Could Smu End Up In A Drastically Different Big 12? Dmn

[gangrene]

Could SMU end up in a drastically different Big 12? DMN

UH's Big 12 invitation could be in the mail. Or there could be something better. Houston Chronicle

Wow! Snubbed by both the DMN and the Chronicle on the same day. The Chronicle snub actually hurts more as they failed to mention North Texas but did include Sam Houston, Texas State and UTSA in their conference realignment scenarios.

[MDH]

My favorite comment from the second article:

"UTSA/UNT/TEXAS STATE before SAM HOUSTON STATE???? Are you guys serious?????? SHSU is more of an all around athletic powerhouse and I believe won more football Southland Conference titles in the last decade then any of the three forementioned schools!!!

Posted by: juan at June 4, 2010 09:16 AM"

Wow.

[UNTflyer]

One word: moratorium.

[KRAM1]

None of this stuff bothers me at all. UNT can take care of all of it by continuing to develop the program into one that wins consistently. When you have the record UNT has had the last few years it is not surprising to be "forgotten" or shown a bit of media "disrespect". That does not give me any sort of UNT fan inferiority complex. It is well past time that UNT's fan base, students, faculty, etc., etc. stopped thinking that UNT has anything ANYTHING to apologize about. UNT is a fine university and has an excellent academic and athletic program overall. Until the UNT faithful stop acting "small" and letting this "stuff" convince them that they are somehow "inferior", one simply cannot expect the rest of the world to think anything else. It starts at home folks. It starts on this board, it starts at the sports bars, it starts on campus, it starts by getting fans and students to actually attend games, it starts by alums and friends actually joining the Alumni Association and the Mean Green Club, it starts by buying season and single game tickets and by touting the "greatness" that is UNT at every opportunity.

I take a back seat to no one and I don't back up to the "pay window" when I talk about UNT. I am proud of UNT and my association with it, and that may be one reason I don't understand some of the negative stuff from our own fan base. Winning starts with a winning attitude...on the field and in the classroom and on the streets. Wear UNT green proudly and be proud of your association with UNT. You might be surprised how much that might help to turn some attitudes around.

I don't select coaches and I don't draw up plays and I don't get to sign players. But there are some things I can do to help UNT. I'll concentrate on the things I can do to help. And, I'll have a great time doing it.

GO MEAN GREEN!

[Mean Green 93-98]

The Chronicle snub actually hurts more as they failed to mention North Texas but did include Sam Houston, Texas State and UTSA in their conference realignment scenarios.

They must have revised the article since you first posted it:

How about a Big 12 with UH, Rice, Baylor, SMU, TCU, UTEP, Sam Houston, North Texas, Texas State and UTSA in the mix.

[NT80]

My favorite comment from the second article:

"UTSA/UNT/TEXAS STATE before SAM HOUSTON STATE???? Are you guys serious?????? SHSU is more of an all around athletic powerhouse and I believe won more football Southland Conference titles in the last decade then any of the three forementioned schools!!!

Posted by: juan at June 4, 2010 09:16 AM"

Wow.

Shows how much SunBelt membership has done to raise our National perception.

[UNTflyer]

"This version of the league wouldn't have an automatic BCS berth."

Why? It's still the Big 12 conference and the Big 12 is an AQ-BCS league, at least until the BCS cartel meets and decides to evict the conference from the palace.

[UNTLifer]

The Chronicle on the whole is a rag anyway. They have a section in their sports page called "Texas Colleges." What that consists of is UT, A$M, Baylor, and the local D1AA teams. Houston and Rice have their own beat writers.

They never mention North Texas, UTEP, etc...

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Sam Houston? WTF is that guy smoking anyway?

[cdizzle86]

If SMU goes to a better conference I will blame it on Obama.

[CMJ]

Sam Houston? WTF is that guy smoking anyway?

They are usually pretty good in basketball? Of course we still beat them twice acouple years ago.

[MeanGreenTexan]

If SMU goes to a better conference I will blame it on Obama.

I believe a wise man once said:

"The buck stops with Lee Jackson."

[untjim1995]

Shows how much SunBelt membership has done to raise our National perception.

National Perception? Look it how much its helped with our STATE perception--this is a Houston paper, after all...

Edited June 4, 2010 by untjim1995

[MeanGreen61]

National Perception? Look it how much its help with our STATE perception--this is a Houston paper, after all...

Double OUCH !

[ColoradoEagle]

Part of me wonders if we would be included in the realignment conversation had we taken the WAC invite a few years ago. Holding out for other SBC schools to be included may have been the ethical thing to do and saved us money in the short term, but did it cost us now that we're in the long term?

[Eagle1855]

The Chronicle on the whole is a rag anyway. They have a section in their sports page called "Texas Colleges." What that consists of is UT, A$M, Baylor, and the local D1AA teams. Houston and Rice have their own beat writers.

They never mention North Texas, UTEP, etc...

Why would they? The DMN doesn't cover UH or Rice.

But I will agree, the Chronicle has its share of lousy writers.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Eagle1855

[LongJim]

Sam Houston? WTF is that guy smoking anyway?

Considering the school's location next to a prison, probably pole.

[gangrene]

They must have revised the article since you first posted it:

Wow, they sure as hell did. I THOROUGHLY read the article and there was no mention of North Texas any where in the story. I still have the original posting of the story opened on my tab. I guess that's a good thing that they changed it to now include us??

June 04, 2010

UH's Big 12 invitation could be in the mail. Or there could be something better.

