GrayEagle
-
Posts
5,099 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
6 -
Points
30,890 [ Donate ]
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
GoMeanGreen.com
Posts posted by GrayEagle
-
-
No kidding. Where's that basketball practice facility RV is responsible for located?
It's a technicality. It was hidden under our noses all the time, cleverly disguised as the Men's Gym, err...Ken Bahnsen Arena. RV just added basketball practice to its usage.
-
1
-
-
Except for La Tech the MWC teams are better than the WAC that they are leaving. Better than that, they at least have a conference to go to. The WAC won't have the necessary eight teams to have a viable league.
-
Something doesn't seem right. MWCUSA is losing part or all of DFW, Houston, Orlando, Boise, and San Diego markets but is picking up part of Monroe and they can command more TV money than the previous contracts?
What we got out of this that is more than one person's opinion is that the two conferences will meet January 15 to discuss their future. Don't take anything more than that from it.
-
1
-
-
If Rice were substituted for Southern Miss this would be the TV markets and their rank:
North Texas - DFW - #5
Rice - Houston - #10
Colorado State - Denver - #17
UNLV - Las Vegas - #40
New Mexico - Albuquerque - #45
Fresno State - Fresno - #55
Tulsa - Tulsa - #59
Hawaii - Honolulu - #71
Air Force - Colorado Springs - #90
UTEP - El Paso - #91
Nevada - Reno - #108
Wyoming - Cheyenne - #195
That's a lot of TV households. Conference should remain stable with only Air Force on any higher conference's want list. Attendance should average in the lower 30s. All stadiums seat at least 30,000. All have athletic budgets above $20M. Should be the top nonAQ conference.
-
1
-
-
If and when North Texas is accepted into a higher profile conference, have door hangers made announcing the fact, ask for community support (and their support in particular) and get volunteer students and/or alumni to distribute them to every house in Denton.
-
1
-
-
I like the heck out of this suggestion. Where's the "Airport Six" to make it happen?
If the group didn't want to go east of Texas/Oklahoma then I'd be willing to swap Southern Miss for Rice. As the poster said, "Rice is a fine institution" and while their days have faded, the Houston market would be a plus for the TV contract.
CUSA would survive but they could strip the Sun Belt of its best teams and definitely finish the WAC for football.
Just one stipulation...none of this "football only" garbage. I'd hope that would even include Hawaii. There might need to be some negotiations whereby no mainland team has to travel there more than once every four years in the non-revenue sports but let's have this an all-sports conference.
-
1
-
-
Now do you see why you can't be open with negotiations until they are final? When they fail it's hard to come up with a plausible excuse. Not only are you disappointed and angry but the embarrassment will never go away.
-
1
-
-
Why would CUSA add two teams from the East?
It would make more sense to add FIU or FAU in the east.
And add UNT and or LA Tech or UTSA in the west.
There will be nine teams in CUSA when SMU, UCF and Houston depart so only three are needed to return the conference to twelve teams.
When negotiating TV contracts, larger TV markets are a better sell so that advertisers are happy. Temple is in the fourth largest TV market and North Texas is in the fifth. La Tech is the better program and would be my choice if there are no complaints from the TV network. FIU is in the large Miami market but is a young program that has had attendance problems until recently. Their on-campus stadium only seats 23,500. FAU, whose market is West Palm Beach, also has little history and attendance problems but at least they have a 30,000 seat stadium on their campus and have had two 20K+ crowds since it opened. CUSA is not an original entry conference so UTSA, who is not a FBS program yet, would not be in their radar. Their target should be the Sun Belt, who will take FCS and new programs.
-
3
-
-
east coast newspapers reporting that SMU,Houston,UCF[all sports],Boise[football only], and SDSU[football only] will join Big East by years end, and AFC and Navy[both football only] will make move in January, with ECU as backup. i know we have heard this for months, and i will believe it when it actually happens.Big East is dead set against letting WV out early, so this continues to be a messy divorce.
The Air Force Academy has decided against moving to the Big East. Besides, if they did there would be 13 members unless WV can manage to leave early.
-
If CUSA would return to 12 by adding Temple, North Texas and say, FAU, they shouldn't lose anything from their TV packet. In fact, they should gain. Basketball would be an attractive part of the package. I don't think that Conference USA has that much of a problem.
There are plenty of problems to go around though for the MWC and the Big East. The East, although they had to go 3,000 miles to do it, has saved themselves for the time being. The Mountain West on the other hand has been devastated. They have lost five expected top teams and left with few choice markets. They need CUSA until some of their teams can build back. They're trying to buy time and it appears that C-USA is going along so they have no complaint due.
The NCAA is a train wreck and is only going to get worse. There are solutions but until they get the cooperation of Delany and Slive they won't/can't happen.
-
1
-
-
I'm fairly certain we are no longer retaining Chuck Neinas' services, and I'm fairly certain he is not allowed to offer his consulting services as long as he is acting Big 12 commish.
Unless you're talking about somebody else . . . ?
