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Playing Las Vegas Community College would be a fun road trip, too. But it would do nothing to enhance the perception of the conference. Sorry guys, I don't mean to poo-poo on this but I think this is a BAD strategic decision on the part of CUSA.

sucks they were cut, but cool that the university will keep them on academic scholarships to earn their degrees

It's not necessarily pi$$ing on the UTSA thing but from a CUSA view point, looking at it objectively, what's better for the conference? UNT, La Tech, FIU, UTSA or UNT, La Tech, FIU, MTSU? FBS history? MTSU Athletic success? MTSU TV Market? MTSU National reputation? MTSU Geography? (for the conference, not for UNT) Push I don't see how UTSA is better for the conference that MTSU... Take the awesome weekend in San Antonio every other year out of it because that has nothing to do with moving a program forward. That's why I think CUSA is making a mistake.

That's good. You need a real college basketball team in your life.

I invite anyone here who is dissatisfied to lay me out a plan to get UNT into the SEC or Big XII right now with current members welcoming us with open arms. The standards that people demand, I'm shocked that every single UNT fan isn't a Viper driving CEO. Never should one settle for less, present realities be damned.

We've got our invitation too. We just know how to keep our mouths shut. But, you didn't here that from me...

Wait...According to basketball genius, Hoopmanx, Smith and Vilde were the second coming of Ewing and Olajawan.

Maybe you are right nationally ( at least short-term)..... ..... but it puts us in a league some Texas teams which should get us more attention in Texas media... That is help for recruiting and attendance at home games.. or at least I think so. We would absolutely get more visiting fans, more excitment at games, and maybe more UNT fans because of interest. I say go for it.

It's like busting your ass for years to get that big executive promotion. The day finally comes, only you find out some 19-year-old intern was just named VP as well.

IMO, the last thing we want is another Texas D1 program recruiting against us in our own conference. At least if they were in the Belt or a dying WAC we would have a better conference affiliation as an extra advantage. Another Texas D1 program recruiting against us??? Name the last one to do so. This is something we have never had to worry about and frankly i would much rather have that problem then be in a conference with a bunch of teams out student body could care less about.

Coach Benford just walked in the house !

I agree. I would bet ULaLa and Ark St bring as many fans to Denton as UTSA will. The key word there is "fans". That's because UTSA doesn't have any. People are falling in love with those attendance #s (that I predict will fall by 1/2 this season.) Those 35K weren't fans, they were people in San Antonio with nothing else to do and thought, "hey it's free, let's check it out" As for the TV market, as someone else posted (I believe it was you Flyer) they're 36th in the country behind Nashville, you know, a market that has an established FBS school with recent success and good all around sports and is in the middle of the CUSA footprint. Kickass road trip? Sure. Will I spend a weekend in SA? Probably. But that has nothing to do with the improvement of our perception and our growth as a legitimate college football program. For the life of me, I don't get the low expectations some have for our program where the standard stops at a fun weekend. But....it looks like this is happening so no use in whining about it. They won't field anything close to resembling an FBS team for several years. We had better pound the snot out of them when we play them.

