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Umm...how would two schools leaving the soon-to-be 14 team ACC kill the Big East?

I echo what Grand said. If message boards picked conference members we'd be lucky to be in the Southland. Many posters are shallow and opinionated. They don't know about others and few make it a point to learn. We need to thankful that university presidents pick members based on facts. When I first learned that we were (all but) in CUSA I envisioned that we were middle-of-the-pack and might stay that way for at least several years. As I look at the coaching changes that I have taken place in the past year I believe that North Texas will be a sports power in CUSA. Jones and Hedlund were the only coaches that I really felt good about prior to a couple of years ago. Now, softball is the only coaching staff that I'm not comfortable with. I see great recruiting improvement in soccer, volleyball, especially men's and women's basketball, golf, tennis and swimming and diving with membership in the Sun Belt. It should be even better in all sports under CUSA. The culmination of the coaching improvement occurred today when Rob Evans, former coach at Ole Miss and Arizona State left his job at TCU to come be with Tony Benford on the men's basketball staff. When I see coaches like McCarney, Petersen, Benford and Evans accepting positions here when they could've likely had higher-paying jobs elsewhere, I think that the potential for special achievement radiates from our university. They see the opportunity. I hope our fans will.

A Mean Joe & Terry Bradshaw honorary captain , coin flip would be pretty cool in apogee

I'm glad to have y'all on board and I hope lots of you can make it to Hattiesburg when the time comes.

Driving From/To Louisiana Tech - Ruston, La. Southern Miss: 236 miles; 3 hrs, 20 mins Rice: 312 miles; 4 hrs, 25 mins Tulane: 344 miles; 4 hrs, 50 mins Tulsa: 412 miles; 5 hrs, 50 mins UAB: 385 miles; 5 hrs, 30 mins Did you guys not also notice that all of these are current members of CUSA. We at the athletic department were under strict regulations about what we could and could not release to the media. No matter how long the rumors had been out there. Contracts weren't sent until yesterday, so do you think we prepared this press release this morning or.... We know how far DFW is. It's where all the fine strip joints are, eh?

With all the craziness going on around here over the last 3-4 weeks, I felt that we needed a thread dedicated to tracking Dunbar and his progress with the Cowboys. It seems that he is making a good impression with the coaches, but I hope his is putting in overtime in the weight room. That seems to be the area that needs most improvement. http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/cowboys/2012/05/local-product-lance-dunbar-looking-to-stick-as-a-running-back.html Enjoy.

Just wanted to drop by and offer a Golden Eagle welcome to the Conference USA family. Looking forward to facing UNT soon.

ODU is light years a head of GA State in terms of competition and facilities. There is no comparison. The only thing ODU will have to do is expand their football stadium. GA State plays in the GA Dome but it doesn't belong to them and the Falcons have approached the city of Atlanta about replacing the GA Dome with an outdoor stadium closer to Gwenette. The GA Dome is 2 blocks from GA State campus. ODU avgs over 7,000 a game for mens basketball and had 3 womens national championships. Just take a look at ODUs facilities. They are on par with CUSA facilities: http://www.odusports...facilities.html

I wouldn't take too much from the Rice and Tulsa losses. Rice-Dodge Ball. Enough said Tulsa-D. Thompson out and 3rd string QB starting. We never had a 2nd string QB last season. Secondary....yikes

Sold, but any birthday parties will be held in between games. We have to get there extra early , next event is even bigger than last

What? I wasn't good enough company? I'll even bring my clipboard.

These things run in cycles, Right now the Big 12 is better and they're usually top heavy with Texas and Oklahoma but when Miami and Florida State have their ducks in a row they're easily football heavyweights on the same level as Texas and OU.. After those 4 traditional football powers I can't really say the Big 12 is that much better if it all usually. Right now they may have an edge but in most cases I think they're pretty equal in football in my opinion.

As per 1b, there might be a way to do this without buying. I don't know much about the bus industry, but it might be possible to make an agreement to have a charter bus company paint several of their rigs with UNT design in a contract that we exclusively use said charter company for team travel. During the week the same buses run the usual routes wile being a billboard for the university. We got any exes that own a bus charter company? Just a thought.