I don't know if his acceptance as Big 12 (interim) commissioner voided his contract with us or not. Chuck, personally, might not be able to act in our behalf but that might not apply to his firm. Of course, if we were trying to get into the Big 12 that would be a conflict of interest, with or without a valid contract.
-
1
-
-
What did Banowsky say? I've read it a dozen times and I can't determine his intent other than talks will continue with no timetable. I know "coachspeak". I think that I've just been introduced to "commissionerspeak".
BTW, if there is a merger is there any indication of who survives as commissioner?
-
2
-
-
I didn't know that.
I just wish that our name would come up more in the conversations being had by non-North Texas people.
You might prefer for the work to stay behind the scenes. If any progress became known there would be a barrage of hate from both current members and aspirants. If a leak happened before anything was signed, and it backfired, we would be the butt of many jokes. Quietly, I'd like for our backers to know the progress but that would be public knowledge as soon as some members could get to their computers and phones.
I have confidence in our president. Dr. Rawlins knows the NCAA as well as any "outsider" could. We also have a consultant whose firm is very good at knowing which flesh to press. If there are additions, and I believe there will be, I like our chances a lot.
-
2
-
-
I don't think that transfers count toward the 25, only toward the total 85 scholarships allowed in any one year. We have a little wiggle room there.
-
Unless Air Force has agreed to go to the Big East, there are 17 teams left in the two leagues. Were they included and Navy dropped?
There hasn't been an announcement yet but my understanding is that the Big East will consist of:
1. West Virginia (for two more years)
2. Louisville (for possibly the same)
3. Cincinnati
4. Rutgers
5. Connecticut
6. South Florida
7. UCF
8. Houston
9. SMU
10. Boise State
11. San Diego State
12. Navy
That would leave nine in CUSA and eight in the Mountain West...total 17 (for football; 16 for all other sports). Does that mean that the Hawaii deal is off?
Unless they are guaranteed an AQ spot this merger is even more idiotic than the Big East area which I thought took the cake. When does sanity return to the NCAA?
-
Just curious Jack. When you were reading "The Story of North Texas" what was your impression about how the founders and early administrators of NT felt about that same question? Especially as it relates to athletics.
Same thing that I expected to find Bill, that North Texas early administrators intended to build the largest and finest teacher-training institute in the country. Athletics were important but strictly second-fiddle to building the college.
The man that changed it all was Dr. Joe McConnell. In 1949, he set up five different schools to form a university and dropped "teachers" from the official name. We were awarded our own Board of Regents and we largely became self-governing. He also began to change athletics from "small college" to "major college." The requirement then was simple...just schedule five or more major colleges and you were then a major college. We did that in 1953 and sealed it when we became members of the Missouri Valley Conference
in 1957.
Had Dr. McConnell lived a little longer then I believe that we'd be much farther along in endowments and athletics than we currently are.
-
Could not possibly disagree with you more. He doesn't need to shut up at all...he is the lone voice out there pulling us along like a gigantic anchor.
If anything, he needs to keep on going, louder and louder until word is actually passed along and RECEIVED by all those that had previously been playing the part of def ears...
Now you're talking! Dan certainly has a right to complain. His team and recruits looked directly across into a student section of what?...300-500 plus the band. God bless those students in attendance but they're far from enough to attract the caliber of players that we need to maintain a FBS university.
Coach Mac is off of his butt doing what he can to garner support but he needs a lot of help. The administration and the faculty need to be behind this program big-time. We have made a significant investment and we need to promote it. Everyone in the AD needs to be selling students and alumni, but especially students, on the merits of all of the programs of this university.
I remember Firefighting Rick leading a group of us over to the student side of Fouts after they had approved the athletic fee which allowed the building of Apogee. We thanked them and called them the greatest generation. Where are they now?
What does the University of North Texas want to be? Do they want to be a complete university such as UT, A&M, Tech, Houston, and the like or do we want to be UT-Dallas, where little goes on beyond classes? No knock on UTD; they are highly rated and give their students a good education...and little else. Hell, UTEP puts us to shame when it comes to attending athletic events with little more than half our student enrollment.
I hope that Dan, the athletic department, the administration, the faculty and alumni that get what the value of spirit, loyalty, and pride can do for a university are successful.
-
3
-
-
Oboroboros, although your post may be a little coarse (or shriveled, if you prefer) it was filled with good information for us.
I mistakenly assumed that most of the students were like Matt, who takes it on himself to find the information necessary to get involved in athletic contests, fine arts events, guest speakers and all the extracurricular events that make a student more fully rounded and make college life more enjoyable. I'm glad to see that you also make your presence known at football and basketball events and I wish that we had 20,000 like you (o.k., we could use less for basketball). But, if just collecting facts and getting a degree is what universities are all about then I'd try some of the online colleges or a community college followed by a smaller college where there is little campus life. It'd definitely be cheaper.
The information on these events is available but the athletic department can and should do a much better job of getting it to the students. The school administration and faculty can certainly do more to promote every event because it's also in their best interest.
