C.U.S.A.

[wardly]

if all goes well, it appears that SMU, Houston. and UCF will be joining the Big East by end of month. if CUSA wants to reload to 12 schools, it probably would replace their Western Division loses with NT, and either La.Tech or UTSA.I mention UTSA because they are 3rd largest market in Texas, while Ruston is a rual community of 25,000.my Eastern Division replacement would be one of the F_U's, as the conference wants a presence in Florida. if CUSA decides to become a 10 team conference, i think the choice is between NT and one of the F_U's. what does your crystal ball project?

[UNT Mean Green]

I could see them adding exactly what you say: North Texas & UTSA in the west ,and F_U in the east. Any news if the C-USA and Mountain West fotball merger is still being discussed?

[kalebschumann]

We're assuming that CUSA takes from just the Sun Belt. What if they want to take from the MAC?

[UNTcrazy727]

I'd much rather have WKU than F_U, but I know it's important to keep a school in Florida.

[MDH]

We're assuming that CUSA takes from just the Sun Belt. What if they want to take from the MAC?

Temple is the only one they'd consider. This is all about markets. NIU has a nice program on the turf but absent on the hardwood and lack a large market.

[Mean Green 93-98]

NIU has a nice program on the turf but absent on the hardwood and lack a large market.

Chicago's a decent-sized market.

[Coffee and TV]

Chicago's a decent-sized market.

NIU is in Rockford, which IIRC, is like saying Baylor has the DFW Market. I think that's comparable.

[TIgreen01]

if all goes well, it appears that SMU drops their program, while Houston and UCF will be joining the Big East by end of month. if CUSA wants to reload to 12 schools, it probably would replace their Western Division loses with NT, and either La.Tech or UTSA.I mention UTSA because they are 3rd largest market in Texas, while Ruston is a rual community of 25,000.my Eastern Division replacement would be one of the F_U's, as the conference wants a presence in Florida. if CUSA decides to become a 10 team conference, i think the choice is between NT and one of the F_U's. what does your crystal ball project?

Fixed.

[Mean Green 93-98]

NIU is in Rockford, which IIRC, is like saying Baylor has the DFW Market. I think that's comparable.

No, it's in DeKalb, which is in the western extremes of the Chicago suburbs. And people throughout the Chicago area keep up with NIU when they are doing well.

[Wag Tag]

if all goes well, it appears that SMU, Houston. and UCF will be joining the Big East by end of month. if CUSA wants to reload to 12 schools, it probably would replace their Western Division loses with NT, and either La.Tech or UTSA.I mention UTSA because they are 3rd largest market in Texas, while Ruston is a rual community of 25,000.my Eastern Division replacement would be one of the F_U's, as the conference wants a presence in Florida. if CUSA decides to become a 10 team conference, i think the choice is between NT and one of the F_U's. what does your crystal ball project?

Please SANTA All i want is CUSA WEST for my UNT. Give me Tulsa, Rice, UTEP, La Tech, Tulane or Memphis ! Give me a CUSA championship game with the winner to play MWC champ.!

I will never ask for anything again promise !!

[Green Mean]

NIU is in Rockford, which IIRC, is like saying Baylor has the DFW Market. I think that's comparable.

93-98 is right...it is in Dekalb and its only about an hour drive or so from Chicago. I've known quite a few people from Chicago over the years and they are say that the comparison is kinda like UNT in that they aren't that close to the big city but certainly not far also. They've got a pretty good size student body so I think you could probably say that there would probably be some similarities of UNT and NIU especially when it comes to that 'potential' word.

Edit: I certainly wouldn't mind being a conference mate with NIU. They've been a good football program for a while now it seems. Plus they have that Illinios/Chicago market access.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Green Mean

[SHOSS]

Please SANTA All i want is CUSA WEST for my UNT. Give me Tulsa, Rice, UTEP, La Tech, Tulane or Memphis ! Give me a CUSA championship game with the winner to play MWC champ.!

I will never ask for anything again promise !!

Dude...I'll ask for the 4* defensive tackles...

Then, somebody else ask for 4/5* dual threat qb's...

and then somebody else ask for 4/5* offesive linemen...

then we can all get together and see our awesome new toys together... year after year after year after...uh...year?

[Wag Tag]

Dude...I'll ask for the 4* defensive tackles...

Then, somebody else ask for 4/5* dual threat qb's...

and then somebody else ask for 4/5* offesive linemen...

then we can all get together and see our awesome new toys together... year after year after year after...uh...year?

The big guy n the sky has surprised me before. Besides from a CUSA point it make sense !!!!!! It would b awesome !

[Coffee and TV]

No, it's in DeKalb, which is in the western extremes of the Chicago suburbs. And people throughout the Chicago area keep up with NIU when they are doing well.

Ah, gotcha. And just for the record, I cancelled whoever neg repped you for this post. wtf was that about?

[Stix]

93-98 is right...it is in Dekalb and its only about an hour drive or so from Chicago. I've known quite a few people from Chicago over the years and they are say that the comparison is kinda like UNT in that they aren't that close to the big city but certainly not far also. They've got a pretty good size student body so I think you could probably say that there would probably be some similarities of UNT and NIU especially when it comes to that 'potential' word.

