untjim1995

I'm pretty much right with UNT90 on all things scheduling. But, I will say this about Tulsa hosting Oklahoma. Tulsa hosts Oklahoma a lot--its kind of OUs way of pleasing their Tulsa alums and fans with a game up there every so often. Its similar to Texas playing Rice in Houston, Tech playing at SMU, or LSU playing Tulane in New Orleans--all of which have occured multiple times over the last 20+ years. As far as buying a home game against NIcholls State, that's fine. The situation is what it is--we need an extra home game, so we have to buy one, since we ourselves allow our football to be a bought program for a money game at an SEC/Big XII powerhouse every year, or at least until we play at Iowa in 2017. The SMU game in 2015 will be called an "alternative home game" by the AD, so that is what we may also get in 2017, as well, if we get another bodybag game at Traditional Southern AQ Powerhouse Full of Speedy NFL Athletes, probably OU, since we haven't played them lately on the carousel of bodybag games. Again, the AD would be able to conveniently say, "Although we aren't playing 6 home games this year, we will have two games well within driving distance for our fans for OOC games--@ SMU and @ OU." If not, then in 2017, we may get another Idaho, Nicholls State, or NMSU team in Apogee for our buyout game. Its fine, I suppose, to have SMU and Army as your marquee home games in OOC, but when we built Apogee, we were told that we could finally host bigger named teams because our facilities would be able to host them comfortably (without making the visitors stay in a dumpster of a locker room or without a stadium that was a toilet ). Teams that people want to come and see because they are opportunity games at home. I get that the Big XII teams have lots of exposure now in the Metroplex, from playing at TCU or playing games at the Cotton Bowl and at Jerry World. When you mix in games that SMU hosts at Ford with Tech, Baylor, or A&M, it makes it tough to believe that we would logically get many of those teams top play here. But I've always maintained that Oklahoma State would be a great team to play here, since they don't have annual games here in the area. Then, you look at K-State, Kansas, Iowa State, Mizzou, Nebraska, and Colorado and ask them if they want to come down here and get some exposure to the Texas HS talent that they don't get in front of as much anymore, especially Nebraska, Colorado, and Mizzou. It just seems too logical to me, which is why it probably won't ever happen. If none of those teams will do an even series with us, then go ask one of the Arizona schools or Utah or BYU to come over here. Do the same thing for the Mississippi schools or Vandy or Kentucky. Hell, call Miami and set up a series with them--their attendance is terrible anyway. Call Georgia Tech or Louisville. IOW, there are a lot of AQ teams who would be willing to come here if those close by won't, since it might hurt their prestige if they had to play a game in, gulp, Denton. I guess the main point here is that SMU and Army are terrific OOC opponents--but they aren't marquee opponents, or at least shouldn't be thought of that way, to me. They would make perfect complimentary opponents to another higher profile school. PLus, you then deliver on your promise to the season ticket holders--to give them a better facility to watch the Mean Green play against better competition than what Fouts provided. Because Fouts was more than capable of hosting SMU and Army.

I stand corrected--you're correct. That makes the Fiesta Bowl even more angry to have to take on Northern Illinois against Okie State or Baylor. Could you imagine a BCS bowl game featuring NIU and Baylor in Glendale, AZ?

It doesn't matter...Michigan ain't coming here, nor any other Big Ten team.

Only way Rice ever makes it into the AAC is if UH leaves...no more overlap in TV markets for far-flung conferences. I think UH will be in the MWC in a few years, with other Texas schools, such as UTEP, UTSA, and either us or SMU.

I think Oregon State is a good team--they certainly got better as the year went on. But, also remember that Oregon State opened their season by losing at home to Eastern Washington, a team in the FCS division, albeit a very good one.

This is what SMU, UH, Tulane, and Tulsa really don't understand--you can get assocaited in a far-flung league with more travel, but its just gonna cost more and it won't help with attendance or support. The key to most non-AQ teams is to have reasonable travel games to control costs, unless you have bigger names in your conference that are far away (see TCU in the MWC) and people want to watch them play. Otherwise, these SBC, CUSA, and AAC teams are really cutting of each other's noses to spite their faces. I just think you would see this improve so much if they played in regional conferences with each other. There is just no way that Marshall and UTEP should be in a conference, nor should Idaho and Troy, or Temple and Houston. Its just stupid. More people would attend a game in Houston if they played North Texas, UTSA, UTEP, or La Tech than will ever watch Memphis, Temple, East Carolina, or Cincinatti in person. Why those schools think differently is beyond me. UTEP, UNT, SMU, TULSA, LA TECH, UTSA, Texas State, UH, Rice, ULL, Tulane, and Tulsa NMSU, ULM, Arkansas State, Southern Miss, UAB, Troy, FIU, FAU,South Alabama, and Georgia State USF, UCF, Cincy, Memphis, MUTS, WKU, Marshall, ECU, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Temple, and UConn