Here we are, hopefully on the precipice of moving out of the Sun Belt, in a thread that lead off with one of the most righteously positive posts I've ever read on GMG, and someone still finds a way to turn all that sunshine into an opportunity to dump on Denton. That's ridiculous. Can't sell out Apogee consistently in its first year? Denton sucks. Students attendance at games isn't what we wanted in Year One? Obviously Denton's fault. Denton high school players go to FCS schools instead of UNT? Totally a product of the community. I'm a townie. I've lived here most of my life. I work at UNT and I'm an alum. I'm a Mean Green Club member. My dad is a retired professor from UNT. My parents were sponsors for the Geazles many, many years ago, and I grew up with stories about Bill Bishop, Ray Renfro, Hayden Fry, and "the good old days" of Mean Green football when we sent as many guys to the NFL as today's perennial Top 25 schools do today. I put all this out here because I want y'all to understand that I'm not a carpetbagger who doesn't know the lay of the land around here. I know Denton and I know UNT's history with Denton. What puzzles me about all the beating up on Denton and its residents is that I don't see what y'all are complaining about when you say the town in "ungrateful" and "non-supportive." I say "y'all" because this attitude towards Denton is well-represented on this board. The collective mindset seems to be that every single resident of Denton owes fealty to UNT simply because we're here. That's silly. Considering that UNT does damn near ZERO outreach to the Denton community, we're lucky we get what support we do. Many of y'all seem to think that Denton should be Lawrence, Kansas, a town that bleeds blue and red for hometown KU. I've got news for you: Lawrence isn't Jayhawk territory because KU happens to be there and Lawrence residents "owe" it their loyalty; it's partisan KU territory because KU is engaged in that community in ways where UNT is absent from the Denton community. Lawrence doesn't love the Jayhawks out of necessity; that town loves the Jayhawks because whether it's athletics, academics, or community service, the town and the university are intertwined. Here in Denton, I can draw you a pretty darn accurate demarcation line between Town and Gown with my eyes closed. Not only are we not intertwined, but Denton and UNT have not had the best of relationships. For example, ask any of the small business owners on West Prairie who the University tried to screw a few years ago using eminent domain if they'll hang a green and white flag during home games. I saw plenty of Denton residents who have no formal connection to UNT in the west stands at Apogee last season. I also saw plenty of my friends who are UNT alums who live in the area in those stands. I saw current staff and retired staff who live in Denton in the stands last year. None of those folks appeared ungrateful or unsupportive to me. The kicker is that Denton and North Texas can be like Lawrence and KU. This town could be partisan Mean Green territory. It's not going to happen by blaming our past failures on the very people you want buying the merchandise and going crazy on 3rd down in Apogee and hollering in the Super Pit. It's sure as hell not going to happen by calling the business owners you want buying ad space and flying green and white flags ingrates. In general, making blanket statements about ~120,000 people is pretty much the last thing you ought to be doing to change the situation, unless all you want to do is moan about it instead of fixing it.

Lance just tweeted "Cowboys it is" Click here to view the article

We had to get all those home and homes taken care of in preparation for a new conference schedule in 2013. Sucks in the short-term, and I'm completely not down with the Tuesday night thing, but keep eyes on the prize and horizon. It'll get better. Lots better.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, we must work at the same company.

Initially award the cup to Rice as the oldest incumbent. Then let them defend it any time they play one of the other three Texas teams. Should someone beat Rice, they get the cup to defend. The cup could ultimately change hands more than once a year and potentially make otherwise meaningless late season games more interesting.

I get wanting to be special because we've been in this thing longer. I get wanting to be in a more prestigious conference in relation to the southern texas schools. What is most important is to embrace the good that comes from this. Regional-ness, at a time when UT is trading A&M for TCU is a selling point. It is one more bullet point to put on the advertisements. It makes UNT interesting. Come 2013, Danny Mac will have a decent squad to stomp on UTSA and then everyone can talk mess when UTSA BBall comes to the Super Pit and the cycle of fan hate can begin. I don't know how any of this is a downer. Better TV deal? Yes Better teams? Sorta Recognizable teams? Yes Texas rivals? Yep.

Barry Coker blog seems to think they'll be in the Big 12 in 10 years. http://www.cokerchronicles.com/2012/04/utsa-to-cusa.html

Exactly. We're finally getting what we've wanted and just cause UTSA is probably going to come along for the ride, we're all pissed now and would rather stay in the Belt? They in no way represent a deal beaker for me in this scenario. Not ideal (agree with 97 & 03 that WKU or MTSU are better overall athletics adds), but when has anything in North Texas' Athletics history been ideal?

Depends on what you call "the alliance." Merger between MWC and CUSA isn't happening yet. But the MWC is shutting down their TV network and they and CUSA appear to be proceeding on a joint marketing (and perhaps scheduling) program. There were too many dollars on the table from exit fees and NCAA basketball units to kill off the conferences yet. CUSA still has a current TV contract that calls for a championship game and to do that you need 12 football members. MWC doesn't but needs at least one more to be a FBS conference. This doesn't mean an eventual merger won't take place later.

