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You know what... After seeing all that is going down now, I'm convinced that it doesn't matter what we do. Oklahoma shedding conference partners it has had for over 100 years to hook up with Arizona and Arizona State says it all. And, teaming up with Texas to pressure Nebraska out first so they don't look culpable. I'd have never believed it until I saw it today. I take back every bad thing I've ever said about Rick Villareal. Building a winning program doesn't matter (just ask Missouri and Kansas State...heck, ask Boise State at this point). Loyalty doesn't matter. Geography doesn't matter. Traditional rivals don't matter. Nothing matters but TV money. And, remember, though...it's amateur, right? All for the kids' sake. I say, from here on out, screw the whole lot of the money-grubbing whores. Quit scheduling them. Let them go play with themselves. They've been trying for the better part of two decades to shed schools like us. They don't even have loyalty or concern for longtime conference mates, so they sure as hell aren't going to hold the door open for us? If we started winning, we'd just be another pain in the rear for them to deal with - like Fresno State, Boise State, and Utah before us. Few money whore schools will schedule them; they just want them to go away. Let's just win the Sun Belt this year and begin enjoying our new stadium next year. Tailgate, be happy, and forget about it. Let's just be happy with what we have.

My classic fighting games of the 90's mind > your classic fighting games of the 90's mind.

No, it was that back-stabbing bastard Deloss Dodds. HE caused all this.

Answer: Suck worse.

Look at this way. If a few Domino's didn't fall in Mississippi, our athletic program could have been left in the dust years ago.

Come on folks...NO, it is not the Alumni Center. In case folks haven't noticed, we have an Alumni Center on campus near the Gateway Center. This is a new pavilion that will be part of the new stadium complex. Geeeeezzzzzz...It's a GOOD thing. It will give the Alumni a great place to meet and greet and "tailgate" before games, maybe even after games and to host events at other times. I am always amazed that when something like this develops, and before any real announcements are made, that rumors start flying and there will be folks that think it is "negative" somehow without having anything other than rumor to go on. Just hang in there and official announcements will be made at the proper time. I would imagine that Alumni and friends may even have the opportunity to help support this project through their donations. We'll see. GO MEAN GREEN...join the MEAN GREEN CLUB and the Alumni Association. It helps a great deal when you do!

I wonder how many others share your stance. UNT has well over 100,000 alumni in the Metroplex. 18,000 people (including current students) show up on gamedays. How many of the remainder are only waiting on the new stadium to begin showing up to games? I hope the new stadium will bring some alumni back and maybe rope them in. You insinuate that once the new stadium opens, you'll be there? What is holding you back now? Is it really the stadium itself? I hope so... If it's something else, like say cost, then you will be sad when we open the new stadium and ticket prices rise. Try to make all of the games. You have a new grad discount! We all know Fouts is dilapidated, but OUR Mean Green plays there this year. If we want to support them, that's where we need to be (at least those of us in the Metroplex).

I find it funny how people think Dodge's hire will keep us from greener pastures. This is and always has been about money, and we don't have it. Even some schools who have it like SMU and Baylor don't have enough of it. Winning won't help TCU or Boise in this. The only way Dodge could have changed our fortunes in this and got us in with the big boys, would have been if he had somehow figured a way to make us draw the kind of revenue Texas or Oklahoma does for the conferences. Maybe if he had figured out a way to get the NCAA to allow us and only us to have nude strippers on the field during our games causing our games to become the highest rated TV show on TV , and subsequently allowing us to choose who could be in a conference with us.

I liked Colorado Eagle's response about winning being a switch that you flip for or against. We all wanted to win and we didn't and nothing will change that. We just have to hope that this is the beginning of a new era. We have all been disappointed with Todd Dodge but to say that he's been the worst hire is foolish. At the time of his hire there was little opposition, even among those who preferred another candidate. Todd had an excellent reputation and that reputation has had a major part in the new stadium, the improvement in the talent pool and cleaning up the mess that was our football program. Those things are forgotten because he didn't win. He underestimated the depth of the problem and overestimated his ability to solve it without the right help. Let us hope that he has finally hit upon the right combination and that there's a dramatic turnaround this year. How did this get to be a rant against Baylor? I can only assume that it's because of the actions of their lobbyist trying to influence the legislature. I condemn his actions but I certainly don't degrade Baylor. That university certainly can't be responsible for every act of every alumnus. Baylor is the oldest (continual) university in the state and has a rich tradition. Trying to bring them down certainly doesn't build us up. Let us be the very best that we can be, do what we can to favorably influence the selectors and let the chips fall where they may. I deplore the politics associated with this selection process but, like most of us, are helpless to do anything about it. We can't match the history of some of our competitors but we have perhaps a brighter future than any, save the Big Three of Texas. We don't have their political clout but we could eventually join them if we all pull together and quit the petty bickering. Call me a cockeyed optimist but I believe that we end up in CUSA when all is said and done. Britton Banowsky certainly knows who we are and I live in hope that we will be treated fairly by all concerned. Other than our recent football record, and women's basketball record everything else is moving in the right direction for North Texas. I hope that other university presidents see that.