LSU will be in the Cotton Bowl--against either Texas or Baylor. As far as TCU and Baylor, the Big XII is such a watered-down AQ league now, that teams like these two can actually win this league. Back in the original Big XII, Baylor was simply a cellar-dweller. I believe that they only finished above 5th in the South on one occasion, which was Mike Sherman's first year in College Station. From 1996-2007, they finished last every time. During the same time, TCU took advantage of being the lone Texas team in the MWC to rise up to national prominenence, just because BYU and Utah had some really good teams during that timeframe. They really had to get up for about three opponenets a year that were either better or about the same as they were. I always said that if Baylor hadn't allowed themselves to be whored out to the Big XII and had played in the MWC or CUSA like the other SWC leftovers, they would have enjoyed ever bit of the same success that TCU did. And if TCU had been in the Big XII back then instead of Baylor, they would've suffered the same fate that Baylor did. But all Baylor worried about was the $$$, receiving more bowl money than TCU did in a year that TCU finished in the top ten after beating Boise State in a bowl game while Baylor enjoyed yet another losing season in Waco. TCU is basicallky doing the same thing now, accepting 50% payouts from the Big XII, which is about $9 million more than they made in the MWC, while just enjoying a 4-8 season, which followed a 7-6 year in its first year in the Big XII. Their last two records in the MWC were 13-0 and winning the Rose Bowl and 11-2 in 2011. As far as recruiting goes, though, the better question is going to be how we recruit against UH and SMU going forward, and how those two AAC schools will recruit against Baylor, TCU, and Tech. There is still a pecking order in college football, no matter how equal we want CUSA to be with the AAC and the MWC, or how much those two leagues want to be equal to the Big XII. The resources for those leagues are just higher than what CUSA offers, just as we are higher than the SBC.

Liberty Bowl--Marshall or Rice Military Bowl--Marshall if they lose CUSA Championship game; ECU if Marshall wins Hawaii Bowl--Rice if they lose CUSA Championship game; ECU if Rice wins HoD Bowl--North Texas NO Bowl--Tulane Beef O'Brady's--MUTS

They don't--except when they are given to the players for free, which then gets covered up by the head football coach, causing him to get fired and for the university to get put on probation. That can affect the gameplay, just like having a Foot Locker opened up after hours in a Tallahasee mall to give away free shoes to guys on the FSU team and then getting caught.

And many of them either live in wealthy parts of Dallas or in wealthy suburbs...content is usually driven to cater advertisers to reach those wealthy customers. Plus, SMU still has SWC name recognition that the older media members (Rhyner, Hitzges, Galloway, Hansen, etc..) treat with more respect than they deserve. Those voices will eventually go away. The hardest part about dealing with SMU is that other teams from AQ leagues still like playing them in home and home series. That's probably because they are in the Dallas city limits, but it hurts us as far as scheduling bigger name teams here. TCU, Okie State, Baylor, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M have all played games at Ford Stadium over the last decade. Feasibly, they could all play here now, but that old SWC mindset comes into play again, especially with TCU and SMU being long-time rivals.

NIU will be going to the Fiesta Bowl (most likely), if they win the MAC Championship. They will probably play Okie State or Baylor, since Glendale is the host of the national championship game. It will be NIU redux, from last year, playing in a BCS game at the home of the national championship game, with 2 for 1 deals to get people out to watch NIU play in the bowl game a week before the BCS Championship game. The Rose Bowl will take Michigan State, no matter what. That's their right and they will always try their best to match a Pac-12 team versus a B1G team.

They are gonna have two in the BCS games no matter what. If OSU wins, they go to the national championship game and MSU goes to the Rose Bowl. If MSU wins, they go to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State goes to the Orange or Sugar...

