while, knows that he would never raise a hand to a player. I dont know how many of you have ever attended a game at ASU but the fans are trash and the players are undisciplined. Great win for the Mean Green though!

they call him cheese.

official attendance was around 1300+ i think. Oh, and sorry Coach, i never did win the spelling B.

UNTSportsGuy, what happened at the end was that Calvin decided to dunk as time ran out and one of their guys too offense to it (can't remember his name) and caught the ball after Calvin dunked and threw the ball at him. Then they both started jawing at eachother, Sturns started to get in it and Barnett stepping in and tried to break it up from what I saw. Oh and the ULL players started cursing at the fans. Real classy BTW, dont know if any of yall were close to ULL locker room but I could hear the coach screaming at the team, and I was in the stands! I havent heard some of those words

Zeke you should have been at their place a few years ago if you want to see a good ally-oop. Their guy grabs it about half way between the three line and half-court line on our side and deep snaps it (yes between his legs) to one of his team mates on the other side of the court for an ally oop. That was the single most impressive play I have ever seen and I dont expect to see anything like it again in my life time. I think we ended up loosing by 25 or so.

Heres my 2 cents. I believe that winning puts butts in the seats. Look at the last 4 years for example. When I got here as a freshman in 2002 the attendance down right pathetic (with the exeption when we won the championship). But over the last couple years I noticed that more and more people are staring to come to the games. I was very pleased to see the numbers that were showing up at the beganing of this year. Never had I seen that big of a crowd at the start of a season. Both the Alum and the Students were showing, it was great! The reason why, we were winning. The offense was not putting up 50+ a game (yes there are exeptions, baylor and ect.) but our D was kicking the crap out of anyone that dared step foot on our field and we were winning. So I would agree with MeanMag that the D is what I would say truley matters. I would also say that if teams did not fear us in the 2002 year, they certainly RESPECTED us. If I remember correctly at one time in that year our D was ranked number 10 or 11 overall in the nation. (When I read that online I was pumped!) When your D is strong enough to dominate the other team, this gives your offense more and more chances to do something with the ball. And eventually the O will score. In the words of my father "even a blind squirel will find a nut every now and then." If evey game we played was high scoring personally I would be bored out of miny mind. I and not a fan of the 45-42 games. (which is why i am not a big fan of the arena ball) Unless it was after 8 OTs! But a game where it is 7-3 and every play counts because you dont know if your O will be able to score so its all up to the D. Man that is on the edge of your seat heaven to me. Sorry about the long post, just my 2 cents.