True, but hopefully for only a short period of time; at the college level. As you know, most high schools/prep schools play their 5 best guys together. (Got to keep the parents happy) These guys were recruited to Christian Life with promises to play right away and for 1 year. (Gray played at Houston Wheatley while Hardwick played at Dekaney after coming in from Florida. As we also know, high school/prep coaches are rarely fired as well. I'm ok with certain match up wrinkles/gimmicks in general. Chris Jones or Hardwick would certainly not be as effective standing around. (Just my thought NT03) Great job btw, with the updates!

I don't know about dominating but I think that we'll do extremely well; especially in basketball. I base that mainly on the changes in coaches and recruiting in the past year. Better coaches attract better recruits. The sleeping giant will awake. Book it.

yeah i mean, we couldn't even comment on UNT when we released that because your press release hadn't even happened yet. why take that away from any new school. like i said, we listed the current schools to keep agreements with CUSA. i don't think either of us need any fuel to fire a rivalry and i'm looking forward to it. i will definitely visit if you scuzbirds return the favor. i'll even get you drunk at our local watering holes as long as you promise to keep your hands off our wenches.

Strip joints and indoor plumping. Bring the family, it will be the experience of a lifetime.

Thanks. I, for one, am looking forward to that first game UNT plays in Hattiesburg. My father was a lifer in the Seabees and was stationed in Gulfport long years ago. I have been through Hattiesburg many times on my way from Texas to Gulfport. I recall that Hwy 49 went right by USM. GMG

Occupy Apogee? Hey, come to think of it, not a bad slogan.

Had we gone to the WAC or had NMSU stayed in the Belt the result would have been the same. This was about markets and commitment to athletics. I'm glad we didn't have to have the worry of being in the WAC and seeing a conference crumbling beneath us; however, had we gone to the WAC years ago we might have had our commitment to athletics and student support even sooner and had the chance to play amongst some BCS busting programs (Fresno, Boise, Nevada, Hawaii) the past few years instead of remaining in the Belt. We would have had to have done extremely well to have got the nod over SMU for the Big East and still would have ended up where we are today most likely.

They don't even know how the internet works in Ruston. We can't expect them to master geography.

this is really good news! this will give coach benford a experienced head coach to bounce ideas off on the bench, which will make his learning curve a bit smaller. plus, we stole him from a big xii school! excellent news! i guess he's got one more hire to make to get his staff of 4?

I couldn't think of a better way to kick off my cinco de mayo celebration !

That is ridiculous. We had regional rivals as a member of the Southland Conference. Those were not big crowds. I was there.

S OU THERN SouthernmississippiUSM! GMG

I'm probably going to do some hookers & blow on 12/20 just incase

Hwy 49 does go right by USM and more specifically it goes right by Roberts Stadium affectionately known as The Rock amongst Southern Miss fans.

You had to expect that the BIG 12 to expand, but I am a bit surprised that they would be looking at Clemson or Florida State. Certainly could start another round of musical chairs.

i think jones and jwill can do that, assuming they stay and pass.

1) Baseball 2) Basketball practice facility 3) Super Pit Upgrades 4) New Track facility - until one is built, Fouts can't be demolished 5) More Cowbell!

IF this happens, what has basically occurred is the BCS going from the big 6 conferences to the Big 5 conferences. The Big East will be relegated back to MWC and CUSA level. Just more money for the big boys to split among themselves. The basically strained out the undesireable programs in the Big East.

I don't know. This team desperately needs someone besides Walton who can knock down the 3 semi-consistently. That would be Clarke's role next year (on the court when Walton isn't). Either way, it sure is nice to have these types of problems.

Wow, DFW will have a division one school in the CUSA, the Big East, the Big 12 and the Sun Belt. Both the Big 12 and CUSA are headquartered here. Hopefully see greater fan enthusiasm and media coverage for college sports. DFW the center of college sports in Texas.

