SMU2006

Yes. Live content is still king. All the more reason to move to playing in the spring.

SMU being given the death penalty at that time in the SWC was like being pulled over and arrested for a busted tail light and then watching six drunks drive by. It was and always will be a total joke. Cheating was rampant across the country and SMU lacked the blue blood status and became an easy target. As others have aptly stated, Baylor has dead bodies and raped students on their rap sheet. Penn State covered up child sexual abuse for decades. Lack of institutional control much?

lol. ACC isn't going anywhere. Thankfully Phillips is the anti-George Kliavkoff and expanded before the proverbial sh*t hit the fan. Media rights deal through 2036. Safe and sound.

Might be a year or two sooner but its going to cost them a FORTUNE. ACC will then use that war chest to raid the Big 12.

Clemson's suit is even flimsier than FSU's. This all about throwing red meat to their fans who desperately want into the SEC/Big 10. Too bad contracts have consequences and both FSU/Clemson signed their rights over to the ACC not once but twice (most recently in 2017). In all likelihood both will eventually work their way into the SEC/Big 10 but it'll be several years and hundreds of millions of dollars later. Nothing happening until 2029-2030 at the earliest.

I think this is inevitable but I would imagine the split is going to come with a ton of caveats. The best case (realistic) scenario for the G5 is to form their own division and play in the spring. Allow players transferring from P4 to G5 division to be granted immediate eligibility. Without having to fight the P4 for eyeballs in the fall the attention would be solely on the G5 division. How many more people will watch a North Texas game in the early April when there is zero competition? I would also be very leery of the private equity angle but its at least worth exploring. I also like the idea of regionalism in this new division. A league consisting of UNT, UTSA, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, LA Tech, UTEP, Texas State, and Arkansas State would be really fun and create easy/affordable travel. It'll take a few years to work out the details but this is where things are headed.

Correct, however the ACC filed suit against FSU in North Carolina just prior to the FSU suit in Tallahassee. Now the ACC has 120 days to mediate (which they won't) and allow the court in North Carolina to proceed which is a friendly venue. Only worse outcome for FSU would've been for the Florida judge to completely toss the FSU suit.

SMU was not even the most egregious cheater in the SWC in the 80's. The governor aspect made it more salacious but as far as being "an artform" all the boosters in the SWC did the same shenanigans. They called it internally as the OPEC Conference. B/c that's where the price of players was set. Everyone knew what was going on and everyone was turning each other in for doing exactly what they were doing themselves. Truly the wild west.

Sympathetic to the death penalty? Maybe it was the most egregious and unjustified penalty ever handed down to a university while literally everyone else in the SWC was doing the same or worse at the time. Did it do anything to curtail cheating or paying players? No. All it did was nuke SMU to the stone age and put the nail in the coffin of the SWC. Even the NCAA has admitted they had no idea just how devastating it would be to SMU. The NCAA lead on infractions thought it would maybe 5 years for SMU to recover. It took 30 years to get back to even being remotely competitive in football. Zero chance the same punishment would've been handed down to Texas, OU, Bama, UGA, etc. no matter what they did. The death penalty was a joke in 1987 and looks hilarious given where college athletics is now.

Best possible outcome for the ACC. This now gives the ACC 120 days to get the matter resolved in a North Carolina court. ACC is headquartered in Charlotte and has four member institutions in the state. FSU needed this judge to fast track their case and he just put a nail in the coffin.

I just don't see how the general consensus is that UNT cannot compete at a high level under the current system. Who in the AAC has a better combination of location, facilities, financial infrastructure, etc.? You could maybe argue Tulane and Memphis. That's it. UNT should be cleaning up in the portal with guys from DFW looking to finish out their career and/or get more PT. That's how you build a competitive advantage over schools like UTSA, Rice, Tulsa, UAB, FAU, etc. And as Denton aptly stated you've got hundreds of thousands of living alums in DFW. You can't find a few thousand to donate $100? Maybe one less trip to Applebee's or Olive Garden and you'd have a roster than can compete at the top of the G5.