Anyone who doesn't think Baylor is in a better position than us is high. Now, will we change that? Things certainly are getting better around here, but we need to tap the brakes on this thing. We don't have a law school yet, and Baylor has some friends in very high places in this state.

Remember, this is from the official A.D. website. You don't go on the official website and say you are looking to join another conference.

I really hope so. They got their panties in a wad over bowl placement and what they viewed as preferred treatment ot UT, OU, KU, and NU. Well, the reality is that they have historically been mediocre in both football and basketball. I believe that no school has made the NCAA Tournament without making it to a Final Four than Mizzou. They are the biggest university in a populous state with no other D-1 school, yet they couldn't do anything of note in the Big Eight/Big XII until Chase Daniel got there, which also coincided with Nebraska falling off the map. When they played a South school, they got hammered in football. Then the Big Ten makes overtures their way and they basically started all of this mess for the Big XII. I heard that if the Big XII could have still stayed together, the other schools were ready to kick them out. They have flaunted this Big Ten invite big time to the other Northern schools--especially the Kansas schools, but also Nebraska, but it now sounds like they are going to get left out. It would be sweet justice if Mizzou has to go to CUSA or the MWC, especially if the Kansas schools do go to the Big East and stay in an AQ league. At least KU and K-State have done something in the two main sports (National Championship in hopps, BCS bowl wins for both schools). Mizzou is the picture of underachievement--and the Big ten is realizing that now.

Dominate the MWC in basketball? Do you even follow the sport?

He's hitting just .225 this season. Have we figured out what to do?

I'm a Vega on the street and a Dhaslim in the bed.

Sparks: Sun Belt can't stay silent in expansion A selected excerpt from the article: The Sun Belt's football members include MTSU, Troy, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas State and South Alabama soon enough. Notice anything missing from that statement? Hellooo??? McFly!! The lack of respect Rodney Dangerfield got is nothing compared to what the once mighty, four-time SBC football champs are getting these days. Let the email barrage begin: Adam Sparks is the MTSU beat writer for The Daily New Journal. E-mail him at sparks@dnj.com.

I think we all missed a very important part of what TFLF had to say...

It will be really interesting to see what Baylor can do without being in a major conference. Without that funding, they are basically an SMU. No UT at home, no Tech at home, no OU at home... while we might not move too much during this cycle or reallignment - Baylor fans have complete disaster waiting them. What will they do without those marquee games and the big checks each year?

The best thing for NT to do right now - is keep our heads down, work, win, buy seasons tickets, have fun and go to the games and cheer for your teams. It really makes no difference what conference we end up in, we still have work to do.

Means you ain't done it yet. By the way, Baylor has hospitals and SMU has a law school. I love your passion, but your argument holds no water. We are a huge public school with generally poor support.

Wet or dry?

If only someone could help out and check them for him.

http://northtexan.unt.edu/content/unt-alumni-association-2 As some have noted this is not an alumni office. It is simply a pavilion, a game-day building to hold max 150 people inside. It is a place to get out of the heat or rain, watch some other games on TV, etc.

TMZ has a sports outlet ?

Small? What is the square footage of the facility? Do you have some info on that you would like to share? Not kidding or jumping your case here, as I don't know what the square footage is to be as yet...maybe you do. Also...whatever size it is, it is much larger than the one now available at Fouts and will make a very welcome addition for the Alumni. BTW, there is no such facility, of any size, at the other three universities I have attended and/or graduated from so, to me, this is a plus for UNT.

Let's compare. Street Fighter: VS. Mortal Combat:

At the end of the day I fear the non-AQ conferences will be pushed farther away from the BCS Bowl mix

100% agree. Oh, wait... This isn't the thread about promotion for the Texas Tech basketball game. Nevermind, disregard.

I contaacted him. Here is his reply. Joe Wow. My bad. Thanks for the heads up. I'll fix it online in just a minute. And for the record, I don't dismiss UNT from the idea of a new conference, merger, etc. I just think UNT makes more sense in a revamped Big 12, WAC, new Southwest Conference, etc. ... maybe with West Division CUSA schools. Again, sorry. I'm surprised Vito didn't call me out on that. Adam Sparks MTSU beat writer BlueRaiders.com editor The Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Gannett Tennessee (Nashville, Tenn.)

