Duck_Mav

Interesting story perhaps. If it said that, it was not accurate. Scott Cross and other assistants recruited most if not all of McCarter's best players, so Cross has been working with his own recruits for many years. While McCarter could not take complete credit for the talent brought in, he definitely earned his reputation as a below-average coach during the last two minutes of any game. He was not able to close the deal, and that's one of the reasons he was let go. As for getting a chance to coach his best team, McCarter did, in 2003-04. They tied for the regular season championship, then lost in the conference tournament semifinals to SFA, blowing a lead in the last minute. Talk about getting a chance! UTA kept McCarter for 14 years, despite his overall losing record.

It's a tough choice. Will the wind be a factor? BTW, I remember many years ago when the Ttech alumni were afraid they were going to take the TSU name. Wonder how many other schools took a pass. Is it better to be directional (SWT) or an "at" school (TSU@SM)??? Note also: When you are an "at" school like UTA, you can have the added indignity of some jerk in Austin changing your school colors (note the Tangerine trim on Mavericks uniforms next basketball season).

Big news for UTA. Next Wednesday, the new arena is on the agenda of the UT Board of Regents. Among many other things, this could finally mean a potential holiday tournament among the "Big 4" DFW schools. At least TCU and SMU will no longer have an excuse for avoiding coming to Arlington. The planned completion date is in three years for a 6500 seat facility, costing $73 million. Details from the agenda item: Not as grand as the SuperPit, but dang! we have waited forever!

Hey, you guys are rolling now. Way to go MG!

We're worried about the same thing, but he "bleeds blue" and if we get the go-ahead for the new arena, we're hoping he can be persuaded to stay. But of course, if Duke calls....

So I guess the Southland Conference won this year's head-to-head with the Sunbelt, 8-7.

Good game, North Texas. Despite being down by 11, the Mean Green made a great comeback and almost stole the win. Good luck in your conference. Hope we get to play again soon!!!!! I can't beleive we won! WOOHOOOO!

Even more of a tangent: There are five former Southland Conference teams in the 'belt, one in the east and four in the west. Speaking only for myself, I wish UT Arlington were also a former SLC member....Good luck tonight. Based on results to date, UNT should be heavily favored.

I agree: it's weird. We had our best results ever, have our best players returning and have our best recruits ever (at least on parchment). He must think it was all a fluke last year. That's ok. The coaches and SIDs of our conference have picked us first. http://utamavs.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sp.../102108aad.html Thanks for saying we own UNT, that was very classy, but I realize the win last time in Denton was a fluke. It will be hard to keep our streak alive against the Eagles. BTW, are bats still loose in the Super Pit?

Y'all got a good writeup, but UTA go no respect. This Siegel guy picks us below 18 other teams in Texas, including SFA, Lamar and Sam Houston. It's like our wins over these teams last year didn't count!

Not any blowouts here. Average 4 point margin, even counting last year's 8 point win. I'm hoping both programs will continue to improve. See ya in Denton!

Either the story on the UTA site is incorrect now, or it was incorrect last year when they reported UTA had won four in a row against UNT. If they were right last year, UTA will be going for five wins in a row this year. Whichever it is, at least North Texas is not afraid to play UTA, unlike SMU and TCU. Baylor will host us on December 20th.

Yes, it is appalling. Rodney King would enjoy reading this entire thread and about how well everybody gets along, eventually.

I like the ideas for trying to create a rival game. Too bad your one most natural rival doesn't currently play football, but at least you have a nice basketball rivalry brewing with The University of Texas at Arlington. Nothing seems too farfetched to exclude from this conversation: maybe one of these days UTA will get a president who has the "testicular fortitude" to bring back football. We could play our rivalry game in Jerry's new house, so as to accommodate the enormous crowd

I'm not here very often, so I appreciate the hospitality when I visit. Let me say how huge the sigh of relief was in Arlington when UNT passed on the opportunity to hire Donna Capps. WHEW, that was close! I have no opinion one way or another about the coach you got - hope she's a winner - but UNT blew a sure-fire chance to have championships galore. Thanks a Million!

Thanks, it ended up 87-63, so we beat the line by one point. UT did a little better, but were also crushed. Memphis had awesome talent, but as we all saw, they had a problem with free throws at the end in the finals against KU. Hopefully, next year UNT and UTA will both go dancing, and maybe with a little luck, neither of us will have to play Memphis again for a while.

