GrandGreen

UNO was established in 1958 not all that new, used to be LSUNO. It would be a blow to lose it's athletics teams, as it would at La Tech, ULM and ULL. Those taking this lightly, may want to consider that most schools athletics are subtantial money losers and even though Texas universities sports are not directly funded by the state, if this economic downturn continued things like student fee funded stadiums may be blocked.

You really have to search for something to bitch about in that game. Almost any coach is going to play it the way JJ did. You want to keep your starters in and beat a conference club by 50. Those type of things tend to come back to bit you.

Everyone better hope that Riley is the real deal. I dread to think what this club would be lead by a true freshman or a journeyman junior quarterback. Thompson and/or Tune maybe adequate or better quarterbacks, but NT is going to need someone bordering on exceptional to begin to turn this team around. Who is the most likely to be successful, the MVP of class 5A and a Parade All American raised in the offensive system, or a lightly recruited freshman or a former walk on.

I don't think JJ will change anything, but how about doing the opposite and going with a two guard lineup. Start Johnson or White at the point and Thompson at the two with Tremiel, Hogans and Odufuwa. Concentrate on getting inside buckets instead of bombing away with threes. NT is next to last in conference games in three point percentage at 30.8%. This proposed lineup should be a much better rebounding club and should also vastly improve the internal defense. Seems to me worth a try if only for segments of the game.

This is getting old. No defense or offense when the game is on the line. Even the USA announcers wondered why NT didn't hammer it on the inside with all of USA's big men in foul trouble. No, NT who will rely on three pointers, no matter they haven't shot them well in ages.

Good data about Lewis, I wondered what happened to him. I wonder which side of the ball he will end up next year. You are correct about the freshmen wr signees. Fentress, I think should be added as he was signed that year but had to set out a year after transferring from Rice.

I am always amazed this time of year, how there is almost universal glee directed toward the latest recruiting class. No matter were the class is rated or how many reaches are included, fans see visions of All Americans and greatly improved teams. NT status with the rating services has been well documented by Vito, with NT behind at least eight of the Texas teams and not remotely close to the Belt's Troy. Of course, it is hard to keep up with Troy who thus far has listed 41 signees. I really don't think many expected NT with all the on and off field issues to have a good year when it came to the recruiting services' ratings. I do think that under the circumstances, that Dodge and staff did well especially when compared to previous staffs. Instead of bemoaning the state of NT program and choosing among those with few other options, it appears to me that Dodge and staff really scrambled and assembled what I think will be a very Belt competitive class. Has NT ever signed 10 out of state players? Has any Texas team ever signed five Louisiana players, much less four from New Orleans? All the Louisiana schools rely heavily on Texas recruits, it seems strange going the other way. I have always wondered particularly when DD heavily mined Oklahoma, why he didn't do the same in Louisiana. Although Louisiana is farther from Denton, it has a lot more players than Oklahoma, NT has a good presence there playing in the Belt and with the obvious exception of LSU should be able to recruit with all the state's universities. NT generally signed the players in the need positions, but I was a little surprised at some of position numbers. I would have liked to see another QB, although Dodge has got me convinced that NT got an excellent candidate. I did wonder about Dodge's comment about not recruiting a QB unless they had followed him over a long period. Seemed strange that NT would limit itself by not following more QBs if that much scrutiny is really needed and also seemed to ignore that Vizza and in fact the whole first class was put together in weeks. Dodge managed to get his usual large class of receivers with by my count 6 who would be tried at that position. Anyone else wonder about Dodge's statement that he would only have nine wide receivers on scholarship? Bringing a juco in at offensive lineman and the number of corner backs also was a little puzzling. The offensive line seems relatively loaded, so Bean must be considered a very good prospect. Although the corner-backs were extremely exploited last year, the position had numbers and a lot of potential. I would have also like for NT to got another linebacker, the squad seems very thin. I do look for the two NT signed to both play this year.

If it makes anyone feel better. I have a subscription and cannot access the event.

