Mountain West Conference Meeting Today

[wardly]

Looked at the Texas budget situation lately?

california,new mexico, and louisiana budget cuts effect their universities more because they receive state funding for athletics[i know n. mexico and la. schools do, not sure about california]. as i mentioned before, sdsu,fsu, and sjsu have same chancellor who wants all 3 schools in the same conference. hence,sjsu has a sponser for admittance, which we don't. again, my personal opinion is that we are no better off being the most eastern member of mwc than being the most western member of sbc. travel expenses kill you, and while our athletic budget is healthy for the belt, i doubt it would be so for mwc.if the athletic department agrees with this supposition, then our only option is to build the belt and hope for future regional realignment opportunities. a final note; because of time difference, our local media exposure was very limited when we were members of Big West.when i look at smu,rice and tulsa's experience in wac, i see the same thing. i also think that tcu was handicaped media wise as well. just an old man's opinion.

[Mean Green Matt]

Orlando Sun-Sentinel

It looks as though USU is pretty much a done deal, but this report from not too long ago says that the second team is not decided. The teams they mention are San Jose State, and New Mexico State as possible 12th teams, but I have to believe our athletic department is in the ear of the MWC all the way up until when they vote (which is supposedly later today...yes the vote may not have even happened yet).

I read somewhere on the MWC board (not saying it is reliable) that USU was the major component for the TV deal (I have no idea why), and that they are the 11th team. Apparently the #12 team will have little effect on the TV deal, and that decision is up to the discrtion of the MWC. There have been rumors/reports from multiple sources that Comcast was the major drive behind the invitiation of USU...

I'm still going to keep hope!

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

I would not be calling for RV's head had he not of told me that he thinks "...the belt is the best place for UNT right now. But if the Big 12 were to come knocking he would accept it".

Yeah he has done great things for this university but isn't it like putting lipstick on a pig?

To quote a friend: I don't want to be the Div II school with the best facilities, new stadium, and highest paid coaches

[Mean Green Matt]

This quote from a USU fan almost made me throw up...

He was talking about which Texas team he would want to fill the #12 spot in the MWC:

"The difference between UTSA and UNT is that UTSA has unrealized potential. UNT is in a saturated market and is what it is."

If people really think more highly of UT "we have not even played a freakin down of football yet" SA, then we really need to do better at marketing ourselves. Yes, these people are in Utah, but they sure know plenty about what UTSA is doing...

[UNTFan23]

This quote from a USU fan almost made me throw up...

He was talking about which Texas team he would want to fill the #12 spot in the MWC:

"The difference between UTSA and UNT is that UTSA has unrealized potential. UNT is in a saturated market and is what it is."

If people really think more highly of UT "we have not even played a freakin down of football yet" SA, then we really need to do better at marketing ourselves. Yes, these people are in Utah, but they sure know plenty about what UTSA is doing...

Inviting UTSA is truly a risk as no one knows what that program will do. They could be very successful or they could be an epic case of fail. The idea that they will provide the SA market is an unknown.

The man-crush on UTSA is truly perplexing.

[PlummMeanGreen]

This quote from a USU fan almost made me throw up...

He was talking about which Texas team he would want to fill the #12 spot in the MWC:

"The difference between UTSA and UNT is that UTSA has unrealized potential. UNT is in a saturated market and is what it is."

If people really think more highly of UT "we have not even played a freakin down of football yet" SA, then we really need to do better at marketing ourselves. Yes, these people are in Utah, but they sure know plenty about what UTSA is doing...

USU owes North Texas a big favor because (as I recall) it was North Texas who helped them get into the SBC when they had nowhere else to go and I remember one of their major campus leaders saying: "North Texas, we owe you a huge favor." Well, now it may be time for us to collect?

USU may be smart by just being quiet and being a most appreciative school than one who suddenly wants to start dictating who the MWC should invite?

Fact is, the University of North Texas has a much better athletic & impressive football legacy with our Abner Haynes Sun Bowl era to the Mean Joe Greene era to the Hayden Fry era and on and on and on than USU or San Jose St. can even dream about having.

And UTSA? Well, isn't PeeWee Herman's lost bicycle actually in the basement of the Alamo?

