Duck_Mav

"We are planning on building a new stadium around 2005, once funding is complete, along with a new athletic center and practice fields. Further down the line, we will be adding a new tennis center, baseball diamond, and track and field stadium." I hope it works out that way. For sure, don't let them tear down Fouts until the new one is built! That was mistake number one that was made "back in the day" in Arlington. They tore down the old stadium, and then we went without an on-campus stadium for over 10 years while they tried to raise money. That was not good for the program. Now we have a tennis center where our old stadium was, lots of new dorms and an ongoing $3 million upgrade of our baseball stadium. While we've been fixing up our little stadium, TCU has built a small palace, called Lupton field. They say it cost more than LaGrave Field, and I believe it. Wish you guys and SMU would get baseball, so we could have a nice little round-robin in the neighborhood. But in the meanwhile, UNT and UTA should be playing the sports we already have in common, like volleyball, basketball, softball, track, cross country, golf and women's tennis. Did I leave any out?

You're right, of course, on all counts. We did have a great rivalry, and the Cajuns have great fans. And yes, I'm jealous that we don't have a team and the Ragin' Cajuns do (though it is pretty weak). What can I say? Our "leaders" made some really bone-headed mistakes in the 70's and 80's that we are having to deal with now. Worse than SMU getting the "Death Penalty," UTA's adminstration commited athletic suicide in '85. Fortunately, there is life after Nedderman. We still have that new stadium and a number of other assets that make me hopeful. The same Athletic Director that paid off $10 million of debts and who has gradually improved all our programs to the point that we are hands-down the strongest SLC "All Sports" program is still in the saddle and pushing for football. Stay tuned. I expect we will get a new Arena for Basketball some time sooner than UNT will be getting a new football stadium (mainly because upgrading Fouts will be a much bigger deal). I want to hear more about that "Sunwest Conference" idea. If UTA gets a new team, do you think we might get invited? We would certainly be in the right neighborhood. Too bad SMU is likely to turn up their nose at the idea.

Quote: "We have football, yes we do, we have football, how 'bout you?" '23 - You must have missed Greeneagle's post above, where he dusted off that ancient canard the first time. I was merely giving him the (weak) Arlington reply about tennis and baseball. (You used to have a pretty good Men's Tennis program.) Surely, you realize that most UTA fans (both of us) would trade all of our "olympic" sports for a football program. We would even be willing to have that pathetic "Ragin' Cajuns" team, rather than just watch the high school kids gradually wear out our astroturf at Maverick Stadium. Back to basketball. How was the crowd at the Denver games? This Thursday, we should draw around 1,200 for Sam Houston. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You're durn right, Bald Eagle. Great post! We could get some interest stirred up with home-and-home games among all 4 metroplex teams, but expecially between the Mavericks and the Mean Green. Then, I could revive my old cheer: "we have spirit, yes we do, we have MEN'S TENNIS AND BASEBALL how bout you?" (Hmmm. Doesn't seem to have the same bite to it as your cheer, does it?) Also, to add a little twist to our previous discussion, my neighbor Rusty says a tournament in Reunion Arena featuring all four Metroplex men's and women's programs would make for a great holiday event. I agree about where the majority of non-BCS athletic directors' and presidents' heads seem to be located. It's almost like they don't want to succeed!?!

Great comments, 96! I only have a few additions/corrections/quibbles, but overall, I can see a great amount of thought went into your vision, and the word picture you paint reminds me a lot of the "Big 5" Tournament I attended a couple of times when I was living in exile near Philadelphia. First quibble: Our Women's basketball team last year was coming off a 3 win season and had a very sparse following. They ended up something like 15-13 and, by the end of the season were starting to draw better. This year, they were picked by the SIDs and Coaches as #2 of the 11 teams in our conference, second only to SFA, and so far, are living up to those expectations. Therefore, I see the potential of not only a good draw, but an excellent matchup on the court when our women's teams play again. Either place. Second: Texas Hall is funky, true, but it is an excellent place to watch basketball, and was chosen by Sports Illustrated in 1997 as "the best place in the USA to watch basketball." Strange but true. Go to the Vanderbilt site and you will notice that they also play on a stage in a (much expanded) theater. Shows the place may have potential. Even so, I'm hoping someday the Arlington "powers-that-be" ignore that example and demolish, rather than expand The Hall. The critical point about Texas Hall is not the building, but the lack of crowds. Fortunately, that seems to be changing. Third: We had home-and-home schedules with Oral Roberts and New Mexico State last year, and they both drew very well. Usually, if the visiting team brings many fans, they sit on the south third or half of the bleacher (west) stands, plus out in the blue seats. NMSU amd ORU did a pretty good job of filling the balcony, which in my opinion is the best place to sit. The other surprise visiting crowd is always the Texas Wesleyan bunch from Fort Worth. Too bad that finances have forced TWU to drop down. (Probably for the same reason, UNT will be buying a law school in downtown Fort Worth pretty soon.) But they have great fans. Fourth: The same kind of pointy-headed education-bureaucrat that killed football at UTA pulled the plug on the Rebel theme. It was over 30 years ago, but the bitterness remains. Sort of like if Norval Pohl made North Texas change colors to Orange and White. I'm ok now with the name "Mavericks" and have even gotten used to that NBA team, though they came about ten years after we started using the name. It's a good thing that the Dallas Mavericks are winning - they were so bad for so long, it used to be too embarassing. I checked your schedule and was surprised to see that you already play SMU, BU and TCU. Do you have home-and-home schedules with any of them, or is it just a "once in a while" schedule? It seems both UNT and UTA have an easy time scheduling away games with big name schools, but it's hard to get them to come to our places. Finally: How many does the Superpit seat, and how many do you typically draw for men's and women's games? I don't think SMU has filled Moody Coliseum much since the days of Doc Hays, and even Billy Tubbs wasn't able to fill Daniel Meyer. Our last sellout was in 1991. Seems like all four venues have plenty of room for the crowds their teams have drawn lately.