Tyler Washington threw the discus 198' 6" as a sophomore, the fifth best in the nation that year. I don't think he was close to that his junior year, but I did find were he threw over 175 feet in the discus and 57' 7" in the shot last year. This guy must be a super athlete. He may be the best recruit of the class.

Looks like a good pick up for LB. A position I think that NT needs more at this time than DE.

Assistant coaches have to be nomadic to survive. Negative alert, do not read further if offended by semi rational conclusions! There are hundreds of assistant coaching candidates available with college experience, there are thousands of coaches that would like to coach at the highest level of college football. So there are always good choices for even programs as down as NT is right down. However, just like recruiting, NT is not going to be able to pick from the top shelf. If being in the Belt and not being able to offer anything approaching salaries that are now prevalent in the FB division is not a big enough hurdle, any position on the current NT football coaching staff has got to be viewed as very risky at this point. Up and comming coaches with college experience are just not going to go to this program. So your choices are going to be limited primarily to coaches wanted to move up to the next level with little or no experience or unemployed coaches on the down slope of their career. Under those circumstances, it looks like Nelson is a good choice. He certainly has the experience not only to coach but to work well with Deloach and Dodge.

Waco Reicher is a private school about equivalent to a 2a school. Doesn't mean he is not a great QB but he got his numbers against a low level of competition.

Not going to beat many teams, jacking up threes and letting the other team drive to the basket almost at will. Very disappointing loss, if NT had half the discipline that Troy demonstrated; they would be a good team.

You do know UNT was in 1aa at that time?

You obviously have not seen the damage that still exists in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Not to mention not having any consideration for the number of people who lost not only most of their material belongings but loved ones to the tragedy. I would hope that NT fans are above that kind of verbal abuse. Also you might consider NT has two players from NO, which I am sure might not appreciate the humor in Katrina. I am sure this will be interpretated by some as just the ramblings of someone who doesn't get it, but IMO using Katrina in this matter would be truly classless.

Tougher choice than you might think. Men's golf as pointed out, is the only sport that NT actually has a national championship in. Cross country is part of the track program which actually counts as 3 different sports (outdoor track, cross country, indoor track) with the cross country runners generally filling the long distance positions of the track teams. The NCAA does not divide the track program ships between the 3 segments. Title nine is also based on total scholarship numbers not sports sponsored. Thus to offset baseball with a ship limit of 11.7, you would have to cancel the whole men's track program which only has 12.6 ships allowed. This would also put NT below the minimum number of sports necessary to be in the FB division. Cancellation of the Golf team would only offset 4.5 ships needed to get to the maximum for baseball. Title IX, in my opinion should be challenged. No matter how noble its intentions it has put a great burden on the "have-nots" of college sports. Funding sports with not even a remote chance of breaking even or for that fact provide very little in any type of recognition for the school in the same category as football is certainly questionable. There needs to be some type of financial reality added to the equation.

I think that other than Gilmore hopefully at de, the rest of the defensive positions are up for grabs. At DE, NT actually has a number of players that could elevate their game to be good Belt players. I think the main competition for the other starter will be between Owussu-Heming, who is probably the best athlete among the other de's, and Sykes who apparently got the coaches excited last year but never quite turned the corner. Russo did come on at the end of the year and could challenge as could a seniors Cole and Stewart. Pending no more turnover, de should have some depth. The starting dt positions should be wide open. Atkinson not going to spring practice is going to hinder his early play. I look for Ross and Desoto to be the starting dts, both showed significant improvement at the end of the year. I think the rotation will be Ross, Desoto, Atkinson and Brown. I hope Cantly, Hawthorne and Franklin can contribute but I don't see them challenging for a starting role. Robertson and Nwigwe should return as starters at linebacker with juco Charles battling Pinson for the third position. Warren should be a solid backup but after that there is not much experience. The defensive backfield should be much better (it would almost have to be). Three year starter Bush will be one cornerback. The other corner will probably be the juco Smith. I look for Hill to be the primary backup, with Cook and Adams contributing. The safeties should be returning starters Williams and Kylee Hill with Shorter and Agbottoh. I do think this defense has the potential to be at least adequate in the Belt. The talent level is improving but more importantly one more year of Deloach's leadership should be seen on the field.

