NT80

The all-sports awards are biased towards those programs that sponsor more sports, thus get more points, like baseball. The article implies they might consider a MAC spot if offered. They seem discontent with being in a basement league as much as our fanbase does too. It's a no-brainer that most of NT's largest attendances have been for non-conference contests.

I still found it interesting on their impressions of the situation. Got anything newer to post?

This "little to gain" attitude is a theme for many large programs thinking of going on the road to play SunBelt-U. But they need more home game$ themselves for revenue, thus the quandry. The 2-for-1 deal seems to be the going standard for most mid-majors vs. BCS programs. NT has this deal with K-State in the future. I wonder if any provision in that contract specified stadium location in Denton; ie Fouts vs New Stadium? I would think NT would travel as well if not better to Stillwater for the payback than Troy. If Troy can get Missouri and OSU to Troy, Alabama, population 15,000, and SMUt can get A$M to play in Highland Park, population 15,000, then Big Denton should be able to attract some major opponents whenever we get that upgraded facility. The whenever part about the stadium is the *, and kink, in the negotiations. Time to fix the kinks.

gterry's SportingBlog entries tagged with KentArsenaultDarrell Dickey Jan 26, 2007 01:15 PM Filed under:KentArsenault 976 views THE DARRELL DICKEY ARTICLE, UNEDITED AND UNCUT ************************** The new offensive coordinator has not occupied his office in the Harris Athletic Center long enough to begin accumulating personal touches like family photos or plants yet. But there are signs that Darrell Dickey has already been at work preparing for next football season, most conspicuous being the projector and screen set up for viewing film of his new team. The impressive hunk of bejeweled metal on Dickey's right ring finger is a constantly visible reminder of the great successes Dickey had while at North Texas: four consecutive Sun Belt titles, four Sun Belt Coach of the Year awards and two NCAA-leading rushers. Looking alert and rested, Dickey appears to be a far cry health-wise from the man who had his gal bladder removed, suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with diabetes within a nine-month span last year. Dickey's most recent visit to Logan was in Mick Dennehy's last year here, when USU was North Texas' rival in the Sun Belt Conference. He recalled a great, back-and-forth contest with Leon Jackson III and Kevin Robinson making plays for USU. The game ultimately hinged on a Travis Cox fumble into the end zone which was returned for a touchdown. "There was a great crowd...I was very impressed with the city, the stadium, the crowd and the program. I always have been. I'm very excited to be here," Dickey said. "Fortunately for Utah State, there are advantages that we have here. The facilities are excellent and getting better. We didn't have an indoor facility at North Texas. Our stadium wasn't really as pretty as this one." The news of Dickey's firing from North Texas after the most recent season provoked outrage in Denton, Texas, where the university is located. Furniture magnate Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale gave the university an ultimatum when he learned Dickey had been fired: name the new practice facility McIngvale donated $1 million toward building after the recently fired coach, or the money would go toward North Texas' music program instead. The university agreed to play ball with McIngvale. "Right's right and wrong's wrong. It's the right thing to do. I don't think firing a guy three weeks after he had a heart attack was the right thing to do, either. Even Wall Street is not that callous," McIngvale said. In this case, North Texas' loss will be USU's gain. Dickey said USU's 1-11 record last year didn't concern him as he spoke with USU Head Coach Brent Guy before taking the offensive coordinator job. "Probably the biggest thing we talked about wasn't 1-11 or any statistics. We talked about what are you doing to build a program. The things he is doing I strongly believe in: bringing in young guys, redshirting them, developing for the future. These are things I went through at North Texas. The first three years we struggled to win some games. Players would get into the fourth quarter and figure out how to lose a game as opposed to how to win one." Dickey, who was a four-year starting quarterback at Kansas State, has an impressive pedigree, repeatedly associating himself with losing football programs that improved while he was there. "They have told me I'm crazy everything I've done my whole life. I went to school at Kansas State when we were considered the laughingstock of college football," Dickey said. "When I took the North Texas job, people said there's no way on earth under the circumstances that you can win games playing four and five money games a year." USU fans who remember the Sun Belt days recall the conference being ruled with an iron fist by North Texas; during Dickey's streak of four consecutive league titles, the Mean Green went 26-1 against Sun Belt opponents. Running backs Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas led the NCAA in rushing in back-to-back years, Cobbs with 152.7 yards per game, Thomas with 180.1 yards per game the next season after Cobbs hurt his knee. The top four rushers in university history all played under Dickey. Dickey noted that while he has gotten most of his notoriety with a strong running game, "we didn't start winning football games until we had balance in our offense. I believe strongly that you have to be able to run the ball. But I believe to do that and to put points on the board, you've got to have a very effective passing game. Play-action off that running game is where you get your big plays and exciting plays." Although Dickey said he will emphasize running the ball with the zone play and there may be some carryover from last year in the passing game, he will tailor his offense to fit the personnel USU has. "We're going to finish recruiting, and I'm going to sit down with the coaches. I'm a guy who likes to have input from the rest of the coaches," Dickey said. "I have a philosophy, but I've always had to tweak it and adjust it to fit the personnel we have." Dickey said the biggest obstacle to create a winning culture he has encountered elsewhere in his career is confidence, or a lack thereof. "If you're dealing with 18-, 19- and 20-year-old kids that haven't had success up to this point, sometimes you've got to convince them. Give them something to hang their hat on," Dickey said. "Confidence doesn't come from statistics, and it doesn't come from your past. Next year it's a whole new ball game." Building that confidence is no easy task. It often takes several years for a new coach to build the program the way he wants and start accumulating wins. Guy knows this well, having taken his lumps in the WAC the last two years with rosters short on upper classmen. But that is precisely why Dickey said he is excited about the opportunity here, because Guy is committed to building USU's football program for the long term. "I've seen people that take jobs and just try and patch it together and win six games and then take off to the next job and leave it a mess. Just by looking at the board and seeing what Coach Guy has done with recruiting, that's not what he's doing here. He's trying to get this thing to where once it's good it's consistently good," Dickey said. North Texas had to buy out the remaining years on Dickey's contract when they decided to fire him. The $524,167, which will be paid out to Dickey in monthly installments, is enough money to ensure he would never have to coach again if he didn't want to. Ask him why he is a football coach, though, and dollar signs don't appear in his eyes. "The reason I enjoy coaching is to see the look on people's face that have never done it, that doubted themselves and doubted their team, and all of a sudden good things start happening," Dickey said.