I feel compelled to offer an apology to the board and to the university for comments I made earlier this year. Back before the season started, I picked us to go 5-7, with 4-8 as a real possibility. I felt that DT was not the QB to lead us forward. ANd I felt like the UTSA matchup was a perfect game for fans to really gauge if we are moving in the right direction. I voiced the opinion that rarely do fans get an opportunity to see clearly if we are wasting our time with the program or if there is something really to build on. I figured that if we lost to UTSA, it would be calamitous, because it was one of 2 games I had down as sure wins, along with Idaho. Losing to a 3rd year program at home would be the end of the line for me. But I never foresaw us being 7-3 and then losing to them, which would also give them 6 wins on the year. I expected UTSA to go 0-12 this year, I really did. Losing to UTSA, to me, would have meant we were 1-11 or 2-10, at best. Obviously, that was all wrong. I feel kind of hypocritical for making those posts--the progress we have shown this year as a program is EXACTLY what I wanted to see. When McCarney originaly got hired, I believed that his third year would be the breakout year. But then when this year rolled around, I lost that confidence in the program being ready to move upward in his third year, thinking next year was his best chance to move us upward and get an extension. Now, I firmly believe Coach Mac deserves that extension, even if it just a year or two. In the end, losing to UTSA was understandable, while losing at Southern Miss would have been inexcusable--who saw that at the beginning of the year? I give major props to Larry Coker and the Roadrunners of UTSA. They are going to be a power in this conference--I truly believe this. I actually always have, just didn't think it would be that way until about 2015 or later. Now, I'm not sure they aren't going to be the favorite next year to win CUSA West, with Rice. That is incredible and it really does speak to UTSA's vision for creating a football program that would be ready to run immediately. From hiring an experienced AQ coach to start the program, to connecting with the civic leaders in San Antonio to build a huge amount of momentum around the team, and to the amazing promotions that have introduced UTSA Football to so many SA residents, they are going to reap what they have sowed for several years ahead. I am now firmly in the camp of them being the next South Florida--taking advantage of a huge market without a college team. I look forward to seeing us play them in the years to come, but I firmly expect them to be very tough to beat as the years move forward.

Leach was never gonna come here. He wanted too much money, wanted to coach at a high-level school (read AQ), and the lawsuit against a fellow Texas public university wasn't going to allow him to be hired by anyone in the state. hence, the reason he ended up in Pullman, WA as the HFC at Wazzou. The choices here were Franchione, Kragthorpe, and McCarney. Since Kragthorpe's health will keep him from head coaching again, then the true analysis is between Franchione and McCarney. Right now, its pretty dead even between the two, in my opinion.

I'm sorry but if SMU's political connections can do what you are "maintaining", we might as well just quit playing football. If a school that has 36k students and over 200k alumni cannot overcome a non-AQ private school's influence within its own market, then we might as well just give up. SMU left the conference that has a tie-in to this bowl, which should be enough for the CUSA leadership to easily overcome with anyone on the HoD board that thinks Rice would be a more "appropriate" team to host. That would be complete 100% Bullshit if it worked out that way. I firmly believe ECU goes to the Liberty, Marshall goes to the Military, UNT goes to the HoD, Tulane goes to the NO Bowl, MUTS goes to the BBVA Compass Bowl, and Rice goes to the Hawaii Bowl. If the HoD bowl passes on us for their bowl game, that bowl will be passing up its easiest money that it could ever make. And if they did, RV and Lee Jackson should go off as much as possible in every media form on the HoD bowl and let them clearly know that we will never accept an invite to their bowl game in the future. If we cannot get any respect in this market with our best team in 10 years and one that is 45 minutes up the road with this big of a fanbase to appeal to, again, we might as well just accept that we will never get overthe hump in the college football world if our own market won't even give us a chance to play a 3rd tier bowl game in our backyard basically. Look, in the history of this bowl, Tech vs Northwestern brought about 25k, UH vs Penn State brough about 30k, and OSU vs Purdue probably brought about the same. If they can get UNT versus Iowa, they will get at least 40k. The only thing that kills us with potential HoD attendance is if they are forced to pick an at-large team from the MAC or the SBC, as in Buffalo or Texas State.

It doesn't matter. Benford is our coach for another year or two beyond this one. We barely paid enough to get a decent head coach with experience in football--and that was after we agreed to buy out the remaining year of Dodge's contract. And football, as we all now, makes the money for the AD. They will never pay a head coach here a huge amount of money because we don't draw well and basketball is sadly always second or third in this football-dominant state. We sure as he'll aren't gonna buy out three years of the largest contract a basketball coach has ever had in the history of the university. And, yes, this is on RV. He agreed to hire Benford, even if the BOR wouldn't pay more for an experienced coach. If I was in his situation, and my bosses ALWAYS played the cheap card, I'd resign, rather than accept coaches on the cheap that have no experience and make me look bad for hiring them. Todd Dodge, Shanice Stephens, and now Tony Benford---all are either the worst hires for their individual sport in the history of the university or are right up there as the worst hires. No AD in America would have survived this anywhere else for this long. He's just lucky Coach McCarney is turning around the football program finally. And if Mac leaves to go somewhere else, many of us have zero faith in RV's opinion on the next hire, just as feel that way with the next men's basketball coach in 2016...