She was a great coach for UTA. Unfortunately, Donna Capps and AD Pete Carlon clashed over Pete's suspension of her assistant coach, Ron Powell. It will be interesting if she insists on bringing Powell with her to Denton. I suspect it could be a deal breaker for the UNT AD. Background Info

Wow. A classy post like this really deserves some kind of snappy rejoinder. However, I'm tired from all the celebrating and will only take the time to post our schedule and results this month. You may note that we defeated SFA by ten points on 1 March. They were the number 1 team in the SLC at the time and until we beat them, they were undefeated at home. Note also, we defeated Lamar and Sam Houston State in the tournament and they were the number 2 and 3 teams in the regular season standings. Talking smack about our basketball venue (where we have won 18 of the last 20 games) is not particularly original or entertaining. I hope we will get an arena soon and I'm pretty sure we will get it before you get a new football stadium or baseball team. March 1 at Stephen F. Austin W 75-65 18-10 (7-8) March 8 at Texas State L 97-86 18-11 (7-9) March 13 at Lamar W 81-75 19-11 (7-9) March 14 at Sam Houston State W 72-66 20-11 (7-9) March 16 at Northwestern State W 82-79 21-11 (7-9) March 21 at No. 3 Memphis 9:55 PM ET

Thanks. We'll need some kind of a miracle. Our board is at http://www.utamavericks.com/forum/. It's not as nice as yours, but we have made some improvements since the old one you were looking at.

I know I was tempted last year to not give a rat's behind about UNT going to the dance, so I can sympathize with the way you guys must feel. It's just sweet to know both of the last two NCAA dance teams in our neighborhood have come from our two little "have not" colleges rather than those big name church schools in Ft. Worth and Dallas. Now, if we could just get an easier draw....

It seems so obvious. President Spaniolo, please call your office.

Students approve football fee Lamar University students approved a special fee that will assist in funding the return of the Lamar Cardinal football program. Lamar students went to the polls on Jan. 29 and 30 and voted on the fee that will put the university one step closer to realizing the dream of reviving the program that was discontinued in 1989. http://www.lamar.edu/ Quote: Lamar University officials announced Thursday the student body has approved a special fee that will assist in funding the return of the Lamar Cardinal football program. Lamar students went to the polls on Jan. 29 and 30 and voted on the fee that will put the university one step closer to realizing the dream of reviving the program that was discontinued in 1989. A majority of 79 percent for and 21 percent against was the final tally to approve the fee and overcome the first hurdle in the quest for football. The next step in the process is gaining approval of the Texas State University System Board of Regents. “A football program on a university campus is a very important factor in enrollment management,” said Brian Sattler, director of public relations for Lamar. “With the leadership of President Simmons, academic offerings have increased and new facilities such as the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center, Cardinal Village and the new dining hall have been constructed to enhance the campus learning and living environment. Now is a great time to work toward bringing college football back to the campus and Southeast Texas.” With the affirmation from the students in hand, President Simmons is poised to seek approval from the TSUS Board of Regents at a regularly scheduled meeting to be held on the Lamar University campus on February 22. If approval from the Board is obtained, the LU Athletics Department will begin renovation of Cardinal Stadium and begin the search for a coach. Tentative plans have the Cardinals beginning a full schedule in the fall 2010 season and Southland Conference play during the fall 2011 season. 2/1/2008 In two years they'll be playing again and we will still be talking about it.

You are right. One of Bob LeGrand's recruiting pitches in the 80's included talk and pictures about the new arena that was planned way back then. Some of the historians among us say that we had a chance around 1980 and chose to have the new football stadium built first. Then, the ad valorem tax structure was ruled unconstitutional and all subsequent schemes to build an arena have failed. That's one twisted version of history. Perhaps a more salient fact is that we have not needed more seats than Texas Hall offers, since our basketball teams were pathetic for so many years. Since that is changing and we are starting to fill up the old venue, and further, because President Spaniolo says it's a high priority, we are hoping for/expecting an announcement during the May meeting of the UT Regents. Sidebar comment: We are a rump university in a leading system. No offense, but it would be far better to be like UNT and be the lead university in a rump system.

Is cheerleading also considered a sport for title ix purposes? Since the cheerleaders and dance team members are rewarded scholarships (at least they are at UTA), I think they should be counted for title ix. Women's gymnastics would also be a good sport for UNT to add, since the only other Texas collegiate women's gymnastics program happens to be in Denton, and the other nearest programs are in Oklahoma. Denver and Arkansas also have teams. BTW, I have a poll going on the UTA fan site as to which men's sport UNT should add. The choices are baseball, soccer, tennis, wrestling and "other." I'll let you know how it turns out. SFA just added baseball a couple years ago. Maybe that would be a good program to research to see what it takes to start up.

UTA students voted in April, 2004. Overwhelmingly, they voted in favor of football, but then-new President Spaniolo demurred. He said getting an arena was a higher priority, and that the timing was not right for football at that time. He also said he would re-examine the issue in 5 years. So we have less than 2 years before he says he will take up the issue again. The perception around here is that if the arena is under construction during 2008, we have a shot at getting football. That said, it looks like Lamar will get there first, assuming their referendum passes and assuming further that they will find a way to get their football stadium renovated. Spaniolo has done great things to get UTA built out towards becoming a major research university, with over 1/4 $billion in approved/ongoing construction. But when it comes to supporting athletics, I think I like the Lamar President.