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I don't recall ever seeing that pitch option on NCAA.

No, it would be a disaster and would set the conference back several years. Expansion by bringing up FCS programs is going to permanently place the SBC in the armpit of college athletics. If Benson were smart (and every indication suggests otherwise) he would be looking to bring what remains of the WAC (sans UTA and UTSA) into the Sun Belt, eliminating competition and weakening the position of the Alliance to expand.

Got to hang out with a few of the basketball players after the spring game over at my house. Not going to drop names but those three that were there all said they were 100 percent sure that they were staying. And they also did say they were Team Fran all the way as am I and as we all should be. GMG

but the same amount of fans in the gym!

fun fact, the amount of points scored in this video are about half the amount of a normal SMU game

ESPN analyst and former college head coach Fran Fraschilla has emerged as a strong candidate for the vacant head coaching job at North Texas, multiple sources told ESPN.com. Fraschilla and Marquette associate coach Tony Benford interviewed last week to replace Johnny Jones, who left to be the head coach at LSU. Fraschilla, who has been involved in other jobs since he left coaching, including the College of Charleston this spring, would accept the North Texas job if offered, according to a source. more at: http://espn.go.com/m...een-sources-say Click here to view the article

Just do it! Pull the trigger Rick V. Having a fellow "paisan" on board would make my job of controlling the state of Texas much easier. Capiche?

I grab it, but dislocated my shoulder on the way to check out and sent it back.

Did his twitter account go silent about the same time the "Twitter is Effing Stupid" thread started?

A couple of really interesting lines from story: * Multiple sources said Jones has endorsed Fraschilla for the job. * North Texas is on the verge of possibly moving to Conference USA, according to multiple sources. * Mitchell could still declare for the NBA draft by Sunday's deadline. Sources said Mitchell is waiting to see who gets the head coaching job before making a decision.

Gross

Fran, primarily because of his head coaching experience. Shawn Forrest is a very close second to me because out of the three I think he has the best chance to keep the team together and he has obviously shown himself to be a great metroplex recruiter. Benford is a far distant third, like so far back that the other two don't even realize he is behind them. Regardless of who is chosen, I will still support the team and cheer on North Texas because this is my school and that is what I do.

I agree with what you are saying except where do you get your replacements when we (and others) leave? The two Texas universities will technically be move-overs from the WAC. I don't think that the SBC would want Idaho and San Jose State, and maybe not even New Mexico State. So they have to refill membership from somewhere. If they get the best move-ups it will eventually strengthen the conference. They need to get the best markets available (Atlanta, Charlotte, San Antonio) and strong teams (Appalachian State) to buffer future raids by better conferences. Just because the Sun Belt is an entry-level conference doesn't mean that they are/will be a weak conference. There won't be that many move-ups so the conference will become more and more stable. They could reach a limit and there will be no more FBS teams in number (or a new FBS conference is sanctioned). In the meantime the SBC will continue to improve and strengthen the conference. At least they're being aggressive in improving their conference. They have passed the soon to be defunct WAC and probably the MAC (they definitely have in attendance). They'll have their pick of the best area teams that want to move up so they should continue improving their status. Those that want to advance from the FCS to the FBS will be eternally grateful.

"heard from a guy who knows a guy that says UTSA will not be invited to MWC/CUSA." Good source.

Observations after watching my first college conference tennis tournment: 1. College tennis is nothing like professional tennis--lots of yelling, coaching, movement of fans, and fun 2. No subbing for injury or bad day on the court--you start, you finish--not like other team sports 3. It is tense trying to keep track of singles on 6 courts at the same time to see if your are leading or behind in the team scoring 4. Clutch play coming from behind by Valentina Starkova on Saturday to keep us in the tournament 5. Clutch play coming from behind by Irina Paraschiv today to close out the championship today for the Mean Green 6. Congratulations to Paula Dinuta for being nameed the MVP of the tournament--if I remember correctly she won all her doubles and singles matches---very steady to keep us up in each match 7. Felt good to have 3 seniors on the court in the final three matches today--felt like they could battle in the matches to the end--as they needed to 8. The doubles point is very important and we seem to be the masters of starting off with a point from the doubles round 9. FIU had been to the finals the last 8 years--they beat us in the semis last year and we beat them in the finals for the championship in 2010---has become a big rivalry 10. It helps to have former basketball great Kenneth Lyons behind your court leading the cheers and motivating you--come back anytime Kenneth! 11. Coach Lama and Coach Maren have done as great job with these girls, as has Coach Troy--I believe our fitness wins several of those third set matches There were lots of fans in green out this week rooting for the girls and the home court advantage certainly came into play at critical times. If you ever get a chance, come out to the matches. You will be surprised at how much you will enjoy it. So, congratulations Kseniya (Fr), Paula (Sr), Nadia (Sr), Irina (Sr), Illona (Jr), Franziska (Fr), Valentina (Jr) and Barbora (Jr). All of you played a big part in the team victory, so......... ON TO REGIONALS....GO MEAN GREEN! This post has been promoted to an article

i was one of those guys... but i don't want to remember the garage sale... somebody stole my dog while I was at the sale

Fran knows he can cheat a little bit since he's going against an 8th grader with a wrist splint. Sad thing is, he got beat every time. Do we really want this guy coaching our team?