I just read this on espn, what a great day. USC is banned for 2 years from a bowl, and the big 12 is falling apart.

The average college football fan doesn't care what place we are in the Sun Belt. Every time I've seen any article or even message board conjecture over what the conferences will look like after all of this, the SBC isn't even mentioned where CUSA, MWC, and the WAC are. It is the conference that's irrelevant.

LOL, so I get a -2 for posting my displeasure about our omission from a story discussing who is currently in the SBC and who should be included in any SBC expansion? By the way, it looks like Sparks has now decided to not specifically identify each SBC member in that same article (guess that feat was too difficult ). Regardless of the reason for omission, oversight or not, I think it's a very telling observation. Over the last 4-5 years, North Texas football has really fallen into a grave state of irrelevance. And it couldn't have come at a worse time, in my opinion. If a beat writer for a team in our own conference can forget about us (but not Western Kentucky or even South Alabama), how much easier do you think it is for the average college football fan to forget about North Texas? We need to get back on top of the SBC in a hurry!

Great post. It's all about the Benjamins, the hell with conference loyalty and 100 year old traditions. People like DeLoss Dodds and the Whorns are the reason college football as we know it is about to be in shambles. And be on the lookout for payments to "student-athletes" and unionization in years to come. Yep, the "Student Athletes College Players Association".

It looks like the sky is falling right now, and many here seem to be worried that after this round of realignment we will be left out forever. Finger pointing and calling out our coach isn't going to improve the odds of advancing our program. I'm not happy with the record either, but he's already on the hot seat. Complaining about him isn't going to change the past. UNT hired a high school coach for $275 K. Looking back, if we would have spent $2 M, we could have hired June Jones, but we didn't and probably couldn't. As long as Dodge is our coach I'm going to support him. It is whats best for our team. I like the coaching additions he has made. I hope they pay off. If someone has a plan for improving our realignment position that we can collectively execute, I'd like to hear it. Realignment might happen fast or slow. Either way, we can only focus on what we can control. I'm going to make every home game, and buy an extra general admission ticket. An extra $10 and walking through the gates twice is not asking too much of me. I'm going to wear a kelly green North Texas shirt to every game and make noise for our team, so I won't here the endzone seats waving in the wind. I'm going to try to make the ULM game because it's not that far of a drive. And I'm going to try and talk some of the pseudo tailgaters into actually going in the stadium and supporting the team. Aside from that I don't know what else I can do.

Nothing "official" yet, but rumors are just unconfirmed facts. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-usc-20100610,0,7548894.story

May be forced to forfeit wins from the BCS Championship season. How will the BCS react??? Will they be stripped of their trophy? (snicker)

That's been the problem and isn't the solution.

Im still for scheduling those SOB's, just charge them an arm and a leg if they want to back out of the deal.

A back-stabbing liar to the end. He's overseen the demise of two conferences now. Can anyone find me two more cowardly programs than OU and Texas? The toughest football in the country is played in the SEC. Yes, it's the girlish Pac-10 OU and Texas run for. Pathetic. And, Texas Tech freeriding on top of it all. Disgusting.

Give me a break. You act like winning is a switch that you flip, and someone consciously decided against pursuing winning. We made a bad hire and have some other things working against us in that department. We've put millions upon millions of dollars into both athletic and academic facilities in the past few years. Everything within our power since the last time we were in this position has been done.

You are a jerk.

Never happen. Why do you think we have Lee Jackson as a Chancelllor? His awesome Austin connections would neeeever allow UNT to be left behind. We would most CERTAINLY have to be in a package with TCU, SMU, Baylor and/or Houston, or else the legislature would never go for it. This is one of the big reasons you were hired, Judge. GET TO WORK. ****Sarcasm tag******** not holding my breath.

I just don't see that as a nightmare scenario. We are already in a conference at least a notch below SMU, and another notch below TCU. UNT being in a conference including UTEP, Tulsa, La Tech, and Rice would be better than what we have now. No, it wouldn't be an ideal scenario without at least one of the other Metroplex teams, but I don't see it as a nightmare either.

Maybe he knows something that we don't and has already colored us gone.

Only fitting considering how many alums like to take a dump on all things NT.

If we aren't able to gain admission to CUSA which conference would you prefer: Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, or Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, ULM, Louisiana and Arkansas State? The latter two might also be possibilities for the WAC. For me, the key is to maintain all of the WAC schools except Boise. Or, if Boise stays, so much the better.

WAC > SunBelt

Wait, we can have less press coverage than we do already?

I don't know where the logic train fell off the track here, but no one is waiting for WAC spots to open either. Based on your logic, since everyone wants into CUSA, UNT should bolt for the WAC at first opportunity? That makes absolutely no sense. The WAC without regional opponents would be the worst possible scenario for UNT.