PMG--great post. One thing I have finally had pounded into my thick skull is that we aren't alone in attendance issues...esepcially among other non-AQs. UNT has some major winning still to do to get traction in attendance just with our students and alumni, but the reality is that most non-AQs don't get a ton of support from outside of those groups, either. The towns and regions that these non-AQs call home just don't support these schools at a huge level unless you are winning AND playing teams that they have heard of or care about. Teams like SMU, Rice, Tulane, and Tulsa don't have the alumni numbers or enrollment to lean on, but their big cities just don't care about them. Teams like UH, UNT, UTEP, and UTSA have the enrollment and alumni, but they lose a lot to other activites being held in those large metro areas. And the teams like ULM, La Tech, Arkansas State, and Western Kentucky just don't have enough population around them to get much outside support.

It sucked because it had brand new teams to 1-A (Nevada, Boise State, UNT) and bad teams in 1-A (Utah State, Idaho, and NMSU) that no one cared about. Boise State today at Apogee would probably bring a sellout. This year's Fresno State team would too. The BIg West in 1995 looked a lot like the WAC did last year before it got put out of its final misery. The MWC of today combined the greatest teams from the WAC and put them together with the teams that had no options to move upward in the MWC. Seriously? Look at the comparison between these two leagues: CUSA in 2014 MWC 2014 North Texas Fresno State La Tech Boise State UTSA San Diego State Rice Hawaii Southern Miss Nevada UTEP UNLV UAB Colorado State Marshall New Mexico Western Kentucky Wyoming Middle Tennessee Air Force Florida Atlantic Utah State Florida International San Jose State Charlotte Old Dominion Its not close, people, in either football or basketball. Not at all. The best hoops teams in the new CUSA will probably be WKU or ODU. These schools make the tournament and immediately get seeded in double digits. UNM (granted, they choke every year in the tournament), SDSU, and UNLV last year made the tournament and were all seeded in single digits. Football isn't close either. Boise State needs no explanantion. Fresno State seems to have finally found the season to beat everyone they play, both in OOC and in conference, and Hawaii has made a BCS bowl. At various times over the years, Nevada, Air Force, Colorado State, San Jose State, Utah State, and Wyoming have had great teams, ones that have gotten ranked fairly highly. In CUSA of 2014, La Tech, USM, and Marshall have been ranked in the last decade at some point. I'm sorry, but this is just not close, which is funny because the "closeness" is the only con against this league for us to be apart of it. But, if you go over there with another school, say UTEP or UTSA, I think it would be a huge opportunity for us to play teams that have MUCH higher reputations in college sports than who we will play in CUSA going forward. Its porbably a moot point, anyway. I'm still fairly certain that the MWC will get back in Texas by adding some combo of UH, SMU, UTEP, and UTSA eventually.

There's no way, I mean no way, that this university is going to buy out his contract after this year. He will be here, at a BARE minimum, of another year before that will be considered. My guess is that we have him for two additional years beyond this one before the consideration of firing him would happen.

Yeah, because being 12 degrees outside, on a Thursday night, with a 2-win team playing powerhouse UNLV is normal for the AFA... Its funny, I remember when TCU played AFA up there and lost in OT a few years back on a Thursday night. Both teams were ranked. It was a full house. Yeah, I cannot wait to go play at UAB, Charlotte, Old Dominion, F_U, Western Kentucky Marshall, or MUTS again. Those games are WAAAYYYY closer than those games way out west, especially against those spare programs like Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada, etc...Who would want to ever play in a conference with ranked teams that can get into BCS bowls? CUSA is much better--because we can travel to see games in Ruston, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston. Never mind that none of the schools in this league currently or previously, have ever been to a BCS bowl game.///sarcasm I'm sorry, but I can get people out to Apogee and the Super Pit to watch games against Hawaii, San Diego State, Nevada, Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State, AFA, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Utah State, and San Jose State. The only game I could get anyone to attend this season was UTEP, you know, since people have heard of them, even though they are terrible. Granted, Rice would have been a game people would go watch if it hadn't been on Halloween, but the point remains. We think too small time about the future of the program and where we want it to be. TCU fans and administration showed us what winning in the MWC can do for a program that is really not on par with the AQs in funding or support. I have no doubt that if the right perosnnel and recruits were in play, that UNT would be able to enjoy similar success as the Frogs did in the MWC, with their 12k enrollment. Ask yourself this--if we were playing the AFA this weekend in Denton, who tremendously sucks this year, would we draw more people to Apogee than playing UTSA at home? The answer seems fairly obvious, to me.