You are the exception to the rule. No judgment here but for 99% of people if they can 3x their income they are absolutely going to do it. Most younger folks in my profession will jump at even marginal increases. Some of these kids are not going to be playing professional football so if they can get a free education and pocket 100-300k with their degree then they are absolutely entitled and should be encouraged to do so.

Would you be loyal to your employer if a competitor came along and offered to 3x your salary? And SMU was not even one of the first to put together a Collective so again the incessant hate is irrational and misguided.

Its a different story when you are comparing blue blood programs. Alabama can recruit anyone from anywhere. Memphis can't (and still won't despite a fairly impressive NIL commitment).

UTSA absolutely does not have a better location. SA is not a great area for HS football talent and they do not have deep NIL pockets. They are maximizing their value and holding the programs to a high standard. Good for them. But if you poll the vast majority of G5 coaches/administrators on which program has a better foundation I'd argue most would lean towards UNT.

LOL. SMU is small potatoes in why college athletics is in its current state. You really think SMU was even the most egregious cheater in the 80's halcyon days? Get real. Paying players is as old as the game itself. What has changed in the last 10-15 years is the amplification of money via social media as well as TV contracts that have ballooned raising everything from coaches salaries to facilities to yes.....NIL. Blaming SMU for anything to do with where things are headed in college athletics is beyond stupid. Everything that's being done now is being directed by the TV suits. Nothing more. Nothing less. You're letting hatred blind you.

That's the attitude of someone resigned to defeat. UNT is in a better location and I'm certain has deeper pockets than UTSA. You don't see UTSA using excuses of why they can't be successful despite some pretty clear limitations. Allowing the past to determine your future is silly to me. Find the right mix of people who capitalize on the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses. UTSA did it. Don't tell me UNT can't.

The only thing that is constant is change. I can understand yearning for the days of yesteryear but why not take advantage of the current system? Access to the playoff is there. Proximity to quality recruiting and local transfers via the portal is there. The programs that should be terrified are UTEP, LA Tech, Ark State, Wyoming, etc. where you are geographically isolated and objectively poor. UNT is neither of those things at the G5 level.

Its still Memphis. There are infinitely more talented prospects within 100 mile radius of UNT than in the entire state of TN. Memphis is a straw man argument.

Please explain to me how the portal has killed college football for you. Coaches have left schools/players in the lurch for decades. Should a kid that is buried on the depth chart somewhere be forced to stay and waste the best years of his life? How many kids have transferred and then gone on to play in the NFL? People are upset that the players actually have power now. The players who put their own body and potential future health at risk for the enjoyment of a bunch of middle-aged dudes. The players who spend virtually every waking hour in class, practice, training, lifting, running, studying, etc. Its about damn time they've rightfully been given the freedom to go where they want and to be finanially compensated.

Sorry I'm not buying that. UNT can and should be among the upper tier of G5 programs. Location alone gives you a huge advantage. Facilities are among the top half of G5. Coaches are being compensated at or near the top of the AAC. The foundation is there. NIL, for better or worse, is the new coin of the realm (along with the portal). It can be done. I'd rather have the resources at UNT as opposed to nearly all other G5's.

I don't understand all the hand wringing. I think UNT is positioned about as well as anyone in the G5 to consistently contend for the at-large playoff spot. Its undeniable that access to the playoff is at a level never seen before at the G5 level. Financially there shouldn't be many G5's that will outspend UNT (if the collective has its sh*t together). There is more premium talent in the portal from the DFW area than you can shake a stick at. There are only so many places those prospects can go. Why not UNT? Use the system to your advantage. Go poach some talent in the portal that would've never considered UNT out of high school. Its how you build depth and increase competition. It can also be done at a relatively low cost for certain positions. The doom and gloom is misplaced (for now). I do, however, think there will be an eventual break away by the P4 but that is years away.

Sonny was able to accelerate the turnaround at SMU through the transfer portal so......

It works both ways. There are plenty of super talented guys in the portal from P5's that will need playing time. UNT should be well positioned to find players in the portal that are in need of PT and a chance to play closer to home.

Thinking that SMU was the most egregious cheater in the SWC is hilarious. Everyone was cheating. SMU's "sin" was kicking the sh*t out of Texas, A&M, Arkansas, etc. Those schools were more than fine with paying players. They just weren't cool with losing to SMU.