Well as a UT, SMU and UNT alum, I have made it a point to know where my teams could be playing because I try to go to all of their bowl games so I don't really need sources because I know it firsthand but if I must. Eaglebank bowl in DC is now the Military Bowl and has been since 2010 and features Army vs. an ACC. If Army doesn't qualify then a CUSA team will be picked http://www.militarybowl.org/ Texas Bowl in Houston is now Meineke Car Care Bowl for over a year. It is a Big 10 vs. Big 12 game. CUSA use to tie into the game but not since 2008. http://www.chron.com...eke-1685773.php http://espn.go.com/n...page/texas-bowl St. Petersburg Bowl is now the Beef O Brady's Bowl. CUSA vs. Big East http://www.stpetersburgbowl.com/ Ticketcity Bowl in Dallas. CUSA vs. Big Ten http://ticketcitybow...ce_partners.php Regarding the tv contract, you will see that they no longer have a contract with ESPN. If a game is going to be on ESPN or one of their affiliates it is going to have to be an away game with a conference that has a deal with them unless it is the CUSA title game which was given to ESPN in a settlement. http://articles.orla...-sports-florida http://www.cbssports...tv-contract/rss UNT did a bad job when putting this article on the website. They are using old bowl logos and listing bowl games that are no longer affiliate with CUSA. They didn't even mention the Tickeycity Bowl and that is the highest paying bowl in CUSA. All of this may be moot anyway as these things change sometimes on a yearly basis and by the time UNT is in CUSA half the bowls could be different. As for the Liberty Bowl, you can take my word for it or just wait to see but Memphis is taking CUSA tie in with it to the Big East similar to how the Hawaii bowl took the Hawaii bowl WAC tie in to the MWC. The SEC hates that it plays a Non-AQ conf champ in a bowl game and tries to weasel out of it every year either by having a SEC team find another bowl to play in or exercising an option that switches a Big East team with a CUSA. This is how SMU ended up in the BBVA compass bowl in Birmingham and Cincinnati and Vanderbilt ended up playing in the Liberty bowl.

Depending on what happens with the whe merged thing, if CUSA and MWC remain separate and have a "championship" game between the 2 conference winners, I would bet there would be an OOC agreement between the conferences, also. That would only make sense.

Because we are too close to Rustin, Harry. Think about it. If you could get outta that s-hole for a weekend, wouldn't you want to drive as far away as possible?

My concern here is that ODU surely had to know that they might get a CUSA invite weeks (maybe months) ago, so they should have had a decision by today one way or the other. GMG!

Would you quit letting facts get in the way of anger plz?

Within a 250 mile radius of Louisiana Tech the total population exceeds 6.9 million people. This is larger than the individual cities of Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Birmingham and Tulsa. =============================== Yeah, well OK... we can play that game too. DFW has 5.1 million in just a 50-mile radius. A 250-mile radius would include Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Total population of the 50-mile radius plus those other cities: 9.8 million My estimate of total radius: 11.5 million Epic fail, Bulldogs

Great news!!! No way I thought Coach Evans would come here. I guess his ties to Benford are very strong. Good news just keeps coming!

Another reason I would have rather had Louisiana.

No more Sun Belt Schools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!to C USA

Not just out of the SBC, but into something better. RV had the discipline and vision to push the atheletic village, new stadium, and keep us out of the WAC. Now we get something we've never had, regional rivals.

Well, Jack, I guess the only thing left now for those of us 60 and above is a Big 12 invite? LOL! No, I like CUSA it's as good a fit conference-wise as we are going to get for awhile. Yes, it's Christmas in May for the Mean Green! GMG!

He actually replied personally as he always does, and signed his email with "Go Nean Green" do you see what I see. lol! So, he has fat thumbs. hahahaha Great guy.

Cite your sources please This is from MGS.com http://www.meangreensports.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1800&ATCLID=205423146&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

i heard he got a pep talk from Scottie Pippen in the NBA playoffs last year

Thank you Dr. Rawlins for CUSA . Thank you UNTFLYER (and Colleagues) for the stadium and the significant future income stream to hire and keep better coaches.

Honors College and College of Engineering along with the Research campus have been big additions as well.

La Tech, FIU, Charlotte, UTSA and even Old Dominion have something UNT doesn't have................the one major flaw of UNT..... BASEBALL!