Yes, it makes sense for Division I teams to play each other wherever and whenever. We keep playing teams like Arkansas-Monticello and Texas Wesleyan because it's hard to get bigger names to visit our house. "The Hall" or "Texas Hell" is our own athletic albatross, if ever there was one. Those don't-give-a-care students/alums with whom we are both afflicted have made it very difficult to sell the idea of having a first class arena built. The Hall is small, yet we rarely have filled it, except for those few years when we had decent teams. Even so, there seems to be a small window of opportunity opening. Thanks to new dorm and apartment construction, we now have about 5,000 "traditional" students living on campus (a higher percentage than live on campus at UT"B") and the attendance at games has gone up. This year, we seem to have two of those good teams. The men and women have started out conference with wins against UTSA, McNeese and SLU to go 3-0, and are both on the road at Nicholls State tomorrow. We should have a pretty good crowd for the next three games at home against Sam Houston, Lamar and Southwest Texas. School starts next week and if we can somehow start filling the 4,000 seats at Texas Hall, I think there will be a serious push for a new Arena. And you already know about the other thing for which Arlington needs a serious push. Good luck to the Mean Green too! I hope we get to play sometime in the "afterseason."

UT "Almost"? That hurts! Especially coming from a "Not" Texas fan. Yes, I'm familiar with Western Kentucky. They had a great 1AA football team this year. Upset Ga Southern in the semis and then pounded McNeese in the finals. Are they hoping to move up? During the National Championship game, one of the TV commentators mentioned that WKU almost dropped football 10 years ago, but that the Coach was able to talk one of the Regents into changing his vote. So by one vote, they kept their team. Happy for them! I had forgotten, or never knew that NT was so successful in SLC basketball. I was out of the country, living in New Jersey during the whole era. I guess after the Missouri Valley, competition in the Southland seemed pretty lame. Yes, a tournament would be grand and might put some butts in all those empty blue and green seats. The first round games could be at Moody and Daniel Meyer. Do you think Baylor, SMU and TCU would be interested? If we had 6 teams, a first rounder could be at the Pit. I nominate the Boll Weevils of Arkansas-Monticello as the 6th team, or perhaps Texas Wesleyan. By the way, our men's and women's teams won tonight at Southeastern Louisiana, and both teams are now 3-0 in conference. Only SFA and Sam Houston look strong in the SLC this year, but maybe our guys will turn out to be pretty good too.

Thanks, UNTLifer, for seeing some merit in my comments. I admit, my crack that UNT was afraid to play UTA came across as a cheap shot, and I'll take it back forever when the two schools start playing again. It's not like we are Kentucky and Louisville, is it? Maybe the Metroplex would be better served if we had a "Big Five" holiday tournament the way they do in Philadelphia with La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple, Villanova and Drexel. (Yes, I know that's six. What can you say: It's Philly.) See http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/co...ity/4103093.htm We could have TCU, SMU, UNT, UTA, and let Baylor be the fifth. It would be a great holiday tournament and fill up some seats that would otherwise go empty while the students are away on vacation at that time of the year. As for Arkansas State, I was looking a few months ago at attendance and the other factors the NCAA Nazis are trying to impose on the non-BCS 1-A "bottom feeders" and I didn't see anybody in the Sun Belt that was a slam dunk to meet the minimum requirements. Of the current Sun Belt teams, I think we both agree that LaMo is probably in the most trouble and North Texas is barely getting it done. The others fall somewhere in between and will have to make dramatic improvements the next couple of years to stay at the current level. No doubt about it, the squeeze is on for schools in the middle, which would include Sun Belt members as well as others like SMU, UH and UTEP. What I really don't like is that some of the 1-AA commissioners and presidents are working with the BCS members to raise the 1-A requirements to keep any more of the 1-AA "Big Fish" from escaping to the higher classification. I guess after Marshall, UCF and Troy State moved up, they are afraid of losing McNeese, Montana and Georgia Southern. A free market approach would make a lot more sense. There should just be one "Division One" and let the market regulate who plays whom. Final question: How many teams can the Sun Belt lose without folding?

I agree: Quality wins plus decent attendance numbers equals credibility. In basketball, UNT and UTA have a common problem being from bottom-feeding conferences, or if you will, "mid-majors." The Slothland is to basketball what the Slumbelt is to football - better than anybody will admit but getting NO RESPECT. It's too bad UNT is afraid to play UTA in basketball. Both schools would benefit from the large crowds and neither has much to lose reputation-wise. UTA is currently 5-5 overall and 2-0 in conference - pretty much on a par with how the MG are doing. Maybe next year or the year after we can get together at your place, or at our place if you're not afraid of falling off the stage! While I'm on the subject of things the two schools have in common, it seems like you are going through the same thing with Fouts Field that we are going through with Texas Hall. Without a doubt, both schools could use serious facilities upgrades - you at the football stadium and us at the basketball arena. Big wishes but no deep pockets - yet. Finally, congratulations on a great football season. Both the athletes and the fans deserve a lot of credit for keeping the faith and performing like true champions! Winning conference and the bowl were great things, but filling the seats at Fouts was HUGE! Many of us in the Southland expect to see some former SLC members (like La Monroe and Arkansas State) return from the Sun Belt to 1AA within the next couple of years, but so far, I don't hear anybody saying that North Texas will be one of them. Cheers!