I've ordered the cheese dip and chips. I've got cold cuts and lukewarm beer and on my shopping list. If we're going to throw a party, let's make it a classy affair.

After all the years of anger and jealousy, after feeling so irrelevant for so very long, our friends over at UH finally may see a light at the end of the tunnel. It's not the huge light they've dreamed of, but it's a light nevertheless.

Fourteen years after UH was sent into a long downward spiral with the collapse of the Southwest Conference, the Coogs finally may be about to get what they've dreamed of for so long.

Conference realignment is coming, perhaps faster than anyone thought possible, and it appears Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech are headed to the Pac-10.

Their departures will leave openings, and UH surely will be part of this shuffling. This is an opportunity. It's not a perfect opportunity, and it's not going to please a lot of UH fans.

UH still needs to get money raised and facilities built, but there could be something exciting happening, too. How about a Big 12 with UH, Rice, Baylor, SMU, TCU, UTEP, Sam Houston, Texas State and UTSA in the mix.

Hey, wait, we don't have to call it the Big 12, do we? Let's come up with our own name. How about The Southwest Conference? How's that for an idea? Anyway, it's as perfect an arrangement as could be hoped for. First, it'll be a conference built on natural rivalries — Rice-UH, SMU-TCU, etc. Second, it'll have almost all the relevant TV markets: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Waco.

Finally, a conference that makes sense from a geographical standpoint. UH fans will be able to bus to every game, or drive, or whatever. Also, there are some long-standing rivalries here, and those rivalries will build in the years ahead.

Some of you will complain that the conference will lose some of its energy without A&M, Texas and Tech. Guess what? There's not a perfect solution in any of this. Market forces are driving those three schools into a mega conference, and whenever there's consolidation, some schools will be left out.

But if there's leadership and vision, this new Southwest Conference could work. Look at what TCU, SMU and UH have done without strong conference affiliations. SMU in many ways is a model program of a realistic vision and a beautiful on-campus stadium.

This will be a conference with teams of similar means and similar ceilings. There'll be real competition instead of those other schools using UH, SMU, etc., as scrimmages.

There are going to be recruits who will prefer staying home because their parents and friends can drive to most games. It's not a perfect arrangement, but it could be a new start.

Fourteen years after the Southwest Conference went away, a new SWC could emerge, and college football fans around the state could be energized, or at least curious. I'll let you know when the party grub is ready.

North Texas' original exclusion from the story is further evidenced by this comment to the article:

I don't know, maybe it was just an oversight by writer. I guess I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.

[Eagle1855]

UH to the SEC is intriguing to me. There's a foothold on a large Texas market.

[UNT90]

SInce this whole conference realignment thing looks like it actually has a miniscule chance of happening, I have a question:

If this happens and we get completely left out, should the Dodge hire be considered one of the worst hires in school history, regardless of the remaining 2 years on the contract?

I'm not bashing the guy, but he was brought here to elevate the program to a position where we could get into a better conference. If we get the shaft in this realignment (totally possible since no one appears to know that we exist), I think that makes the hire a Collosal disaster, regardless of what the next 2 years bring.

I know that there is more to a program than the football record, but that sure as hell is what everyone looks at first.

Edited June 4, 2010 by UNT90

[GrayEagle]

Sam Houston? WTF is that guy smoking anyway?

Well, if they've won more than Texas State...he's right, given that North Texas wasn't in the conference in the last decade and UTSA didn't play football.

I hope that he's just smoking and not on some hallucinogen.

[GrandGreen]

Part of me wonders if we would be included in the realignment conversation had we taken the WAC invite a few years ago. Holding out for other SBC schools to be included may have been the ethical thing to do and saved us money in the short term, but did it cost us now that we're in the long term?

Yes, losing in the WAC would be much more impressive than losing in the Belt. Where is all this love for the WAC coming from? It is too far West and if Boise leaves is not much of an upgrade. All these development of a regional Eastern division scenarios that would make the WAC attractive are not more likely to happen than the Belt developing a football Western Division or inclusion in some regional combination of CUSA and/or the Belt. Do you really think that the current members of the WAC with the exception of La Tech want to expand eastward? Yes, the conference could be blown up if several teams go to other conferences and they are forced to go East but at that point, it is a much less attractive option. If we are going to dream about some newly minted regional division, I would rather it be connected to the South than the West Coast.

[ColoradoEagle]

Yes, losing in the WAC would be much more impressive than losing in the Belt. Where is all this love for the WAC coming from? It is too far West and if Boise leaves is not much of an upgrade. All these development of a regional Eastern division scenarios that would make the WAC attractive are not more likely to happen than the Belt developing a football Western Division or inclusion in some regional combination of CUSA and/or the Belt. Do you really think that the current members of the WAC with the exception of La Tech want to expand eastward? Yes, the conference could be blown up if several teams go to other conferences and they are forced to go East but at that point, it is a much less attractive option. If we are going to dream about some newly minted regional division, I would rather it be connected to the South than the West Coast.

People said the same thing a few years ago, "build the Belt!" Are we any better off today than we were when we were snubbed by CUSA? Is Troy getting any talk about being included in realignment? How many autobids to the tournament do we have? People don't even know the SBC exists, and they never will. It's an anchor around our neck full of schools that can't afford to or don't want to put money into their athletic programs.

The WAC is a better conference all around, but mostly in reputation. If this were HS, the WAC would be the quiet kids' table, and the SBC would be the losers table. I have no love lost for this conference; it's abysmal in every way.