GMG!

Edited January 25, 2011 by PlummMeanGreen

[rcade]

No state is in a good budget situation now but Texas is one of the better ones (they are not only able to pay their employees, they were recently even giving out raises) and California is on the verge of losing their state sovereignty over it. Really no comparison there.

Texas used federal stimulus money to pay 97% of its budget deficit in 2009:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/texas-used-stimulus-to-cover-97-of-its-deficit/70077/

The state's $12 billion deficit in fiscal year 2012 equals 31.5% of its budget, the third-highest rate in the country. Worse than California.

[All About UNT]

Texas used federal stimulus money to pay 97% of its budget deficit in 2009:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/texas-used-stimulus-to-cover-97-of-its-deficit/70077/

The state's $12 billion deficit in fiscal year 2012 equals 31.5% of its budget, the third-highest rate in the country. Worse than California.

Dude....get off it. Or bring it to another room.

[ColoradoEagle]

If people really think more highly of UT "we have not even played a freakin down of football yet" SA, then we really need to do better at marketing ourselves. Yes, these people are in Utah, but they sure know plenty about what UTSA is doing...

They obviously don't. UTSA hosted Texas State-SM in mbb last week, the huge rivalry game between future WAC members. 2800 people. UTSA's game right before that with SFA drew 1300. Their logic of "if they haven't played FBS football yet, and they're in a large Texas city, they're going to be huge!" is retarded, at best. San Antonio is as much about the Spurs as Dallas is about the Cowboys. There's no pent up demand for a team to support.

[rcade]

Dude....get off it. Or bring it to another room.

Sorry to intrude with some facts about state budgets. People who think California's budget crisis will hurt its universities should be paying attention to what's going on in Austin. Those folks are also pretty good at accumulating debt.

[rcade]

They obviously don't. UTSA hosted Texas State-SM in mbb last week, the huge rivalry game between future WAC members. 2800 people. UTSA's game right before that with SFA drew 1300. Their logic of "if they haven't played FBS football yet, and they're in a large Texas city, they're going to be huge!" is retarded, at best. San Antonio is as much about the Spurs as Dallas is about the Cowboys. There's no pent up demand for a team to support.

I would agree with you if I hadn't seen what USF has done in Tampa. Give a big city its first credible college football team and people will support it. USF drew 231,000 fans in 1997 and more than 315,000 in 2007 and 2009.

[Mean Green Matt]

They obviously don't. UTSA hosted Texas State-SM in mbb last week, the huge rivalry game between future WAC members. 2800 people. UTSA's game right before that with SFA drew 1300. Their logic of "if they haven't played FBS football yet, and they're in a large Texas city, they're going to be huge!" is retarded, at best. San Antonio is as much about the Spurs as Dallas is about the Cowboys. There's no pent up demand for a team to support.

I know if you think about it logically it does not make sense, but I was talking more about outsiders to Texas. People seem to have a better perception of UTSA than they do North Texas. I'm not in any way saying that the MWC would ever invite UTSA, it just does not sit well with me that somehow UTSA has this awesome image while accomplishing nothing....yet. I know message boards don't mean much, but I have seen the UTSA > UNT sentiment in many places.

Edited January 25, 2011 by Mean Green Matt

[wardly]

I would much rather have ULM than UTSA. And UALR being in our conference is just fine with me. I don't mind bringing in NMSU and la tech. don't care for anyone else from the WAC.

i don't see what you gain by pushing la monroe out to gain la tech. they are both underfunded programs in the same rual area. looks like we could take the 10 we have, add utsa,texas state, and move on. n. mexico st. brings nothing to the table.

[Yellow Snow]

I would not be calling for RV's head had he not of told me that he thinks "...the belt is the best place for UNT right now. But if the Big 12 were to come knocking he would accept it".

Yeah he has done great things for this university but isn't it like putting lipstick on a pig?

To quote a friend: I don't want to be the Div II school with the best facilities, new stadium, and highest paid coaches

RV said that? I'm not doubting you, it just seems like a totally crazy thing to say... wow...

If the MWC asks UNT to join, is RV gonna say "no thanks"??? Is that what he is implying?