I wanted it badly and handled it pretty dang well while I had it for a bit, but no one thought I was tough enough to keep it. Strangely enough after I gave it up two tougher guys than me grabbed it and proceeded to fracture a hip and break a leg almost immediately.... Weird.

I think there is a connection. He is already learning who his fan base is.

The sad thing is that Larry Brown more than likely will literally die there.

I think I'm fully behind Fran getting hired... not only because of what he's done as a coach and his possible recruiting ties... but because of the possible new slogans... So Frasch and so clean... anybody? Mean Green, the Frasch-makers.... Frasch Prince of NT? some sort of Creme Frasch reference... it hasn't fully come to me yet... his first recruiting class would be full of Frasch-men... anybody else?

SMU has a basketball team?

Coach Fran's twitter account has been very quiet the past couple of days I've noticed which is unusual for him. Maybe he is busy signing contracts...

1) My general takeaway was that we more resembled a college football team than last years spring game. I was mortified after the game last year. The more physical nature of the team is continuing. The players are bigger and stronger. 2) We are still battling the depth issue. It may be another 2 years before that is resolved. 3) I continue to be impressed by the level of buy in to the coaching staff from the players. They seem so jazzed about getting better every day and taking it to the next level. I think it is going to be very enjoyable to watch the Mean Green progress the next 10 years. Progress will be slow and painful at times but we are definatley headed in the right direction.

Buzz Williams tried to recruit my son and the first thing he tells us is how he use to have a relationship with my sons high school coaches wife I thought that was highly inappropriate and made me uncomfortable. He's not a very nice Guy....imo

Sunland conference

Terrell was at the Spring Game yesterday

If that is really the list I am going to be very disappointed we didn't hire Shawn Forrest and extremely underwhelmed...

Couldn't disagree more. So we get our 15 minutes. So what. Someone is going to have to recruit players and win basketball games. Fran may be the guy, but it should have NOTHING to do with any temporary publicity we get from ESPN,

So it covers LESS of the Metro area, has technical issues form time to time ... and this is good?

A local UTSA football blogger/podcaster tweeted today that UTSA won't be invited to the CUSA/MWC (and UNT will be) (for what it is worth). Here's his twitter stream: https://twitter.com/#!/CokerChronicles If that's the case, will UTSA be in the Sun Belt in 2013? How about Texas State? Is the Sun Belt going to get to 12 football playing teams with a conference championship game? Who is in the conference in 2013? Would Sun Belters be happy with the addition of UTSA and Texas State? View the full article

It's extra nice since Katz wrote it. He's one of the better national basketball guys. Hopefully, we get this wrapped up in a couple days. I think Fran would be able to keep all of the current team and he should do well with recruiting future classes.

Remember, these are Vito's guesses. RV has pulled off shockers lately.

Of the three, Fran's the only one with head coaching experience. That's obviously a high priority for RV. Beyond that, he has an impressive W-L record and is very well-connected. Tony Benford (or Shawn Forrest, for that matter) could potentially have a higher upside, but I don't think we're going the crapshoot route with this hire.

I tried it out a few times over the weekend and the signal stinks. Our coverage is now not a whole lot better than UTA's pathetic signal provides. Many of our recent high level BB recruits have come out of the South Dallas area, and now they and their families will have to climb the highest structure they can find with their radios in tow, and hope and pray that 88.1 is having a good day. Not a smart move IMO.

Yeah but Dodge didn't have head coaching experience at 3 different colleges either.

I bet Texas Red Dirt Country Bird Dog Georgio Jub Jub Dunham had a hand in this mess.

Get this. Just talked to one of my students who finished 2nd in state last year as a Jr. She said she is thinking about going to Texas Tech. She added that she does not think she is good enough to go to UNT. Please don't blast my student she is an awesome person and student. I just think her statement says alot about the perception of UNT Tennis.

So basically you want Phil Jackson hired...

The real question is: Which Community College do we bring in first?

Seriously? Maybe we should invite SFA and Sam Houston too...and perhaps ACU. Nothing says progress like adding all these established power houses.

1a. Fran 1b. Forrest

Wait is western civilization over or did JJ take it with him to LSU?

It's become the norm for our special teams.

Obviously just rumors now, but they're making me happy!

Dodge didn't work for ESPN. Not saying we get pub because of the hire but because he is an ex employee. How many of us are gona watch lsu to see what jj does? Fran's friends will watch unt to see how he is doing and if he does well they will show it.

I bet we would get more if got a hologram John Wooden

That is what was said about Todd Dodge.

Great Job! That certainly helps in the Bubbas Cup standings.