I'm surprised Vito hasn't posted this transfer info yet on his MG Blog. I doubt we'll likewise see any mention on the official site, usually only mentions signings.

It will happen only when the oil companies don't suppress the technology.

The controller tapes are very interesting to hear also for some of these accidents: http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/atcwav.shtml Likewise, the accident videos are worth a view: http://www.airdisaster.com/movies/

It's true: http://extra.holyfamily.edu/athletics/storydetail.asp?id=651 Men's Basketball inks Sturns for upcoming 2007-08 academic year (5/17/2007) PHILADELPHIA – Holy Family Head Men’s Basketball Coach Alfred Johnson has announced that Michael Sturns has signed with the Tigers for the 2007-08 season. Sturns will transfer to Holy Family from the University of North Texas. Sturns, a 6-5 point guard from Fort Worth, Texas, was the top scoring sixth man in the Sun Belt Conference last season for the Mean Green. Sturns averaged 12.1 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per contest while at North Texas, helping the team advance to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. He scored a career-high 28 points in a loss to the University of New Orleans on December 16. During the 2005-06 season, Sturns played in 18 of the first 19 games, scoring in double figures nine times during the span. While at North Crowley High School, Sturns was a McDonald’s All-America nominee and an all-state nominee as he averaged 18.3 points per game. “Sturns is a big, quick scoring point guard that will help our program,” Johnson said. Holy Family finished 19-9 last season, finishing in a three-way tie atop the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. A big loss of talent for the program. Out of control some of the time, but still a good athlete. He had some NBA moves.

http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/cvrwav.shtml

Utah State 2007 schedule: Aug. 30 UNLV Sept. 8 at Wyoming Sept. 15 at Oklahoma Sept. 22 San Jose State Sept. 29 at Utah Oct. 6 at Hawaii Oct. 20 Nevada Oct. 27 Louisiana Tech Nov. 3 at Fresno State Nov. 10 Boise State Nov. 17 at NMSU Nov. 24 at Idaho 2006 Record: 1-11 9/2 at Wyoming L 38-7 9/9 at Arkansas L 20-0 9/16 Utah L 48-0 9/23 at BYU L 38-0 9/30 Idaho L 41-21 10/7 Fresno State W 13-12 10/14 at San Jose St L 21-14 10/21 at La Tech L 48-35 11/4 Hawaii L 63-10 11/11 at Nevada L 42-0 11/18 at Boise State L 49-10 11/25 New Mexico St L 42-20 From CFN: The season will be a success if ... the Aggies win three games, or at least put up far more of a fight. Experience should make the team more competitive, but it remains to be seen if there’s enough talent to win games against teams like Louisiana Tech and Idaho. It’s likely Utah State will be the underdog in all 12 games.