There always has been and there remains a great many reasons to go to UNT. If you include TWU, there can't be many better girl to boy ratio in the nation for males. NT is a good academic institution and offers as diversified campus as any in the state. Add to that Denton has to be one of the best college locations in the state. What locations are better? I would disqualify Lubbock, Waco, Houston, and El Paso on the surface. TCU or SMU have good metroplex locations but nether can offer the college town atmosphere of Denton. College station is not bad, but it is A&M and it does not offer the eclectic background or easy access to larger cities that Denton does. Austin would have been my hands down choice a couple of decades ago, but it has lost a lot of it charms and now feels much like any other big city. Along with SMU and TCU, UNT offers easy access to one of the most viable employment centers in the world. I alway remember Hayden Fry's quote, "If I can get them on the campus, I can recruit them".

Strange quote, the AD could have further restricted the release if he had wanted. Who do you think granted the release if not the AD? If Gio does go to A&M, I wish him good luck. It will be interested to see if he is givien a ship to A&M, if not; then it doesn't matter if he got a release or not.

I don't like the term "mid majors", but I don't dislike the concept. The fact is that there are enormous differences in all sports in the amount spent, facilities, coaching, etc. between the haves and the have-nots. I see nothing wrong with trying to honor teams that do well compared to their piers in terms of similar resources.

I wouldn't get too excited about that attendance number. Great come back, it would have been awful to lose to Denver, who now has lost 39 straight road games and also are one of the youngest teams in the nation. Is there anyone who can explain why NT with 37 seconds in the first half and trailing by 17 NT decided to stall the ball. Of course it resulted in a turnover. Great to see Dennis have a good game, I think he turned it around with his aggressive play along with McCoy who finally hit a couple of threes. Awful first half followed by a much better second half, obviously aided by a young team with a "can't win on the road mindset". Great hustle and defense in the second half saved NT, but the offense still looks out of sync to me.

NT (2-4, 6-11) beat Denver (4-2, 9-7) 76-69. Best game in ages for Green. Won at free throw line going 21-24. Had four players in double figures : Escalero 18, El 17, James 15, and Jackson 12 with 10 rebounds. Jo Hall is back after an eight games suspension and had 6 points.

You don't see a lot of difference in getting outscored by over 3 more tds a game. I was one of DD's biggest critics but this team went from real bad but relatively competitive under DD to undoubtedly the worst in the nation.

JJ's record the last 4 seasons and thus far this year is 36-35 in conference. Not exactly great but obviously a great improvement over Trilli. JJ seems to have the team poised to take that next step and actually be in the conference regular season championship race, but it has not yet happened. His recruiting has greatly improved over his first few years and he seems to have the talent to get over that hump and join the elite of the conference, but in general his teams continue to be mediore except that great tournament run of two years ago. I would love to see a team that is better than a win most of the home games and lose most of the away games in the league. That maybe too much to ask with a team that garners so little support from the fan base and administration. Despite having great basketball facilities, I guess it is hard to sell a program that struggles to fill 20% of their stadium despite having an exciting team. JJ is currently a good not great coach but he is actually a lot better than the program deserves based on it's support level.

I think what the conference season has demonstrated thus far, is just about any team can beat any other team. NT has gone to overtime with three of the better programs and obviously these games could have gone either way. I am concerned that NT has not been consistent and seems to have lost their shooting touch in the last three and a half games. However, I am encouraged that the front court is obviously improving and despite poor outside shooting and at times poor ball handling, NT has been in every game beginning with the Arkansas game. I don't think there is a team in the conference unlike last year that NT cannot beat. If last years two best players, White and Dennis, can get near their play levels of the past; NT should be hard to beat.