And Francis Stroup wrote both the NT and NIU fight songs!

The North Texan Fall 2008

Francis Stroup Obituary

[GrayEagle]

NIU is in Rockford, which IIRC, is like saying Baylor has the DFW Market. I think that's comparable.

Nope. NIU is in DeKalb. The only county between DeKalb and Cook (Chicago) is Kane County. DeKalb County is part of the Chicago TV market.

[Aquila_Viridis]

Someone please paint a rosy picture for what the path forward will be if we do NOT get into CUSA or MWC. I am not being sarcastic. I think I need an emotional landing zone just in case.

[Harry]

Someone please paint a rosy picture for what the path forward will be if we do NOT get into CUSA or MWC. I am not being sarcastic. I think I need an emotional landing zone just in case.

I think that the Belt will survive and the WAC will not. So, that puts the Belt in a better position where say a La. Tech, etc will have to come hat in hand. I would not want to be a school in the WAC right now. UNT not getting into CUSA would be disappointing since we were a finalist the last time they expanded and we've made significant improvements since then. I think the even if we don't get in the program will be ok because the administration is finally funding it to the levels required for success.

[GrayEagle]

I don't know that there is a rosy picture if we don't get into CUSA or the MWC but I think that we'll be in one or the other. If we don't obviously we stay in the Sun Belt. The good news might be that three teams would be added. For us, adding La Tech, UTSA and Texas State would benefit us most. That would put six teams within 500 miles which would be a significant improvement over our current situation.

My preference for CUSA replacements would be North Texas, Louisiana Tech and Temple. The first two would replace SMU and Houston in the west and Temple would replace UCF in the east.

Per Commissioner Thompson, the Mountain West would like to have a presence in Texas. The DFW market is already a part of the TV contract, so we could simply replace TCU. With SMU and Houston gone from CUSA (leaving only Rice), UTEP might strongly consider returning to a more western conference. They could then consider either adding two Texas teams and/or increasing to 12 by also adding Utah State and San Jose State.

Any of those scenarios would be an improvement over our current situation. In time, the Sun Belt could surpass CUSA or the MWC if it adds the right teams.

[Comet7745]

NIU is in Rockford, which IIRC, is like saying Baylor has the DFW Market. I think that's comparable.

You really can't argue against NIU's Chicago market and at the same time assume the DFW market with UNT.

[Aquila_Viridis]

NT is so much larger and more of a significant university than several schools already in conferences that we would like to move up to. How can we possibly not have gotten there already? UTEP, Memphis, Southern Miss and Louisville for example are each only half the undergraduate enrollment of NT. Wyoming is a tiny little school, around 8,000 undergraduates.

It is also astonishing that some of our little current conference mates are able to keep up with us. Monroe only has about 7,000 undergraduates and stAte only 8,000. We have to do better. North Texas has like 22,000 undergraduates and I'm not even counting the 6,000 part-time students. Certainly bigger than Alabama and LSU. Why can't we generate that kind of spirit and support? If it's because of the lack of tradition and TV exposure then NT needs to make it a priority to find other ways to reach people. There's got to be at least 2 million people within a 20-mile radius of that school. North Texas should be in their faces all the time. I feel like these conference officials must be going 'what is wrong with you people?'

[SHOSS]

NT is so much larger and more of a significant university than several schools already in conferences that we would like to move up to. How can we possibly not have gotten there already? UTEP, Memphis, Southern Miss and Louisville for example are each only half the undergraduate enrollment of NT. Wyoming is a tiny little school, around 8,000 undergraduates.

It is also astonishing that some of our little current conference mates are able to keep up with us. Monroe only has about 7,000 undergraduates and stAte only 8,000. We have to do better. North Texas has like 22,000 undergraduates and I'm not even counting the 6,000 part-time students. Certainly bigger than Alabama and LSU. Why can't we generate that kind of spirit and support? If it's because of the lack of tradition and TV exposure then NT needs to make it a priority to find other ways to reach people. There's got to be at least 2 million people within a 20-mile radius of that school. North Texas should be in their faces all the time. I feel like these conference officials must be going 'what is wrong with you people?'

I often ask the same question all the time... I guess we really need to DOMINATE. Not just win the conference...not just squeak out victories...we need to roll up HUGE wins over and over again... That is the only way we get our alums to take notice.

[UNTflyer]

UTSA isn't going anywhere. Please stop talking about them like they matter.

[meangreen2012]

Its very true in their thinking and a prestige level is definitely what turns folks away. As far as apparel sold in Fort Worth for instance it has pretty much always been UT until TCU started winning and the community hopped on their bandwagon. Following TCU's line of success isn't that difficult. Take advantage of the opportunity to move up and play better teams, create a program that can dominate them and promote the hell out of the program. The University needs to create a local TV partner (used to be 52 how bout 21 now?). Needs to put more ad's out there. Needs to make the merchandise more readily available to buy. Needs to get walmart, target etc selling UNT stuff. They have to quit being stubborn and promote the brand.

[UNTcrazy727]

UTSA isn't going anywhere. Please stop talking about them like they matter.

I don't understand your disgust for UTSA. They're in a destination city and seem to have some upside. Would they be my first choice? No, but I would certainly give them a chance before NMSU, who you seem to like a lot.