Gas goes up before every summer driving season starts. Just like price gouging after a disaster. Yes, there is a reason the oil companies are making record profits.

Candidates for ugliest college football uniforms: http://static.flickr.com/67/171277505_38ad397e95_b.jpg http://www.gatorzone.com/football/images/s.../1130634228.jpg http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1061/407045.jpg http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/live/s...06_wsu/r_14.jpg http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2005-...415pittfb-a.jpg http://www.suathletics.com/Sports/Football...formGallery.asp http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml...p;ATCLID=877632 http://www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net/...61112010543.jpg http://images.dawgsports.com/images/admin/..._all_purple.jpg

Don't know when our unis will be shown. Here is South Carolina's Under Armour uniforms: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/4630235...582be615f_o.jpg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/4630235...7132bdae1_o.jpg

I think those are teams in the first category: PAYING A GUARANTEE We (and SMUt) are in the second category: BUYING (Willing to play for a guarantee) The third group are teams looking for home/home games with no $ exchanged.

Did UNT miss a chance to get the "Todd Dodge" of area women's high school basketball? It was funny though last night when Dale Hansen interviewed her and asked if she had "any concerns about playing on that stage?" at UTA. ............................................................................... Morrow named UTA women's basketball coach Thursday, May 17, 2007 By DAMON L. SAYLES / The Dallas Morning News ARLINGTON – Samantha Morrow considered herself "in a win-win situation." Morrow was introduced as the UT-Arlington women's basketball coach Wednesday evening. The former Mansfield Summit girls coach will take over June 1, athletic director Pete Carlon said. Morrow, 47, resigned at Summit last month to become an assistant athletic director for the Mansfield ISD. She said she was content with the position, but there was something intriguing about the UTA job. Samantha Morrow won more than 400 games coaching at Mansfield and Mansfield Summit. "People kept reminding me how much I loved kids and coaching," Morrow said. "After the phone call I got [Monday] with Pete, I had to go visit with some people and ask what they thought. "They said, 'You're crazy! You've got to do it!' I didn't get much work done in the last hour Tuesday. I just needed to think about it." Her reflections resulted in UTA hiring its eighth women's basketball coach – one with a revered high school track record. Morrow was 413-77 in 14 seasons at Mansfield (1993-2002) and Summit (2003-07) and won four consecutive UIL 5A state championships from 1999 to 2002. Carlon said Morrow hasn't signed a contract yet but has agreed in principle to coach. Terms were not disclosed, but Carlon said she has a three-year deal that includes performance incentives. Morrow earned 10 district titles, advanced to the UIL playoffs 13 times and claimed 30 or more victories in eight of her 14 seasons. She coached in her fifth state tournament in March, as Summit lost to eventual state champion Rockwall in the 5A semifinals. Carlon said Morrow was to Texas high school girls basketball as current North Texas football coach Todd Dodge was to football during his successful tenure at Southlake Carroll. "There's not a high school gym in Texas – in the country, really – that she cannot walk into and have instant credibility and respect," Carlon said. "I think that will bode well for recruiting." Morrow will replace Donna Capps, who resigned in April to accept an assistant athletic director position with the Mesquite ISD. Capps was 119-89 in seven seasons and left as the program's all-time winningest coach. Morrow called UTA a "gold mine." She inherits a team that finished 24-9 and made the NCAA Women's Tournament for the second time in three seasons. The 24 wins was a school single-season record. "I would not be coming to this program if I did not believe in it," Morrow said. "She believes UTA is a sleeping giant," added Mansfield ISD athletic director Debbie Weems, who Morrow replaced as Mansfield's coach in 1993. "There's a lot of potential here with the athletes in the area. "It's a great loss for Mansfield. Twenty years of success is walking out of our door. But on the other hand, we're very proud of her. It's a new direction for her." Twenty-nine of Morrow's former players have earned athletic scholarships, with 19 at the Division I level. Former Texas Tech standout Erin Grant, Morrow's most renowned player who is working out with the WNBA's Houston Comets, was happy – and somewhat surprised – with the move. "I didn't think she'd ever leave the high school level because I knew how much she liked teaching the kids," Grant said. "But I knew if the right opportunity came available, she'd make a great candidate." One player extremely excited about the hire was LaTosha Duffey, a 2006 Summit graduate who will be reunited with her former head coach. Morrow also coached Shalyn Martin and Tamara Simmons, who will play for UTA in the fall. "I found out [Tuesday], and it still doesn't feel real to me. I'm real excited," Duffey said. "I don't think it'll hit me until the first practice." Morrow credited Capps for building a solid program. Capps led the team to its first outright conference title last season. That success motivates Morrow for the upcoming seasons. "She started a reputation, and I want to grow it," Morrow said. "I want to win a [postseason] game. Then I want to win two, and then I want to win three. Let's step it up to another level." SAMANTHA MORROW Age: 47 Education: BS in Physical Education (Texas Wesleyan, 1981); Master's of Education (Tarleton State, 1987). Notable: Morrow was the named the 2002 national coach of the year by the National Federation of High School Coaches Association. ... Morrow's first state championship with Mansfield in 1999 capped a 38-0 season. ... The five-person selection committee included two former UTA players, Rola Ogunoye and Ashley Bobb. Both athletes played against Morrow in high school. PAST UTA COACHES Samantha Morrow becomes the eighth eighth women's basketball coach at UT-Arlington. Here's how the others fared: Coach Years Record Carla Lowery 1972-73 12-21 Jody Conradt 1973-76 43-39 Cindy Salser 1976-79 51-38 Connie Kelch 1979-89 117-172 Jerry Isler 1989-92 42-43 Mike Dean 1992-2000 115-105 Donna Capps 2000-07 119-89