Yeesh...

[Green Mean]

RV said that? I'm not doubting you, it just seems like a totally crazy thing to say... wow...

If the MWC asks UNT to join, is RV gonna say "no thanks"??? Is that what he is implying?

Yeesh...

He pretty much did...but in his defense he's not going to openly criticize the conference we're in. It may not be the best option but it is our home right now so while we are here we might as well embrace it. But it doesn't change the fact that we need to move the first chance we get if we get an invite to the MWC or CUSA.

[Travis]

i don't see what you gain by pushing la monroe out to gain la tech. they are both underfunded programs in the same rual area. looks like we could take the 10 we have, add utsa,texas state, and move on. n. mexico st. brings nothing to the table.

New Mexico and La Monroe bring more to the table than UTSA and Texas State.

If you want the Belt to continue having the perception of just taking in D-1AA teams then let's add UTSA and Texas State. But, i much prefer the WAC to now have that title.

[Green Lantern]

I know if you think about it logically it does not make sense, but I was talking more about outsiders to Texas. People seem to have a better perception of UTSA than they do North Texas. I'm not in any way saying that the MWC would ever invite UTSA, it just does not sit well with me that somehow UTSA has this awesome image while accomplishing nothing....yet. I know message boards don't mean much, but I have seen the UTSA > UNT sentiment in many places.

It's easy to have a decent perception when you haven't had to step on the field yet. Wait till UT, LSU, Alabama, OU, ect. get their shot to stomp all over UTSA. That online bravado will die down very quickly. The San Antonio community who is supposedly frothing at the mouth ( ) for college football won't have much to look forward to when Arizona, OSU, Arizona State, Kansas State and others on their future OOC schedule (assuming that those teams don't buy out) run up the score on them in front of a home crowd. Transition up to D1 isn't easy, and they're getting ready to find that out the hard way.

I want to clarify that I don't have any ill will towards UTSA. I hope that they end up with a successful transition to 1A, but some sense of reality needs to be conveyed. There is long term potential for that program to be successful, but acting like all the ingredients are perfectly in place and that it's a matter of "when" not "if" is silly at best.

[SAGreenFan]

San Antonio is not frothing at the mouth. Interest may be peeked, but UTSA hardly holds the hearts of the city.

[SUMG]

If the MWC were to add USU and SJSU.....the most pissed off people on the planet: Boise State fans. They have basically just left the WAC.....to then have most of the WAC rejoin them. They thought they'd be in a league with BYU, TCU, and Utah. Now, they'd be getting Fresno State, Nevada, Hawaii, Utah State and SJSU from the league they just bolted. I realize that this may not be what happens.....but still you've got to think Boise fans are beside themselves over this potentially happening.

[All About UNT]

Sorry to intrude with some facts about state budgets. People who think California's budget crisis will hurt its universities should be paying attention to what's going on in Austin. Those folks are also pretty good at accumulating debt.

Totally understood why you were posting...I just didn't want that to draw in a Cali vs. Tex Government debate that severely deviates from what we are supposed to be focused on with this ever increasingly long thread.

[GrandGreen]

Many fans favor UTSA over NT because they look no further than the recent football records and it is apparently better to have no record than a losing one. San Antonio enthuses them because they see a huge tourist city with no perceived football competition. They don't look into UTSA past and the overall lack of support for their teams. Neither do they consider the obvious to most Texans that your sports competition is rarely the regional universities. It is the Big 12 and particularly UT which soaks up most of the unaffiliated college fans and pilfered many fans from rival schools just because of the massive marketing and resources that they possess. This juggernaut probably has the lions share of the metroplex market, can you imagine competing against that in the Austin/San Antonio region.

The Texan Twins programs are in the wild expectations phase, neither have been pounded by those teams that are lining up to play them because they think it is going to be an easy and relatively cheap opponent. Fans support will be high at first but will probably wane quickly as the losses mount. Both teams are going to have a very hard time even making the jump if the WAC collapses or even continues with primarily a fc division base.