The other point that you made repeatedly is that we have no tradition. Not totally true but if you're looking at the last six years then I don't have much of an argument. Obviously, we'll never be able to match the tradition of the top programs but we're not on the bottom either. Coaches like Hayden Fry and Odus Mitchell and players like Joe Greene, Abner Haynes, and Ray Renfro have kept that from happening.
There appears to be the coaches and athletes to regain some tradition if the students will make the effort. We certainly have the quantity we just need to develop quality students. By that, I mean a core of students who have the fortitude to attend every athletic event that time and studies allow. It may take leadership and sacrifice but if SAT scores are a criteria, this student body is more capable than any previous. If no one is willing to take any initiative then the tradition dies and we can close this board as well as athletics.
I'm sorry to inject this somber post into the levity that this post had become but attendance is a serious subject. It is our lifeblood and controls our future athletically.
-
2
-
-
As of now, only A&M has talked to him and that is where he'd prefer to go. The Aggies have the second-rated running back in this year's class and probably the best JUCO runner as well.
Does he want to play regularly or be good enough to get some PT and get a good A&M education? He probably thinks that he can be a regular with Williams and Grice in time and may take the chance.
As soon as the playoff run is over I'd bet that we contact both him and Washington at Corsicana but I wouldn't bet the farm on our chances on either.
UPDATE: Sadler added one more TD and 207 yards rushing to his career total as Devine fell to Wimberly in the playoffs. He ended the year with 3,887 yards and 58 touchdowns.
-
No that's not true; attendance does not create wins.
The NCAA sets the rules for how attendance is counted. They require scans at the game, but also allow season ticket sales as part of official attendance. The same rule applies to every D1 school.
Good attendance acquires good coaches and good players. IMO, that eventually createswins. No disagreement on the second statement; only that we don't have 12,000 paid over what was there Saturday.
-
No kidding. Attendance numbers are always probably skewed and it happens in college and in professional sports. Official attendance is the most important number because those are the number of tickets sold or what not. Just keep on winning and give people a reason to show up and we won't be creating countless threads on a dead horse.
This was the worst case of skewing numbers that we've done. It was overstated by about three times (or more) the number in attendance. Had we been basing our numbers on tickets sold all along then it wouldn't look so bad but playing catchup all at once stinks.
It's the last part of your statement that rankles me a little bit. If winning was the only thing that gave people a reason to show up then we should schedule every patsy in the FBS. We show up because they're our players. They're entertaining and they give it their best on the practice fields and in the games. Non-attendance is a slap in the face to the players. What recruit (and there were a number of them there yesterday) wants to come play before an empty stadium?
If K-State had used your criterion then they would've dropped football years ago but they kept getting 30-40,000 every game with winless seasons. The wins eventually came and now they are perennially a Top 50 team; often better. So the reverse of the "keep winning and they will come" axiom is also true..."keep coming and they will win."
-
6
-
-
We get it. Were you there?
I was there. I sat in my regular seat and got soaked but I thoroughly enjoyed the win.
I excuse the handicapped, the fragile, those working, and others with a legitimate excuse but you can't tell me that many fans couldn't show up to see history made.
I'll repeat what someone said earlier, this is a pathetic fan base. We have 36,000 students and other than the band, a few hundred managed to make it to the game. If you don't call that pathetic then you're not a football fan. Most of those attending were in or under the club level and that's fine because you were there. It's the thousands that didn't want to be inconvenienced and wimped out that I have an issue with.
Sure we've come through some hard times but we need you NOW! We may have even blown any chance of moving to a higher conference because we don't support an improving team, under much better coaches, in a great facility. We can no longer blame our administration because finally, after more than fifty years, they have made financial commitments. The enemy is us...we are our own worst enemy. Our fan base will likely keep us out of advancing. If I were the president of another university I'd have a tough time voting for us based on our numbers.
-
3
-
-
Thanks Lifer, for getting this thread back on topic.
Even though the Mean Green didn't get the wins, it certainly wasn't Dunbar's fault. The young man gave it all he had and should be revered as a catalyst for turning this program around. If he can possibly get the record he will be even more often remembered.
It's hard to compare players from different eras so, to me, Lance will be one of the best running backs in our history. I'm still partial to Abner Haynes because he was the target of every team that we played and they couldn't stop him. That was true even in the pros.
Best of luck to you Lance Dunbar, today and through the rest of your life.
-
The ECU chancellor can't even know his own school's fate, let alone the rest of the league. Everything depends on what the Big East does.
One thing that baffles me is why would the two conferences want to merge. First it was going to be for football only; now I hear it's for all sports. Who gives up being a commissioner...Thompson or Banowski? CUSA already has a championship game so what are they gaining?
It appears for the moment that Air Force has reconsidered; Navy is waffling without Air Force; Boise State won't go without a western partner; West Virginia and possibly Louisville will be gone in two years; and Villanova (and the basketball schools) won't allow Temple. San Diego State in the Big East? The Big East is a train wreck and only Notre Dame could truly save it. Boise State could end this madness if they would just say no.
defensive end Deonte Wortham?
in UNT Football Recruiting
Posted
Keep him away from here. Coaching changes seem to either precede or follow him. He also had interest in Kansas.