Dodge left McCarney with the smallest lines a FBS program could have. ANything that has been developed from those two lines are only because of Mac's experience in developing linemen, specifically in strength and conditioning and in technique. Dodge left him Dunbar and some nice other nice pieces that had to be developed. Coker got a national champion team for his first two years, even if they lost the last one to Ohio State on a bogus pass interference call in OT. Once those guys left, Coker's teams really fell back. After he was fired, Miami's program is about as mediocre as it has been in the last 40 years. That said, Coker was the perfect person to start UTSA's program. He has name recognition and creditbility because of those Miami teams, which helps with their fanbase, media, and the high school coaches here in Texas. UTSA has everything laid out for them to become a great non-AQ program. We will see if Coker can lead them up to that level...I sure wouldn't underestimate them.

I hear you on what he can deal with here, but most coaches worth their salt--and that definitely includes McCarney--aren't folks that are known to be "settlers". Sure, Peterson and Patterson are examples of coaches who have stayed put, but their universities have heavily compensated them to stay and moved their programs into higher profile conferences along the way. Maybe UNT does the same thing to reward Coach Mac, if needed. But the clear majority of coaches, no matter their age, are always looking to move upward and get the raise in pay and stature while they can get it. This is especially true between non-AQ and AQ conferences. Illinois will get more money from bowls and their Big Ten membership, while not winning a game, than any non-AQ team , except for the one who makes a BCS Bowl. IN other words, Illinois can easily dump a guy who has been Dodge-esque in his tenure there, for a true re-builder with strong Midwestern roots and in a league where his run-first offense would play very well. All the while, he gets double his pay. And the longer he waits, the more his age does come into play as a factor against him, notwithstanding his energy and attitude. If he leaves UNT for another place, it will be after this season or next. Illinois would fit just about every characteristic of a job that McCarney has excelled at in the last 15 years. I'd love for him to say no, if offered. But I'd be shocked if he said no to this hypothetical offer. Remember, Hayden Fry left here for moribund Iowa in 1978, where he hired Coach Mac. The rest was history--and Illinois is an easier place to recruit to than Iowa. Maybe Illinois won't consider even talking to him, much less making an offer his way. But if I were the AD up there, I'd be putting out feelers to see if Coach Mac would be interested.

I've said this for a while, but Mac's energy and attitude make him feel younger than he really is. He would be an excellent candidate for the AQ teams that are down on their luck in the Midwest. Illinois could get Coach Mac for what they are currently paying and get experience and a winner in him. Plus, he is known as a turnaround artist, which can easily be sold to your fanbase, even in Illinois. He can EASILY get a compensation package of over $2 million in Champaign, Illinois. I'm not sure he can get to $1 million in compensation here in Denton anytime soon. The attendance thing matters, but not nearly as much as many think. We were the absolute dreg of FBS--along with Western Kentucky--when McCarney took over here. We've never had good attendance, so it was going to take time to get people back into the fold, which is just now happening. The biggest differences are simply money and conference affiliation. Think about this--if he gets Illinois to 6-6, he will be GUARANTEED to go to at least the Heart of Dallas Bowl. If he gets UNT to 8-4, you MIGHT get to the Heart of Dallas Bowl. If you can get double your pay for being able to go to the same bowl in the Big Ten that takes a great season in CUSA, you'd be a fool not to at least listen. And Coach Mac is not a fool...

These people are true idiots...they make Tech fans look smart and sophisticated.

I think the league is just such a punchline to college football fans and media that it makes it really easy to dismiss them. Even when the SBC has had a decent team or two, it still has been looked down upon. Heck, there have been years where the SBC was easily better league-wide than the MAC, the old WAC, or old CUSA and still didn't get any love from college football media or fans. It will always be the the dregs of FBS, which is unfair, but there's just not much that can be done about it. Even college football writers won't give a SBC championship team a vote to be ranked, while the other non-AQ conference champions usually get ranked or a lot of votes to be ranked. Its tough when you are consistently being trotted out as a bought win in several OOC games, especially at the beginning of the season. That perception never gets wiped away by the end of the season in the voters eyes.