[untjim1995]

Many fans favor UTSA over NT because they look no further than the recent football records and it is apparently better to have no record than a losing one. San Antonio enthuses them because they see a huge tourist city with no perceived football competition. They don't look into UTSA past and the overall lack of support for their teams. Neither do they consider the obvious to most Texans that your sports competition is rarely the regional universities. It is the Big 12 and particularly UT which soaks up most of the unaffiliated college fans and pilfered many fans from rival schools just because of the massive marketing and resources that they possess. This juggernaut probably has the lions share of the metroplex market, can you imagine competing against that in the Austin/San Antonio region.

The Texan Twins programs are in the wild expectations phase, neither have been pounded by those teams that are lining up to play them because they think it is going to be an easy and relatively cheap opponent. Fans support will be high at first but will probably wane quickly as the losses mount. Both teams are going to have a very hard time even making the jump if the WAC collapses or even continues with primarily a fc division base.

Here's the question that is impossible to answer right now, but has to have the MWC and the WAC intrigued. If Boise State is ranked in the top ten and played UTSA at the Alamodome, what kind of attendance and attention would that bring? Would it bring a sellout of 50k or more to San Antonio or would it barely register? Would the San Antonio papers and TV cover it like it like it was a Big 12 game in Austin or would it treat it like it was a Southland game? What would it be like if UNT hosted a top ten ranked Boise State in Denton? I would assume it would be a sellout of 28K, but are we sure? And what kind of coverage would this game get in DFW from the local media outlets? Would it be huge or would it be nothing different? I think this is why a lot of people make the UTSA and South Florida comparisons. It could very well be that UTSA has no chance of becoming anything at all and will fail epically. But they do have advantages that we will never have. They have a big town to themselves with no other pro competition in football and play in a stadium that hosts a very successful bowl game every year. The SA media have nothing to look back sadly upon for UTSA Football, at least the way DFW media do toward us.

I have said this forever, but UNT's location is both a blessing and a curse. We are able to draw lots of Metroplex kids to school who become local alumni, but those alums have lots of sports entertainment options available to them in the area and the major media is located an hour south of the campus, so they don't cover us the way they do the other schools in the area. UTSA will battle Trinity, St. Mary's, and Our Lady of the Lake for local college coverage in the SAEN. We battle TCU, SMU, and UTA for local college coverage and are farther away from most of those media outlets than the other three. Again, all of this doesn't mean UTSA will pass us by like so many others--far from it. But it is easy to understand why UTSA is intriguing to other conferences and other schools for OOC games.

[Monkeypox]

Am I the only one who's actually BEEN to San Antonio in the last 10 years? All this mention of no local competition when UT Austin owns that market.

[NM Green]

I think UTSA is a nice story, but comparing them to us is ludicrous. We have a rich and glorious history that stretches back 100 years. People outside of our program respect us more than I think we do ourselves many times. The reality is one of these so called bigger conferences is going to realize that until they add UNT to their mix, they will not have a strong foothold in the DFW market. SMU does not deliver Dallas and hasn't for 25 years. TCU does not deliver DFW becuase they have a small fanbase. The group that truly realizes that when you get UNT you get Dallas/Fort Worth will be in for a pleasant surprise. We are moving up the chain very quickly and we simply need to win and go bowling again. We were reborn infants back in 2001 when we started bowling. When we begin making our football presence back on the national stage we will climb up the ranks as quickly as a South Florida has done out East. San Antonio is a nice market and would fit well in the SBC but UNT's competition is not the Roadrunners and Bobcats. We are Texas Tech in a much better location. We are the next CU Boulder. I wish football fans everywhere the best on the development of their programs because it is fun. But we are not in Troy Alabama, Ames Iowa or Waco Texas. North Texas in DFW, Florida International in Miami, and Florida Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale are in much better locations with brand new palaces to play in, with huge alumni bases, and located in places where kids want to go to grow. The key is to get them to connect with the University and make our presence felt on the national stage now as rebellious teenagers.

GMG

[Mean Green Matt]

Mountain West Conference Official Site

This is an official statement from the MWC board of directors. It looks as though the MWC is taking a timeout. They are not going to do anything right away. The way it seems to me is that USU will probably be in in the long run, but they cannot decide on the 12th team (which is part wishful thinking). The longer this goes on, the better it is for us.