It looks like NT and SMUt are both on the "buying" list, ie wanting to play a road game for $$. Sad, but probably budget concerns outweigh fan support and rivalry purposes. That still doesn't explain road trips we took last year to places like Nicholls State in front of 200 people.

Yes, I believe it's a combination of reasons, but at the top is Title 9, equal number of ships for men and women. If we add baseball, which I believe requires 13 men's ships then we must add lacrosse or another women's sport with 13 ships. So really we are now talking adding 26 ships, plus a baseball field and lacrosse field (or whatever sport), plus equipment, plus travel, plus paid coaches = $3-4 million startup without ever playing a game yet. Then consider a minimum $1.5-2 million per season to keep it going and within 3 years you have spent $10 million. $10 million of which could have went towards the $40 million new football stadium which would bring in the $1 million A&M game to Denton which Smut is hosting in a few years. Then you can start to build some real revenue to finance those extra sports like baseball. It's just a matter of $$ and choices with the limited amout we have. I want baseball too, but I want a new $tadium, and better conference first.

If you look at quotes from recruits it most likely would be ranked: 1. coach and staff 2. early chance to play 3. location 4. facilities/opponents/TV 5. major

Stanford, Jim Harbaugh, 1.5 He hasn't even coached a game yet at Stanford and is already up the scale.

If JJ can land this Big man then it will be a good class. It worked out this year, but this recruiting process of waiting for leftovers from other programs seems a gamble to get what we need. Perhaps "Tic" can help secure recruits sooner?

Tickets fly for NFL game in London Wed May 16, 12:10 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - The first 40,000 tickets made available for the NFL's game in London were sold in 90 minutes on Wednesday, the league said. Tickets for the October 28 game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants were made available at first only to fans in Europe. The game, to be played at London's 90,000-seat newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium, marks the first time the NFL has played a regular season game overseas. "This is a game for hard-core fans from all over the world," Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL United Kingdom, said in a statement. "Obviously the predominant number of fans will be from the UK, but there will be large numbers from the U.S. and Europe as well." The 40,000 tickets in the first batch were made available to fans randomly selected from registered ticket requests. The NFL said more than 500,000 requests were received within three days of the announcement of the game in February. Ticket sales in the United States to Giants and Dolphins fans were expected to begin within a week, with additional tickets being released in Britain next month.

You could just re-read all the old "meaningful" threads. Until football practice starts in August there is little "new" football news.

Didn't Univ. of Tulsa just open a new on-campus arena a couple years ago? Does the City of Tulsa really need two new arenas?

The athletic site article said she just recently accepted a high school principals job? That seems like odd timing when the softball team was just eliminated last week. I do think the team improved a lot this season over last. http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle...p;ATCLID=896786

While an indoor practice facility would be nice someday, it doesn't add revenue like a new stadium would. We need to replace the 1952 eyesore first. I would even vote for a new baseball stadium over an indoor practice area.... http://www.tribalgrounds.com/belt/forum_en...&order=time