I would find it hilarous ... assuming it didn't affect us.

UTSA notwithstanding, you're telling me that Tulsa, Rice, UTEP are not improvements over LA Monroe, MTSU and FAU? And they're all driveable? Dude, seriously, we just went 6-37 against a bunch of Pop Warner teams. We can't be Alabama just yet. This is a great stepping stone.

PLaying Rice, UTEP. Tulane, La Tech and Southern Miss would be MUCH better than the current Sun Belt. I think it is a push by anyone who claims otherwise.

Sure hope you are right!

UTSA's athletic department hasn't stated anything....the quote came from a source speaking on condition of anonymity.... behind the scenes my guess is UNT is dotting the I's and waiting for C-USA to make an announcement.

I usually agree with many of the things you say, but how is playing Tulsa, Rice, and even UTSA, along with the Southern Miss's and and La Tech's of the world not better than the teams in the Belt? If the argument is that CUSA is somehow weaker now, that might be the case...but say if there was some magic formula that determined CUSA 2.0 is at the same strength level of the Belt, our fans will still relate more to these teams, which will increase attendance, which will increase the game day experience, which will in turn increase the face of our program. Just think about the large crowds we have had recently...They are all the teams we would be playing in our bracket of CUSA 2.0...only we wouldnhave those crowds game in and game out Bring in UTSA...I could care less...he'll I even encourage it because it will be one he'll of a road trip...better than going to ark St...la mon, Troy, etc...

I would have preferred Tx State over UTSA but I do understand that UTSA has more to offer that is non athletics related than TSU so I guess I can understand the decision.

While I'm not thrilled with the idea of UTSA getting an invite, getting to games from Austin will be a breeze. Plus I have tons of friends who are UTSA alums, should be an interesting rivalry.

I am going to get a hotel room on the river walk, eat everything in site, and drink every beer in and outside of that stadium. It will fun. All the haters should be happy because it will be really fun. Not to mention its a reason for friends to meet down there. Additionally, I love the Longhorn Cafe.

Harry, I can live without the windmills , but the new skin needs a lot more green. The bright white is almost blinding! But overall it's fine on a PC.

My iPhone isn't very happy with it so far.

So far it looks great on my iPad, but it could definitely use some tweaking on the iPhone.

This semester's NT Daily isn't even good enough to follow Brett Vito around with a can of Diet Coke.

If we make it to NYC I am definitely making that trip.

A) They get paid well less than minimum wage. Mistakes like yesterday are why you work at a STUDENT newspaper - it's a learning experience.

Me too, and it makes sense. You lose DFW (SMU) and south Texas state school (UH). You replace with another DFW and south Texas state school. If this is the way it works out, I think it's terrific. The more regional teams for UNT, the better.

CUSA East FIU ECU Marshall UAB Southern Miss Tulane CUSA West UTEP UTSA UNT Rice Tulsa LT So assuming all of this is true ... if LT is the fouth team added then either them or Tulane will go to the East (I'd guess Tulane but who knows). If they add an eastern team like UNCC then LT would be left out ... again .. and Tulane would go west. I'm really surprised UTSA would get in but whatever.

no issues on android phone...huh...what a shock...iphone has the issue... would like more green on the site though

Well...at least we'll get an easy win

The only thing I don't like is it says decisions may not be made until CUSA's annual meeting in several weeks. I wanna know now!

Not one bit.

you are

I'm starting to think the NT Daily may need a new editor. Do other school papers make so many mistakes?

What did I say? The NT Daily is an embarrassment to our campus.

FYI, I was heading north on 35W this afternoon. Just as I was leaving the N. Fort Worth area I passed a billboard that said, "Estimated time 21 - 24 minutes until Alliance." I think the city knows something.

This is going to be a real shocker for Coach Peterson. It's a good thing that Marshall University is in Texas.

I can't stand the thought of Tim Jankovich at SMU. Edit- - -Now with a few hours to think, I sort of get a kick out of SMU hiring a guy we fired.

Rick, Well said. No one has been a more loyal supporter than you! Everything at UNT is looking bright - BRIGHT GREEN!